Baby Love!

Here is Daddy feeding our precious Caleb. Caleb has his hands wrapped around Daddy's arm to ensure that the bottle stays where it is supposed to...in his mouth!

Here is Mommy holding her sweet Daniel boy after a feeding. He is full and happy and loves to be held!

Boy Play!!

We caught Josiah with his construction trucks outside in the dirt today and he was having a blast getting dirty and naming his trucks various made up names.

Here is Josiah playing with his trucks.

Here is Caleb boy tasting Mack the Truck. He was LOVING being on the floor with all Josiah's cars! He kept pulling more and more of them into himself and tasting them all.

Here he is with a "What?" expression with all the trucks and cars piled up underneath him. Such a handsome little boy, don't you think?

Naptime Antics

It is always a fun thing to come into the babies' room after hearing them sort of "stirring" and see where they have positioned themselves in their waking up movements. Caleb of course is notorious for finding clever ways of making Mommy laugh and go on a hunt for the camera to document these times. Today he was laying as quiet as can be "hiding" under these blankets on the bed, giving me that look of "you'll never find me under here."

As usual, Daniel boy was pretty much right where I left him! Although, during the night now he does manage to turn over onto his stomach quite a bit and nuzzles up toward the front of the crib more. For nap times, he generally stays put though as pictured here. Another funny note about Daniel, he has this funny habit of slapping his hand down over and over when he is happy (which is pretty much all the time). It is the cutest thing to see him slapping away with a big smile upon his face!

Today was a challenging day in the mid-afternoon because Caleb wouldn't stop crying and Daniel was tired and Caleb kept waking him up. Thankfully Sharel came over to help and gave me some respite, and I was able to lay down for a bit and then get up again to teach one lesson. Of course, after the lesson all the crying and fussing was over and the moment of insanity had passed, but the stress of the afternoon had worn me down quite a bit. And by the way, it turns out that Caleb may have been suffering from teething pain and/or just wanted a bit more than 6 ounces of food as I finally gave him (only 2 hours after his feeding) a bottle with 4 more ounces and he settled right down. The boys have been madly chewing away on their hands, toys and whatever else they can find, so I am sure they are teething, but we haven't seen any official toofers as of yet!

Scissors!!!

We went to Walmart the other day to get some school supplies for Josiah's preschool adventure and lo and behold the most popular item was the kid scissors we bought him. I initially set out to get a backpack and couldn't resist getting some new crayons, a big "Cars" coloring book, a new pair of shoes, and of course the very favorite pair of scissors.

He was so excited that the first night, he came home and just cut and cut and cut the paper I gave him and didn't even bother to take off his coat or eat the fruit snacks we also bought. Then the next morning he woke up early and was running around excited because he wanted to "cut."

Now of course we are working with him to keep the scissors on the table as we don't want him to get any ideas about "cutting" Mommy's things in the living room or things anywhere else for that matter.

He will be starting preschool on Tuesday of next week, so please pray that all will go well for him. I know he will adjust fine, but I am hoping also that he will behave himself and not have "issues" at school if you know what I mean.

Thanks in advance for the prayers and I could use them too as raising up this firstborn son has been having its challenges of late that have been getting me down some. I know that the Lord is faithful and that He knows Josiah better than I do and so please pray that I can get with the program and find a way to really get through to him on certain issues that are difficult.

School Days for Josiah...

David and I made the decision here recently to send Josiah to a 2-day a week preschool that is just down the road from our home. He will go on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-11:30 (this actually equals two breaks for Mommy a week too). And wait, can I call it a break when I am still watching the twins? Anyway, it will be a nice opportunity to play with the twins without fear of older brother interruptions.

We took him tonight to the parent orientation (which incidentally we found out was only for parents, but we brought the whole clan) and he got to meet his teacher and see his classroom. I could tell he was SO excited! There were a couple of other kids there and he proceeded to tell them his name and ask theirs (reminiscent of a certain person who as a little girl used to pronounce to all who would listen her full name and sometimes address and phonenumber). There was a very large rug with the alphabet printed in big letters around it. He ran around the rug singing, "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, I love my letters SOOO much!" It was too funny! When we had to leave he got a big pouty lip and did his "I don't want to go" mantra. We conversed with another mom in the parking lot and joked how usually it is the other way around with most kids, that they cry to be left. Oh no, not us....people just look at us funny like we are abducting a strange child or something. I have the feeling our little Josiah is going to like preschool!

My only concern is that they require them to be fully potty trained and technically he IS now, but I still have to help him with certain wiping techniques (if you know what I mean) and sometimes getting his pants AND underwear up to the proper height. Ahhh...well...we do have a little more time left until he starts (Sept. 2nd) so you can pray that he can learn to do the entire #2 process without adult assistance by then, OK?

Josiah and Anna Grace Play

This video post is a long time coming. Way back in March, David's parents, sister and Josiah's cousin Anna Grace came to visit. A while back I figured out how to get the video clips divided up enough to post in this format and finally now got to posting it. This one is of Josiah and Anna Grace playing together. Josiah was just starting to get a cold at the time and so he wasn't as active as he normally is and Anna Grace is leading the way with most of the activities as you will see. She is a little older than Josiah (she turned 3 last December). Anyway, it is a fun little commentary on their play together.

Neonatal Clinic Visit

After our first visit to the neonatal clinic a while back, the developmental specialist decided that we should come back again in two months to re-check Daniel to be sure that his development was coming along. He wasn't super far behind at that time, but this skill you see here of him attempting to grab his toes wasn't something he was doing two months ago for instance.
The minute we put Caleb on the mat, he was figuring out a way to roll off of it, which of course is very typical Caleb behavior! His skill developmentally has been far above what they have expected of his adjusted age, so that is great for him! David and I both attribute his success to his determined personality. Daniel is more laid back and just isn't as interested in moving as our Caleb boy.

Here they are together on the mat. We also had them weighed and Caleb has finally surpassed his chunky brother in weight, but only by two ounces! Daniel was 17 pounds 10 ounces and Caleb was 17 pounds 12 ounces. My mom informs me that I weighed around 17 pounds at one year, so even our preemies are beating that! Apparently, I wasn't a big eater and was very active and so hence the low weight at age one.

Late Night Antics

I awoke last night around 1:30, which is rather unusual for the boys now (they usually sleep to 4 or 5ish) and came in to find them in the following states. Caleb had worked himself UNDER the crib bumper as his apparent new blankie (and incidentally seemed pretty pleased with himself as pictured here).

And Daniel had rolled to his stomach, which is a new thing for him as well and he also seemed rather pleased!

Family Outing in the Park

Today we went to this park in Enumclaw called "Mud Mountain Dam" because my MOPS group had planned an event this day to meet for those that wanted to. I did end up seeing one gal that I knew from MOPS, so that was nice that someone came besides me this time (see a previous post on that count). The day was super overcast and in the 60's, and so it wasn't as nice a day as I would have liked, but it was fun to get out with the family anyway. This picture was a difficult one to get because as you may have guessed our oldest was pretty non-plussed to be a part of the photo. We had to coax him to sit by me for this picture and the babies weren't exactly looking up into the camera either, but oh well.


As you can see here, Caleb was having fun grabbing Daddy's nose as he longingly watched his brother Josiah on the swing. We are guessing he was trying to figure out how to get himself onto the swing without us noticing! Thankfully, he isn't quite THAT mobile yet!



I got some nice swinging shots, but this was one of my favorites! Josiah likes to go "Faster, faster" on the swing!!



Here is our "dejected swinger" when Daddy got tired of pushing him.






At one point, we put the babies on a blanket to roll around and enjoy the park as well. Caleb naturally wanted to make his way to the grass as soon as possible and was rolling around right out of the box.

We put Daniel on his belly also, and he was doing pretty well! As usual, he was smiling away most of the day! We think he is teething though now as this evening he was having troubles falling asleep (though tired). We gave him some Tylenol,and soon after he drifted off with no problems, so I am pretty sure that was the problem. Poor little dude!

Lily on the Fly Review

I have been asked to do another product review for the group I am a part of online called "24/7 Moms." If you are a mom and haven’t checked this site out yet, please do so as it has been a fun resource for me for all things “mom-related.”

http://www.247moms.com/247moms/24%207%20MOMS.html

The product I have been asked to review is called “Lily on the Fly”

http://www.lilyonthefly.com/ and it is a system of meal planning for the busy family. Essentially, it consists of choosing from a bunch of recipe cards for meal planning that you can keep in your glove box or your purse when you go to the store. You can then choose seven entrees (and/or sides & desserts) for the week from those cards that sound interesting, and then you can flip the cards over to view the ingredients listed in categories for easy shopping.

Here is a sample of one of the cards from the front:

And the same card from the back:

Then after you have chosen the recipes and done the shopping, you put the recipe cards into this magnetized plastic holder that goes onto your fridge for easy meal preparation during the week. A nice feature also is that you can flip this both ways on your fridge to see either the fronts of the cards or the backs of the cards depending on what you want to see.

Each card is color coated for the type of recipe it is as well, as listed below:

Red & Orange = Entrees
Peach = Desserts
Yellow = Breakfast Recipes
Green = Sides
Blue = Salads
Purple = Snacks

Once you are done with a meal, you take it out of the holder and put it back in the pile with the rest of the cards. When your recipe holder is empty, it is time to pick out new cards and head to the store again! There are a variety of recipe cards you can purchase to get new meal ideas as well to add to your stash. Hopes this helps some of you moms out there!

Precious Moments

Here is a cute picture of Josiah and his little friend Hannah (our babysitter Sharel's sister). They like to hold hands with each other, it is very cute!

Here is Josiah trying on Hannah's headband.

Josiah wanted to take a nap in his rocking chair yesterday. From way back, we have always called this chair "Rocko" because we rocked back and forth and he would say, "Rocko, rocko, rocko."



Here are some cute little Daniel boy pictures. This one of him reaching for the camera.

And this one is one of Daniel right before he is started to get upset.



Here is our little Caleb boy making a funny face.
And here he is again giving a nice Caleb glare!


Yesterday, Caleb was rolling over and was holding onto the dog. Echo was licking him in the face and he just laughed and laughed. Thankfully, our dog is very gentle with the boys!


As an additional note: Most of these pictures are compliments of Sharel with the exception of the Caleb and dog picture and the Josiah in the Rocko picture. Thanks for taking such fun pictures Sharel!

The "NEW" Me

Drum roll please.....duh duh duh DA!! My new haircut and color!! As a treat, David suggested I go and get my hair done. The gal cut off LOTS of hair and I had the "balayage" treatment done to my hair, which is where they paint your hair. It gives a more precise color in the places that they want to put it, more like painting a piece of art as opposed to painted a wall I guess. They took a lot of weight out of my hair and so it is really light now and has lots of layers. I really like it! And more importantly David likes it too!

ADDITIONAL NOTE: It has come to my attention (by my hubby) that it appears in this post as if only "now" does David like my hair. He wanted me to clarify that he liked my hair before also and that no matter how I look he loves me and is not super concerned about whatever way I want to wear my hair. And my comment to that is, "I really love my hubby!"

Team Player

Recently, Josiah has taken to grabbing a ball (usually a football, but here a kick ball), running around the room and then holding the ball above his head and yelling, "I'm on the team!!"

I am not really sure where he got the idea to do this, but it is certainly very cute when he does it! This picture is blurry because our active little boy won't "pose" for a picture much anymore. He was in process of lifting the ball up when I got this photo. And yes, he was saying, "I'm on the team" as well.

All My Boys!!

Today I thought it would be fun to take a quick walk after dinner with all the family. We decided to put the boys in the "Baby Bus" in the actual seats so that they could see out (rather than in their carseats as usual). They seemed to enjoy the ride, but were very quiet for the whole journey just taking everything in. Josiah was busy collecting rocks and racing the stroller and such.

Oh and as an additional note, when I told my hubby that the picture I took of them was going to be called "All My Boys," he quickly informed me that he is "not a boy." And indeed I will confirm that it should perhaps be called All My Boys plus a Man, but as you can see that just doesn't have the same ring to it!

Here is a cute picture of our little dudes riding in their baby bus a new way!

Another quick note: We went to the Tacoma Parents of Multiples annual picnic today and of course though I brought the camera, I neglected to take any pictures...whoops. I was asked to take a role in the group as the newsletter editor, since the gal who was doing it is moving to the Bay area. I am excited take on this project and thankfully it won't take too much work because they have decided to do it every other month instead of every month like they used to. I am glad that I can contribute in some way to help other multiples moms even though I can't always attend the meetings.

Cute Babies!!

Here is a sweet picture of our Daniel boy. My friend Janeen gave us these orange and red outfits the babies are wearing. At first, I thought they would be too big, but then I put them on them and they were just right! It is funny how to me the next size of clothes always looks SO big until I put them on the babies! It was soon after I discovered they fit into these 12-month clothes that I switched out all their 6-9 month wardrobe with the 12-month wardrobe. Thankfully, we saved all of Josiah's clothes and also received a lot of hand-me-downs from another little boy recently (thank you Mary and Grandma Carpenter) so we have LOTS of clothes to choose from for the boys and haven't had to buy any new clothes for them yet!

This is a good shot of Caleb boy's eyes. They are a darker blue than Daniel's we think. We also think that his eyes have the same shape as mine, though my mom tells me that mine were bigger as a baby. Perhaps I will have to drum up an old baby photo from my Mom to compare. I am sure she will be glad to oblige and will likely have them here the next time she comes. She is still a very proud Momma of her kiddos too! I remember when I first had Josiah, she and my Dad came to the hospital and she brought my baby book and wanted to reminisce with me while I was in labor. Let's just say I wasn't so concerned with things I said as a child at that point. Ha ha ha! It was really sweet though. She was very excited for her first grandson to be born for sure!

My friend Melissa had her baby in May and so our youngest kiddos are very close in age. This is Miss Katie and she is just a little over 2 months in these photos. In the first one, you can see that the boys have their hands in their mouths...clearly nervous around their first little girlfriend I think!

Then for the second photo, I managed to get their hands out of their mouths for some smiles. I call this series of photos the "Carpenter Boy Sandwich" for obvious reasons. It is fun that Melissa and I are going through some of the same things as our little ones grow and progress.

Josiah & His Daddy

The other day Josiah went in to talk to Daddy in his room and this cute little interchange between them happened as Josish visited with him. To set this up, David has two screens on his desk, one for work and one for personal use. The work computer was locked down and on the desktop is this older picture of the twins.

David let Josiah "work" on the work computer since there wasn't anything he could do to it while it was locked down. Josiah was typing away and at one point proudly reported, "I am working on brothers." David pointed at the screen and said,"Who is that?" and Josiah very quickly interrupted Daddy and said, "Don't touch screen Dada!!" I would like to add that my hubby is very particular about "touching the screen" and reminds Josiah and anyone else who comes near it not to touch it. So I had to chuckle when Josiah pulled that one out on his own Dad!