16 Jan 10
Got 16" snow today but downside for the boys is that I have to work, so they won't be able to go sledging since wifey has to take care of Tim. Its great to have the tree gone as we both parked side by side at the top, so I didn't have to shovel too much behind the cars. Its still tight, but alot more usable than before
Sat the boys had 2 birthday parties. I stayed with Tim at home for the first (Andrews) then we all went to Riley 1st. The boys brought back bubbles and noisy streamers, so the entire way to Church (Rileys party) Tony was asking if I would fix his. They loved all the Spiderman stuff that Andrew had. Rileys party was fun. They had noisemakers but I told the boys not to use them there but they could in the car on the way home (we got there late and the ban had come in while ago - reason we give them out in the goodie bags so its only the parents that have to hear them). They didn't use them once which was awesome. They got a couple of talks for running, but its because they have little legs and its hard to keep up with the big boys. The way home was noisy, but since they were so good at the party it was worth it. Nate loves wipeout and he asked for it for movie night, so we watched it since Tony woke up at 6:30 and kept asking if he could go downstairs every 10 mins when I told him to go back to sleep. I got up at 7:30 like normal on Sat so he lost movie night choice privilege. Nate forgot the name, so he tried to explain the show - big bouncing balls hitting people in the water. I think it was Kim who understood him, while I was wondering what he'd been watching! (I put it on about a week ago). Sunday wifey took all 3 to a bowling party while I chilled at home with football and computer games. They all had a blast so we're going to go bowling very soon. It was candlepin as they have small hands. Wifey said that they were careful not to get other peoples balls and Nate got a boo-boo when he grabbed a ball too early as another one came.
They got back nice and early so we went sledding. It was funny watching them try to walk in 12" of snow and I think I got some of it on video. I had to walk up to pack the snow so that they could have a decent track and eventually it happened. I was pulling them down in tandem for most of the time then they wanted to pull me. There is some fun video with them pulling me and one of them. Tony kept falling over as he tried to run too quick. It was getting cold so we went back inside for hot chocolate, then wifey got back (she'd taken Tim shopping so we could go in the snow). It has been a pain that they've had colds (Nate was worse) most of the week, but hopefully next weekend they'll be good. Tim started to get the sniffles.... joy!
Tim stopped rolling over for a while, but now rolls over from back to belly all the time when placed in his crib (I think he's trying to escape). He is getting so mobile at 4.5 months old! When wifey was getting dressed this morning, Tim rolled from back to belly in his crib. After getting dressed she then saw him practically leaning on his elbows with his head high up as if to say, "Hi Mommy!" We have to lower the crib mattress.
He's started to laugh which is awesome. Hardly ever does it but I'm the one that he does it for.. cool eh. Most of the time he squeels with a changing pitch and grins, so its a nice change when he actually laughed. He's such a happy baby, when I see him he will give huge grins then moves his head like he's playing peek-a-boo. If I'm holding him and wifey goes out of the room, Tim will start to look to the door she left waiting for her to return. He'll still look around like normal, but every-so-often his gaze will go back to the door.

31 Dec 10
I have the week off, so I get to play with the boys all week (and their toys). Wifey bought their Christmas toys so I complained like usual as I had certain toys that I wanted to play with. The boys were so excited all week before Christmas since it was getting close. They have a box calendar which they take in turns to open (wifey filled it with chocolate) and they kept asking us if they could open another box. Nice thing is that they always shared the chocolate between them.
Grammy brought a tic-tac-toe (noughts and crosses) for the boys and showed them how to play it. Nate really likes it, while Tony got kinda bored after a while. They both focus more on thier next move instead of blocking and currently have a blind spot for the diagonal win.
Christmas Eve we went to Church for a service (naturally we came slightly late). It was a carol service with some reading, so what we would call a traditional one, which was great. Tim slept for most of it, but the boys didn't. Afterwards they played downstairs with each other since they were the youngest there. It was a 10PM night, so maybe they won't be up at 6AM like we feared. We wrapped everything when we got home and then went to bed.
They got up at 7:45 this morning and I told them I needed coffee and the camera before they opened presents. They had hold of 1 to open and showed great restraint while I got coffee and tried to get Skype to work, but it wouldn't (I was trying to get Grandads old computer name, not new one). Tony was the 1st to open and then I got the camera going. They took it in turns to open them and after a quick look at what it was, straight onto the next one. Hectic, but fun to watch (and video). I got Skype to work afterwards, so Gran/Grandad/Dave/Gemma could see the boys and talk to them. Naturally they were more interested in their presents compared to family, but Tony did stop playing to put Uncle in time-out. They didn't get a big one from us, but some musical stuff, connect 4 (they just stacked all the pieces to make patterns while they both won), a shoot the TV game (good concept, but quick tricky for their age - I got the high score), their horses which we forgot to give them for their birthday, and chocolate. We allowed them to eat whatever for Christmas morning until the chicken was cooked, so they took advantage of the goodies that they got.
Wifeys sister, brother and their mum came over before they went to their aunts. The boys loved it when they came over (and the toys). Uncle Brian was bouncing the boys all over the place. I actually wondered who would tire out first but they had to leave before that happened. Grammy and GG came over and more toys appeared (plus alot of paper). We all ate Chicken and then playtime ensued. Grammy got them a book reader type which has some games and stuff on it. They love them and are learning first letters of words, sounds, etc on the games.
We then went to Arties and Cheryls to see the rest of the family and have some fun. Timmy was passed around and he did really well by not complaining of crying at all. The boys started off quiet, but then started to get louder with their cousins (naturally). It was a late night for them, but they'll probably still get up early to play with their toys.
It snowed over Sunday night for about 4 inches, so we went to play. Wifey stayed with Tim, so it was me playing with the boys and the camera, which means not very good photos/vid. They wanted to make a snowman, but it was dry snow so it wouldn't stick together, so we went sledging instead. I made them walk up our hill and I pulled them down to get decent speed, then spun it around at the bottom (usually they fell off and the sled slipped). Tony wanted to stop out, but it was getting colder, so we came in and drank hot chocolate using the snowman cups and the spinny thing.
I got a few lie-ins during the week which was great, esp since all but wifey started to get colds. This meant that we usually stayed in or visited people, so no more sledging during the week. Tony and Tim went to the doctors on Wednesday, so I went to Target with Nate to get nappies and stuff (1/2 price gingerbread house for next year) and we had a 45mins get home trip. Walking to the car, I had a small amount to shovel, so while I was doing that Nate decided to throw snowballs at me. I kinda retaliated dumping snow on him with the shovel. Everyone was fine (Tony had swollen lymph nodes and Tim had a nasty cough) so that was great. On Friday we all were feeling better and Izzy and her mum visited. The boys played nicely and shared with Izzy, then we all went out into the snow. Since it was just about melted, I shovelled snow from the piles in the driveway (previously been shovelled) onto the grass for a covering. While I was doing this, everyone was throwing snowballs and having fun. Naturally I dumped shovelfuls on everyone and knocked the boys to the ground with it. After a few runs, I made a jump and that was more fun than going down the slope. Since Izzy is just about 3, I was careful with her over the jump, but Kate told me not to be. Fun times.
Alot of hot chocolate was made during the week, but not alot was drunk by the boys. They really like to use the spinny thing and having it in their snowman mugs compared to drinking it. I liked it. We got some gingerbread flavoured marshmallows that are shaped like gingerbread men. They smell just wrong, but taste good. Wifey is just about out of pumpkin syrup then found pumpkin coffee at Wal-Mart so the house still smells of it each morning
For New Year, we put the boys to bed at normal time (after saying Happy New Year to Gran and Grandad at 7PM) and then we ate loads of food while trying to stay awake during the movies. We watched all of Lord of the Rings over this week, which is cool and figured out that Timey is a baby Nazgul. When he is very annoyed (like when he can't see his mum) he crys the piercing scream, just like they do. I have to remember to always put him on one side of my head to ensure I can keep 1 good ear.

12 Dec 10
We put up the Christmas Tree and the boys spent the next 2 hours re-arranging all the orniments. Actually over the next 2 weeks it was their favourite passtime.

I have more to finish off between these 2 date, everything got busy and I got lazy.

25 Oct 10
Tim started to get a nasty rash on his bum just like the boys used to - cue loads and loads of bum cream so he doesn't get like the boys did. Since Tim is soooo much 'bigger' than the boys he has huge folds which were also red, so cream that up. After a couple of days he bled from between his folds on his legs so we changed from bum cream to neosporin to hopefully help him. It then started to appear on his neck and the doctor says that he's growing too fast compared to his skin, therefore its getting thinner around folds, so keep them clean and neosporin them.
Naturally Tim decided to inherit Tony's skin therefore its bathing twice a week to help control it. He likes his baths and I mainly do them which is really cool (I usually do the boys as well). Most of the time he's quiet but I get some gurgles, then screams when I'm washing his head. The boys would initially watch, then start to play in the bathroom, then get kicked down stairs.
Timmy likes his blue bouncer and actually allows us to put him in there for a while. He just watches everything and tells us what to do, then complains when we don't understand him. The boys try to take care of him by putting on the music to it. Out of the 5 songs, they like one of them, so that gets endlessly repeated. Timmy likes the songs and he kicks his legs to it. Tony will dance around with him while Nate puts his head near his feet and says that he's being kicked by him. Apart from this (when he wants to) he demands to be held. Not held like a traditional baby, but over your shoulder so he can see what it going on. Maybe he wonders what the boys will do if he takes his eyes off them - I know I do sometimes, but thats usually because I get jumped on when my back it turned and such.
When he falls asleep on my shoulder he will wake up then I move him unless I pat his back. I can then try to put him down but its a wake up call when I stop patting him.. joy. Its then a reset onto my shoulder with patting and try again. Usually I'm successful 2 out of 5 times.

16 Oct 10
Kim got tickets for the boys (with wifey to help) to go to the circus. They loved seeing the animals and clowns and stuff. I don't know if they thought they'd see Dumbo with the elephants, but they loved all the clowns and told me what they were all doing. Naturally I was told about what snacks they ate as its one of the biggest parts of any outing. I had Tim who enjoyed crying quite alot and unlike the boys wouldn't take any snacks that I tried to give him. They came back with some lightening up sticks which were constantly flashing infront of my face until they went to bed (thats ok as they were excited... I'll take out the batteries before they wake up... hee hee). Next day (batteries were still in them) they asked for the sticks straight away as I had 'put them away'.. no luck. Couple days later Nate was upset and banged his stick on the floor and being plastic, it broke. I glued it back together and then we put them away so they could use them as flashlights on Halloween.
Saturday came and seeing Gran and Grandad, they wanted to show them their sticks. Big show and tell happened and so they then started to play and run around with them. Next thing I knew, Nate was bringing me his stick again to fix. It was fixed and firmly put away. We've been having some Skype problems, but if I turn off my firewall the connection gets better which is weird. I got an annoying piece of malware (I would call it a virus but F-Secure doesn't), so it was a reinstall between TV recordings. After this Skype worked great with the firewall on, which is weird.

25 Sep 10
Tim first smile He began smiling around 3 weeks old. Gran noticed it and said, "Oh, what a lovely smile for your mum!" He smiles all the time now. He is a very cheerful baby, especially when he is with his mommy. I mainly get similes when I've behind mum so he knows who he's holding.
Wifey takes care of Timmy throughout the night and I get up around 6ish with him and we go downstairs to eat or sleep until my alarm. Most of the times he's not hungry or tied, just wants to look around until after I pop him back to wifey so I can get ready. This is a good way as it saves wifey pumping all the time and she can just relax with Timmy on the boob. I would give him a bottle at night as well to give wifey some time away, but since she has to pump as well, we just thought we'd get 2 birds with 1 stone. He's a breast fed baby - as the boys have decided to call him.

18 Sep 10
Tim has been rolling over alot. He started with Gran and Grandad were here, which is cool for them to see. He doesn't like his belly. He either cries or rolls when you put him on it, so I guess he knows what he wants.
1st time at Church for Timmy. Everyone fawned over him as he is very cute, even if I do say so. The boys are whining more than normal over absolutely everything. Last night we went to Auntie Mykkas 30th birthday party and everyone had fun. Tony went out and danced with the other toddlers while Nate hung to daddy for some unknown reason. Tony was running and jumping around getting very tired, but Nate then spied food so he was happy sitting on me eating potato chips. People tried to get him to dance, but he didn't want to. He got some Tostitos and then after a while he danced with Tony (slight bribery by daddy since he had finished his potato chips) and didn't want to leave. I told them that we would have some music and dancing on Sunday, so they were happy (and tired). Being that they were the youngest boys that only knew Chase (and Kayleigh) everyone played tag, but didn't tell or explain the rules to the boys. Nate got bored and went back to me or wifey while Tony just followed everyone around since they were all having fun. I bet he wondered why they all run to another spot every-so-often, but he follows them. One time he waved at me at the same time as everyone moved and so he was looking for where they all went to for a minute. He then got bored and started to dance by himself, then came for a drink since he was 'drinky'
Its been ALOT louder since Timmy has come home. The main reason isn't Timmy, its the boys. They are crying alot more than they used to and very loud. Its like they thought that they would have to compete with Timmy, but since Timmy doesn't cry much they have won that battle, so whey won't they stop.. why...stop... please....pleeeeeeeeeeease
I finally got the tree at the front of the house cut down. It kept shedding branches and eventually one of them would hit something important, so it was time. It was great that they came early in the morning so the boys watched everything (and we got alot on video) from the guest bedroom. They loved it when the big branches dropped and smashed on the tarmac. The guys did a great job and cleaned everything up. They ground down the stump so we can drive over it which will help for parking when the snow comes. Its amazing how much extra light there is without that tree.
Nate and Tony want to hold and play with Tim the same as everyone else. I had him lying on my chest, so it was then the boys turn to do that. Most of the time they only want him for a couple of minutes then give him back, but its funny when they say my turn. Alot of mornings when they get up they want to sit on the couch and hold him. After they have both held him, he sits between them and they watch some TV, which makes the boys laugh as Timmy is watching TV with them.

7 Sep 10
I stayed with wifey the first night, so Kim watched the boys (can't say that we don't have an overnight away from the boys!!). Tim was great, no problem and I had great sleep. Its so nice that there is a Dunkins at the hospital.. such a life-saver. Kim brought the boys and Lee and they watched videos and played with Leapsters and little toys that we brought. They were so good and when they got bored, we went for walks. St. Vincents is an awesome hospital and their favourite parts are the elevators. They have glass fronts and they love to go to the top, press the buttons, go to the bottom, and repeat and repeat and repeat and repeat.
I went to the atrium with wifey and the boys to give them some walking around. We sat and they ran around abit. Wifey told me to get them to stop, so I told them to come here. Naturally at that time Tony ran straight into the sign fell straight back onto the floor. It looked soo funny, but we ran to make sure that he was OK since he hit it quite hard. I picked him up and he started his silent cry. Wifey was very sore from her operation, so she just scowled at me I got talked to (she couldn't hold him). He got a very nice bump on his head and the nurses said that he looked OK and gave us some icepacks to put on his head. Wifey wasn't happy with me since I was the one that let them run around, but she calmed down after a few hours (her family helped).
In the afternoon, to give everyone some peace I took the boys to Eco with Heidi. We had great fun as they'd put new stuff in it (cool math stuff). On the out we saw the big inflatable dinosaur so we went to say hi to it. Returning to the car Tony fell over and scratched his hand.. nice!! he did his silent cry again, then calmed down. When we got back to the hospital wifey was so happy, esp after the morning fun. I took the boys home around 9ish to give wife some quiet and time with Timmy. It was also good to keep the boys on some schedule. On the way out Nate was running and fell over. He got a small boo-boo but was good after a hug and stickers from the nurse station.
Next day we got back to the hospital (the boys are now saying hospital corrctly and we play who can spot the hospital first game) and we've been using the hand sanitizer on them before they touch Tim. Since Nate got a small boo-boo on his hand when he fell last night I was being careful to put the sanitizer on his hand away from his boo-boo. While doing this it squirted into his hand, then out of it and into his face. Being me I wiped it off his eyes with my hand which naturally had sanitizer on it, so I think I actually pushed more into his eyes. We washed everything out of it and then talked to the nurse. She said if it his eyes hurt, then take him to the ER part. Nate said that they did, so they cleared him through the ER and I took him and Tony. We went straight in and then waited for the doctor. He talked to Nate and said that he was good, but we can put some saline solution into his eye if it still hurt. I agreed to this and put some him in it with Nate having a nice screamfest. After this he said that his eye didn't hurt anymore. We got back to wifey and she was now happy. I was very careful with the boys when we went wondering around the hospital and tried to stop them running as they would probably fall and hurt themselves.
After all these incidents they actually allowed us to take Timmy home. I wanted to make sure that wifey felt wanted, so I left the place a mess. He eats great and often. 11PM, then at 1AM, then 4AM, then 6AM, then 9AM. The 6AM was probably not really needed, but wifey wanted to make sure that he didn't cry much. He likes the bottle which gives wifey a break for 4AM feed.
First day at school for the boys. I had the week off to Tim coming home, so it was nice to take them with wifey. They went and were great. They have their little cubbies for their backpacks and sweaters. Their 2 teacher are really nice and the boys liked playing with everything. It was very different not having the boys around, but it gave us time to play with Tim. We picked up the boys and they loved pre-school and couldn't wait until they went again. They start off playing all together with toys, then break up into groups to do activities where the boys are split up. Then they have story time and then its home. Somewhere in the middle they are encouraged to eat lunch, but not forced, so alot of time the boys have been bringing it back.
Gran and Grandad came which was great, so we have some extra help. When I went back to work dad would drive wifey and the boys to pre-school since she wasn't able to drive while mum would watch Tim. Tim didn't have any lack of attention for some reason.

2 Sep 10 - Timothy David was born at 8:42AM 8lbs 1oz 21" long
So I had made to nearly 41.5 weeks pregnant with my third son Timothy. I was planning on a lovely, natural VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and my overprotective husband agreed. Even though the births of my twins was pretty frightening to say the least, I really wanted another baby and had had 3 miscarriages trying to do so. My boys brought and continue to bring me so much light and love and really show me so much about God's nature. Being a mother is the hardest job in the world, but the most self-revealing, I believe.
On the Tuesday (Nate and Tony's birthday!), I went in for my appointment. They found that Timmy had not gained much weight in the 4 weeks since the last prior ultrasound. Now, as a childbirth educator and a doula, I knew that these machines could be waaaay off. I did not put too much stock or faith in this. However, Tony was said to be 4.5 pounds at 35 weeks and he was about a pound under. The tech found that my placenta was a grade 3 and mature, which was not surprising considering that I had passed my estimated delivery date.
When I later found that my blood pressure, which had been behaving perfectly all along this pregnancy, had skyrocketed, I began to get a bit nervous. The office ran some labs and found protein in my urine on Wednesay. I now had pre-eclampsia, which can quickly escalate to HELLP syndrome. I did business as usual and went to the acupuncturist in hopes of going into labor. I prayed. I was slowly getting more anxious. I had pre-e with my twins, and knew the information on it. I was a bit leery of being induced, being a VBAC, and we made the decision to have Timmy be born the next day.
I ultimately had a repeat section. The baby's head had not yet begun to descend into the pelvis, and with the pre-e, this was not the best situation to be in for a VBAC. I hoped a foley induction could be done. However, I was not dilated enough to be induced successfully (Bishop's Scale), and it became what it is. The OR was totally different as there was only 5 people in there instead of 8 (alot more room). Dr Hallenbeck lowered the sheet as Timmy was born and help him up so we could see him right away (full cord as well). We couldn't get over the full head of hair Timmy was born with! After showing him to us they got all his vitals and then they were waiting for identification stuff before I could hold him which I don't remember when we had the boys. That seemed like it took for ages but eventually I held him first (going to be another Tony.. whoo hooo). Through the operation wifey said she was going to sleep, just like last time, but this time I let her as I knew what was going to happen. Before we went in wifey said that she had a sip of diet coke, so they made her drink this awful stuff so she didn't vomit... something to add to her teaching. Wifey got to hold him as he she was wheeled to her bed and then he stayed with us all the time, which was totally different from the boys. They were doing all the tests so he was my baby for a while... hee hee. We got to hold him right away, and I immediately was able to nurse my youngest son. What an amazing and gratifying thing it felt to be able to do that! When the boys were born, they went directly into the NICU and I did not get touch them or 'meet' them until early morning the next day. I was able to have Timmy in my room! At 8lbs, 1 ounce, he was and still is huge to me. Despite not having a VBAC, my husband and I feel that this is a victory for our family. A sense of triumph and gratitude to God
Wifey did great and started to walk as soon as she could. Kim was watching the boys but I forgot to give her the van car key, so I had to go home to pick them up. They both held Tim, they looked so cute and listened very well to how we told them to hold them. Both kept giving kisses to him while holding him. It was nice as they were the 3rd and 4th people to hold him, then it was free game (Kim naturally was next). When other people held him (apart from me or wifey), the boys would try to take him from them as they wanted to hold him.
We entertained the boys with the new leapster and videos (fav is now 101 Dalmations - think it was played 101 times!!!). Kim watched them overnight so I could spend it with wifey (Tim was kinda loud). He was eating loads from wifey and I had a hard time getting him off her for a cuddle (striaght on the boob from when we were in the recover room). Tim is so cute and loves to eat and spend time with mummy. Since we had him from the get go, so that helped wifey in spirits and in health, which is a HUGE difference from the boys where is was 8 hours before she could even see them, and the next day before she could hold them (we both held Tony after he popped out, and I didn't hold Nate until after wifey).

31 Aug 10
Boys birthday. We got them leapster since the one of the other ones broke. They only 3 month warranty with them for some silly reason. The new ones are white and alot more powerful than the old ones. Wifey stopped me from opening it to install the freebie games on it.. OK I really wanted to play with it. Its really cool but they took out the paint stuff for some reason which was really cool and a great time waster for the boys. We also got them a T-ball set and horse poles that they can ride. Actually they used the horse poles when we were in Sturbridge a while back where wifey got them and I returned one since it broke. To stop them using them I put them with the boiler and we have forgotten about them (as did the boys) so i think they will return as Christmas pressents.
We made them cupcakes so they ate them for breakfast and we had Chinese for dinner. Kim came and got them loads of inflatable stuff (and she tried to blow them up) and chilled with wifey for the day. She did a great attempt with the inflatables, but one is a bouncy castle type thing so alot of air is needed. She brought a foot pump later so I could finish them off.
The boys had alot of fun on their birthday playing with all their toys while I was at work (Tuesday). We watched a movie at night after eating loads of Chinese (they love the beef terykai) and naturally it was robots again which is what we watched on Saturday. Nate didn't like the movie while watching it and clearly pointed it out to us throughout the whole film. Once it had finished he decided that he like it and on their birthday it was the movie that they wanted to watch.
Wifey had a doctors appointment for today and they found protein in urine + highish blood pressure, so we scheduled C-section for Thursday (over 41 weeks) at 8AM (have to be there for 6AM). Also her placenta was getting old, which isn't the best. Through the past month both of the boys have been telling wifey that Timmy would come on their birthday. It was not suppose to be.

29 Aug 10
Since they can now poop, Tony got the runs. Nice and runny and smelly.. just what was wanted on a Saturday. They missed gymbo (last one) but I made the model toys with them which they liked. Well, they initially liked making them and then got bored after about 40mins of painting them. They told me to finish it off so they can play with it. Wifey helped me finish off the painting and I got them to glue them together so they could play with them. Between them, they now have 2 trains and 3 carriages, 2 submarines, 1 catapult. Next on the list is an airplane each. Wifey liked the painting part that I went to Michaels and got her a FA/18 airfix model that we can do at nights. Looks fun and hopefully I won't be overbearing or a perfectionist while doing it.
Tony still had the runs on Sunday, so I stayed with him and wifey and Nate went to Church (she missed last week with Nate being ill and the week before as she had a cold). Nate missed Tony which is really sweet and told everyone and Sunday school where Tony was. When they got back, wifey went to her sisters play while 39 1/2 weeks preggie. Meg did great and wifey had a good time.
I think wifey is daring Timmy to come out as she keeps taking big trips. She got very bored so she took the boys to Salem. They did the dungeon museum as it started to rain. It was dark and they boys wanted to stay in there playing. This begs the question of why do we use lights in the basement anymore??
Went to Sturbridge last weekend to replace one of the horse poles that wifey bought them for their birthday. One of them would make a noise every-so-often, but the other wouldn't. It turns out that I didn't know how to use them (press the ear) but one of them didn't work after all. We exchanged it and went to Sturbridge. They had fire engines there (old ones) so they looked at all of them while riding their horses. I ate chillie from the chillie contest and Tony had a few bites of the tamer ones but Nate totally refused. They both got some cheese and crackers from a couple stands. One had chocolate in it which gave it a weird but nice taste, so we voted for that one (also the bloke gave the boys the most cheese from everyone). Outside was a proper modern firetruck, so they clambered all over it and had alot of fun. Now we hid the horse poles in the boiler room to make sure they don't get damaged before their birthday.

20 Aug 10
Tony's knee got better over the past few days and he keeps saying that God healed me. Thats really cool and they say it all the time. When they get a boo-boo they will pray over it and then expect it to be healed overnight, being disappointed if it isn't.
Wifey organised their birthday for the 7th at Gymboree so she isn't too preggy for it (and to make sure we aren't in the hospital for it). Auntie Meggie came to visit us for a couple days before hand which the boys loved. While daddy worked, the 3 of them went and had fun like usual.. joy!
Birthday party was hectic as usual, esp beforehand. We went to gymbo in the morning, then a nap and wifey prepared things at Gymbo then back to gymbo. We got there just about on time and most people were already there and having fun. Gretchen was awesome playing all the fun games and focusing on Lightening McQueen type stuff. They were playing jumping off the wedge to get a flag and a collision happened to Nate. The other boys had a sore forehead, but Nate had a nice bruise on his cheek. He got over it after a while, and he got alot of attention over it. Cake and ice-cream, then opening stuff.. loads of new toys as usual. We ran slightly late, but Gretchen didn't mind as she was having fun.
We met wifeys dad and brother for dinner after gymbo at a diner. We (Meg was with us) got there first and they were running late so we ordered. Nate went under the table so swap sides and natually broke a leg off it. We moved tables and the other arrived. They call wifeys dad pops and pinched all of his bacon. This is also the first time that Uncle Brian has seen the boys, so he had fun playing with them. Being that the boys didn't know them, they basically stays with me.
I put the boys to bed then after 1/2 hour it was quiet. I went downstairs and I heard Tony screaming. I went up and saw that Tony had a bloody nose. It wasn't bad, so I cleaned him up and told him not to pick it. Tony had been hiding under the covers and Nate decided to jump onto them, bang boo-boo nose.
Cheryl won some tickets to Southwicks, so the boys, wifey, chase, Kaylie, Josh, Meg, Heidi, and Cheryl all went. They all had alot of fun. Wifey was getting some drinks from the car with Cheryl when Tony (with ice-cream) fell off the table that he was sitting on. He had a nasty scratch on his back, but was more worried about his ice-cream. Looked worse than it felt as it wasn't really bothering him. Cheryl had a whole ER in her car and they put on the biggest plaster that I'd ever seen.
Wifey is getting really big and just about to pop. I told her not to travel too far away (she wants to got to the beach again as she went last week). With this in mind, she went to Boston with the boys (its not too far away). They played around in some water fountains (Nate didn't want to, only Tony) and Tony thought a bloke with short dark hair was me (I was nicely at work). They finally did the ducktours (boys were in free) and both like it. Nate at first was scared of the water saying that we should be back on the land and kept telling everyone that they were going to sink, while the operator told wifey not to have the baby just yet. I think Tony already has his sea legs and kept looking over the edge to annoy Nate.
Just to finish with a poopy update. Nate will do a massive one every other day while Tony will do spaghetti type poops every day (or twice a day). Totally different.

2 Aug 10
We are getting them to know their full names and Tony decided that Nates full name is Nathaniel Kenneth Boobies. Thats funny, esp for a 3 year old, but I had to put a stop to it.
Earlier in the week, wifey took them to their Sturbridge Village visit (got a season pass so its freeeeee). They just got out of the play place and they saw a family with alot of kids up ahead. Tony ran to say hi and fell. Huge cries. Wifey told him its OK and to get up. When he refused and alot of blood was coming out she picked him up. Looking at it, she could see a stone in his leg just about his knee cap flush with his skin... must have hurt. With this he couldn't walk so they went to the first aid room, washed it and put a plaster on it. Tony decided that he wanted me to take him to the hospital instead of mommy, so we left about 4:50 to the ER. We were triaged straight away and there looked like alot of people there waiting. Basically we waited for 3 1/2 hours to be seen due to the number of people. People got put infront of us as they didn't think that his was bad and I don't think they thought he had a stone in it. While waiting Tony was really great, we coloured and talked and saw the helicopter and cars through the window. I asked why the hold up and why people were put infront of me when they didn't seem worse than having a stone lodged in your leg. Only response was you are currently 3rd
When we were finally seen, they didn't have any open rooms, so we were put in the isle and left to wait again. The nurse came asked questions again and looked at it then said the Dr will be round shortly. Wifey came when Kim watched Nate adn she brought some food, then hassled the nurse to get Tony some toys (didn't think of that).
The Dr eventually came and looked at it then said can he walk. I said probably not with a stone in there, but Tony had to prove me wrong and started to run. Naturally he would limp abit when he remembered to. I kept telling the doctor that there was a stone in there but you couldn't see it now as it had stopped bleeding and it was covered. She sent us to an X-Ray and they found the stone. The Dr returned saying that there was stone in there.. like duh.. what parents would have waited for 4-1/2 hours for a little cut on his knee. I vented a little to the doctor saying that I should have bought some tweezers and done it myself instead of using the worlds best service!!.
A nurse came and applied some cold numming stuff to he knee and being that this was cold, Tony kinda screamed for 10 mins. We are still not in a room and after about 3 mins of constant screaming most people knew Tony for the other 7 mins. Eventually the doctor came and then decided to move us to a room which became vacant. In there she removed the stone which was about 1/4" in size (she was surprised). OK I didn't think it was that big and knowing the size and how deep it was, I wouldn't have tried to do it.
We finally left with wifey showing everyone how big the stone was (most people knew Tony's screams and now knew why) inc the triage nurses who made us wait. Cheyl and Heidi came to visit just before wifey came and waited most of the time in the waiting room (such sweeties). All in all, a fun tiring day.
The boys started swiimming lessons this week. Its simple stuff just getting them used to playing in the water. Wifey says that they like their teacher and are the smallest in their class (again). As long as they don't splash too many people, we'll be happy. We found out that Gymboree was getting cancelled at the end of August, so it will be moving to Northboro. It kinda worked out for us as we were going to cancel so we can do things on Saturdays and they will be doing soccer again in September.

16 July 10
Nate has been pooping on the potty for a few weeks which is aweseome. Wifey worked really hard over the summer, being way more patient than me and it has paid off with Nate. Over this week, Tony has been repeatedly pooping on the potty, so thats great. Wifey did a star chart so when they pooped they got a star and a candy. That worked great with Nate and now I think that Tony sees how easy Nate does it, so he wants the free candy... way cool. Other recent thing we (well OK, me) tried is Tony on teh potty at night while Nate watches Shawn the Sheep (didn't work, just loads of crying).
We were outside playing with the hose in the front garden. Wifey does this alot with them as it waters my dust patches (been a hot summer without much rain) and keeps everyone cool. Nate was playing with the hose so I went to the hose tap and turned it off, then back on. He wondered what happened, so I was kinda nasty and I turned it off. He wondered what happened again, so I told him to look into the hose to see where the water went... Yep you guessed it. I only thought that happened in cartoons, but I got my 3 year old son with it, right it the eye. I laughed so hard. Nate was fine, just rubbing his eye abit but he was good. Wifey didnt' think it was as funny as I did, but I suppose its because I didn't let her into the trick.

3 July 10
Naturally the boys had to get colds.... in summer. First Nate who just chilled on the couch watching TV, then Tony who is the normal Tony for about 20mins, then he just drops and gets grouchy. Lucky us..
Auntie Meg came to visit us for a few days. The boys had alot of fun (as normal) chilling with them and wifey while I did the fun work stuff.
Bob and Kasey came over to Worcester, so we went out to eat with them. It was totally different not having all the kiddie distraction and we could actually talk!!! - something to look forward to when they leave home..
I put some decking under the deck so when we empty out the paddling pool water it doesn't kill everything underneath, just gets channeled. Works good and the boys had fun playing while I was putting it up. I use the words playing as they were trying to do everything apart from pass me the blocks, screws, etc that I wanted. At least I stayed calm throughout..

19 Jun 10
Wifey had some bleeding at the start of the week. Everything was fine, but kinda scary. She is taking it easy and I told the boys that mummy cannot lift them, which they seemed fine about.
Wifey still has classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This Tuesday we were playing outside with chalk and footballs. Nate decided to bring this rock to show me from the top of the driveway. This was about the size of his head, but flatish. He was doing good carrying it. I told him to put it back as we were going in, so he turrned and took it back. I heard a huge scream and saw that he had tripped. I did the usual saying 'come here and lets look' then I saw alot of blood coming out of his nose. When he was just about to put the rock down, he tripped forward and faceplanted into the rock with his fingers underneath. I put my finger under his nose and gently moved it to stop the bleeding (Bear Gryls advice) and brought him inside. One the bleeding stopped to a trickle I tweaked his nose to see if it moved/broken (saw it in the movies) which it wasn't and then went to clean him up. While doing this I found that he had bruised his thumb and 1st finger (thumb got a black nail on it) with scrapes on them. I found them with screams while washing the blood off.. ooops! The bleeding stopped and so did the crying which was great and he calmed down with Team Umizoomi (as usual). His nose bled twice more but only due to him picking it (a nice red picking finger gives it away). When I brought Nate it and faffing over him, Tony would drop on the floor saying that he was hurting. After a while he stopped doing that. Nates right side of his nose was swollen and he got very slight blackness under his eye. The swelling went down over the next few days (I kept putting on his Rocky T-shirt for fun).
Today (Thursday) was the photo session that wifey had organised for them. It was a friend from Hill School that was starting her business and wanted some cute models to get good promo piccies of. Naturally she thought of the boys and so they met at the park. Wifye's main concern was that Nate's eye wasn't black or swollen (esp around the nose) but he looked great in the morning. It was a very nice day and the boys played around the park so some good photos were there. Best thing is that we got a CD of them (you can tell the difference between mine and hers).
Thursday came around and I was colouring in the front room with Tony and Nate was in the kitchen. I kept asking what he was doing and he said making coffee. Next thing I heard is Nate screaming again (very loud like on Tuesday with the rock) and he told me he hurt his fingers on the coffee maker. I saw that they were red and put some ice on them. Nate said that he was playing with my coffee maker and not his kitchen, so I checked out what could have burnt him. He had turned it on and the remnants of water had boiled and when he pressed the release the water dropped on his fingers burning them. I looked for some burn cream (from Tonys burn), but we didn't have any, so I gave him some ice to hold and we went to Rite Aid to get some. They were good in Rite Aid (apart from the occasional scream from both of them (I think Tony was joining in the fun)) and Nate preferred ice to the cream. Cheyl called to talk to Randi in the middle of everything (naturally) so she came over with Megan and Heidi afterwards to see if I needed help. By this time, Nate allowed me to put cream and band-aids on his 3 fingers (the cream is really slimy, so band-aids don't stick very well, esp when he is struggling) then Auntie Megen reapplied them when he calmed down. She did alot better job making them look nice and stay where they were suppose to. Next day, Nate had little blisters on his 3 fingers then proceeded to chew them off over the next couple of days for fun.
Saturday and we went to Nathans birthday at Southwicks Zoo. It was a hot day and alot of people were there. We had carosel rides and the train ride included which was great. Being so hot made it hard work on all the kids and the adults pushing them (it was more than just us giving their kids rides). The animals were great with a tiger strolling right infront us, so that was cool. We also had a safari ride which Tony fell asleep on since there was a nice breeze.

12 Jun 10
Last week we found out that we had won the lottery - preschool lottery, so the boys get to go for free.... whoo hooo. So this week it was an open day for it (just up the road from us). They are going for the afternoon session which is 11:30 - 2, so that gives wifey time to spend alone with Tim when they are in school. It also gives her the opportunity to work a couple hrs in the morning if she wants while Kim watches Tim. So they were there and the principal asked Nate what his name was. Nate answered "Nate, thanks.". She then turned to Tony and asked him what his name is. He shook his head and calmly said "No", then walked away. Wifey 'encouraged' him to get back and answer the principal properly. He then looked at her and she asked again, "what is your name?". Tony, with utmost respect' said his name was "Super Bunny, Suupppper Buuunnnnny". The principal didn't laugh, but probably realised that she would be seeing quite alot of him over his academic career at that school.
As usual the boys got boo-boo's. Cool thing is how they deal with it. Nate banged his hand, so Tony knelt down next to him, held his hand and yelled "God, heal it!" I don't know if it was a prayer, suplication, or demand, but its a great witness , which is awesome. When they have boo-boo's, esp at night they always pray for them. In the morning they will then inform us whether God actually healed their boo-boos. When they still have it they always seem to look depressed and sometimes ask "why God not heal my boo-boo". We respond by telling them that since it doesn't hurt as much as last night, God is healing it, just slowly. The next day Tony then wanted to know why God wasn't healing his eczema on his little finger.
Last night putting them in bed, we smelt poo, so we did the nose hunt for it. I then noticed some in the radiator (top was open) so I asked them who did it and naturally they told me that the other one did. After about a min I then noticed another piece under the AC unit. Its like they like the smell of it, whether we put on the AC or the heat, they would get a nice whiff! Either that or they thought it was a good hiding place.
Natey told wifey "Mommy, who should I marry? Hmmm," Nate wondered with his little index finger tapping against his chin, "maybe Ava. WAIT A MINUTE! Can't I just marry you?". So sweet. Couple days later he (and Tony) were scared of Puss in Boots from Shrek 3. Wifey thought that it was kid freiendly enough but not this time (they've been to see Up previously).
The England US game was today so I painted St. Georges crosses on their cheeks. I watched it at Karls with his family and commented throughout. I only remember other people commenting on 2 fouls, but naturally I disagreed. I actually thought there would be more banter, but I think I was complaining about lack of English talent too much, not giving them a chance. Only highlight of the game being Macca's commentary afterwards.

27 May 10
We had Heathers graduation last weekend. Loads of people from Church were there and we had alot of fun. The boys tried to play with the big boys like usual, but ended up with Noah shooting nerf guns. They they played baseball and Russ was great teaching them how to hit. Hopefully I won't have to learn that, but knowing me they'll be baseball nuts so I'll have to watch the games!!!
For my birthday I was woken up late with a cake and kisses. Very sweet. The boys had helped mummy make a cake and wifey got me some bbq chips, so I was VERY happy. Next day Tony decided that he wanted to pee on the carpet. When wifey asked him 'why did you do that?". He replied, 'I wanted to'. After the time out that he got, I don't think he wanted to again.
Tony went to the pulmonologist today for his asthema type stuff. Everything was great and there is a chance that he could get asthema when he gets older, but very healthy at present. Wifey was told to use the inhaler once at nights and in winter/cold season, twice and to use the emergency one as we are doing. They suggested to see the cardiologist to check out his heart murmur and endocrinologist for his height since he has dropped from 5% to 1% in that.
Natey is very sick today with a fever today so he is just lying around on the couch. Tony feels slightly warm, so he is grouchy and demanding, therefore sickness will follow in a couple of days. Next day they felt alot better and we were planning on going to Glousceter, but with the past hard nights we let wifey sleep for the morning instead. She felt soooo much better afterwards so she took them to the Wrentham outlets while I played games (B-day treat). I got the paddling pool sorted out and warmed up for when they returned. We have it on the deck so it is simple in and out from the kitchen. It was still cold when everyone got back, but the boys still played in it while we ate watermelon and paddled our feet. As normal, I started to splash everyone and while splashing wifey, she said 'stop'. Naturally I didn't, so Nate yelled 'stop splashing mummy daddy'. Its sooo sweet that he's protective, so I stopped, gave him HUGE hugs, then splashed him instead... hee hee. Grammy and GG then came over so we went to Chucks for great food.. whooo hooo

22 May 10
They have been taking names off the tv shows again. Current favourites are Snoopy and Seaseme street, which means that Nate is now called Snoopy and Tony is Slimey (a little worm that drives a race car). This is kinda funny as when I get home from work I don't know who I'll be running into. At least I get all my hugs. Funniest part is that they will say N-A-T-E spells Snoopy and T-O-N-Y spells Slimey.
Wifey and the boys went to West End Creamery the other day for ice-cream and the farm. Tony picked up an abandoned baby bottle and wanted to feed the baby turkeys. I suppose that he's getting prepared for Tim. They love most animals apart from the black and brown doggies that poop in our garden and buggies. Just about everything that is small and flys is a bee which requires dad to immediately dispose of. Everything that is small and crawls is an ant and they will run to get toilet paper and inflict the killing blow. Compare this to a month ago (or last year) when Tony would get on all fours with his face to the ground to watch and chase ants around. I suppose he got bored with them as all they do is run away.
Found my copy of Tigger Movie, so I've been indoctrinating them into the pleasure of bouncing (well watching Tigger do it). Came home to see all 3 of them watching it in underwear eating ice-cream (it was hot). Wifey has been playing in the garden more, so we got the boys toy wheelbarrows so they can help her moving the weeds, etc. I presume that they like to overfill them as I find weeds all over the lawn. At least they are having fun.
Some of the funny things that the boys say:
(Tony whining about something in another room, 7 am this morning)
Nate to Mommy: "Excuse me, Mommy. Tony needs me."

Nate: That is a tornado on tv.
Tony: Yeah, I don't like to eat those, we don't like tomatoes.

The boys are clowns at soccer. They fall down, grab and throw each other, don't listen, kick everyones ball anywhere, I don't know how Ruthie (teacher) does it with 12 other kids! She handles the boys great by ignoring them, well mainly Tony when he suddenly decides that he 'can't walk' and 'doesn't know how' so he just lies on the ground. He gets up quickly when he finds that Ruthie isn't paying him any attention and is not going to pick him up from the ground. Nate does great trying to follow directions and so does Tony when he puts his mind to it. When they start to shove each other to the ground, usually the other boys will want to join in, so all the boys are chasing each other while the girls are actually kicking the balls. They do sprints at the end from sitting, lying, etc. Tony will always go into the wrong position with a huge smile on his face while Nate will start off running fast then slow down close to the line instead of after he has crossed it.
Chilled with Bob and Kasey tonight which was awesome. They got a baby sitter and we had Kim and they came to visit us. Good fun and alot of food like usual.

10 May 10
Nate asked Tony, "Tony, why you got big feet?" In an exaggerated motion, with his hands out on either side, he shrugged and said, "I don't know Nate, maybe I had a big dinner."
It was wifeys birthday and mothers day on the same day, so that was kinda convenient. We decided to make a cake for her, so Sunday morning morning we tried not to make tooo much mess. When it was baked (they kept wanting to open the oven all the time) we iced it. They sat on the table and helped and then Nate's arm slipped and his face hit the cake covering half of it in icing. After laughing, I scraped it off (like shaving) then Tony wanted the same. After that they kept trying to 'accidently' fall into the cake to get some on them.
After Church we went out for Chinese with Grammy and GG. Everyone ate loads of food and we only got 1/2 the rice on the floor, which is a bonus. It was a hot day so we put a fan pointing into thier room outside the gate. Nate still wants 4 blankets on him while Tony wants nothing to do with them but hug them. We talk in our room, then hear giggling. We go out so see both of them at the gate throwing their blankets at the fan... nothing is safe. Both are totaly different, Tony sweats like me and Natey doesn't like wifey.

5 May 10
We had alot of illness this week. Basically Nate just lies around watching TV being quiet and not eating that much. He is similar to me, only people that he wants around talking is the TV. Tony on the other hand is a kinda nightmare. He wants and wants, but not in a normal happy voice, but in his whiney voice. Also everything is a HUGE deal, Nate being too close, wrong blanket, hungry, not hungry, etc. He also doesn't like to sleep when he's not feeling very well. Earlier in the week he did his usual wake up around 2ish, had his pee, then started yelling 'I got fluff in my ear'. He wouldn't go to sleep in our bed so wifey took him downstairs and they watched seaseme st for an hour.
Next day we found that Tony had a double ear infection and so the illness continued.... Best thing is that Nate fell asleep so Tony would come into bed with us. I can cope with 1 child in bed, but not two.. not enough room for that. When they are ill they tend to be still, which is great compared to being kicked throughout the night. It was a couple of days of 'fun' with the sickness as normal.
Nate had his dentist appointment today and since they might give him gas, I took him instead of wifey. Tony was staying with Grammy so when we were leaving Nate asked Tony for a kiss and a hug before he left, just the same way as I do. Wicked cute. They put someone infront of us in the appointment for some reason, but Nate was just playing with another child, so they were both laughing. Not the normal thing to hear at the dentist I suppose. They were trying not to use gas, so they did 1 tooth and Nate did great, not much complaining with the drilling. The dentist was going to clean and I said what about the other one. They were going to leave that for another day as they don't like having kids in the for a long time, but I said since he didn't complain and since he was there.. so they did it and he was great. They gave him an extra prize so Tony could have one, which is nice.
The UK trip came around. We were going to leave Friday afternoon but the Icelandic volcano errupted on Wednesday night so the airspace was closed over UK from Friday onwards. They initially wanted us to go to Iceland and wait there, but the forcast wasn't looking good so we cancelled the trip instead. Turns out it was the right thing as the airspace wasn't opened for another week!
We drove to PA instead of UK. Wifey got a great deal for a kitchette type hotel, so we could make food if needed. We left at 5AM so we could have a full day at the please touch museum. Did the boys sleep on the way... not a chance. Straight away they were awake and watched TV with their blankets on and loved it. We went to the please touch museum on the way down which was awesome. They have all sorts of things to play with and do. The main place they liked was the bus. Nate liked to drive it while Tony would get on, run to the back and get off that exit, rinse and repeat. Other things that they had was a builders place with blocks and a doctors place where Nate checked out wifey and the baby. They had a fake supermarket with trolleys so we picked up food, checked it out and then put them back. Turns out, if unattended they would choose cookies and cookies and more cookies (first shelf they encountered). It was a great place, then we left for the hotel type place.
The hotel thing was awesome, the boys loved it. It had 1 bedroom, a pull out bed couch, kitchen/breakfast bar and bathroom. The boys didn't want to go out to eat (Friendlies) they wanted to eat at their 'little house'. We put them to bed in the queen bed in the bedroom and we had the pull out. Nate was the 1st one to wake up at 2ish so he slept with wifey in the pull out and I went and slept with Tony on the comfy bed. We had breakfast and did the backstage tour at Sight and Sound. It was good, but too old for the boys. We went to the train place and we missed the ride in the steam train that we had previously done, so we did the museum. It was awesome. The sat in a big train, played with another full size one, then we played at their childrens play place. They had adult play trains, so I had fun while wifey watched the boys. We picked up food and ate at the hotel while having movie night and then it was bed again. Tonight it was Tonys turn to wake up during the night, so he slept with me on the pull out and wifey joined Nate. Tony woke me up close to 8AM, so we got ready and was going to bring breakfast to wifey and Nate. Nate then joined us and wifey told me that he woke up ages ago and watched TV quietly while the rest of us slept.
We checked out and went to Crayola museum on the way home. It wasn't what I thought, just alot of craft stations in a building. It was very close to chaos, but they boys liked it. They then wanted to go back to their little house so we'll go back another time. Best thing was the train place, esp since there wasn't really anyone else there. On the way back they were watching Mary Poppins and Tony started to sing 'lets go fly a Nate'. Nate would just yell back NO at him, so Tony kept doing it until we told him to stop. After that he wanted Winnie the Poop

10 Apr 10
I was able to watch the boys play footie last week. Its great and some great games to help them learn. They start off dribbling fast, slow, superfast. Nate would stay behind waiting for everyone to go then follow (nice straight line), while Tony just went on a nice diagonal so ended up no-where near anyone. Tony eventually got sorted with going straight, but I think he likes doing whatever he wants. The teacher would give them water breaks when she thought that the kids were not listening, which is a great idea. They play sharks where kids try to go from 1 side to the other with balls, while the ones without balls try to steal them from them turning them into sharks. Tony was a shark then started yelling GO to get people going. After the 2nd time the teacher talked to him then he started to yell GO after she did. Tony got the ball of Nate by using the hug method when he got close. They also played a cookie monster game where you dribble with your ball saying 'Cookie Monster, is it time to eat?' and the cookie monsters say no, so you advance until they say yes then the cookie monsters run to get the ball off you. Tony was, of course, yelling the cookie monster thing constantly while very slowely advancing the ball. Nate didn't want to play this game so sat on the floor watching. The boys had a bathroom break then they were running sprints when I brought them back, so I ran with them holding their hands. Nate has longer legs so Tony started to fall abit behind then fell letting go of my hand with a nice faceplant into the turf. He brought his head up, looked at me, then jumped up and carried on running to the end. All the parents watching laughed and wifey just held her head.

27 Mar 10
Just after I wrote the last entry, illness hit again. Coughing started up on the boys and wifey and on Sunday Tony said he wanted ear drops as he had a boo-boo ear. Monday at the doctors showed no problems with breathing or lungs but both had an ear infection (just one side) so thats good news. They got the pink antibiotics to have which means they are happy as the love how it tastes. Wifey was feeling better so she cancelled her appt. 2 days later she made it again and she has broncitus and pneumonia, so she's on antibiotics and has a puff if needed. Its been 10 days and the boys are now fine, so no TV again for them, while wifey still coughs abit, but no where near as much as before.
They had their first dentist visit. They were really good and sat with us while their teeth were cleaned and inspected, no moving around, crying, etc. Nate needs 3 fillings, which were probably caused by something stickly which the brushing didn't get rid of. He's got to go back just before we go to England for that. They got stickers, bouncy balls, pirate hats from there, so they made out good compared to what I remember when I was their age.
Nate is smart when it comes to understanding his brother. He usually gets his own way through dealing with Tony certain ways. They were in their rooms and Nate had the least favourite bouncy ball, while Tony didn't have any. Tony starting to cry saying how unfair it was. I said that I'd look for another ball for him. Nate then said, its "Ok Tony, have mine" and gave it to him, so Tony was fine. I was just about to leave when Nate calmly said, "daddy, you get me a ball?". He got the fav bouncy ball which Tony would have gotten. Both of them are kind and share with each other, not just for their own gains (Nate likes to have certain things, the last of 2 things, etc while Tony usually doesn't care as much). If one of them really wants something that the other one has alot of times, they will be given it from the other one, which is really sweet.
They're still not pooping on the potty, so still no TV apart from Movie night. They keep asking for this every day, but now they know what happens on a Saturday (see Gran and Grandad, daddy stay home) and Sunday (go to Church). We have movie night on one of these nights, depending on what the weather is, we're doing, etc. They have pizza infront of the TV and love it (so do we). We're getting them to read time as they know most of their numbers. We're only doing single digits, but they love doing it telling you that the number has changed so they can tell you what it is again, even when it hasn't changed. Being that our only analogue clock uses Roman Numberals and is only correct twice a day, they are using the clock on the TV or oven. Wifey is getting them better with letters on their names. Hard part is the arguments over T and N which is common in both their names, so they'll probably end up spelling their names TOY and NAE - aren't the teachers gonna love us!!!
We found out that we're having a third boy, which is awesome. I know what boys are like and we can rule the house with every toilet seat up.. whoo hooo (I suppose I'll compromise that both are down). I won't miss having the 'tea party' experience as we always have a tea break (usually coffee for daddy) on a Sat morning instead where we all sit in the kitchen and drink (they don't get to pour though). They love helping cooking and doing the dishwasher (usally during the week while mummy is getting ready) so the only real change is no mummy-daughter shopping trips (which is probably best for our finances.. hee hee).
Went riding the trikes over the weekend and I told Tony that he needs to use the pedals like Nate... so he did... the entire way. At the 2nd stop where we usually walk a while, he rode, not wanting to turn around as other people were riding past to the 2nd bridge. Nate walked with me and ran while Tony rode. Tony then rode the entire way back up the hill (I helped a bit pushing with a stick) then Nate rode with him on the way down the hill back to the 1st bridge where we met mummy. They both rode back to the car and Tony wanted to ride up to the car place where we watch cars, which is up a BIG hill. Naturally Nate couldn't be beaten, so he rode as well. They both stuggled so we helped push them up, but they soooo wanted to make it and didn't give in, which was cool. Next day, we went to Church to ride and play footy. Tony only left his trike to help Malachi ride it and tell him what to do (so sweet) when they came. Nate played footy with daddy for a while and rode for a while. Hopefully good weather this weekend so we can go again.

6 Mar 10
Its been a month again, I'm not the best, but wifey is encouraging me to keep writing. Illess has hit us again. Just after they boys played soccer colds hit the boys. We took Nate to the doctors first and he had pneumonia with ear infection. We got given 2 nebulizers, as the doctor that we saw had twins and told us that at some point both would need it at once, and of course antibiotics. 2 days later we took Tony to the doctors who didn't have pneumonia, but did have double ear infection and a bad cough... Joy. When they are ill they are bad sleepers so usually they end up in the mummy-daddy bed. Since they are getting too big for all 4 in 1 bed, I moved into the guest room for the night. The sleepless night only lasted for 2 days, then it got ok, well the usual 1 per night wake-up from Tony.
Wifey's sis came to visit over night on Monday (wifey had the weekend off) so that was good. The boys were feeling better at that time (didn't go to soccer though) and everyone had a blast. She brought them a new Thomas book which then became their favourite and its basically what we've been reading from then onwards. They visited Sturbridge where it was very slippy and wife (while holding Tony of course) fell on her bum. Tony freaked, not because he was hurt, but because he was dirty. Tony then wanted Megan to hold him since mummy fell. Whines and complains for a while, then they cheered up. They got very attached to Megan and kept asking for her when she left esp whenever they went out in the car they said are we picking up aunti meggie?
Every-so-often they say something that you wonder where they learnt it from. I was asking Tony some questions and then Nate touched my arm and said "I have something very important to tell you". That kinda blew me away. Being that wifey is preggy (3rd person due around August 12 from Creative - cool eh), we told the boys where milk would come out to feed the baby with. Nate then replied does it do tea and coffee as well?
We signed up the boys for the 2nd session at soccer and they love it. Tony didn't run off this time for fun and both of the boys listened to the teacher and followed instructions. They were kicking the ball very well and there is now no kicking balls in the house as they are now kicking it very hard. One time Tony kicked the ball and ran off to get it far away from everyone, so Nate ran over and told him to go back (playing mummy again). The teacher then played sharks (they try to get the ball off the other people) so when it was the boys turn they were very nice and didn't bang anyone to get the ball off them, until they were against each other. At that time it was a big bang into each other where Tony then grabbed Nate and they were then wrestling on the floor laughing. They have a water break and the boys ran over to mum and told her they were on a water break. Then being big men, they took swigs of water from wifeys pink water bottle. This was also the perfect opportunity for Tony to tell wifey that the teacher was beautiful.
Being that they did so good at footy, and that their current shoes are worn at the ends (prob from Tony pushing his trike with his feet instead of the pedals), we got them new shoes (and a ball each) this weekend. They don't light up but they still like them. The temp got up to 50's over the weekend, so they had chance to play in their new shoes and with their balls for a bit since they were getting ill. Both decided to get colds starting slowly on Friday then hitting it bigger on Sunday. Wifey also had it so everyone was coughing all night trying to keep me up. With all the illness over the past month, the boys have only been to Church once.. kinda different. Monday all 3 have a Doctors appt.
We started to get jigsaws, well I did as I like doing them, for the boys. They are 25 pieces and they like doing them (Natey more than Tony). We usually end up doing the outside and they do the inside, but the past few times Nate has done the entire thing. He gets a bit of help, but mainly himself. We got some little 6 piece ones and these are the real favourite, well the polar bear one. For some reason they both don't like the Parrot one, go figure. We got a night away from the boys last weekend, it was great. We just spent time in the Hotel, brought snacks and watch movies on the computer. It was also nice to come back to open arms of the boys as they kinda missed us.
We started to get tougher on the pooping. Now they have to poop on the potty (hear the plop) or no TV. We thought that this would remedy it, but first time we told them, they said, OK, no TV. Its been 2 weeks with no TV and they don't care. When they are ill, esp when Nate was just lying there, we let them until they are feeling better.

6 Feb 10
I got better, but it took a week. I actually went to the doctors (afterwards to make sure that I didn't have strep which I didn't just a 1 week nightmare sore thoat) so it was bad. I don't know what is happening but the boys haven't been to Church in 3 weeks. First week was Tony feeling bad, then it was me (2 boys is too hard to try to keep sane in the service at this point), then it was Nate. Nate started to feel bad in the morning so we took 2 cars to make sure that he was OK. Both wanted to go in daddies little car, but as we were going Natey started to sound more and more stuffy. By the time we got to Church he was sneezing and very stuffy so wifey took them home.
They played soccer on Tues this week at Five Star. They have a course for 3.5 year olds so Paul and Bernie said they were close enough. Wifey went while I was at work and she said they had loads of fun. Tony would stop and run to the barrier for a kiss from mummy, then every-so-often would 'trip' onto the floor to get the coach to help him up. Wifey told her that he just wants attention, but she said that she couldn't help it as he was sooo cute. Tony would also kick the ball towards the older players just so he could play with them, so wifey had to step in to help him back to his class. They both did alot of kicking and running. Natey stayed more with the group and while doing sprint runs, Tony would stop half way and wait for everyone to come back (awwww he was tired). When I got home they both were telling me that they were playing soccer and how much fun they had. They were both very tired and had sore legs.

21 Jan 10
The inllness increased this week with wifey not feeling too well with Nate then when he was OK, Tony got it. Natey had fever then sore throat but it left after a 3 days (Friday). Tony then got it and had a bad fever on Sat night which made him breath hard. We gave him the emergency inhaler, but it didn't help so off to the ER went wifey (3AM). He had 93% O2 levels so it was good that we brought him in. He told the doctor that she was having a boy (she was preggy) which was funny. Main thing that helped him was the cool air when wifey brought him to there, so next time (hopefully not) we'll take him outside in the cool air and see what happens. Sunday night was the same as Sat night with at least 1 boy in bed with us and I had a work call. I took the morning off work since I had also got called in all afternoon on Sat. Tuesday comes around and in the evening I get what everyone else has but at least 3x worse (I'm a guy and we all know that every illness hits us worse than everyone else... its like a challenge for the buggies and they bring it while the rest of the family are just a warm up). So its been a tough 2 weeks, esp for wifey who always gets the brunt of it.
In addition to the boys joining us at night as they aren't feeling the best, we changed them to big boy beds. I attached the furniture to the wall and stopped the cupboard from sliding open, then changed their cribs into beds. The boys love it, but they did fall out a couple times the first few nights. Last night they were fine, so that was great, just something for them to get used to. The nap time isn't as easy as they like to jump onto the bedding we put on the floor (to help them when they fall) yell, scream, etc. Actually they haven't have a nap time since we've done it, but thats ok. They are more tired at night which isn't quicker to bed, just more complaining before bedtime. They do listen to us and stay in their beds at night, well up to now that is.
We booked tickets for our trip to England. After telling the boys they keep asking when are we going to Gran and Grandads house.

11 Jan 10
Its next year, next decade already.. wow. New Years eve we went to Auntie Cheryls and had alot of fun. Chase was there and the boys played with him alot. At first Tony and Chase ran after each other and some people that know Chase picked him up, so then Tony just stood by them waiting for his turn. Wifey gave a small prompt and she lifted and tickled him. Nate was eating food with daddy.. how he loved them rice cake thingys. We stopped them from just eating just rice cakes by saying 1 piece of chicken then they can have what they want, so they were picking at carrots can lettice as well (Natey and his salads).
We're getting abit annoyed of having underpants in the potty, which is due to them pooping in thier pants, so we decided to put a stop to it. When we catch them pooping we put them on the potty with all then screaming, they stay there. We leave them there for 3 mins or until they have pooped. If we smell them and find that they have pooped in their pants we clean them up and put them on for 3 mins. We did this since I was off for most of the week and wifey was off for the week (this is between Christmas and New Year). It has zero impact on them, so we increased to 5mins instead of 3. Basically Tony likes pooping in his pants but Natey tries and has pooped on the potty 3 times all by himself (one time he went and was sitting on it by himself). We also increased the rewards to 2 Hershey kisses instead of 1 (I know some people would think that changing it to 0 instead of 1 is a reward, but they boys haven't gotten out choccy pallete yet...)
It snowed the other day, but the snow was still abit flakey but better than before, so not very good for making snowmen but I had a go. Natey initially started to help, then gave up instead cleaned the snow off the car. The snowman got to about 3ft high and then the boys preferred to kick it apart instead of building it up. Tony went in being cold and Natey went sledding with me. Next door came and played on our slopes since they are slightly bigger than theirs, and everyone took it in turns. It was sweet them letting Natey play with them and Natey loved it taking his turn. After a while Tony saw Eva playing so he then wanted to come out and play with everyone. Both the boys loved me pulling them down the long slope to make them go really really fast, especially since they ended up with their feet under the bush next to the house.
Next door got a little puppy called Brady which the boys adore. They will see them walk him and then want to go out to stroke him. Just after Christmas we went to Sturbridge and they walked around loads and we ran in the snow. On the way back we went to Wal-Mart to chage Tony's leapster and Nate wanted to stay in the car while Tony wanted to help daddy. He started to walk with me, then told me his feet hurt so he went in the cart. He smelled Pizza hut pizza and then that was what he wanted to eat all the time we were there. We got the everything sorted and at the checkout the lady behind had pizza, so that started Tony off again. We got back to the car and Natey was asleep and wifey had grabbed everything she could to try to keep him covered (Natey loves his covers).
Its funny in the mornings as instead of yelling for the mummy-daddy, you hear them singing together. I think this is more when Nate wakes up before Tony and Tony joins him when he wakes up. Usually Tony is the one who wakes up first and yells for us and sometimes comes downstairs while Nate sleeps. One time Nate woke up first and I brought him down. About 30mins later Tony woke up and when he realised that Nate was downstairs and had been for a while, he just cried and yelled for AGES!!!

28 Dec 09
I can't believe that Christmas has been and gone. In the lead-up to Christmas we built a snowman when we got the first big storm (10"). It wasn't the best snow so instead of rolling a ball, we just piled up and tried our best. When we had finished they wanted to put glasses on it... funny eh! We went sledding down the yard, but not in the front (too slow) but the nice steep backyard... whoo hooo.... and wifey let us and joined in.. whoooooo hoooooo. Nate actually went down it before Tony which was a suprise and everyone had fun. One of us would be at the bottom to catch them, and the other at the top. Wifey had a go and I did a nice tackle on her, which gave the boys a laugh.
The room was re-arranged to cope with the tree and it took a couple of tries to get right as its a bigish tree. We put up the tree and the boys fully decorated it. I put out the orninements and they put them on the tree. They got kinda clustered so wifey helped to re-arrange them with them, lifting them up to get higher. They did a great job and only 2 got broken. The hardest part was getting a photo of them infront of the tree with 2 smiles.
Last year we were given a gingerbread house kit, so we put it up. Downside is that being a year old and spending most of that time on top of the basement stairs meant that most of the parts were cracked. I tried to put it together with icing but instead gave each boy a side of the roof, put icing on it and let them put candy parts on it. Naturally there was more eating of the candy compared to puting it on the icing. Since they made them on Christmast eve, they ate them on Christmas morning for breakfast.
Christmas morning they loved it. First thing they did was try to open prezzies. Gran and Grandad was on the TV and Grammy and GG were comming later. We told them to get 1 present each and open it. We used different wrapping paper depending upon who it was for and naturally the first prezzie that Nate grabbed was Grammies. They loved opening prezzies so much that we didn't get to open any which isn't that bad after all, I've had 35 others. We had Allana and Emma for turkey (I had to) and this time, we got the whole thing instead of just breast. The boys ate their turkey else they wouldn't have been able to take a ride in the high-chair, so rewards do work. Grammy came and gave them more prezzies to open which were drum sets. They are very nice sets and very load, esp when you are putting one together and both boys have a competition on who can bang the cymbol the loudest!!!
They got some Lightening McQueen toys, ice-cream set, wooden cake, and Leapsters from everyone, so all-in all alot of stuff. I got the started game on the Leapsters but Tony's failed to load, so that would have to be returned. I got the drums relocated downstairs quickly to give us some peace, so the boys spent some time playing them. The ice-cream set is cool adn they were playing ice-cream man with the house before, so now they have props with it. This is the same with the wooden cake. It has candles that velcro onto it, as well as some treats, so we had alot of Happy Birthday songs. Since Nate knows that he's allergic to strawberries, he doesn't put them on his slice.
Early evening we went to Uncle Kurts new house to get even more prezzies and eat loads more food. They played with Chase, Nick and Ty. After Chase went home, Nick and Ty played hockey downstairs and wanted me to play with them, so the boys helped. Nick and Ty are rough on each other, but left the boys to get a couple of hits which was cool. It was a late night, so we were hoping for a lie-in in the morning, but no chance on that.
Natey and Tony have taking forever to go to sleep at night. We are usually called back up 3-4x after we tuck them into bed to tuck them in, cover piggies, a little drink, need a toy, etc. Nate has not been sleeping until after 9 when we've left the room around 8ish. He usually talks or sings to himself as Tony goes to sleep quickish (all that running around). Compare this to 'nap/quiet time' when they are yelling, throwing, talking, singing with each other until one conks out (sometimes you will hear the one yelling for the other to wake up) or we go an get them after an hour.

28 Nov 09
2 in the space of 2 days!!! Well it was Thanksgiving yesterday and the boys are playing rolling the ball to each other so I have the chance. We had Grammy and GG over for dinner with Wifey's Allana and her baby Emma. We brought up the old high chair for Emma could sit with us at dinner and the boys wanted a ride in it. We 'rewarded' them with a ride if they ate their turkey. Tony ate it first and when Natey saw how much fun Tony had, he ate his Turkey quickly.
Natey stacked the dishwasher by himself. I passed him the items and he put them in by himself where he wanted them. We took a picture and then wifey re-arranged it afterwards, kinda cool though. They helped make desert for us and for Creative with mommy so they loved doing that. A bit too many pinching of cherries I think. I was sorting out the turkey and Nate was watching the cake mix. I saw him chewing some mix, mix on his fingers, so I asked him if he was eating the cake mix. He said no. I asked if he was chewing, he said no. I asked if he was eating some cake mix (thinking he didn't understand chewing) and he also said no. I then asked him if he had cake mix on his fingers which he also said no, so it was time-out (and a smack for not telling the truth). I gave him sooo many chances to tell the truth, but for some reason he didn't want to.. ah well. Tony was the same with one of my flash drive covers. He took it from the countertop (they are not allowed to take things from the countertop as they won't know if its hot, connected, etc) so I asked him if he took that from the counter. He looked at it, said no then went and put it back. I asked him to come back and did he owned up to taking it from the countertop. After time-out I always ask them why I gave them time-out and why I gave them a smack and they both answer correctly each time, so I wonder when they will get it.
After dinner Suggie, Auntie Heidi came over where the boys were really happy. When we told them that they were coming, Natey told me about going in the dark with the flashlight getting candy and seeing suggie. So that was the last they saw them and its kinda cool that he remembers it. They played (esp Tony) with Emma. Tony gave her a ride (Allana held her while Tony crawled off at light speed) and was on his knees playing chasing with her. She loved the train track and the boys were ok with her dismantling it, which I thought that Natey would object to. I was sleeping watching the football while all this was happening - I did the hard work carving the turkey (badly as well, but its all the same). Kurt, Joanne, Nick and Ty came over so they boys latched onto them. I was in the basement with the 4 of them and it was like the boys had to impress them with everything that they did (jumping, climbing, etc) it was fun to watch. I introduced Nick and Ty to Simpsons car racing game and then 1 of them was fully occupied for the rest of the evening. They let the boys play with the controller and helped then with it, so thy felt included which was nice.
The boys went to bed, so it was alot quieter after than and we could chill more. It is quite amazing how Nick and Ty have similar personalities and traits to our boys. This is probably similar with most faternal twins, but I don't really talk to any other twin parents. The boys are now going to school and have been quite alot this morning, so I think they heard Nick and Ty talking about it.

26 Nov 09
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Its been a while, but there has been alot going on. The boys won't allow me to write this on Sat mornings while eating breakfast anymore they make too many distractions. This means that I have to try to squeeze some writings while they are playing, but when they see you on the computer everything breaks loose for one reason or another.
Halloween happened the other day and wifey made them into Umpa-lumpas from the orig Willy Wonka movie. They looked funny and they loved going outside with the flashlight in the dark getting candy. We visited Auntie Shirley and the boys went to sit down and asked for cup of tea. We sayed there for a while as cookies were brought out. We visited more houses, I got called into work and everyone else went to Suggies house for a while. It was alot better than last year as we were in the ER then.
Gran and Grandad came for just over 2 weeks and we had a blast. I picked them up and when they got home Nate wanted to put Grandad in time-out (they remembered from the 3rd year vid about putting uncle in time-out). We asked Nate why and he said Grandad has been bad. We convinced Nate that Grandad wasn't bad (he had just come to see him) then Grandad told Nate that daddy had been bad. Nate then said that daddy doesn't get time outs. Gran then told Nate that daddy was naughty and needed a time out, but Nate was adamant that daddy doesn't get time outs... I taught him well.. hee hee.
When Nate gets a time out now he has a big cry and then wants a hug saying 'do you love me'. We give him a hug and the time out starts when we leave him. He gets angry when being put in time out and up to the point to where he lashes out. When he does this he gets a smack but we make sure that we tell him no then carry him and give it to him so he knows that its not a retaliation from what he did but a consequence for what he did. Tony just cries when he's in time out, nice and simple.
When I came in I was told from Natey that Tony ate poop. What happened is that a pebble from one of them dropped on the floor (as it does and Tony thought that it was chocolate. Being Tony he eats it then tells you that he found chocolate but this time he didn't like the taste. Kinda funny but not for Tony at the time. Speaking of Tony, wifey took them to her Dr's appointment and he was asked his name by a nurse. He said that it was Dan. Wifey found out when she was leaving and the nurse said bye to Nate and Dan. I don't know why he said it but it was quite funny. One way that Nate annoys Tony is to tell him that his name is Tony and Tony's name is Nate. This drive Tony crazy and it gets loud VERY quickly.
Scott from work gave me I-Spy books which are cool. Its a page with loads of stuff on it and you choose things for them to find (they have some riddles for older kids). They're fun to read with them but they're getting too good a memory for it. We played a memory card game and they are both good at it until Tony gets bored and leaves half way through. Nate will finish but won't give his cards back at the end, so its one game only. We bought some huge dice for them and tried to get a big snakes and ladders game (couldn't find one though). We roll the dice then move trains on the train tracks which they like and it gets them better at counting. Downside is the don't just roll the dice they create a game for who can throw it the most.
We gave them a choice of reading a bedtime story or we would create one. So on the spot creation of the adventures of Cinderella and Prince Nate and Prince Tony. I gave them chance to name their horses. Natey named his lululala (wifey made a story up with that name in a couple nights before) and Tony's was brown ice-cream.. some people are just born a certain way and we have one of them. I don't think the story was the best but it was my first try, I probably should leave the stories to the English boss but I like to try and my crowd is very forgiving.
When Gran and Grandad was here, we did a train walk with the trikes. Tony was the usual of pushing and not pedalling no matter what we tried. Nate actually pedalled up a big hill which is a first and was great. They love playing with sticks so on the way back we bribed (or rewarded) Tony that if he pedalled that he would get his stick (daddy was holding it for him). He pedalled the whole way back, it was great. We then went to Concord and he pedalled the whole way when we were there. I thought that there was a playground at Concord, but I was mistaken. instead they ran up and down a wall while we held their hands. They mainly wanted daddy, so that was nice for me. After that we got sticks and climbed a tree (I think thats their first tree climb).
Clay is one of their favourite things. Gran was creative making cats and baskets and such, so I've gotta step up my game as I just made a round block and call it a train or made a snake/worm (thats actually counted as 2 different animals and not one). We all (my family and Gran and Grandad) went to Grammys house for Chinese and so the boys and my parents could see it. We all had a blast and I made a hole in the wall changing the heating timer. Baby wasn't too fond of playing with the boys, but it was probably the best as Natey has allergies to her. The boys had some colds around my parents visit so we had a couple of hard nights with Tony and watching his breathing. We nearly went to the ER with him on Friday night but they would have given him a nebulizer which is similar to our emergency inhaler, so we used that every 4 hours to help his breathing (set the alarm to get up every 4 hours to check on him. We went to the doctors on Sat morning (alot of people there) as there were no appointments left on Friday! There wasn't any crackling of the lungs and his breathing improved with a nebulizer. Tony is very sedate and tired with short bursts of Tony when he is ill, so we always know when he's feeling better. Nate on the other hand can be sedate at times when he just wants so loving, but his breathing wasn't an issue (we're totally blessed with that). Hopefully they are the only colds/flu/virus type that we'll get this winter.
When Gran and Grandad left the boys were better than last time as they were older and knew that they were going on a airplane back to England to their house (I think that still think Gran and Grandad has 2 houses). They asked for Grandad in the morning and looked for Gran walking as thats what was usually happening when they got up. Nice thing is that the next day was Friday so they had Grammy who they hadn't seen for a while so they didn't pine too much.

17 Oct 09
On a Saturday morning Target trip (usually simple last minute supplies but they like it as we get Popcorn if they are good) we got some clay. Its alot harder to mould it than I remember (not for me, but for the boys). They learnt to make sausages from it and then into whatever they want. Usually this is daddy make Thomas or kitty but they have fun trying and rearranging my creations. I made loads of balls for them and they both strung them into a long snake which was kinda cool to watch, esp as they worked together on it.
We got a toaster oven that mounts under the cabinets as our old toaster died (this can be used for simple small oven type things). It was on the countertop for 2 days as the screws that were with it were not long enough, so queue a Home Depot trip. Last night when the boys went to bed I put it up. This morning while in the kitchen Tony pointed to it and made his whine noise. I asked what was different and they both pointed to it and said that. I asked when where it was before and they pointed to the place where it sat for 2 days.
Wifey got an indoor plant kit where you get soil, pot an bulbs to plant. They boys helped her improving the instructions as they went along (how many holes do you need to put a bulb in?). One thing is that they didn't like crushing up the soil until they realised that they needed to wash their hands since they were dirty, then it became a game of putting you hand on the soil, washing it, repeat. Well nasty daddy put a stop to that (he's no fun). They are growing despite all my attempts to drown them (why I could only grow cactus as they are unstoppable, water no water, they just grow). When they start to sprout we will keep visiting the pot so they can see the progress.
Natey has an obsession with money. He always wants to hold quarters. Compare this to Tony whos new favourite toy is an old Polaroid camera that 'appeared' one morning when wifey and myself were working. He wonders around, dragging it, everywhere he goes. He knows that its a camera and since we guard ours he feels important that he has one. Natey is the same with money as he knows that we pay for food with it, so he wants it. That is probably obvious to everyone, but this is my diary with my dumb observations and so far I've published 2 books from it (with no sales, but that sounds good).

3 Oct 09
The boys love playing with acorns. We have them at our house and at Sturbridge (where they put them down the drain). They roll them down our drives and generally throw them around. Tony asked Natey 'do dogs ate acorns?". Natey replied 'no Tony, dogs no eat acorns'. Tony said 'does Sally eat acorns?'. Nate responded 'No Tony, Sally a dog, Sally no eat acorns'. Tony then said 'squirels eat acorns'. Nate said 'yes Tony, squirels do eat acorns'. Kinda funny.
Wifey took the boys to Boston on the T the other day and they loved it. They called it the sky train, but thats good. They walked around Boston, played in the park and got some cupcakes before coming back home. The things I miss at work. When I helped Grammy move, we initially thought it would take me way into the afternoon, so wifey took them to the Dinosaur museum in CT. When she got close to see the entrance, they were HUGE queues, so she decided to go to New York instead (as you do). They wondered around the place, Central Park, etc and had loads of fun. Wifey has been wanting to go there with the boys for ages so since she was close with the Dinosaur museum, she went the extra distance. The boys didn't appreciate it that much and actually didn't bother with Central Park like she thought they would. I presume they are more Sturbridge Village people.
I finished off the 3rd year video so we watched it and now they have a favourite part. This is where they are putting Uncle Dave in timeout. They unsuccessfully tried to give one to wifey and myself and we said to wait until Uncle comes back. On Saturdays we see Gran and Grandad on the Skype TV thing. Cool thing is that they know this is Saturday. Saturday is the day when daddy is there in the morning while mummy sleeps. They get to make mummy coffee and wake her up. Sunday is the next day when daddy sleeps and they get to make daddy coffee with mummy and wake up daddy. On Sunday they also go to Church, see Noah, Olivia, Malachi, and Steven, then ride their trikes if its not raining (go see the trains not moving).

18 Sep 09
Wifey went back to school so Grammy was coming each morning to watch them. Nate is now peeing on the potty but will not wear underpants. When Tony goes to the potty, we then ask Nate if he wants to try to pee, and usually he will. Both are still refusing to poop on the potty most of the time, but you can plonk them on it and then they go. They do fight you not to get carried onto it, but as normal daddy wins.
Mummy went on our little trike ride last 2 Sundays and we all had fun. Tony started to use the pedals more which is great. You need to push him abit but he's starting to go like Elmo. Nate on the other hand is flying while pedaling (I'm sure he gets wheelspin). We ride 1/2 way under the bridge and have a snack and drink there. The main thing is stopping them from wanting to get too close to the water. Then we go up the hill to the train carts on the tracks. They get off their trikes at the top of the hill and we walk and chill around to the 2nd set of carts. After that we ride downhill back to the van (with a 2nd snack stop). They say hi to everyone that passes them by which it cute.
Wifey and the boys met with the Fords the other weekend. Everyone was surprised how much each other had grown since they last saw each other and that the boys would eat veggies. They gave the boys their old Thomas train set which the boys gladly accepted and now I think that we have more track than Sodor. To avoid 'crashes' on the track I usually build 2 of them (both with a bridge naturally).Its funny as Nate is very protective with his track compared to Tony who likes to play and then trash the track. A couple of times he then realised that Nate is still having fun (and won't let him play with his) then starts asking daddy to fix his track.
The buggys are still out in droves later in the day but with it getting dark earlier, they come out earlier. This means that I bring the boys in when I get bit twice. They don't like it but since Natey is loved by the buggies as much as I am (it seems like they leave Tony alone as they do wifey). Their new fav thing is rolling a basketball down the hill to the other one who brings it up and they swap places. After a while I start to kick around my footy ball and usually they play with me (both have great kicks with both feet, but half the time they just pick it up).

30 Aug 09
The boys party was yesterday at the Ecotarium. We had a train ride, saw a turtle and then just chilled at the place. There was a ramp with 2 cars with different wheels (it was to show the different wheels on the car - square, offset, round, etc) and both boys loved playing with it. We had a great turnout and everyone loved it. It was slightly raining but the train ride was still fun, esp going through the tunnels. Wifey had to get there early to set up and I forgot what time so I was slightly late with the boys but so was most other people. We had pizza, cake, and coloured a turtle shell (paper one that is). We didn't have time to open the presents so we opened them at home. We boxed up the train that they played with in Disney and didn't give it to them until the morning of their birthday. They told us that it came from Gran and Grandad but since they started playing with it they didn't care where it came from. Wifey made a red velvet cheesecake for Monday which was finished before Friday (naturally).
Grammy was looking for houses most of the summer, so since wifey was not working over the summer they all went checking them out together. The other main hang out was Old Sturbridge Village that they all love. They see the animals, play in the playarea and would probably spend a week there.
They went to Boston on the train with wifey (daddy was at lovely work). She took them to Worcester in the afternoon just for a quick ride. She said that they kept together holding her hand when boarding and walking around and loved every minute of it. I know the last part as they kept telling me that they were riding the skytrain over and over again.
Most of the time now when I get home I go outside with the boys and play. They love riding the little fire trucks down the path to the house. They get alot of speed down there. Tony was the first going really fast so I limited how far up they could so to limit their speed. Recently Natey has become more of a daredevil but that might be as he likes going fast on his trike. They were trying to ride (with Eva of course, who normally comes out to play with them) the fire trucks down the grass slope but they kept digging in at the front. I wasn't able to get them to ride the 4x4 down, so I had a go and naturally they aren't designed for my svelte mass. I tube of glue and it worked for a day, so thats now a spare parts truck. Tell you the truth they are so badly designed as you cannot ride them as your feet get caught first on the bodywork until I removed the parts then under the rear wheels. I suppose they are done so that you would pull them but there are no foot holds so I just don't know.
An update on the potty time is that Tony will wake up every night between 12 and 4 to go to the potty. He cries for us to take him and he pees then goes straight back to sleep. Most of the time he still has his eyes closed and just gives big hugs with his head on your shoulder not speaking. When you put him down he's straight out like a light (such a bonus). Nate is straight refusing to do anything, but we're working on him.

22 Aug 09
The week before Disney was hectic as usual. We played on the trikes and they love it. We would go to a riding/walking pathway where Tony pushes with his feet really fast while Nate is slightly slower using the pedals. By the end, Nate was getting more into speed, esp on the downhill part which was cool. Towards the end it decided to sprinkle, so they allowed me to push them 'really fast' back to the car (wifey was looking at apartments with her mum, so it was a daddy day).
Tony decided that he wanted to start wearing underpants. We wanted to wait until after Disney, but Tony had different ideas so we catered for him. He wears diapers over night, but during the day he does great. No matter what we say, he poops in his underpants while Nate just refuses to go into underpants or pee/poop on the potty
Disney - it was great, loads of fun and some illness. Basically we were going places for food as we had the meal plans. Most of the time it was my family and parents. Both loved seeing the planes but Nate is like dad and doesn't like landing. Tony on the other hand LOVED the plane, esp take off and landing.
The place we stayed was great, loads of space and a huge tub. We brought the train set that we bought for the boys birthday to give them something to do. Hard thing is that they never wanted to leave it. They slept in pack-n-plays in our rooms and were really good sleeping at nights, well wifey had to stay in the room with them reading until they actually slept. After a few days the boys started calling it Gran and Grandad's house as they took a plane to the place and Gran and Grandad were there.
We started off in Epcot where we met Micky, Donald, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy. We saw the Nemo ride and then the aquarium where the boys got fixated on scuba divers wanting to see them all the time. Quite a few tears when we left. We had our meet and greet breakfast at Chief Mickies with everyone (my family, parents, Auntie Gemma, Uncle Dave, Auntie Sue, Uncle Craig), seeing all the characters again then off to Magic Kingdom. Wondered around, did the 3D Micky show where Nate didn't like it, so wifey left half-way through. Did the small world ride (wifey wanted to do this while I had never heard of it before) which both boys loved. Dave and Gemma left us and we wondered some more then the heat started to get to us so mum me and wifey hid in the candy shop, the boys fell asleep and mum and dad went back (we would have but wanted to let the boys sleep). We got told about a movie theater type thing for resting in and the cast member also gave the boys a lollypop as it was their birthday soon (has it on their hats). They slept for a while in there and after waking up we wondered some more. We did the car ride which both boys loved as they had the impression of driving a car then went on their fav ride... the steam train. This went around the entire Magic Kingdom and they loved it.
We went on a safari in Animal Kingdom between staying in the shade so we saw loads of animals which was awesome. Most of the rides were looking like they would be too old for the boys, but everything looked amazing. We had a parade here which was fun and grandad recorded it.
Gran got ill on Tuesday night and stayed in all day Wednesday. She had a virus which looked like the flu and recovered the next day. Hard part was the boys started to get runny noses afterwards and more cranky at nights (or mornings as well in Tony's case).
My glasses got knocked off when we were meeting Micky in Epcot and broke one of the nose guards. It took me 2 days to get some glue and stick it back on, then they got knocked again and off it broke (naturally in the line for a ride where it was totally dark). Wifey got some wax and it is working ever since.
Most of the days we we eat breakfast (usually toast and oatmeal) then go off to a park. We were going later than we would have liked as the boys (usually Tony) was sleeping in late and was grouchy when we got him up early. We usually went first to Epcot (closest) then took the skytrain to Magic Kingdom to go around the park and most of the time ride the steam train. Another fav ride was the racing cars as the boys thought that they were driving (instead it was restricted on rails). It was also good as the line wasn't very long.
The meals were great and the boys usually behaved very well. It was hard as we had to wait for the food each time, so they figetted quite alot. It was better when uncle Dave and Auntie Gemma was there as they had more people to play with.
The boys started to get worse (Tony's breathing harder), so we went off the the Doctors (Friday). The first clinic that we went to (free bus from Disney) wouldn't take Fallon. Instead of trying to get a taxi to go to the ER, we paid for the clinic and Tony went in. About 10mins later wifey came out as they didn't have the resources to try to treat him or his RAD. So we wen to the ER in the local hospital and they got treated soooo well. The hospital was a Christian hospital and it was great. We got prescriptions (20 min wait at the pharmacy) and went home.
The illness lasted 5 days so there were a couple days when they were feeling better and these were the late nights with fireworks in Magic Kingdom then Epcot, which was amazing.

19 July 09
I would say that nothing much happened with the boys this week, but I'm not the one watching them all day, I'm sure that wifey would have a different opinion. Wifey took them to Gloster beach on Fridays where that have met some others so they are going each week. All 3 paddle in the water and have fun, then come home with sand everywhwere.
Last weekend, we went to Noah's and Olivia's birthday who were 3. Loads of kids were there and there was water stuff everywhere. They had a water slide which Noah loved (it was cold). I thought Tony would go down it but no, he slipped down it once but then got up and never again. Nate just played with the water going down it, but he eventually joined Tony in the paddling pool. After the cake, they opened the presents and they boys were eyeing up the scooters that Noah and Oliva got (a red and pink one). Everytime that they left them alone, the boys jumped on them but for some reason kept trying to rid up the hill. Wifey talked to everyone and mainly watched the boys while I played horeshoes with the other guys.
This Saturday me and wifey went to Lime Rock to watch the racing (American Le Mans). Grammy and GG came over to watch the boys and play with them all Saturday. Since Grammy has been looking for an apartment, she hasn't been around much in the mornings so the boys were looking forward to this. Sat morning, they said that they wanted us to leave so Grammy would come. She brought "Green Eegs and Ham" by Dr Seus which is a weird book, but they boys like it. Everyone over here knows about it, so either I lived a shielded childhood or its an American thing. I got slightly sunburned on my face, so today its a slow indoor day (good excuse not to cut the grass) for me. Grammy gave them a ride and took them in a tunnel in the van then off to a playground in Lecister. There were bugs and beetles there, so they went to another one. The boys then told me and wifey all about it when we got home saying that there were bugs and beatles on my shoe.
The only time that Nate pushes more than Tony is at the dinner table. He doesn't like to sit properly with both legs under the table. Most of the time he tries to put a foot on the table and the rest of the time he has at least one leg over the side of the chair. Either that or he's sitting on the arm or touching Tony with his foot (something that is forbidden unless Tony wants to play that way). The dinner table is the time when they always want to poop. They will want to sit on the potty for 10mins while 'trying' to poop giving the occasional grunt to make it sound good. The other thing is for them to climb off their chairs to say that they are pooping. Natey will stand (while he only poops sitting) and Tony will stand but not on his tippy toes. I don't know while they try to avoid eating (I can understand nap or bed time) but thats just our boys I suppose.

5 July 09
We took their crib tents off this week to make sure that they can be good without them for Disney. First 2 days they were fine, then they ripped off the Pooh Bear so we weren't happy at that. Next day wifey heard Tony yelling and saw him at the top of the stairs with only his diaper on. After that we told them if they climb out of their crib there is no tv, no lollypops and no candy. We got them to repeat that each time that we put them in their cribs for the first few days just so they understand the ramifications. So far they haven't climbed out since, which is awesome. When they get up they ask for candy and a lollipop since they didn't climb out of their cribs... what have I started.
Saturday, Wifey had a birth to go to, so we went on the trikes in the afternoon then Target as they wanted to get black socks like daddy. Tony managed to use the pedals abit as his legs just about reach, then he decided to just push with his feat again. Nate sometimes has a hard time going forward, but with a slight push he gets going and constantly lets everyone know that he's going really fast (they are not allowed to run while pushing their trikes). In Target they were happy holding thier socks as we wandered around getting stuff. Being the 4th July, there wasn't many people around, so they could keep playing catchup. We planned to go to Sturbridge that night to see the fireworks. They love watching them on TV, well Mary Poppings, so hopefully they will love them in person. Wifey came home around 7ish, got some food and then we waited to go out to the fireworks. Sturbridge were sold out (we didn't realise that they were selling tickets until we checked out what time it was) but Millbury were having some at 930. Sturbridge events said that everything was closing around 9ish, so since sunset was around 830, we thought that they would have the fireworks around then. We went to Friendlies to get ice-cream while we waited and saw Denise there. She said that people hang around the grass to watch the fireworks, so we went there, joining loads of other people with the same idea. While we waited, the Tony started to play with other kids running around and some young girls (8ish) really took to him. Nate was shy and stayed with us for a while, then went playing catch and running around with his brother. He needs abit of a push, but then he gets going. They loved the fireworks (started at 930) and decided to tell us that they were still seeing them all the way home. Wifey then went to the rest of the birth and got home at 330AM with no baby.
Boys were in bed about 1030 then Tony decided to wake up at 650 while Natey was slightly better at 8ish. It was my sleep in which was nice and I used the ever so subtle kick wifey's foot to alert here of Tony while statying completely still trick, which worked beautifully. The baby was born during Church (what wifey predicted) but with her running out of minutes she didn't get the news until the afternoon when we refilled her up, so she popped over to the hospital. The boys didn't nap as we went to Gary and Lisa's for a cook-out. The whole way there they were asking about Stephen and saying that they are going to Stephens house. We all ate and played outside since it was a nice day (Stephen brought some trucks for the boys and Malakai to play with). Wifey came round after abit and I helped her finish off her food then she watched the boys as I went to play with the adults. Were the boys tired after their weekend... not a chance. As usual they didn't want to go to bed then an 710 rise for them (I had the morning off, so I slept until 10ish... whooo hooo).

27 June 09
Nearly the end of June, so that means that the boys are nearly 3!!!! Last Sunday we went to get Tony a new matchbox car since he lost the one that he'd been carrying for the past 3 days. We went to Toys-R-Us as we were also going to get bikes for them. This was my Fathers day treat. Wifey wanted to do other things, but thats what I wanted to do, so I got my way. At Toys-R-Us they mainly wanted to play with the pink car.. joy. So eventually we left after they had played on trikes, scooters, cars and bikes and got a pack of little cars (got a proper F1 rip off car). I went and got the Cars branded trikes on Wednesday as they were the ones that were least likely to tip.
I probably keep stating this, but they are totally talking now, remembering about stuff (you have to be careful what you tell them the night before or when the go down for nap). They talk and yell at each other, esp when one is in trouble or shouldn't be do doing something. At present Nate is holding the sippy for Tony while he drinks. Nate asked if he could do this and Tony said yes, so now Nate is shaking the sippy, then letting Tony have a small drink then moving it away. All this while having a running commentary about what he and Tony is doing, asking Tony if he wants more, etc. Funny.
Nate also has gotten adamant about reading at night. He wants to read to you and not you to him. We usually read Thomas and then let them read a book to us. Nate started to read Thomas to us andn we helped him make up a story, which was kinda cool. He read the hungry catepillar to us, then Tony read it. Tony likes to count everything but Nate prefers to read the story.
On Sunday we rode the trikes and got some cool piccies/vid from it. Nate actually rode it, but Tony's legs are just not long enough to pedal so he likes to push them. Then Nate started to push and it was fun. They have to wear their helmets when they are riding, but not when they are pushing. Both didn't like Daddy pushing them preferring to push themselves.

20 June 09
This week started out very fun. Tony woke up at 1ish on Sunday night with stomach pains. He came into bed with us but wouldn't sleep. He then wouldn't sleep in his bed, so wifey took him downstairs to sleep there. He still had his stomach pains and then had a hard time walking so wifey took him to the hospital. It turned out that he has a poop blockage (found by an x-ray) so they had to give him an enema to remove it. To make sure that he didn't have a urinary tract infection and since he cannot pee on demand they extracted it from him (nice amount of screaming wifey said). He came home nice and empty and had a good sleep for the rest of the morning.
Monday Tony wouldn't pee as it hurt him. We thought that the tube that was put up his urethra made it raw, which was hurting him, so we gave him calpol. This didn't hurt so Child Health said give him a bath in baking soda which we did when I came home at dinner time. This didn't help so at 7PM wifey took him again to the hospital. After a hour wait they sneaked her in as Tony was screaming quite loudly. It turns out that they nicked him with the tube so that caused the pain while peeing. They said just give him pain med and wait it out.
Tuesday Tony was still in some pain, but by Thursday he was right as rain.

13 June 09
Its been a busy few weeks with major upgrades at work and such. Wifey has gotten fame through Operation Special Delivery. NBC did a show on the armed forces and since wifey was volunteering to doula a army wife, they wanted to interview her and show their first meeting. Kinda cool and the vid (well part with wifey) is on the front page and a link to the Today show for the whole segment is also there.
They are interacting loads and agruing with each other, so I suppose that won't stop until they leave home (33 more years if they are like their uncle..hee hee). The other day at dinner time this is there works.
Tony : "Nate all done"
Nate : "No Nonny, Nate not all done, I eat, I hungry"
Tony : "No, Nate all done" said with raising pitch at the end
Nate : starting to yell "I still eat, No Nate not all done"
This actually kept going on until I told them that no one leaves until Daddy is done, and went and got more food. Today they were arguing about who could do stuff. "I do stuff", "No, I do stuff", "ahhhh, No, I do stuff, mummy do stuff, daddy do stuff", "No Nate, I do stuff, mummy do stuff, daddy do stuff". Its like they want either preferential treatment or something to distinguish them compared to the other, but we can't do that. Ah well, the fun continues.
A couple of weeks ago, Nate was breathing hard. This was just after I (and alot of other people on the street) cut the grass (first cut of the yeat). Wifey was going out with Grammy and gg for a late Birthday dinner, so since we were concerned about Nate she took him with her to keep an eye on him while I played and put Tony to bed. Tony kept asking about Nate, but also realised that he had me to himself, so it was a win, lose time, depending upon what he wanted at the time. Natey went with the others to Salem Cross (high end place) and when they walked in everyone in the place probably thought Oh No (I would have). Well Nate was mega. He was sooooo well behaved, asking for rolls, food, etc. Eating salad, chicken, etc. Some of the poeple told wifey that they didn't realise that there was a little child in the resturant. Natey came back asleep, so that was cute.
We got a huge Thomas the Tank Engine (or Train for the US people) book which is one of the many books that we read at night. Its kinda cool and I like the stories as do the boys, esp since there are pictures in it, so they get to count and tell colours. Tony now knows his colours (or will tell you then) as does Nate and both count up to 20 (sometimes miss a couple of the teens). When they visit daddy at work, first things they do is go into my drawer to get candy then sit on my chair. They saw Fran the other day and Nate sang his ABC's. Right at the end he repeated the whole song again, so it was also funny. They are now telling each other off. Telling them to "sit down", "stop it". I suppose its a power trip and kinda funny esp since Nate has a forceful voice when doing it compared to Tony who just shouts or yells.

16 May 09
My parents came over for 3 weeks, which is why I haven't updated this. Not the best excuse, but its close to an excuse. Over the past few weeks, we have had wifey's birthday, Gran's birthday, Nick and Ty's birthday and mothersday. For mothersday we went to Applebees with Grammy and GG, so there were 4 mothers and 4 others in the group. Like last time, we waited ages for a table, but eventually got one and had good food and fun. Nate kept his love for salad and polished off half of wifey's. Smartest thing that we did was get the boys order straight away so they could eat (as we ate their fries) and not complain.
First weekend we went to Salem as it was a nice day. The GPS took us a way that was kinda nuts (would probably have been faster if I had followed it instead of branching off when we were in Boston). Around midday we tried to go to Friendlies then hit 30min wait, so we would try to go to another one. Being that there isn't another one that was close, we went to Salem. We didn't know any streets in Salem and traffic caused us to leave the highway early, so the GPS had a fun time taking us to the center. Eventually we got there and went to a diner for food. We just about ordered before 30 kids came in so we waited for a while as they coped with the extra orders. We walked around and had fun in Salem. The boys played with bubbles, ran around and got tickled. The boys were great walking around with us. We took the 2 little strollers so 2 people could push which allowed us to either have a boy of bag in them, which worked out great. They actually both slept in them late in the day which helped them as they were getting cranky. We found a park, so they were away. Tony in a swing (naturally) and Natey exploring everything. We tried to go to Friendlies on the way home, but after 5min wait to be seated, the boys were getting hungrey while we were waiting to order, so we left (Nate had his heart set on Friendlies and loved it when we found this one, so he was kinda upset when we left, but got over it quickly). We then went to Friendlies the next day, so everything was great.
The boys got some big ride on fire trucks from Nick and Ty (they have grown too big for them) and they love them. We put them on the paito and can only play on the red bricks so they don't go down the slopes and lose control of them. Hard part is getting them to leave them as food isn't an incentive yet (unlike their dad).
We went to Southwicks Zoo and saw all the animals. Probably their fav part was playing in the playground. They loved going down the slide, but you had to watch them as they would try to go up and down climbing things that were too big for them. The weather was great and gran couldn't stop laughing once she found that Grandad was ok after a fall. This then started Tony laughing with her, which kept Gran laughing. All this while wifey had a little trip back to the car to miss everything. The fall happened as we got ice-creams and sat at a table. The table was on a slight slope and Grandad was on the downside facing up. When he just sat down he toppled backwards onto his back. It happened in slow motion and he kept his ice-cream in tact (we all know what is important to Grandads). There was a baby Giraffe (2 months old) that was running around his little enclosure. I was holding Nate and we went to look. He came rushing round and Nate jumped so much it was kinda funny.
Natey had another trip to the hospital as at Playgroup he fell and banged his head on a metal railing. He head swelled up and wifey, the boys and a Playgroup person went to the hospital. I got Grandad to pick me up and we got Micky D's for them. When we got there Nate has a cut where his head was swollen, but it had dropped alot. Tony got an arm-band with brother on it as he wanted attention as well. Nate started to flirt with a pretty nurse compared to ignoring the doctors. Grandad took Tony to eat some food and me and wifey stayed with Nate. He was fine and trying to disasemble he bed. It was a nice looking bump though.
Gran and Grandad introduced the boys to listen cereal (rice crispies). It is their fav breakfast. They get milk put on it and hold it to their ears and listen to it crackle. Grammy came on Wednesdays as Gran and Grandad went to Bible Study. The next day, they were crying for Grammy, naturally. When Gran and Grandad left, we all saw them off. The next day Nate came down and was looking for Grandad as he was usually down before they got up. A little cry was heard, then another when they saw the walking group walking and Gran wasn't a part of it.

18 Apr 09
Fun stuff has been happening this week. At nights we (usually) read a Bible Story, Snoopy, Goodnight Moon. Goodnight Moon is a weird book that works great but its not something that I would read. To ruin it for you the noises everywhere is the last thing to say goodnight to. It first describes the room, like clocks, socks, etc, then says goodnight to them. It was good for them to point and know what everything is, which progressed into us starting the sentance then they finish it. Thursday Nate asked to read it by himself so I let him and he did, all the words, really cool. Then he did it for wifey on Friday (she was out at a dinner with Visitation House meeting 23 year old nuns and bishops, etc). Tony starts to read, then names absolutely everything on the page including ones not in the book.
Yesterday they went to Auntie Shirly's house to play in the yard. Sally was sitting on wifey and kissing her, so Tony wanted this, but Sally refused to kiss him. Nate isn't allergic to Sally which is great. They then had some tea and played in the yard. Wifey and Shirley told them to leave and Nate joined them but Tony stayed. Wifey and Shirly started to walk away when NAte said 'Mummy, no leave, no Noney'. So wifey (who knew this just wanted Tony to leave the yard), said 'Tony, come on, we're leaving and going home'. Tony's reply was a big smile and then he waved goodbye and went into the yard to play. Nate then said 'no leave, no Noney, Nate get Noney'. So wifey let him go and Nate ran to Tony and told him to leave and then held his hand the they both came to wifey and Shirley (and Sally, naturally). Just before that Tony had knocked his shoe off, so was complaining that it was off. Nate, being the older brother went over and helped him put his shoe back on.

13 Apr 09
Easter Sunday was last weekend. The boys had their piccy taken with the easter bunny and wifey said that they were really good with him. We (royal we) have been teaching the boys about the real meaning of Easter and somewhere in the translation the boys think that the easter bunny is Jesus. They know that Jesus is God, so thats really good. While saying our prayers we ask the boys if there is anyone that they wanted to pray for. Then they both replied 'God'. So we told them that we pray to God, which they replied 'no, one God'. Then Nate does his explaination 'no, not two God, one God' just to make sure we understood.
Grammy and GG came for Easter dinner where wifey made a great ham. The boys had just got over colds that morning, so only I went to Church. Grammy got the boys a rabbit throwing game which wifey and myself love and played with. They also got a little train set each which was the toy of the week (so far). Its little and goes around the track. Downside is that the off button on the train doesn't latch, so you constantly hear the chugging of the motor. On Sunday Grammy was playing with the train, putting the track together, fixing it when the boys step on it, making tunnels with paper, for like 1 hour. The train is a bit of a pain to get on the tracks (esp if you want the cars behind it) so Kim was constantly putting them on as the boys would take them off to put them back on, step on the track, move the track, etc. Me and wifey were just chilling with GG in the front room.

4 Apr 09
We had Joe over this week. Wifey was in the front room with the boys with Joe and I in the kitchen eating pumpkin pie. Nate came in and wanted some so he sat on my leg and proceeded to tell us that it was not cherry pie or apple pie but pumpkin pie. Very cute.
Wifey is in gardening phase. She got a little veggie garden to show the boys everything and planted loads of stuff (or they're from last year as I haven't dug any holes yet). She has carrots, peas, squash, then some normal flowers like morning glories, pansies. They are growing loads and the boys like to watch them, so every morning they point at them and try to uproot them when we aren't watching.
One of their new favourite songs is 'head, shoulder, knees and toes'. At Early Intervention they were singing that and these 2 were leading everyone (naturally at the top of their voices) and doing actions, which is great. I think that every 10 mins, after wifey got talking in the parents room, one of the helpers would bring in one of the boys as they wanted mummy. A quick cuddle, then they were off again.
Last weekend we were at Sturbridge after wifey helped out with a friend, by having a play date with their kids. They have twins and 2 older girls, so that was alot of fun for her. They loved playing in the fake garden at Sturbridge and whined when we went for the walk. They were then great on the big field as I was chasing them as they ran from tree to tree. We went on a horse pulled ride and then saw loads of animals. On the way back wifey went to get them a cookie, but they were outside with me and just cried for mummy, the store, and cookie. Everyone was watching, so I tried to entertain them (the boys that is) but instead probably entertained everyone else. Wifey appeared and the water works were gone and cookies were eaten. Everyone commented on the change in them as we walked back to the car. It was funny as Tony was trying to step on daddy, well my shadow, so I kept moving and he would run to stand on it.
We also visited Wal-Mart to get some door stoppers and new type sippies for the boys with straws. We met Grammy and GG there, so me and wifey unloaded them and ran away to do shopping. We got the stuff and I went to find the boys. They were getting some bubbles and then we went so they could choose their sippies and then we left (after some fun at the checkout - the boys were good, just Grammy being awkward). Outside the boys were blowing bubbles and doing a great job. They then continued as we had a bath, so now its a bath instead of shower as bubbles are easier in the bath.

22 Mar 09
Its been a while and I got told off by Casey's mum for not updating this every hour, so I had to. The snow is all gone and we didn't get a 2nd chance to go sledging and take vid of the boys, which is a shame, but next year hopefully Nate will go on the sled more. They love running up and down the hill.
Last weekend their cousin Chase had a birthday party with Scooby-doo. As usual we were slightly late, but got a ballon (shaped like a dog naturally) and they Scooby danced limbo with everyone. Nate had a death-grip on me but Tony was limboing, well since he was the youngest that could walk, he could just walk under it. They all danced and had fun, then it was playing with Chase's toys. Nate found the kitchen and that meant he was happy, while Tony always wanted the toys that the bigger kids were playing with. Kim and Lee were there (naturally) so that ment that I was forgotten about.
Kim then came over to watch the boys in the evening so we could go to a Third Day concert. When we were there the boys got a sister (we sponsored one).
Nate started to want to watch 'cars dvd' then says 'focus'. We didn't have a clue what he was going on about as they say 'man' for the one man band and 'mator' or 'bang' for the ghostlight, so we initially thought he was miss-saying 'tractor' but when he saw the tractors he would say tractor. Finally we watched the movie from the start and lightening says 'focus' so there you go (just like 'humour' from Mary Poppins).
Tony has been pushing Nate abit and gets time-outs for it (they still go straight to time-out when told, which is nice and easy). When Nate comes to you crying saying that Tony push or Tony hit, then you ask Tony if he did it (sometimes you see and still ask). Intially Tony would say no, so they I'd tell him about telling the truth and now most of the time he saying ok if he did it (all the time so far). Well the other day, I was in the kitchen, Nate comes in banging himself saying Tony hit, time-out Tony, 2 minutes and Tony goes and puts himself in time-out. I then ask Tony if he hit Nate and he says ok, so I then gave him a time-out. On the one man band cartoon, a little girl snatches a violin, so now the boys have started to give her a time-out, kinda funny as she doesn't go in the corner, no matter how many times they give her one.
Wifey has been having quite a few play-dates with the boys. They went to see Edwin and Serena who are twins and are a couple months younger than ours. Edwin was just having fun while Serena wanted to kiss the boys. Nate was scared of her and Tony was just chilling while getting a smooch like it was normal to him. There dad is a pro boxer so I went with Dan to see him fight in Worcester (first fight on home turf) on Thursday. That was a first for both of us and a fun time (we got Dan to eat cauliflower!!!). Yesterday they went to a friends where they have 2 older girls and twin boys (year older than our 2), so they all had fun. Since the boys slept for a couple minutes in the car I met them at Sturbridge Village and we had a great day out seeing all the animals. Both were telling us what each animal was and it was hard getting them out of the play garden. Speaking of gardening, they were helping us last Sunday afternoon. They were raking leaves (first into a pile, then out of a pile), picking up sticks, running around. Best thing was my excuse to not do anything as I was entertaining the boys, but they helped out and have been doing with wifey during the week.

7 Mar 09
Its getting hard to remember what happened last weekend (the main part that I'm around), but I suppose thats age. One thing that did happen is that is snowed on Sunday night. We thought that it was going to be a girlie snow storm, but Monday morning it was 8" deep. The Sunday night wifeys school got cancelled, so that ment that it was a 7:15 get up time instead to 645, whooo hoo. I shovelled one car out so I could go to work, then shovel out the other car at dinnertime. Turns out there was a shutdown, so wifey had to shovel with the boys. They helped me last time, which is fun, so they had a blast.
Sat night we had a date night which was great and needed. Kim and Lee came over to watch the boys so we had dinner and a movie. Best time is just chilling with wifey. I think this is where Kim found out about a bonus feature on the Cars dvd. Its a short film of a one man band, which they now love. I got totally confused as they ask for cars dvd, then say man as I didn't think that there was a man in the cars movie (which there isn't), but there you go.
We went to Christmas Tree shop yesterday and their fav thing in the place is watching a huge marble ball rotate in a circle. We visited that like 4 times, but its ok. When we were in open space with no cars around, I let them walk without holding my hand. They did good, apart from once when Tony wouldn't listen, so he was holding my hand for the rest of the outing. There is also a little bridge that goes over the stream. Since we've had such good weather, it was flowing, so they liked watching that. They love to jump in puddles like any kid, so we let them alot of the time since they have fun. They get wet legs, but we change their clothes every day, so no real change to anything.

28 Feb 09
Last Sunday we went to the Auburn Mall since it was very cold outside. We met Grammy and GG there so I was able to sit down and chill with GG while Grammy sang bear went over the mountain (I still don't have the right words for that song) taking the boys around the place (nice rest for daddy). Grammy and mum took the boys to a photo booth but after waiting for 10mins with no photos, we all went to customer service for refund (had to happen to us). They boys saw a train ride on the way in, so we went on that and they had a blast. Nate capitalised the bell most of the time, but Tony had a couple of bangs.
Its funny in the morning, they boys usually wake up when the alarm goes off, so we all go downstairs together. After that the boys keep asking for Grammy (we all know who the fun one is). I remember when they would have a little cry when I left for work, but not anymore. They just wipe my kisses away and say bye daddy, I suppose thats what growing up is all about.
Wifey took them to some outlets where they had some rides so they were playing on them having a blast. Wifey needed to get change for them so bought some Lindt chocolates. Nate went back to the woman with the chocolates (outside the shop) and asked her for money. She said that she only had a credit card or she would give him some and that she was sorry. Nate replied OK, then left her alone. After that Tony decided to remove empty wooden shelving from the store, but he put it back afterwards, so that was ok. When I got home, they were telling me about Spiderman and asking me for money (I thought they said mummy), so wifey filled me in about the afternoon and they it was a Spiderman ride that needed money that they went on. USual thing... dads left out again.
This morning at breakfast Tony sang the entire 'fly a kite' song which was really good. He usually wakes up at 6AM, has a quick yell then goes back to sleep until we get up. Earlier in the week he decided to count to 14 very loudly and clearly then go back to sleep for 45mins. Its a very different alarm clock to what I'm used to.

21 Feb 09
When we thought that the stomach bug was all done, it reappeared again the week after for a few days with throwing up a couple of times, so we were always careful when they looked like they were gonna vomit (for some reason Tony liked to fake it). After a few more steam cleans, we got the house smelling normal for Uncle Dave's and Auntie Gemma's visit. Their plane got in early which was nice so I picked them up late. Tony was his normal self with them, but Nate was shy, which is how he is. The next day (Uncle and Auntie were up at like 5AM) both boys were great with them. We told Nate that Uncle could drum, so now he's his hero. I shows bro the boys doing chin ups on the house, but when Nate did it, he made sure that Uncle was watching else he wouldn't make the effort.
Bro put Tony's t-shirt on with his arm sticking out of the neck. Auntie said that Uncle should get a time-out for doing this, so Tony gave him one. He took him by the hand and led him into the corner and told him to sit. Bro kept moving, so Tony would take him by the hand, lead him back to the corner and say 'stay corner' then 'no be bad'. Bro still kept moving and Tony kept bringing him back to the corner (we got some of this on vid when we did it another time). Nate (being the sweetie) told Uncle to 'say sorry' but when bro said it to Tony, Tony replied 'no sorry, stay corner, no be bad'. I think we have a future dictator on our hands.
Since bro and Gemma were up early, they saw bro eat oatmeal, so they wanted some... every day... well its cute. I don't know why but whatever Uncle did, they wanted to do, and when he wasn't around, they asked for him, then Auntie Gemma, then me or wifey, whoever wasn't around (4th fiddle!). Dave and Gemma had a little scare with their Disney trip flights, which caused un-needed stress over the next few days but everything got sorted.
We visited Mike and Nilda on Sunday after Church and we played with their little pug, Charlie. The boys loved him until he jumped up on them and since he's the same height on his hind legs, his paws came right at chest height, pushing them back. At that point, the boys were afraid, so they would run, which looks like a game to Charlie, so he would chase after them. After about 5 mins, the boys would be curious again and try to find him again. In the evening, Dave was feeling ill and started to throw up. This was probably caused by the stress and sensitive stomach to garlic, so he had fun for the next 3 days by not properly eating or being himself. We told the boys that he was sick and throw-up so they stayed away from him (I suppose they remember how they felt). Auntie then became the favourite, even though she was 1st pass when it cames to sitting with someone before bro got ill.
Bro got better and then the boys were back to themselves playing with him and doting on him. On Thursday (our Anniversary) Kim came over to watch the boys so the 4 of us could go out for Valentines day (me and bro had gotten the wifey's flowers and Chinese so all bases were covered). That was really nice and we all had a great time. In a couple of weeks we get our night away, which is gonna be great. Kim gave us one last year and that was soo much needed and fun, so its something to look forward to. She doesn't have to do it so we REALLY appreciate it as we can just pay attention to each other instead of have our minds on the boys. Nice thing is this year they are sleeping alot better, so it should be easier for Kim. A HUGE thank you when you read this, which will be in about 2 years when my next book is published.

7 Feb 09
The boys were still recovering from the stomach bug this week. Nate threw up about 3 times and Tony twice during the week. Nate had 2 very wet poops. One in the morning while he was still in bed which covered his entire crib, toys and floor (enter the borrowed for like 4 months steam vac). This was fun. The other time he did it in the kitchen, so I got him cleaned before it got anywhere. That was kinda gross as his foot was wet. Naturally these were the times that wifey was working, so she missed out that fun (not to say that she didn't have any more fun during the rest of the day and previous week).
We had a small snow storm that turned into another small ice storm, which wasn't anything like before but coated all the snow and made it a real pain, esp the wet hard heavy snow at the end of the drive from the plow. Other hard part is that it was warm the day before so we had water run off from underneath the banks, then the snow/ice and the entire drive is coated, which is fun. Last weekend we got sledges for the boys and Sunday I put them on it (ontop of the ice coat). They weren't fans of it but since we had a girlie snow storm during the week (only 6") it should be enough to ride on it easier than last week. As long as they have fun, thats all that matters. Tigger and Pooh bear are still hidden, so they are out of sight out of mind and I think we're going to put the tree down tonight (esp since Uncle Dave and Auntie Gemma are coming on Thursday).
Bob and Kasey adopted another girl, so that makes it 5!!! Fun part is that Elle is 3 week older (or younger) than Lizzy, so they essentially have twins... JOY!!! We're going to see if they need any of our stuff, like a 2nd swing, etc as they would only have 1 of everything.
We have started the boys to eat at the table. First it was a treat, then I raised the booster seats and they are a nice height, so its a permenant fixture. We put mats on the table so they get used to them and don't make as much of a mess (and its actually working!!!). They are now buckled in since Nate would climb down and sit with his legs over the side of the chair. Nate also likes to put his feet on the table, but that is getting stopped. For some reason Tony doesn't do this. I don't know why, but it makes it easier. They are getting less (and more) picky on food and choose what to eat. Tony has a thing about things sticking to the roof of his mouth, so needs a towel to remove it when he eats sandwiches (usually give him toast). Today I told Tony to eat some ham, so he picks up some toast, huge grin, said 'ham' and took a big bite. At least he's eating.
The sentances are coming more and more. It seems that Tony is rushing his words more so that he doesn't keep up with them and then stumbles half way though his sentances. Nate had a stack of pans and wanted to put them in the microwave (theirs, not ours) and Tony said 'Nate, too big for microwave' (or something similar). Then I questioned him about where else they could go and he said 'oven no too big'. The hard part is when they are at the table and want something that you cannot understand so you go through everything that you think that they can see and would want to eat. It turns out that they are commenting that there is a mixing bowl on the counter (they cook with wifey and she lets them mix). Took me ages to figure out that 'tix' really is mix, but eventually it happened. I taught them 'fart' as they kept telling me 'poop' when they hadn't. They would say 'poop, no poop' as they know the difference, so this way they will get the wording. When Tony is getting changed, he will say 'bang ??? nose' and then squash your nose, kinda fuuny.

31 Jan 09
Sickness has been rampant here. It started on Saturday night when Tony would cough then wheeze really badly. We thought that it was something with his Reactive Air Disease so Wifey took him to the ER at midnight and I stayed with Nate. She returned at 4AM with Tony diagnosed with Croup. The night air clears Croup so if it happens again, we should take him outside in the cool air. Sunday was fun watching Tony for his wheezing and he spent Sunday night with us as we watched him. Tony started to vomit Monday morning and it just continued throughout the day (about 8 times). He went to the doctors Monday night at was diagnosed with stomach bug and an ear infection ontop of the croup. The vomitting would stop in about a day then diarrhea would then start. It started and so we were just trying to get fluids in him all the time.
Tuesday and Tony was just the same as normal apart from having the runs. Nate decided to vomit 7 times during Monday night, which meant that he had the bug (but no croup). Wifey was with him until 4AM and then I took over and he only threw-up twice with me then went to sleep. Nate doesn't want to use the bucket or even throw-up into a towel, just the floor or wifey. Nates runs started the next evening and I started to feel ill (naturally on the way home from work). I threw-up in the evening and then started with the runs, so all 3 boys were ill. I took Wednesday off and it was actually a snow day for wifey so she was able to take care of us all day. Only thing that I did was shovel the driveway, leaving wifey to change LOADs of diapers.
Thursday we went back to the doctors as Tony was very listless. We had to encourage him to drink by saying that we would have to take him to the doctors if he didn't. The doctor said that his ear infection was nearly finished and that just keep on with the fluids and he was get better. By Friday, the vomitting stopped apart from once each in their cribs, so thats an improvement. The runs stopped also on Friday. I was feeling better and started to eat but Tony continues to be listless (maybe its his way of dealing with illness). Tony has been waking up during the night and then after about 1 hour in bed with us he moves around and wakes us up. I put him back in his crib and tell him that he's a big boy and that big boys sleep in their own bed. This actually has worked on two consecutive nights so thats a great benefit.
Nate has been eating better, but we've been getting them to graze throughout the day so we don't hit their stomachs with too much food which seemed to work apart from Tony threw up last night. This morning Tony looks alot better and I think Nate is back to his normal self. Tony wants to be carried everywhere but is in good spirits so hopefully this is over with. It was a long week and its alot better chasing them out of the bathroom and hunting for the special toy that they have misplaced compared to this. One of the hardest parts is the constant whining for and about everything. They won't ask or tell you somthing they whine it (cute for the first 60 or so hours). Mary Poppins is the only thing that they want. We have watched about 10 times with fav songs (spoonful of sugar, holiday with Mary and ultimate Lets go Fly a Kite) numerous more times (I have these 3 songs going through my head all day at work). We were watching the Kite song and then suddenly they both liked the word humour that a bloke said (Mr Dawes Jr actually) so that was rewinded and watched loads, but at least it brought a smile to their faces.
Its funny when you tell the boys that there is 'no more' which to us means that they are getting no more, but to them it means that you literally have no more. So they decide to let you know the best way to rectify the situation by telling you "buy more ???" as in 'buy more cars' when you have given them all that you can find. Or 'buy more ice' when you only give them 2 ice cubes and say no more. Its funny.

24 Jan 09
Wifey is liking her new job and so is Kim as she gets to spend the morning with the boys. Natey's cough started to get worse, so we took him to the doctors on Thursday night (6PM appt which meant that I could go). Being that is was about his breathing he had to have a oxygen monitor on his foot which he didn't like. I had to hold him to stop him kicking then he was still crying alot. We started to sing Bear went over the mountain but he said no bear. We started jingle bells which when the 2 nurses sang he started to as well and calmed down. I don't think that there are many times where at the end of January there will be 4 adults and 2 children singing Christmas Carols, but then again twins aren't normal either.
Tony's had a couple of poos and pees on the potty, which is great. Natey only sits on it for fun and gives a grunt but nothing comes out. They are sitting at the table more instead of with their trays on thier seats. Makes more of a mess and you have to police them more, but its going forward. Tony has gotten back into the habbit of throwing the toy when he has finished with it, so we get him to pick it back up and put it down properly else time-out. Hopefully he'll learn as the blocks can hurt if you are in the way of them. Both listen to the warning that you give them then try to push it by doing something similar to what you told them not to do. One reason is that they are finding where the line is, but I think its stubborness and trying to get away with it.
Building is still one of the main things that they do. I suppose that its since Daddy likes to build, to they keep me happy. Tigger and Pooh bear are still hidden by the snow (over a week now) so it might be time to remove them from the front garden for the year. Either that of leave them until the snow goes like last year. Maybe we'll even put the tree down today!!!!
Their talking is getting up to 6-7 words in a sentance. Sometimes we still need an interpretator, but most is fine, especially when they point to what they want. Like at present, Nate is saying "dady no write", then he says "daddy write Nate Tony" so I don't know what he really wants. Also you cannot get away with anything as they tell what they see. I banged a plate on the wall with the broom, so for like 5 mins they were saying, 'daddy hit plate uh oh". This is the same at night when they give their demands for what to do the next day where the usuals are "daddy popcorn noise", "mummy noise coffee", "no daddy work", "draw tomorrow, popcorn tomorrow, ok".

17 Jan 09
This week wifey had an interview for a morning job then the next day had her first day. She's teaching ESL to kids from war torn countries (probably sounds better than it is.. hee hee). She takes kids out of class to help them with English, one on one time. This is every morning so Kim agreed to watch the boys (we asked her first). Kinda funny as the school wanted wifey until the end of school day, but since she had to leave at 11:30, they said ok and accomodated her.
Only main thing this week was we found that Nate has a mild allergy to Strawberries. He got a small rash on his belly and that was it. We got some drugs from CVS and he's fine today (found out yesterday). I usually write this at breakfast or lunch on a Sat, but now Natey is telling me not to write.. so since its been a standard week, I'll be off.

10 Jan 09
Its been quite quiet beween Christmas and New Year. Nate alot of the time wants to go on the potty during dinner time. I don't know why, but he doesn't do anything on it, just sits there for a while. Hoepfully soon something will come out as he's been there for 2 days. I still haven't found any sledges so either thery are specialised or I'm going blind. Hopefully I'll be able to get them before the next snow storm as I'll have loads of fun and maybe will the boys (wifey got the hot chocolate ready for us).
The new fav song is the bear climbed over the mountain. Kim brought this to them so I butchered it as I forgot how it really goes, but hopefully its close enough not to mess everything up. I put actions to it, which they love. Wifey just finished folding loads of clothes in the bathroom the other day as I was playing with the boys in the front room. Wifey came in and we chilled for a while then heard the boys go into the bathroom. She said that all the folding will be a total mess, I said that we'll hear the toilet getting flushed. We then went in and saw Tony pulling out a towel from the toilet and putting it with the other towels that he had just washed which were sitting on the pile of clean folded clothes. Nate (naturally) was not involved apart from the fact he was just as wet as Tony and laughing his little head off. Water was all over the floor and both boys were quite wet. At least it was shower time for them. I changed the shower to a moveable head and they're now shower boys. I blast them then give them turns with it. Most of the time they keep it on themselves or blast the shower curtain, but I sometimes have gotten a couple of splashes (for some reason they find that entertaining). It keeps both boys nice and warm, clean, entertained, and its quick.. bonus.

27 Dec 08
Well Christmas day is over with. It was fun getting and being there. Jesus is one day older and we celebrated it, which is the TRUE meaning of Christmas and the only reason the day exists. The weekend before it snowed starting on Friday and continued until Sunday. 4 times shovelling 6-8inches a time is kinda tiring. The boys went out to play on Sat (Wifeys lie in), so I got her up at 11AM with the boys dressing in winter stuff so we could go out. They had a blast and we got good video of it. They helped me abit with shovelling but mainly just played in it. Sunday was the same. They were a bit more daring and helped the shovelling my tring to even out the piles of snow (moving the big pile onto the no-existant pile on the driveway, I loved the help.) They they held the shovel while I carried them around so they actually shovelled some snow. Main place they wanted me to shovel was so I could uncover the inflatable Tigger and Pooh bear as they didn't like not seeing it.
The boys broke into the bathroom while I was showings and wifey was cooking, so since they then decided to take their clothes off to join me, I let them. It was fun and quicker than a bath, so we started to ask them if they want a bath or a shower. Tony's been eating ham and turkey by itself! We used to have to disguise with butter and bread in an invention that we like to call a buttie (sandwich to the US readers).
We finally got the Christmas stuff ready for the boys, Kim was coming over about 7:15 with mum, dad, Dave and Gemma watching by webcam to see the boys open their prezzies. Kim got the boys a kitchen, which wasn't that hard to put together, but better if I could find the battery charger for my drill. The boys woke up and came down about 7:15 and started to play with the kitchen and loved it. They then opened prezzies that we gave them (loads of video). Main prezzies were a drum and piano, a kids drill set, medical stuff from us, the kitchen + accessories, Elmo live doll, from Kim and clothes from all (they had used the winter stuff from Gran and Grandad the weekend before.) Tony saw the big carving knife in the kitchen set and wanted that, then proceeded to attack the rest of the wrapping paper with it. He also went to get the biggest prezzie that he could find and open that (which was for wifey and myself from Kim). It was a banner with the kids picture on it, which is really nice. I got wifey a book from my childhood, a surprise that will come in the following weeks and some croc type shoes that she chose (oh yea and chocolate, which is a given.) Wifey got me a magic set, and a cup with the boys piccy on which is mega.
We went to Uncle Scotts after dinner and got more prezzies and had loads of fun and food with everyone. They got a remote control car each and they have fun running over their toes and Elmo. All by accident as they press both buttons (forward, reverse and turn) at the same time and both cars are on the same frequency. They love the potty. Not to use, but to sit on, flush the chain and pull toilet paper. They say they are doing a poo, but don't, even when sitting for 20 mins. When 1 sits, the other one wants to, so after perpetually taking turns 1 time, they have 1 go and thats it. When they do a poo they get a Hersey kiss (Tony had 2 so far and Nate 1) and a chocolate chip for a good effort.

6 Dec 08
I cannot believe that its Dec already. Thanksgiving was good, I had a 4-day weekend and 1 call-in, but loads of turkey, ham and food. Kim and Lee came over and we ate and chilled (when the boys slept). We then went over to Kims to see the rest of the family and eat more food. They boys played with Chase, Nick and Ty, but mainly putting a key in a keyhole.
They helped me with the leaves (good precident). We all went outside (they were bundled) and I made a pile of leaves that they like to bang around with sticks. Eventually they started to move leaves from 1 pile onto the tarp that I used to carry them with, so that was nice (finally paying they way).
The boys are loving the Snoopy book at the moment, so that is out every night before bedtime. All the time, its 'no, Snoopy read'. The other day when I was getting picked up I got in the car and Nate started to say 'no daddy', then he started to cry while saying it. This is alongside Tony always so 'mummy drive, no daddy drive, mummy drive', lucky me eh. Another time, the boys were arguing (for once) Nate was pointing at his sippy and saying 'Nate, no Tony (well nee nee)' then Tony would yell back 'no Nate, Tony' pointing to his sippy. This went on and on for about 5 mins. Alot of time they will say to each other 'no milk, juice' while the other one would say 'no juice, milk'. I don't think that they care whether its milk or juice, they just like to say it.
Both are getting good at counting. Yesterday I was playing with cuppies with Nate (he was hording them with like 5 and giving me and Tigger 2 each) and Tony came over and counted Nate's 5 cuppies pointing to each one as he said the number. Then being Tony he grabbed one of Nates and ran away. Nate was then yelling 'Mine' all the time until Tony gave it him back. This is a fun age.
They are more and more physical by pushing and shoving each over, sitting on each other (the other day while wifey was changing them), running into each other, grabbing and pulling, no wonder they have bruises everywhere. I actually took them out by myself to Target to get supplies without the double stroller (in the van which we should get back next week). They wanted to push the cart, which was fun, and eventually one would ride in it. I had fun doing it, but I don't think that I would do it as often as wifey.
We got the corner fireplace in the front room and it looks great. The boys get a time-out for banging the mantle, and touching the actual fireplace (its cold until the blower comes on which is not very often). We have it unplugged most of the time, but when they ask for it to be on, they will check that it is plugged in. Tony was the first (and hopefully only) to take a chunk out of the mantle with a toy, and this was after only 4 days.

7 Nov 08
We have had a LOT going on in the past month, which is why I haven't had the time to update this, so sorry, but this will be a biggie. It all started the weekend before my parents came for their visit. The boys went to the eye doctor on Wednesday since they were premies they like to give them an eye test early. We waited in the waiting room for 40 mins before being seen and that was a 10AM appointment, lucky us. Everything was checked out and the doctor used toys to distract them which was cute. He put eye drops in to dilate the eye so he could see better but Tony just would cry and cry. Everything looked good and I went back to work and wifey took them home with Tony still crying. On the home he threw up in the car, but when they got home wifey cleaned him up and put them to bed and they slept. When they woke up Tony was misserable and kept crying. She noticed that he was breathing hard so she called Child Health and went with him at 6PM. I stayed home with Nate. Wifey then called me saying that she was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Tony's breathing got worse when they were at Child Health and he took 42 deep breaths a minute. They gave him 3 doses of albuterol and he didn't react to them, so they sent him to the hospital. Kim watched Nate and I joined Tony and wifey. They gave Tony some steroids and more albuterol to help his breathing but it was still high and he kept crying. The only way he stopped crying is when the pysio gave him a popsicle. The nurses brought in toys and we watched cartoons while Tony would try to sleep (or we hoped he would). He fell asleep about 10ish then they took him for a chest x-ray, so he was plied with more popsicles and cartoons. He fell asleep again about 2ish and then 30mins later he was admitted to a room on the next floor. The room had 4 beds and was shared by a 4 year old. Tony had a crib but slept in wifes arms while I left about 3AM.
I came the next morning and they were playing in Child life area which is where volenteers play with the kids. He was responding to treatment (steriods and albuterol) which was every 2 hours overnight (they can do it while he and wifey slept, so they increased it to every 3 hours (need every 4 hours so he can go home), There wasn't alot of wheezing or crackling in his lungs, so he was improving. Wifey went home to shower and I stayed with Tony. Cheryl, Meg, Heidi came to visit and Tony finally fell asleep. I tried to put him in the crib and he woke up. A new person with a big 2 year old was admitted into our room. Most of the time when Tony was awake he was either in the Child Life room (when it was open), playing with the bike/car/truck or watching Mary Poppins on the laptop. Wifey returned with Kim and Nate and both played in child life room and had loads of fun. Kim left around 8ish and then I left with Nate about 9ish. Tonys treatments increased to every 4 hours, so he was nearly ready to go home. He wouldnt sleep so wifey walked with him all around the hospital until 1030PM. Tony wouldn't want to walk, so wifey was carrying him most of the time (it all started when wifey got a coffee). They both visited around the Childrens ward and were talking and cheering everyone up (thats Tony's smile for you).
Kim came over Friday morning to watch Nate and we picked up the van. It didn't smell even though Tony had been sick in it, then I went to see Tony. He was already playing in the Child life area. His treatments were every 4 hours so were were getting discharged. We left the hospital about 3PM with 2 perscriptions for him. One inhaler for every morning and hight until Spring and some anti-biotics for 4 days. He has an emergency inhaler incase he has trouble breathing.
On the Sunday, we went to the buffalo farm and saw buffalo. They didn't bother much with them, but loved feeding the fish infront of the store and climbing up the fence (with our help of course). Tony slept through the night for 2 days then started waking up at about 2AM, so he was brought into our bed as he's still not over the hospital. Gran and Grandad came the following Monday. I went to meet them but needed toll money, so I left earlier to go the bank. When I got there I saw a power blip in the area which meant that the ATM machine was rebooting. When it finished it rejected my card for some reason, so I went the non-toll way and therefore was late (again).
First day they were here, Gran got bit by some stuff and her arm swelled up, so I visit to the ER, 2 types of antibiotics, no sun, 7 days and she was back to herself. The boys showed off what they could for Gran and Grandad, jumping, talking and telling them what to do. They had loads of fun drawing, so Gran and Grandad got them some little chalk boards to make it easier instead of using the big easle and paper. They love erasing what they have drawn more than drawing. Gran and Grandad fed into the boys facination of cleaning by getting them dust pan and brushes and sponges. So now they are forever wiping stuff or brushing the floor, which is fun to watch (and nice to have). They also love mopping and vacuuming. Nate used to be scared of the vacuum (still doesn't like it pointing towards him) but now he wants to use it all the time. They are just about strong enough to lift the end and move it. Mum and dad moved the furniture in the kitchen so they could mop under it and Nate would talk about that for the next 2 hours when asked. You would say what did you do and he would say move chair and point to the chair, then mop. This was rinse and repeat whenever you asked him about it. They are the same on Fridays when they help with the bins. You ask 'what did you move?' and they would say 'bin', then 'wood', then you would ask 'what did you open?' and they would say 'door'.
On the Sunday we went to Newport. Gran wasn't feeling too well, so the 5 of us just went. Nate walked everywhere, but Tony was getting carried most places (the way that he normallly does). We made a stand a couple of time which he hated, but it worked. Its not that he is tired, but gets bored walking as we found when Nate started to walk to walls or run with dad.
The next weekend, we went to Mystic aquarium on the Saturday where we saw whales, penguins, seals, fish, sharks, and other stuff. The whales were next to a glass screen so you could watch them swimming around. The boys probably had the most fun just running around the paths. They put little walkthroughs on them just big enough for kids, so we were running both sides chasing them having fun. On the Sunday the Mothers of Twins club organised their Halloween party for a breakfast (on a Sunday!!!). Wifey and the boys went since I was at Bible Study, then they came with Gran and Grandad for the service. Tony as a mouse, Nate as a cat. The boys loved it and played with all the other twins. We went for a walk in the afternoon (I finally cut the grass during the week) but most of the time was spent playing in the leaves running up and down the hill next to the driveway. I gotta sweep all the leaves into a big pile when they all drop so they can play in them. They went to their local park (or Shirleys back yard) and ran around there loads.
Gran and Grandad introduced a new song - twenty tiny fingers its a fun song to sing with them and nicely enough about twin (boy /girl though). Grandad picked me up on Friday and the starter in the car went, so I had to have it towed to my mechanic. He replaced that and said that since wifey drives to Boston, I should look at getting a replacement soon as its got 120000 miles on it and the cat is coming loose within the exhaust system. Wifey found a 2003 Hyundai with 12k miles on it, so we got that. Great deal and the car is very nice. We changed the boys schedule to having breakfast about 730 when I get up and lunch about 1130 before nap time instead of after. This way wifey gets chance to take the boys out in the early afternoon instead of late afternoon, which is nice for all of them. We tried to do that before, but they wouldn't go down for a nap (20 mins of crying). We also take bigger food to Church (like pizza) so they can have that before we leave to keep a similar schedule. Tony has started to sleep through the night again instead of joining me and wifey at 2AM. Gran and Grandad left today. Gran usually has her slippers on, but since they were leaving she didn't, so Nate climbed over the fence and got her shoes and climbed back over to give her them.
Tony has for the past like 6 months no wanted anything in his crib apart from his blanket. Nate on the other hand would sleep in a toybox. Tony will bring something up like the Elmo phone or a hair brush, but when going to sleep, he throws it out of his crib, where Nate then wants it in his. The boys dressed up as a mouse (Nate) and a Giraffe (Tony) for Halloween (Nate didn't want the cat, but the mouse, then Tony didn't want the cat, so wifey got last years Giraffe). Wifey was taking them to see Grammy then off to St.Vincients to see her aunt but a young girl hit the side of the van while she was turning into the Dunkins parking lot. An ambulance ride to the hospital for a checkup and we returned home (they were great) with only 1 mode of transport. Tony was fine in the hospital but Nate didn't want anything done to him (just like his dad). The girl hit Nates side going enough speed to set off the air-bags and give a nice dent to the car. That is getting fixed so my boss is taking me to work and wifey picking me up. We can cope with 1 car, but its nicer with 2. This is Tony's 4th trip in an ambulance (and 2nd in a month) while its my 1st. I went with Nate and got car sick (I think he did as well, either that or just wanted mum). Wifey rode with Tony and he was asking the EMT all sorts of questions while riding (only 2 people allowed in an ambulance).
Last weekend we painted the front room a green colour. When stating it didn't look nice, but when finished it looks great (same way the downstairs bathroom did). They went for thier ears to be tested this week. They have pigs and sheep that move and make noises to get the kids to look at them. Nate didn't like them and asked them to go night night. Tony on the other had told the lady what to do like 'more pig'. Both have good hearing, just choose to ignore us sometimes. They had their 2nd or the mmr shots and Tony now is getting a cold, so it was a fun night last night, and probably will be for a few more.

22 Sep 08
We got a new camera the other week so wifey can carry it around with her easier than the big one. Nice thing about this is its shock proof (5ft), water proof (15ft), and freeze proof (-14F), so we can take it anywhere and have snow shots without wondering about freezing moisture and stuff (also I'm not the most careful so it could drop). We ran out of space on the video on the other camera (I know its not a camcorder, but its good enough for us) so I used this and the sound in horrible enough for me to write to Olympus... waiting thier reply. The pictures come out great though.
Illness has struck the family. I got a cold on Friday and Tony grabbed it on Saturday morning. We stopped using the sleep stuff on Tony since his skin dramatically improved with the aquafor. He slept though the night with the sleep stuff and continued without it, so that was nice. This weekend his cold helped him to wake up, esp last night. I went into their room since Nate was also awake and sang the wheels on the bus for 20 mins to get them to sleep, then after about 20 mins Tony woke up so wife went in. Since Nate was asleep Tony was brought in for comfort. He crawled from wify onto my lifeless body, which suddenly woke up and he stayed for an hour on my chest (it took me back to the shift times). After that I think he wanted to give mummy some lovin' and crawled onto her chest for a while. This stopped when he had his head on me and feet on wifey and his feet got restless. I put him back in his crib and he slept. This morning he was in such better spirits, its great (I'm feeling alot better as well since you were asking).
Sunday since Tony had a runny nose I stayed home with him and wifey went to Church with Nate. Tony kept asking for Nate and got me involved all the time. Wifey said that Nate was hanging around her more and kepts asking for Tony. It was weird as Sat morning I usually end up sprawled on the couch watching footy (UK) or F1 while the boys play together. My main interaction is saying no, letting them have rides and getting a mid-morning snack/sippy. Sunday morning I was playing all morning as Tony is used to playing with someone, so it was dad (I had fun like normal). I kept him awake until 12:30 so him and Nate were on similar sleep schedules. Tony now calls Nate - Nate instead of Nay-nate, so thats really cool.
This morning wifey sat on the ground with them and said count to 5 with mum for some M&M's. They counted to 5 and mum said now to 10, but by that time they were going for her hands with the M&M's in them - getting too smart for us. Tony is getting fussy with food, so we've started to go rewards for a 'final' bite of meat. He will cry when you ask him and cover his face but with his fingers open so he can still see you. He is stubbon and won't give in. While this is happening Nate has the reward and finished all his meat after that incase he got a bonus reward for having no meat with a 1ft radius of him. Sometimes Tony gives in, but not its not the norm. Seeing how he is with this shows that if we start to change it to no dessert when they get older he won't be eating dessert for most of his life.
Speaking of food, we have a wicked cute vid footage that I'm going to put up (soon) of them sharing an apple. Its amazing how much they actually ate of it after they were 'all done'. At least they like fruit. I'll also put on their first eating of corn on the cob. Tony refused first bite, then Nate tried to eat it wrong. I showed Nate how to eat it, then Tony wanted some since it looked like fun.

13 Sep 08
The boys had their birthday the other week, it was fun. I put together this 2nd year vid and its quite funny at the end as I didn't bother editing. Natey likes to say the words to Vegietales theme tune (TV version) so we tried like 8 times to get him to do it. Since I didn't edit, all these times are in, funny though. Since their birthday was on a Sunday it gave the opportunity for a big gathering. Gran, Grandad, uncle Dave, Aunti Gemma, Grammy, and Great Grammy were all there for prezzie opening. Well, Grammy got them a house which is awesome. I put it up Sat night and Grammy came over before the boys got up (I was supprised as well) so she could see their faces when they saw it. Its a outside house that we have put inside, and I will have to disasemble to put it somewhere else. They got a maze from Gran and Grandad, which they run around. Its a sping folding type so they cannot trash it and it can be very compact if we ever get round to putting it away. Wifey cooked a red velvet cake which looked great and tasted great (boys loved it, and so did I). We got them a painting set, but we haven't set it up yet as they still play in the house sooooo much. They were dedicated at Church so it was a really special day for them (kept saying house all the time as they wanted to be home and play in it). Tony has been waking up during the night for the last week. He came in with us on one night, but most of the time wifey goes and comforts him for a while. On the plus side, they aren't waking up until well after 7AM, which is good for me (I get up after 6AM). Tony had a skin appointment and the doctor told us after the cream to coat him in aquafor which would ensure that the cream says there. He also gave us something to help him sleep so he doesn't scratch while sleeping. Tony also has some swollen lymph nodes that kinda scared us as we initially didn't know what they were, but their 2 year check-up was close by and these were caused when he got bit by mosquitos so they will go down in a month. The new time-outs have been so much easier. They stay where they are told and don't really move. Nice thing is that we can get rid of the old high chair that we used to use for time-outs. Both enjoy playing hide and seek with toys. I hide a toy under blankets, pillows or obscure places and they go and find it. After about 8 games or so they get bored, but its fun. Their new fav show is Mary Poppins. They love the songs and sing them all the time. Sometimes this drives me crazy in the van, but I suppose its better than the same Elmos World dvd for the 200th time (had that all the way down and back from PA since its the only way we could take without crying. Wifey was at Visitation House the other Wed and Tony was asking for Mummy (Nate usually stays at the Window for 5-10 mins asking for her until I can get his attention on something else), so I said Mummy will come back, so he started saying 'come back Mummy', kinda cute I thought. When I was working on the shutdown and it was another very late night I got a mega nice message (I didn't hear the phone ring) on the voicemail before the boys went to bed saying night night to me. The Sat after thier birthday we had their party. It was fun (I was called into work, but got back in time). Aunti Cheryl made a cake which was nice and we forgot candles. OK, I forgot candles. I'd been at work basically the past 2 days so had a nice lie-in on Sat morning and wifey cleaned and prepared everything. Instead of candles we used the gas lighters that they blew out, but they still had fun. People came and we all had fun (too much food like normal). They got a nice 4x4 bike each which took ages to put together, but they like them. We took them outside with them. They just have to get used to pushing them around. We also got a tent, so we can start a camping trip.... hee heee. As uasual loads more things happened, but I don't have a good memory.

30 Aug 08
Wifey has started a blog, but I'm still going to continue my diary.
but not this week... hee hee
The boys chairs now have headrests which I think look funky, but thats just me. They are 2 different colours of pool noodles which took ages to find this time of year. I finaly found some and they were half price which was nice, a total of $1.04. Then I find out that I'm broke (going to the bank right after that) so paid by credit card. Ah well, I suppose thats what they are there for.

24 Aug 08
The new time-out method is working great. Worst that we've had is when Nate kept getting up after about 1min so he essentially had a 5 min time-out. Since then he's always stayed sitting. Tony is surprisingly good at time-out (not just getting them) as we thought he might be the hard one to encourage to stay sitting.
Nate is down to Miralax every other day which is nice. Since wifey gets up throughout the night I usually put it in, so I gotta remember. The past few days Tony has been waking up about 1ish and peeing through. He usually doesn't finish his final sippy milk and we have been changing him just before bed, so I suppose we have to do the final sippy earlier. We put part of a pool noodle on the back of their booster chairs as they have been banging thier heads again against the wood to get the chair to rock. We heard that someone anchors the chairs to the table as their kid nearly got it rocking over. These 2 aren't that bad yet.
Its been hot and humid last week so Tony's skin has been blotchy. I bed he can't wait for the cooler weather (same as dad). We borrowed a steam cleaner from a bloke at work to get rid of some of the milk/pee/juice/coffee/coke/tea/??? stains from the carpet. It works nice and the carpet isn't that wet afterwards, so thats nice. I made the 2nd year video of the boys and thats over 2 hours long. I didn't think that I took that much vid footage, but Christmas was long and there is my dads vid as well. They boys watched some last night and liked it. Its amazing how they haven't changed much in looks but totally in actions over a year (Tony couldn't walk this time last year). Grammy and gg are going to over next Sunday morning (hopefully around 7AM before the boys wake up so they can see their reaction when they see the new playhouse that they got (I'll put it up Sat night). Gran and Grandad will be on webcam around 7:30AM for prezzie opening, so this will be fun.

16 Aug 08
We are now officially on sippies only. Last week we were a bottle at night, which they loved and devoured. 4 days ago they started to really pee through during the night at which time they would wake up and demand a change. We went to bigger diapers for night time but that didn't help so we changed to sippies at night. They don't drink as much from sippies which is why they haven't pee'd through as the bottles were probably more comfort. They never had designated sippies just bottles as Nate still requires Miralax every other morning (Nate = purple, Tony = blue, rest = both). Since we have more yellow sippies we gave Nate yellow and Tony all other colours. If we had problems we heard about these covers you can get with names on that we could use, but if they're not needed why use them.
We started a new time-out method of not using the high chair. I haven't yet tried it on Tony as we've only been doing it for a week and I've been late at work. Nate does great. He has come out once then you put him back and he stays there. Worst thing is Tony antagonising him. Tony does that very well. Natey has some tandrums when he's upset. You tell him off then he runs crys and if he's close knocks things over. After seeing this Tony will go over to him and he's either very nice and trying to make Nate feel better or just going to annoy him. At this Nate will push Tony (with a yell) and Tony will look at you in surprise then do it again. When you tell Nate not to push your brother he runs up to Tony and doesn't contact him but Tony has the same look of surprise. So you have to tell Nate off then entertain Tony to avoid Nate getting into more trouble. Throughout all this Tony says 'Natey bad'.
Its their birthday in 2 weeks so we did a Toys-r-us trip to get paint stuff for them and a tunnel for Gran and Grandad (for the boys from them as I don't think I could see my dad crawling through this). I think I got ok stuff, but wifey will have to examine them to see if I need a return the items run. I gotta put together the 2nd year video and collection of pictures as the boys liked the 1st year piccy thing. I think we're just going to have the relatives and some neighbours on their birthday.

9 Aug 08
Last weekend was hard for us as I worked like 30 hours over it, so I didn't get to play with da boys or update this. Tony who doesn't like meat (well compared to Nate), will eat a ham sandwich. He won't eat (unlike his bro) ham pieces that I cut up, but between 2 pieces of buttered bread and its a gonna. He loves his buttered bread, but thats another thing. He has a liking for bbq pork, as does dad, so thats a great excuse to get wifey to make more of it. The boys are peach freaks, so since we got an ice-cream make, that was the 1st flavor to make. Silly me didn't smush the peaches enough so they are huge threfore the boys can't eat it, but more for daddy eh.
Its been nice weather for a duck. Best thing is the lack of heat for me as I'm not a fan of 90 degree days, 70-80 is for me. We tried to go to the buffalo park the other day, but got lost. Not really lost, just couldn't find it, so we'll go next week I think with actual directions compared to a its close to Rutland and a small signpost to say you're there.
The boys are speaking more and more, linking alot of words. My morning coffee is now daddies cakka. Natey is getting stubborn and won't say sorry unless he wants to. Gonna be fun....

25 Jul 08
Last weekend we went to PA for the weekend. I took Friday off and we left at 3AM so the boys would sleep most of the trip. When we moved them into the car, they woke up and stayed awake. Wifey took the first driving stint and the boys chilled listening to music and staying awake while I slept. Close to New Jersey Nate threw up a small amount, so changing him and cleaning up on the side of the road. We stopped and had breakfast about 10ish as everyone was snacking throughout the trip there (Natey loves bacon). I don't think the boys slept more than an hour on the trip down. When we got to bird-in-hand our rooms weren't ready, so we went to the pool. Tony loved it, but Nate cried as we entered the water. I took Nate and wifey took Tony and we tried to get Nate used to it. There were loads of people in the outdoor pool, but just us and another family in one of the indoor ones, so we were good. Wifey did flips in the water and Tony wanted to but didn't know about holding his breath, so was kinda shocked, but still tried. Nate was good when you got him to pay attention by him splashing but he just wanted to keep hold of someone tightly (I have the bruises). Tony on the other hand would be happy if you let him swim everywhere by himself. We didn't have water wings with us as it was our first time.
The rooms were nice and it took about 3 mins before the boys were turning on and off the tv, flushing the toilet and the usual. We then went around the farmers market and chilled abit by the playground most of the afternoon then went out for food. Wifey had a play to go to so we got ice-cream together with the boys and then she had to leave. That was the time when I noticed that Tony had done a huge poo and then was scratching around the area (smelly fingers). I got them back to the room (with the ice-cream), changed Tony, fed them the ice-cream then we went for a walk (well push for them) around the duck pond and animals. We got back to the room and had a bath then I thought that they might chill with the toys that we brought them. Well, the TV was more interesting, so I played sesame Street on the computer to help them relax. This didn't work as they now kept climbing into the stroller for fun. The room wasn't that big for them so we tried our best, well daddy tried not to cry or scream all the time. The boys tried to get daddy to by going for the computer, the tv, climbing the stroller, grabbing the standing lamp, and trying to open the front and bathroom doors. Bed time came and they were put in their cribs and I went into bed to hopefully get them to sleep. They just cried loads, so I sat next to them and rubbed their backs for 20ish mins to get them quiet and sleepy (it worked on dad). I then went to bed and fell asleep only woked up by wifey banging on the door (I didn't give her the 2nd key) about 20mins later (I heard he knocks the 4th time).
The boys slept until 7, so we got up and went to breakfast which was good. We decided that since the rooms were small, the fun with the bedtime, the swimming and general crankiness that we would leave Sat night instead of Sunday morning/afternoon. We went swimmming again with the same results, but Natey liked the outside pool more as he could stand, but still wasn't a big fan. We scheduled a trip around Amish country (free with the hotel) so we sat and when we started up Nate started to cry and cry and cry. This carried on until he fell asleep after about 10mins. Tony then fell asleep so I missed the first stop as I didn't want to wake him (it was around 11ish, so their usual bedtime). The rest of the trip was good until Nate had another crying time. We then got some dinner and went for a train ride on a steam train. Nate had another crying time and Tony threw his sippy out the window. Luckily for us it was when we were stopped (turning around) so the guide went and got it for us. We got back and since it was 4:30, we thought we'd set off home. Around 6ish the boys woke up so we stopped off to get some food. Initally deciding to go Dairy Queen for chicken and fries, we found they didn't have any so we went to the pizza place next door (we'd had pizza for dinner). We ordered chicken and fries for the boys and a sandwich for me (wifey would pinch their chicken and fries). Their food came but they boys were playing up. I took each one outside twice (it was a nice place) and my food didn't come for ages. We explained that we were going to leave and owner then found out how long we'd been waiting for my food so we got it to go and left. I decided that we'd go a different way home and with 2 mistakes it took an hour longer (least said about that the better).
We went to a place called Perpetual motion which is an awesome place for kids. It has a huge open indoor area with swings, sandpit, play train, slides, then an over 6 area with climbing stuff. Its great fun and the boys loved it. Being summer not many people were there, which was nice so the boys weren't run over all the time.
Nate nearly climbed out of his crib (actually Tony's) last night so I put the crib cover over it. Its like a big tent, kinda cool, but he didn't like it. So he woke up at 3Am and wouldn't fall asleep for like 2 hours. He'll get used to it and we've ordered Tony one. Wifey had here conference today (Friday) where she sees John and Kate so I watched the boys and took them to Friendlies which is my first time that I've taken them to eat by myself. Wifey told me I should and she does it all the time, so I thought I'd try and it was good fun. They were awesome.

5 Jul 08
Tony has been trying to do forward rolls for ages and 2 nights ago he did one. It was soooo cool. Then this was the in thing for him. Nate tried once, then came and gave hugs and cuddled for a while (probably saying, don't give him all the attention). Wifey has been taking them to the library for story time and gym type places. I think we're going to go on free Sat/Sun with them so I can have fun chasing them all over the place. We read the Bible at nights with them and when I took it out the other night Natey said Bible. Then when we were putting it away they both said bye-bye Bible. Great stuff that they are putting words together.
When we got the new stroller we picked up a car. Natey wanted to ride in it and then made a HUGE fuss when we left, so for $15 we got it. Its cleaned up and downstairs. They are great at sharing, one gets out and the other in, they play for like 30 secs beeping the horn then change. Natey is funny as he helps Tony along with a push. It has a door, so they like to open and close that. Wifey got a little slide for them a few days later, so we're going to clean it up and have it downstairs in the basement for them to play on. It stayed in the front of the garden for a while, but they kept wanting it when seeing it so I put it on the patio out of the way until I can clean it up. It will go great with the little car that is down there. The weather hasn't been too hot for them to be down there alot, so most of the time we're all just upstairs (get a nice breeze blowing through the house).
We got a new type of cream for Tony's skin. Its a milder one so we are to use that every other day. We also got some cream for his molescla to help that.
With the Euro 2008 being on, we've been watching alot of footy in the mornings. The boys sit either side of dad on the couch drinking bottles and they watch the footy while dad drinks his coffee.
The slide got cleaned up and its a hit, they love it. So the basement playroom is a fav with the car and the slide. There have been no injuries yet on the slide, but it'll come. It took them 15 mins before they were walking up the slide and then going down it head first. They've started to put other things down it like Tigger, blocks and the big ball. Tony had a block and had to open the little car door before he would put it in, then reached over the door to get it out, thats some logic!!
They are stringing words together saying bye bye daddy, mummy, Bible, phone. Daddies phone, mummies phone, thank you Tony, Natey, its mega. I suppose hand in hand with this is the screaming matches that they have. I can't wait until they can learn the word quiet.
Dinner times is when I usually write this stuff, especially since they can feed themselves with minimal to no mess now (timeouts after the first violation of food on the floor or being hid in the chair). I'm too lazy for clean up to give them spoons and forks, especially since they are so adapt with their fingers. Natey like meat. You can give him ham all day and he'll eat it up. Tony doesn't like ham, I always give him a piece but its always eaten my dad. Both like chicken nuggets and especially fries. Tony's a cheese and pasta lover (as is Nate) so mac cheese is a fav. Both like veg. We usually give them tinned peas, carrots or corn since they are already cut up and simple with anything. Tony has more of a sweet tooth than Natey, wolfing up ice-cream (I cut it up into little bit-size chunks) compared to his brothers pincher approach, so for the same amount of time Tony gets more. Both love fruit. They usually eat 1/2 to 3/4 of an apple for dessert, but love pear and peach as well. Finally if they aren't a fan of what is out there, cheese ommlette is loved. Basically Nate eats almost everything while Tony isn't a meat fan, both sometimes turn their nose up when eating what wifey and I eat, but i suppose we like blended flavours.

21 Jun 08
Been a fun week as both boys still being ill. At the start of the week, Tony would throw up for no reason. He was fine and playful until he barfed and then was great once you'd cleaned him up. This happened everyday, sometimes in the morning, or at night. When it happened and you were just alone, it got harder since you had to clean the barf baby while stopping the other from stepping in it (ball pit was great). This stopped after 5 days and then turned into the runs for Tony, while Nate had a fever, very lethargic, cold, keeping his head to one side, banging his head, so we went to the doctors. Since they didn't have any openings we went to the ER (wifey did and I was at work). They did loads of tests on him (inc CAT scan) and everything was fine just a viral infection which will take its course. He was very attached to mum, not letting her go and crying for her most of the day. He's alot better today which is great.
Pop-tarts and now a fav (along with eggs for breakfast). I like them, so they mooch in the mornings when I get up (getting closer to 6AM instead of 7AM now for some unknown reason). Some days I don't know where they pack all the food, its amazing how much they eat. I still love the bloated bellies and arched backs after food, its sooo cute (or am I biased).
We changed the double stroller (umbrella type). wifey found a shop that does 2nd hand kids stuff, so we paid a visit on Sunday. They had a nice stroller for less than 1/2 price, which liked but ours was working great. When we were walking around the mall (raining outside) we noticed that our stroller had a crack in 2 of the supports. We got the other one, but its a jogging type which means it doesn't steer very well for sharp corners. This is ideal for most of the time apart from going round shops. I'm going to look into patching the older one so it works when we need it and use the new one most of the time.

14 Jun 08
Since coming back, Tony's cough as just about subsided, but Nate decided to pick it up. They have been sleeping great apart from a couple of nights when they have jumped in with us, waited 20mins then started to kick prod and say mum or dad. Tony has a great way of calling wifey, he says muuuuummy but is a deep voice its kinda funny. I'm still da or when he really wants me daaaaddy. Nate is still using ma and da. Natey says watermelon so funny. He moves his tongue in and out of his mouth while saying it. We've been trying to get it on vid, but he ain't playing.
They love to press the light switches. Nate can reach the bottom side of them from the floor, so thats fun. The ones next to the front door do the outside light, inside light and ceiling fan. Tony can get these as well by reaching from the couch, so if you're out the room for 2 mins the fan is on, then off, then on as is the lights. Tony decided that he wanted to escape the room and climbed over the couch. I was in the kitchen sorting out sippies or something, then heard a bang and a wimper. I dashed in the room to see him on the floor over the couch so I picked him up and all he wanted to do was get on the couch again. Jumping on the couches is still one of their favourite passtimes when they can get away with it and avoid time-outs (not very often).
We've been having a bout of throwing up this week. First Tony (Mon to Thurs) so we cancelled out trip to PA. Fri comes along and Natey decides to copy his brother.. joy! THey are fine apart from leaving chunks of mums food everywhere. This was going to be the first time that they would go swimming in the indoor pool at the hotel. Next door keep asking if they want to swim in their pool but I would like to have this first (we dads miss out on so many firsts). So we rescheduled to go in a month instead and we're gonna try to go swimming one Saturday.
We rearranged the front room after finding both of them over the wall. Now the playpen fence just goes around the TV and couple tables. Hopefully this will last a while. The fence blocking going to the front door had a gate in it, but the boys learnt to run at it full speed and it breaks. No gate, just fence, bit of a pain to get over, but better than they escaping. We've started to frequent downstairs since the temp increased, nice and cool. I finally set up the pooh tv/dvd player so they can still get their episodes of big and now Elmo (melmo as they call him).
Tony still prefers cheese, veg, pasta, and fruit to meat. He's partial to chicken (usually nugget variety) but will sometimes take a couple bites and thats it. We usually give the meat by itself first so they have to eat before they get the rest. Its like TOny knows he gets fruit afterards as he always eats loads (and ice-cream, but thats another story).
They've started to string words together. I noticed it when they both said bye-bye drill when I put the drill away that they were playing with. They saw me use it and liked the noise, so kept asking for it. I showed them how to use it and we took it in turns pressing the button. They share so well letting each other play and mum and dad. Kinda funny as they press the button then say da or ma for our turn. They did the same with morrocas letting each other play, saying their name when I ask whos turn it is. Nate would keep hold of one and give the other until I said both, then after that he would pass one, then say bow meaning both. I would say yes, and he would give Tony the other.
One of the hardest things now is guessing what they said. The other day Nate kitchen (well close to that) and wifey figured out that he wanted to go upstairs to eat. I had no clue, I thought he was after a certain toy or book. Both are saying sounds for alot of things, animals, objects, kinda cool how much they are learning.

6 May 08
We survived England, well the flights. Nightmare time at Newark on the way over, no matter if we pushed them in the stroller, walked with them or carried them, they didn't want to do it, so they cried loads, well for alot of the 4 hours we were there. They nicely slept just about all of the big flight, but mum and dad had on and offs since the boys were on our laps and they kept moving around. Gran and Grandad were ready for us, with everything moved high and turned around away from the boys. First night the boys conked out at 11ish so we put them to bed and they slept until 9ish which was nice. Tony must have picked something up from the airplane cos he wasn't the best (lucky us eh). When he woke up he wanted mum but settled for dad if required. This meant our week of lie-ins didn't go as expected. The boys slept for 10-11 hrs each night, so we can't complain (well not too much). Their bedtime dropped down to 9:30 by the end.
Everyone loved seeing them run around and playing. They loved going up and down the stairs, esp since gran and grandad has bars so they can hold on going up and down them until their house. Nate was Grandads (danda) again so they were inseperable. They loved to run around outside and they had a facination in trying to break into everyones cars. They were taken to the local park and saw sheep, lambs, geese, goats, birds, played on swings (had a hard time getting Tony off it). One place that we visitted alot.
Being that they didn't want both wifey or myself to leave we couldn't go out alone, so we split up. I had an afternoon with Andy and an evening with bro, she had an afternoon with Gemma and another afternoon with Gran. We went to Kris and Gills daughter Nicola baptism, which was fun. A girl from their Church played with the boys alot so we got to chill, then wifey sat with the mums and kids in a room playing with them. Nice big open area so great fun running around. We saw friends from Manchester and met up with them in a kids play area attached to a pub (in US they are attached to micky d's). Stuart and Nicky brought their daughter along so they were all playing while a few adults tried to talk over the noise. We then went for Chinese and Zac, Rachel, their 2 joined us. The boys like prawn crackers which was nice to know.
We went to Blackpool to get fish and chips, then to Crawley to see the beached cargo ship. Loads of open spaces so they were having fun runing around. Nate had a facination with opening/closing the train crossing gate. Uncle Dave and Auntie Gemma had us all over and Dave got kinda tired climbing up and down the stairs after Tony, so we blocked them off for a while. Tony likes playing with dogs (fave word was doggie) had wasn't one bit afraid of Auntie Kaths, Uncle Johns, Debbie and Claire dogs even though they were taller than him. We had fun at their house, even though dad forgot to put a valve in the sippy so Tony was soaked before we even got there. We think that Tony might be allergic to dogs as he started to get a cough when we were there. Blame Uncle Dave for that. Natually Auntie Kath brought out the pots and spoons for a banging session.
On the last Saturday we were there we met Aunti Norma and Uncle Phil in Tatton Park. The day wasn't the best, but it didn't rain. The boys didn't want to walk much, but eventually played around running after dad in the open park area. They went on a Victorian style carosel and naturally Tony didn't want to get off, just as he didn't want to get off the swing when we went to the playground afterwards.
Coming back was harder as it was during the day (9:30AM flight time) so we tried to entertain them. The flight was booked and we were one infront of the other on the isle. They figgeted alot, but we watched films, drew, and played to get them to behave. There were another set of twins on the plane and other kids. Nice thing was others were going up and down the isle alot or crying more. Newark was a nightmare again. The boys don't like the place. Also they decided to put another flight on the gate we were waiting at without warning, then finally announced they were boarding. Fun trip, but we don't like Newark.
Great thing is they boys are understanding more. When you ask them questions they can say no, show you where a boo-boo is and generally communicate more (still have a hard time with pointing and saying ba, but getting better). They are jumping, playing 'ring around the roses' joining in when singing the alphabet, reading books (well babbling when they are open but its cute), and general misbehaving. When they don't get their own way, Nate crys and runs to a corner, while Tony usually hits until you give him a stern look then he giggles to try to get you to laugh. A lot of times Tony will want what Nate has and shadows him then picks it up or 'plays with Nate' which now starts to aggrevate Nate so he crys and complains, Tony then (I suppose) trys to comfort him with a hug, a tickle (sees dad do it) which gets Nate even worse. Other times when Nate pinches a toy from Tony, Tony will go after him and either trys to bite and grabs him, whereby Nate runs away. Kinda different seeing the smaller Tony crawling after Nate whos on his feet backing up and complaining.
We take them out with their monkey harnesses which are great apart from when one wants to be carried or sit down cos you won't carry them. Naturally the other plays off this and wants the same, so a small walk turns into a carryfest. Most of the time they walk and want to hold your hand which is nice so the monkey harnesses are just a precaution since they can slip of out your grasp so quickly.
They are getting most of their animal noises, enjoying playing the game, and they are now remembering which animal is where in the pop-up toy. Tony is now saying everything is blue while Nate can most of the time tell you what is blue and what is yellow. One thing is they love to help put things away, still not strong enough when we have done a major shop, but its coming......

27 Mar 08
Climbing down the stairs has now changed. The boys don't want to climb down backwards, just forwards which they cannot do without our help so every morning they're given the chance, but usually it ends up with us carrying them.
We had a night off for our anniversary which was awesome. Kim watched the boys Friday night so we went to Sturbridge Country Inn. We returned Sat night for the boys bedtime and for some reason they were glad to see us. Kim did great and it was so nice to have a day just with wifey (we found a great lunch time Chinese place).
The boys have been talking loads, they like to say bum, pee, poop (must be their mothers influence). They have been refining their words, so instead of ba or bo for bottle, its botol. They always ask for spn to eat with, just to make a bigger mess for mum and dad to clear up. Most of the food stays on the tray as we started to give time-outs for messes and it usually works. They're still hiding food down the side of them which is unfortunate as you think they like a new food and it turns out they don't when you clean them up. Most of the time they copy what you're saying but at present Nate tells me that everything is blue even when it isn't. Tony alot of time just looks then ignores you to play with something more fun.
Both are getting better at helping out. You can ask them to put the wipes back and they do, but sometimes it goes abit too far and they end up putting the dirty diaper bag in the new diapers or the clean one that you wanted to put on the other son which is now missing.
Toy envy if happening more and more. Tony will usually shadow Nate and make a grab when Nate first puts it down. Nate on the other hand trys to barter with Tony with a different toy or simply mugs him instead. They both love the ball pit and its funny watching them in it especially when you try to get them to come to you from the other side.

10 Feb 08
The lack of updates are for a reason this time. The laptop failed on us so after trying to fix it and failed we got a new one. Parents were over so a couple delays until now.
Christmas was great fun. We sorted out the webcam so parents could watch them open their prezzies. First off we opened abit of the paper on a big prezzie so they used it as a drum. We coaxed them into rippping off the rest of the paper, but the major fun was banging the box. They got a bouncy zebra (or zebra in the US) which is sooo cool. After that we Grandma came round and more prezzies including some mega Spiderman slippers which everyone loves. We went to Auntie Cheryl's house for more food and they played with Chase. Its amazing how well these 2 share, but I suppose its natural when you have to all the time. They followed Chase around when he had a toy that they wanted and when he put it down they picked it straight up. Kinda funny but they're the rules that we use at home, so I suppose they're used to it.
They are climbing up the stairs at present which makes it easy putting them to bed, well easy on the arms. We then started to teach them to climb down the stairs by a controlled slide which is technically known as dragging them down them by their legs. Nate picked it up wicked quick while Tony liked turning round and looking at mum or dad. They both started coming down totally by themselves last week as long as its together. If one gets up before the other (usually Tony is the earlier riser), then he'll go down a few steps, stop and say the other ones name (usually nay) pointing up the staris like 'dad you're forgetting Nate!". So carry him down and wait for the other to wake up (usually Nate). Nate then comes down a few stairs and hears Tony crying since dad left him and points up the stairs saying ny thinking Tony is still upstairs instead of downstairs.
We've been visiting the doctors loads. First they thought that Tony had a hernia but after seeing the specialist he didn't have one so that was a relief. After that little scare, Nate threw up. We thought that it was something that he ate or from crying, but he threw up again. So we took him to the doctors and there was 2 more pukes before that. He had the GI virus so more anti-biotics. With him throwing up for no reason, we did shifts for one night. After that NAte had an ear infection and Tony a double ear infection... JOY (Tony couldn't do with all the pain so another sleepless night with the shift). With this they are stil teething which makes it even more fun. They both have their first set of molars in. Natey has all 4 bottom front, Tony 2 and Natey had his upper fangs coming in.
Gran and Grandad visited for 2 weeks which was great fun and nice lie-ins for me and wifey. Natey started to called Grandad danda then Tony carried it on. It was nice to be able to relax without the kids running to you all the time. I suppose Gran and Grandad got tired, but they could rest when they got home. Nate started to love stacking these stacking cups on each other. Tony preferred to knock them down, which was ok since it didn't bother Nate when his creation was repeatedly destroyed. The weather wasn't the best, so the trips were mainly to the mall. When going round its fun holding the boys hand and seeing me parents do it walking round the mall. They're soooo proud of them walking and pointing to everything. We got a ball pit. Well I purchased 750 balls and put them in a pack and play. Initially I only used 1/2 a pack and play, but there wasn't enough room for both in it. Nate prefers to stand in it while Tony likes to lie then get covered, then lifted and repeat until dad gets tired. Its fun to watch them in it, esp when mum (wifey not my mum, but that would probably be entertaining) joins them in it.
They got a new 'cousin' called Kayleigh from Josh and Jen. Shes so cute. I thought she initially was small then I look at piccies of the boys and she's big. Seeing her takes me back and I remember the shifts and spit up and gas... then I hug the boys for being so awesome.
We changed out bedtime schedule. About 45 mins before we put on family piccies which quiets them down with some music (usually Third day, but we're actually branching out now). Slight downside at present is Dave and Gemmas wedding piccies numbered about 4000 so every other one is from them. Not that its bad, but soo many duplicates and its taking me ages to reduce them. For Gemma when she reads them (bro reading.....ha) we love you, but 5 piccies is all we want.... kidding. The piccies are mega and bro scrubs up well. New computer so I dont' have any excuses for not posting anything early March... I'll try to find one though.

15 Dec 07
Its nearly Christmas time and we're gonna put up the tree tomorrow. This year the boys will prob like the paper and new toys but next year will be the biggie. It snowed on Thursday like 6" and tonight its forcast another 8" so tomorrow we're gonna put the boys in loads of layers and chuck them in the snow with piccies of course. Hopeully it'll be fun, but maybe funny and tears.
About 3 days after I wrote the last thing, Tony started to get up by himself. It started the odd time, then everytime and crawling is now for babies. They play together esp at bed-time by running behind either me or wifey and giggling with the other running after him. It seems that its usually Tony chasing unless it me or wifey. They love it so thats all that matters. Nate gives Tony stuff while when Tony gives anyone anything he wants it back. He likes the idea and the praise but also wants the item (has his cake and eats it). They are eating loads and mostly what we eat. Nate is a meat-eater but Tony is more for cheese and other stuff.
Recently Nate has a facination of putting stuff in things. Yesterday he took his sippy cup, pushed the nipple down and then filled the gap between the silicone and plastic with ham. Kinda funny, but also messy, well more mess to come I expect. We're changing their high chairs for booster seats for the reason of stopping them bang their heads.
We visited Josh, Robin and Olivia the other week. We said that Tony is kinda a bully to Nate pushing him, still biting him and so one, while Nate just whines when Tony does it (he'll wack him one day then everything will change for mum and dad). Robin said that Olivia is also a bully. Well Robin was right, she started off pushing and pinching her toys from the boys, while keeping hold of the English phone that Kris and Gill bought them (novelty English accent). Everything settled after a while and a few time-out on all sides. We all had fun and the kids played niceish. Olivia kept cleaning up after our 2 esp the fridge magnets.
Its spooky as I don't think I've taken any piccies for over a month of them, I'll have to make up with piccies and vid at Christmas. We have 2 old remotes that we let the boys play with, one light grey, one dark grey. Tony was sitting down with the dark grey one and Nate wanted it. Tony wouldn't let go when his bro tried to pry it from his hands and Nate came crying o me, I gave him the light grey one and he looked happier. Thinking this is a nice compromise Nate went to Tony and dropped the light coloured remote in his lap and then tried to pry the dark grey one out of his hands again. Nate did this twice but Tony didn't let go. Nate came to me and Tony picked up the other remote so he now had both. After about a min he got bored and went looking for the big Tigger to bite his nose and Nate got the remote he wanted.
We thought Tony had progressed from saying ma to mamee (nearly mummy) but we then realised that it was 2 different words and it was ma me as in mum I want something. They are both saying me or more and pointing to what they want, it makes stuff so much easier esp when they want a drink at dinner time. They don't like to sleep but now know what bed-time means. When its 7:30PM we put on some nice soothing Third Day songs and sit trying to entice them into drinking their bottles. If they don't at 7:50 we say bed-time and last orders. Tony usually just keeps on playing but Nate comes over to one of us and drinks his bottle. It seems that he needs to finish his last bottle or he will wake up in the night. He learnt to drink when we say the bed-time/last orders in 2 nights which is good.
Its funny how they are standing then for no reason stnad next to you and then back onto you and sit down on your leg, arm, neck, brother, whatever, its funny, but incredibly cute as well. Natey now gives hugs. They aren't a Tony full embrace hug but he walks over for no reason puts his head on your chest and lets out a groan, its a Natey hug. Tony's new thing is blowing raspberries. Ages ago he would give kisses on your cheek (trying to bite but missing I think). Now he blows and makes a raspberry. He does it on bellies as well and he loves it. Nate tries but tries to make the noise with his lips and mouth instead of me or wifey, full points for trying though.
I'll try to update before Christmas and change piccies but its me, so prob not.

17 Nov 07
The boys had their trip to UK. They slept through most of the trip there. Initially at the airport we waited in line for AGES. This was because everyone kept cutting the line since they turned up late. One point we were at the front of the queue after 1-1/2 hrs and then everyone jumped infront of us going to Paris. So 30 mins later we were seen. At the gate, wifey changed them into their pj's, so initially had Tony crawling up and down the carpeted isle with some walking. Everyone loved him doing it, esp when he paid them a visit. Nate was then walking and running up and down, that was fun to watch. On the plane I had 2 seats and wifey (behind me) had 3. While taxing they boys were playing peekaboo with each other giggling all the time.
At parents house, they tried to baby proof, taking things off tables, moving tables to stop them getting places, but within 2 hrs, they had damaged a table by not banging a toy (we were careful), but a coaster... joy. Mum and dad got loads of toys from mothers and toddlers group and from friends. They loved all of them, so a thank you to anyone reading this. At night they started to get sleepy at 10ish, then when put to bed, woke up after 45 mins and were very awake. So then Nate fell asleep at 1AM and Tony at 4:30AM, we got the idea that they aren't climatised.
Morning they're up about 9ish and had fun, took some walks, mum and dad loved playing with them. The house has hardwoods in the hallway, so kinda slippy for the boys, but they were up and running (Nate) and walking (Tony) sooooo quickly. Being that the stairs are too wide for a gate, we need a guard to stop them climbing unassisted. Throughout the week, we got them climbing up the stairs with us, Tony loved it while Nate didn't climb as much.
They loved Gran and Grandads Church and running down the isles eating rich tea biscuits. Later in the week they went to Mothers and Toddlers and pinched each others biscuits. A 2 year old grabbed the frying pan that Nate had, but would Nate give it up? Not a chance. He kept hold of it and the 2yr old eventually let go and made Nate fall backwards.. One stubborn son.
We saw Auntie Kath, Uncle John, Debbie and Claire and the dogs. I thought they'd be scared of the dogs, but nope. Being that they're quite abit bigger than the boys, Auntie Kath took them to Debbies so they didn't knock them over by accident. Fun was had running around and playing with everything, esp the load noises from the pots and pans. We visited Kris and Gill and went to an Indian they usually go to (family place). Turns out they only had 1 high chair so the boys were put into their double stroller and ate from there. A slight mess was made, so I think they'll get another high chair soon...
They visited aunts, saw horses, cows, and sheep, and something called a wedding. Everyone had a mega time, the boys were abit loud during the ceremony, so they were with wifey and Debbie and Claire at the back. I was up front with bro for some reason. The reception place was so nice and a beautiful day. The boys were walking around everywhere and all my aunts/uncles doted on them. They ate loads of wifeys food and loved it. Dave and Gemma got them bribery gifts to keep them quiet, but didn't really help that much. After the food, the boys were walking with us and Nate decided to pull on a table cloth taking cutlery, etc down. It was clean and no-one really saw, but we realised that we needed to keep an eye on them more. For the night, Nate was a big dancer. He was having a blast until Gemma floored him (she said she didn't see him, but I think that she wanted to be the best dancer on the floor.. hee hee). Being that the rugby was on, daddy wasn't around for a while, but mum and the aunt/uncles kept them busy. DJ had a car crash so he wasn't there, so everyone sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" for their 1st dance. Dave and Gemma didn't just hug and smooch like his younger bro did, but a full dance scene. After 2nd half of the rugby the band were playing and dancing started up again. A spare DJ came and the 1st dance occurred again with proper "Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Hawaiian version)" which was such a sweetie song and dance. The boys were running around, showing off to everyone under the sun and eventually stopped about 11ish.
Next morning, Nate was pinching sausages from everyone while Tony was more into the eggs. They ate well and then returned to normal routine of trying to brake Gran and Grandads house (Nate put a dent in the nice hardwood kitchen floor on the 1st day). We visited Auntie Kath and Debbie at the Trafford Center. When inside a kids store Nate was playing with a microphone when an older boy (prob 6) wanted to play with it. Before I stepped in, Nate kept moving it around when the older boy was going for it. I guess he's used to doing that with his bro. Later we met up with Manchester lot and had Chinese. It was nice they they only had changing places in the ladies toilet, so Dad didn't have to.. hee hee. Turns out that Tony had a huge poo that covered everything, so a naked baby was displayed for all to see and even danced on the table. It was fun showing off the kids and also meeting Geoffs wifey who, it looked like, was planning to scarper with him.
Flight back so early morning and 7 hrs on a plane. Everyone was really nice and got both of us 3 seat each infront of each other. Out of the 7hrs, they slept for like 3 each, but not all at once, which was tiring. The last thing that both wanted to do was stay with mum and dad. Back home and back to work. Comforts of home are nice as is the mini-van that we got just before UK trip.
Since then, Tony walks just about all the time and in the past day he's started to get up all by himself. They will also fetch toys for you, well Tigger and monkey when you ask them. Nate can put the rings on the post and open all the flip things. Tony prefers to spin the post around and not bother with the rings. He can open 3 of the 5 flip things, but usually picks it up and throws it. Both are throwing things more and more, at least they aren't throwing them at each other just yet. Kris and Gill got them a toy each (radio and phone) and they have English accents. The phone is currently VERY popular. We have a toy rule that there is no pinching from each other, but when you put the toy down its fair game. I don't know if they know the rule yet, but we try to inforce it. Tony stopped biting (it seemed) for a while, then just started again this week. All 3 of us have been on the receiving end and these are worse than before, so its something that we are keeping an eye on. Nate is soooo close to climbing over the fence. Naturally we'll hear him get over before we see him as we'll be in the other room for 1 min when he decides to do it. Both are talking and imitating loads. They are saying alot of words, ba for bottle, ber for bear, bo for book, key for monkey, me or ma for mine or more, ger for tigger, tickle and naturally mama and dada. Early intervention says they are progressing loads and the next evaluation is in April then they might be done after that.

7 Oct 07
Been the boys birthday 6 weeks ago, they had a blast and totally loved the cake as the photos show. I actually think that Tony got more on his face than in his mouth. They got loads of toys and Loads of people turned up.
Tony crawls like a pro, wicked fast, while Nate is running. The running usually ends up with a bang into something or someone. He started to try to turn while running, but just turns his body and falls, its kinda funny though. Tony is now walking but tries to run and gets off balance, he just needs to slow down.
Tony's biting is reducing. We give him a tap and put him in the playpen for a minute so hopefully he's getting the message. When he does bite, he's like a shark not letting go and pulling away without letting go.
Nate is trying to escape the playpen climbing out, another few months and then it'll be fun with that, maybe I'll put barbwire or electric fencing on the top as a deterent? He has a good throw, usually its just to the ground, but sometimes I've been hit. It wouldn't be that bad, but he uses the heavy toys and not the soft fluffy ones.
Eating has been easier since Nate is on Miralax. His poops are nice and soft and we're putting him back on normal milk. Both have a fav of Blueberry and macaroni & beef.. not together though, so we always go back to these dead certs when they start to get fussy. They had a slice of bread today, which Tony tried to get it all in his mouth at once, ate it as well (where's the steak!). Nate took it nice and slow nibbling it. Thats the way they do it, Tony gobles, Nate nibbles. Both now prefer to make patterns with the milk from their bottles than drink it, either by shaking it or banging the nipple into the ground, toy, arm, brother, etc... JOY!
Both had ear infections 2 weeks ago so bubblegum flavoured medicine which they love. On Friday wifey took them to doctors since they were playing with their ears again. Doctor said keep an eye on them since they still have some fluid, but its not bad. Tony wouldn't go to sleep, wanting to be held so at 3AM wifey took him to ER. Turns out he has an inner ear infection and has drops and antibiotics, so should be OK for UK trip. He's alot better now and has had good night sleep last night.
We all went to another 1st bithday party (Edwin & Serena) so more cake eating has occurred. Boys were well behaved and didn't play too much with the O2 monitor or their toys. They're getting more used to playing on the grass, haven't really played on ours since its got LOADS of stones and stuff in it, maybe next year I'll get my act together.
Speaking of playing, they are playing more and more with each other, from chasing each other to peek-a-boo. They notice me when I get the camera out so I haven't yet got a video of it. This is as well as the wrestling which needs to sometimes be policed, esp when they grab the plastic phones, etc. One of funnest things is that Tony was playing with a toy so Nate came over and pinched it. Tony, from a sitting position tackles Nate, this is a full blown arms wrapped around the waste tackle! I suppose daddy has been watching too much rugby/American footy with the boys.

19 Aug 07
We went to visit Uncle Bob and Auntie Kasey today, and also had a wonderful time with Molly and Peter! They were staying tt their family's beach house. The boys had a great time dipping their feet in the water and eating go-gurt. They also tried a little bit of pizza. Tony enjoyed it, but Nate, not so much. I ate some of the chocolate chip cookies Eileen, Kasey's mom, made. She substituted applesauce for sugar. My goodness, the cookies were so good. I told Kasey that I could just sit, read books and eat those cookies all day. Oh, the life.........
Tony is crawling folks!!! Yup, just get the paparazzi away will you?? He is loving it, and will sit up in his crib now from lying down. We are so proud of him and show him off anywhere and everywhere!!!
We are also very proud of Nate as he is waving hello to people now. He likes to wave goodbye as well.
We are having a busy weekend. As I mentioned, we went to visit our dear friends today, and tomorrow after Church, we are having lunch with our good friends Rachel and Jamie. Yum. This weekend has been shot as far as my Weight Watchers diet has gone. I fear that I have gained a few lbs since Thursday.. We ate dinner with our good friend Viv on Friday night at the Outback Steak House in which I had steak and salad. I am a little piggy, just like Tony! That is where he gets it from! Anyway, after food tomorrow, Rachel and Jamie are heading back out to Metrowest, and I have to go to Childbirth education class. I just completed my part A of my project, so that is a little weight off my shoulders.

15 Aug 07
wow! i cannot believe that i actually writing something for the blog! i usuualy try to take the boys out every day just to get out of the house. we tend to frequent the mall, various super-walmarts, bj's in auburn and grocery stores. we like whole foods, but the food is a little too pricey for us, so we just people watch. another major reason for taking the boys out in the afternoon is because their nap time is initated when we drive to our destination. they love, love, love the car! tony and nate can't get enough of it. this makes mama very happy!
we went to elm park today. it is huge, leafy and gorgeous. we had a good, old time. tony and nate were placed in infant swings while i carefully pushed to give them a slight thrill for the day. it was funny, as one little girl, who was wearing matching pj's to her older sister (her grandmother, all embarrassed, apologized profusely. i was like, dude, my kids were in their pjs until an hour ago and they were only changed because everyone could see what they ate for lunch by glancing at their clothing), pointed to nate and asked "are they brothers?" AS the park is filled with plenty of INNERESTING (mispelling intended) characters, the grandmother and i talked together while i took the boys out of the swings and back into the double stroller. tony was a little annoyed that i did that, bcause he kept giggling and grinning and gabbing while in the swing. Next time, kiddo.
Nate was described by a friend recently as being "rugged." what does that mean? will he go rock climbing on the weekends when he is an adult, drink milk out of the carton and pummel his fists into his chest and roar? just kidding. but in all seriousness, i find it fascinating to see how my kids' personalities seem to emerge more and more every day.Tony, unfortunately, has an ear infection. I took him to the pedi yesterday due to a nasty cough that seem to come out of nowhere on tuesday night. much to my surprise, the doctor diagnosed him with an ear infection and gave him a prescription for the pink medicine that he loves, amoxicillin (sp). Tony just is craa-zeeee about the thick, sweet smelling substance. to each his own. i liked to eat recently purchased toothpaste on the way home from the supermarket in the back seat of the car when i was a kid. i turned out fine.
it has been on my heart lately that i really need to update this blog more. well, this is my first update. my husband's posts are usually more humorous with his little isms from the old country (that would be England), which i am very proud of. due to loads of stuff going on and a lot of laziness, i will be writing in lower case most of the time. it does not mean any disrespect to my children or to my husband or anyone i am just trying to get posts done as soon as possible. so please continue to read the blog!!!!!!!
randi
p.s. so hubs accuses me of never being an eager participant in the blog world. well chris, here i am.

1 Aug 07
This month has been one of discovery and I'm not meaning shark week. We went to the Quabog lake and they boys paddled, then the apple orchard and showed the boys leaves. It was kinda funny since I first showed Nate the leaves and he shyed away from them. Tony just grabbed them and played with them. Nate seeing this then went to grab and pull them off like Tony did. The beach was next and sand + sea. For some reason we spent most of our time keeping sand out of their mouths.
Natey is over 20lbs and Tony is nearly 19lbs. Both enjoy biting but Nate is currently the best since he has 4 teeth while Tony only has 2 (currently teething with the top ones as you can just see white). Nate is crawling everywhere are now goes to the window to see outside. Tony started to like watching outside, but he cannot see much over the windowsill. As for movement, Nate goes from lying to sitting, then he can stand from sitting without anything to hold onto, he usually likes to pull up from stuff, but can do it by himself. He stands without support for ages and takes a couple steps then falls over. Tony it walking when holding onto stuff, can stand by himself for a small amount of time. He can pull himself up from sitting position with abit of help, but it seems to get easier each time for him. He falls but now instead of straightening up and landing on his back, he now hits his bum. Actually me and wifey helped with that by repeatidly shoving him down and making him stand. We gave him loads of belly time and he will actually crawl for food. Its not a proper crawl yet, but another week and it prob will be. Best way to describe Nates crawling is like a tank. Basically he will plow through everything to get to where he wants. That includes toys, parents, or brother (seems like he always trys to crawl over Tony whenever possible). Tony will grab and pull anything within grasp which includes his brother or other friends on playdates.
As I'm writing this, both boys want to have a go writing, I don't think that they'll actually write, just remove keys and throw it. It makes me feel important as they are currenly clinging and chewing on my legs.

1 Jul 07
Its looking like this is turning into a monthly thing due to my laziness. Well, Nate is crawling and climbing. Turn your back and he's either somewhere or standing next to the couch. He knows how to stand and crawl and likes it. Its awesome, but more work than before. We have a playpen that its the only way to get 2 mins (to write this.. hee hee). Both the boys are very needy at present. Hard part for Tony is that Nate will crawl into your lap, grab your legs even if Tony is lying in there.. its soooo rude!!! We think Tony realises that either me or wife will take him wherever he needs to be so he don't want to try. Whenever we give him tummy time he just rolls onto his back.
Mega thing is that they are sleeping through the night. We got this schedule in, feed 5:30, bath 7, bottle 7:30, bed 8. Everything can change about 30mins, but its great. At bed time they go in their cribs, we pray with them, then night light on and we disappear downstairs to avoid hearing their cries. It started off that they would cry for 15mins, now its usually about 5. Sometimes they will cry during the night, but as long as its not their hurting cry we leave them. Wifey is such a sweetie that she can't sleep when they are like that, me, I fall right back to sleep and ignore them, must be all that car noise from Webster and snoozing when I get the call-ins at work. So they usually wake up between 5 & 6. If its 5, we try to let them play with toys until 6 so we can get decent sleep.
Its been wicked hot so the basement has been nice and cool, we have some matting down so when they fall they don't hurt (aren't we sweeties).
They both fight for toys. It seems like whatever the other one has, its get removed. It seems that Nate is abit stronger, but Tony puts up a fight. We let they continue until one wins, then give the original owner the toy. Its the best way we thought.

1 Jun 07
Loads have happened. Mum, dad, Dave, Gemma have all left and they had loads of fun. Both boys love the bath. Gran and Grandad got them some more toys and Tony won't let go of the red boat, compared to Nate who won't let go of his nether regions. They're both starting to splash and make mess. Nate has 2 teeth all the way through and Tony has one. Past couple days he had a fever (max 102) and coughing, which we put down to teething. His fever dropped, still coughing, but no 2nd tooth yet.
Before this they were sleeping more, which was awesome, Nate over 5hrs, Tony like 4ish. Getting better, which is what we want.

Nate now razzes all the time and keeps saying ma-ma, but not da-da...yet. Tony on the other hand says da-da and daddie, but not mama. Yesterday nate dragged himself onto his feet from wifey's leg. He is just about crawling without actually crawling. Tony don't bother, he's happy sitting, rolling, and being moved.

5 May 07
Tony was saying da-da 2 days ago and yesterday he said daddy.. way cool eh!!! That toy is now their fav. Both of them revolve around and hit the tunes button then dances in the seat its mega. They both went to the determitologist on Friday who gave them stuff to go in the bath and some more drugs to make them sleep (saves on the Tynedol). This drug is also suppose to reduce the itching for them, which is prob why they get up all the time. Last night both slept for 2 hrs (we actually cuddled with a flik!!!) then both wouldn't go down for 1-1/2 hrs, so they slept with us in the bed for 4 hrs, then for 3 hrs. We don't wanna do that again.
Today, Tony fell asleep in Grans arms and stayed asleep when put down, but not Nate. When his bum hit the bed he woke up. Wifey fed him and he snoozed in her arms. Put down, cried. He still has his eyes closed, but crying. I held him.. quiet, put down.. cry. I did this for like 10 times since he must tire before me, and he did... whooo hooo. A victory for dad. Nate'll get his own back and wake up loads after 3AM (when I'm the primary one for getting up with da kids).
Tony still cries in the bath, but instead twice a week, its every day due to skin problems. Need to change from the ultra safe pede recommended dreft.... Hopefully everything will sort itself out in 2 weeks.
Tony'll smile and be held by anyone, but Nate, he's his mum and dads boy, weepy with anyone else, esp if we aren't there. He gets over it after a while though, which is awesome.

1 May 07
Mum and dad came yesterday. They boys sleeping still haven't changed, so it must be teething. Both now doesn't like to be put down so you have to do it slowly and its no guarantee that they won't complain. Nate has a tooth that has finally come through. We have tricks to get them to eat using popsicles or toys to chill them and distract them. They got a new toy (from Kim) which is mega. Its a table like thing with a seat that can rotate around the table. On the table is loads of cool stuff like a piano that plays tunes as well as notes.

23 Apr 07
Kris and Gill went back. We all went to Quabin on Sunday leaving the boys with Kim. I dont' get cellphone reception out their. On the way back we called to see how the boys were and found that they'd been crying most of the time. It seems that they are home boys and don't like to go to other peoples houses without mum and dad. When we got to Kim's the boys were quiet straight away.

18 Apr 07
Kris and Gill came over for a week. The boys cried with them on Friday since they didn't know them. They warmed up to them on Sat, so that was nice. We went to Newport where wifey (with the kids) got slightly lost, but eventually found us which was nice. The boys had fun. The nurse came on Wed and gave us advice with the boys, putting them on their stomachs alot and trying to get them to sit up by themselves. Nate has started to stay up right more, but Tony likes to sway. Still no real change in their sleeping habbits.

10 Apr 07
Nate has started to say ma-ma, which is way cool. They're holding their bottles but keep putting them everywhere apart from their mouth. Both are having 3 meals a day. Rice cereal + fruit for breakfast, veg and fruit for lunch, and meat + veg and maybe fruit for dinner. Loads of food. Its fun with the solids and kinda messy.

4 Apr 07
Nate is starting to roll onto his stomach all the time when he sleeps. Tony started getting up every 1-2hrs. We tried leaving him to cry for 10mins, but he just cried for 10mins. He must be teethings, so maybe its something to try when the teeth have come through. Nate has 2 big bubbles so they are nearly through. We had Early Intervention come in to evaluate the boys for their development. Nate is as an 8 month old while Tony is 8 month for most and 7 for a couple things. The reason was that he was tired and hungry so he wasn't playing ball. Nice thing is we get a nurse coming round every Wed to play with the boys. The nurse had triplts so she knows about multiples.

22 Mar 07
Been a fun few days as we started solids (apart from rice cereal). They've been on applesauce for the past 3 days. The downside is that Tony wouldn't sleep the nights waking up every hour. We stopped the applesauce a day ago and last night he slept for 3 hrs then 4 hrs, so thats mega. Nate started to pick up everything and hold his bottle instead of trying to then batting it away. Tony is speaking more and more. They are both wanting the exersaucer all the time and go jumping in it.

15 Mar 07
The boys are now fine. Nate had baby broncioitus (or however you spell it), which is a mild form of RSV (a nasty virus). After this Nate got the rotovirus which makes you vomit and the runs. This lasts for up to a week, so he got it for a week. 2 days before it left him, Tony got it for a week. Tony then had a fever of 102, therefore another hospital visit. Kim had a cold for the first week, then Lee for the second week, so wifey got no help for the whole illness.... JOY!
Both the boys have regressed in their sleeping through the night so they get up 3 times. We're increaseing their feeding before they go bed with rice cereal, but that hasn't helped yet.
Nate is grabbing everything, including glasses and hair, Tony is starting to grab your hand when you put it infront her. Both are loving the eversaucer and jumper. Wifey has been spiking their hair, so I'll get the mohawk look for Tony uploaded soon.

28 Feb 07
Well... Nates cough was still around and its been over a month with it. He's been to the doctors about 3 times just for the cough. Tony started coughing the other week and both have colds. Took them to the doctors and they had a virus, so wait it out. Last week Tony's cold got worse, so his nose is totally running, making feeding hard and needing the dreaded blue bulb!!! Everything else about the boys hasn't changed, they still smile, giggle, eat, cry.. etc. Tony was diagnosed with baby excema so according to the doctor we have to 'grease him up like a piggy'.
Today Nate started to wheeze, so wifey took him to the doctors and then to the hospital to get a chest x-ray and the fluid removed. He might stay overnight, so its daddy and Tony time. We know he's gonna be fine, but appreciate all the prayers.

10 Feb 07
Parents and bro/fiancee left, we have kids in our room at night, so interrupted sleep. They are getting better and usually feed them at 8-10 then they wake up for food around 4ish. They faff/fool around usually a couple of times, so we're usually up then as well. Hopefully that'll improve through time. They've been on rice cereal in the last meal, but it hasn't really increased their sleep. Nate wolfs it down from a spoon, while Tony prefers it in a bottle at present. Tony has started to laugh in certain circumstances and they both have rolled over a couple times. They had their vaccines last Tuesday and both were very good about it, which is a blessing. We found that the boys now get really cranky when tired and just whine so we have to try to put them to sleep which isn't the easiest thing.

21 Jan 07
Its been ages since I last wrote something. New Year was very eventful, I went to be about 10, wifey came and wished me Happy New Year and I grunted and slept. The boys are sleeping alot around the night, which is awesome. I usually get about 3 hrs sleep during my shift so I go to bed later. We're now putting them in our room more, so thats nice. Usually Fri and Sat nights then I won't be a huge zombie at work.
Kim had another week off then parents came over so we don't know what being without help is like. Wifey talked to he cus the other week and talking about kids and Mykka said 'you know, most people only have 1 kid and not twins'. I suppose its what you get used to.
Parents were amazed by the size of the kids and the weight. I suppose you don't realise until you don't see them all the time. They see all the pictures but totally different when you're there. Both have a viral infection and are teething, so its great fun. They've had stuffy noses, irritable, Nates been sleeping all the time and Tony not at all. Well we're all getting used to 2 crying babies.
Bro and fiancee should have been arriving yesterday but lovely flights messed them up and made them stay in Amsterdam for a night, so they'll be here today. At least they're arriving within the NFC championship game so we get to watch the Pats.

28 Dec 06
The boys had their first christmas. We got them some outfits and they got more outfits, teething rings, and chairs from family. It was great. We opened our prezzies and the kids prezzies while they slept. They both like the tree staring at the lights and balls. Their sleep is increasing to usually 4-5 hrs and up to 8 hrs during the night. The hard part is that one will sleep a long time, but the other will need some attention. Its getting better. I haven't written much since I sleep most of the time when I'm watching the kids. Kim has vacation this week that gives wifey extra needed sleep. Nate has a hard time sleeping on his back and wanted to be held most of the time. We found that using a swaddling thingy he sleeps, so he must be waking himself with his arms. This is a lot more secure than wrapping a blanket around him and so far he hasn't escaped, unlike with the normal blankets. They'll soon get to see their first snow....

11 Dec 06
The boys are sleeping longer about 6hrs, which is nice. I've been getting an extra 2ish hours sleep each morning. They're getting close to sleeping enough to get rid of shifts. Probably after Gran and Grandad leave. They still usually need some attention either extra burping and settling between the feeds. Tony is smiling loads and talking abit. He learnt the trick as you can see from the vid. Nate is talking alot. Grandma sang Jingle Bells with him (Nate smiled and sang), which was cute.

6 Dec 06
Boys went to their first rest restaurant on Saturday. Nate slept through everything with a few waking moments looking around. Tony was wide awake so I held him most of the time and that kept him quiet. Both boys are now smiling loads and Nate is talking, well making more noises than burps, poops, crying.. is it gurgling, gooing.... only more time will tell. Whatever it is, its mega. Boys had fun at Bible study last week, they wanted food and complained loads. They completed their homework of reading Romans... with a little help from mum and dad. We're not quite up to Romans on their daily reading, but we rearranged their schedule.

26 Nov 06
Talked to my future sis the other day and got told off about not updating this website enough. Thats a fair point I suppose. As you can see from the video, we have taught Nate a trick and he's a good boy.. yes he is... yes he is. Nate won't 'perform' unless he's been awake for about 15 mins, not needing anything (hungry, etc), so we have to keep our stars happy. When we were at kims for Thanksgiving, wifey was holding Nate and Mykka was talking to him. I came in the room and Nate just looked at me, mega. The boys have a system to keep mum and dad around the whole night. Tony has colic stuff about 8ish for about 3hrs when I go to bed, so crying loads unless held certain ways. Nate will want to be held and fall asleep on me about 4ish for the rest of the morning. He can get put down for about 20mins or until he notices me feeding he bro, then he has a habbit of interrupting it. When he's on my he's quiet and usually sleeping. I've gotten used to having Nate on me or next to me while feeding Tony. Only downside to this is when Tony tries to kick his bro.

23 Nov 06
Its bro's birthday and Thanksgiving, the first for the boys. They're still only getting formula, so turkey for me and wifey. Only downside to this is that I'm cooking the turkey..... Its raining today, which is another excuse not to move the leaves. Off to Kims this afternoon for more food, footy, and chilling with the family.

12 Nov 06
The boys are smiling loads now, its mega. They sometimes do it when you talk and smile to them and other times you have to rub their cheek. They look at you when you are talking and will pick out mum and dad when looking at a group of people. We got a new swing, so they can both have one to avoid crying, which is very nice for us. They have been sleeping for 5 hrs consistently at night. Often they need holding, or the swing, or their pass putting back in to sleep after a couple hrs, so I don't know if we'll try to get rid of shifts... its all fun.
Last night I fed Nate and after about 3/4 through, wifey said that he looked like he was gonna spit up. Me being me, I didn't think so, so I just held him and naturally he spat up. First out of his mouth and small stream to get the front of me, then he closed his mouth and streams came from he nose. I held him and laughed. I shouldn't have, but it was funny.

9 Nov 06
More stuff with Tony yesterday when they had their vaccinations, which was 4 shots. About 4 hrs later Tony decided to cry. The Drs said that they would be fussy, but he doesn't normally cry often and this was a constant painful sounding cry. Wife called the Drs, then the EMTs, and me. I came home to find only the EMT's here since the police and fire truck had already left. The EMT's were awesome and helped loads. No fever and Tony was calm. The Drs said to go to the emergency room just to be safe, so wifey went with Tony in the ambulance and I stayed home with Nate. Just like last time, she was there for like 5hrs. Kim went over, which was mega. Nate was fussier than normal, so he slept the afternoon on dad. Tony had a low grade fever (100.4) and had calmed down when he came home. He was like normal during the night, sleeping soundly as did Nate. Tony's fever dropped to 100 by morning, and the Drs wanted to see him just to make sure he's ok. Dr said that he had some gas, so we're trying some girlie formula, the lactose free stuff. Hopefully we can start to reduce the number of emergency room visits for Tony from one a month

6 Nov 06
The boys are sleeping more, its way cool. They are up to 5hrs at night, so we can nearly get rid of the shifts. They are also recognising voices and looking. Its awesome when there are people around and they start to look for mum or dad when they hear our voices.

3 Nov 06
Its been a busy week. I've not entered anything since I've been sorting out the webpage. Wife took loads of photos of the kids which I should have uploaded. Both are keeping their heads up by themselves, which is awesome. Wednesday we went to Bible study as a family. Nate sat, talked, and pooped all the way through. Tony, he whined and cried often, so wifey was out of the room most of the time.

29 Oct 06
Nate ate just before Church today and lasted the whole service sleeping. Tony wanted food half way through, and they came for the end of the service. Cheryl stopped over in the afternoon and they boys loved all the stimulating conversation as they slept the whole afternoon.

26 Oct 06
They have been both looking at everyone when they speak, its really cool. Yesterday morning Nate was in the chair and wife started to speak so Nate tried to look at her. The chair was facing away from her, so he was turning his head to see her. How mega is that... naturally dad was at work.

24 Oct 05
Past 2 days the boys gave been fussy. In the mornings I haven't had much time to myself, its feeding.changing, burping, holding to settle, then feeding, changing, burping, holding, then holding the other, then holding the other, then holding the other....... They were the same in the afternoon with wife, I had work which was quiet. She got them quiet and then came to work to see me. Everyone thought they were wicked cute, which is totally understandable.

22 Oct 06
Nate was awesome since he was fed at 9:30. Perfect timing so I get to stay in Church for the whole service. Tony will have to fed about 11, so wifey will have to listen from downstairs. Everyone at Church can tell them apart. I hold Nate and wife holds Tony, since Nate is the heavy one. Tony went to the gym today. Well we put him on his stomach on the floor and he had great fun. He lifted and turned his head and very nearly rolled over, it was way cool. Nate was sleeping do he'll get his chance tomorrow. Tony would have made his uncle proud since he got so into the burn and getting ripped that he puked. FEEL THE BURN!!!

20 Oct 06
This morning, Nate should have been fed 45mins after Tony, but while feeding Tony, Nate decided to cry, nice loud crying at 3AM. So after 1/2 feeding Tony, I tried (unsuccessfully) to comfort Nate while warming his bottle. Nate started to be fed and settled down, then Tony complained. Moving to Tony, Nate complained.... AWESOME!!! I put Tony on his boppy and Nate on my legs and fed both. Naturally Nate's bottle had the nipple with the small hole so it was taking ages. Got Nate 1/2 finished so he was kinda happy, well not crying, so I changed Tony (totally exploded in his pants btw). Finishing off Nate I found the small nipple, so I changed his nipple to a bigger one cos he was getting frustrated that not enough food was coming out. Both got settled and I could get my coffee and Red Dwarf.

19 Oct 06
Drs appt for both of them today. Nate gone up to 10-4 and Tony 7-8. Mega weight gain. They had their 2nd shot today and behaved awesome. At night Nate got more fussy than normal though.

17 Oct 06
Kims over this week, so wife has been waking me up around 3 instead of 2 since she can sleep in the morning more. Weekend was hectic. Went to Church, then to get formula, then home to feed babies, then get our food, then it was getting dark so we couldn't even take them for a walk. Time flies...
Both the boys are now looking at whos talking to them most of the time. They have been doing this for a while, but now its more consistent, which is awesome.

14 Oct 06
Its so weird that I was happy that wife woke me up at 4AM and that was counted as a lie-in.

13 Oct 06
Had great fun this morning when I started to feed Tony who had loads of wind, so was being wicked fussy, Nate decided to complain about something. Result is both kids crying at the same time. This at 4AM is something that I wouldn't have thought I'd be doing 4 years ago and its amazing.
Tony's appt this morning so grandma came over to watch Nate. Nate always crys with me and wife while changing, but not with Grandma.

10 Oct 06
Tonys appt which went well, he's healing awesome. Parents left today, so the lack of sleep will start to happen. Decided to split the shifts so we can have uninterrupted sleep. I'll sleep 8-2AM and wife 2-7AM. We're getting the boys an hour apart on the feeds so they aren't hungry at the same time. Gonna be fun....

8 Oct 06
The Drs office called this morning for a check up. We went in and talked to another Dr who looked it. Wife made a fuss and got them to arrange an appt with Shriners, so to Boston we headed. Shriners cleaned the burn, gave us some more cream, explained all the different reasons for the other treatments and arranged another appt on Tuesday. Tony didn't even cry through all the exam, cleaning, etc. Compare that to Nate who cries loads when getting changed.

7 Oct 06
Next morning we saw a burn to the right of his belly button. We called the Drs office who told us to come in. Nate was watched by me parents and we went to the Drs. They saw him, put some cream on it then sent us to the hospital. The hospital gave us some different cream to put on it and said it will heal in a week. Wife talked to some people on the web and one was from Shriners burn unit in Boston who said that they would look at him.

6 Oct 06
The boys had their Drs appt. Mum, dad went with wifey to it which was nice. Boys gained weight (naturally) and the Dr (not our normal one) noticed Tony's belly button was not how it should be. There was shiney skin there when there shouldn't be. She put some silver nitrate in it to heal it. We were told that its normal to do this and that some browning of the skin around the belly button could occur. What we weren't told is that this can cause burns and if the skin is brown outside the belly button to get it checked out. Everything seemed normal but at night we noticed that the skin next to the belly button was brown. We knew what the Dr said and let him sleep.