Cut off from LIFE :P

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! My computer has been down for a while as my hard drive died and Craig had to get a replacement so I have been cut off from the Internet community and my email since before Christmas. As I am just getting back online and rebuilding my bookmarks and all, I thought I would drop a line in to let the world know we made it through the holidays. :P

The boys got better before Christmas but I finally caved and was sick as a dog on Christmas day. I guess the exhaustion finally caught up with me, and so Christmas day is a bit blurry for me and was a bit chaotic. My poor mother in law got really sick to and so we did not visit the Swain family on Christmas Eve, as is the tradition. Gaia, the boys, and I spent Christmas Eve together and as I was already getting sick it was not very eventful, but once it got dark we went out looking at Christmas lights until Craig got home from work. The boys absolutely loved looking at the lights ohhing and ahhing the whole time, even though it was raining and it was a little hard to see clearly.

I am still sick and will post some pictures soon when I am feeling a little better. Collin and Cyrus lost a lot of weight from this last illness, almost two pounds from Collin and a pound from Cyrus. Everyone who has not seen them lately has noticed Cyrus' weight loss. But they are doing just fine now and are almost back up to eating as much as they were before they were sick! Our sleep schedule is all messed up still and some of you moms out there will be green with envy and other will scorn me, but right now they are sleeping in until almost 10 AM, going to bed around 10:30 PM. As far as sleeping through the night, well, it is more often than not, and so I am trying to take advantage of that and get some rest. Speaking of.... I should do that now. More to come soon! Lots to tell...

First Step, First non-belayed Climb!

I need to go to sleep but I needed to mark these two momentous occasions. First Collin took his first real step today! It was during his ECI PT and I was holding his blankie in front of him, he was standing on his own and took on step with his right leg towards me before sitting down. We tried and tried to get him to do it again, but he was done amazing us for the day. Yeah Collin!!!!! We are so proud of him!

Second, Cyrus officially can climb INTO his crib on his own, has done it now two days in a row. He has yet to try to climb out and that might be the end of his crib days once that happens. But for now it is all about getting in, not out. I guess that rock climbing I did in my first trimester (like I used to do on a regular basis) stuck with him. He felt how much I enjoyed it.

So the boys do not have pneumonia and are feeling much better now. Good thing too since tomorrow is our first appointment with the Gastro Dr. And speaking of that I need to get some sleep, in case I had not mentioned that before. LOL Yeah for healthier boys... I was hoping it would be okay for Christmas, maybe it will after all.

Uh Oh...

We went back to the pediatrician's office today and they ran a couple of minor tests, gave Cyrus a breathing treatment, blah blah. Poor Collin was pitifully sick and I had left the stroller in the garage after having picked up the nine cases of Pediasure from the WIC office the day before. That made our trip to the Dr more interesting, me and two sick little kids; at least Cyrus can walk. We got some antibiotics and some serious cough medicine (basically the same toilet bowl blue stuff, only this time it was purple!) and then we got the kicker. If they are still running a fever by Sat morning then we need to take them in for pneumonia. Lung x-rays, blood tests, the works; and we all know how I feel about blood being drawn from my scarred-veined children. Please, PLEASE, do not let this be pneumonia.

We have missed two therapy appointments, one gastroenterology appointment, and now our last Kindermusik class tomorrow due to this sickness. I am running on caffeine and asian noodle bowls, not getting much sleep, and I am having trouble remembering things even more than I usually do. But who knows if that is just because of this recent sickness or a gradual disintegration of my abilities to function. Thank goodness for Starbucks, or else I may not be able to get out of bed (or off the couch) everyday. Perhaps one day I will accept this life, and stop wishing for them to become healthy little boys without any problems, not have an eternity of debt calling us on a daily basis, have the energy to keep my house as clean and well kept as I would like, have the help to take care of my children and my household the way they deserve, etc.

Now I have to worry about Christmas, and I hate feeling like Christmas is a burden, I love Christmas time, so many wonderful memories of the season. I love shopping for loved ones and getting together with family, yet everything is so complicated now and time is against me. I have never blamed my wonderful boys for my feelings, they are the blessing, the only bright things that make all this tolerable. I just wish it did not have to be this hard, so much I feel illequipped to handle, all that I have to be responsible for. I wish I could be supermom, and happy to take on every problem with grace and wisdom. I wish for many things...

Just Pathetic

Aren't we just pitiful? We may be going back to the pediatrician's office if we aren't better by Friday. This has been going on too long, and I am tired of watching my children vomit all the drainage they have and cant seem to keep their fever down. *Sigh* Happy Holidays, bah humbug... :P

Cyrus lays his head down on the couch in defeat.
He just cannot take anymore sickness.



Poor Collin rests with Daddy while trying to feel better.



My babies collapse in Mommy's lap, take care of us Mommy!

We are sick of being sick!

Poor Cyrus has a rough time ahead of him. Right now he is really sick, coughing, drainage, vomiting up the drainage, and fever. Poor guy probably has a sore throat and is feeling pretty bad. Then to top it all off he has to have surgery in January to repair his herniated scrotum. Last October he had the other side repaired that was caused from all the vomiting due to his shunt malfunction, this time I am not sure what caused it. It has slowly been getting worse over the past two weeks and with him getting sick it really got bad. So we have a surgery date scheduled and as long as he isn't sick at that time he will be back under the knife for outpatient surgery. He will go in early in the morning and go home the same day. Poor little guy... my heart breaks knowing he has to have surgery again so soon.

Collin is starting to get sick too, and if it follows the same path as Cyrus he will be sick the rest of the week. This is going to be a difficult week for all of us, thankfully Craig has work off through Wednesday. I am going to need his help taking care of the little guys. I had to postpone Collin's gastro Dr appointment because he is sick, and now we will have to wait until Dec. 20. Its that time of year when I am supposed to be out shopping for Christmas presents and enjoying all the holiday cheer, and now it has become more stressful, stress we didn't need.

Birthdays and Basketball

So our very good friend Tanner just turned two! He was a Micropreemie too, at 26 weeks and we were so happy to be there for his awesome celebration. :) We all had so much fun and are so proud to see how well Tanner is doing. I am certain your brother, Parker, is beaming with joy to see what a happy and healthy child you are, Tanner. We wish him a Happy Birthday too. *hugs*

:) Happy Birthday Tanner! You are TWO! :)

Grandma is chit chatting with Tanner
while she and Cyrus ride the Rocking horse.


Look Cyrus, let's shake it up! Yes, Cyrus lets... Wee!


Mommy and Collin try to get a pic in during all the fun,
but Collin was too busy having fun to notice.

Collin was going through all the tunnels and playing
with all the toys until he realized there was electrical
equipment, then the stereo was suddenly
the only thing in the room...


It is official the Swain boys will be
basketball players. Grandpa is proud to have sports
players in the family, I am sure...


Collin shoots- He Scores! SLAM DUNK!!

Finding the Time

November was so amazingly busy for us, we had therapy almost everyday of the week. Then we had our playgroup with the multiples club, the library Peapods lapsit program, and the Kindermusik class we are in. Things have come to a screeching halt and I am in a mild mourning over the loss of Collin's therapy. I am enjoying the break for my own selfish reasons, but I am itching to get Collin back into a quality therapy routine. I like routines, but need outside influences to motivate me and keep me responsible, and therapy was good for all of us.

We are hoping to have some new therapy in action in the next few weeks that will be two to three days a week. Collin needs it so much and I need the instruction and direction. We are looking at Collin having a Pediatric Walker soon to help initiate his gate muscles and help him to learn how to walk. We have much hope that he will be walking within a year if we are diligent about his therapy. This next year is going to be the most important for him and I trying to do what is best for him, which includes the patch. A difficult task for sure, sometimes we can go through five patches in an hour and we are supposed to keep it on him for two hours a day. Hard on us and really hard on a little boy with SID (Sensory Integration Dysfunction); I am satisfied if I can keep a patch on him for over an hour a day, but set the time for 90 minutes anyways. He has the cognitive understanding without the ability to interact or communicate to match it. I hate that money and insurance is preventing my child from having what he needs to succeed and I fear that will cause long term delays that could have been prevented. We have a Gastroenterology appointment set up for next week to see if we can find out what his reflux issue is all about and perhaps to help with weight gain. He has so much potential... I do not want to be the reason he does not fulfill that.

I also need someone to teach me more about ADHD for Cyrus. If he is going to have anything at this point, its going to be that. He is such a good little boy but he is everywhere all the time; in your face and freakin'-ear-piercing-loud about it. He doesn't take typical discipline well (at least I consider him smiling and laughing while we try to get him to not hit or scream or throw things) so I need some help in that area. Right now his big issue is that he may have a communicating (I think that is the right tern for it) hernia again. We have an appointment with the surgeon to check that out too. I would hate to see Cyrus go back under the knife again so soon, since it has barely been over a year since his last surgery. But he is a whipper snapper, a flirt, smart, charming, stubborn, and very demanding.

I am trying not to drown in the pressures of their little lives and my grown up responsibilities, when day to day things are as normal as they can be. However, I have pretty much lost touch with the rest of the world. I do not watch the news, and am usually the last to know anything that is going on that I do not receive via email (when I find the time to check my email). How do you other twin mom's do it? How do you other preemie moms of toddler/s do it? How do moms who have normal kids do it? Rasing children is the most amazing, rewarding, terrifying, stressful, loving, exhausting, never-ending, wonderful experience I have ever had.

A friend and I laughed the other day when she mentioned a song I didn't recognize, she tried singing it to me and all could think to do was sing back Blue's Clues. LOL I am just happy I have found a new band to put my musical energy into... Blue October. Who knows how long they have been popular, but I have just discovered them in the past year, and only now am starting to get their stuff that is not on the radio. I have a ton of pictures to post, especially from the most recent and highly exciting event of attending our good friend Tanner's 2nd birthday party, but I want to do them justice, and this is essentially a venting post. I will post those wonderful pics and talk about the party soon...

Height/Weight Update as of Nov. 28 :
Collin: 25 lbs 3.5 oz., 33 inches
Cyrus: 28 lbs 8.2 oz., 34 inches

Visitors

My best friend Jen came in town from Colorado for the Cowboys game last weekend and her husband came in from Lawton (he is finishing up his army commitment) and in laws (from San Antonio) all came by to see the boys. They just loved the Cowboys hats and had so much fun playing with Aunt Jen, Uncle Travis, and Mrs. White. Thanks for coming by everyone! :)

Aunt Jen tries to keep a hold of Cyrus while he is elated over the hats he sees.


Uncle Travis lets Collin try on his hat... Wow, Collin likes it!


They are so big on me, that's funny!
I really like you Mrs.White, thanks for coming by to see us. :)


Cyrus puts the hat on Aunt Jen that he stole from Collin's head.

Oh Cool! Now we are both wearing hats!!
Cyrus' fits a lot better than Collin's.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is our first Thanksgiving at home with no one coming to us. It is just Craig, the boys, and me; a quiet and low key day. We are very thankful that we have two happy children who are as healthy as they can be at this point. We are thankful for the people who have helped us through all we have been through for the past two years- my parents who have been invaluable in their support and emotional availability, all of our family for being there when we needed you with love and supporting the boys, our friends for their love and support, the doctors, nurses, surgeons, therapists, our mircopreemie friends who can relate to our plights, and most of all the strength of these two little miracles to have thrived through such overwhelming odds to be where they are today. May each Thanksgiving day give us more reasons to be thankful and may each year be better than the last. Now I am going to go enjoy this day off, which is a day without DR appointments, therapy sessions, and the boys are not going to be force to eat full meals if they do not want to. That's more for me to relax than for them of course. :P

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!


Can I have chicken and stars for Thanksgiving this year, mom?


We just love the dryer... But Cyrus is getting bored I think.


Cyrus can be my seat to look at the light!


We have claimed this piece of shelving
in the name of the Swain Twins!


Now Collin, listen up... here are the design plans for our
Mecha-Legs to reach the computers
and other hard to reach items.

Feeling Better

We thought at first it was just a cold or allergies, but their congestion turned into a coughing, miserable, snotty, sleepless mess. So we did the usual Tylenol runny nose & cough during the day with Benadryl at night, pushing the fluids and not working so hard to make them eat. We had their two year check up on Thursday, where they were weighed and measured standing up for the first time... My boys are growing up! :) It makes me so happy to see them getting bigger and doing more, but I digress.

So we got our shots and our PCP (Primary Care Physician) is recommending the gastro DR to us (again) b/c of Collin's increased reflux problem. He also gave us some really great medicine for their cold which looks like blue airplane toilet water, but it doesn't taste bad and it is 12 hour medicine, versus the 4 hour on the Tylenol. Woo HOO!! They have been doing so much better and this morning they are looking like themselves again. The other thing our PCP recommended was therapy through Cooks for Collin to replace the therapy from TWU we will be losing at the end of the month.

Today is going to be a busy day so I better get to it, but I wanted to jot this down while I had a few minutes. Fun pics to come...

How early was I?

I have about four friends and then a few acquaintances who are pregnant and a few were curious how far along I was when Collin & Cyrus was born... I also have been on pins and needles whenever I hear about pregnancies and I worry about how their pregnancy will go and all that. So I went and did the math and discovered that to be technical:

Collin was born at 25 weeks, 2 days; 103 days early

Cyrus was born 25 weeks, 5 days; 100 days early

They were approx. 15 weeks or 3 1/2 months early... Crazy when I think about what I know now compared to what I knew then. Amazing. Just wanted to document this... Must go sleep... This is my scrapbook...My journal... My memories.

Prematurity Awareness Month

I just wanted everyone to know that November is Prematurity Awareness Month. So please consider all those pleas from the March of Dimes when you get those address labels, either using them with guilt or tossing them so you wont feel guilty. Go to the website and donate or find a local donation center. Children like mine depend upon it.

Online Donations links:
In Honor of Collin and In Honor of Cyrus

Collin, just over a week old, 4 IVs, a ventilator,
and more... Look what these little ones
have to go through.

Cyrus only a few days old, just barely two pounds,
and wearing Craig's wedding ring.

Halloween and Such

We had a good Halloween, our first time to Trick or Treat. Cyrus absolutely loved it, taking about three houses to get the idea and just having a ball. We only went around two streets (which was more than plenty) and a friend of mine drove all the way from Dallas to help me take them around. Next year will be even better, when Collin will (hopefully) be walking and can say "trick or treat" and enjoy all the loot they will acquire. This year however, most of it will be consumed my Mom and Dad.

Our therapy at TWU is going excellently and we are so sad that it will be over at the end of the month. Collin has gotten so much out of it and his eating, oral manipulation, and fine motor skills have improved drastically in the six weeks we have been in the program. He has even said a few words now: "yea!" "eat," and more clearly "mama." But he says yea the best, holding both arms over his head in a touch down motion. We have been fingerpainting and learning to tolerate more textures (rice is still a big no no) and he loves to play in the ball pit now. Cyrus has the best time while we are there jumping on the trampoline, riding the big swing and playing in the rice box.

I think both boys are going through a growth spurt and are taking more bottles at naptime and bedtime, Cyrus especially. He takes two bottles everynight before going to bed... even after having a full dinner that he feeds himself. He can eat a whole toddler entree now, so its not like he is not eating (at least at dinner time), but I have learned that neither one of the boys like mashed potatoes. We will have to give that a try a few weeks down the road. So, we are super busy for now and working hard to keep them at the top of their game, and I am trying to not to be over whelmed by all the work we are doing everyday.

Big sister Gaia will be staying with us the rest of the week while her mom has a c-section tomorrow to deliver her fourth child. Congratulations to her and Gaia will be the big sister to a total of FIVE brothers. I will have to get up at the crack of dawn to get her to school the rest of the week but we will get to go to her school carnival on Saturday, so that will be fun. Um... I am sure there is more; we had a quasi-birthday party for the boys on the Saturday between their birthdays. It was fun but exhausting as I had expected. :P Well, on to the pictures so I can hopefully get some things done around here before the boys get up from their nap.

Cyrus loved wearing his dinosaur costume!

Collin in his lion costume at therapy.
Too Cute, and so fitting for him!

I had to show the tail... it really made the outfit!

Where is Cyrus?

Collin with Miss Stacy playing on the trampoline at therapy.
BTW, it was on Halloween. :P

Happy 2nd Birthday Cyrus!

Over seventy-two hours went by before you born after your brother, and let me tell you little man, those were a long three days! So strong and such a fighter, from day one, your spunky personality shown through and you were there to comfort me, give me hope, when times were tough with Collin in the NICU. Granted you were not to be out done by your brother's constant NICU attention and have given us a few scares in the past two years, but you are not about to let your hydrocephalus stop you from doing anything. Over the past twenty-four months I have watch in amazement as you have quickly been catching up to your fellow two year olds; your keen mind working things out, saying new words everyday to communicate your needs, your pleasure in testing your boundaries, your sensitivity, and desire to be held and loved. I can already see you are wise beyond your years (years now!), you know what you want and are not afraid to get it (over and over and over!). You are so incredibly smart- maybe too smart for your own good! :P Each day I see your smile and it warms my heart and your antics make me laugh. I have watched you help your brother when he needed it. I know he is so lucky to have you as his twin, and I am so very proud of you. I love you Cyrus, and look forward to seeing you grow up and live life to its fullest everyday, just like you do now. Happy Birthday! :)
*One more picture to come... technical difficulties...

Happy 2nd Birthday to me!

I love to eat my table foods, so keep that yucky
baby food away from me Mommy, I'm two now!

Happy 2nd Birthday Collin!

Happy Birthday Collin! You are two years old today, and I am amazed by what you have accomplished, how far you have come. Your smiles and laughter, love and attachment, are reminders of what makes your struggles so very worth it. Even though you cannot yet say so, I can see that you are a happy child who feels safe to grow. You have so much potential and I can see that you are eager to put it to use once you have the tools. The miracle of your survival alone is enough for me to be thankful to have you everyday, but to see how well you have done with what you started with makes it a joy. You may not be doing what a typical two year old may be doing, but it doesn't matter because you are going at your own pace... and you are increasing your speed. I love you my little Collin, thank you for choosing me as your mother so I can celebrate all your achievements with you. Happy Birthday.

So happy to be two!

So ticklish!

I'm gonna get my blankie and you can't catch me!

Catching Up

Uncle D is playing his new Bass Guitar

for the boys and they loved it.
Feel the vibrations!

There is a better pic of Gaia and Cyrus reading in the
chair together, but when Collin joined in on the floor
I had to post this one instead.
How adorable is that!?

Cyrus thinks his chair is a lazy boy recliner.
Here he is waking up with a little TiVo watchin...

Say Ahhh Collin! Stick out your tongue for all to see! :)

I wanted everyone to see just
how much Cyrus loves pumpkin!
That is ink by the way, put there after he ate at it,
not some moldy pumpkin bit. :P

Here we are at the Fort Worth Zoo with our twins group.
Look how sweet Cyrus is, helping Collin stand up.

Weight/Height update:
Collin: 24 lbs. 13 oz., 32 1/2 inches
Cyrus: 28 lbs. 11 oz., 32 1/2 inches
Yes, you read that correctly, they are both the same height! I think it is wrong b/c Collin is swimming in the same footy pajamas that Cyrus runs around in, but I like to think they are...

Anyways- Collin's new therapy up at the college in Denton is AWESOME! He is already swallowing better and chewing. I can even get him to emulate me and stick out his tongue (not a big deal you might say, but we have not been able to get him to do this before). He really likes it there and plays in the ball pit, rides the rocking horse, "jumps" on the trampoline, and rides a horse swing with a therapist sitting with him. Cyrus likes it too and plays the whole time. Soon I will have to get some pics to post. The most horrible thing about it is that the ladies who run the program are leaving and so it is folding; it ends after Thanksgiving. So we will have to get as much in as we can before then.

We carved pumpkins the other day and Collin & Cyrus "helped" hammer in one of the pegs of their light-bright pumpkin while Daddy and big sister carved their own. Hers really turned out great too. We had some friends over carving with us who had not carved pumpkins in a while and so they got the joy of fighting off Cyrus at every turn. :P It was a lot of fun.

Our playgroup at the library is going great too and both of them love to go, but Collin's therapy is cutting into the program so only Cyrus will be going to the next few. All the kids are around their age and I feel so proud to see Cyrus interacting and responding so well. I also enjoy going back to my old workplace and seeing my friends and coworkers. I love any adult interaction.

With all our new appointments and therapies we are doing something pretty much every weekday. Keeps us busy and forces me to get up early, which I need. Collin is having a Barium Swallow Study at the beginning of November to find out if his choking and lack of desire to swallow is because of his swallowing reflex or if he is refluxing into his esophagus- that sort of thing.

Cyrus is almost exclusively on table food now and it is great to let him do his thing while I focus on feeding Collin. He still needs some encouragement and feeding at the end to get a decent meal down, but at least he is doing it himself. :) Cyrus is all over the place and has started cleaning up when I ask him to and talks to Collin (calling him Col) all the time. He loves to go for wagon rides and will get in the wagon and yell out to me "Mama rye (ride) waah (wagon)!" He knows what he wants and he goes for it. He has also taken to yelling this high pitched squeal and it gives me a headache; we are working on the concept of "quiet" but it is a work in progress. I am so proud of him.

I have so many pictures to choose from... I will have to make another picture post soon to show everyone all the fun we have been having!

Food Study

After having the 6 month review with Collin, which was pretty pointless, we saw the nutritionist who recommended a a food study going on at TWU. So we did the insane amount of paperwork that required me going through the discharge papers from the NICU and drove the 45 minutes to the college for his evaluation. They were great and they have asked us to come up to three times a week! That is so great! (although we wont be able to for a while) He will finally get the therapy and attention that he needs to help him catch up. They think at this point he is developmentally delayed and that the delays are not pathological (which we have heard before) making it hopeful that he will catch up. They want to work on his hip movement and fine motor skills in addition to his eating issues. He is still not chewing his food and I know that it is causing me to hold Cyrus back out of convenience since Cyrus is requiring more time to help him learn to self feed with a spoon.

We have been going to the Peapods lapsit group with Grandma and the music group (now with Daddy) to keep us busy and we all love it. Very busy we are and I am starting to take ambien to help me sleep. Hopefully this will be good for everyone... Collin and Cyrus are sleeping better now that they are on Claritin-D everyday. They were sick for about three weeks there, and it turned out to be allergy related.

I have been a little down lately since two people I have been close to have moved away now. One went to San Antonio and the other to Denver. I tend to go into my hole when I get down and with the boys being as mobile and into things as ever I have not spent a decent amount of time at the computer in a week now. But the boys 2nd birthdays are just around the corner, Halloween is coming (one of my favorite holidays! Not to mention the fact that I am a candy junkie), and then the holidays will be here soon. Things to look forward to for sure! :)

We got new chairs for the boys, and Collin likes his Thomas the Tank Engine chair.


Good luck in Colorado Aunt Jen! We will miss you!


Who would have thought he would love wearing the patch so much!
Just goes to show what some kids will do to do what their siblings do.

Collin and Cyrus enjoy playing with their big sister.
Collin your glasses are on crooked!

Collin's Hearing Test

We went up to the hospital today to have Collin's hearing test- and the results are good! He can hear just fine, only mild loss for very high frequencies. That could be related to his age anyway, so says the Dr., and if retested at a later age could turn out that he can hear that as well. So good news, Collin hears and that is not the reason for his speech delay. Bad news, now we need to find out what his speech delay is and hope that it isn't neurological. We were referred to a developmental pediatrician that we will go see and go from there.

We were in a small room with two boxes in each corner (to gauge each ear) with a stuffed animal that played the drums. Every time he recognized the sound and turned it would go off as a reward. It was quite clever and worked really well, he turned to look at the animal when he heard a sound.

Tomorrow is Collin's ECI review so I will have more to say then. What a week for Collin!

Bluebird Blogs Contest

My friend and coblogger has peaked my interest in this contest by Susie over at Bluebird Blogs. And this is my shameless attempt to get a new blog template out of the contest.

I get 5 free entries for posting a blog entry about the contest. Woot! I could use a face lift! I have browsed her testimonials and I am impressed. Pick me! Pick Me!

Happy Birthday Big Sis!

Today is Collin & Cyrus' big sister's 10th birthday! Happy Birthday Gaia! She got tons of loot from her mom and stepdad and then a whole other set of treasures from us (the benefit to having two sets of parents!). So Happy Birthday Gaia!

Hugs to Mom!

Cyrus smiles amicably for his big sister's birthday.
Hey buddy, you have pizza crust on your face...

Collin waves to everyone behind the Baby Paparazzi
trying to get Collin to look at the camera.

Staying Busy

We have been doing all sorts of things lately. We started the "Peapods" program at the library where I used to work (once called the Mother Goose program) for babies up to two years. We do nursery rhymes, finger plays, read a board book, do sign language- it is wonderful! I have wanted to get the boys in there for so long and love it! I have missed working at the library and I miss the people there. We have also been doing Musikgarten where we song songs and play with simple musical instruments like bells and percussion sticks. The boys are a little too young for the program right now, but it runs through December so by then they will be answering the questions and doing all the motions and dances.

They both are so much fun and they need the social interaction and exposure to regulated progam environments (they wont be with mommy all day forever...). I have also noticed they are the most rambunctious kids, which makes me worry that I have given them too much freedom at home. They can go from one end of the house to the other and I leave their door open so they can play in their room. Is this perhaps too much? Should I keep them in one room at a time? What are other parent's thoughts?

Collin had been teething and was feeling pretty bad over the weekend. Poor little guy had fever and low appetite and was very cuddly, needing his mommy. I love that Collin was feeling cuddly since he usually does not sit still long enough to be cuddling with anyone unless Jack's is on TiVo (yes, we watch TiVo, not TV). He is feeling better now and they are into everything together. Cyrus leads the disaster but Collin can climb on anything Cyrus can now, so there is no safe places.

My memory is getting worse and worse and my friend tells me its sleep deprivation. The other day I actually forgot to pick Craig up from he autoshop on my way to my sister in law's. I talked to him on the phone right before I left the house!! This is just madness, and I find myself occasionally forgetting things between the time it takes to get out my notepad in my purse to write it freakin' down! What the @#$%^ people?!? *deep breath* Well, here are some pics while life has been going on (before I forget!!). I love being the Baby Paparazzi...

I am trying to find the picture of Cyrus like this from last year...a comparison.


Cyrus enjoys his homemade ice cream at Grandma & Grandpa's house.
"Cold!" he kept saying, and loved every minute if it!


Mommy and Collin having fun together.
Collin wears his patch without a fight, most of the time.


While Collin was sick I put him in the "backpack" so I
could still get things done around the house.
Doesnt he look pitiful?