Memorial Day Weekend in New Jersey

We headed east for a long Memorial Day weekend to spend time with Mom Mom,Pop Pop, Mom Mom Jackie and celebrate Kyle's 6th birthday.

Unfortunately, the trip started out a little rough with Southwest Airlines.  We had early boarding and scoped out the perfect row for we 4.  However, little did we know, but every seat on the flight was sold out.  And, you can't have 5 humans in a row of 3 seats because of the limit on oxygen masks.  Ugh!  So after everyone was settled in their seats, Jeremy and I were forced to move to a different row.  A little difficult in that we only had one diaper bag which meant passing things back and forth between me and Mark across the plane.  Fortunately, the passengers around us were understanding.  Nathan slept most of the time so Mark had is pretty easy; Jeremy... not so much!

We landed in Philly and were picked up in 2 cars by Mom Mom and Pop Pop.  2 car seats already installed!  We were able to pop the kids in the car and hit the road.

We had a really nice time hanging in Princeton, going to a nearby park with the boys and visiting with family.  As a special treat, we had Kyle's birthday party in Princeton and the boys were finally able to meet Mom Mom Jackie and Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Mitch.  It's always great for them to be able to hang out with their cousins, Kyle, Hillary and Uncle Matt and Aunt Melissa.

As a very special treat, Mark and I even got a night away!  Mom Mom and Pop Pop graciously volunteered to babysit over night so Mark and I could have an overnight in NYC.  What a blast!

Our good friend Roberta lives in the city and helped to hook us up with a great hotel in Midtown.  We ended up having our best meal of the trip in our hotel restaurant (Ma Peche).  And later hit the town for some drinks and dinner.  The next morning we had a great NY breakfast at a diner and then rented bikes in Central Park.  I would say we milked NYC for our 24 hours!

The trip back was a little rough.  Unfortunately, our flight was delayed 2 hours and then another hour on the runway.  The boys were definitely fussy by the time we took off which made the trip VERY long!

All in all a wonderful weekend back east.  Here are some pictures to enjoy:

15 month appointment

The boys had their 15 month appointment.  Man... were they unhappy about that!  They've definitely learned to associate the doctor's office with bad stuff.  The second I rolled the stroller into the exam room, both boys started screaming!  The good news was there weren't shots at this appointment.  I can only imagine how much worse it would have been with shots... ick!

Here are the stats at 15 months:

Jeremy
Height:  29 3/4" (20%)
Weight:  22 lbs, 4 oz (25%)
Nathan
Height:  27 3/4"
Weight:  17lb, 4 oz

1st Burley Bike Ride

Yesterday was Mom's Day and considering the gorgeous weather, we decided it was time to try out the boys in the Burley.  I think the process of getting them in and situated was longer than the actual ride, but you have to start somewhere.

Mark towed the Burley and I followed along on my bike.  The boys started out doing ok, but somewhere along the way, Jeremy started getting pretty crabby.  Is it possible that we're raising a son that doesn't like biking?  Uh oh!

Here's couple photos to document the event.

Oh... and we have couple words by each boy:

Jeremy - "ba-ba" (which means bottle, bubbles, bye bye and ball... very economical with his word choice!)

Nathan - "uh-oh!" and we think we caught a "bah-bye" yesterday

Both kids have started waving when you say hi or bye... so cute!

1st Haicuts!

Both boys got haircuts today.  Let's just say that one enjoyed it more than the other.  See if you can figure it out from the photos :-)

2 in the Tub

Couldn't resist posting this photo of the boys in the tub.  This is the first time we bathed them at the same time.  With help from these bath rings from Grandma & Grandpa, we were able to manage 2 at a time!  And, the boys had a blast splashing each other and giggling at each other.  So fun to watch!

One year appointment

The boys had their one-year appointment on 3/4.  They both passed, but each had some 'homework' to accomplish.

Jeremy

Height:  28 5/8" (25%)

Weight:  20 lb, 9 oz (25%)

Head: 18" (35%)

Nathan

Height:  26 1/2" (<3%)

Weight:  15 lb, 14oz (<3%)

Head:  17 7/8 (25%)

At this point the doctor was expecting at least Jeremy to be eating table foods and transitioning over to whole milk.  Unfortunately, Jeremy is showing no interest in finger foods.  We've tried lots of different things, but he just plays with them or feeds them to Clementine.  We need to get him to eat more regular food before we can transition him from bottles to milk.  We're making an appointment with a feeding specialist to see if they can lend some advice.

Jeremy is big enough now to transition to the next size car seat.  He was getting awfully heavy in that infant car seat so we are pretty happy about this transition!

As for Nathan, of course he's still small, but the doctor wanted to better explore why this might be the case.  We were sent off to get x-rays of his hand so we can over-lay it with other kids in his age range to assess his growth rate.  The results show that Nathan's bone development and structure is that of a 9 month old so he is a few months behind.  When you line up his height and weight to a nine-month chart, he's actually on the chart!  10%, but it's on the chart at least.  The doctor was more relieved to get this information and chalks it up as a 'constitutional growth delay'.  We're keeping an eye on it, but bottom line... we are keeping him on formula for a little longer until we see more weight gain.

Could it be? 1 year already!?!

Our Babies are 1 Today!  Happy Birthday Jeremy Daniel and Nathan Louis

I can hardly believe it's been a year.  What a time of reflection, amazement and pure happiness!  This past year will certainly go down in history as a year of tiny amounts of sleep, tons of stress, a few tears (okay, more than a few), and love, love, and more LOVE.  Who knew that there was room in our hearts to fit this much emotion for our two amazing sons.

Mark and I have looked back with amazement these past few weeks acknowledging where we were a mere year ago and what parent pros we are now.  Many people advised us that we would survive and it's true... we have!  

We couldn't have made it without the tremendous amount of support we received from family and friends.  They say it takes a village to raise a family and we are certainly fortunate to have a fabulous village to rely upon.  We are so lucky that our parents have been able to visit so often from so many miles away.  I guess it pays to have children after your parents have retired :-)

We celebrated the commemorative year in style!  We are spending the week in Steamboat with lots of family... Greene Grandparents are here from LA, Chessler Grandparents are here from New Jersey and we have the Chessler Aunt, Uncle & Cousins here from New Jersey and even a short visit from the Chessler Aunt, Uncle & Cousins in Westminster.  

The party was Sunday night with delicious food, family, cupcakes and presents.  As you can see, fun was had by all: