Another, "I will never . . . "

Along with saying I'd never get a minivan, I also said I would never get a fake Christmas tree.  Well, I'm learning that I should never say, "I will never . . . "

We got our first artificial Christmas tree last night.  It's a beautiful 7.5' full Frazier fur.  I'm trying to make it sound better than it is. The truth of the matter is, it's still fake.  We were debating about putting up a tree this year.  I wanted too, Jeff didn't, due to the little monsters that tear our house apart.  Jeff said he'd do a tree if we went artificial and I obliged.  I LOVE Christmas trees!  Love, love love. I used to sit, as a little girl, in our living room, in the dark, when all others had gone to bed, and look at the tree sparkle and wonder and dream.  I love the ornaments, simple and ornate.  I love lots of lights.  I even love a little tinsel now and then.

Also, as a little girl we had an angel at the top of our tree.  It was a beautiful little thing and my sister and I loved to put the angel on the tree.  Since having my own tree I have had a star that never stays on, always tips over and just looks dumb.  So, last night, I got my angel.  She is beautiful, has a gentle face, a beautiful gown and has fiber optics.  Weird, I know.  I don't think we'll be using the fiber optics. :) 

Now I can sit with my husband by my side, a baby tucked under each arm and stare at our tree and think of Jesus, who made this season possible.

But first-THANKSGIVING! :)  ha ha.  We normally don't put our tree up this early.

Please

Chase and Owen learned to sign "please" last night.  I was sooooo happy!  We have helium balloons in the house and they were on the ceiling. Owen was pointing and grunting that he wanted one.  I said, "say please" and signed it.  Sure enough he did it right after me!  I was shocked.  Needless to say, he got the balloon he wanted!  Not long after Chase decided he wanted a balloon too.  I did the same thing with him and he said "please" too!  yipee.  I WILL have polite boys.  :)

A Beautiful November Day

Owen finds an Oak leaf.

We've had just beautiful weather here in MN.  It's been about 50 each day and boy that makes for fun backyard play.  We went to the backyard on Saturday to explore.  The boys would have loved to have been in my garden digging in the dirt, but we didn't allow that.  Instead they found leaves, looked around, got poked by sticks and just had fun.  I loved the soft fall light of the day and had to grab my camera.

Chase puts his ball down for a moment to pick up a leaf.

 

Chase uses his hands in a favorite expression to ask, "Where is it?"

                                                                                                 Jeff and Owen

Chase and Jeff

 

Jeff and Susie

Lots of Stuff

Owen sits in my favorite pose eating a car

Chase Shows off his tummy

 

 Owen sits like a frog playing the music

"Is that my belly button?!"

  

Chase's first, and last, mug shot

 

Owen dances down the hallway

Chase and Owen discover a pinecone.

 Chase shows me his pinecone

Chase follows Owen to the backyard

Owen eats the pinecone

HUGS!!!!!!  This is a totally impromtu picture!

 

Chase squeezes the heck out of Owen

 

Ahhhhh, There's nothing like a brother

Big Beautiful Eyes

3 Cousins and an Ottoman

 
3 cousins in an ottoman.  I LOVE this picture, isn't it funny and cute?  Chase Sophie and Owen had a lot of fun the day after Halloween at our house.  Pat, Lindsay, Sophie and Gavin came over to have dinner along with Sandy and Jim.  The 3 of them had a lot of fun running around.  I think it was the first time they were together where all of them were walking.  They kept us very entertained while playing in the ottoman.  Chase liked his own cube so Sophie and Owen shared.

Sophie and the boys enjoy some time in the ottoman.

 

Owen and Sophie look like they are having fun.

Oh, you guys are sooooo funny.

Uncle Pat plays with O Bear

An aeral view

Playing

Owen's new truck that Daddy bought him.  It's a great toy and he loves it!  We had some great weather last weekend and he was able to try out the truck outside.

I love the light in this picture, it's so soft and pure.  Also love Owen's little hood and shoes.Chase shows me his car and is quite happy about it!

There's nothing like tupperware!  Owen and Chase enjoyed putting these bowls on their heads over and over for a good 30 minutes. 

Owen in the foreground, Chase the backgroundChase

Chase's cute mushy nose through the clear bowl.

16 Months

 

I’ve been so tired.  I can hardly stand to sit at the computer at night and try to figure out how to write a complete sentence so I apologize for the short blogs of mostly pictures.  Here are some updates.  It is not well written or organized and for that I’m sorry.  Hope you enjoy reading about what the boys are doing, though.

 Owen has begun to imitate me.  When I cough, he’ll cough and then look at me and smile.  I just figured out what he was doing a few days ago.  I thought it was strange he coughed every time I did!  I was showing him how to take a bite out of an apple.  I guess I wrinkle my nose when biting an apple because when he tried to take a bite he did the same thing.  He is quite the cuddler and loves to be held while he bounces up and down on my hip.  He likes hugs and to snuggle on the couch.  Owen is pretty smooth on his feet.  He rarely falls and loves to run.   Chase and Owen have been doing the cutest thing. They run after each other around the house. They just run from one room to the other and around the foyer. Owen is typically the leader. Chase is only 1 month into this walking thing and his little hips and feet swing out as he runs and his left arm swings out to the side too.  They bump into each other and laugh. 

Owen and Chase think it’s really cute to give kisses to each other. The other night they were both in Chase’s crib playing and they started to wrestle. I had not seen that before.  They are both getting so smart, understanding so much of what we say. They get their shoes, coats, give items to each other when we ask (“Give Chase the milk”).  They are also very needy. They like to be held or with us at all times.  They love their shoes and sock still and think their mittens are pretty cool too-so far.  Last night Chase had the Swiffer (yes, I let my kids play with household items), which he thought was so cool.  Owen sooooo badly wanted it and he would just follow Chase around reaching every now and then for it, but not grabbing or whining.  It was so sweet. He’s so patient like that. 

Owen is very good at his fork now, likes to stab the food rather than use his fingers. Chase still likes fingers mostly. They ate a whole container of blueberries last night.

 Owen slept until 7:00 today!! He was so tired last night. He was trying to play but was just so frustrated by everything that he was crying-poor guy. We took him up and put him to bed and he woke at 6:45! He needed it.

Chase is great at pointing to pictures in books.  He is very interested in finding moons lately.  He pointed to cow, dog, cat, bumblebee, bird and butterfly the other day. Sometimes I don’t think they are learning what I show them and then he goes and demonstrates that he is indeed learning.  He did the sign for bird too, which I was very happy about.  He also holds his hands up in a questioning manner when he wants to know where something is or is asking a question. I guess that comes from me saying “Where did it go?” about an object and using my hands in the same fashion he does.

Both boys have started to think “toots” are funny.  When they toot they look at us and laugh. It’s pretty funny.

Both boys have been incredibly verbal lately, making all sorts of sound combinations, which is fun to hear.

Responsible Parenting

We'd like to think of ourselves as responsible. I think this move, created while I was trying to vacuum, was not one of the most responsible moves we've ever made.

Chase says "Giddy Up!"

Owen pauses mid-bounce to give me "the look"

What Have You Been Up To?

This is what Chase has been up to lately. How about you?

A Plea for Help

Many of you know the struggles we've had with Chase and Owen's sleep patterns. Since May they've been waking between the hours of 4:30 and 5:30. When they wake up, they are awake. This has not been pleasant for us. My husband and I (mostly my husband, because he gets up with them 90% of the time) are exhausted. We've tried many different things and can't seem to get them to sleep longer. They are excellent at going to bed-we put them in their cribs and that's that. If anyone out there is a baby sleep expert, or you have had similar experiences, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this post. We would SOOOO appreciate it. Thanks!

We could use a little more of THIS:

We Go Batty For Halloween

What an amazing Halloween we had! Chase and Owen were the cutest little bats I've ever seen. They didn't seem to notice their costumes-even the hats and had such a fun time. Most of the pictures you see with them and the candy bowl involved throwing of candy, yelling, giggling and pure joy. That was the first time they'd seen a big bowl of candy and they just went nuts! They were digging in it and having a ball. The last picture of this post shows how I found them after they had had baths. The bown did end up on Owen's head at one point.

Grandma Sandy came over to Trick-or-Treat with us. We went out about 5:30-a little early, but it was cold here! The boys walked up to peoples' doors and even took candy from people, even though they didn't know what they were taking. It was so fun to watch them walk up to the door holding their little pumpkin baskets. They had so much fun. We did too! We went to about 7 houses in our neighborhood. We came home and the boys had their first big Halloween treat-a big Tootsie Pop Sucker. Boy did they love that and feel special. There was a lot of slobber and sticky hands. I even let them have a bite of a chocolate candy bar. Boy did we have fun! I just loved to see my little boys dressed up in a cozy little bat costume with their big cheeks tightly packed into the hat! :)

Chasey shows off his bat wings

Owen shows off his batty ways-along with holding on to the candy.

Chase

Chase enjoying his sucker at the end of Trick-or-Treating.

Owen looking so cute I can hardly stand it.
Daddy and his boys


Susie, Chase and our good friend and Neighbor, Kate


Jeff and Chase, Sandy and Owen, walking to the next house

Owen gazing up at the cool decorations at a neighbors house.

"We get candy?!"

SOOOOO CUTE!-walking to their first house.

Chase peers up-waiting for someone to come to the door

Daddy and Owen walking to our first house on Halloween


Owen so happy for candy

Chase VERY happy to have candy


What is Chase doing?!

Owen! Love the joy!


Grandma Sandy and C and O

Chase and Owen are laughing with each other because of the big bowl of candy

This is sooooo fun

Owen takes his first candy from our bowl.


This is the end of the night-the boys had strewn candy all over the floor and when kids came to our door I had to pick candy up off the floor to give them. Real nice. :)