Look how far they've come & New Years Reflections

Yes, this is a picture of the boys as day 3 embryos. You can do that when you conceive your babies through IVF. This is their "first" baby picture. Aren't they cute? haha.. I was just looking through some pictures, trying to find some shots of me with a haircut that I liked (more on that later) and came across this printout from the microscope right before these embryos were transferred to my womb, where they would implant and grow into our babies. It's crazy to think we have come so far.

When I look back, I don't look this far back much anymore. I think about the weeks the boys spent in the intensive care unit, and how crazy that was. I think about the delivery, so unexpected 6 weeks early. I try to remember my pregnancy, what it felt like to feel them moving inside of me. But it has been a very long time since I sat down and thought about the process it took us to get pregnant. The shots, ovaries the size of grapefruits, egg retrieval, embryo transfer, then the waiting. I remember, the day that we did the embryo transfer, the one that was successful, was the day that Timo and I went and saw Spamalot afterwards. We had bought tickets way in advance and spent a lot of money on them, and were so afraid that we wouldn't be able to go because of the IVF schedule. We ended up getting to go, and had a great time. I think of all the fun things we did - the trip to Atlanta just days after getting the positive pregnancy test result - buying a stuffed animal "present" for the baby, then buying another one because "well, what if we're having twins, hahaha" and then, the ultrasound at 7 weeks, seeing a second little sac pop into view. Wow, that was surreal.

And here we are now, the boys will be 14 months old in another week. Ray is walking without any difficulty - he is so expressive, his facial expressions are varied (and often scowling) - he really lets you know what he is thinking and how he's feeling through his facial expressions. Dario is always giggling at something - he just seems so genuinely excited to walk - he's taken maybe 5-6 steps at a time so far, and spends more time standing alone than ever before. Both boys are still very attached to nursing, it's funny when one of them has to wait, and he tries to climb all over the other one (and me) to interrupt and have his turn sooner.

What a journey it has been thus far, and we've still got a long way to go. I just hope that we are good parents, that we are able to be good role models for our kids, that we can figure out how to discipline effectively yet gently. I don't typically do the whole "New Years Resolutions" thing, but I think I really need to this year. And I understand these are things that I need to work on long term, it's not going to be the first time I mess up I say, oh well, better luck next time. I know I will mess up and I need to give myself some grace and try again.

1) No more swearing!
2) Have more patience.
3) Less sarcasm, more love in communication.

Please pray for me! I really want to make some changes this year, and I know I can't do it on my own. It seems like the above 3 things are all symptoms, but what is the root disease? My relationship with God is not strong - I need to spend time in prayer, reading the bible, meditating on His word, talking to Him daily. Timo and I need to start doing family devotions, and figuring out ways to introduce Him to our children, yes at this early age. The most we do together spiritually is to pray at meals, attend church on Sunday, and bible study on Wednesday nights. It's not enough!

Please pray for us, pray for Timo that he would feel confident to take the spiritual leadership of this family in 2008. Pray for me that I would humbly let him lead me.

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Oh, and about the hair. I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow at 2pm. It's gotten pretty long again, down at least to the level of my bra strap. I'm thinking I'm going to go pretty short again, but it depends on what the stylist (someone I trust) has to say. I have been getting a lot of short little hairs around my hairline, lots and lots, and it makes me think my hair has been breaking off. Some folks I have talked to said maybe it is new hair growing in. I don't know which it is, but if it is breaking off because my hair is too long and I pull it back too much, putting stress on my hair, I'm definitely going to cut it shorter. If not, then I still might cut it shorter. I'll post pictures of the new "do" soon.

Birthday Party Pictures

I was just looking over some old posts and realized I'd never posted pictures from the boys' birthday party. Here's a few:

5 Days until Christmas

I feel pretty prepared - all the presents are purchased and wrapped, we haven't gotten all of our Christmas cards out yet, but they'll be out by Saturday, so may be a day or two late. We're waiting on some photos of the boys to be printed, which will be ready on Saturday. I guess all I have left to do is some grocery shopping. I'm responsible for green bean casserole & pumpkin pies for Christas eve and for another dessert for Christmas day. We'll be spending Christmas eve - evening with Timo's family, and Christmas morning with my family, then Christmas evening with some good friends who are family to us.

The boys are doing great - Raymond is walking all over the place. Yesterday, for the first time, he figured out how to clap his hands! He was so excited to learn this skill. Dario has been clapping his hands since about 6 months old. Dario has been trying to walk, but he is still working on his balance. He has taken up to 3-4 steps max so far before falling over happily. Dario has been such a happy little dude lately. His face just lights up all the time, and those dimples of his are just so cute. I think Raymond is getting ready for his upper teeth to come in. He has been a bit cranky lately, and he has big swollen lumps on his upper gums. It was really hard on Dario when he got his first 2 upper teeth in, so we are just hoping and waiting for Ray's to come in soon.

We have made a solem vow to get to bed no later than 10:30pm tonight, and I still have yet to get some vital tasks done (ie. pumping). Yes, after 13 months I am still nursing our boys. I'm not sure when we will wean, but definitely by the time they turn 2. They are down to just 5 nursings a day, once before each meal, and before their morning and afternoon naps. We haven't nursed before bed since October, and they rarely nurse in the middle of the night. Ray has been waking up around 4am lately, and I have nursed him then, but often they sleep all the way through from 7pm until 6am or later. Well, they likely wake up, but they just talk to themselves a little bit, or look around their room, roll over, and go back to sleep. Part of me can't believe we waited so long to really do CIO but we did try when they were younger, about 3 weeks before we moved home from Boston. It was just too hard with all the transitions going on, moving from Boston, then living in the trailer at Timo's family's house, and moving into our apartment in September.

Anyway, sorry it's been so long since my last post, and I'll try to get some pictures or video up soon!

When an Infant becomes a Toddler...

The day after Thanksgiving, devoted Grandma K was here, and Timo was home after working a half-day. Ray has been standing on his own for a few weeks now, and with a little encouragement from Grandma, he took his first steps! Wow! We were all so excited, and I was so happy that both Timo and mom got to share in the special event. Now, a week and a half later, he is walking quite a bit - cruising a little, then letting go to walk a few feet, holding onto something again. Yesterday I counted him take 17 consecutive steps in a row! Granted, he only walked about 6 feet total, but that was great to see!

Always about a week or two behind Ray in the gross motor skills department, Dario took his first couple steps last night! He positioned himself in his bedroom with his back against the door, then took a couple steps toward me before launching himself head first into my arms! I think Dario still has some work to do in the balancing department, but I think he sees Ray doing it and all the praise he is getting, and that encourages him to do the same. I just can't believe how my babies are "growing up". I don't know when the official transition is between baby and toddler, but it feels like they are going to be going to kintergarten soon!

P.S. Timo and I turn 30 in 2 days..

The Salsa and The Poop

Ever have one of those days where if you don't laugh about it (in the midst of it), you will just cry? Today was one of those days. Overall, it wasn't a horrible day, but some things happened today that really test you as a parent. Things that fall into the "stuff" happens category, the things that you don't have much control over, and if you get upset about, you will just eventually make yourself crazy. These are the things I am learning to just let go about, which is good considering I am such a control freak.

First: The Salsa

We were at a friends house (thankfully they have hardwood floors in the area where the incident occurred) visiting. I was trying to eat some soup, so Timo had Raymond and Dario was on the floor playing. Dario made to head for the cat food, so Timo tried to lean down and get him away from the food while holding Raymond. This put Ray within reach of a nice big bowl of - you guessed it - medium salsa. Tip - right over all over brother and Daddy. Ray only got a very small spot of salsa on himself. Thankfully, Dario didn't get much on his head - but his back, and pants were completely covered. What did Mommy do first? Go grab her cell phone to take a picture.

Now: The Poop

Boys have been in their seats eating dinner. At one point during dinner, Dario's face turned a nice shade of crimson and he uttered some "rrr, grr, grrunt" sounds, indicating some bowel action. Post-dinner, Daddy takes Dario to his room and sets him in his crib while he gets diapering supplies ready. Dario stands up in the crib, and POOP falls out of his pants leg. Oops! How did that happen? Mind you, I'm on the phone with my sister in the other room at the time. Somehow, poop got in BOTH of the boys' cribs, BOTH boys stepped in the poop with their Robeez shoes on, and Ray jumped around in his crib with poo on his shoes for awhile, making little poo shoeprints all over his cribsheet. Did I mention I just changed their sheets 2 days ago? My first notice of the situation is Timo coming into our bedroom, saying "I NEED YOUR HELP. Please get off the phone. Now." Boys are stripped down, put in the bath, Daddy supervises them playing while I dispose of poopy diapers, set aside poopy (and seperate, salsa filled) clothes for soaking later, change crib sheets, and put crib sheets in the wash. Then it's to the bathroom to wash boys and get them ready for bed.

After all that, they were an hour late getting to bed, and they didn't even utter a whimper before falling straight to sleep (after storytime).

Too much to post about

The birthday party is over - it went as well as could be.

Got an email Saturday from my prospective childcare provider to say they can't actually work for us, and I start work tomorrow (Monday). Grandma drove from Ellensburg to watch the boys for my orientation and another good friend is going to step in to watch the boys (at her house). Perhaps this is for the best. I'm so past being stressed about anything, because I'm so tired right now.

Will post pictures of the party as soon as I get them from friends - I didn't even get the camera out once. We did get some video, and a good friend took plenty of pictures to share.

Party Progress?

So, how do you like my lopsided cake? And no, it's not done yet. The yellow frosting is just a "crumb layer" - a thin layer of icing that will crust over, and then I can really ice the cake without worries of getting crumbs in my icing. At least that's the theory anyway. It is a spice cake with Nutella filling. It's about 4" high and 14" across. I've never made a cake of this magnitude before from start to finish, all by myself. So, however it turns out, I'll still be proud of myself for doing this project. Elmo! Elmo is no longer going to be on top of the other cake, but a freestanding cake by himself. We probably won't even need him but I guess he'll give us another cake flavor for people who don't want the other kind.
Now this is a candy plate that was made in the same Elmo cake pan. This is now what is going to go on top of the 14" round cake. This was the brain-child of my sister.

Weaning from the Nighttime Nursing

Three nights ago we started what we have been dreading doing - weaning the boys from the right-before-bed nursing. The thought is that with me going back to work a couple days a week, working evening shift, that we need to make it easier for Timo to put the boys to bed by himself. So we have been sleep training the boys with the eventual goal that they would have a regular night-time routine that anybody could put them to bed.

The first night (Monday) we replaced the nursing with a bottle. They both drank just a little bit, played with it some more, but didn't cry when we gave them the bottle. Then did story time and quiet time, like we normally would, and put them in their cribs with a kiss goodnight, and closed the door. That is when the screaming began - Dario was the worst - it was like he was saying "WHAT?!?" whereas Ray was crying more like, he had hope that I was going to come back and nurse them. They finally did fall asleep, but it was hard listening to them cry.

Second night went a little better. They still didn't drink much from the bottles, but when it came time to put them down to bed, they maybe cried for 5-10 minutes then went to sleep.

Third night was Halloween, so it was all screwed up as far as routine goes. We decided to go trick-or-treating with my niece SRC, and we didn't end up getting out until 7pm (their regular bed time). They did great, though! They stayed up the whole time, didn't complain at all, and seemed to enjoy going around in the stroller being admired by people. Obviously the candy isn't for them - it was a fun time, and I'm glad we went. In the car on the way back to my brother's house, they fell asleep in the car. When we got home and brought them inside, got them ready for bed, and laid them down to sleep. Ray fell asleep almost immediately - Dario was screaming so loud and hysterically that we finally decided to just nurse him for fear he was going to make himself throw up (he's done it many times before). We figured the night was shot already as far as their new routine went, so hopefully it won't hurt that much.

So tonight should be interesting. It's hard to remember not to nurse them, since it is such a habit. They start climbing all over me on the floor, pressing their faces to my nightgown, opening their mouths like little birds. And I feel bad knowing that they really want to nurse, and I'm giving them a bottle instead. But I also know that it will be better for everyone involved when I am working that they can go down to bed with less fuss with me not there.

I'm a little behind on the party preparations - yesterday I was supposed to make and color all the icing - I just got it made. I also did another set of the Sesame Street candy molds. If we had stayed home and not gone trick-or-treating I could have gotten the icing colored in the evening. I think I'm still doing alright with my "schedule". Today I'm baking cakes - my first 2" deep 14" round layer is in the oven as I type. I'd be sleeping but it had 20 min left to bake and I didn't want to miss taking it out of the oven. Once it's done baking, I'm taking a nap! I'm so tired, I'm really running myself down this week. I feel like super mom, except without extra energy. I'm going to wish I had extra time to relax after the party, but then I start work on Monday. Maybe it will be like a break since I will be away from home. I hope things work out with our sitter.

Gotta go, somebody just woke up.

Tonight's Project (1/2 done)

It is 11:45pm so I am actually calling it quits for tonight and I'll make another set of these tomorrow night. It shouldn't take me as long to do because I have all the candy colored and in bags, ready to go. I set up a little workstation right next to the microwave as I have to melt and re-melt different bags of candy as I go. Good thing I'm not making 50 of these detailed ones!

101 Dalmations Halloween

My MIL is the greatest. She loves us and she loves her grandbabies. I think we are really lucky to have her nearby (well, in Ellensburg). We had decided to be 101 Dalmations themed for Halloween this year, and mom obliged us by making dalmation puppy costumes for the boys. Raymond loved wearing his puppy hood. Which is funny, because I can't get him to keep a hat on to save my life (or his)! Maybe this winter he'll have to wear a warm hat underneath his puppy hood to stay warm.
Here we all are, at our yearly Halloween party with some special friends. I've had this Cruella DeVil costume for awhile now, and have gotten good use out of it. It was fun to wear it again as an ensemble crew. My MIL is in the middle, she is dressed as the maid to the couple who own the dogs, and Timo is dressed as Horace Badun, one of my henchmen.
We also celebrated Mom-K's 60th birthday this weekend. Happy birthday, Mom! Grandma-D surprised all of us by showing up on Saturday to visit with us and celebrate Mom's birthday. Here are three generations of the family, all together. Grandma-D is 83 years young!
And finally, late last night, I carved our pumpkin. I can't take credit for the design - my sister emailed me a bunch of cool carved pumpkins, and this design was one of them. But even though I hate talking about or hearing or watching (on TV) people puking, I really wanted to carve this pumpkin. It was the easiest, quickest carve I've ever done. I didn't even cut a "lid" but just carved the design and then reached in through the mouth to make it "puke".

We also filled the favor bags last night. Today/tonight's project is making detailed Sesame Street character candies to decorate the birthday cake.

Sleep Issues

After months of rocking, bouncing, shushing, nursing, etc. to get the boys to sleep (or back to sleep in the middle of the night), taking hours on end at times, we finally broke down and said "I can't do this anymore" and we are letting the boys cry it out (CIO).

Now, for those of you who feel strongly against CIO let me just say now that I don't want to hear it.

The first time was in the middle of the night, both Timo and I had been rocking and shushing a boy for an hour or more. We were both very tired and simply had to put them in their cribs. They had been nursed, changed, temp in the room was good ,etc. They just didn't know how to fall asleep. Ray cried for longer than I know, cause I finally fell asleep. Dario only cried a little.

The next night we put them to bed (after their nightly routine), Ray cried for 45 min, boy was that hard. Again, Dario cried for much less time, but we always knew he wouldn't have as much trouble as Ray because Ray seems more dependent on me in general.

Now, most nights, they hardly cry at all going down to bed. My MIL was here the first weekend when we "gave up" two weeks ago, and was the one who went to check on them that first night of CIO, and found Ray sleeping slumped in an upright position at the end of his crib facing the door. That was heartbreaking and hilariously funny at the same time. Now, she thinks I've traded my boys in for new babies, because they went down so easily this weekend.

But there are still times that I struggle with myself, trying to decide, do I go in there? Do I soothe him, reassure him? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. If I know his basic needs are met (fresh diaper, warm milk in belly, good temp room, clean bed, comfort blankie ready at hand) I'm most likely to let him figure it out on his own. The "he" I'm talking about here is Ray. Because like I said, Dario hardly makes a peep anymore either going down to bed, or back down after a middle of the night waking. But Ray is my Mommy's boy, for better or worse, and I love him for it - but I also ache at his apparent heartbreak at having to be apart from me to sleep.

But I feel really liberated and I get a lot more sleep now since we made this decision. And, it's crucial with me going back to work a few days a week, working evening shifts. Timo will have to put them to bed by himself, and he never could have managed it alone before.

400 some meatballs later..

Update: Timo was awarded the champion meatball roller award for the day. Look at those beautiful, uniform meatballs all lined up in rows and columns! You the man, sweetie!

Today was a very long, busy day - but a good one. We got a lot accomplished toward our goal next week Sunday of the boys' first birthday party. My parents, niece, and mother-in-law came here today and we made 400 some meatballs for the party. I don't really think we need this many, but that's just how it turned out. I gotta get some sleep. But - they're really yummy. I don't think that there's a day this week that I don't have a project to work on for the party. Let's see -

Sunday - make colored, detailed Sesame Street candies to decorate the cake
Monday - fill favor bags
(funny, I forgot Tuesday in my original post. I guess Tuesday's task is to watch Beauty and the Geek with my hubby. Sssh, don't tell him I told you, he's addicted to this show!)
Wednesday - make and color icing
Thursday - bake cakes
Friday - fill layers and ice cakes
Saturday - decorate cakes, Timo shops Costco for rest of food items
Sunday - arrive at location early to decorate

We'll have my 15 year old neice over the Saturday just prior to the party to help watch the boys while I get all the final stuff done.

Wow, I'm so tired. Gotta go.

4 Hours of Candy Making

Candy lettering for the cake to make decorating the cake "easier"

50 Sesame Street Candy Lollipops for the favor bags at the party

Peanut butter & Chocolate
White Candy & White Candy layered with Chocolate

Solid Chocolate

What I do know is, I am not my sister. She is amazing with this stuff. You should check out her website at http://www.cakesadorned.com/ to be completely amazed by her cakes, candies, cookies, and other confection creations.

Is it worth it? I guess we'll see when the kids open their favor bags, and see if they even notice the two little themed lollipops along with the mass merchandising candy in there.

Dario amazed me today

This has been the boys' favorite toy since they were about 6 months old. They play with it A LOT but up until now, they have not shown any interest or understanding about the shape sorting feature of this toy. Well, this morning, Dario was playing with this toy all alone (I was nursing Raymond) and he took the circle piece and tried fitting it through the square hole in the lid. Nope, doesn't go through, what about this other hole? Yup, he put it through the circle hole. I was such a proud mama! I was amazed that he did this on his own, without any leading or encouragement from an adult. I mean, I have showed them before that you can put the shapes through the holes, but that Dario figured it out on his own and shape sorted that toy, I was just so proud.

They're growing up already. I can't believe it's been nearly a year.

I remember when they were in the NICU, and it's hard to imagine that we have come all that way. I wouldn't wish that upon any parent, to have their baby or babies in the intensive care unit, for any length of time. But I do remember it, and it's hard to believe that was part of our journey now that we're here.

First Birthday Extravaganza (aka Headache)

The boys will be one year old in just a few short weeks. We have fallen into what I am calling the 1st birthday big party trap. I'm hoping that everyone (including myself) will have fun at their party but I am a little skeptical. It seems like stress on level with our wedding - and although I will be glad to see everyone that comes to the party, this will likely be their one and only really BIG party. We have invited aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, great uncles, great cousins, great cousins kids, and friends too. We didn't rent a hall, although I'm starting to wonder if we should have. We're having the party at my brother's house. Did I mention I'm making the cake? I'll post pictures when it's all said and done. Thankfully we are getting some labor help from family with the food prep. In the future, I think that we will only invite the boys' aunts, uncles, cousins, and a few friends. How did I think that I should invite all of my and Timo's aunts, uncles and cousins too? Probably because they were always invited to my parties when I was a kid, so it seems to make sense that they should be invited to my kids' parties. But with two large families, well, you see what I mean when I say it's stress like my wedding. Not really, though. I mean, it's only a birthday party, right?

Here's a few choice photos I took of the boys in the last few days. Sorry for the red-eye, we don't have any image editing software on the computer right now.

Gotta love Dario's dimples - he loves smiling for the camera. What he really loves is chasing after me when I am trying to take his picture, trying to grab and eat it!

Raymond is a little trickier to try to get to smile. The camera flashes the pre-flash orange light at him and he doesn't quite know what to think of it. I'm sure I was playing peek-a-boo with him to get him to smile like this.

Daddy is tickling Dario while I sit in the rocker with Raymond. We really love this picture because it shows all of Dario's teeth!

I thought that Raymond looked like a little mini-college professor in his corduroy pants and turtleneck, so I had to get some pictures of him like this. I also realized by taking this picture that turtlenecks really show the fact that our little Raymond has almost no chin, but is all forehead. Perhaps someday his face will grow to catch up with his huge noggin.

Love Affair with Q-Tips (and other good stuff)

I know I shouldn't use them - and every time I run out, I go another 6 months or so before buying more. It's like an addiction, especially after showering and I just feel the need to dry out my ears really well. I probably have hearing problems because of wax buildup from forcing it further into my ear from using cotton swabs. But no matter how much I tell myself it's bad, it feels so good.

On a less disgusting note, I have decided to attempt to blog for 15 minutes each day, to try and record some of my thoughts and also any accomplishments or other fun stuff I'd like to remember about the boys' day.

Dario has learned how to drink really well from a cup. When I put just a very small amount of water into his cup (a regular, plastic drinking cup, not a sippy cup) and hand it to him, he will put it up to his mouth, drink, drink, drink, until it's all gone, swallow it, and then play with the cup.

The boys love to chase each other around the living room, laughing the whole time. They also love to steal toys from one another, pull each other down from a standing position, stand on top of one another or crawl over one another to get to where they want to go, wanton disregard for each other's presence or safety. I try as much as possible to let them work things out for themselves and intervene when somebody's safety is at stake. Regardless of all of these types of interactions, I am so glad that they have each other. I think that their relationship will make them stronger people, in the end.

We have been watching a show on TLC called "Jon & Kate + 8" about a family that did infertility treatments, had a set of twins, and tried one more time for another, and ended up with sextuplets! It is a great show for us because it makes me feel like less of a freak as a mother of twins. And, it's a really funny show. They have been doing this show since the sextuplets were babies, apparently. They're now 3, and the twins are 5 or 6 I think. If you want to feel really humbled as a mother, you need to watch this show.

We left the boys with a babysitter on Saturday night for the first time. We have gone out before and had their grandma watch them, but never a non-family member. We went to a good friend's wedding, and it was totally worth it. I am so glad we got a sitter instead of trying to bring them along with us. I didn't really know anybody at the wedding except for the groom and one other friend of Timo's, but we met some people at our table I got to talking with, and the best thing for me about the night was that my kids weren't the center of conversation. It just felt really good to have a conversation that wasn't about kids, questions about twins, etc. I feel like when we are out together, I am just the nice lady driving around the star attraction. It doesn't seem like anybody ever wants to talk to me anymore, or if they do it's just questions about the boys. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and I love sharing about them, but I don't think I realized how much I needed to be more than their mommy until I got to spend 3 hours with adults who don't have kids yet.

I'm starting work on November 5th at the local hospital in a per-diem position. I'll be working 3 days a week for about a month for training, and then I will pick up shifts on an as-needed basis. It's a great situation for us because that way I can bring in some money but not have to work all the time, or anytime that I don't want to. I'll be working evenings 3pm-11:30pm so we'll be using a babysitter from 2pm-6pm on weekdays that I work. We have been trying to sleep train the boys to make it easier on Timo to put them to bed by themselves. I am still nursing them so that might make things more difficult at bedtime with me away. But I am excited to be going back to work, knowing that it can be as little as one shift a week, or less, if I choose (after training is complete). I am excited about the chance to have some "adult" time and keeping up in my profession, while still having most of my time with my boys (this includes hubby).

Well, it's been way more than 15 minutes and I ought to go to bed. I hope there are still a few of you out there who haven't given up that I would update my blog. I hope you are all doing well, and I'll try to read your postings soon.

P.S. The boys 1st Birthday is coming up (Nov 4th). I'll post about that tomorrow.

9 Month Photos

The boys were 9 months old on August 4, 2007.

Quick Post

This is going to be a short quick post but I just wanted to say we are all moved in, although we are still working on unpacking. Our computer is up and running but we won't have internet access until Monday Sept 17th after 5pm. After that I should be able to post more thouroughly and also catch up on reading all of the blogs of the people I love and miss. Take care!

Photos and Updates - Sorry for the delay!

Still in Boston, Ray is sporting this shirt that I bought for him.. so any of his "aunties" reading, this ones for you.

In Boston on a "play date" with our friends who also have twin boys, 3 months older than ours.

The night before we broke down their crib for the move, this was one of the last times that the boys had to share a crib.
After crib breakdown, likely a naptime, and we swear this was not posed.
Shortly after arrival in Washington, Dario likes to back himself up while trying to get to sleep, and often ends up with his legs sticking out the crib slats.
If you look closely, Dario's first tooth is poking through his bottom gums! He has 2 now and is working on more.
Ray with his Great Aunt on a visit to my parent's house.

Dario doesn't much like to eat peas, but he apparently doesn't mind wearing them!
Ray will eat just about anything we give him, but often ends up looking like this anyway. They just can't seem to keep their head still while eating.
This is one of our favorite pictures of Dario. Look at that face! He did have a bit of sun in his eyes, and we thought initially that was what made this face happen, but actually we noticed that he does make this face - just not as pronounced - and likely the sun made the face worse.
Enjoying a family picnic with KFC and carrots for the boys on the 4th of July at Marathon Park in Olympia.

Dario & Daddy at the laptop computer likely surfing the net.
Dario with his Grandma Great.
Dario with Grandma K.
Raymond with Grandma Great.

Boys with their Aunt Becky on a surprise visit.
Both boys love to wear and eat their Daddy's hat. This is Ray when we went to visit Grandma K in Ellensburg.
Ray & Dario playing in the infant pool Grandma got for them during our visit to Ellensburg. It was really hot and sunny outside so we set it up in the kitchen so we could avoid having to apply mass amounts of sunblock. The boys had a blast splashing water all over the place.
Happy boys with Grandma K!
Grandma K got out some of Timo's old toys from when he was a baby, including this little wooden rocking horse. The boys loved it!

The boys favorite part of meals is the end when they are finished and we give them the lids to their trays to play with.
We especially love it when Dario flattens out his face causing us to laugh out loud.

Here is Raymond putting his finger up his Grandpa J's nose and apparently also poking out his eye.
The boys are modeling their new bibs from Grandma K who works at Central Washington University.

Dario loves to smile! Look at those teeth.
Happy boys!
Dario & Raymond playing around with their Grandpa N.


So now the update:

Things are moving along finally. When it rains, it pours - all in one week Timo got 3 different job offers, 2 with the VA (different campuses). After much consideration, we decided we will settle in the Olympia area and he took the job at the VA nearby. We secured an apartment, and we'll get the keys on September 7th. We are so excited to finally be getting our own place and that Timo will be starting work. He's sad that he'll be away from the boys so much, he has been home with them for 5 months now! As for me, I'm hoping to stay at home with the boys. We hope that we will be able to afford for me to stay home and plan to try a 3 month trial to work out a budget.

Well I guess that's it for now. I'm working on the computer in the house because the laptop is painfully slow out in the camper. I hope you've enjoyed the photos and I'll try to post more often.