Home Sweet Home

It has been over a week since I came back from Germany and only now have come to a point where I feel all caught up with my routine and life to get around to sitting at my computer again. Germany was awesome! I ate chocolate croussiants everyday and had German beer, visited multiple historical museums and locales... and slept at least 7 hours every night (until my last night, which we went out for a "night on the town" in Nürmberg, so I got less than two hours of sleep before getting up to make the two hour train trip to the airport). I loved it there but was happy to come home and was missing my family. I got really sick the day after coming home and spent three days feeling awful and my wonderful parents kept the boys an extra two nights because of this. What would I do without them?

It is nice to be home and back to a routine, and this weekend Craig celebrated his 31st birthday. We had some of his family and friends over to the house and his mom took us out to dinner for some great Mexican food. The servers made Craig stand up on his chair and swing a towel while they chanted a happy birthday to him. This however, the boys absolutely hated and Collin and Cyrus wailed and screamed through. We ended up having to take them out of the highchairs and cuddle them to calm them down. It was so cute and sad and funny all at once! The servers felt so bad they gave each of them a balloon and their own bowl of ice cream with chocolate syrup on top.

Let's see so what are the boys up to these days? Well, Cyrus is walking with assistance consistently now while holding only one hand. He is so close to walking on his own, I bet he can taste it! He can cruise the furniture like a master and often mows over Collin in the process. And speaking of Collin, Cyrus has taken to beating on Collin with toys and pulling his hair. The other day I had them in the same crib for their afternoon nap and Cyrus bit him on the leg really badly. Poor Collin has a mouth and teeth shaped purple and blue bruise; it's a good thing Collin is a tough little guy to take all this punishment. (I swear I do my best to keep Cyrus at bay!!) Cyrus can also go fetch his blankie when told and point to his ears, eyes, feet, and sometimes his nose. He is saying all sorts of stuff now, but no actual words in context yet. But I am proud to hear him babble mama all the time. He can try to say things like ball and foot, using the first consonant for words. I think I have been saying too much to them at a time and now that I am simplifying my sentences to them he is catching on faster. He is still a pain in the rear to feed but will open his mouth for yogurt, guacamole, and some finger foods like peas, diced carrots, green beans and all sorts of cracker/cookie things. It just depends on his mood whether he takes baby food or not, so it is touch and go whether he is self-fed.

Both of them are taking a ton more Pediasure now, 4 or 5 ounces at naptime and then up to 16 ounces at night!! I give them a bottle at bedtime and then before I go to sleep I replace it with a new full bottle and they drink it themselves as they want without my assistance. Yes people, it is wonderful! Even if they aren't sleeping through the night, they aren't needing me anymore to be fed!! I will not say that they are sleeping through the night though-since it cursed me the last time I said it. :P

Collin is getting his speech therapy evaluation in May which I am looking forward to. He got his new glasses which are snazzy but need to be adjusted to sit right on his face already. He is wearing them well, and Cyrus is going after them less and less. Collin is starting to come up into sitting on his own, a really big step we have been waiting for. He can sit up on his knees by himself, but that is not using his trunk muscles nearly as much as sitting on his bottom. He is still commando crawling but will get up on all fours when it suits him to play or crawl just a few paces. He is being very vocal and making more consonant sounds but nothing consistently, yet. Oh yeah, he is finally learning to fall without bumping his head. His balance overall is getting better, and more and more he will go from standing to sitting without flailing about. He has no fear of falling however since he seems to keep on trying to do things. He can pull himself into standing and cruises the furniture some but when we try to walk him he is very awkward and does not like to bend his left leg while standing (otherwise he bends it just fine). He hates to get changed and is quite a wiggle worm getting dressed or have his diaper changed. Au naturale must be his preference! LOL

Whew! Another atrociously long post, and I do not even have pictures on here yet! You guys do not mind though, do you? :P

Jen and I drinking hot wine at a café in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It was a beautiful town that was almost completely closed for Good Friday. Don't you wish you worked in Germany too? They take days off for every holiday you can think of.

At lunch with Jen (center) and her friends/co-workers Barb (left) and Tamara (right) at a local place on base in Ansbach. They were very cool chicas! Wassup ladies!

Here I am standing on a bridge in the cold (wearing my highly talked about coat) in Nürmberg. We did some great shopping, visited the Nazi Documentation Museum, and I had some excellent treats and pastries.

Craig's 31st birthday with all his kiddos. It is hard to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time, much less have them all smiling.

Collin in his new glasses. They are the same shape as his old ones, but these are a brown/copper frame instead of blue. He gives them the thumbs up, kinda.

Collin is looking at something over his glasses like a little scholar. I thought it was cute. By his foot is a cool wooden caterpillar toy I got the boys while in Germany.

Cyrus loves guacamole! Could not get enough of it and would scream if I tried to take the spoon away from him. I just wanted to refill his spoon but I guess he could still taste the reminents...

This was just too cute. My niece Jayden is the "middle" child of our family being the only kid who does not have a cousin her own age. So while Gaia and Jené were off playing she spent most of her time visiting with Collin. They had so much fun!