Happy Halloween!

Being the planner that I am, I started asking Griffin in early September what he thought he wanted to be for Halloween.  His newest interest/obsession is Star Wars, and he said he wanted to be R2D2 for Halloween.  I started looking for an R2D2 costume online and could only find one in toddler sizes (and it wasn't even a good one).  There were plenty of other Star Wars characters, but he really wanted R2D2...so then I decided that I was going to make him a costume and set out looking for ideas and materials.  I went everywhere I could think of trying to find the perfect "body" for R2D2.  I never did quite find the perfect thing, but I settled on a barrel that Griffin & I found at Lowe's (some sort of drainage thing?).

I'm not sure that the pictures do justice to the final product--I know I'm probably biased, but it did end up being really, really cute.  When we went trick-or-treating, we didn't get any questions about who Griffin was dressed as...but we did get lots of comments on what a cool R2D2 costume it was...and a lot of questions about what it was made of.  So before I show you how it turned out, here is how it started.  On the left is the barrel as it looked when I bought it (turned upside down).  On the right is after I cut the opening and drilled holes to put straps on it.  It still had a LONG way to go to become R2D2! 

 

After lots of spray paint, rolls of blue and silver duct tape, foil lasagna pans (shaped into his legs), plenty of hot glue, and more hours than I want to add up, it ended up looking like this.



 

 Griffin liked ducking down inside of it so that his face completely disappeared. In the picture above, I caught him half-in, half-out.  In the picture of the babies below, you can see Griffin (or, rather, R2D2) in the background.

Last year, the babies didn't even wear costumes--I just decorated their stroller because I knew they wouldn't be getting out of it.  This year, they were big enough to get into the Halloween spirit a little more.  They got to wear costumes at their school earlier in the day--Baylor was a tiger and Hudson was a frog.  Griffin had worn one of these pumpkin costumes for Halloween when he was about the same age as the babies now.  I had found the exact same costume at a consignment sale earlier in the fall so Baylor and Hudson got to be my "two little pumpkins."  They didn't do any actual trick-or-treating (once out of the stroller they would not want to go back in so they just stayed in), but they did get some special treats from Mimi, Weezy, and Pop & Chaz. 

18 Months!

I can't believe that "the babies" are 18 months old!  I do call them "the boys" a lot, but I also still refer to them as "the babies" a lot.  I guess I'm going to have to quit calling them that at some point soon since they are growing up so quickly!

Both boys are starting to talk more, but I definitely have to use the context clues to figure out what they are saying most of the time.  Other than Momma & DaDa, "ball" and "dog" are the only words that are really clear.  But I keep finding myself surprised at how much they understand what we are saying even though they can't say much themselves yet.  On the day they turned 18 months, I told Baylor to hold Griffin's hand and he went running over to Griffin and held his little hand out.  He did it again when I asked him to hold hands on the way into Holly & Jason's house, but that time I was able to get a picture of them.  Hollins' 2nd birthday party was the same day as the babies' half birthday which worked out really well because I got lots of pictures of them and they got cake. 

It's been so fun to see Baylor & Hudson's personalities develop and see how they interact with each other and how different they are from each other.  Baylor is such a sweet, loving little boy.  He will just stop in the middle of what he's doing to give me, Hudson, or Griffin a hug.  To say that he loves to play ball would be a huge understatement.  He almost always has a ball in his hands and very often has more than one.  He also loves music and loves to dance--as soon as any little tune comes on the TV, from a toy or wherever, he will start to do a little wiggle and sway.  Hudson is Mr. Personality.  He loves to make people laugh (and knows how to do it!), and he has the sheepish grin and the devilish smirk down pat.  He is already a little rule-breaker and telling him "no" only makes him want to do it more...but then he gets his little smirk and it's hard to get too upset with him.  But when he doesn't get his way, he lets you know that he doesn't like it by throwing himself on the ground and banging his head on the floor. In fact, they are both pretty good at that one.

They really love to play together.  One of my favorite things is to hear them giggling when they are playing peek-a-boo with each other from their cribs.  But as much fun as they have playing together, we also have lots of squabbles over toys, food, my attention or space on my lap, and more...and I'm sure this is only the beginning!  They also ADORE their big brother.  They want to be in the middle of whatever he is doing...and, luckily, he's usually pretty understanding about it and enjoys playing with them, too.  The picture above is of Baylor pushing Hudson on the princess riding toy.  This is a favorite activity to do on their train at home, too.  They even push Griffin on the train sometimes!

Hollins' birthday party was a Minnie Mouse themed party and I got Baylor, Griffin, and Harper with their mouse ears on.  I've always thought Baylor looked "pretty" enough to be a girl with his blonde hair and blue eyes...and having a pink bow in his hair just confirmed those thoughts.  Hudson wouldn't keep the ears on long enough for me to get a picture, but he let me get plenty of pictures of him once he had a cupcake in front of him! 

We don't go to the doctor for their 18-month checkup for 2 more weeks, but we've been to the doctor plenty of times lately for sick visits.  Both boys have had ear infections for the past month--every time they finish an antibiotic, by a day or two later they have a fever again and back to the pediatrician we go.  So we have had plenty of weigh-ins lately: Baylor is coming in at 24 lbs 15 oz and Hudson is 24 lbs 5 oz.  I measured them both on their growth chart and both are right around 31 inches, but Baylor seems to be a tad bit taller.

Summer Wrap-Up

So we've been back at school for nearly 3 months and I haven't posted anything about what we did with the rest of our summer...so here it is:

For the 4th of July, we spent the afternoon at the pool with Holly, Jason, Harper, and Hollins.  That evening, we grilled out at their house with some of their neighbors. 

A few days later we visited the Knoxville  Zoo.  As many times as we've been to the zoo, this is by far the best trip we've ever had.  The animals were all out of their hiding spots and very close to their fences. The gibbons monkeys were really active and Baylor & Hudson were very entertained by them.

  We even saw one of the gorillas having a fight with one on the other side of the cage. Don't worry--this isn't a real snake Griffin is holding.  It's a stuffed replica of one the zoo had on exhibit last year.  

And after all of that excitement, we checked out the new splash pad at the zoo.  We all agreed that this is a GREAT new addition!

On July 14th, the babies turned 15 months old. They were just starting to be able to climb up on the sofa or ottoman by themselves and it was absolutely their favorite thing to do.  Another big favorite was sitting on the bottom step, usually side-by-side.  It's so fun to watch how they interact with each other...and how they already want to be able to do everything their big brother does.  

On July 25th, Griffin had surgery to move the lateral muscles of his eyes to help with his tracking.  It was a rough couple of days, but he had lots of visitors and all came bearing gifts so that definitely helped.  But he wasn't allowed to go swimming for two weeks after his surgery which meant the rest of our summer break.

We had to take Hudson back to Cincinnati Children's Hospital on July 31 for a follow-up on the lymphedema in his arm (which has been much, much better in the time since our first visit to CCH).  We decided to take everyone with us and make an end-of-summer getaway out of it. Matt and Griffin caught a Reds game, Griffin's first major league game. 

 



The next day, we went across the river to Newport, KY to visit the aquarium. 

Baylor wasn't quite sure what to think of these penguins that were as big as he was.

 

Griffin's favorite part of the aquarium was by far this PlayMotion screen.  He is very artistic and loved that he could create all of these colors and images just by moving and waving his arms. 

 

Griffin had been very excited about the Olympics ever since he saw some of the swimmers in the Olympic trials.  I decided that we should have an Olympics party since he was still going to be limited in his post-surgery activities and needed something to get excited about...not to mention that you only get the opportunity to have an Olympics party once every four years!  A couple of days before the party, he and I tie-dyed some red, white & blue shirts (although they were a little more pink & purple after washing).  We had food from around the world, and Griffin and Harper got to decorate rice krispy treat flags with M&Ms.  It was a fun little party and a good finish to the summer. 

 

Isle of Palms

We spent the week of June 16-23 at the beach in Isle of Palms, SC with Pop & Chaz, Bebe, Lacy & Max, Chaz's kids, Katie & Conner, and their two friends.  It was a wonderful week--perfect weather, a great house with a pool, the beautiful beach, and family to share it with. 

Since this was our first real trip with all the boys, I really wasn't sure how the week was going to go.  I was especially worried about Baylor since he hadn't liked the splash pad, kiddie pool, big pool, or sandbox so far.  I definitely didn't want to spend the whole week carrying him around.  But much to my surprise and relief, the beach and water quickly grew on him.  I did give him a towel to sit on the first day, but by the end of the day he was crawling around and digging in the sand.  Hudson loved it from the very beginning.  He would just get up and start walking down the beach or crawling out into the water only to have a wave come in and splash him in the face.  Trying to keep up with all three boys-who were often going in three different directions--was a challenge, but luckily we had plenty of extra hands around to help!

Griffin enjoyed digging in the sand, splashing in the ocean, and even riding the waves on the boogie board, but his first choice was the pool.  We could hardly drag him out of it at the end of each day.  He was already swimming well when we left home, but he was a little fish by the end of the week.  He had also been in a lot of water fights!

I could go on and on if I wrote about all the things we did over the week, but I decided I'd just make a slideshow and fight the urge to tell every detail.  So here it is...

It's Fun to be Five!

First of all, I must say that I can't believe my baby is five years old!  It frustrates Griffin when I call him my baby--he always tells me that he's not a baby, but I tell him that he will always be my baby!

We started Griffin's birthday celebration a little early with pizza and presents at home with Pop, Chaz and Lacy on Friday night. 

On Saturday, his real birthday, Griffin started his day with a birthday wish with a doughnut. 

His party was at Putt-Putt Golf & Games in Farragut, and he had 11 little friends from school join him to celebrate the big day.

After a round of putt-putt, we moved inside for cake and ice cream...and the official birthday wish. 

Then we gave each party-goer tokens to play games (even Hudson got in on the action with a little help from Mimi).  The big kids had fun using their tokens to win tickets and then cashing in their winnings for prizes.

When we got home, Griffin opened the presents from his friends. 

Later that evening, we went to Moe's with Mimi, Papaw Al, Aunt Holly, Uncle Jason, Harper and Hollins for his birthday dinner.  Then we moved the celebration back to our house for the rest of his presents.  His big present from Mimi and Papaw Al was an inflatable Lightning McQueen that he can sit in while he plays his driving games on the Wii.

My, How You've Grown!

We went to the doctor on April 17th for the babies' 1-year check-up.  Baylor weighed in at 21 lbs 12 oz (35%) and measured 28.5 inches (10%).  Hudson weighed in at 21 lbs 8 oz (30%) and measured 28.75 inches (15%).  Baylor has more than quadrupled his birth weight of 4 lbs 15 oz.  These boys obviously like to eat! 

Here is a picture of Baylor the day he was born...

and one taken on June 15th. 

Be sure to look at the skinny legs in the first picture and the very chunky legs in this one!

Here is a picture of Hudson when he was 4 days old...

and one of him on May 28.

Look how little his head was in my hand in the baby picture. 

Not any more!  This toddler head is in the 90th percentile!

Since I'm behind in getting this posted, I'll add some milestones from the past two months.  On Friday, April 27th, Hudson took his first steps.  My mom and Matt were both here to see the first few.  When I got home from work that afternoon, the boys had just woken up from their naps. Matt got  Hudson out of his crib and stood him up and he took about 5-6 steps to me.

On Monday, May 14th, Baylor took his first steps.  Baylor actually has the better balance of the two.  He will stand himself up in the middle of the room (without pulling up on anything) and will just stay there for the longest time.  Baylor has reached all of the physical milestones first--rolling over, sitting up, pulling up--but Hudson is definitely ahead of him in the walking department.

Hudson continued to take a few steps here and there, usually from me to Matt and back when we would prompt him and help get him steady before turning him loose.  But on Monday, May 21st, Hudson decided he just wanted to walk.  I was in the floor playing with all 3 boys after work, and Hudson just kept going back and forth from our couch to the ottoman on the other side of the room.

Baylor still wasn't doing more than a few wobbly steps at a time until Friday, June 8th.  Pop, Chaz, and Lacy were over and Baylor walked across the room to get to Pop.  Over the weekend, he did it a lot more and has almost caught up to Hudson in a matter of a few days.

Here is a picture of the boys in their new Elmo jammies.  As much as I dislike Walmart, I occasionally have to go there for something...and these were an unexpected find on my last visit. The boys both really like to watch Sesame Street, read How Big is Elmo? and Guess Who, Elmo, and play with the Elmo Live toy so I was so excited to find these! 

 

All Aboard for Birthday Fun!

Baylor and Hudson are one!  When we found out we were having twins, everyone we talked to who had twins told us just to survive the first year and it would get much easier.  It's hard to believe, but we have officially made it.

The babies started their special day at the ballpark for Griffin's first coach-pitch baseball game. 

 

Later that afternoon, we had our families over for a train-themed birthday party.  I had fun making this train cake for them, but I probably should have waited until their 2nd birthday when they would have appreciated it more!

 

  Baylor and Hudson did not like their birthday hats...but they quickly

forgot about them once they got some cake on their trays.  

 

I had planned to give them each a cupcake, but Matt did not think that was very fun and really wanted to let them tear into a big piece of cake.  I'm glad I let him convince me because they loved their cake!  As soon as I put it down in front of him, Hudson grabbed an oreo (a train wheel) and bit into it.  Baylor was a little more timid with his--he touched the icing with just his little finger a few times before getting his whole hand into it.  Even then, he just felt it and played with it for a while.  Mimi helped him put his finger up to his mouth to taste it and that did the trick--he started shoving handfuls in his mouth.  Hudson finished his oreo and then also dug into his cake. I don't know how neither of them threw up because they ate a lot of cake!  Look at these sweet, messy faces!

After we cleaned them up, we let them open presents...although it really turned into Griffin opening their presents for them.  They got a lot of cute clothes for the summer.  They also got two walkers since they are cruising but not officially walking yet.  They were very interested in this alphabet train (it starts as a walker, but has a seat that attaches so it becomes a riding toy later) as soon as they saw it.  And as soon as Matt got it out of the box, Hudson grabbed on and took off across the room.  

Hollins came over to check out Baylor and Hudson's new toy, but then she became more interested in Hudson and his teeth.  Although she is 6 months older, she only has 4 teeth compared to Baylor and Hudson's 8 teeth.  She was "talking" to Hudson and kept trying to look in his mouth. 

When Griffin turned one, he had crashed by the time his party ended.  However, Baylor and Hudson were still going strong even after all of their guests had left...probably still on a sugar high!