That Dreaded Day Has Finally Come

The boys are finally in their big boy beds. The title is a bit melodramatic, I know. But honestly that's how we feel because it isn't going well at all. We've been hoping to put this milestone off for as long as possible. But Monday of last week Drew got really really good at jumping out of his crib. They've both been able to get in the beds easily for a couple of months now. But with Drew jumping out so easily, we were really worried that he would get hurt if he kept it up for much longer.

So, Tuesday night after Michael came home from work, we took off the front sides of the cribs. Basically, it's been no sleep for anyone since then. I feel like we're back in those newborn days when you're so tired you just function in a fog. But, people tell me that it'll get better. Honestly I'm a little skeptical that it will. The problem is not that they don't want to stay in their room. It's just the opposite: they love being in their room together with their books and the few toys we keep in their closet. As soon as I leave, they flip on the light and start to play. It's almost like a party to them. So I've tried staying in the room until they fall asleep. That worked at naptime once, but not for bedtime.

I'm going to stop complaining now, and leave you with the only two pictures I got to document the first night of sleeping in a big boy bed before my battery died. But if anyone has any ideas on how to weather this little phase, feel free to pass them along....I'm too tired to think of any more! :)

Choo Choo's and Fish-y Fun

Since Michael had Good Friday off, we decided to load up the car and head over to Chattanooga (or Cat-a-goo-ga as it was called around our house) for a quick trip that we've been wanting to take for a while now. Knowing how much the boys both love choo choo's and fishies we thought it would be fun to take them to see both. Michael lived in Chattanooga for a few summers, and his best friend and old college roommate, Jim, still lives there with his family.


The entire way there Thursday night the boys were so excited that Ben would randomly squeal at the top of his lungs and say "yay!!! Cat-a-goo-ga!!! Drew continually asked "this is Cat-a-goo-ga, Daddy?" and when we finally answered 'yes, this is it!' they about came unglued. I'm still not sure why they got so pumped, other than we had been telling them about the choo-choos and fishies.


So Friday we got off to an early start, and here are the boys at the famous Choo-Choo. All I wanted was a good picture for their upcoming big boy room in front of the train. But I guess that was too much to ask. This was good as I got:And here they are asking for some pennies to throw into the fountain at the train station. I still can't believe they are both looking at the camera at the same time.

After we left there we headed over to the Aquarium to meet up with Jim and Jennifer and their two boys, Jacob and James. (It really took me back to that formal we had there almost 10 years ago, all you Phi Sig girls!) We hadn't seen them in several months, so it was really great to be together with such good friends again. I hunted and hunted through our pictures to find one on the computer of Jim and Michael back in their college days to look at side by side of this next one. I thought it would be so neat to see these two friends years later with all four of their boys. But they are all the old-school kind (which I'm sure Michael is thankful for!). So, this is all you get:

They were so fascinated by all the fish that swam right up to them and all the water. They really thought that every big fish was a shark. Here Michael is helping them touch the stingrays, which didn't really happen since standing very still and being quiet at the same time almost never happens. They truly didn't understand why the fishies weren't swimming to see them. Michael helping Drew touch one of the hundreds of butterflies that live in the butterfly conservatory. At the front of the Penguin Exhibit there are these huge penguin statues welcoming everyone. I'm pretty sure both of my little guys thought they were real because they both immediately ran up to them and gave them huge hugs and said hello to the penguins. I thought it was so sweet that Ben said "waddle, waddle, waddle" in the same rhythmic song that Diego does....possibly they've watched a little too much of that. Oh well! ;)

And we fitted all of this in before noon and boy were we tired after such an exciting morning. So we shared a couple of pizzas and hit the road back home. The boys had played so hard that they slept the whole trip back, giving us a nice little chance to have our own conversations and relax for a bit before the rest of our busy Easter Weekend. More pictures to come!

Happy Easter everyone!!

Happy Birthday, MawMaw

This past weekend we headed to Missouri to spend some time with our family there and to celebrate MawMaw's birthday. Unfortunately, MawMaw came down with laryngitis the night before we got there, and her voice didn't really come back until the day we left. So, she really wasn't able to talk to the boys as much as she or they wanted to. But we were all able to enjoy ourselves and have a great time just being together. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from our fun weekend:

Playing in the backyard

Even though she didn't feel great, MawMaw still found time and energy to stuff Easter Eggs for a little hunt. It was rainy and cold that day, so while the boys took naps, Michael hid the eggs inside the house. Poor Dressie: it's just torture for a 6 year old to see where all the eggs are hidden, but have to wait until the twins woke up from naptime to find them all. She's such a good sport, and so very sweet to her little buddies. One of the highlights of the trip was letting the boys go inside to her "big girl school" with Aunt Chelle to pick her up on Friday afternoon. Her whole class knows them (from how much she talks about them) and they all got to say hello and wave to the babies. Then, Dressie held Ben's hand on one side and Drew's hand on her other side and led them and the whole kindergarten down the hall. All three of them were just beaming and so proud of themselves.

We had such a good time! Happy Birthday, MawMaw! We love you and wish you many many more.

Snow Day

Saturday morning marked the first time that the boys have ever gotten to really play in the snow with their Daddy. Usually - in the rare instance that we get snow - Michael is already on his way to work or out of town. So, when we went downstairs on Saturday morning and saw the 2 or 3 inches of powdery white stuff on the ground, the boys couldn't wait to get out there and play in it. And this surprised both Michael and I because neither of them like to be cold. And so far when they've played in the snow, they've only been intrigued by it for a few minutes before realizing that they are, in fact, very cold, and then they're over it.

But this time - much to Michael's pure delight - they loved it. I'm not sure if it was the the fact that they were allowed to throw snow balls at each other and at me, the fact that it was so pretty and different than what they're used to seeing, or the fact that they were reveling in playtime with Daddy. But after about 45 minutes of being out there (don't worry, Mama: they were bundled up under many layers of warmth) we had to literally drag them in for hot chocolate.

Here are a few of my favorites from the morning:

Michael showing them how to make the perfect snow ball. Immediately following that lesson was the lesson on how to flirt with girl you like and throw snowballs at them (i.e. Me. I got pelted. Lucky for them I'm a good sport! ;) )Drew trying to throw the snowball at me.
Ben's turn to throw one at me.
My favorite men in the whole world. Drew making "thno an-dels" (snow angels)Ben throwing snow onto Drew as he works on his snow angels. I wish you all could have heard the laughter coming from our front yard.

It was such a fun weekend, and I imagine we'll be playing outside much more in the coming weeks...but with warmer weather, I hope.