Thanksgiving highlights

We spent the holiday with my family in St. George eating, laughing, and having lots of fun. Most of my siblings came too as well as family that already live in town. We had such a large crowd (about 35, I think...I never actually counted) that we held the feast at a church. The kids loved it because they could run around play games, and play basketball with plenty of room.

My brother and his family of 5 kids stayed Tuesday night on their way to St. George. Here are some of them...

We left Thursday morning with the food we were bringing and tons of other stuff. I can't BELIEVE how much stuff we have to bring for just two nights!!

Even though I took several pictures while at the church the only one I'm posting is of my several darling nieces. Jenna is only 5 weeks older than A & A.

On Friday my brothers and sister and their families climbed around on the red rocks above St. George. This was when I wish we had hiking carriers for the boys but they had a lot of fun walking around. We had a lot of anxiety staying close by them and making sure they didn't fall off the cliffs.

St. George down below

One of my sweet nephews with A & A inside a 'cave'

Andrew was constantly hounded by Sara and a little by Lexi. Andrew is so mellow, laid back, and easygoing while Aaron is a total mama's boy. Every time we were around Sara would want nothing to do with Aaron and everything to do with Andrew. She is SO baby crazy and want to hold him, swing him around, play with him, and drag him around. One time after a short period of 'playing' with him she sighed and said, "Parenting is so much fun." Oh, really? As long as Andrew wasn't getting hurt or crying we let her have fun with Andrew.

Lexi is the oldest of 5 kids (the youngest a set of twin boys) so she wasn't quite as aggressive.

One of my favorites of Andrew and Aaron-

My brother has two adorable twin boys, Cade & Carter, who are two years older than Aaron and Andrew. They are generous and passed on all their clothes and we appreciate it SOOO much. Their boys are dressed so cute and it has saved us tons.

Let's not forget our adorable boys either. :)

Happy very belated Thanksgiving!! I can't believe it's already Christmas.

Busy busy boys

What boys aren't busy? Yesterday when I picked Aaron and Andrew up from co-op my friend said, "How do you do it? These boys are BUSY!!" Then she admitted all boys are busy. She has two young boys so she knows. But A & A are very busy and it wears me out just watching them and cleaning up their path of destruction.

Bath time is no exception. A few days ago I started bathing the boys in the master bathtub since it's roomier and no longer has food storage boxes in and above it. Aaron and Andrew have loved being able to move around and do a lot more including an incident yesterday that cracked me up. Aaron was standing up in the middle of the tub with Andrew sitting down at his feet. While my head was turned away Aaron started to have a painful sort of cry. When I turned to see what was going on I saw Andrew pulling on his male member as if to see if it came off. It couldn't have felt very good but who could blame Andrew since it was right in his face. I have no picture of it and even if I did it wouldn't be posted online.

Our next door neighbor's garage is a favorite of the boys. This is the neighborhood kid hang out since it contains a lot of things to explore. One of Aaron's favorites lately is their unused pooper scooper. He pushes it around like a stroller and fills it with rocks. (So sad I don't have a picture of it yet.) A couple of days ago he found a CD player and began pressing buttons. He discovered the play/pause button. A CD with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" happened to be in it and when the music began blaring the two girls, who live nearby, started dancing. When Aaron pressed pause they froze; then he'd start it up again and so on. He sat at that CD player for a good 20 minutes and was pretty pleased with himself for what he was able to do.

Although both Aaron and Andrew like to climb Andrew enjoys it a lot more. His latest favorites are the kitchen chairs and the glider & couch in his bedroom. As soon as he figures out that he can climb from the kitchen chairs to the table we still start using bungie chords to tie them together. And whenever theirs boxes around he gets his exercise.

The boys have recently acquired a few new toys that have been keeping them busy (and allowed me to get a few more things done). A favorite was a 3-part truck/trailer/helicopter that Steve brought home from work. Aaron and Andrew LOVE it and will spend lengthy amounts of time playing with-and fighting over -it. One not such a time was Andrew happily playing with the helicopter uninterrupted.

Another favorite new 'toy' is a walk-in house our next door neighbor gave us that their 6 year old outgrew. Until we move to the bigger house we keep it along the walkway to our front door. Aaron and Andrew LOVE LOVE it. It's great except I can never open the front door without them trying to make a run for it. And forget trying to pull them away without a full on tantrum.

Yes, they are busy but it keeps my day interesting and fun (and very tiring!). There's a saying I have hanging in their room: Boy (n.)- A noise with dirt on it. And how true that is! They love anything that makes lots of noise and they could care less about being clean.

And some more fun:

A Visit from Aunt Nancy

Last night my aunt Nancy (who is THE best aunt!!) arrived in Las Vegas to stay for a couple of nights. She brought with her a fancy gift for the boys- bubble wrap! Hey, I could pop bubble wrap forever so why not Aaron and Andrew!

A visit from Grandma Ross

Last Sunday we had Steve's mom over for dinner and to spend a little time with the boys. Aaron and Andrew don't know her as well as they should and Aaron was NOT in the mood to have his picture taken. But they enjoyed having Grandma over and so did we.

Tidbits

None of these comments or photos have much to do with each other but each are little tidbits into my daily life with the personalities of Aaron and Andrew.

1. As soon as I put Andrew into the bathtub tonight he started to pee while standing up. I said, "Pee pee. You just went pee pee." He looked down at himself for the longest time and thought, "Oh, that's what that's for!" Now if he can just figure out how to do that in the toilet instead of the bathtub or a diaper...

2. Andrew LOVES dogs and says with excitement, "Doggie, doggie....." whenever he sees one or anything that looks remotely close to a dog (like pipes, of course). Both of them will go up to dogs at the park to pet it, make faces at it, or just get a close look. So I got them each a little dog which they love, especially Andrew. Last Sunday I managed to get this photo right before church. These days it's impossible to get both to look at me when snapping a pic, one is rare.

3. A & A in their monster pj's. Whenever they see boxes around the house (which is common lately- we're moving in a month) they love to push them around, climb on them, or get inside. Aaron think inside the box, Andrew thinks outside the box- actually true of their personalities.

4. Aaron stacked all these himself. He was so proud of himself he did his high squeal to let me know he did something impressive and then sat back admiring his work while sipping water. He LOVES anything that can stack or fit inside each other and goes crazy over them.

5. This afternoon when Aaron woke up from his ritual 60-90 min. nap I thought it would be fun to let him use play dough. He could care less about the play dough. All he wanted to do was put the lid on and off, on and off. With a second container he stacked them up or banged them together. Forget the play dough.

6. This morning while I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes I looked over and saw Andrew without any clothes on. And he looked pretty proud of himself and very relieved to not be weighed down. Next will be removing his diaper. When he woke up from his nap he had again removed his clothes. It didn't help that his shirt was extremely loose and hung down low. But I loved seeing them in an Ostler Memorial Cruise shirt (hand-me-down from Cade & Carter).

Notice Andrew's little dog nearby

7. Lately Andrew tries to climb everything- chairs, boxes, couches, toys, whatever. And he enjoys reading books- as long as HE hold it in HIS lap, HE turns pages when HE wants, and HE determines how long the book is read for. Basically, as long as HE is in control. But what toddler isn't that way?

His little dog is close by, of course

Trick or Treat

Last night Aaron and Andrew had their first experience trick-or-treating. It didn't take them long to figure out how it all worked. You mean all you have to do it hold out your basket and someone put candy in it? They LOVE candy (and they rarely get any) so they couldn't believe they got an entire container of it.

This is Aaron and Andrew just before going trick or treating. They were dressed in cute zebra suits that had little tails. We attempted to take a picture of them standing next to each other holding their bins. This was the best we could do:

A&A with their first piece of candy. Aaron LOVED the bins because he could stack them together. So he was not happy when he had to give one to Andrew.

We only took them to about six of the neighbors right around our house. While they enjoyed getting candy that wasn't the only things they put in their bin-

At our next door neighbor's Andrew sat down and began filling up his bin with rocks. Hey, you're supposed to put candy in it, not rocks.

Aaron had a rough day with only a 45 min. nap and then cried for an hour in his crib when we attempted a 2nd nap a little later. So when we kept him up past his bedtime and allowed him to eat a few bites of candy he wasn't the most energetic trick or treater and had to be carried the entire time.

A very enthusiastic trick or treater. He eventually caught on and would NOT let go of his little bin. He had to have a piece of candy in each hand or we'd see a fun tantrum.

As a child one of my favorite activities when I arrived home after trick or treating was dumping out all my candy and sort through it to see what treasures I'd received. It didn't take any teaching for them to figure this out.

Aaron grabbing some of Andrew's candy.

Dumping out their candy and going through it. The nice thing at this age- out of sight, out of mind. So it's kept very out of sight (what hasn't been eaten by us or thrown away).

I have to admit we probably had just as much fun as, if not more than, Aaron and Andrew trick or treating and showing them their cute little outfits.

Separation Anxiety of Twins

Aaron is a great helper!

With the exception of their first five weeks of life, Aaron and Andrew have never been apart from each other more than an hour or two...until this weekend, that is. While they were separated we realized just how much they rely on and play off each other.

Let me start at the beginning and explain how their 24 hr separation began...

This last weekend we had all these great plans to get a lot done to prepare our house to be put up for sale (that's an entirely separate post) but we ended up not doing any of the things on our list. I woke up Saturday feeling nauseous and achy all over. Although I never threw up I was totally incapacitated and sure felt like it. Steve felt fine and took the boys on a bike ride in the morning and then cleaned the oven, stove, and kitchen. After the boys woke up from their nap Steve was feeding them a snack and I laid on the floor nearby watching. As I watched I thought I saw Aaron choking but I soon realized he was throwing up. It didn't take long to forget about my own aches and pains and I took him upstairs for a bath while Steve cleaned up the nasty mess (what fun for him!). We originally thought nothing much of it because they've both thrown up before and not much has happened. I should mention that Andrew threw up twice Thursday night but continued to play hard on Friday as though nothing had happened.

It wasn't long after bathing him and bringing him downstairs that Aaron threw up a second time. We're not ones to call the doctor for every little thing but we went ahead and filled her in. She prescribed some anti-barf medicine, gave me some general flu instructions, and said if he throws up again we'd have to take him to the ER to be hooked up to an IV. "Give me a call so I can let the ER know you would be coming." It wasn't any more than 5 minutes that he threw up a third time. At this point we knew Aaron's flu was somewhat serious. Steve had just begun to feel a little queazy himself (we assumed from cleaning up the vomit!) but we decided he'd take Aaron since he didn't have the body aches and I'd stay home to care for Andrew. Before he could leave Aaron threw up a 4th time. He hurried with only a bag w/ toys and diapers so no camera, blanket, or Aaron's favorites were taken along.

As Steve began filling out paperwork at the hospital Aaron threw up two more times and he went rapidly downhill. His coloring began turning yellowish and Steve said he just laid lethargic in his lap. Aaron was soon hooked up to an IV in order to pump fluids into him and give him meds and then the wait began for a room in the pediatrics to become available. Aaron of course, was too sick to think, or care, about being separated from Andrew.

Meanwhile, here at home Andrew was more clingy than usual and kept looking around for Aaron. He never goes to bed without him. After putting Andrew to bed I laid down for the first time all afternoon and realized just how terrible I felt. Then I heard a coughing that didn't sound good. That can't be what I just thought it was?! I looked on the video monitor and sure enough- Andrew had just thrown up. After changing him and cleaning him up I called Steve who informed me that he too had thrown up twice there at the hospital. Geez, why don't they just admit all of us into the hospital??

I found some friends to come watch Andrew while I ran to the pharmacy to get the medicine originally prescribed for Aaron and after putting him to bed a second time I was able to get a decent night sleep. Yesterday Steve called to update me and I told him as soon as I found someone to watch Andrew I would come trade places with him at the hospital. I've been in a hospital enough to know that's it nearly impossible to get any sleep at night.

When I arrived there around 9:30 Aaron was laying on his bed playing with a toy. He sat right up and soon became his usual self. Apparently he had just finished drinking some apple juice- the first fluids they'd given him on his own. Steve was amazed how much it perked him up. He came home to care for Andrew and was able to take a long nap while Andrew slept. I stayed at the hospital with Aaron until he was discharged last night at 6:00 p.m. The entire time I was there he was extremely tired but very busy and spent lots of time emptying my purse, playing with toys we happened to bring, and riding in the wagon as I pulled it around the halls in pediatrics- ANYthing to keep him entertained. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera because we were so worried about keeping Aaron alive and getting him to the hospital. Dang it!

Meanwhile at home without his constant playmate Andrew was at a complete loss. He was very clingy (both with me on Saturday & Steve yesterday) and followed us around everywhere. Andrew would look around him as though he was looking for Aaron and wondering when he would be back. He seemed confused about where Daddy (or Mommy) was and what was going on. Although Andrew is the more social one and somewhat more of a bully, he tends to watch Aaron and copy what he does. Aaron is usually more independent and doesn't wait around for Andrew to decide what he's going to do. Without him around Andrew didn't play with some of the toys they normally do together.

Upon Aaron's return last night they had about an hour and half before bed. Andrew was ECSTATIC to see Aaron and couldn't stop smiling. We kept delaying their bedtime because it was hilarious to watch them together! It was almost as though they were making up for lost time! They ran around following each all over, copying one another, and playing with the same toys as their brother.

Today it was almost as though none of us were sick over the weekend. Steve went to work, I took the boys for a walk, and they played together and fought over toys. But I took more notice of what they do together and how much they look to each other- and it's ALL the time. The pictures prove it.

Soon after Aaron arrived home from the hospital.

These were all taken today.

Just the First Step

This afternoon I got a very rare break- a friend and I got a pedicure, frozen yogurt, and went to Target. She has a 3 year old and so naturally the subject of potty training came up. Although it'll be nice to not have to change at least 8 diapers/day, I'm in no rush to potty train them. But she suggested at least getting a potty chair for them to get familiar with. I've been meaning to get one anyway since I do co-op and I won't have to have pee sprayed all over my toilet when a little boy goes on the big person chair. I figured one chair would be fine for now since we're not really doing the training yet.

While Steve fed them dinner they were completely fascinated while I unpacked the potty chair and examined it and how it worked (more to keep them entertained so they'd eat!). As soon as they got out of their high chairs they bolted over to the potty chair to sit on it, lift the seat, turn it over... and fight over it. The one who didn't win was crying hysterically and VERY upset. If they only knew what they were fighting over- a TOILET. Give me a break. Maybe I should have got two potty chairs after all.

Andrew couldn't wait to sit on the toilet. You can see Aaron behind- he's screaming and crying because HE wants to be sitting on it and playing with it.

Now Aaron's happy! HE gets to play with it by himself. Andrew quickly decided the toilet is no fun. It doesn't make any noise, has no wheels to roll around on the floor with, and is basically a boring 'toy'.... until tomorrow. Then the 'fighting' will start all over again.

P.S.- Aaron is in love with this toilet!! It's all he wants to play with. Maybe that's a sign he'll be easy to train. Andrew could pretty much care less.

A few of our favorites at 18 months

As of two days ago Aaron and Andrew are now 18 months. With each new day they are learning countless new things and their personalities are getting more and more fun. Even though Aaron & Andrew exhaust me by the end of the day, they keep me smiling and laughing. And it's so much fun to watch them interact more and more with each other. They want to do most everything together and when one does something you can guarantee the other one is doing to follow- even when it comes to being sick.

Aaron & Andrew love riding their trains together

The last few days they both have had runny noses, coughs, and been clingy and FUSsy. Today we finally took them to the doctor so hopefully they'll start to be on the mend. Without really teaching him, Aaron figured out that when I wipe his nose it helps to blow. It thought that was pretty brilliant! (Now if he'll just figure out that being fed w/a spoon is for little babies...) You'd think that when they get sick they wouldn't feel like doing ANYthing- at least that's how I am. But no, they are just as busy.

Aaron & Andrew in their dog pj's. They both can say "doggie" but when Andrew is asked what a dog says he start panting. I ask him that a lot because I love hearing him do that!

Even though they have a long ways to go before really talking (they say all kinds of 'words') both of them are understanding a lot more. Earlier today at the doctor's office I pointed to the garbage and told Aaron to "Go throw it in the garbage." Then he did what I said. They'll also throw lots of other things in the trash too. Both of them are beginning to identify body parts but Andrew especially shows an interest in them. The following are what he does when you ask him to point to his...

Andrew, where's your nose?

Where's your eyes?

Where's your tongue?

Where's your hands?

(This afternoon I gave them each a popsicle and it stained their hands and faces.

I tried getting a picture of Aaron but had no success getting a good picture.)

Even though they both have very different personalities it's to explain those differences in a nutshell. Both of them are very active. Both have a stubborn streak. Both can be cuddly. Both are a lot of fun. Both can be mellow. But it doesn't take long to notice that Aaron has more patience when it comes to figuring how something works. He will play with stacking cups or a puzzle until he figures out how the pieces work together. Almost the instant parts don't fit together Andrew will get upset and find something else. It can be rather humorous.

Aaron LOVED rolling this car back and forth. He concentrated on

this and nothing else for quite a long time.

When you smile at him Aaron always smiles back!