Vampire Parker

Who knew that I'd give birth to the "littlest vampire"? Parker now has six teeth - the four on the bottom aren't a concern, but who gets their "canines" so early? I was told his front two teeth were next - not so much. Parker obviously has his own way of doing things! I just love his funny smile. I wonder if my recent reading of the Twilight series has anything to do with this development? Volturi, stay away!

Up close...wow!

Weekend Adventures

What a fun holiday weekend! John returned from his two day retreat Saturday afternoon, but quickly made up for being gone by amusing me the rest of the weekend. We went to Costco for the first time, visited one of daddy's favorite stores called "Old Navy" (no ships boys, sorry), had sushi (the boys were excellent up to the point when Parker had a blow out - stinky) and spent a lot of time playing! Mommy even went out and had her hair done - the stylist was a little disturbed at mommy's odd hair color, but quickly changed it back to her "natural" blond! It was nice having daddy around to play and occupy the bubbies while I got some items on my check list crossed off! Here are some pictures of the weekend excitement!

Costco was hilarious! Parker is not good with change - his first reaction was to cry. Tyler accepted the situation right away and got bug-eyed looking at the action around him. They ended up being wonderful throughout the trip but at the end were falling asleep - poor Parker was leaning on Tyler because he couldn't keep his head up anymore and Tyler was so irritated by this because he too wanted to lay his head down from being tired. Poor bubbies!

So Tyler is pretty mobile these days. From crawling you ask? No, not exactly! But he somehow got from Parker to our tiled floor in no time! I looked over to see what the boys were doing and couldn't believe how far Tyler had traveled in such a short amount of time. Little stinker...do I really want him to begin walking? Rut roh...

Airplane Bubbies

John can't wait for the bubbies to be big enough for "rough play". In his mind, that's what he's here for, right? "They're boys...they want to tackle and growl and wrestle!" [Thompson, John, 2009]. Well, I suspect this is just the first step to his dreamed "rough play". See airplane fun below.

John: "Okay boys, when doing 'airplane' you must remember the rule...no drool!" Parker is taking the rules seriously!

Parker: "Is daddy for real?"

Tyler: "Should I laugh or cry...not sure yet!"

Parker and Tyler are getting daddy! P & T: "Take THAT daddy...we'll show you!"

I can't wait for future "tackle daddy" pictures!

Parker Stands!

So of course Parker couldn't let Tyler get the glory of standing and started pulling himself up as well! Here's his pictorial!

Parker: "Come on...this is easy!"

"Ugh, just a little push with the feet..."

"...and I'm up! No problem!"

"Hold the applause...really not standing O necessary!"

Tyler: "Wow, brother really did it! I'm impressed, can't you tell?"

Brotherly Love

We know the boys love each other, even when they don't show it! Here we decided to take some naked pics of the boys...well, with diapers on! Ha ha...I know what happens when diapers are off and we're not going there unless we're outside and we can hose them off after!

So what a cute pic...brothers together, loving each other...

...for about a second! Then the claws come out: "He's too close to me!"

Parker with his big eyes!

Tyler looking so serene!

Keeping Tired Bubbies Up!

So the bubbies decided to DC their third nap during the day. What does this mean? Let me explain their schedule: a 30-45 minute nap ensues @ mid morning, 1.5 to 2 hour nap around noon, and then another quick 30-45 minute late afternoon (around 4ish). That puts them at a good tired state around 8ish, hopefully in bed by 9pmish! Well, the boys are just sooo busy in the afternoon, they just can't be bothered to settle down for a nap...BUT come 5:30/6:00pm, who's crying with droopy eyes? Yep - the BUBBIES! Now when they don't get a nap, John and I have fun keeping the boys up and amused until it's time to let them relax and snooze! See John's solution below!
Here's daddy with the boys on a field trip to the backyard. His efforts to keep them awake brought them to a new, fun location! They looked curiously around the backyard, picked at some grass, stared at John ("where'd you take us daddy?") and bottom line...stayed awake! We obviously don't get out enough with the boys, do we?

Brothers playing!

Tyler and Parker: "Interrupting us AGAIN - sheesh...do you want something?"

Cute happy faces...

...glaring and scowling faces!

Tyler and Parker: "One more picture mom and we're gonna let you have it!"

Just For Funzies!

I'm not sure why, but Parker has become obsessed with getting brother's tube! Now we not only have to watch Tyler trying to chew on his tube, but have to watch Parker as well! Sheesh...the fun! What a funny pic below showing Tyler totally oblivious while Parker chomps down.

Parker: "Yummo! Brothers tube is tasty!"

Tyler looking cute and ready for a trip outside while standing with my one-handed support!

Parker looking cute and standing with my one-handed support too!

Tyler Stands Alone

He hit his head once on the bar - ouchee! He's actually getting very good at standing up and sitting down on the bars from the jumper. Our furniture is too big for climbing so his efforts are only successful on this one piece of equipment - but we're hopeful!

Picture: Tyler stands on his own!

Life with the boys is wonderful, as always! Their health status is good, but of course we are daily faced with the challenges of having micro-preemies. We feel so blessed that the boys are doing as well as they are, but as I've shared with my micro-preemie mom friends who face similar "challenges", the road to full recovery is sometimes sooo far out of sight!

We had an appointment with GI yesterday to evaluate their current feeding status. Unfortunately BOTH boys lost weight! Eek! The last two weeks we've been working on getting Parker to eat while awake (he's resorted to strictly sleep feeding) and getting Tyler to take the full amount of his day time bottles without gavaging the difference. Well, both daily volume amounts decreased so we thought they'd most likely lose weight, but the GI didn't want us to change anything for two weeks to give the boys an opportunity to get REALLY hungry, in hopes it'd encourage eating. After yesterday's appointment we're fitting in one more feed with Parker at night (which may or may not be a sleep feed - one out of five sleep feeds is certainly better) and are continuing "status quo" efforts with Tyler unless we don't see improvement (in that case we'll call GI in a week and let them know). We NEVER thought we'd be dealing with EATING issues, of ALL things! My family just can't grasp this concept...a family member not wanting food? Are you kidding? Yes, I swear I did birth them...believe me, that's one I'll NEVER forget!

Today was a HUGE day for the boys. They had a physical therapy evaluation and also had their regular developmental therapy sessions. The physical therapist told me that it looks like both boys could benefit from services because they both lack the stomach muscle strength to allow them to sit up by themselves or crawl. She is recommending services for both boys, so we'll see what comes from the evaluation report. And developmental therapy is always fun for the boys - they see it as a time to play with their friend Danielle! In fact, they really respond to Danielle when they see her now...which I like! She looks so different from me (long curly black hair, dark eyes) - I think it's good that the boys are getting used to someone who doesn't resemble momma.

Stats: Tyler weighs 18 pounds and measures 27.5 inches; Parker weighs 15 pounds, 13 ounces and measures 26.5 inches. Tyler is standing up on his own, has two bottom teeth, babbles and screams when he's happy or tired, is almost out of his 9 month clothes, loves to kick his feet wildly and jump around in his jumper and is fascinated by the new animal sounds book! Parker continues eating his feet (will that ever go away?), has three bottom and one random top tooth, says "da, da, da, da..." over and over again, watches mommy constantly and doesn't let her leave the room without notice, and is drawn to music and singing. The boys often play next to each other, which is so fun to watch. Yesterday the boys stole the same item (a spatula believe it or not) out of each others hands about 20 times before one of them got tired of the "game". They don't realize that stealing items from each other is wrong, so right now they just look at each other and wait to steal it back. It's so funny! Tyler LOVES his brother and often smiles, laughs and tries to hug Parker. Parker, on the other hand, will ignore brother and even turned his back on him the other day. I felt bad for Tyler but have to realize that their relationship is going to be between the two of them. They will love each other and show it in their own way. Lesson learned mommy! [ssshhhh...I did force Parker to hug his brother the other day though - ha ha!]

Here are some new pics below...I know that's what every loves!

Tyler Pulls Up!

Tyler is working on standing up by himself! Now ask him to crawl? NO WAY! He doesn't want anything to do with being on his tummy and that includes rolling onto it and/or crawling. I think his reflux has just been too bad for him to be comfortable on his stomach so he avoids it at all costs. Here's a documented account of Tyler's quest to standing up!Tyler: "I think I can do it, but one last look at mommy will give me the strength I need to start!"

"Here I go...psych up a bit..."

"....ugh..."

"...and I'm up!"

[sorry, looks like I missed some in between shots - ha ha! I swear he got up there on his own!]

Bubbie Bears

What was Parker doing while brother was working on pulling himself up...BUBBING! What else? And do you see that he is laying next to my legs, which holds the lap he was once on!

Bubbie Bear Tyler

Bubbie Bear Parker - and yes, we are still using the "Grandma's Little Latke" bibs...didn't I say you'd probably see them this summer? Ha ha!

Baths & Curls

Tyler in his first BIG BOY BATH! We purchased this tub seat and tried it out! The only problem is that mommy and daddy have to squat next to the tub and break their backs to give bubbies their baths! The GOOD thing is that bubbies can play in the water...something they both love to do!

Parker in his Elvis voice: "Thank you very much!"

So John decided to give Parker a huge curly cue on the top of his head after bath time because his hair is so long! Parker was only slightly amused...see photo below for full effect!

I think this picture was taken in the 70's? Nice yellow-y tint!