TEETH AGAIN!

Wow, both boys once again got teeth at the same time. No wonder they've been a bit fussy the last few days and not sleeping well. Levi got his 5th, 2nd bottom left. Ezra got his 6th, 2nd top right. More are on the verge of popping through. These kids are going to have a mouth full by the first birthdays! I think Elliot only had 3 when she turned one. :-)

SO FUNNY!

Both boys are pulling up and walking along things now. It's so fun to watch them. This video is a bit long, but the end is hilarious....check it out:




It was right before bed so Levi was super tired. I promise he can dish it out too. He's been into pulling Ezzy's hair. OH, the other day Ezra and El were playing on the porch and she slid down the slide onto him and he bit her! His first attempt at revenge. I know I think it's funny now, but I'm sure I won't when arguing all day long. :-)

Elliot is 4

Hard to believe, but our baby girl turned 4 on the 28th. We got to have a special day with her while Mimi watched her brothers. She chose to go to Play Plus, then we went out to lunch. She was super sweet and we had a great day together. How quickly 4 years goes by. This little gal can be the most stubborn, strong-willed, independent little thing, and the sweetest, kindest, little angel. Although some of these qualities are hard to deal with now, I'm sure in the long run they will make her an amazing girl! I just know it. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH ELLI WYNN!
HERE's MORE PIC's of her special day! We'll have her birthday celebration sometime this summer.

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year! Christmas Eve ALL of our family (Bro's, aunt, grandparents, mom/dady, etc.) went to church then everyone came over to our house for a sandwich/appetizer dinner. It was so wonderful!

Christmas day was very relaxed. In the morning the kids got up, ate, then got their stockings. Elliot waited so patiently for the babies to go down for their naps so that she could open the rest of her gifts. It was WAY TOO DIFFICULT trying to do it with them awake, and way more fun just opening gifts with her :-)

Elliot with her Connectagon's. The coolest toys ever!
Babies in their new highchairs! We love them!In the afternoon we went to Mom and Dad's for presents and Christmas dinner. What a nice day!

Here's some more pic's. (The rest our on Wes' camera and I haven't downloaded them yet)

10 months and Rollercoasters

The boys turned 10 months old the other day! Hard to believe!

Levi is still the most smiley thing ever! He could seriously light up a room with that huge grin of his. He loves to giggle, especially at his big sister. I often think she is being way too rough and aggressive, yet they seem to crack up at whatever she's doing. He's crawling super fast now and pulling up on everything and walking along it. I've even caught him letting go and standing alone for a few seconds! I tried to sit him on the potty like his brother and he just cracks up laughing and will have nothing to do with it. :-) Here's a pic. from our trip to the beach the other day:
Ezra is quite the Mama's boy lately. I'm not sure what's going on, but he can't seem to get enough of me. He loves to nurse too! I think he's got even MORE teeth coming in. Ezra really amazes me with his talking. He can say the following: Mama (usually when he's hungry!), Daddy, Poo poo, uh-oh, ball, bubble, and I know there's one more I just can't recall right now. He does a lot of parroting, I'm not sure he knows what everything is that he can say. He's also still pooping on the potty very consistently. Now, everyone in the fam. agrees that he obviously communicates by grunting his desire to go on the potty. It really is amazing to see. When I change him, I will usually put him on the potty before putting a clean diaper on and he often goes pee on the potty too. So crazy! Here's another pic from the beach:

Elliot's almost 4. WOW! We went to Disney's Hollywood Studios yesterday and she went on the Tower of Terror! I couldn't believe she wanted to, but she was not afraid at all. She had a blast. She also went on the Star Wars Simulator and did great! She's so brave. I wasn't sure if there would be anything at this park for her to enjoy, but once she saw the Little Einsteins she was SUPER excited!! They had a cool playhouse Disney show that she really enjoyed. Elliot is SO good and sweet when we can take her one-on-one, but when she's around the babies she just tries to terrorize them. I keep hoping this will end soon. I think 2 babies at one time rocked this once only childs world. She wants to play, but just gets way too rough and tries to see how we will react to her.

DADDY'S HOME!! Here's a pic. of us with the boys at Hollywood Studios (Elliot did not want to get in it-SURPRISE!)..and yes, my kids are in the pajamas. HAHA. It was cold, so I just let them stay warm in cozy in their jam's.

Ezra's heart

Got the results today from Ezra's echo. NOTHING WRONG! Do you remember my previous prayer? It was that they would find NOTHING. God heard-and answered! So thankful!

Sleeping Beauty

Elliot keeps falling asleep with her stuffed animals shoved up her shirt. I walk in to check on her and am afraid I'll wait her up with my laughter! So cute.

Things not to Say

I remember when Wes was deployed I read a bunch of "What not to say to an army wife" type things. Things like:
*Are you afraid he'll never come home
*Aren't you lonely
....etc, etc. The list goes on.

Now that I have multiples, I feel it's time to compile a new list: "What not to do/say around Twins." I only have a few, so this will have to be ongoing. Let me know if you have more ideas:
*Don't say, "Oh look, twins!"...or ask "Are they twins?" for that matter
*Don't stop us and comment
* Staring and pointing is never nice...didn't your Mama teach you better?
*Say to the older child, "Are you Mommy's big helper?" For some reason this seems messed up to me! She's 3, she's a kid too. And, just as special as the other 2 that just happen to be "TWINS!"
*Say, "Boy, aren't you brave to go out". NO! I'm not brave. These are my kids and we do stuff. Don't you take your children out to do things?

I think a lot of my frustration comes because I have an older child too. I just fear she gets super sick of everyone stopping us every 5 feet to chat. We were trying to eat lunch at the mall the other day and people kept coming up and talking while we were eating! Just let us eat. If they weren't talking to us, you could feel their stares. How would you feel if someone was ALWAYS commenting on your little brothers? I think there's a GOOD REASON why Elliot acts out sometimes. I would too!

Maybe if nothing else I've gotten a new appreciate for how people with disabilities feel, or how people who are just "different" may feel. Sounds ridiculous, but true. I've really learned to not stare at people and just appreciate them for who God has made them. A HUGE thing I've learned is to not try to talk to people with twins, ask questions about their kids, etc.

We're just a family, trying to live life like every other family.

Teeth, teeth, teeth

These boys keep popping out the teeth. Ezra got his 5th (bottom right) today, and Levi got his 4th (top left). They both have more on their way! Ezra is going to have a mouth full by his first birthday! Thankfully they are still quite happy. Levi gets a little fussy in the afternoon and Ezra has a little trouble going to sleep. Nothing too bad though!

Oh...and Ezra HATES Orajel. I tried it the other night to see if it would help him go to sleep-no luck. Poor thing acted like his mouth wouldn't work. I tried to nurse him and he couldn't even figure out how to latch on! (and this boys LOVES nursing) I seriously just used a tiny bit! It was funny and sad at the same time.

Fun Day!

The kids and I had a pretty fun afternoon. After we picked El up we had to run to Target and grab a few things. I thought the boys would nap when we got home, but no such luck! I quickly tried to unload the dishwasher and glanced over and Levi is digging through Elliot's backpack. No prob. Look again and there's a granola bar in his hand. Elliot takes that way. Few minutes later, he is eating her crackers! He opened up her lunch box, found some food, and started eating. He looked so proud. And, in a way, I was proud too because my boys are a little lazy when it comes to feeding themselves. They pretty much have no desire (I probably don't let them try as much as I should. With 2 babies, it's just easier to shovel the food in their mouths for them and be done).

I decided to take the kids out to play while I cleaned the stroller and high chair. I was hosing them off and Elliot wanted to get wet. Since it's over 80 degrees-why not? The boys then decided they wanted to play in the hose too. Ezra has a blast! Levi wasn't too into it. He screamed b/c he was trying to crawl on the concrete driveway. They then got to eat their dinner outside. How great! After this they were wet, covered in food, grass, and dirt so I decided it was time for bath. After bath we went for a walk with our new (yes...another new) stroller. Elliot got to swing at the park and we had a really nice time. OH, and I LOVE the new jogger! Ezzy fell asleep for the night at 4:15. Levi got home and went to bed at 4:45.

Elliot actually wanted to keep going outside. This is a huge step b/c she has been wanting to stay in way too much! It was great. While I made dinner, she even went out back and played by herself. She was digging in the dirt and making a pine needle pie. It was so delicious! ;-) Later, she and I had a picnic on the driveway and enjoyed all the Christmas lights!

YEA for good days!!!

Bye Bye

Ezra now says "BYE BYE BYE BYE BYE BYE" and waves at the same time. It's precious. I need to get him on video. And, when he is hungry or wants out of his crib he says, "MA MA MA MA MA" in a real sweet voice.

Also, Levi has finally learned to do a real crawl. He's always been doing an army crawl (I refer to it as "Doggy paddling on land"). He was in just a diaper last night and his belly sticks to the wood floors. He figured out that if he lifts himself up he goes better! GO LEVI!

Just a few more weeks of this single Mama nonsense! I can't wait for my helper to arrive!

Outside Lights

Elliot and I worked real hard with 2 screaming babies to get these lights up. It's nothing big, but she was super proud! I guess I am too. Just proud of us for actually getting everything decorated without W here! She had to take a million pictures of our handy work (most were very weird, so they got deleted).