December

Here are some new photos from Thanksgiving. We had a nice Thanksgiving Day at Grandma's house. Then the next day we went to Nana's for a dinner with family and friends!

Grandma, Nana and Bruce are headed to our house for Christmas and then we will be heading to Pittsburgh to visit family and friends on the 27th. We will post many pictures of the boys second Christmas!

It's November!

The boys are growing! At their 15 month appointment, Jacob weighed 22 lbs., 15 oz. and Carter was 21 lbs., 5 oz. Carter is about an inch and a half shorter than Jacob.

They did great with their shots and a big thanks to Kathy Funk who went with me to help keep them occupied. I couldn't do those appointments alone.

We had Jacob evaluated by Early Intervention last week and he qualified. They are saying his cognitive skills are coming in around 8 months. His behavior has been a bit odd for the last few months so I decided to have him evaluated. Glad that I did because now I will know what to do to help him learn!!!

Carter is being assessed next week with a speech therapist to see how if he should be working with speech or just a special instructor to help him with basic signs and other ways of communicating his needs to us.

It's a lot of therapy and I have been feeling overwhelmed by the amount of time I spend with the therapists already. I can't imagine what it will be like now!

We are working on trying to find a sitter to help out one or two days a week to lighten the daytime load a bit. I am feeling overwhelmed with the boys and with work. And I am coming up on a busy couple of months with singing on top of the teaching. It would be great to have a little extra help!

The boys had fun on Halloween and I will post a few pictures of them in their costumes. We took them to Marple Presbyterian Church in Broomall for an afternoon party and then we took them to a few neighbors in the evening...but by then they were tired and not really happy to be out.

Where did September go?

I can't believe I didn't post anything in September! We have some big things coming up this week. The boys will be 15 months old on Monday. We have Carters one year evaluation with Early Intervention on Monday. I am pretty sure that everything will continue the same for him. We have decided to also have Jacob assessed by them and his eval. is the following week. Mostly for speech.
Tuesday is their 15 month check-up so I will post weights/heights once we are back.

They are both doing great....here are some pics.....

Summer's Over

Tomorrow Daddy's goes back to work and that means that summer is over! We have enjoyed the month of August while he has been home every day! We took a vacation at the beginning of the month to Delaware/Maryland. We had a great time at the beach and visiting with family. The boys were great during the trip and are getting much better at traveling distances in the car and are doing better in restaurants and stores.

We have made several trips to the Philadelphia Zoo and are trying to get nightly walks in the wagon around the neighborhood. We will post some pictures soon.

Both of the boys are growing like crazy. They really don't look like babies anymore! Jacob is not walking but running everywhere. He loves to climb on anything!! He is starting to babble a bit more. We hear dadada, bababa, mamama, nanana. It is still babble and not specific to a person or object but it is more than a few weeks ago. He still only has two teeth but he is working hard on getting the two top ones.

Carter is doing great. The therapists are so impressed with his improvements. She thinks he could be walking on his own by the end of September. His annual assessment with EI is in October and she is thinking we may only need therapy twice a month instead of weekly!! He is walking with a walker just about everywhere. He is still wobbly but he is working on it. He will occasionally get up on his hands and knees and crawl. More with Jane than with us but he does do it occasionally. We are currently working on getting him to sit up himself from laying down and also trying to build his arm strength with exercises mainly in the pool.

We are continually updating the baby proofing in the house because they are into everything. We are anticipating the day the Jacob crawls out of his crib. Neither one of us thinks it is far off.

I will post pictures soon!

Some other photos

Here are some other photos we took during the birthday weekend. They are just too cute not to share. The boys were being goofy!

Misbehaving...they wouldn't sit still for the pictures!!!

I just couldn't get the ring out of Jacob's mouth...but at least they were still for a moment.

And the ring is still there....and they are both headed for the camera....

Surprisingly they are playing nicely. Usually they ar fighting over the same toy. It was nice to see them playing together without someone crying or getting stepped on!

We are One!

The boys had an excellent birthday party on Saturday. They really did a great job at entertaining everyone and not being too fussy throughout the day.

It was great to have our friends and family here to celebrate their birthday. The boys received many wonderful gifts. Cake time was messy but so much fun to watch. Both of the boys dove into their cakes and were a complete mess!

Thank you to all who came to share with us. Here are some pictures to enjoy of their special day!

Here is a pile of the gifts they received from everyone at the party. I think we have spoiled boys!!

Here is a picture of their Handy Manny cake. This, I think is their favorite cartoon!!

Here is Jacob with his cake. He dove right into it....he needed to get a bath afterward..He was soo messy!

And here is Carter...he took the cake and put it in his ear! But he had a good time!!

Almost.....

The boys are almost a year old!!! And what an incredible day they had yesterday. We had our 12 month checkup with Dr. Devon, the pediatrician. Jacob weighed 21 pounds, 1 ounce and was 29 3/4 inches and Carter is 19 pounds, 11 ounces and 29 inches. They both squirmed all over the office and I was really happy that I had someone to go along with me! They each got three shots in their legs (2 in one, 1 in the other) They really handled them pretty well. Jacob was getting tired so he was a bit fussy.

We brought them home and put them down for a nap. Carter( the early riser) still slept for about an hour and 15 minutes. He got up and ate a little food and started playing. Then Jacob got up and they each had some milk and were playing downstairs. It was close to Daddy coming home and I was going to have to teach the rest of the evening so I was playing downstairs. And wouldn't you know...Jacob started walking to me and to the couch!!! Anywhere from three to seven steps at a time...I was so excited that I think I kept making him fall because he was laughing at me! Carter was not thrilled with all the attention I was giving Jacob but we managed about 15 minutes of practice!!!

Then while I was teaching later that night, Johnny was feeding the boys grilled cheese. Carter started taking the food and feeding himself!!! We are just so proud of them! Later while I was teaching my last student, Johnny tried putting the boys to bed. We usually wait until everyone is gone because they are too distracted to sleep with me teaching...but they had had a long day. Jacob went right to sleep...but Carter was screaming. So eventually Johnny went up to get him....and wouldn't you know, he was standing in his crib!!! First time he was able to pull himself up in the crib!

It was a huge day for them!! Let's see what else they can manage to squeeze in just before their first birthday!!!!

June post

So I am trying to get a post in before July gets here! We are just a few weeks away from the boys first birthday!!! I can't believe that they will be a year old!

The boys are doing great. Jacob took his first steps earlier in the month. Just three steps but not much more. He is so close to walking....he is into everything he can find. He is extremely independent. He is happy to play alone and he doesn't want your help during meals. He wants to feed himself. He loves pretty much anything you give him. Thank goodness....so far no picky eaters!

Carter is good! He started his water therapy and it seems to be helping. He is a great swimmer. He absolutely loves the water. He is army crawling all over the place and he is pulling himself up on toys. He doesn't have much balance but he really wants to do what Jacob does. He is very stubborn and I think he is a little lazy! He wants us to do everything for him...but the good news is that he can do alot...even if he doesn't want to!! He is eating alot more table foods now. He still has a little trouble and we have to feed him but it is so much better than before.

His therapy sessions seem to be really helping. He was given a developmental exam on the 21st by therapists at Bryn Mawr Hospital. They said his gross motor skills were at 7 months, fine motor skills were at 6 months and his communication skills were at about 9-10 months. So he is behind but not terribly so. Looking forward to hearing what the Special Babies clinic says about him next month at Jefferson!!!

May Pictures

Sleeping Boys!!!





Happy Ten Months Jacob and Carter!!!!

End of May already

So I haven't been any better at updating!

The boys are doing well....getting bigger all the time.

They went to the YMCA last week for Carters first water therapy. It was difficult to get them both there and dressed by myself but we did it and they had a great time in the pool. They were giggling and splashing the whole 45 minute session. We will be going every other week to help with Carters physical therapy. He is army crawling now...not consistently but he is working on it. He cut his first tooth this past Sunday and from the looks of it he will have a mouth full very soon!

Jacob is pulling up on everything and is minutes from taking his first steps alone. I will be surprised if he isn't walking in a week or so. He is very brave! He is into everything so we have to keep a close eye on him! No teeth yet for him but I don't think we are far. He also has a great appetite and will eat anything we give him. He loves to feed himself!!!

We are starting to plan their One year Birthday Party! I can't believe that a year has gone by already! Stay tuned for pictures. I will try to get some up soon!

Memorial Day weekend is here and we are getting ready to make a trip out to Gettysburg to see Alexie play in a soccer tournament. Hopefully we will get some pictures while we are there!

We took a trip to Longwood Gardens last weekend while Aunt Trisha was up for a visit. It was a beautiful day so we spent some time looking at the tulips! Here are few photos from the trip!

A Sunday in the Park

We took the boys to the park a few weeks ago. Carter loved the swing but Jacob was crabby and he really didn't have a good time. I think he was really tired. We will have to try again soon!

Update

The nine month appointment went well.

Weights: Jacob is 19 pounds 1 ounce and Carter is 17 pounds 12 ounces.

Dr. Devon says they look good and the best news was they didn't need any shots! And they don't go back until they are a year old! I can't believe we are almost there!

We also went to Jefferson Hospital on the 16th for Carters EEG. He really screamed..he hated having all of the electrodes put on his head...but once they were on, he went right to sleep. The following week we went to see his neurologist for the results and it was normal! So he is being weaned off of his phenobarbital and then he will be medication free! We are so happy!!!

Jacob has been pulling up on everything and thanks to Grandma we have a new playard so that they don't get hurt. We have it set up in the basement and hopefully it will help with the scratches and bruises from falling into the furniture!!!

Will post more pictures soon!!

February pictures

Jacob is getting ready to be on the move. He did lots of plank positions until he figured it out! Carter is starting to get the hang of sitting upright...and he loves the spinning toy!

We spent many days inside because of some horrible snow storms...but we managed to get a couple of shots of the boys in the snow! They didn't care for it too much!

And the last picture shows the really cute shirts that Michelle made for them. They looked so cute in them!!

January pictures

We had the boys baptized on January 10th. All the family was able to be there which was nice. Trisha, Austin and Patty are their godparents. We had an excellent lunch after at Carol Williamson's house to celebrate the boys! It was a great day!

9 Months Old!

I can't believe that the boys are 9 months old! They are both doing great!! We go to the pediatrician later today for their check up and I will update the blog with weights and heights. (and pictures)

Jacob is crawling...everywhere! This past week he has been picking up speed and now we are on to trying to pull up on things. This is not fun...he is scaring himself and hurting himself and crying alot. Hopefully this will pass soon...

Carter is doing excellent things. We started with a physical therapist in January who has helped immensely these last few months. He has learned to roll in both directions and he does this constantly to get to toys. He now much prefers to be on his back to his tummy which isn't the best since we would like to see him strengthen his arms. He is sitting up for short periods of time since 8 months. He isn't extremely steady but once he finds his balance he can sit for up to 5 minutes without falling over. He is also wanting to pull up on things...so I am sure that it won't be long before he is crawling around too!

I will post some pictures soon!

Boys First Christmas!

Jacob and Carter in the morning!
Jacob had to try out all the presents on his head!

And Carter fell wore out quickly! He missed most of the gifts....

Christmas started off at Grandma Wolstoncroft's. Then we headed to Nana Sturgis's house for more presents and good food!!

After that we traveled again to Aunt Trisha and Uncle Danny's house in the afternoon for even more gifts and good food!!!!



It was a long day but we all had a great time spending time with the family!!

Christmas Eve!

Unlike every other Christmas Eve where I am in church singing, I got a sub and we traveled for the boys first Christmas. We headed to Salisbury on the 23rd and stayed overnight. We got up on Christmas Eve and headed to Virginia to visit with Johnny's side of the family for a few hours and then headed to his cousins house to have dinner and visit with more of his family! It was nice to see everyone again and the kids did pretty well in the car. But they didn't really want to nap in a strange place....so they did start to get a little crabby!!! But overall we all had a great time visiting with everyone! Wish we could do it every year!!!

Snow and Cookies!

So we had a huge snowfall in December right before Christmas so while we were snowed in, we decided to bake cookies. The boys were pretty good. They both sat for a while in their high chairs and watched and then Carter took a nap. Here are some pics....we found out that we are not that good at decorating cookies!!! We had 23 inches of snow fall in Philadelphia during that snowfall! It was beautiful...until we had to dig out the cars!!!!