Too much sugar...too much fun...

Sometimes good days a great all the way to the very end when exhausted children fall asleep peacefully  - on the ride home, on the couch, in your lap, in their bed.  The key thing here is PEACEFULLY piece of the equation.

Then there are other days.  Days that start out good, maybe even have a good long run, but then at some point something goes terribly wrong.  Today, sadly, was one of those days.  We had a good morning, loaded up for a fun day at the park where the boys would get to go to a birthday party.  The boys were thrilled at the jungle gym at the picnic shelter, thought the birthday cake was the coolest thing EVER (it was a rocket ship, what is not to love?), and then they ate and played some more.

Doesn't sound bad, does it?  Well, what happened next looks something like this:

This is what too much sugar, too much playing, and an exhausted little boy still hyped up on sugar looks like.  It was a GREAT ride home.  

Reece's New Car

Ms. Patti got Reece the coolest "book" for his birthday today - it turns into a car.  Even the big kids were amazed :)  (I think it is pretty darn nifty, too!)

Happy Birthday Reece!

I don't know where the time has gone.  Reece's first year has really been a blur.  As I started planning for his cake and little birthday party get together I started to get really sad thinking how this is it.  I'm 40 - and we are not rich people.  No more babies :(  I can't believe I feel this way - so not what I expected.

Reece has been an absolutely lovely little boy.  He is hardly ever fussy.  He smiles and laughs all the time.  He clearly love, love, loves his brothers.  He has been super easy to put down for naps and bed at night from the very beginning - which is such a gift after the horrid time we had with the boys never napping for real and the hours and hours trying to get them in bed and not screaming.  He never had latch issues, so breastfeeding has been much easier - aside from the constant battle with thrush - which was probably a result of me being so tired and worn down.  (I'll admit it, I am jealous of all the people who have help when they have babies.  People that come and stay with them, give them an hour to take a nap, help them when they are exhausted...I can't even imagine how different that must be than what Doug and I have experienced.)

Happy 3rd Birthday to the Twins!

OK, this time I mean it. I am so glad the boys have a summer birthday. It makes parties so much easier than when the weather is colder - and since our kiddos love, love, love being outside anyway - well, it is a perfect match. Of course, this year we are celebrating a little late because of Grayson's eye surgery two days before their birthday...which led to this year's party being the same weekend we had a hurricane all the way up the East Coast! Luckily, the rain held off until the very end of the party and didn't start until literally the last guests were leaving.

We set up the tents, blew up the bug bouncy house, left up the trampoline, and had a great time. This year the boys had some friends and their parents come from their preschool class, so there were more kids and little people for them to play with. It was just a bunch of backyard fun with food and cake and lots of little boys.

There were kids and parents on the trampoline at all times, the swings were almost always full (see Reece loving it?), and we managed to make it almost 3 hours with no fighting, pushing, shoving, etc.

When the last of the guests left and the rain backed off for a few minutes we too their presents inside and opened them. Lots of cars and car related toys were to be had, along with books (Mama Lama is now a new favorite) and a piano (favorite present of the day.)

As we cleaned up all the wrapping paper and leftover food we realized that now we need to start planning Reece's party - his birthday is in about 8 weeks!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

OK, almost. Because Grayson had surgery scheduled for Friday, 8/12, we decided to postpone the celebration for two weeks.

Happy Birthday Gabe and Grayson

Well, it's official - the boys are now one. I wonder how much longer we are allowed to call them babies?? It is hard to believe that a year ago today they were calling me back to go to the hospital and have these guys at 37 weeks.

They were soooo tiny! Gabe was the "big" one at 6 pounds 4 oz. and Grayson was our little peanut at only 4 pounds 13 oz. The whole first few months were a blur - but especially the first few weeks. Grayson spent two weeks in the NICU and Gabe came home - but we had to shuffle back and forth between the house and the hospital - but only on of us could go back at a time because somebody had to stay with Gabe....what a nightmare!

Now here we are a year later - Gabe is walking, Grayson is only wearing his brace at night - they both have amazingly different personalities and are funny, funny, funny. We survived the first year with twins. There were times when we didn't think we were going to make it. Anyone who thinks they are tired with just one baby gets NO sympathy from this end. Zip, zero, NADA.

The babies were amazingly well behaved today - both ate cake (Grayson tried to shove the whole thing in his mouth at once!), played, took quick baths, opened presents and went up for a nap without fussing -- all while people were over. Amazing.

We got a few good pictures, but no video :( I wish we had gotten a picture with the two of them together, but all the pictures taken from a distance ended up with Carson in them stealing cake from their trays. I guess I will have to decide to be happy that at least we have some close up shots of just them.