With the weather being as cold as it has been, I haven't gotten the boys out of the house for much of anything.  Actually we've stayed in all week.  I took them to Grandma's last weekend for a sleep over, which went really well, and we've stayed in since then.
We decided, since Milo gets off work early on Fridays, we would take the boys out to view the Christmas lights in the surrounding neighborhoods in the evening.  That way we'd be out early enough for it to just be getting dark and not stay out too late for the boys to get too tired.  It worked out really well.  Milo got home, ran some errands and was got home just as the boys were finishing dinner.  We scurried out of the house and started driving.  We wondered if they'd be interested or if they'd even be able to see much from their carseats.  They could see and we're very interested.
It was actually one of the few times that Liam hasn't fallen asleep in the car.  He can fall asleep in the car at any time.  Right after he gets up from a nap even!  He's like his daddy... car = sleep.  However he stayed awake the entire time, pointing and 'talking' about the lights.  Coen did more observing, than commenting but seemed to really enjoy it too.

We went last year, when they were just little guys.  They probably slept in the car.. I can't remember.  (Mommy brain has taken hold of me and isn't letting go!) 
I'm hoping to make it a yearly tradition.  Especially when you visit the same houses year after year and see how much things have changed.  One house in particular is just amazing.  If we venture out again, I'll take my camera and snap a pic.  I've never seen a house so well decorated with lights.  It makes me want to see the inside and how wonderful it must look!

The boys have been sick the past 2 weeks with the same cold from Thanksgiving.  It was almost completely gone about a week ago and it came back again and now appears to almost be gone again.  Let's hope this is the end of this icky cold.  In the past 2 weeks time I've gone through 2 full kleenex boxes, 2 partial boxes and half a pack of boogie wipes.  I thought diapers were bad, but I've gone through tons of tissues in such a short time!  Enough about boogies.

They're still finding new things to climb on.  One day, I will find Liam in his crib.  Yes, in his crib.  He's closer to climbing in than climbing out, however we have moved the mattresses to the lowest position as a precaution.
Liam is learning to run now so they like to chase each other through the house. 
They're also starting to learn to listen a little better.  Sometime situations are better than others, but I'm glad they're finally listening on a more consistent basis.

Liam's tooth finally poked through although it's not fully in yet.  It appears that the teething game is in full swing though.  He is non-stop drooling and non-stop fussing. 
The past few days he will actually come when you call him.  He still likes to try and make it a game, but we've been working on coming when we call him which is nice.
No more new words really.  Just the same sounds for everything.  Iss, at, dat, das, dut, da.. and what sounds like 'yes'.  It's really cute, I can ask him a question and he'll say 'yes'.  Whether or not he's really saying yes or he understands what I'm saying is disputable, but it's still super cute.  Occasionally he would sound out 'mo' for 'more', but those days are done apparently.


Coen doesn't appear to be teething again, but he's picked up on some of the fussiness that Liam is oozing so the past few days have been interesting to say the least. 
He's combined his words for yogurt and cookie to gukguk.  So I now understand gukguk to be a snack.  He hasn't really picked up on any new words, just like Liam, he'll use the same sounds for everything.  He has picked back up on saying 'da' for done.

Since Milo's work schedule changed, so has their bedtime routine.  Mondays and Tuesdays I do the bedtime routine by myself (bath, dressed, milk, story, then bed).  Milo typically gets home either after they're in bed or just in time to put them down to bed.  On those days Uncle Oliver will help put them to bed, but I still do the story time and milk by myself.  So on those days, we sit on the floor and both boys will sit with me.  Well, now they fight over sitting with me on all days, even when Milo is home.  Sometimes one will go sit with daddy, but they generally will both end up with me.  Cute, but I know daddy still likes his cuddle story time especially since he's not with them every night anymore.  I'm hoping they get over 'me' and want to sit with daddy again, like before.

This brings me to my next topic... jealousy!  I wasn't expecting it this soon.  They've always been together, they've always had to share toys, mama, dada.. everything, but here recently they don't like to share us.  Toys have almost always been an issue with sharing, but now they've learned to 'fight' over mama and dada.  :( 
I always thought the jealousy monster would pop up if we had any more children or if we were cuddling other kiddos, but I never thought they'd be jealous of each other since they've always been together.  I'm not sure why I honestly thought that, but I was wrong.. way wrong.

Well, one last parting note... we have a biter!  Liam.  Liam is our biter.  Way back when, Liam bit Rogan.  I can't remember if it was out of frustration or if he got too close or what, but he didn't start biting then.  Here recently he's been curious about biting.  He will bite his own arm or Coen's.  A few weeks ago, he bit Coen 4 times on his arm!  Coen being the tough one that he is didn't complain or anything until the last bite, which is when we discovered what was going on.  Since then, Liam has been doing his experimenting with biting.  Mostly random, but never out of anger or frustration... until today.  They were playing in the kitchen with some pots and pans and I hear them both start fussing over something.  I glance over and they're fighting over a pan.  I head that direction and about that time Liam screams and bites down on Coen's shoulder.  :(  I was so disappointed in Liam and he could tell.  He gave me the quivering lip and looked genuinely sorry.  Poor Coen, even as tough as he is, lost it!  He immediately went into hysterics.  I finally got a look at his shoulder and confirmed it was indeed a bite, and Liam broke the skin!  No bleeding, but his skin is definitely cut.  Poor guy.  Now I have to make sure I hurry over to break up 'fights' before they get out of hand and I definitely don't want Coen picking up on the biting if I can help it.  (He's the one with the temper and I don't want two biters.)

Up next.. potty training.  I think Coen may be getting close to wanting to try, so maybe after the first of the year we can start practicing again!

I sat down to write their 16 month update and realized I hadn't even written about Thanksgiving yet.

Not a lot happened.  The boys got sick the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I got sick the next day and Milo just a few days later.  We still managed to host a dinner at our house.  We had Oma and Opa over.  Uncle Oliver and family stayed in AR this year because of having to work. 
It was probably due to their sickness, but they took a super long nap which allowed Milo and me to get everything cooked and prepared for the dinner.  (Which was a huge blessing since I was incredibly stressed last year trying to take care of them and do the cooking.)  The dinner was great, thanks to my helpers and we've decided to host Christmas this year too.  Wish us luck!

The Friday after Thanksgiving we went to my Dad's, as usual.  And again, as usual, the food was fantastic.  My dad is such a great cook!  I always enjoy his turkey the best.  No one... I mean no one's turkey has ever compared to my Dad's.. doesn't even come close.
At Grandpa's, we finally met little Maddi!  The first, and most likely ONLY, girl on my side of the family.  We have 9 boys and finally 1 little girl, thanks to my bro.  He always said he wanted the first girl and he got her... only thing is I think she'll be the last of all the grandkids, but hey, at least we got 1 girl! 
It had been a long time since we've seen my brother, BJ's, family and my sister, Sheri's, family, so it was nice to see everyone again.

I think that about wraps up our Thanksgiving this year.  Nice and usual.  I like!

This past month the boys seem to be comprehending more.  They're still not really talking.  There are a few words they'll say, but it's usually not consistent.  However they seem to understand what we say more and more which is amazing.  Here's a list of a few of the things they understand.  (These are the things they'll do most of the time, but not always.)

Do you want to take a nap? (Coen will walk to his room to his crib, then will want to be picked up.  Liam will sometimes raise his arms to be picked up.)
Are you hungry? Do you want to eat? (They'll both go to their chairs.)
Are you thirsty? Do you want a snack? (They'll go to the fridge.)
Pick up the food. (We've been practicing picking up the food they drop off their trays to the floor when they eat and they can pick up a few pieces... however instead of putting it in my hand to throw away they want to eat it.)
Come here.  (Coen has always been great about coming when you call him.. Liam on the other hand will get close to you then giggle, turn and run away.  Sometimes he will come, but usually not.)
They also pick up on simple instructions if you show them how.
All this has eased my mind.  Yeah, they're not saying much but they're showing they understand what we're saying so it seems they're just waiting to do the actual talking.
Some of the new words are coming from Coen.  He says guhguk for cookie and also says gurguk for yogurt.



Coen gives hugs now, only his hug is smashing his face into yours.  Also his kisses have turned into a mouth gaping open, slobbery, smush on your cheek or directly on your lips.  They both give hugs to their stuffed animals and now they like to carry them around the house.  Liam's hugs are full arms wrapping around your neck now.

I recently bought Whistler a new squeaky bear and the boys seem to have adopted that bear too.  Whistler doesn't seem to mind and will try to play with them when they have it.

Coen can consistently climb on the couch now and after several ungraceful attempts of getting off, he's figured it out!  Luckily the couch and toys are the only things he's trying to climb.  I don't know if I could take 2 climbers right now.  Liam is all over everything!  He's even climbed on top of the dining room table!  (Right now Liam is climbing on a toy drum he got for his birthday.)

They also like animal sounds.  Their favorite is the cow.. MOOOO!  Coen especially will giggle and giggle when you moo like a cow.  He can mock cow and doggie sounds.  Liam will try.. sometimes.

They also love laundry baskets.  Clothes in or out, doesn't matter, they will climb into the basket and play.. both in the same basket of course.  If there are clothes in it, they will throw them on the floor, otherwise they like to just play.

Coen is doing well with his glasses.  His follow up will be in another month or two.. I can't remember.  He's also figured how to take his glasses completely off his head now.  Because he has a strap, he would just pull the glasses down and they would hang like a necklace, but he's learned to push them up to completely remove them.  Since then, he's decided to take them off more frequently, but I think it's only because it's new.  Some days he doesn't take them off at all, and others he won't keep them on.

I also gave them their first buzz cuts, which I'm now regretting.  I went over their hair twice on separate days and it was still un-even because their hair is so fine.  So now I'm regretting it since it's growing out and you can see what a horrible job I did!  Oh well.. they're boys, it's ok right?  I guess I'll fix it when it gets a little longer and I can scissor cut it again.

Coen has been learning lots these days and Liam has slowed down a bit.. it scares me because I think he's working on something I just don't know what.  I'm hoping it's not climbing out of his crib.. I have a feeling that's what's next.
Both have stopped 'sprouting' teeth for the past few months but now it appears Liam is cutting a canine.. so the teething game is back on!

This will be a short one because I can sum everything up in 1 sentence. 

Learning something new every day.

That is exactly what they're up to these days.  Things that they normally would leave alone, they're now getting into.. and they find something new every day it seems.

They are picking up new habits or skills everyday.  Coen learned how to climb onto the couch today.  He's been trying to for months but hadn't mastered it until today.  Liam is still finding new things to climb onto.  He will consistently climb on the kitchen chairs now, which is super scary.
They are also recognizing objects now.  You can ask where the light, the dog or their phone is and they will either point or look in that direction.  They're still not saying anything consistently.  Everything is uhda, dat, duh.  On occasion it will sound like they're trying to repeat what you say, but they'll do it once and stop.  Like Liam saying et means light, but once he says it he won't repeat it.  Coen will say dut for book.. sometimes.  It makes me feel better that they're at least recognizing words now and associating them with objects.  Hopefully it will only be a matter of time before they start talking!

(In reference to the above sentence.. 'hopefully they'll start talking soon'.)  People are always telling me I'll hate it when they start walking because they'll be everywhere and into everything, or that I'll hate it when they start talking because they're never quiet after that.  I'm here to say that I must not be normal.  Now, I know that is a shock to some of you.. me not normal.. lol, but I'm not.  I'm far from it.  I love that they're walking, I'm excited for them to start talking.  To me, they're growing up.  They're becoming their own little people and I enjoy seeing what they're becoming.  I often hear that people want their 'baby' back or they're growing up too fast.. that I just don't get.  I can't wrap my mind around wanting a 'baby' that never grows up, yet I hear it all the time.
Yeah, now that they walk they're into everything, but that is just another stage of them growing up.  To me, I see them learning and investigating and that I love.
Anyway, I just had to say that.. I guess I'm not a normal parent.

We took the boys on their first camp trip this past weekend.  To sum things up, camping will never be the same.

We were concerned with how the boys would nap and sleep during the night, but otherwise we didn't have too many reservations about taking the boys camping.  So we borrowed Oma and Opa's camper.  They have a 5th wheel.. much larger than our pop up.  Using the bigger camper was awesome.  The boys slept great, with the exception of their first nap, they had a bit of a hard time falling asleep, and they have AC, so it helped with cooling the boys down when it got a bit too toasty outside for them. 
What Milo and I didn't really think about was everything else.  The boys are mostly independent now, both walk and can entertain themselves and play with each other... at home.  Camping was different.  There was a little ditch right next to our campsite, which Coen wanted to try and go down constantly.  (Neither boy is very great at maneuvering rough or sloped terrain.)  Coen also wanted to eat all the rocks and Liam tried rocks a few times and a few other ground items.. leaves, sticks... dog poop.  YES, DOG POOP!!!  We could not just let them play like normal, very disappointing.  For them, because everything was a no-no and for us, because camping has always been very relaxing, but not this time.
We ended up coming back a day early to try and 'recover' and it was good we did.. it took a very long time to get set up and just as much time if not longer to get packed up and come home. 
All in all we had a good time, but it wasn't what we were expecting.  I think next time will be better because the boys will be older and hopefully things will go a bit smoother.

Here are a few pics of our first family camp trip!

Yet another month has gone by.  Not much has happened.. things are slowing down it seems.
They both have mastered standing up on their own.. not pulling up anymore.  (Well they still do pull up sometimes, but they are fully capable of standing up on their own now.) 

Liam is still the climber, he will climb on anything.  The couch, the bedroom glider, the kitchen chairs, Whistler's food container, the box from their big boy boosters, laundry baskets.. anything.  Coen has been getting jealous, I think, of Liam being able to climb on the couch.  So he's been making attempts but just hasn't gotten it quite yet.  He has gotten quite frustrated because he can't do it.  I will help him out and he absolutely loves 'playing' on the couch now.

We had glasses for Coen, but had to return them.  They just didn't work.  They were constantly sliding down his face and with in a week I was at the optical office 3 times for adjustments.  I did some research and found glasses that are made specifically for babies and young children.  We currently have those on order and should be ready in about a week.
Here is a pic of his original glasses.. so incredibly cute, but not practical at all.

They are officially off bottles now, strictly sippy cups.  Which is drama on it's own.  They prefer the straw cups, but the ones we have leak horribly.. especially when I put cold milk in them.  The pressure builds up and out comes the milk.  I've gotten a few suggestions on a different kind, but haven't been out yet to buy them and try them out.
They are also off binkis.  I still go back and forth in my mind, whether it was too early or not, but I haven't given in and let them have it.. yet.  I say that because it's been about 3 weeks now and they still have a hard time going down for naps.  (Coen especially.)  It's not every nap or even every day, but most of the time he absolutely hates going down for naps now.  We've tried going to 1 nap and it will work for a few days, but then it takes a toll on them and we go back to 2.  So, it could be they're just transitioning or maybe I was too early to remove the binki's... I just don't know.  (One of the hardest things, for me, as a mom... I doubt/question almost every decision I make.  And I know there are many many more decisions to come.)

It was such a gorgeous day today, I decided to take them to the park.  Sadly, this is the first time they've ever been to the park.  The weather always seemed too hot, or it was rainy or they were sick.. I also wasn't brave enough to take them by myself.
Once I stepped outside today, I decided I HAD to take them.  I couldn't get a hold of a friend, and Oma was busy.. so I braved it and went by myself.  The boys had a blast!  They only swung in the baby swings, but they really seemed to enjoy it.  (They don't have any shoes yet so we stuck with the swings for now.)  Here are a few pics.


Hopefully we'll have some more great weather and we'll have many more park trips!

We've made it!  We've made it a whole year.  This past year has gone by so quickly.  It's hard to remember what life was like before Coen and Liam.  Maybe it's my 'mommy brain' or maybe it's because life has been overflowing.  Either way I'm truly enjoying life as it is.

Both boys are officially walking!  They were fully walking a few weeks ago and just keep getting better and better.  Coen is still working on his balance and Liam is working on stooping over, picking something up and standing back up.  Coen has tried a few times, but usually ends up on his bum.  They do still crawl over to furniture to stand up because neither have mastered standing up from sitting position, they have to use something to pull up, but then they go and go and go!

I mentioned last month that Liam was going to be our little monkey and so far he's proving us right.  He's figured out how to crawl up onto the couch!  Quite scary.  I'm afraid of him falling off.  Today he did.  It was kind of a slow sliding fall, he fell back and landed on his bum.  He didn't seem to care one bit and got right back up and onto the couch.  He loves climbing and is so proud of himself when he makes it up there.  He's discovered our 'hidden' no-no's on the back of the couch (phone, remotes) so it's given him motivation.  I've since removed all temptations, but he still loves it.  Now he's trying to see how high he can climb.  (I started writing this yesterday, so today I already have an update.  Liam learned how to get off the couch by himself!  He goes over to the edge and puts his leg down and stretches until he reaches the ground to stand back up.  He still freaks me out and is a bit clumsy but he was practicing earlier and it was super cute.)
He is also our cuddle bug.  He will cuddle with anything.  Mostly he loves cuddling with Coen (who typically doesn't like it because Liam's cuddling is pinning Coen to the floor), but he also loves cuddling with Whistler (who will tolerate it for a while), pillows, blankets, laundry almost anything he can get his hands onto.

They've both thrown tantrums now.  Liam has when we've told him no or when we take away a no-no, or when something just isn't going his way.  Coen has when something doesn't go his way or if Liam is pestering him.  They now will also try to 'remove' the other by pushing him out of the way.  I can't wait for whats in store in the coming months... and years!

1st birthday!
When daddy got off work we went for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery.  They have a birthday club so the boys got their first taste of ice cream for free.  Liam liked it but only took a few bites and he was done, Coen gobbled it up, he loved it!  The Saturday following their birthday we had a party for them.  We invited close family and friends.  The boys knew these people, but most of them they had only seen a few times and/or several months ago.  So having all these people in their home/comfort zone completely overwhelmed them.  I felt so bad.  We tried to hurry through the festivities so the party would end and people could leave and about that time the boys finally calmed down enough to enjoy themselves.  Some of the festivities included:  dinner-they didn't eat much, cupcakes-kind of liked, party hats-hated, pull string pinata-hated, opening presents-I opened while they played with chairs.  Overall the party itself was a success, but I wish I was thinking a little better for their sakes. 

Tooth count!  Coen has 9, with the 9th being a molar that is starting to cut through.  Liam has 12.  3 of those are molars that are still coming through... those take a long time!
They are eating lots of different foods now and we're adding in new stuff all the time.  They're off of baby food and they mostly feed themselves now.  There are occasions where I will still spoon feed them.  They're almost off formula too, yippie!!  I was sure they'd take right to milk, but I was wrong.  We've been mixing milk and formula and slowly eliminating the formula out.  Liam will drink straight milk now, but Coen still likes a little taste of formula I guess.  He is also picky about the temperature.  He will not drink the milk mixture cold.  Sometimes even when I heat it up, he still won't drink it, but we're working on it.
At the same time we're also weening them off the bottle.  They're down to 2 bottles now and I will soon try to eliminate the morning bottle.  We're also weening from the binki!  I was very scared, but the first day was a breeze so I figured it wouldn't be too hard.  We're now 3 days into it and things are a little hard, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  As expected they have a harder time getting to sleep unless they're really tired, so we're trying to just have 1 nap a day instead of 2.  We'll see if that helps.  So far it has, but we've done a 1 nap day before and the following days we're not so pretty. 

Man oh man, lots of new stuff now that they're 1. 
Coen will have glasses, at least for the next 4 months.  (That's our trial time to see if they help.)  I've ordered them and they should be in next week.  I have a feeling it is going to be hard to keep the glasses on him, but I think it will be harder keeping Liam from ripping them off Coen!  The dr tells me that if the glasses help, then Coen will get used to it and will want to keep them on, great, but Liam has no benefit from Coen wearing glasses and he already loves to try and rip mine off, so this may get interesting.

Ok, well this is long enough for now.  I'll get some pictures posted later!

Less than a month now until we have 2-1 year olds on our hands! It feels like we've only been parents for a short time, yet it seems like we've had our boys forever.

Coen and Liam have both taken steps on their own now. At first Liam would only take a few steps here and there and only when he wanted to. You couldn't do anything to coerce him to walk. Nothing would work. Then on July 4th (Oma and Opa were visiting) Liam found his confidence. He began to just walk across the room. Now he'll do it almost anytime he's standing. He'll just take off walking! He still mostly crawls, but he does quite a bit of walking now. He also enjoys walking with something in his hands or his mouth. He's so silly. He'll bite down on a block, shake his hands around and walk around... or crawl while just holding it in his mouth.
Coen, at first, would do his 'fall/lean/walk' then that quickly progressed into a full step. Now he can take about 3 or 4 steps to get from Mommy to Daddy. He hasn't found his confidence yet to just take off on his own, but he sure does love it when we pass him back and forth so he can walk. Some times he gets so excited that he forgets to take any steps and will just dive for you. So we always have to be on our toes for the unexpected.

They have both experimented with climbing stairs at Grandma's house. Liam also likes to try and climb on anything in sight. He has a scooter/walker toy that he'll use to climb on. (Scary!) He might become a little monkey like Daddy was.

We finally got their kiddie pool set up and have only been swimming a few times. Either the weather is cooperating (lots of rain recently and cooler in the evenings) or we've been sick... like this weekend. Nicer weather, but we're all sick, well Liam, Coen and I are. So for now, we've been having lots of playtime in the bath tub.

Tooth count! Coen now has 4. He's so cute because 1 of the upper middle is out further than the other one, so when he grins you can only see the 1 and it's just super cute. Liam, our little shark, has 9! The 9th being a molar already, it's about 2/3's the way in. (It's taken a bit of time.)

New foods. They like a lot more foods now than they did a month ago. I still struggle with finding veggies and wholesome foods, but we're working at it. Here are some of the foods they really seem to enjoy. Canned yams or sweet potatoes, chicken noodle o's, grilled cheese, bread, mum mums, pears, bananas, mandarin oranges, cheerios, peaches, macaroni and soft tacos (mostly the inside, but they'll eat some tortilla). We'll be trying milk and peanut butter in a few weeks and cheese again. (Some cheeses don't seem to set with their tummies very well, neither do tomato products.)


Motherhood at 11 months. Party planning decisions, getting invitations ready, trying to finish craft projects before their birthday. Lots and lots of running back and forth trying to keep babies out of things they're not supposed to be in (ie. Whistler's water dish and bathroom). Also, I've been thinking I should break myself of saying babies. They're not really babies anymore, they're almost a year old, approaching toddlerhood.
Also, approaching a new milestone will be weaning from the bottle. I recently read they should be weaned by 14 months at the latest. I didn't realize there was a time limit, but I read it could end up causing dental problems if bottle feeding is kept up for much longer after 14 months.
We also are gearing up for appointments! We have their year check up coming up, we'll be making their first dental appointments too and Coen will have his eye check up. I'm still hoping and praying he won't need glasses, but I'm afraid he might, or a patch at least. I think I'd rather him have a patch than glasses. Some days his eyes look great, mostly straight, but then others they're really crossed, so I don't really know what to think.
Anyway, lots of things approaching and I can't believe my next update will be for 1 year olds! Hoping to get some good pictures of their birthday party to post!

Coen took his first steps last night and Daddy was here to see it! He is incredibly unbalanced, but he tries so hard and gets so very excited. The most was 2 consecutive steps, but he's getting there!

Today Coen decided to take some mini steps. I call them mini because they're not quite a full step, they're a lean/fall-step.
He'll walk towards you while you're holding his hands and then he'll want you to let go. If you do, he'll lean or fall towards you (while shutting his eyes and grinning big). As he leans he'll take a small step forwards just before you catch him. I'm not quite sure if we can call it an actual step since he's just falling into us so we're marking it as a mini-step!

Liam took his first steps yesterday! He kind of took 1 step as he was leaning to 'fall' into me so I stood him back up to see if he'd try again and he took 3 steps!
We tried that evening to get him to walk again for Daddy, but he was just too tired. He barely wanted to stand. So maybe Daddy will get to see him take some steps this weekend, when he's not so tired.

My boys will be a year old in less than 2 months! Time has flown by incredibly fast it's just crazy.

This past month, Coen has decided he'd finally start moving. In a few weeks time, he is able to do pretty much everything Liam has been doing, only he's still a bit more unstable. He's crawling, pulling up and standing for short periods on his own. For about a week, he practiced how to sit back down after pulling up on something. It was very cute to watch. Pull up, gently and slowly sit down, pull up, sit down, pull up, squat, pull up, sit down. Over and over again. So now I have 2 babies that are getting into everything! :)

They both can also clap now. Liam did for a few days back at the end of April, then stopped. Now if you clap at them, Coen (most of the time) will clap back, but if you help them clap then ask them to do it, they almost always will do it. A few weeks back, Coen was playing in their room, and I heard a clapping noise so I went to investigate. I found him sitting by himself clapping as he was intently watch his hands. I snatched up a quick video to capture the moment. (Thank you technology!)

We're expanding on finger foods. They've had a few full meals with mommy and daddy without any baby food and we were very excited. The only catch is, I haven't found any veggies that they'll eat. Coen doesn't mind some mixed veggies, but Liam has refused all I've offered him. So for now, they get all their veggie servings from baby food. Baby steps I guess.

They both like climbing now. Liam has shown an interest in climbing for a while but Coen just recently. They've climbed on diaper boxes, wipes boxes, a case of bottled water, pretty much anything that gets in his way, they'll just try to climb over. On Memorial day we went to my moms and she has stairs in the main living area so we put the boys to the test. Coen just stood there and bounced around (at the time he was just pulling up and didn't have any interest in climbing) and Liam went right up the stairs, no problem. Like he's been doing it his whole life, I was amazed. Now we just need to work on going down stairs. :)

They also went swimming for the first time in Rogan's kiddie pool. Coen mostly sat there and just chilled out, typical. Liam kind of surprised me, at first he wanted out so he just stood at the side. I finally got him to sit down to play with the water and he then loved it! He splashed and splashed and splashed, getting himself in the face sometimes too, yet he didn't seem to mind, he was having a blast.
That actually made for a fun bath time. He now realizes that he can splash the water everywhere and get everything wet... including mommy. I think it's time to move to the bathtub instead of the sink.
(We just bought a kiddie pool for them and we're hoping to get it set up here in the next few days.)

Here are a few random pics.
At the cabin, hanging out with daddy.




Had to share this one. Liam almost always stands on his tip toes while he's standing, very cute. And Coen's 'kankles' remind me of my sausage legs the day I delivered these guys. He's my rolly polly.
This is their all time favorite past time now. They love staring out the front door.
Liam's newest expression. I think he's messing with his teeth, he has a new one coming in. In this pic, his lip isn't out as far as he normally has it, but almost.
Ooh! They also had their first haircut. They did very well. Neither complained even though they were a bit squirmy at times. She managed to trim them both up in under 30 minutes. I didn't think that was too bad for 10 month olds.
At first Coen wasn't quite sure what to think.
Liam just wanted to eat the bear.


So I think that about sums it up.
Actually I almost forgot the most important thing! Milo is returning to work Monday! It has been 8 months since his last employer down sized. 8 months that I needed help with and absolutely loved having him around. I know the boys did too and I'm sure they'll miss having him around so much, but I'm glad they've gotten to have him around while we have. Most dads don't get the opportunity that he's had. It's been rough at times and there's no work to escape to, but he's been able to build great relationships with both boys and to be a part of everything so far which I'm grateful for.

Motherhood at 10 months. Getting busier still and I've found a new way of dieting. Have a baby! At this age, they want everything that mommy is eating. Even if they've just eaten and are no longer hungry, they still need to investigate and beg me for food. So it kind of goes like this, mommy gets a bite, Liam gets a bite, Coen gets a bite, then it starts over.. sometimes. Today at lunch they were very hungry so they at first then I had a bite or two, then they ate some more, then I snuck in another bite. So in the end I will eat about half of what I set out to eat if I share my food with them. I don't think I've really lost any weight, but I sure do feel like I'm eating a lot less these days.
Also, still trying to plan out a birthday party. I think I may have pinned down a theme, but we'll see. I need to figure everything out to make sure it will work the way I want it to. I was thinking bright colors and Dr. Seuss, so we ended up with Cat in the Hat (thing 1/thing2). We'll see how it goes but I may just end up with bright colors. Who knows with me!

(I almost forgot the tooth count! Coen still has 2, but his top two could come in any day now and Liam has 7 and the 8th is just starting to cut through.)

Coen isn't quite crawling, but definitely moving now! It's kind of a froggy-army crawl. He is super cute and goes at it pretty fast, for not actually crawling.
I am so relieved that he's actually making an effort now. He had us concerned, but that's just the way he is. He'll do something when he's good an ready regardless of what we try to get him to do.

Quick update for Liam. Just a few days ago I posted that he would sometimes stand for a few seconds at a time. Well now he is doing it all the time and for several seconds at a time! He'll pull up and just start standing. He actually prefers to stand when he has a toy in hand, silly guy. He is moving right along.

Self feeding...

Liam is everywhere! He's crawling, cruising along furniture, and occasionally standing by himself. He'll follow you from room to room and if you're not careful he'll grab you when you're walking by and try to stand. It's cute that he wants to be everywhere we are. We think he'll be walking before too long, maybe before their first birthday.
He has 2 more teeth now. He got them in about a week before his last two, so now he has 6 total. 4 on top and 2 on the bottom.
He does well with finger foods too, but he is much more 'dropsy'. We'll take the tray off when he's done and about a third will be in his lap. Another third will be scattered on the floor, or fed to the dog, especially since he's figured how to remove the top portion of his tray. He'll take the tray off and shake it around, emptying the food onto the floor... while Whistler stands by anxiously waiting. (Whistler has had his fair share of cheerios recently. So much for no table scraps.)

Sleeping is so much better now. We are officially swaddle free!! I'm not sure if I mentioned it last month, but I think we were just weening them. Now they are gone! We are so happy. The naps have taken a bit of a toll, but they are getting better. Naps are much shorter now, usually only about 40 min to an hour, but they are slowly getting better. Just 2 weeks ago, their naps were usually 30 min and have slowly grown to close to an hour most days. Also we're down to 2 naps. They can get a bit cranky just before nap time, but it's not too bad and 3 naps were just too much to get them to bed at a decent time.

Motherhood at 9 months is getting crazy. It seems like I'm always busy now, even though nothing has really changed since the boys were born. I think now that they're up longer and more mobile they just take more time. Which I'm ok with. I love being able to play with them and watch them learning new things.
I'm still at a loss for their birthday party, but I still have 3 months. (I have an erie feeling that I'll be saying the same thing next month, only then I'll have 2 months!)

Just a short blurp, not pointed towards the boys but more towards motherhood and my recent experiences.

Sunday I had a gallbladder attack and ended up in the ER. Was sent home with pain meds and to follow up with a surgeon in a few days to see about getting my gallbladder removed. Well, with no insurance I decided to go through TMC, since they have a discount program. That program takes more than a couple days to go through... especially with me not working.
So I tolerated a few more days of pain and little to no food (mostly crackers and water) and my skin and eyes started turning yellow, not a good sign. I was instructed to go back to the ER on Wednesday. Went to the Truman ER, stayed there for about 6 hours just to find out they couldn't do anything for me and got transferred to the Truman downtown.
I got the see my boys Thursday after missing them for almost 24 hrs. Had surgery that day for them to go in and clean out the blocked bile duct. Then had the surgery to remove my gallbladder Friday, and am finally home now (Saturday).

I've been away from the boys for a few hours here and there and have always missed them when I got back, but this was entirely different. I went days without really seeing them. I never realized how hard that would be. I am so thankful that Neva and Cynthia helped Milo out with the boys and that I had my mom and Rick with me at the hospital. I know it would have been even more difficult if I had to be by myself. Having family there was great.
I hope I never ever have to be away from my boys like that. It was emotionally and mentally draining. It's even hard now since I can't really lift them or cuddle them close due to some pain. Even though I'm home, I'm still missing them. At least I can still get my hugs from Milo.

Thanks to all the offered up help and prayers. It is very much appreciated.

So, Liam is officially crawling! He's figured out the knee/hand coordination and will crawl, however he'll only do it a few times then he just froggy leaps his way around. He does the 'froggy' more so when he's really excited to get somewhere, it's very cute. He gets a very determined look on his face and his eyes get really wide and off he goes, frogging toward whatever it is that has caught his attention. Usually a remote, computer, cord or us, if we're sitting on the ground with him. He likes to use us as jungle gyms. He uses our legs to pull himself up to get on his feet, but he's still bent at the waist. Today he pulled himself to standing position in his crib, twice!
Liam also has two top teeth now. They cut through just a few days ago, so now he's our little beaver! He is also most definitely our sensitive one. When the boys are playing we generally will face them towards each other, they like that and will talk and laugh together, but occasionally Coen will get a bit carried away and will start screaming. He doesn't do it out of anger, he just likes to use his lungs and really get going. (He usually has a scowl on his face while doing so.) Liam, being the sensitive one that he is, will get upset and start crying. We're not sure if he thinks Coen is yelling at him or if he just doesn't like how loud he gets, but either way it just proves again how sensitive he is.

Coen has his two bottom teeth and man is he a cutie! I could picture him with his teeth and how cute he would be and I was right, he is so adorable! (But when isn't he?) Coen still isn't crawling or showing many signs of wanting to be mobile, but like I've said before, I don't think he'll crawl and maybe he'll just go straight to walking. He loves being held up by his hand as you help him walk across the room. He giggles and giggles... so cute! Both boys love to face each other while they're standing, they get a kick out of each other.
Coen bounces around while he's sitting. (That is his mode of transportation currently.) He doesn't get far, but he will turn and go forward while he's sitting on his bum.
There is one thing that Milo and I have no clue about and that's Coen with his bedroom door. When you're walking pas the door with him in tow, he will reach as far as he can to touch the door. Milo and I have gotten in the habit of stopping on our way out of their room so he can touch the door and scratch at it. For some reason he absolutely loves it! Maybe he's like mommy and daddy and its the simple things that amuse him. We have noticed that he loves wood. Pretty much anything wood he comes in contact with, he tries to eat. So I guess that's why he likes the door... even though he doesn't try to eat it. Anyway..

Liam may be the sensitive one, but he will be the bully. He picks on Coen all the time. Pulls his hair, tries to gouge out his eyes and even pin him down to the ground. Coen typically doesn't mind and sometimes even thinks is funny. Like tonight, Coen was laying on his back and Liam was trying to crawl over him to get to a toy. Liam seemed to not even notice that he was crawling on Coen and Coen just laid there and laughed and tried to steal Liam's binki. I'm so glad they have each other to play with. They'll always have a buddy around.
They're getting better about feeding themselves finger foods. Well, the only foods I've given them are the puffs, but they can get about 1/3-1/2 of the puffs I give them into their mouths. Just depends on how hungry they are and if they want to feed themselves.


Motherhood at 8 months. I've been thinking about a birthday party. I have no clue where to start. I'd like to do some type of theme, but I'm just not sure what to do. I've thought about doing a gamer theme or computer tech theme, but I just don't know. Neither are really pulling me in. I guess it's a good thing that I'm thinking about all this now while I have plenty of time.
I love my boys so much, more and more every day. I never imagined how great having twin boys would be. Everyday is filled with laughter and I couldn't ask for anything more.

Liam has begun the 'crawl'. He's been spinning and scooting backwards for a while now and recently he's started to catapult himself forward. It seemed more like it was accidental than purposely, but still he was sometimes moving forward. So over the past few days he's been scooching forward, more and more often. Now he's pretty much full on crawl... only he does it with a 'gimp' leg. He keeps 1 leg straight while attempting to crawl. We assume it won't be too long until he gets that other leg working and he's actually crawling.

I guess hanging out with Rogan has shown him the technique.. now he just needs to work on it some more! Practice makes perfect.

Coen has won the race! He couldn't let brother show him up and cut 4 teeth before his first.
His first one fully cut through last night... well maybe actually at 4 am this morning when he decided to wake for the day. It is definitely rough and now you can see it!
The 2nd one looks like it's close too and I'm sure Liam's numbers 3 and 4 will be here any day!

Who will get teeth next?
Liam is working on his upper 2 middle. You can see the white through the gums and feel the ridge the teeth are making!
Coen is working on his first 2, bottom middle. You can't really see anything, but his gums have a slight rough spot!

Will Coen get his first 2, or will Liam take over with number 3 and 4?!?!

Will update as soon as something happens. :)

I have a ton of 7 month photos (262 so far) of these boys and I haven't posted them anywhere yet! So here are some of my favs.


Mommy and Coen

Liam giving 'kisses'
Mommy and Liam


All my boys!
Are you serious?
Yup!
So Liam can get on his knees.. has been able to for a while now.
Coen says "knees? who needs knees? ... I'll just do push ups"





Coen trying to eat the camera.

Liam's famous 'I want' face.
Hope you've enjoyed!