Brotherly love

The boys have grown to become best friends.  They love each other, help each other, and of course fight with each other (especially when it comes to who gets what toy).

This week Cole was sick - Wilson kept sitting to put his arm around his brother to "take care of him."

This weekend we lit our first fire - both boys were enthralled by the fire - better than TV!  They were also inseparable. 

Jealousy and love

Usually these two words aren't closely related with feeling between two people (as opposed to external players - e.g. jealousy of a husbands / boyfriends / whatevers cute co-workers). 

Cole and Wilson are expressing themselves more and more every day, and continuing to grow into being TWO.  With this comes a great deal of jealousy and love.  The boys have been sick, so that doesn't help much.  Lately, if I'm holding Cole, Wilson cries to be held.  If I'm holding Wilson, Cole cries to be held.  If Wilson falls and I kiss his booboo, Cole fake falls and asks for kisses.  Here are some of the funnier examples:

• Cole work up from a nap the other day yelling "Wilson pushed me" - odd thing was they were in separate cribs 
• Cole fell and got a band-aide.  Wilson had already been told "no" on band-aides because his phantom ouchies are resulting in band-aide requests all over his body, so instead of faux-falling, he pulled his pants down for quick attention.
• Wilson put on rainboots, and Cole started putting on Crocs.  When they saw each other, they immediately wanted the same shoes the other had

Because of the last point we do occasionally bend to doing matchy outfits ... and it's so cute!

On the flip side, the boys love each other so incredibly much it makes my heart happy.  Sometimes early early in the morning I'll hear them talking across their bedroom.  Cole often brings Wilson leftover milk (given, it was in Wilson's cup) and Wilson often gives Cole his leftover food.  The boys also sometimes spur of the moment hold hands in the car or reach for Matt's and my hands for impromptu ring around the rosy. 

Halloween 2011 - Bob the Builders!

Halloween has come and gone and now it seems like jingle bells, retail swells, and turkey talk have taken over everything.  Halloween is still near and dear in our home, though, as the boys have now taken to saying "trick or teat" and waiting to see what we'll give them.

Matt's parents were in town this past weekend, so on Halloween the 6 of us went trick or teating around the neighborhood.  Poor Coley had a cough so we didn't last long.  Cole was hilarious - whenever we asked him "are you Bob the Builder?" he would reply "No, I'm Coley!"  Cole also struck up a conversation with a ghoast who was about the same size as him for a brief while, while Wilson decided between candy and bouncy balls at someone's house (in the end he got both).  Wilson also thought we were going for a bunch of play dates and kept walking into peoples' houses starting to take his shoes off.

My sweet boys.  I'm a lucky mommy!

Puddle time!

We had an awesome weekend with my dad (roundup to come).  The boys got their first haircuts, and we had a handful of "field trips."  Today, though, the boys were just ... boys.

In true Seattle fashion, it's been raining off and on.  The boys are taking full advantage.

Lego maniac

The boys' favorite aunt and uncle (Amanda and Gabe) gave them a lego set for their birthday and the boys are hooked!  Apparently when I was at work, my "sick" boys (they've been sniffling all weekend) were literally trying to climb the walls. 

Solution?  Legos!  Pure joy.

Weekend roundup: Portland!

Time is going way too fast and I feel like our short but loved summer is almost over.  Last weekend we packed up the car and made our way down to Portland to visit my aunts and mom who were prepping for an amazing looking camping trip (my aunt Laura is a five star camp organizer and had meals planned out and lodging to fit royalty - no kidding).  We couldn't go camping because I already used up my vacation time.

The car trip was ... long, but the boys did a good job.  The vast number of "diggers" and "BOOOATS" kept them entertained for a bit.  At one point on the ride home, the boys were silent for a while, then I heard Wilson cracking up laughing.  When I turned around he had managed to get his froggy backpack onto his head and had been sitting there waiting for us to see.  With Wilson's laughter came Cole's attempt to get the backpack on his head (I say attempt because it turns out Cole is a bit scared of the dark so the pack didn't stay for long).  My boys are hilarious.  I think they should do standup.  No, I'm not that mom that thinks everything her kids do is perfect ... my boys are just perfect.  Heh.

We're all in this thing together

Yes, I'm opening with an Old Crow Medicine Show line.  It's funny, the older the boys get, the more I feel like toddler parents (we) are all in this together, and I'm sure as the boys grow we'll be "in it" with the same set of parents whose children are growing.  It really does take a village ... even strangers. 

Last night after (an awesome) dinner with Lisa, Frank, Lila, Andrew and the boys we were hovering outside saying goodbyes when all of the sudden the boys and Lila started holding hands chanting "wing awound the wosie..." At the moment they started holding hands, another toddler we've never met before toddles up and gets into the circle with them.  I smiled at her mom, she smiled back, and all of a sudden we were all doing Ring Around the Rosie in the middle of downtown Ballard.  Strangers watched and smiled, strangers played, and we were all in it together - having a great time.

Love

Cole has turned into a little lovey.  He has taken to kissing the animals in books while we're reading them.  He is also very concerned if anyone ever is hurt or sad going so far as to say "'s OK" to complete strangers. 

Last week I went to a conference for work and came home with the best swag - a flying cow toy where you pull it's legs and it slingshots across the room MOOing loudly at the same time.  Cole seems to think this hurts the cow and anytime we try to sling him Cole cries and runs to hold his beloved cow.

Matt and I both think it's hilarious ... I guess we should learn from Cole's compassion.

Myself

The boys are trying very hard to do everything on their own now which is awesome and challenging at the same time.  Getting into the car now takes at least 5min longer than normal.  Getting shoes on - add another 5.  But the rewards are so great.  When Cole flings himself into his carseat on his own the look of pride on his face is staggering.  Wilson is now trying to get his pants and t-shirts on by himeself in addition to his shoes and sweatshirts.  Pants turned into a mini game of twister and pouty lip yesterday as he got one leg, then proceeded to put the other leg in the wrong side of his pant leg, then get completely tangled up.  The lower lip popped out quivering and all I could do was laugh because he was so friggin cute.

In addition to wanting to do everything themselves, the boys want to pick things on their own.  Both Cole and Wilson were a little overzealous at daycare when the sprinklers were out so had to pick clothes from the "backup" closet.  Cole came home touting a bright orange tank top and Wilson was wearing the shortest red shorts I've ever seen (diaper hanging out the bottom).  Too cute!

Happy Birthday Cole and Wilson

Happy Birthday to my loves - Cole and Wilson are officially TWO!

It's been quite a year - we moved to Seattle, the boys started walking, the boys started pre-school, Cole chipped his front teeth, Wilson got breathing probs - and both of them are moving past it - the boys colored their first pictures, the boys learned more than 20 words and can now count no 5 ... yes, lots of great milestones.  And we can't wait for more!

Air - often under-rated

Last night was another tough one as a mom (and dad for Matt).  The boys started getting sick late Monday afternoon, and yesterday sick turned into major troubles breathing for Wilson.  At 7pm I rushed him back into the ER and they barely asked a question before hooking him back up to a nebulizer to help breathe.  Wilson knew it would make him feel better and was even holding the mask on by himself (my smart boy).

Matt stayed home with Cole who kept waking up crying for "Wishun" which was heartbreaking.

Today both boys were feeling sick so Matt gave them a treat ... TV.  I'm afraid they were too tired/icky feeling to truly enjoy it, though...

While the hospital and our pediatrician won't say if it's "asthma" (there really isn't a way to say definitively it's that), we're going to start looking into common allergens to see if something is triggering this.

Here are the most common allergens: pollen and dust mites
Here are the most common food allergens: milk, wheat, soy, eggs, nuts, seafood, and legumes, which include peas, beans, and peanuts

My little star

Hands down - this is the new race song:


American Idol - watch out!

Pink eye

There's always something ... just as we're coming out of colds, the boys got hit by pink eye last week.  Daycare'll do that.  First Cole got it, then Wilson.  Then we all got colds again.

Joy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love Wilson ...

And Cole ...

Born to Run: crawl to waddle to toddle to sprint!

This evening when I got home from work, I had the best surprise at home - the boys in full blown fits of happiness.  When I walked in the boys were both strumming the guitar with Matt.  When the music died down (aka, the boys wandered off), they play play played.  And then Coley started running ... and running ... and running.  He ran 50 (yes, Matt counted) laps around the living room giving Matt a high five on each lap and curling up in fits of laughter.  He was having SO much fun running!

Right now I'm reading a book called "Born to Run" which is amazing.  The author explores what makes the world's greatest runners and one highlight is some of the fastest are those who run for the love of running (not the fame/money).  Fun fact from the book: "Every year more than 90 percent of the female runners come home with a buckle (from Leadville, an incredibly hard ultra), while 50 percent of the men come up with an excuse."  Hm... :)

Broken tooth!

The other night Coley fell in the bathtub.  HORRIBLE!  On top of the scare of falling, he chipped BOTH front teeth.  Honestly, poor Cole looked like a baby vampire.  And no, he's not a Twi-hard.  He cried, of course, and Matt and I also both felt like we had been hurt.  It stinks watching your kids get hurt.  Stinks!  It feels like "how could we have prevented that?  What horrible parents that we didn't!!"  The reality is we tried.  We really did.  But at 14mo old, the boys have more energy than I've ever seen, and they both seem to figure out the things they're not supposed to do faster than the things they are supposed to do.

After the boys went to sleep, I pinged the parents of multiples forum for a little help.  Within an hour three people emailed that they had had this happen, too.  They also gave dentist recs.

Friday, we started looking into a dentist.  We found one on Yelp with a horrible review - the mom said "he had a monkey who scared my son and we never went back."  Oddly enough, this was one of the one's recommended to us, and the dentist closest to our house and open.  Matt brought Cole in Friday morning and I am SO glad I wasn't there.  Apparently Cole did great.  Matt?  Not so much.  Just as much as it hurts seeing your kids get hurt, it hurts seeing them scared.  Imagine going to the dentist for the first time!  Oof.  Scary.

Cole got home with a new smile (still spiky teeth, but not as bad) and a stuffed monkey of all things.

We're padding our new house. 

Baby presses

Sometimes when I don't have time to get to the gym, the boys help me workout.  This morning, I did 3 sets of 15 Cole tosses for the lats and shoulders, 3 sets of twists for the obliques and triceps, and 3 sets of lunches for the bootay and abs.  The roars of laughter and heartwarming smile make "working out" so much fun.

Cole the Monkey Man

An ode to an awesome song ... thanks Toots.

The soundtrack of our lives

When I run I typically have a song lineup:

• Marc Cohn, Walking in Memphis to warm up
• Bruce Springstein, Secret Garden to start revving
  
• U2, Viva la Vida to pick up
  
• Javier Martinez, Betty Davis Eyes to keep pace
• Manu Chao, Cadestino pace still
• White Stripes, Seven Nations Army to kick it into a higher gear
• Pearl Jam, Life Wasted to keep new pace

Then I'll throw in some Madonna and Avett Brothers to hold steady 'til the end of the run.

Cole and Wilson come with their own soundtrack and it's backed up by the city - and it is amazing. Our neighbor is a music teacher so in the background almost all day we hear piano, guitar, singing, and more. Then, our downstairs neighbor's stereo kicks in with some mellow '80s as they're undoubtedly getting ready for the evening. We have the occasional parrot sighting in the backyard adding to the soundtrack and then the trolley flies by the front of the house adding a little "ding ding" (think SNL "more cowbell").

Cole and Wilson are the main event with:

• Cooing
• Wannabe burping (when they know it's almost burp time at the end of a meal they both grunt - I think they're faking)
• Crying (this is the part of the soundtrack that breaks my heart)
• Hming (when it's time to feed, Wilson folds his chin up, raises his brows thus creasing his forhead, and "hmmms" for a moment before opening up)

I can't wait to hear their soundtrack pickup. Minus the crying - that's a chorus I could do without (more because I feel so terrible when I can't figure out how to soothe them).

And then there were four

I am thrilled to say our baby boys have arrived and are home happy (I think - they smile when they fart) and healthy. I'll start with the punchline - meet Cole and Wilson!
This past week has been pretty nuts, so I'll give you the abridged version.

Wednesday, July 8, my water broke - in the middle of an interview! No, I wasn't interviewing anywhere, I'm not so bold, we're hiring right now at work. One thing I should note, water breaking is not at all like in the movies or on TV - there's no gush, no pants wetting, no drama. Thank goodness! Imagine that poor interviewee if he had known. After calling the doctor he told me to head in to the hospital to "check things out." Then came the call to Matt - Matty flew over the bridge (he was at work) to pick me up and off we went not knowing what would happen.

At the hospital, we got checked out and admitted. I was allowed to go home for 1-hour to change (heals and work clothes are no way to be in labor) so we ran home to grab our pre-packed bags (and a few others - somehow Matt got to the door with 4-bags) and made a quick stop at Linzy's to hand her the keys to our place.

The final preg pic:









At the hospital we were admitted to room 207 where we waited (labored). It was a loooooong wait - around 2am I was dying of pain so the painkillers started. Jump forward 36 hours - Cole's heart beat kept dropping with each contraction and Wilson's water hadn't seemed to have broken yet. At midnight on July 9th our doctor came in to have a "stern talk" about considering a c-section. Knowing the side effects I REALLY didn't want to, but 26-hours and Cole's little heart made us sign the OK.

The delivery:
Off we were wheeled to the operating room where 4 nurses, our doctor, the anesthesiologist waited and the "fun" began. The c-section only took 20-minutes and by 1:14 and 1:15am on July 10th we had two perfect little boys.

Cole was the first out - he was eager to come! He weighted in at 5lb 12oz and was just perfect. Wilson followed immediately weighing in at 5lb 7oz and he too was perfect. Wilson had a weird growl, though, so after the scrub down he was admitted to the NICU.

What happened next:
What happened next was rather a blur. The morning and afternoon of the 10th were filled with nurses checking my vitals and then showing us how to breast feed (they show you this within a few hours of birth). On the 11th I woke up with a horrible pain in my stomach and everything started swelling. Nurses stopped to look at me and say it'd be already, then walk away worried. One told me that the swelling I had only happened in 5% of new moms. Great.

Hospital oops:
As the pain continued I was wheeled off to an x-ray. A few hours later 4-nurses came into our room and cleared out Matt's family. Scary. Turns out, a fetal monitor was left IN ME! At this time I was also told that if I didn't improve I'd have to have a gastric surgeon come and tube out my tummy - ick. So, I was put on liquids only - through an IV.

Wilson's story:
Wilson was put in NICU because his lungs needed a bit of help. He was put in a "hot box" to regulate his temp and have all his vitals monitored. Visiting Wilson broke my heart every time, but he was an uber trooper. In the NICU he was actually something of a giant as the other surrounding babies weighed in at 1lb-4lbs.

After two days in NICU, Wilson got out of the hot box. Then his air tubes were removed. Long story short, he was released in just a few days and we were thrilled!

We are now thrilled to be home with our beautiful boys! We checked out this morning and are getting used to feeding, changing, swaddling, repeat. In the hospital we did all the "parent things" too, but there were nurses everywhere if we ever felt too tired or needed help.

What's next:
I can't run for at least 6-weeks (I can barely walk - the IV drip made me so puffy my legs have turned to stay puff legs and my feet water balloons). I get 6-weeks off work to "hang" with the boys and am then working from home for 6-months. My mom is helping in August and we have just the best friends EVER coming by to help and volunteering.

To be continued...