i wanna hold your hand

oskar LOVES to hold abie's hand, especially in the stroller. abie tolerates it, at best. oz is so single-minded, and quite forceful about it - he must have abel's hand at all cost. he will grab it, pull on abel's sleeve, collar, etc. abie puts up a good fight. if only abel wanted oz to hold his hand, it would be so sweet!

torture

lately jordan and i are all about torturing our boys. like pow-interrogation style. we figure it's never too early to teach these guys about the harsh realities of life and toughen them up. i'm actually thinking about sending these ideas to our CIA and different branches of the armed forces, we've found them THAT effective!

here is our step-by-step guide to making your child-prisoner truly miserable:

1. change their diaper - oh my gosh, this one works so well. especially if you force them to lay on their backs during the change. well, force is a tricky word. those lil' buggers are strong and resistant these days, despite of all the torture going on, and usually manage to either roll and crawl or get to a stand somehow. don't let their smiles of satisfaction fool you. torture can be just as effective when diapering in alternative positions.

2. put on a shirt or onesie over-the-head - this one can illicit blood-curdling screams if done just right. combined with tight-cuffed sleeves and you've got yourself several minutes worth of pure misery.

3. wipe face after meal of gruel - well, we're not barbarians over here. the gruel is homemade at least, and our prisoner-children seem to enjoy it. which makes the torture that much more effective! the boys are lulled into content and then - whamo - torture with the warm, wet paper towel. misery is amplified if gruel is sticky (i.e. prunes) and requires some effort to get off face. misery is tripled if said towel is wet with tepid or cold water. torture reaches code-red when technique is paired with a rousing-round of "little red caboose."

there you have it! my guess is it will take another month or two for these techniques to really sink in and harden our kids. there is no limit to our creativity, however. i'm confident we will adapt and develop ever more brutal torture for them to endure.

the road to freedom

now that the boys are 9 months, i have to admit i've been thinking a lot about how this whole weaning thing is going to happen. i'm definitely committed to nursing these dudes until one year (give or take a few weeks, or months!). i mean, we've made it this far, through all the misery and crying and reflux and anti-latching and crying (it deserves two mentions) and bouncing on the stability ball while nursing (i'm serious with this one!) and mastitis and plugged ducts...need i go one?! twelve months minimum is what it is, given what it took to get these guys to actually nurse effectively, let alone ENJOY it! we've got it down though, and have since about 4 months, and now our days are punctuated by roughly 5 "sessions," each about 10 minutes tops. not bad.

this weekend i made the bold and totally compulsive decision to eliminate my end-of-the-day pump. j and i watched "the letters of iwo jima" (excellent flic) and got through about half of "death proof" (not so excellent) when the time came for me to pump. j always conveniently reminds me, and then it takes me about 15-20 minutes to actually bring myself to do it. it's like the chore you absolutely hate to do and have to talk yourself into. it was then and there that i decided i would much rather go to bed, and screw the pumping! the boys DON'T need the extra milk mixed into their oatmeal every day. sure, it might taste better, but who cares?! and so i skipped it. it was that easy. and i skipped it the day after. and the day after that. and that's that!

the pump is still conveniently sitting next to the computer, should i decide in some moment of insanity (or engorged boobs) that i need to use it again. but for now, i think i'm done with it. and trust me, this is a celebration that deserves a big night out on the town for. because at one point i interacted more with the pump than with my husband. like nine times a day more. and i know many of you reading this post right now are saying "amen, sister!" jordan and i are trying to line up a babysitter as we speak so we can celebrate appropriately. but my relationship to this pump is definitely bittersweet, and i have to pat it on the back for getting me through this. for if it not for the pump, i wouldn't have been able to do the past 9 months. my kiddos would have never gotten mom's milk in the first place. and for that i will always be grateful to that damn machine. as you can see, i love it and i hate it.

so with that, i have made my first step on the road to freedom. freedom from tubes and flanges, freedom from what looks like an innocent backpack, freedom from that constant droning motor, freedom from the porno tube top. and ultimately freedom from these two beautiful little men who still own my body...for the time being.

p.s. i need to give a grateful shout-out to my dear friend dana who, if it were not for her letting me borrow her pump, i would not be writing this today. this pump has walked a million miles, girlfriend, and i owe you big-time. xo.

one two punch

ozzy got his first tooth this morning and by noon his second one had come in, too! nothing like getting it over with in one felt swoop. way to go, oz!

first word

i became a puddle of mush today. i was doing dishes while jordan was playing on the kitchen floor with the boys. abel was sitting on jordan's lap and he started fussing and making motions towards me. all of a sudden he reached his hands up and said, "mama mama." i dropped everything and ran to him, picked him up and gave him so many kisses.

that first word is just unbelievable. i still keep wondering if it was all a coincidence. jordan thinks it was as intentional as you can get. does it really matter, though? it was pure magic.

morning coffee

oz has the morning routine down pat. he takes his coffee with a shot of espresso and extra foam (breast milk, of course!). no wonder these dudes don't like to nap!

i spy

our day isn't complete without a peek (or two) into the boys' room while they are sleeping. there is honestly nothing like creeping into their room and gazing down into their cribs. my heart and my brain say, "those are MY babies in there sleeping...oh my gosh, look at how they are sleeping with their butts sticking way up in the air!...i wish i could just nuzzle and snuzzle them right now...or maybe take a big bite of their bellies!...how did i get so lucky...they are just so darn beautiful."

we've had some pretty hysterical moments tip-toeing around their room, too. i guess our guys fall on the "light" end of the sleeping spectrum, a trait they definitely inherited from their father (i can sleep through a herd of cattle running next to me). as we've been peering down, straining to see our sweet ones in the darkness, all of a sudden one (or both!) start stretching, rolling, making noises, etc. i wish i had a hidden camera to watch j and i duck down on the floor and hand-signal to each other what our plan of escape will be. we've actually crawled out of their room a few times!

even with these close calls, i doubt our spying will end anytime soon.

nine month stats

doc hudson was quite impressed with our boys' growth curve today:

abie
18lb 13oz
27.5 inches
head: 17 3/4

ozzy
19lb 6oz
27.5 inches
head: 17 3/4

they've crossed several percentage lines from their 6mo, jumping from the 10th percentile to 25% for weight and 50% for height and head. yay boys!

j and i have a tradition of trying to guess their weights before the appt. we were both pretty close this time, but i pegged ozzy as a 20lber, mainly because he just feels so much heavier than abie. it's funny what a difference 9 oz makes on your biceps!

other news...the doc saw a tooth bud ready to pop out of ozzy's gum. he gave it 48 hours. looks like we'll have a little stumpy white in oz's mouth soon, too!

morning with abel

pooh and tigger

nine out

the boys celebrated their nine month birthday today with grandpa mickey and aunt paige who came in from san fransisco for the weekend. the weather has been gorgeous in austin - cool in the mornings and evenings and mid-70s and blue skies during the day. perfect!

the boys celebrated today with a visit to the playground and pond and general fun with grandpa and paige. mr. abie has been suffering big time with a tooth (or two) coming in, so he got LOTS of mom-time today. and ozzy capitalized on this by spending tons of time yanking and eating paige's hair, and playing follow the leader with her.

happy birthday, silverboys!

vertical pleasures

oz-man's new perspective on life.

so much so fast

the boys are heading into their nine month birthday at the end of this week and all i can say is "holy moly!" things are rapidly changing around here. it seems like just a few weeks ago things were peaceful and quiet and then WHAM.

in a matter of days, ozzy is zooming around the house, standing on anything and everything, cruising on furniture, and it now takes at least 30 minutes to get him down for a nap because he MUST BE STANDING. and i thought rolling was an obsession for him at 3.5 months. that was nothing! oz continues to be the pickier eater of the two, mainly he declines vegetables. but he's voracious when it comes to his fruit and cereal and has even become adventurous with some finger foods. he can feed himself a "puff" but then gags on it (scary and funny!), and yesterday he tried my lomein noodles and loved them. oz is a bit reserved when it comes to strangers and gives them a skeptical look at first. he quickly warms up and then reaches out for whomever intrigues him. he loves the ladies who do the samples at costco! ozzy is a master raspberry blower and makes really cute, high pitched, "eh, eh" noises. if you imitate him, he'll imitate back and you can have a wild conversation for a few minutes.

where oz is a bit reserved, abie is an absolute flirt. he's more social then all of us combined! he'll smile and coo at strangers and when they stop to talk, he'll wave his arms up and down with the hugest grin you've ever seen. abie is the master at fine motor skills. he's been practicing clapping for a few weeks now and mastered it over the weekend. and it's not just a clap motion - he smacks those hands together and gets a good noise from it! he waves to people and he also has a good pincer grasp. abel is our communicator and will babble on for hours with his mamababararadadas. he LOVES toys that rattle or jingle and will often play with maracas or objects that shake in both hands. he has mastered getting into a sitting position independently and pulls himself to a stand easily from a sit. his crawl is slow and he still does a lot of inch-worming - which is fine by me! i almost think he might start scooting on his butt because he does this funny bobbing action while he's sitting and can really move! abie is a great eater. he's like mikey - he'll gobble up absolutely anything, including the veggies his brother refuses. his trademark noise is the lip smack. he smacks 'em when he's hungry, but also when he's tired. he also does this really high-pitched bird noise which is to die for.

the boys are in a great place as far as their relationship goes. we had some issues with ozzy stealing and abie getting upset, but abie has become much more assertive the past few weeks and will stand his ground. they smile and laugh at each other. they hold hands regularly in the stroller or in the shopping cart. they climb on top of one another. and they seem genuinely concerned when their brother is upset. the boys love to run errands with me - they just like being out and about. they definitely get a little stir crazy if they are inside for too long. they also LOVE being outside and are content to just hang out on the blanket or grass laughing at matilda, playing with leaves, or being mesmerized by the wind blowing through the trees. now that's a good life!

maraca madness

da toof is in the house!

after an uneventful night, our lil' abie sprouted his first tooth today! it's been so uneventful, in fact, we didn't know it was coming until i caught a glimpse of it cutting the gum yesterday. it's funny because he had more teething symptoms three months ago then recently. goes to show you! we'll post a pic of his stubby white as soon as we can. yay abie!

our nation's capitol

one week ago today we set out for our capitol city adventure. our reason for traveling was my good friend anne's wedding - the anne who swore she would NEVER EVER get married. of course she's been with pete, one out of a handful of the sweetest guys on the planet, for almost 15 years now. she finally caved in and we had to be there to celebrate the occasion. it was an intimate, touching and joyful celebration set in the gorgeous mccrillis gardens in bethesda. here we all are with the beautiful couple:

the next day the couple hosted an awesome picnic at a farm out in the country. the weather couldn't have been more perfect - 70 and not a cloud in the sky - and the boys were thrilled to romp around on the soft grass (our texas grass is a thick, course bermuda variety). ozzy crawled from person to person and used laps and legs as a launch pad for showing off his standing skills. at one point he took off crawling - 10 feet, then 20 and 30 feet away. we couldn't figure out where he was going and then we realized he was chasing his shadow! our wonderful friend jeannie and her family came in from seattle for the festivities and we loved every second we got to spend with them. here's oz-man, jeannie and her beautiful clone (i mean daughter) elise:

monday was jamp-packed with site seeing in d.c. proper. both jordan and i had been to d.c. as kids, but had very little recollection of seeing the monuments. and while we usually take the roads less traveled (and our style is usually to tour the 'hoods instead of the obvious sites), we both felt compelled to see the mall. we were pretty overwhelmed with the, er, monumentality of it all. and the boys received an unprecedented amount of attention. we could hardly walk 5 feet without someone stopping to talk to the boys. and they indulged all their new friends, most of them elder tourists, with their trademark smiles.

the elevator was out at the lincoln memorial so we took turns running the boys up the stairs to see the giant statue. here's jordan's favorite picture - some guy captured j and abie but only managed to get lincoln's feet in the picture!

we took a rest next to the reflecting pool, fed the boys their lunch and gave them some room to move.

next stop was the willard hotel for a delicious al fresco lunch with our friend jamie. the willard boasts so many important moments, including where MLK finished his "i have a dream" speech, as well as where the word "lobbyist" was coined. oz decided it was the perfect spot to practice his table dancing skills.

after lunch we decided to take a drive to mount vernon, the home of george and martha washington. we were blown away with the beauty of the property - doesn't get much better than to hug the potomac. we were less impressed with the plastic ham displayed on george's dining table. the boys loved playing in george's backyard.

the finale to our three perfect days in d.c. was a not-so-perfect 2.5 hour traffic jam on our way back to the hotel and during the boys' bedtime. i did the cardinal sin and took the boys out of their car seats to nurse (not at the same time, don't worry!). we were barely moving so what's the worst that could happen. that and 45 minutes of ridiculous versions of "row, row, row your boat" helped the boys keep it together. we finally made it back to the hotel at 7:30pm, whisked the boys to bed and jordan and i relaxed with a strong caphirina. ahhh...now that's a perfect ending.

flying monkeys

last weekend we took a glorious trip to washington d.c. for a friend's wedding. i have to say i was pretty darn concerned about flying with the boys now that they are so mobile. they blew away our expectations and were content as could be both there and back! we were lucky ducks on the way home and had an entire row to ourselves. the boys got a serious kick out of having seats to themselves and took full advantage of the extra room. jordan and i were excited that we nailed our travel set-up. we didn't want the boys to be confined to their car seats in the airport and we wanted to have our side-by-side stroller with us for site seeing in the city, so we bungeed the car seats and bases to the combi stroller and carried the boys in the ergos. it made traveling a breeze! i'll post lots of pics and details from the trip soon. the battery on our digital camera went kaput on our first site in d.c. so we had to buy a disposable and are waiting for the prints. until then - here are the boys having a blast with dad on the plane.

abie's day

today was a big day for our abie j. he crawled AND he pulled up on me and furniture into a stand! his smile while doing these things is so huge...you can tell how proud of himself he is. with these big changes, the dynamic between him and oz changed instantaneously. oz had been, more or less, bullying abie a bit. he just knew what he wanted and he was able to get it, whether that meant crawling over abie or ripping it out of his hand to get it! abie all of a sudden has become mister assertive and today was crawling and rolling on top of oz man and taking his toys!!! at one point, i reffed a crib wrestling match for about 5 minutes. they are having a blast together, giggling and squealing at one another, and not more than 1 minute after breaking up their match today they were snuggling and laughing.

here is abie getting his crawl on

oz is getting really good at pulling himself into a stand on just about everything. today he discovered he can climb on top of, and over, matilda. you can see that matilda is really bothered by all of this!

paranoid freak

my subconscious has a nasty way of playing tricks on me. at least once a night - and sometimes twice - i wake up patting the covers, pillows, and even jordan, looking for my babies. i am convinced they are in bed with us and are smothered in the plethora of fluff on our bed. and it's funny because the "fluff" equals a sheet, a blanket and two pillows. but i guess compared to their sparse accommodations consisting of a white fitted sheet and a 12 inch square open knit blanket (SIDS approved, thank you), our bed is pretty darn cozy. each and every time i wake up, the boys are sleeping soundly and silently in their cribs. but every single night (and i mean EVERY NIGHT) my subconscious thinks otherwise. it's starting to annoy poor jordan, and i truly feel bad and apologize profusely when i realize what i'm doing. but honestly, i can't help myself! is this some weird transition my brain is making now that i am a mother? my protective instincts rearing their heads while i'm trying to relax and we're all most vulnerable? am i some kind of paranoid freak?