February 28, 2007 - Ben's Black Eye & Pics of MaMa

It's hard to believe our sons have been home for over a month now.  They sure are growing and changing fast!

Great Grandma Rilla gave them these cute little overalls.












Nick's newest thing is that he will go to the fridge and look at me when he wants a drink from his sippy cup. He also goes to his high chair when he wants something to eat. He knows where the snack food is kept and will stare at that cabinet when he wants something from there.










Ben walks long distances now, across a couple of large rooms and around the kitchen island. He is much better at maintaining his balance, although he still falls once in a while. He still holds his hands above his head with his fingers crossed. He will resort to crawling when he wants to get somewhere real quickly.











Ben recently hit his cheek on a small table and is now sporting a black eye. Poor little guy. He doesn't seem to notice it though and it sure has not slowed him down.

I specifically got a round table so that this would be less likely to happen.  Joke's on me.





This is my mom (MaMa) with the boys.

She and my sister came to visit for my birthday.  Her birthday is the day after mine so we always plan a small celebration together.  My sister is so sweet to bring mom and come to visit us at least day every other week.  We all love their visits.
My sister is really great with kids and all kids love her.  She is so great to get down and play with them.  And mom loves to read to the boys.  They love that.

February 21, 2007 - First Cold Food

Today we went for a walk along the river and stopped for their first taste of ice cream. Nick pulled back as soon as it touched his tongue. They are not used to cold foods/drinks. He tried it again though and the chocolate won him over.
Ben had no issues with it from the get go. Yum!:).

Funny picture..."Really? It's all gone??!"

February 20, 2007 - General Update with Pics

Nick, holding my sneaker. It's only size 7.5 but it looks huge next to him! He really likes shoe strings or anything soft to hold while he is sucking his thumb.

Nick's vocabulary increases a bit each day. His newest words are banana and tractor. He chatters a lot and will frequently try to repeat words, when we are trying to get him to say a word.

Do you like the socks and sandals:)? This is my solution to cold feet on our wood floors.  They slip and fall too easily with just socks.












Here is Ben, feeding himself a cracker. This was a big step for him. When he first came home, he did not bring anything to his mouth at all.











One of my favorite pics of Ben, learning to walk, hands up in the air, fingers crossed, and a huge grin on his face (You can't see it but I know it's there:). So cute!!












Nick, recovering from pneumonia. Thankfully we caught it early.













As Nick sleeps/recovers, Ben plays, wishing Nick would wake up. I thought this was too funny. He will sometimes lift one foot off the floor, so he can lean into the toy basket further. He actually fell in head first once. It was so funny! (He was not hurt but needed help getting out:). My mom and sister were here and we all had a good laugh.











Ben, palming the ball. He was excited when he realized that he could do this. He would do it again and again and show us each time.

February 18, 2007 - First Time at Church with the Boys

We went to church today for the first time since we returned from Russia. We sat in the nursery for a while and played and then left when the boys were doing well. After the service we went back to their room to get them. As soon as Nick saw me he started to cry, although they said he had been fine, had played the entire hour we were gone, and that was the first time he had cried. Ben was being rocked by one of the caregivers. Both boys were so tired they crashed as soon as they were in the car. We picked up some carry-out food on our way home, fed them as soon as we got home, and then put them down for naps. Overall, a good first Sunday at church with the boys.

February 13, 2007 - Ben's First Steps

Yesterday evening Ben was standing next to me, holding on to the couch. Suddenly, he put both hands above his head and took off walking across the living room, with a huge grin on his face. It was a memorable moment!

He can now take 7 or 8 steps on his own, although he picks up speed along the way, which causes him to fall eventually. He is so cute. He always puts both arms straight up and crosses his fingers and has that big grin.










Nick, at 15 months old, has hair so fair you can hardly see it.  Love this picture of him.  He is such a cutie.















Benjamin walked from where I was on the couch to the window/door and then started touching his brother's head and, at times, trying to hit/pat him. Some normal fun time at our house:).
















Nick was very interested in Ben's overalls.












Benjamin, turning to look at me after I told him "no hitting" and "be nice",........"who? innocent little me??".













May I have your toy please? (That's not quite how it works out).













Nick loves soft, stuffed animals.













Ben, retrieving the panda teddy bear from the toy basket and throwing/handing it to Nick (these are out of order).


















Nick, getting a toy from the toy basket.

February 6, 2007 - Nick's Shadow

This evening, Nick was walking around the living room when he saw his shadow.  It scared him so much that he went running to daddy, half crying/whining. He found it irresistible. He kept going back again and again and became less and less scared each time. It was pretty funny.

During nap time today, I heard "meow meow" over the baby monitor and could hear one of the boys jabbering. I sneaked into their room and could see Dancer the cat lying in the middle of the floor, looking at them in their cribs and meowing at them. They were both in their cribs, one standing and one sitting, watching him. Nick was sitting and kind of half crying/whining. I suspect he had been awakened by Dancer's shenanigans.  Ben was standing and fully enjoying the cat show. Hmmmm, I wonder how often this has happened when I was not aware of it.

Today, Nick said (or tried to say) "bye bye", while waving, when dad left to go run errands. He also tried to say "baby". Ben listens very intently when we try to teach him new words, although he does not try to say them much. He does wave bye bye and my husband and I both think he can probably say a lot more words than he lets on.

February 5, 2007 - Rocky Rocky Ben

Ben enjoys looking at books. They both know what "book" is now and Nick tries to say it. They love books and will bring them to us often for us to read to them, although they don't always stick around for us to finish.













Ben is so pleased that he can climb into this chair and rock himself.  Nick and Ben both like this little chair, although Nick likes to stand in it, so we have to keep an eye on him. This chair belonged to my sister and brother (twins) when they were little and I used it too.  It continues to be passed around and down through the generations.

February 4, 2007 - Dancer the Cat and Nick

This is Nick with our cat Dancer. I'm not sure why Dancer sticks around for this kind of torture but he does.  At least once or twice a day Dancer gets down on the floor and hangs out with Nick.













































Dancer scoots forward until his head is under the ottoman so it won't get squashed but, otherwise, he seems to enjoy a little attention from Nick every now and again.  I don't understand it:).

February 2, 2007 - Allllll Aboard!

Nick and Ben are picking up English quickly!
They can both say "kitty" and "kitty cat". Nick repeats words we say a lot. He is quite the talker/babbler.  Ben babbles a lot during certain times of the day, but a lot of the time he is more quiet. Sometimes we think we heard him say a word but then he does not repeat it and, days later, you start wondering if he really said it.

My mom and sister were here the other day and Ben was playing with this little zoo-train-engine toy that says "Allllllll Aboard!".  It really sounded like Ben repeated it just like the train.  All three of us looked at each other in surprise. It was funny. I have yet to hear him say it again though. I think I have heard him say kitty and mama too. I know I have heard Nick say those words and I think he has also tried to say book.