All my animals

Cameron likes to put things on his head and walk around. Yes, that's my child.



I went to get the mail and walked back into this. Evan, sitting in the sunshine and loving on his buddy Nutsy the Squirrel.






Later on in the day it was very quiet when I came back from the bathroom, which is never a good sign. This is what I found... Cameron getting into trouble by climbing on his activity table to experiment with the miniblinds.


NEW WORDS

Octopus








Penguin Says Doobee Doobee Doo! - Courtesy of Budweiser Beer








Ho Ho Ho (and Mama and Daddy caught on video!)

Santa!

This was an amazing experience, despite the fact that it took three hours of preparation, no morning nap (though I tried my hardest to get them down they refused), four poopy diapers, two different vomit episodes, three and a half outfit changes and a second cup of coffee to get out of the house and in the car by 10am.

I had no intentions of taking the boys to meet Santa today while Christmas shopping, but there was no one waiting in line. I figured I could at least push the stroller up the ramp and let them meet Jolly St. Nick up close and see what kind of reaction we'd get. If there seemed fear or hesitation I would just keep it short and move along. And at first the boys weren't sure if they liked this guy in red and white. They were bashful and only Evan was willing to smile but refused to look at Santa. Cameron just stared at him with a frown. But this Santa was the best one ever, really nice, soft spoken and very understanding that the boys might be afraid of him. He got down on eye level for them and really sweet talked them asked all kinds of questions and we spent about 5min just chatting. This might even be the actual Santa, he had a really fantastic "Ho Ho Ho!" too.

Evan really warmed up to him and Cameron was just too tired to give a reaction of any kind. We wished Santa a Merry Christmas and started down the exit ramp and then Evan started to cry and get really upset. He didn't want to leave Santa. Cameron wouldn't take his eyes off of him, and when we made our way back around to where the line should be (there was still no one there) he started flapping his arms and got excited to see Santa again. So back up the ramp we went and I plopped the boys on Santa's waiting lap for this photo. Cameron wasn't thrilled with the Elf photographer and really just needed a nap, but Evan thought she was hilarious. Good times were had by all today.

Here are some pics from earlier this week of the boys wearing their super-mini toddler sized feeding pump backpacks. They can't wear them with the ice packs in because that's just too much weight, fully loaded it's about 1lb 7oz and just uncomfortable enough to make them upset. But when you take the ice pack out they're fine for about 30min. They must stay in a smaller area though because they like to run whenever possible and are practicing running on their toes which shifts their center too far forward and we've had quite a few spills and head bonkings.

I couldn't have said it better.

The Duggars have been in the news this week because Michelle Duggar had her baby at 25 weeks gestation. That's three weeks earlier than Cameron and Evan. There's so much I could say about this. But honestly, my good friend Trish at the blog "Fertile Hope" is a much better writer and I couldn't agree more. I just hope that the Duggers can find the strength to share some of their experience with the world and hopefully help people understand more about Prematurity Awareness.

http://fertilehope.blogspot.com/

Wow! Said the Owl

Cameron:
All this kid does is talk. Talk. Talk. Talk. And I think I'm understanding him about 10% of the time which is pretty good.

Yellow - Lellow
Purple - Puh-pa
Blue - Beyhew
Green - Geeh
Pee-ew - as in "that smells stinky" accompanied by a waving hand in front of the nose
Hi - with a wave (finally, this took forever)
Plane or Airplane - Payne or Ah-payne followed by a shushing sound and waving his hand to imitate the plane flying overhead.
Bubbles - plural with an "s" at the end, before it was just bubble
Owl - complete with Whoo whoo sound
Hooty - Whoo-ey the name of his stuffed owl.
Please - Peese
Pretty - Peh-ie
Apple Tree - Ah-phul Twee

Evan:
He's not saying much specifically but he babbles a lot and is really exploring the sounds he can make with his mouth. He is very insistent when he wants something and will either grab your hand and make you do imitate an action that he wants (ie. rub his head, point to a picture, make a gesture) or he will bring his favorite book and shove it repeatedly into you, even drop it on our head if he needs to. His favorite books are Wow! Said the Owl and Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo.

Pee-ew - with waving hand in front of nose. Yes, this one is popular in our house.
Whoo Whoo - this applies to the sound an owl makes as well as a choo-choo train.
Eek eek - the sound his stuffed squirrel Nutsy makes.

Today Cameron felt that the television remote control needed to take a dip in the water bowl. Guess I'm off to Comcast for a new remote control.

Bubbles inside.

The sun is streaming in the windows on this beautiful 62 degree day. Evan is still napping but Cameron is watching me sweep up the floor. Suddenly he starts yelling "BUBBLES! BUBBLES! BUBBLES!" I see no bubbles. I take a step towards him and get down on my knees to see what he's pointing at so excitedly and realize he sees the dust particles floating in the sunshine. Bubbles indeed.

Happy Thanksgiving 2009 **Updated Pics**

So Proud!

Today Cameron was discharged from physical therapy through the Early Intervention Infants & Toddlers program. He's performing his gross motor skills at an 18mos old level, which is within normal range for a kid of 19mos old actual age and he was labeled at that developmental stage only because he was refusing to demonstrate his ability to go down the stairs on hands and knees. He was only interested in going upstairs to empty out his dresser drawers. His therapist even gave him a diploma. I'm so proud.

Evan has advanced a great deal in the last month and actually goes down the stairs better than Cameron but still has to show that he can twist at the waist and improve his muscle tone just a bit more which only takes time and experience. The therapists estimation is that she will be discharging Evan with in the next month or two. Now that only one boy is getting PT services we will only be seeing our PT on a monthly basis and that's only because he just needs time to figure things out and practice them.

I'm such a proud Mommy. I never thought this day would come and here it finally is. Whew!

Here are some pictures from our weekend trip to ICE! at the Gaylord National Hotel in the Washington National Harbor.

The boys riding forward facing for the very first time. So big!





The hotel provided parkas for everyone to wear, but the boys were too little so we wrapped them up in the parkas. Evan was NOT happy about wearing the hat, gloves and parka, but once we got in to the ice sculpture displays he was a happier camper. Sort of.


Treating Granny Cathy to a 9 degree day before she flies off to toasty Las Vegas.
















Which way to Santa's Castle?



Hey Uncle Mike! What do penguins say? Doo-be doo-be doo....










There are four two story ice luge slides that you can slide down. They are pretty fast and the ice is so cold you don't get wet.











This teddy bear is about 9' tall and maybe 6'wide.


To give you an idea of how big this angel Gabriel is....


... Check out the size of the lady that walked into my picture. She's about my height 5'5".







This little street is inside the Atrium at the Gaylor Hotel and at night there is an indoor snow fall, a professional choir, and a light show.



This tree was hung from the rafters of the Atrium dome in the Gaylord Hotel and is completely made of glass. When the sun would shine the tree glows a bright green.









Evan did not enjoy the live music at Pot Belly's. He put is fingers in his ears.