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?

last summer hoorah

even though austin can stay balmy throughout the month of october, we took advantage of today to have our last official summer fling. with our family traveling to D.C. next weekend, followed up with halloween, this will probably be our last trip to the neighborhood pool. the boys got all decked out in their board shorts and hawaiian shirts (thanks lee-lee!) and showed everyone how to celebrate the last days of summer in style. sorry to make all you cold weather readers jealous - it was a fantastic 87 degrees today!

oz-man waves goodbye to summer

abie loves the pool!

ozzy scopes out abie's bumble bee, sees his in to snatch

oz scores the bee and abie wonders "what the heck just happened?"

abie gets said bee back and oz busts a move

oz says, "catch ya' later, summer!"

morning play

now-a-days i take the boys to the playground every morning. it's a convenient in-between destination on our daily neighborhood walk. they love it...especially on the weekends when dad is with us! the boys tried out the swings for the first time this weekend and abie has a special fondness for the back-and-forth. the boy just can't stop smiling! i'm also teaching them the art of walking the balance beam. next week's lesson - cartwheels!

new toys

oz modeling the new sherpa leather hat scored for two bucks at consigment

even ally cat gets in on the new toy action

abie models new hat, overalls nana got in cali and onesie from lee-lee

my achin' back

now i know why my arms, shoulders and back have been aching so bad lately...we weighed the boys today and wowsas! i was surprised when abie weighed in at 17lb12oz but then oz tipped the scales at 18lb1oz. i knew they were feeling a lot heavier, but i really didn't expect them to weigh this much. where did my little guys go?!?

i know i get stronger as they get bigger, but this seems like a lot even for me to carry around! i hold them at the same time ALL THE TIME, and the realization that they're getting close to 40lbs total is mind-blowing. fellow twin parents will understand the different logistics of carrying around two babies. i pick them both up and put them in/take them out of:

- their high chairs (hard! one foot has to hold one down while i buckle the other in)
- their stroller (easy, but becomes more difficult when i have to open the garage door with my foot hoisted 4 feet in the air because i have 40 lbs of babies in my arms)
- their cribs (easy w/ the mattress in its highest position - it's becoming necessary to lower it and so this will get monumentally harder once that happens)
- their car seats (this is actually a lot easier now because they both can grab and hold onto my shoulders while i lift them out)
- the arm chair where they nurse (this is actually the hardest to get them situated because of getting the monster U-shaped pillow around me while they are trying to crawl over me to get to the end table)

i'm not quite sure how much longer all this will last. probably not much more, now that oz is quite the crawler and abie is on his way. it will be nice when both boys can just follow me into the kitchen! before this all comes to an end, i want to document all the crazy things i have learned to do while holding two babies. most of these have become obsolete, but at one point i have to say i even amazed myself at how resourceful i was (and i'm sure jordan can also say at one point he was proficient at these things as well!).

- picking up burp clothes from the floor with my toes and kicking them up to my shoulders/hands/head/wherever it landed!
- holding both boys with one arm while leaning over crib to pick up binkies with my free hand
- making and warming up two bottles!
- bouncing on the stability ball (we learned this one real quick when they were little)
- answering the phone (only when i could see the caller ID and it was someone i wanted to talk to)
- checking email
- getting the mail at the end of the driveway (only did once - so not worth it)

so all you twin parents out there, we'd love to hear all your crazy accomplishments while holding both your babes. it's something to be very proud of...even prouder of the fact that no babies were (hopefully) ever dropped along the way!

big eight brothers

happy eight month birthday, abie and ozzy!

man, do you guys keep us on our toys! oz has been crawling for over a week now and keeps getting faster and venturing farther. he loves to stand and grabs my shoulders to pull himself up. abie is more into the fine motor skills and is mastering a clap with his hands and is also waving now. he's working diligently on the big "c" and makes good progress every day. he commandos real well but won't be content until he masters the technically-accurate version.

oz and abe are sorting out their relationship constantly. on our walk yesterday, i popped to the front of their stroller to say hello and found them holding hands! of course, later that day abie screamed in frustration/anger as his brother grabbed the flash card out of his hand and proceeded to crawl on top of him. i don't think i need to tell you which boy is the aggressive one!




the best way to describe life with the boys at this point is a non-stop rollercoaster ride. we have stretches of incredible days, little to no fussiness, just happiness and laughs all around. and just when we start to get lulled into complacency - wham! we get slammed with several days of, for lack of a better word, funk. early mornings, crappy naps, crabby boys and ultra-tired/stressed parents. those pearly whites have still yet to make their grand entrance and the boys are chewing on those fingers (and everything else!) more than ever. and while i hate to blame bad days on teething, i can't think of what else it could be. this week we've had a busy social calendar and the boys have melted down on two occasions (misery loves company). tomorrow we are hosting a huge play group. there will be 8 moms/dads and 9 kiddos. holy moly...cross your fingers the boys snap out of their social slump by tomorrow!

it's so hard to believe that eight months have passed. our neighbors had a little girl 9 days ago and we stopped by to drop off some dinner and see their beautiful bundle. i was really taken aback by how tiny she was (6lb and change) - and to think, the boys were even smaller than she was! i remember when i didn't think they would ever be big boys. well, they looked like monsters compared to her!

so with that...happy birthday our wonderful, crazy, jubilant, crabby, funny, fussy, giddy, curious, happy, beautiful boys. you are the joys of our lives, yuck and glory all the same, and we love you with all our hearts!


out of the way - here i come!


budding designer...ozzy reads dwell


abie's notorious smile!


abie practicing his crawl (they love to chase the formula can!)

lunchtime laughs

as i've said before, abie is our resident ham. and when he puts his antics on pause, it's only long enough to laugh himself silly. what can i say...the boy knows how to have fun!

weekend with lee-lee

we are all very sad to see the wonderful weekend with my mom (aka lee-lee) come to a close. the boys had so much fun playing with their grandma and showing her all their new tricks (crawling, pulling up to a stand, eating like horses, sitting in high chairs in restaurants, etc.). and lee-lee gave j and i one of the best presents ever - on saturday she watched the boys while the two of us spent the day at the glorious crossings spa! we swam in the infinity pool overlooking the balcones canyonlands, basked in the sun, went for a hike, swam some more, and capped it all off with a couples watsu massage (water massage). we honestly felt like we were on vacation and couldn't believe we were only 20 minutes away from our house for 5 hours! j and i came home feeling like different people, and the boys loved every minute of having their lee-lee all to themselves while we were gone. grandmas really do have the magic touch - oz napped for 2.25 hours and abie 1.5 hours for lee-lee! there were non-stop smiles and laughs in our house this weekend...we'll miss you lee-lee!

man's best friend

pictures really do say a thousand words...

enough said.

i heart costco

i used to HATE big-box stores. actually, capitals on the word hate doesn't even convey how much i despised these places. they're eye sores, they overconsume space, they hurt local economies, they perpetuate bad urban planning, they always have terrible florescent lighting that hurts my eyes, etc. several years back i vowed i would never shop at one of these atrocities.

i eat my words.

i love costco for so many reasons. their prices, their organics, their proximity to my house. but the best reason is because their carts have a spot for two kiddos! i no longer have to lug the snap-n-go out of the car and then somehow manuever it, plus an oversized shopping cart, through the gargantuan store. and the boys LOVE IT!

today we strolled in and i noticed ozzy put his arm around abie. it was adorable. he kept it there for like 3 minutes and before i knew it he was on to consuming my coupon book. i thought to myself, what a sweet, fleeting gesture...but then, low and behold, abie puts his arm around ozzy.

forget about i heart costco. ozzy hearts abie. abie hearts ozzy. but i heart my boys the most!

oskar in nana's shower cap