Messy eaters = new kitchen floors

So last month things were crazy at the house. We did some remodel work in our kitchen and dining room with the help of Trevor’s dad. When we moved in there was carpet in the kitchen and dining room… yuck!!! With the boys learning how to eat (messy!!) it was finally time to put down new floors. Before we got started we painted 1st so we wouldn’t get paint on the new floors. Here is some pictures of before and after.
BEFORE:

The walls were dark paneling, we painted them a light color and it really opened it up to feel bigger. Then we painted the white cabinets burnt orange. I LOVE the color!!! We also moved the dishwasher and moved the wall to the left to make more room. (BELOW)

DURING:
  
AFTER:

Then we put down bamboo wood floors!!! I LOVE my new floors!!!! It is SO much easier to clean up after the boys now. All we need to do now it put a new cabinet in next to the refrigerator. We’ll get to that soon.

Now about the messy eaters!!……

Nicolas: as I mentioned last month, is eating baby foods now!!! This was a huge accomplishment for him!!! He has shown interest in trying new foods now and has even gummed a banana and a pineapple chunk!!! This is great from a kid who refused any sort of solid foods for so long!!! Another big accomplishment for Nicolas…. He can pull himself up now!!!! yeah!!!!! Way to go my little guy!!!! He now side stepping a bit around the table and couch. He is also walking better with his push behind walker (Thanks Mendee) learning to take steps and keep his balance and pace better.

Ethan: is running around ALL over the place!! It’s difficult to keep up with him sometimes, let alone when they both get to running around…. yikes!!! He is talking a lot too.

His newest word is Duck, due to his favorite toy right now is a rubber ducky!! LOL (thanks Aunt Audrey)

He is doing good with knowing what the word ‘No’ means but I am sure he will start testing it someday soon. (sigh) He is bringing us toys to play with him and BOOKS to read to him!! I LOVE that!!! He will bring me a book, I will take it and he will want me to pick him up and he will sit down on me, snuggle, and look at the book with me while I read to him. He does not want to sit still very often so I cherish these moments!!!

HANDSOME BOYS

Dressed in their best!!! Handsome boys!!

They are growing up SO fast!!! *sniff sniff*

Homecoming Anniversary

One year ago today Nicolas came home from the hospital ending our 100 day NICU stay. Here are a couple pictures of them now 15 months old happy and healthy.They are SO much fun right now!!! They are curious and learning new things every day.

Leaving NICU Ethan 5lb Nicolas 6 lb.

Home at last!!! 

TODAY

 

NICOLAS: 20lb. 3oz.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: sitting up on his own, trying to pull up and crawl, eating baby food

WORDS: mom, dad, baby, hey

TEETH: 3

ETHAN: 19lb 13 oz.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: He is walking around all over the place getting into EVERYTHING!! He can climb steps. He eats everything.

WORDS: mom, dad, ball, up, baby, hey, bye. (and he clicks his tongue)

TEETH: 4

new things every day

Nicolas has finally started to eat baby food!!! Daddy worked with him very diligently and finally he has stopped refusing to eat baby food. I am so proud of my little guy for this BIG accomplishment!! ALSO he drank from a sippy cup too!!! He is starting to WANT to do things for himself. Now that he knows how to sit himself up, he is doing it all the time so he can see what is going on.

 

Their new favorite thing is playing in a box. We bought their new car seats last week and the boys love to play with the boxes they cam him. Here are the pictures, and yes, Ethan other favorite thing to play with right now is an old soda bottle with dry beans in it.

I am happy that they are starting to interacting more with each other. When they laugh at each other it is just to funny!!

Big Accomplishments

Nick playing with toy piano

NICOLAS:
Last week Nicolas sat himself up for the first time!!! Then we put him in bed and a little while later we hear him hollering at us, Daddy went in to check on him, and he sat up in his crib all by himself AGAIN!! He has been sitting up every day by himself now and getting faster at it. He has been making a lot of progress lately. He can also get into the crawl position by himself too, then he will rock back and forth while he is there. His balance is getting better and is stepping while holding our fingers. He also likes hitting the buttons on a baby piano. Also this weekend we've gotten him to eat some food.

ETHAN:

Last Sunday Ethan started walking!!!! And a new chapter starts... I officially have toddler!!! He is helping me learn to keep the rooms he has access to cleaner because I have to keep EVERYTHING put up out of his reach. Everything that he comes in contact with goes though the "taste test" with him. He will eat just about ANYTHING now.... food and non-food items. This has led to some "Oh No!" moments and I am sure I will have a lot more of them to come.

baby giggles

Naicolas and daddy

Ethan and Daddy being silly

Nov. 7th 2010

Dogwood Canyon

Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip to Dogwood Canyon two weeks ago.

                                  

these top ones in one of my favorite of Nicolas.

 

My funny little guys!!!

Food Funnies!!

I gave Ethan a "disolvable" baby cookie to chew on, I turn around to sit Nicolas down and I turn around the cookie is gone..... He put the whole thing in his mouth!!!!!!

Yesterday Ethan had pancakes for the first time, loved them, the funny thing is I set it on a plate and put it in front of him to feed himself, instead of taking the pieces of pancake, he tried to eat the plate first!!!

Today I was feeing Ethan baby food and was trying to get him to try to use the spoon to feed himself and he just wanted the bowl, so I let him have it and instead of trying to eat the baby food IN the bowl, he tried to eat the bowl!!!!

-Other funny stuff this morning-

What are you doing under the coffee table??? And why do you have a fork??



13 months

I know it has been over a month since I have posted anything, I am SO sorry to all of you waiting to see new pictures!!!!

Nicolas had eye surgery 4 weeks ago, he is doing really really good now. His eyes are no longer crossed! He recovered well, the very next day he acted as if nothing even happened. He is now reaching out for toys and grabbing them more accurately!!! He is more social and interactive with us too. I am so happy he is doing so better. We still have a lot of work with him, trying to get him caught up, but he is sitting on his own very well now, he can roll over like a pro and he is scooting a bit. He loves to be lifted high up in the air and also to be  thrown on the bed and tickled (so does Ethan)

Ethan has officially cut his first tooth today!!!!! He is walking around the furniture like a pro. He was seeming so eager to walk that I thought he'd be walking by the end of this month, but he has figured out that he falls too much so when we try to get him to let go and stand, just sits down. Crawling gets him where he needs to be fast enough anyway. But I know walking will be in the very near future with him. My days are numbered!!

Trevor and I just celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary a week ago. We went to Dogwood Canyon Park, it is our family tradition to go there once every year. It was nice to see the park with it's fall colors. It has a paved walking trail so we took the boys with us in the stroller then let them play in the leaves. Then we went to a horse ranch and got to see some beautiful horses and learn all about them (we are getting a baby sitter next time we go there so we can ride.) Then we went to a really nice restaurant, by this time it was the boys bedtime and we wore them out so they fell asleep in their stroller while we had a quiet and delicious meal (steak and stuffed shrimp....mmmmm......) It was a good day!! I don't have any pictures uploaded to my computer of that day, I will try to get them on here soon. But there are a lot of other pictures below. ENJOY!

Ethan - this is just funny

Ethan "Yee haw!!!"

Nicolas is sucking BOTH of his thumbs at the same time!!

Ethan gets on top of Nicolas sometimes, so I turned the tables on him
and put Nick on top of him...

blah!!!!

Ethan: "OK Nick, so this is the plan....."

"what?!? we are innocent!! we weren't scheming!!"

swings at the park

this just looks like trouble!!!

One year old

The boys turned one year old Thursday (September 16th). At this time last year we didn’t even know if they would survive and get to come home to be with us. AND NOW…. they are happy and healthy and growing well!!! We had a long hard road to get to where we are, but it was all worth it. They make us so much happier than we could have ever imagined!!! Nicolas is such a sweetie. He likes blowing bubbles and being tickled.  He is ticklish ALL over. Ethan is such a adventurer. He likes pulling himself up and walking around the furniture. He will be walking in no time!!!

We took pictures at the park to mark this milestone in their life to see how far we have come. I put them in their jeans and let them play in the grass and leaves. Ethan now knows what grass and leaved and dirt tastes like…. ha… ha… :) He just can’t help himself.

Well, I don’t know the next time I will be able to get any good pictures. Our camera got ran over by our car since we did not know it had fallen on the ground until it was to late. I AM VERY SAD!!!! We bought it just 11 months ago (on our anniversary) so we could take pictures of the boys in the NICU. I just LOVE taking pictures of the boys as you have seen.