1 Year has come and gone

Well, the boys first birthday has come and gone. As has their 13 month birthday. We've been busy, busy. I would like to do separate posts for each of the different things that has happened over the last 6 weeks, but I'm afraid if I do that I'll never finish. We know how hard it is for me to just get on here once a month. I think I'd do a better job of recapping the last 6 weeks in one post and then really try to do better about updating at least once a week, if not more often. The boys are learning so much and doing so many new things lately, I hate to have it all pass in a blur and then a year from now not remember when they started walking or said their first word. My friend Ami just completed a challenge to post once a day for the month of November and she explained after suceeding how it had inspired her to keep up with her blog so she could look back years from now and remember all of the little things that happened when her kids were small. So with that...

We decided to travel back home to celebrate the boys' birthdays since we don't know many people here. We hadn't been back there since February, so it was time anyway. The trip went well. We (Glen especially) get really nervous about flying with the boys because we just don't know what to expect, but they always are great. We had evening flights and didn't get in until around 10 pm, which was 12 our time, so we were all tired. It ended up serving us well, though, because the boys were up so late, they slept in a couple hours and just like that we were on local time for the rest of the trip. We spent the first night at Glen's parents, staying in their bedroom with both pack n plays crammed in there. The next three or four nights we were able to stay at Kelly's sister Amy's house as they were out of town. They have twin girls that are two, so it worked out perfectly that they had a play room, two highchairs, two cribs, and a separate room for us to sleep in. That was the best setup, and we would love to be able to provide that for someone in the future. It's always tough being back home because there are so many people we want to see and just not enough time. But we had a great time with family and some friends. Greg, Erin, and Isabelle, David and Izabel, Gary and Sue, Aunt Helen and Grandma Miller, Gene and Veletta, and Skip and Carol all traveled to Spokane to see us. It meant a lot that they all took the time, effort, and expense to be there for us as we celebrated the boys' first year of life. It was great fun seeing Isabelle and Luke and Micah playing together. They really didn't interact a ton, but they kind of followed each other around after the same toys. The living room was small and my in-laws house was not baby-proof, so were were pretty much limited to the small living room, so there weren't many places for the kids to go off and be by themselves. We had the birthday party at Rocky Rococo's which is a special place for Glen and I. We kept the guest list limited to family, except for one friend and her family as they are in Cd'A and we wouldn't have been able to see them otherwise. We got individual cakes for Luke and Micah. Luke had a cake designed like a dog, and Micah's was a monkey. They were not too impressed with the cake and frosting. They would gently touch the frosting and then delicately taste if off their fingers, but they didn't go crazy. They received lots of fun toys and books and some clothes.

We flew home the day before their birthday and Glen took their actual birthday off from work so we could recover from our trip and celebrate the boys all day. Our friend Stephanie sent the boys these ride-on cars, and Glen and I got them a wagon. We spent their naptimes putting those together. We only had time for one car, but they LOVED it! We have some adorable pictures of them with Micah pushing Luke around on the car. After showing them the car, we introduced them to the wagon, they weren't as impressed with it. Probably because we strapped them in and they had no control over where they were going. But then we took them for a short walk in the wagon and they did enjoy that. The wagon is pretty much my mode of transportation for getting the mail now. They love that they can look all around and kick each other's feet. Anyway, back to their birthday. We were able to skype with my parents who were in Asia and they got to see the boys carrying around the birthday cards that they sent them. We decided to take them downtown to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. We had never been, but from what I understood, there would be lots of things for them to look at and hold their attention. We had a horrible time trying to figure out how to get down to the Riverwalk in order to enter the restaurant. We had taken the two single strollers and were unable to find a ramp or an elevator, so Glen ended up carrying one stroller down while I waited at street level with the other baby and then he left the first baby down there, we passed on the stairs and he brought the second baby down. Not ideal, and probably not truly safe either. Next time I think I'll take the baby out of the stroller and carry each separately. The restaurant was pretty disappointing. The atmosphere was great, but the service was really slow, r e a l l y, r e a l l y slow - and the food was only okay. Also the gorilla was slightly terrifying to Micah. We got them a birthday sundae and they didn't want it. They aren't big fans of sweet things...yet.

I didn't spend a lot of time on their birthday reflecting on their first year. I don't know why now. I did happen to look at my watch at 9:37, Luke's time of birth, but I was feeding them breakfast and didn't have time to think back to one year ago at that time. The first year definitely passed quickly and in quite a blur. But at the same time, this new life feels so comfortable, like this is the way it's always been. I'm so proud of my boys and I'm proud of Glen and myself for surviving the first year and actually enjoying it. Motherhood is so much harder than I imagined it would be, but so much more rewarding and enjoyable and I'm filled with so much love for my boys that I never imagined I would be able to feel.

We had hoped to get professional pics done of the boys and also family pictures right after their birthday, but the photographer had to cancel on us. We ended up going with a department store studio just so we'd at least have something to commemorate their first birthday.

On October 29 Micah took 4-5 steps independently a few times. He's continued with just a few steps at a time since then. Today he walked from the coffee table to the couch which was about 6 small steps. It was like he figured out that it would be easier to just walk than to get down and crawl over and get back up.

I decided to wean them from breastfeeding during October with the goal being that we would be done in time for our trip. I knew bottles with formula would be a lot easier than breastfeeding when we would be around so many people. Well, they were pretty much drinking expressed breastmilk by then, so I would have only had to worry about pumping, but I didn't want to bother with that. I still consider myself able to make it the first year breastfeeding - which I'm very proud of. Technically we could have transitioned from breastmilk to whole milk, but I knew formula would be a lot easier to mess with since you can just mix it up as you need it. It did work out really well and I'm happy with that decision. They were and still are breastfeeding at night, but I'm not anticipating that lasting much longer. I don't have much supply left and they are not satisfied for long after breastfeeding in the middle of the night. It's definitely time to wean them from the night bottles, but we are getting ready for another trip and were advised by several friends to wait until after the trip to tackle that one.

I've been doing baby sign language with them. Mostly for "eat", "all done", "water", "drink", "milk", and "more". But we've also done shoes, socks, cat, frog, bird, hat, fish, boat, ball, etc. Micah started signing "all done" about a week before his birthday. Just last week both boys signed "eat". Micah does it a lot now, but Luke has to be prompted. Micah is also signing "more" which is really cute. He also does a sign that is a cross between more and clapping. I'm wondering if he's trying to sign "ball". I think he's also signed "hat", using both hands. It is so cute and rewarding seeing them learning these things and it makes me excited for the future. If I'm this proud over a couple signs, I'll be overflowing with pride when they start reading and making kind choices, and everything else that's in their future.

At their 12 month well-child visit we found that both boys dropped from around the 25th percentile in weight down to the 10th percentile. I should get the actual stats.
Luke: weight - 19 lbs 5 oz, height - 28 1/4 in, head - 48.9 cm
Micah: weight - 20 lbs 3 oz, height 28 1/2 in, head 48 cm
Luke's head continues to be in the 97th percentile and I mentioned to the doctor that we've been keeping an eye on it. She asked if we'd had an ultrasound done on it, which we haven't. She thought it would be a good idea since his soft spot is still open, the ultrasound will be a lot easier than waiting until it closes and then having to do an MRI. That got me a little worried, but I've resisted the urge to google it. Because their weight did not increase like it had been, she wanted us to come back at 13 months for a weight check. She said drops around this age are normal because they are becoming more active and transitioning from breastmilk/formula to solid food.

So we just had their 13 month weight check last week. Micah's growth was just fine, but Luke's now down to about the 5th percentile. I mentioned to his doctor that I'm still feeding him at night because I worry that he hasn't been drinking enough during the day (10-13 oz as opposed to the 16-24 he should be getting) and she agreed that I should probably keep it up. It's just been a big struggle to get him drinking milk and he's pretty picky about table food. I feel bad giving him the same thing meal after meal, but if that's what he's going to eat I need to just let go and let him do it. He doesn't like to pick up wet foods. And any new foods we give him he'll put in his mouth, or let us do it, but then he immediately takes it back out. Neither of the boys are big fans of meat and it's tough getting them to eat veggies. They like fruit for the most part and most bread/toast, and cheese. I've been trying to figure out how to get more protein into them. I'm a big chicken (pun unintended) about giving them eggs and peanut butter. I know they are within the acceptable age for introducing those items, I'm just afraid of a reaction. I bought some pediasure which I think I'll try adding to their bedtime bottles to hopefully fill them up a bit more and give them some of the protein they are lacking from their diet.

My parents came down for a week for Thanksgiving. The night before they got here Luke was sick - puking sick. That's the first time I've had to deal with a puking child - so thankful for that. He'd woken up and I fixed him a bottle but he didn't want it. We cuddled and rocked for a bit and then I laid him back down and he went down just fine. But in the process of trying to give him a bottle Micah woke up and started crying. AFter laying Luke down, I picked up Micah and tried rocking him back to sleep. I'd considered giving Micah Luke's bottle. Then I heard it...Luke throwing up. He immediately started crying so I took Micah into Glen and told him Luke was throwing up. I went back in and turned on the lamp and there was vomit everywhere in his bed and he was kind of rolling around in it, crying. The smell was overwhelming and I was still half asleep and having trouble thinking about how to best handle the situation. Micah was screaming with Glen because he just wanted me (both boys turn into such Mama's boys in the middle of the night). Glen eventually brought Micah into the babies room and was reading to Micah while I tried to clean up Luke. I decided he needed a bath as he STUNK. I made a new bottle for Micah, so Glen gave it to him and got him back in bed while I bathed Luke. Luke ended up throwing up a few more times and went through four changes of pajamas. He eventually passed out on my chest in the recliner and I was able to put him back in bed (after changing the sheets) and he slept the rest of the night. Well, that was just the beginning. Wednesday night Micah woke up in a puddle of puke. Luke slept through the whole thing, but because Luke was asleep in their room, we set up the pack n play in our room for Micah. He puked several times. I tried rocking him in the recliner and he just couldn't get comfortable. Eventually he'd done all his puking - four changes of clothes and many towels later and I was able to lay him down. Unfortunately shortly after getting Micah settled I ended up puking. I never throw up - I think I threw up two times in the three years living in Tucson and both were surgery related. Glen tried taking over with Micah when he continued to wake up every hour, but my little Mama's boy wanted me. Glen and my mom took over baby duty for most of Thursday. They decided to postpone Thanksgiving until I was feeling better. I was able to take several naps, but I remember a lot of crying. Micah probably wasn't feeling great and I wasn't around to comfort him, his routine was a little off and so it wasn't the recovery time I wished I'd had. But I was thankful Glen was able to be home and help and that my mom was around to help him. Dad was not feeling great with a deep cough. Friday we had our Thanksgiving meal, but after dinner Glen started feeling sick and ended up getting sick several times. The next morning I found out my mom had been sick all night. So her and Glen were pretty much in bed most of the day on Saturday. Dad and I headed out to Target and to dinner with the boys. That night Dad got sick. He ended up being sick all day Sunday and Monday. Monday his fever got up to 103 and I was starting to get pretty worried. They flew out on Tuesday and I found out yesterday he was still sick yesterday with a fever. Poor guy. Thankfully the babies have continued to be healthy, for the most part. Micah has had lots of really stinky diapers - more than normal and he hasn't been eating well since he was sick - but he's acting fine. It was great to have my parents here for a visit - I just wish it'd been a healthy visit. I feel so bad for them that we only had two days where nobody was sick. It wasn't the vacation that any of us pictured.

We also had our friend Stephanie and her kids visit for two nights before my parents came. It was so great to see them and her kids had a great time entertaining my boys. It was great to catch up with her and she was here to help with advice when Luke was sick. We definitely miss that family.

It's been really busy the last couple weeks and it's only going to continue like that for the next month. But I'm really going to try harder to update more often.