You're One OMM!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear OMM, happy birthday to you!

OMM had a fabulous bday party.  His Ahma, my mother, came up from ER, Husband's parents, and his sister with her seven children came out.  One of my good friends also came out with her husband and his four year old boy.  The play area Husband has been working on was a HUGE hit and all ages enjoyed themselves.  OMM first bday cake was a homemade carrot cake with homemade cream cheese frosting.  I could have ate the frosting by the truckload, it was amazing.  OMM seemed to enjoy it as well!  We had great weather and the mosquitoes subsided for a little so we could all enjoy being outside.

Here are the wonderful, fabulous things OMM is doing:
1 Going down the stairs.  Hopefully the days of tumbling down are behind us.
2 Running, everywhere, but mostly from his older brother!
3 His first tooth came in, three days after he turned one, and I think he's getting a second one in.
4 Likes to be read to and can turn pages.
5 "Reads" books to himself.  Pretty cute listening to his dialogue.
6 Bends and tears pages in brother's books, so only board books for the kids these days!
7 Throwing a ball.
8 Manipulating large objects around obstacles.
9 Climbing up on rocking chair and couch.

I'm sure there's plenty more but that's all that's coming to mind.  It's crazy to think that this time last year I was overwhelmed with two babies, and this year I'm enjoying them playing and laughing with each other.  Every parent should have at least two kids just to get the satisfaction of seeing their children interact.  It is so joyful!

We've Settled In

We're settled into our old routines once again.  OMM was taking advantage of all the night nursing when he had that ear infection, so the last several nights there's been some crying, but I survived.  Husband has been working a bunch the last two weeks, and I've been holding down the fort by myself.  And again, we survived.  Not much has been happening.  Husband has been crazy busy trying to get his outdoor projects off the ground for the boys.  The newest tasks at hand are building a tire swing and two single swings.  These will hang between some tress we have on the property.  The next big idea is to build another fort/play structure.  This one will look more commercial then the play house our awesome friend, Mr. Webber built for his kiddos, then subsequently gave to us when they moved.  By the end of summer we should have a pretty awesome play area for the boys.  I'll post some pics when it's a little more complete.

The most excitement we've had was driving the boys down to visit Husband at Ft. Greely when he was gone on a 96 hour work "day."  Ft. Greely is a little over 90 miles from our house, so it was a bit of drive for an afternoon trip.  The boys and I only stayed for a couple of hours, but it was great to see Husband.  There was a great park the boys played at and we all got to see Husband's home away from home.

OMM will be ONE YEAR OLD! in a week!!!!  I can't believe it's been a year already.  He's a tiny little fellow, a mere 18lbs 3oz and 29 inches.  He is barely in the 5th percentile.  CRM was much much bigger, and it's crazy to think they come from the same stock.  The only way to explain it is, CRM comes from Husbands side of family, OMM mine.  I'll wait till next week to give an update of OMM.  A year, impossible!

There's a Reason, I Promise

You haven't heard from me in awhile because I've been out of town. I went to MN and IA with both boys and my parents to visit their families. It was quite the adventure, which started four hours before we left for the airport, OMM was diagnosed with an ear infection. During the trip the infection re flared, I had a weird scary bruise after the long plane ride, and my dad feel out of his bed. The day after we landed it was 95 degress, and the following days it cooled to a nice 85 degrees. Somehow I managed to not sunburn the kids.

However, the trip was a great success with the great-grandmas getting to meet their youngest great grand kids. CRM had a blast running on my maternal grandmother's farm. Think six acres of grass, plus another 120 of corn. And CRM slept above and beyond all my wildest expectations.

OMM did okay. Between the ear infection, sleeping in the same room as everyone, and just being unhappy meeting dozens of new people, he was a pretty unhappy kid. I was lucky to get a couple of interrupted hours of sleep a night.

But, all in all, I'm glad I took the kids, but am happy to not have to do it again!

We Have A Walker!

OMM is walking full time now! He took his first steps three weeks ago and hardly crawls anymore. OMM is also climbing, on any thing he can get his legs up on. So far he's got onto the coffee table, into the toy box, up on a child's chair, and even managed get on top of the baby walker we have. CRM takes after Husband's side of family, OMM mine. Boy do we have our hands full with these two!

CRM continues to improve since his surgery. We notice differences almost daily. The biggest so far has to be the improvement in his night time sleep. I had NO idea toddlers should sleep through the night. Honestly, CRM was waking three to four times a night and I'd have to go downstairs to find pacifiers and tuck him back in. Since the surgery he's waking up once a night every third night or so!!! I am consistently getting a five hour stretch of sleep in each night. And of course CRM is "speaking" more. He has "conversations" and is repeating everything we're saying, something he never did. It's been great. And, he doesn't mind having to wear ear plugs, which I thought was going to be a struggle.

To Those In Iowa

CRM, OMM, and I can't wait for our visit in two weeks! Sharon, we are so excited to see you! And, if your reading this, since I don't have your email address, I am sending out a world wide web question for you: Do you, or anyone you know have a playpen that we could borrow while we're in IA for OMM?

It'll be so nice to open the front door and let the boys roam and play. CRM will have a blast exploring everything the farm has to offer, and OMM will enjoy all the space to walk. Yes, I said walk! A week before he turned 10 months old he took his first steps. Now a week later he's worked up to walking a couple feet, and is walking about 20% of the time. It'll be a lot of fun to have two boys walking this summer. Less dirt of OMM and less holding him. He's getting pretty heavy to lug around now.

Today Husband and I took the boys for their first bike ride. We bought this great bike stroller and it's perfect! To top it off it wasn't even all that expensive. CRM was laughing with delight when we first started off. It'll be great to bike the fire station to visit Husband. I'll get a work out and the boys will have a great time.

And just to leave you guys with uber cuteness!!! Because, sorry all, I really do have the cutest kids EVER!

OMM enjoying some brother free time. Music anyone?

"Trees" An abstract art demo by CRM, he finds sticks and puts them in the snow. Pretty cleaver I think.

The wagon I just bought. CRM pulls it around outside, and sometimes he's kind enough to take OMM for a ride. CRM is becoming quite the amazing little boy and big brother.

CRM's Surgery

CRM had his adenoids removed and tubes put in on Tuesday morning. He was a champ. We had to get up at 6am to get to the hospital on time. All through pre-OP he waited patiently and was very polite to all the nurses. CRM looked so cute in his hospital gown and being welled around in the wagon. Unfortunately I forgot the camera so no pictures. He was quite the bear after waking up, but was pretty easy to manage; he mostly sat on my lap and cried. However, all was made better when Elmo came on Sesame Street. We left the hospital four hours after arriving, and today CRM is back to his good old self.

A very very big thanks to my mom who flew up to help me with OMM. Husband is still very busy with work and it has made cooridinating all of CRM's need a lot easier. Mom's are great!

Cute Video of CRM at Ice Park

My little man is soooo cute! Ignore the coughing, he's prone to illness.

So I lied - pics from the ice park!

Corralling two boys is not easy. You can see the displeasure on both of their faces.

Fish slide.

Crawling through an ice tunnel. CRM had a blast in it. Husband and I were surprised he didn't get scared.

Weeeee!!!!

Having Issues with Blogger

Sorry to all who read this blog expecting pics of my adorable, cute, little rascals. Unfortunately, google has a javascript issue and has not fixed it and other people have the same issue. I can post blogs but cannot upload pics or video. It looks like it's an issue stemming all the way back to February for some people...so who knows how long until it gets fixed. I'll still post, but for now pics are a no go. I'm really saddened by this :(

I'm Calling It

I'm doing it, I'm calling it, spring is here! My mom will put me in the category of crazy with all the other newbie Alaskans who don't know any better, but I don't care. We have had temps in the high 20's, low 30's for a week and a half now, the snow is slowly melting, the sun is out, our days are longer...IT'S SPRING! And yes, I realize that only in Alaska do you declare spring when the temps are in the 20s! It has been wonderful. I've taken the boys outside to play and get fresh air every day; we've been to the park and CRM has played on the playground, gone down the slides, and even swung on the big boy swings! He is getting so grown up, well, for a two year old. I've been most amazed at how well he leaves the playground. Very minimal crying, but not tantrums, kicking or screaming, and running away from me. It'll be really great next year when I don't have to lug OMM around, 16lbs gets heavy, especially after an hour.

With spring here, it means the semester is almost over, which means Husband's job at the university will be on hiatus until September. This means we get much much more of him! The boys are missing him, and so am I. It's been a rough three months. Summer is going to be so awesome!

CRM is growing every day in every way. It's no wonder every parent of a two year old thinks their kid is a genius. There is such rapid development and he changes every day. He still isn't saying much we can understand, but what he understands is unbelievable. CRM picks up things so fast now.

OMM is still a movin' and a shakin'. Not much slows him down. The biggest development is how much he enjoys watching and interacting with his big brother. He lets CRM chase him around and giggling and laughing abound.

Husband and I took the kids to the Ice Park last week. CRM had a great time on the ice slides. This year they had a "train" (4-wheeler pulling carts) at the park, so we took a ride and saw all the sculptures the easy way. CRM thought it was a lot of fun. Check out the website to see more, it really is a sight to behold: www.icealaska.com I'll post pics sometime.

You all take care and enjoy the coming spring. Get outside and enjoy the fresh air!