Happy Birthday Ruslan!

One year ago and today.  And some of my favorites from each of the last 12 months.

One Year Later

One year ago today I wrote the following:

"It is still hard for me to believe that I am going to be coming home from the hospital with 2 babies; I guess it won't be a reality until they put them in my arms. I wonder what they will look like - will they look the same, will I have trouble telling them apart? What type of temperment will they have - calm, good sleepers :) Will their personalities be similar or completely different? How big will they be - my guess between 7 and 7.5 lbs. How will we adapt to the change in our household? How will we survive the sleep deprivation? How much will our daily lives change as we transition from a family of 3 to a family of 5?  Ready? I guess as much as we are going to get. I'm excited to finally see the boys and welcome them into our family!"

I was packed and ready to go to the hospital early the next morning for an amnio followed by a scheduled c-section later that day.

After a year...

• I have no trouble telling them apart and their personalities are completely different. 
• Overall they are calm and easy-going.  Everyone who spends time with them says they are such good babies, we are definitely blessed with babies who are quick to smile and easy to calm when they are upset.
• My guess on weight 7 - 7.5 lbs: 6-8 and 7-7 - not too bad
• The sleep deprivation - I still wake-up much earlier than I would like, but in general they sleep great.  The first 3 months were really, really, really bad - there were days that I didn't think it would ever get better.  But it did, sloooowly.  Gradually they started sleeping and eating at the same time and went longer periods at night.
• Daily life - what a change!  Getting 3 kids ready in the morning, managing dinner, baths and bedtime...it's a challenge making it all work and we continue to make improvements and work togther to keep everyone in our home happy and healthy.
• Adjustments - we have had plenty of those.  Juliana had a very tough time with the change.  She was mad a me for a long time and then eventually accepted it to a point.  She still complains about sharing me and will ask me to put the boys in their play area and play with her.  I do my best to spread my attention around and spend time with her after the boys have gone to bed at night having some special mommy time.

Ruslan woke up extra early this morning and fussed and just wouldn't go back to sleep.  I picked him up and snuggled him for a while tyring to appreciate the fact that he is still small enough for me to hold in my arms.  As all parents know they grow up so fast.

Roadtrip

I was so nervous about our trip to Maryland - 350 miles in the van with 2 wild babies who don't like to stay still for long.

We timed the trip to leave right after the boys ate breakfast in the hope that they would take a good morning nap.  We had the van packed, a movie on for Juliana and left the house at 9:40 am.  And then Scott drove really fast while Juliana watched movies, the boys slept and I chilled.  I don't sleep in the car and I can't read for more than a few minutes or I get car sick.

We made it all the way to Fredrick, MD without stopping - the boys woke-up shortly before that and were content with some small tpys.  We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch and the boys were so excited to sit in the old-fashioned high chairs.  They were entertained by all of the people and the people sitting near us were entertained by them.  As we were finishing lunch, 3 different tables of people told us how well behaved our children were - proud mom momment.

Before leaving, the boys got clean diapers and we loaded them back in the car with little complaint.  More small toys were handed out and after a half-hour they were back asleep.  We drove the rest of the way to our hotel near Ocean City, MD without stopping.  The last 45 minutes was a bit rough - the boys were getting tired of their car seats and hungry. 

As soon as we checked in the boys had their afternoon bottle and then started to explore the room.  There were plenty of new surfaces to cruise along and some toys from home provide a familar touch.  Juliana was incredibly good for the entire drive and set-up a space for herself to color as soon as we arrived.

After getting settled and feeding the boys their dinner we drove to the boardwalk and went for a walk.  Scott and I enjoyed fries from Thrashers; Juliana prefered to eat a soft pretzel.  It was chilly and windy so we didn't stay long.  Juliana and Scott ventured down to the water for a minute while we waited on the boardwalk.  Juliana was able to run off some of her energy from the day.

We stopped for take-out stone crab for dinner and when we arrived at the hotel everyone was asleep.  That was just the little nap they needed to be up late.  It was 10:30 before everyone settled down for the night.  And Wyatt got up at 5:00 and slept on me until Ruslan was up at 7:00.

We had decided to drive home after the wedding rather than deal with another night away from home and a day of driving to come home.  That worked out great for the boys - they had their night time bottle at the reception and fell asleep within minutes of leaving.  Juliana was awake until 11:00 and then dozed off only to wake-up 30 minutes later very upset and unconsolible.  It was about time to stop so we made our gas and bathroom stop for the ride home.  I got Juliana settled again in the back with a fresh movie and she stayed awake until 2:00 am - apparently she gets her anti-car sleeping from her mommy.

We arrived home at 3:00 am - very tired and happy to be home.  Juliana work briefly and went right back to sleep and Ruslan as well.  Wyatt had thrown-up in the car toward the end of our trip (we didn't know until we were home since he never cried).  So I had to change him and then spend some time getting him settled.  It was a short night for mommy.

11 Months Old

Even though they will be 12 months next week, this post reflects their activities at 11 months.

Month 11 was the month of mobility and exploring lots of finger foods.  They are a bit like puppies, crawling all over the place, chewing on everything, and making lots of noise.  Sometimes they travel as a pack around the house seeking the same ball or other toy and on other occasions they are on their own traveling in opposite directions.

During month 11:

• The gates were installed at both sides of the main living area and if they are not latched completely they can get them open and escape
• We switched to bigger car seats
• Ruslan continues to blow kisses and still sucks his left thumb and holds his right ear
• Wyatt makes clicking noises and ear-splitting yells
• Both pull themselves up to stand and cruise along the furniture and walls
• Wyatt is especially interested in electrical outlets so we are extra careful to watch out for them when we are somewhere that they might not be covered
• Ruslan's reflux finally started to end to the point where we no longer have to keep him in a bib all day for spit-up.  We started the process of switching him from the reflux formula to the same brand that Wyatt eats.
• They both love chasing balls
• Ruslan started clapping and blowing razzberries
• We bought their first pair of shoes, but we still keep them barefoot most of the time
• We worked with Wyatt to get him to put himself back to sleep when he was continuing to wake-up at 2:00 am many nights - now everyone sleeps all night
• New finger foods: egg yolk (scramble and hard boiled), blueberry waffles, toast, green beans and peas

We are starting to get to the point where they entertain each other and I can start to see the advantage of having a built in playmate as they grow-up.

Happy Easter

It takes some work, but generally I can get a decent picture of the 3 of them together when I want.  Not today and if the boys stay as busy as they are now it might be a while until that happens.  Here are 2 pictures from the many I took, hoping that the boys would stay put (this is after bribing Juliana).

Dress-up clothes for boys are not nearly as much fun to buy, but they looked very cute in their khakis and button down shirts.

We got up early so everyone could be ready to go in time to make it to 8:00 church.

I let them crawl all over to burn off some energy after sitting nice in church - notice they are headed in opposite directions.

And then I realized that they would sit still for a few minutes if I gave them a snack.

They did not stay still long enough for Juliana to walk across the room.

After church the boys took naps and Juliana played with her toys from her Easter basket - we do small toys instead of candy.  One of her toys was a giant bubble wand and she waited by the door for my dad to come over so they could play outside.  The boots were the fastest shoe she could get on her feet.

My parents and Scott's parents came over for dinner - yummy ham!  We had a really nice day with family.