Reece is All Smiles

Not much to say here - just loving every second of this little boy!

Reece's First Roll Over

Marking the calendar - Reece rolled all the way over on his own today.   He's 3 months, 2.5 weeks old.

Apparently the secret is getting out...

So we tried to keep it a secret. WE didn't tell anyone. HOWEVER, we live in a small town. A small, nosey, gossipy town. Apparently, quite a few people know - or think they know. They are asking. Hell, the freaking newspaper called and said...'so we hear you bought [a certain property]....can we talk?'

Well, since people know - and those that don't aren't reading my blog, I'll say it. We bought a house. At auction. For a steal. Yep. We did it.

Chatterbox

We have been waiting to hear what Grayson has to say for over two years. He is always watching, watching, watching - but never talking. (Gabe tends to steam roll his efforts and speak for them both.) But it would seem that we are having a bit of a speech explosion in our house! Grayson has started really making an effort to talk.

Last night as we were putting away toys he counted them for me 1-10! And he is naming everything he sees - purple dinosaur, white police car, Baby Reece, Daddy's home!, new Babby Babble, my blocks, pee-pee potty, baby's seat, mommy's chair, yellow banana....

I can't wait to hear more of what he is thinking.

Helping Make Muffins

Rare moments when only one little boy is awake are always fun. This morning Gabe got to help make muffins. This meant he ate raisins, wore a lot of flour, and made sure adequate amounts of batter were stirred onto the counter. All and all - a good time.

There's the REAL Recipe, and then there is the way you ACTUALLY make it...

As I was making dinner tonight it struck me as amusing the difference between the way the recipe I was using was written and the way it was actually unfolding in the moment. So here I offer insight into our home at dinner time.

I have set out to make a tuna noodle casserole (don't laugh, everyone in this house loves it) that I wanted to be ready when Doug got home with the twins. So I grab my recipe and ingredients, bring Reece into the kitchen with me and set out to make dinner. So, the recipe is my Mimi's Tuna Noodle Casserole - the only recipe my Papa wanted out of her recipe box when she died.

You will need (according to recipe card):

1.5 cups of cooked egg noodles
4 oz condensed milk
7 oz can tuna, drained
1/3 c. chopped onion, sauteed in butter
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 can of cream of something soup

All of this gets mixed together and dumped in a 1.5 qt (or 8x8) baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Top with more cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake at 350 until hot and bubbly - which is about 30 minutes.

Now what makes this funny is how it actually happened....

1.5 cups of cooked egg noodles .....or the half a bag of noodles way back in the cabinet that I found. I have no idea how many cups it was. What I do know is that it was way more than fit in the pot I had water boiling in. So I had to transfer said noodles - now hot and wet- to a bigger pot.
4 oz condensed milk...hmmm..this is now sold in 5 oz. cans. Dumped it all in a big bowl.
7 oz can tuna, drained...again, tuna is now sold in 5.5 oz cans. Better use two - I have a lot of noodles boiling!
Right as the noodles were finishing cooking, Reece decided he was starving and could not wait one second more for his bottle, so I drained the noodles and dumped them in the big bowl I was going to mix everything in and went and fed him.

20 minutes later - I'm back! Noodles are now one solid mass. Hhmmm...should have stirred them into the soup and milk before I left. Crap.
1/3 c. chopped onion, sauteed in butter ...1/3 cup? How about the half an onion I saw wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge. Good enough - right? Oh, and while I was fishing around for the onion I knew I had seen earlier I found a pack of mushrooms. Grabbed a half dozen of those to add to the pot, too. Done, and in the same pan I made the noodles - woo hoo! Dumped that in the bowl, too.
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese ...monster bag of preshredded cheddar from Costco. Check. Dumped it in until it looked like about a cup. Or two. Again - lots of noodles were made.
1 can of cream of something soup ...I had Cream of Celery. Store Brand. In it went (actually first.)

So I start stirring it and realize the masses of noodles are not giving up on their own and I am going to have to go in. Sleeves pulled up, word of warning to Reece that I will be otherwise occupied for the next few minutes, I stick my hands in the whole mess and start peeling apart the clumps of noodles.

While peeling apart noodles I realize I am going to have to make some veggies for the boys...OR ....to the freezer I go! I dump about 2 cups of frozen peas straight into the bowl.

Once that is basically mixed up I called it done and poured it into - well, not the 8x8 pan I got out - it was clearly not going to fit - but the larger 2 qt oval pan I found.

Top with additional cheese (ugh. I already put that away - get it out again.) and bread crumbs. Yeah - we don't by bread crumbs, we make them from stale loaves of bread. Check the cabinet for some - nope we're out. I COULD use my Mimi's standby of crushed potato chips, but we don't have any of those either. And then I remember... when I came in the house yesterday my FIL was standing in the foyer holding a sleeve of mashed up crumby crackers that he had apparently taken away from Grayson. Mind you, not before the child had chewed (?) through the sleeve and left a trail of crumbs all of the foyer. Looked all over and FOUND said crackers, further smashed them up on top of the casserole and sprinkled more cheese. Popped it in the oven. Where it bubbled away for at least 40 minutes.
Thank goodness this is an incredibly forgiving recipe. It might actually be impossible to mess it up. It was gobbled up for both lunch and dinner.

Things we hear...

The boys are talking more and more and it is always interesting to listen in on the conversations they are having with each other and without us. They clearly love each other and find one another absolutely hilarious. Here are some recently over heard conversation snipettes and random replies from the boys:

As they were playing side by side at the coffee table:
Gabe: "Grayson, do you have stinkies in your pants?"
Grayson: "Yeah."

Gabe and Doug talking after a bath:
Gabe: "I think I have something in my ear."
Doug: "Is it dirt?"
Gabe: "Umm, no. I think it's a cow."

The boys were up in their room playing nicely after bath time, winding down and we hear:
Gabe: "I'M NAKED!!!!"
Grayson: Laughs uncontrollably.

Baby Snuggles

Doug is the chief baby snuggler in our house. I wish I was, but I can't ignore all the things that have to get done and when the boys are asleep is pretty much the best time to get certain things accomplished. When I snapped the picture of Doug with Reece I knew right away when I saw it that we had another picture of him that was almost exactly the same of him with Grayson - and I found it. SO here you have it - two photos taken almost exactly 2 years apart.

A pile of little boys...

Apparently it was a rough day. Just add this to the many, many photos we have of Doug being held down by the children in the house. (Only the twins actually fell asleep on him, but it seemed only fitting to add Reece to the pile!)

Bad Hair Day

It appears it is time for a hair cut! Gabe woke up from his nap today and came down stairs with his hair looking a bit like a mad scientist. I grabbed the camera a snapped a few pictures before committing to cut his hair this weekend.

Grayon's One Twin Day Lunch Time

Today was a one twin day. We used to call it a "One Baby Day," but now with Reece here it has become a one twin day instead. Gabe had a Dr appt to check his ears again and Grayson had Speech Therapy scheduled from pretty much the same time - so it was a divide and conquer kind of day. Grayson and I had a great morning with his ST session - he is coming along really nicely. After the session was over we played and entertained Reece and before you knew it it was time for lunch. Since it was such a cold and windy day the kitchen was cold (no radiator), so we had lunch at the coffee table in the living room. Grayson enjoyed getting to eat at the table and using his new plate he got for Christmas. We had 'deconstructed' turkey sandwiches, apples, and goldfish.

Christmas Morning!

Christmas Eve Night

All the toddlers have on their new PJs and are ready to "sleep all night long" so Santa will bring presents. After much commotion they settled down and when I went to do a quick check on them before we went to bed, this is what we found. Two sweet little boys asleep on the same bed. It doesn't happen that often (Grayson has the night-night shoes that he swings around - so Gabe knows to give him plenty of space!), so we wanted to make sure we got a shot of it. So sweet :)

Reece is starting to talk to us!

After much discussion we are sure the twins never did this. We can't remember them every talking/cooing. We asked around to folks that would have been around them at a few months old and no one can remember them doing it - and I am sure we would have video of it if they did. Weird, right?

He really starts cooing about half way through...so stinking cute!

Reece's 1st Smiles

Some days naps just don't come easy...

this was one of those days. There has been a lot of excitement in our house the last few weeks and Gabe doesn't want to miss a second of the commotion. He swears he isn't tired and doesn't need a nap. So with Grayson already tucked in and getting his Z's, Doug sat down with Gabe for some quiet time:

And about 4 minutes later it was over -

What are you looking at?

Reece, 1 month old after a bath with Daddy.

Yep, we have climbers...

Grayson at work with Daddy. I don't know he got up there. I don't ask - it would just freak me out.

Reece is Here!!

Do I look peeved? Yeah, that is not your imagination. I was less than happy - I was happy that Reece was about to arrive, I was NOT happy that for 48 hours I was told I was NOT in labor and by the time someone actually checked my cervix for real I was 7 cm dilated and I had to hold still during contractions to have a spinal put in. This shot was taken after I went to hospital once with contractions 5 minutes apart and the Dr on call never even came to the room - instead she sent me home telling me to take Tylenol and drink water after giving me a shot to stop the contractions I was having. Then I went to see her the next day in her office and she told me the same thing again (umm..lady, contractions...I'm having them!) Later that night, after hours of laying in bed in pain and watching the clock realizing the contractions were getting stronger and closer and closer together, we woke up the boys, loaded the car, helped me get into the car (not an easy task), drove to Front Royal to the hospital (again), buzzed up to L&D who told me to walk on over...Yea, that isn't happening. Contractions 3-4 minutes apart people. I'm not walking anywhere!

Got some help with a wheelchair and made to the L&D floor. "OMG", says the nurse who checks me," you are 6-7 cm dilated! We needed to have you in the OR, like, an hour ago!"

Pumpkin Patch