Sweet Mati

Check out my new post about Matilda over at How Do You Do It!

stats stat

i know this is going to sound strange, but we had an awesome well check today. the boys seemed to really enjoy the whole experience. well, up until they got three vaccines, but 45 seconds later they were back to enjoying themselves again. they dug everything about the dr's office, especially the running train in the waiting room. can we just say, "happy feet!!!" abel had to announce to the world that there was a train...for like 10 minutes straight.

the guys were pronounced healthy and just doing fantastic with all the things that 18 month old (going on 19 in two days!) toddlers are supposed to be doing (including the head banging). doc hudson was particularly impressed with how muscular oskar's quads are (?????), and said he had little mallets for feet. let's just say that jordan is still beaming with pride. so not to make you think we have beefy knuckleheads for children, the doc was also impressed with how they look and interact with books, put puzzles together, etc.

the four of us left the office with smiles on our faces, especially the boys who got two new superballs from the doctor. this place knows how to do it right!

i'll leave you with their weights and measures:

abel
32 inches tall (36%)
25lb 2oz (36%)
19 inches (61%)

ozzy
32 inches tall
25lb 6oz
19 inches

and their secret revealed for such strong quads (it's all about the pillow position):

the crying game

we celebrated four years of marriage yesterday. just like my time with the boys, jordan's and my life together feels like forever and newly minted at the same time. time warps when you're with people you love more than anything. but i digress.

jordan has issues when it comes to presents. he just can't keep a secret. he get's so uber-excited to give the gift, that he ends up giving me clues that i can easily guess. i think i've guessed his presents for 95 percent of our celebrations together, ruining any "surprise" factor for both of us. oh, and i love surprises. there just isn't much better than being totally blown away.

i thought i had jordan's anniversary gift for me pegged this time. in fact, i had the idea of getting him a meyer lemon tree (the theme is fruit/flowers this year), which i thought was so brilliant, but then after some of his clues i thought for sure he was getting me the tree. so much so that i came up with a different gift.

yesterday morning arrived, and in typical gift giving fashion in our house, we made the exchange first thing (because j just can't wait!). i opened two beautifully framed pictures of oskar and abel, so wonderful because our home is sorely lacking images of our boys on the walls. and then i hear, "oh wait! i almost forgot about this other present!" and he comes from the guest room with a big box. i didn't see it coming.

i opened the box and, bewildered, pulled out a behemoth of a book, bound in brown suede and weighing, easily, twenty pounds. what the heck! i started flipping through the pages, seeing images and moments captured that made my heart race, melt and sing. our wedding! and the tears started flowing as i realized what my husband had done.

we had a very budget-conscious wedding in a very wallet-unfriendly city. a true city wedding in chicago is just astronomical and there's no easy way to get around it. we somehow managed to do it by getting very creative and enlisting every friend and family member who could help us accomplish elements of our day. judith did all our flowers and all we had to pay was the wholesale cost ($600 for $5k worth of beautiful arrangements!); dana made our gorgeous cake as our present (best. cake. ever.); geno designed our invitations; the burns' family donated beer from their microbrewery; our friends who owned our neighborhood wine shop got us all our wine at cost; my mom sewed the chuppah. it really was an amazing display of all our loved one's talents and made our day more special and meaningful then we could have imagined. and they made our wedding possible for the budget we were working with.

of course, we also made some sacrifices, and a wedding album was one of them. it was an easy $2k to scratch off the budget. i envisioned myself creating an album, something i could really love and cherish because my energy and inspiration would have crafted it. well, after four years, it's fallen way down my to-do list. i think about it all the time, though. our box of proofs sits right next to the computer after all. but nary a negative has been scanned (our wedding was our photographer's last event shot in film!).

our photographer, who is also a friend, had an album made from our wedding photos to show as an example to potential customers. it's gorgeous. and totally deluxe. and we've known about it's existence for nearly four years. our mom's even inquired about buying it from him a few years back, but to no avail. it's a $2,500 album after all; i wouldn't give it up either!

somehow, the timing was right this year. kevin sent it off to jordan and all he requested was for him to cover the shipping costs. he said the album needed to be with us now. it's where it belonged. i finally have a wedding album, and it's absolutely stunning.

so jordan's goal was to really get me with this present, so much so that i might shed a tear. well, you did it honey. you are the best. thank you so very much.

just because

the dog bed is the coolest new reading nook.

or place to have a literary snack...

abel looks like he just got off the cruise ship after being crowned shuffle board champ!

and proving that being carried like a baby is cooler than ozzy's new reading nook.

the games people play

we have a few signature games that we play with the boys that never cease to entertain and send them into hysterics. of course, it never ceases to amaze me the weird things we will do to provoke their hysterics. i know this is a long montage, but i figure it makes up for the lack of video and posts lately!

when two blogs collide

this is the story of when two blogs collide. if i thought that never in a million years i would have twins, then i definitely thought that never in a zillion years would i get to meet my on-line blogging buddy who has twin boys one day older than mine. oh, and did i mention that she lives in alaska? ALASKA! many of you twin blog readers are familiar with the adventures of carrie, brook, finn and reid. it's a fabulous blog - for carrie's hysterical stories, honesty and wit; for glimpsing into a family who lives in a far off distant land; for seeing brook's zanny faces and antics with the boys; but mainly for all the fabulous pics of the adorable duo, finn and reid. carrie and i have grown to be great friends, all over the computer, from before our boys were born. when these four boys entered the world, our bond grew stronger as we all navigated the delirious months of caring for newborns. as everyone grew and developed, struggled and achieved, i had a compadre who knew exactly what i was going through and could commiserate, rejoice and give me lots of great advice.

this past weekend was more fun than i can describe. my jaw hurt from talking so much with someone i had never met yet felt like i had known my whole life. we spent a whole day at the spa on saturday (thanks honey!), hiked, swam, got thai massages, got sunburns, drank margaritas on lake travis, ate yummy tex-mex, took the boys on their first mini-train ride, and took countless walks in 100+ degrees. it was awesome. and when she left on sunday night, i was seriously bummed and missed the heck out of her.

the only downer to the whole visit was not getting to meet brook, finn and reid, although i feel like we know them a lot better now. somehow i know this won't be the last time we see carrie, and i bet the next time will include the entire gang, all eight of us. and hopefully there will be lots of hiking, swimming, awesome mexican food and margaritas. oh, and two days for the moms at the spa next time! thank you carrie, for coming to austin on your "side" trip from denver. thank you brook for watching the boys. and thank you especially finn and reid for letting mom have a little vacation (well, as much as a vacation it can be when you're staying in a house with another set of twins!). we love you and miss you carrie!!!