Dirt Pile!

This may be one of Sam and Seth’s dirtiest days ever, thus making it one of their most fun days ever. You should have seen the bath water!

Sam, Seth

The boys then decided that they should take off their socks because they were getting dirty… Gross. I’m still trying to decide how to clean out the inside of the boots… Look at the dirt sock line Somehow Seth thought that the top of the dirt pile was the best place to take off his boots? Sam’s beautiful blues

Cutest little dirty boys in undies ever! (Sam, Seth)

The BIG announcement!

Seth and Sammy are going to be big brothers! Just one baby this time, due September 8. We are all so thrilled!

After two years of trying for another child, we found out we were pregnant on New Year’s Day. How’s that for an exciting way to start your year and have your prayers answered? It was so fun to tell family and close friends that we were finally pregnant, as so many of them had joined us in prayer for this little one for so long. But our favorite people to tell were Seth and Sam. I really wanted another child for many reasons, but one of the most prominent was that I wanted them to get to be big brothers. They are SO excited and talk about “our baby” a lot. Sam wears his big brother shirt almost every day. They talk about what they will do with baby, or what they will teach them. Initially Sam wanted a boy (“because then he can wrestle with daddy), and Seth a girl. Now they’ve switched. Ben and I are pulling for a girl.

I’m currently 13 weeks along and starting to enjoy life a bit more. It is amazing how quickly we mom’s forget the misery of the first trimester! This time around mine was exacerbated by food allergies…meaning that most restaurants and convenience foods are unavailable to us. But, thanks to a wonderful husband and flexible kids, no one starved and we’ve made it through! Cravings have included PF Changs and Subway (both have great gluten free options), Honey Chex Cereal, bananas, rice cakes, and carrots. I haven’t been able to cook meat, but somehow have been able to boil leftover rotisserie chicken bones and make spicy cilantro chicken soup from it—another craving (weird, I know!) Every day I put the boys down for a “rest” where they play quietly together in their room for an hour or two, and I take a nap; every day, I sleep for exactly half an hour. It’s very bizarre. My stomach, thanks to being nice and stretched out, popped out quite quickly. I started feeling baby moving sometime last week…it was quite magical.

So now this blog isn’t just a twin blog, but a twin and baby blog. We’re blessed, thrilled, and so thankful.

February

Here we are: the last day of February and I’ve been a pathetic blogger this month and taken very few pictures (AND I didn’t even finish this on the last day of February, sigh). Not that I haven’t written an update on the boys about ten times in my head. Here’s my attempt to put some of those memories into words:

-If I would have written this update last month, I would have focused on how bossy Sam has become. However, since it’s a month later, I’ll write on how bossy Seth is. Yep, they did a complete switch in a span of a month. So let’s just say whoever is “the boss” of the month spends their days making sure their brother is in line. Nothing is built without “the bosses” approval and the “the boss” loves to tattle to mommy whenever “the understudy” is doing something out of line. In January, Sam seemed much more aggressive; February, Seth is having a hard time keeping his hands off Sam.

-It is so fascinating parenting two boys of exactly the same intellect level. Their rhetoric and arguments with one another are exactly the same—no one has an advantage. I find I’m spending a lot of my words saying things like: “Mind your own business,” “You can’t control what he’s doing, but you can control your own body,” “That’s his choice.” But having them be at the same level has a lot of positive aspects as well; they are the closest of buds. Their humor is exactly the same, so they laugh A LOT. Daily while they are at rest, I enter their room to find them sitting side by side reading to one another. So special!

-After watching a couple of Uncle Levi’s basketball tournaments this past month, Seth and Sam are spending lots of time playing basketball. Sam is obsessed with learning to dribble and is getting pretty good for his age. Seth loves to dunk it hard. They love fouling, getting fouled and shooting free throws.

-They are starting to be a bit less shy, meaning that they warm up to extended family members quicker than they used to. Seth has even said, “Hey,” to a couple of people walking by (a first for them!)

-They have been struggling with fear lately, which is very sad to watch as a parent. Sam struggles especially and doesn’t like to venture into the back of the house by himself at night. Most of the time, Seth will go with him and help him to be brave as they put their “binoculars" (their fingers around their eyes) and look for monsters (all their idea). Along with fear has came bad dreams and waking up in the night. Yuck.

-One of Seth and Sam’s best traits is that they are VERY helpful. I’m so thankful for their willingness to help! Ben has been having them help him unload and load the dishwasher after dinner and they LOVE it. When I do yard work, they are right by my side raking, pulling weeds, and digging.

-They still are asking thousands of questions every day. Especially Sam. Oh so many questions.

-Seth is good for one at least one special snuggle a day. I love it.

-I started going through a couple preschool workbooks with them last week. They LOVED it and would have blown through the entire book in one sitting if I would have let them. It was very fascinating for me to watch them exhibit very different learning styles. Sam’s tougher to teach initially; he quickly gets frustrated and will cry if doesn’t understand. However, he’s SO determined that once he learns something, he will obsess about perfecting it. Seth is a quieter and more steady learner. While Sam will blow through pages in a workbook somewhat sloppily, Seth doesn’t worry about speed and traces those lines perfectly.

Sam set up this “drum set” all by himself. Check out the cowboy hat on the vacuum: it’s a cymbal!  Sam keeps asking me when we’re gonna get a real drum set. I tell him to ask his daddy. I made Seth pose for me this day because he was “camo man.” Unfortunately his cheesy smile has not improved.

-The boys and I spent a few hours at the zoo this week (I love having a zoo pass!). It was a slightly rainy day, but those days are perfect for us. There are plenty of inside exhibits to spend our time at, and not many people brave the zoo on rainy days, so Sam and Seth have the run of the place.

The polar bear cave (Seth, Sam) Watching the Chimps (Seth, Sam) Baby elephant Lily was lots of fun to watch! Sam and the red tree frog The giraffes were walking back and forth—I was in awe of watching their long limbs work! “Mama, what’s that giraffe doing to the other one?” My reply, “I think it’s a mama giraffe prodding her kid along…like I do to you!”

Sunny Winter Day

We woke up Saturday morning to SUNSHINE and very mild weather. So like any true Pacific Northwest residents who have been stuck inside all winter because of rain, we headed outside and stayed there all day (well, at least Ben and the boys did!) In a true stroke of irony, exactly a week after we sold our truck, we decided we wanted a load of gravel to make a pathway to the new shed, so had to pay for delivery. However, there was a  perk of this $30—we had a dump truck come to our house and the boys got to watch! They then spend all afternoon scooping gravel with their daddy. Then we all took a walk to the park. It was so wonderful.

Seth, Sam

Poor Seth got stuck with the little shovel to begin with Sam boy looking like a little man Shovel upgrade for Seth The pathway to the awesome shed that Ben built

Such hard work deserves a trip to the park; Seth with Ben, Sam on right

 

Sammy, Seth   Such a good daddy. Such a great day. (Sam, Seth)

3.5 and Loving It!

Coming down from the high of the busy and exciting Christmas season, straight into the winter doldrums, I’ve found it hard to come up with anything compelling to blog about. We’re going a little stir-crazy, battling sickness about every two weeks and freezing cold temperatures (32 degrees is cold for this area!). But life is still good and we’re thankful that there is spring to look forward to in a couple of months!

Seth and Sam really do an amazing job of entertaining themselves (or each other for that matter). I was recently telling some friends how I was doing a bit of early spring cleaning by rearranging all of our closets, and they asked, “When do you have time to do that?” I replied, “In the middle of day.” “What are boys doing?” they asked. “Playing,” I replied, realizing how blessed I am to have twins that play constantly with one another and don’t rely on me for attention! They spend their days deep in imagination land, constant conversation with one another, and building with blocks and legos. I’ve been trying to do little activities with them as well: play dough, “cooking” with rice, learning to cut on the lines, watercolors, etc.

Here’s little Seth; I’ve decided that I might be one of the worst parents at actually washing their kids faces. Oh, well. There are worst things to fail at! Notice the mark under his left eye—it’s a burst blood vestal and a great way to tell the boys apart!  Sam is so much more photogenic and willing to smile for the camera than Seth. He’s got a pretty good bonk on his noggin if you look closer. The newest football gear; note the two beanies. One is the helmet, and one is the face mask that much to the boys’ chagrin I insist cannot pulled over their entire face while they play.  (They insist they can see well enough out of the holes…I do not believe them!) Seth’s camera smile Cute picture of Sam!

One of my favorite recent memories (and a moment in which I wish I would have had a video camera in my hands), perfectly illustrates the difference in aggressiveness between Seth and Sam. Ben and Nathan were on their hands and knees on our living room floor playing football with the boys. Nathan gave Seth the ball, which he held lightly in his hand and stood still. Meanwhile, Sam charged full speed across the living room, wrapped Seth up in perfect tackle form and plastered him to the ground—hard. We were all stunned, laughing, and proud of Seth for not crying, and proud of Sam for his great tackle. It was hilarious. Now when the boys play football with one another, when Sam has the ball, a tackle happens. When Seth has the ball, he tosses it in the air, falls down before contact is made, and claims he got a “touchdown.”

Wesley turned two in January, and Seth and Sam are very excited that he’s now able to do “two-year-old things,” (whatever the means?) These three are hilarious together, and we’re so thankful to have Wesley in our home. The boys referred to him as their “brother” the other day. So sweet.

Snowman

I’m thankful for daddies and aunts and uncles, so that when a cold and wet snowstorm hits, they can take Seth and Sam outside to build a snowman…while I reside inside by the window with no screen and take pictures. And although this post is overdue, and the pictures weeks old, it is worth sharing, because they really do build an excellent snowman in the end.

Now if this picture of Seth doesn’t make you laugh, not much will. Hilarious!

The boys borrowed scarves from their Grandma. It is impossible to tell them apart when only this much of their face is showing. Thankfully Seth remembered that he had the pink scarf on, so Seth is on the left, Sam on the right.

Sam and Daddy

    Seth and Uncle NayNay

Because Nate and Ben both took a boy and rolled a snowball at about the same pace, a bit of a problem presented itself: how to get the equally large middle snowball on top.This is a picture of Nate and Ben counting to three, and the snowball not moving an inch. Then Nathan got the brilliant idea of pushing the middle snowball so hard against the bottom one, that it would eventually roll on top. Miraculously it worked—and I even got a video of Nate slipping as they starting pushing it up (I’ll save him the embarrassment of posting it). They did it! Sending the boys off to gather rocks for the face. And the finished product. LOVE it! (Also love that Sam’s scarf is positioned so that you can’t even see his face.)