How does time go so fast?

I know I say this every month, but 5 months old already? I can't believe it. Here is what the boys have been up to lately...

• At the beginning of the month, they started moving toys back and forth between their hands while. Also, they have become really good at grabbing toys in front of them, while balancing themselves with their other hand, while on their belly.
• During tummy time, they've also started to push up on their arms, instead of just resting on their elbows. This is mainly when they are really trying to reach for something, but its still crazy to think of all the strength they already have to do this.
• They have been sleeping unswaddled at night, successfully, for most of the month. They take some naps unswaddled too, but some are still swaddled. Sometimes I feel like it helps calm them down a bit to be swaddled for naps, but other times if they are tired enough, they don't even need it.
• This month they have started rice cereal. At first, they didn't like it (as mentioned here), but now they are taking it like champs! We also introduced applesauce and peas and they love both. I think they actually look forward to it now! Later this week I hope to whip up some sweet potatoes. Man, I love the Beaba!
• In fact, Logan is so excited when it comes time to eat, he will let you know if you aren't fast enough -- whether by fussing until more food comes to his mouth, or trying to "help" by holding onto the spoon when it enters his mouth so you can't take it out.
• Their hair is definitely coming in thicker and darker now. Their eyes are changing too. They are a hazel color now, but wouldn't be surprised if they changed to brown before all is said and done.
• They are using their feet A LOT more lately. Ellis is really good at pinning things with his feet, whether it is a toy or even your arm when you are trying to feed him. Future UFC fighter in the making! Logan is using his feet but more in order to help him move. Sometimes when he is in his boppy or bouncer, he'll use his feet to lift his butt up to squirm out of the seat, or if he's on his tummy, he uses his legs to do an army crawl. Ellis's favorite thing to do lately is grab his feet...he has his own new toy now!
• Speaking of toys, Ellis uses his pacifier for a toy too. It's funny to see him in his crib with a pacifier in his mouth, then he takes it out to play with it before putting it back in his mouth. Well, only sometimes does it make it back to his mouth. Other times he just uses it as something to play with.

• I think they're other favorite toys are their fingers. They just LOVE to stick them in their mouth. If its not another toy in their mouth, its their fingers -- and not just one or two -- it's their whole fist.

• And as I mentioned before, the boys are doing wonderful during the day with my mom. I can't say it enough. I am so grateful that the boys get to spend the day with her (plus I think they love all the new toys they get to play with over there!)
• Logan is just barely trying to sit up on his own. One day I had him sitting up between my legs and he leaned forward instead of resting on my chest. He wasn't up for long before he started to topple, but he tried. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't long before he is able to sit up for more than just a few seconds.
• There is no official doctor appointment for 5 months (thank goodness, no shots either), so I have no growth updates at this point...1 more month for that!

That's it for now. School starts officially on Tuesday so I really hope I can do a better job with updating the blog. My dad and Nicole joked that I should give my mom my password so she can update the blog since she probably has more pictures than I do lately...not sure she's up for that though (haha!). Really though, I will do my best even if it is just a snapshot here and there. It's just amazing how fast the night goes by the time we get home, make dinner, relax a bit, prep for the next day and then its time for bed.

And last but not least -- Happy Birthday to Grandma Bush! Hope you have a great day!

More peas please

Last weekend I was gung-ho on making some baby food, so I bought a bag of frozen peas and whipped them up. It was SO easy I couldn't believe it. I actually think it took me longer to read the directions than to actually steam the peas, blend them, and put them in the freezer. They had been doing very well with their applesauce in the morning and rice cereal at dinner time so we tried the peas (just one cube for now) with their cereal at dinner time. I was a little nervous because personally peas aren't my favorite, and the only other flavorful food they've had is the sweet applesauce, but they just gobbled them up! I think they actually like the peas more than the rice cereal! Although I know they are just starting out, I can't believe how easy (and cheap) it is to make baby food. I literally bought one bag of peas for $1 and they will last for well over a week. I can't imagine how much that would have cost if I bought the jars! And its so easy to prep. It took at most 15 minutes to make the food (10 of that was steaming, so its not like I had to actively do anything during that time). Then once I transfer it to the trays, it takes only a few hours to freeze and then I just transfer them to a freezer bag until needed. I take out one cube for each of them and put it in a tupperware container the night before. Then I heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds before I use it. Even though it is not frozen anymore, it just seems like it would taste better a tad bit warm. Stir it up real quick and bingo, bango, we're ready to eat. I strongly recommend making food to anyone with, or having, a baby. It's easy, quick, and cheap, and it's also nice to know exactly what they are eating and not have to worry about any of those preservatives or additives they might put in the food!

I think this week I'm going to pick up some sweet potato and try making that. I might not start it for another week or so, but since they don't go bad in the freezer, I will make them now so they are ready once the peas are gone.

I have to apologize for not having any pictures with this post. This week has been quite busy and I'm still trying to adjust to this whole working thing. It's getting easier every day but that still doesn't mean I remember to snap pictures when we are playing after dinner. Hopefully this weekend I'll capture some.

A bad end to a good week

Let's start with the good...

• I went back to work on Monday and the boys have been spending the day with Grandma Frahm. The transition, in my eyes, has gone exceptionally well. They have been napping and eating well at her house (I was a bit concerned with napping, just because they would have a bit of a different routine), and coming home as smiley babies. They've been having lots of fun with Grandma, and Grandma seems to be having lots of fun with them!
• Work actually hasn't been too bad. As most people know, last year, work was quite a mess administratively, but we have a new CEO and superintendent this year that already know our concerns from last year. Although we've been in Math training for most of the week and not with our own principal, I'm feeing more positive than last year, just based on the few interactions I've had with the principal. Hopefully it continues into next week..
• Our basement is coming along. After a busy last weekend, Troy has spent some of his free moments this week cleaning up some of the things that weren't taken care of last weekend. He has just a few more small sections to dry wall and then we will start taping and mudding. We know it will be quite a project, but the basement already looks 10x better, so it can only get even better from here.
• Bella has done an AWESOME job this week. In the past (prior to March when I was still working), we had been keeping her in the crate while we were at work. We weren't quite ready to leave her out to roam the house for the long period of time that we were working. Over the summer, I started leaving her out here and there and gradually increased time. We had been up to 6 hours and Troy figured that we wouldn't know how she'd do the whole day unless we just tried it, so we did. This week, she's been out for 7-8 hours at a time and has done well. No accidents, no chewing, nothing -- and so happy about it. Way to go Bella!
• The boys have been eating pretty well. They've done better with the rice cereal and have been enjoying their applesauce. This weekend, I'm hoping to pull out my Beaba Babycook and make some peas. We'll see how that goes.

Now for the bad...

• Last night I was just about to go to bed and went back into the living room to grab my pump to take upstairs for the morning. I was carrying all my things and about to head to the kitchen to get Bella a treat before bed and what happens? I walk into the corner of our couch -- its actually the couch that was downstairs, but because we're working on the basement, its in our living room right now. It sits directly on the floor, so my whole foot smacked into it. I walked a couple steps before looking down and realizing the pain I had, and couldn't believe what I saw. My right foot "ring toe" (the one next to the pinky) was totally crooked and when I picked my foot up to look at it better, it just hung there. NOT COOL! I freaked out as my foot started throbbing, so I sat down. Troy said I should go to the hospital because if it is dislocated, they will have to fix it before wrapping it up and stabilizing it. I am not a fan of hospitals and have never had a broken bone in my life. I've never gone to the emergency room so I was asking what I could do to fix it myself. I tried pushing it back over and heard a bit of a pop, so I thought I was okay, but then I looked back down and it went back to being crooked...bummer. So, Troy turned the tv off, said he'd go get the boys and we'd go a couple miles down the street to Crittendon. I really didn't want to have to wake the boys up, so we tried calling a friend that lived nearby to see if he could come over to watch the boys while Troy took me. He didn't answer, so it was either me go by myself or pack up the boys. Again, didn't want to disturb their sleeping, so I figured I'd try it on my own. I hobbled upstairs and that is when it started hurting to put any pressure on my foot, got clothes on (I had my pj's on already), and headed out. Since it was near 11pm, there were very few cars on the street, so my slow driving (from my foot hurting when I put pressure on the pedal) wasn't an issue. Got in and out of the ER in just over an hour -- very impressive Crittendon! I have a spiral fracture, meaning that the bone twisted as it broke, right where the toe connects to the foot. There isn't much you can do with broken toes but readjust it and tape it to the toe next to it. They asked if I wanted a "boot" to wear, which prevented my toes from bending as I walked, or crutches, and I opted for the boot. I found out I'd probably be in some pain for the next week or so, but ultimately it will take 4-6 weeks to heal. I already had some leftover pain medicine from my c-section, so I didn't take anymore, and they told me to follow up with my regular doctor next week. They wheeled me out to my car and I headed home! Not exactly the plan I had for the night, but I'm glad I was in and out so fast. As for today, I stayed home from work. They said I should be icing it and keeping it elevated as much as possible to reduce the swelling and today was a "work in your room" day at work. As much as I would have loved to get stuff done, that just wasn't practical. So, I'm home with my boys today and Troy is taking very good care of me! =)

As for this weekend, we are going to do as much as we can in the basement. After Troy finishes the drywall, we will start mudding the screws and then dealing with the seams and corners (which is going to be a bit more time consuming). Not sure how much I will be able to help since I shouldn't be standing, but maybe I can work from a chair and work on the lower areas. On Sunday, I will be heading to my moms for a scrapbooking day with her and Nicole. Looking forward to working on more of Ellis's album.

For now, here are a few pictures from this week. Ellis is showing off his strong leg skills and how he likes to use his legs to pin his toys between them! He also likes to pin our arm between his legs when we are feeding him his bouncer, when he sits in the boppy or bouncer. It's as if he wants to make sure we keep that bottle in his mouth!

Logan is back to the wanting-to-army-crawl days...Well this attempt isn't as good as others, but I love the little smiles he gives (and of course Ellis's squealing at the end!)

Happy Friday everyone!

Last week of freedom

It has been quite a week! Starting with last weekend, we've been quite busy around here -- not much resting, as I had hoped for my last week home, but busy with lots of good things!

Last weekend, my parents came over and we tackled the flower bed in the front corner of our yard. It was just overgrown and out of control. Aside from the lilies that Troy wanted to keep, everything else is removed. Unfortunately it started raining, so we weren't able to completely get it cleared up, but a huge portion was taken care of. Now it will just be a matter of making sure all the bulbs are out (the previous owners were quite "bulb-happy") and level it out a bit and we'll be good to go. There are a few patches here and there that need some work, but nothing huge. Thanks again mom and dad for coming over and helping us so much with it!

This week, Nicole and I took our last trip to the zoo. It was probably the best trip yet because the weather was perfect and lots of the animals were out and closer than usual. We made our way to see the chimpanzees, gorillas, lemurs, rhinoceros', giraffes, and much more. My favorite for this trip was the chimpanzees. They were all in their little "house" swinging from the ropes, hitting each other with some cloths that were in there. It was just a neat little show with all of them being so active! I had lots of fun taking our every-so-often trips to the zoo with the kids, Nicole -- thanks for the fun times (and the idea to get a membership, to begin with)!! Hopefully we all can meet up to go some weekend in the fall!

The majority of the end of the week has been spent with Dan and Rosie. We are ever so grateful that Dan has volunteered his time and expertise in helping us finish our basement. They've completed the framing and electrical, and as we speak, they are hanging drywall. It already looks so much better, so I can't wait until it is completely done. Troy has taken pictures of some of their progress so far, but they are on his camera (and I'd hate to interrupt them now!), so I will post those later.

Thursday, we took a trip to see Great Grandpa Perez. He has not yet met the boys, so Rosie suggested taking them out to meet him while the guys started working on the basement. They did very well on the 2 hour (1 way) car ride, and it was great introducing the boys to Great Grandpa Perez and Great Aunt Dora!

The only other major thing around here is the eating situation with the boys. As you remember from the last post, both boys (especially Logan) were quite unhappy when it came time to eat their rice cereal. We tried feeding them a few spoonfuls, then gave them some of their bottle, more cereal, more bottle, etc. That is what our pediatrician recommended as far as trying to get them to practice moving their tongue to swallow. Well, that wasn't working out too well because the second we removed their bottle, they screamed their heads off until we gave them their bottle back. So we tried feeding them their bottle first and then giving them the rice cereal afterwards. WOW -- talk about night and day! They were totally fine with taking it and didn't scream one bit. Also, since they've been having cereal for about a week, we thought we'd introduce them to applesauce (we actually got some thinking that maybe they didn't like the taste of the rice cereal, so maybe the applesauce would make it taste better). After their mid-morning bottle, they have been getting 1 tbsp of applesauce and they absolutely love it. It is so cute seeing their little tongues move it back and forth in their mouth. Here are some "happy" pictures of them eating:

Ellis was so content after his applesauce!

Another fan of applesauce. Logan couldn't get enough.

He actually got a little fussy after it was gone, so he got just a little bit more!

You know, this rice cereal isn't too bad, is it Ellis?

Look!! Logan isn't screaming after his rice cereal this time!

Tomorrow, sad but true, I will be heading back to work. It has been an awesome 4.5 months home with the boys but I guess its back to reality. As a co-worker on Facebook said earlier "it seems like more of a long weekend than a summer vacation"...it really did go that fast. On a good note though, I am so happy that my mom will be watching the boys. Although it will be sad not being with them every day, I will have no worries that they are with her, and I know she'll love spending time with them too.

Well, time to prep dinner and enjoy my last few waking hours with the boys. Have a great week everyone!!!

Adventures in Rice Cereal

Tonight was the third night of trying rice cereal and we have gotten quite a reaction out of them when they have it with their "dinner" bottle...mainly Logan.

What do you think? Is Logan a big fan of rice cereal? I think not..

Clean bill of health

At four months...

Ellis weighed in at 13lbs. 10oz. and measured 24.25 inches long.

Logan weighed in at 13lbs. 12 oz and measured 25 inches long.

Both boys are growing well and the doctor was happy to hear about how much they were eating and sleeping. She also gave us the green light to start rice cereal...yeah!!! Of course it might be a while before the amount they eat really means anything, but now we can start having them practice eating something off of a spoon...which just gives me an excuse to go buy some cute bowls and spoons right?!? They also got 3 immunizations today -- 1 orally (we love those!) and 2 shots (not so much fun). We had a bottle on hand and after brief screaming, fed them right away and now they are sleeping like champs!

As far as this weekend goes, tomorrow my parents are coming over to help us clean up the "hot mess" of a flower garden (if you want to call it that), that is in the front corner of our yard. On Sunday -- another scrapbooking day with my mom and sister. Logan's 1 month album is about 98% done and I'm starting Ellis's album. I will post pictures of my favorite layouts once they are all done!

Happy Friday everyone. Enjoy your weekend!!

Edited to add:

• We did ask the doctor about DNA tests. She actually asked why we wanted to have one knowing that they were in different sacs and placentas (meaning that they are most likely fraternal). Yeah, a 25-30% chance that they split early (meaning they would be identical) is low, but I'm still curious. She said to call back on Monday to talk to a specific nurse regarding how much DNA tests cost at Beaumont. I did ask about the internet DNA tests, but also mentioned I wasn't sure how reliable they are..they seem a bit "Jerry Springer-ish" to me, but she didn't give her opinion about that either. Troy and I will have to discuss this further... (thanks Nicole for reminding me)
• Also, I forgot to mention earlier that she also said that their eye color is definitely changing. My little blue-eyed babies won't be blue eyed much longer. She's not sure obviously, what color they will end up, but she did note a difference in their color.

High-pitched Ellis

We have all seen Logan chatting away in the past week or so, but Ellis has really started up too. His is more in the form of squealing though..and as high-pitched as possible. Of course some of it is so high-pitched you can barely hear it, but its hilarious. Troy was eating breakfast the other day and came upstairs to where I was feeding them and said he could hear them downstairs just squealing away and surprisingly, it was Ellis doing it all. I tried the best I could to get this video...whenever he caught a glimpse of me recording him, he stopped and just stared at me...

BFF's

I just thought this was too cute -- holding hands already...