Our friend the squirrel

The squirrel came back again today. Derek sat on the table to watch him. Derek was so excited. I kept reminding him to be quiet to not scare the squirrel. He got louder and louder and the squirrel just kept eating the birdseed. It was great entertainment for D.

Napping

Will and Nate enjoy napping together. They each like to roll on their sides at times. Both of them have then rolled to their tummies. They love to be on their tummies and sometimes get upset when I put them on their backs. Our sweet little guys.

Happy birthday Daddy!

Mike turned the big 40 on Sunday. We got him a cool new camera for his birthday that also shoots video. It is an awesome camera! To celebrate we had our dear friends Bob and Pratima and their son Thorin over to celebrate. We had a yummy pasta dinner and the cake that Derek and I made. It was an awesome day.

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband who makes me laugh and to the bestest Daddy to our boys!

Baking with Mommy

Derek and I made a yummy carrot cake for Mike's birthday. Derek was a great help. He really like sampling the frosting!

Swamp boy

It started off like most walks but ended poorly. We were walking around the bird sanctuary which we love. The little boys were happy in the stroller and Derek was loving running around. We decided to start heading back to go home for dinner. I saw a duck in the swamp and showed it to Derek. Derek ran into the swamp even as I said stop. He lost his balance and fell in face first. Mike handed me the camera and ran in after him. He thought Derek was choking so he picked him up and tipped him upside down to get the water out. Derek was scared. He swallowed some water but other than that was fine. He gave us quite the scare. He held on tightly to MIke's hand the whole way back. The evening was filled with Derek saying silly derek water. I kept telling him it was naughy for not listening to Mommy and not silly. We hope he learned his lesson and won't do it again.. but he is my boy and will probably always jump in any water like I did.

9 pounds

Will (on left) and Nate are doing well. They are each almost 9 pounds. They are smiling now- so sweet. They have been cluster feeding- eating from 5-9 nonstop in the evenings. Even though MIke and I don't have any time by ourselves- the good news is that they then sleep 5-7 hours at a stretch. Very very nice for Mommy. I actually got 4 hours of sleep in a row on Sunday night. I am still very tired. The little guys are also in a good routine. They nap during Derek's nap time as well so I get a break.


I took all 3 boys out on my first errand to Costco and Target. I put them all in the stroller: Derek sits in the seat and the boys both fit in the bassinet. I was the pack mule with bags over both shoulders. It worked really well and the boys were all wonderful. I am not quite sure how I will do it when I need to take a cart but it was a great and very easy first outing.

Help!

Derek just wants to help at all times-especially with the boys. He loves to give them bottles or their pacifiers. We are often saying gentle Derek. He wants to help but he just doesn't get how little they are.

Can I hold the baby?

Help Daddy

We hear help Daddy lawn at least 5 times a day. On Saturday, Derek did get to help. He chose a snow shovel as his tool and my gardening gloves. Derek just wants to help Daddy at all times: watering the lawn, picking up dog poopies, and weeding (usually flowers not weeds). We enjoy his helping attitude. He is absolutely entralled by the sprinklers and even ran through them last weekend much to his delight. He is wearing his new favorite shirt given to him by Geema- elmo. Derek loves all things elmo and his geema. We ask for Geema and Auntie Alli a lot too. Derek is starting to understand that Geema and Bumpa live in WI with Lucky and Auntie Alli too.

Bye bye Geema

Geema left yesterday. We had a wonderful time with her. Derek loves his Geema so much. Geema always had a baby in her arms (surprise). We all enjoyed her. Bye-bye Geema!

tummy time

Will (on left) and Nate were having tummy time this morning. They are both doing very well. They are great eaters. They love to interact with us. They need to work on sleeping... I have been up with them from 1:30 on most days. Thankfully Geema is here and I am getting lots of naps. They just went through a big growth spurt. I am excited to see how much they weigh this week... it should be over 9 pounds. Will was gaining all of his weight in his face for a while so Mike nicknamed him the chubby elf. Now he has thinned out a bit.

How to take pictures

Aim camera in a different direction than you are looking!

Derek snuggling Will

Funny Will faces

WIll was making great faces while snuggling with Geema.

Photo shoot

We had a photo shoot for newborn pics of Will and Nate. We saved some of our favorites for the announcements to come out soon.

Thank you to our dear friend Kati and Bean and Sprout Photography!

Help! My markers attacked me.

...or something like that.

Derek cuddles Nate

Derek loves to snuggle with his brothers. He loves to show them how to do things. Derek wanted to try out the tummy time mat first. Then he wanted Nate to lay there and snuggle him. It was very sweet. Mmm- I think we need more WIll pics.

Geema and the babies

Geema is here. Geema is here. Germa is now called Geema. Derek is in love with Geema and enjoying her throughly. They are having a blast together. Geema is also so much help with the babies. She is usually holding one- a real hardship for her :) Here is Geema holding Will (top pic) and Nate (bottom pic).

Nate has fuzzy hair!

Adorable little Nate

Derek

Derek is a riot these days. We just enjoy him so much. He is a joy to be around. I really miss him when when he goes to school and the house seems too quiet. He is doing his fair share of testing of boundaries these days as well- like a normal 2 year old. But then he comes back from time out with a smile on his face and is ready to be sweet again. He loves his brothers. He loves us. Could it get any better? I knew I would love being a mom, I just didn't know how much I would enjoy watching my kids grow and become their own sweet selves. Derek is awesome (as are his brothers too!

baby faces

Courtesy of Nate

What Mike did on his sabbatical: lots of diapers and bottles

Mike has been an amazing help these last 5 weeks. It has been so easy with him at home all day. We are all very sad he needs to go back to work on Monday. We have had so much fun with him home.

Our budding photographer

Lesson 1: do not put fingers over lens. This is why Derek gets a cheap camera to practice on!

Feeling better after an icky weekend

Saturday was not Derek's day. After we put him to bed, we heard yelling 15 minutes later. The poor kid was sick and had puked for the 2nd time in his life. He was yelling icky mommy. After several attempts of changing sheets and jammies after multiple sickness, it was decided that Derek would have his own little nest on the floor. Mike was going to sleep by him to be with him if he was sick again. That was fine until I tried to leave the room. I was the one who ended up sleeping by him. He was fine the rest of the night and all day Sunday. In fact we even met friends at the park because he seemed all better. Then in a "Mike wins the amazing parent award" moment- D puked on Daddy before bedtime. Grr. Then he was fine and went to bed as normal. I think he is better now but we will know at bedtime again. He was sweet the whole time he was sick. He just wanted to snuggle. Cuddle is his new favorite word.

Today it was nice out so we took Derek's new trike for a spin around the neighborhood. He preferred the cruising to the pedalling. It was nice to get out and enjoy the day!