April 26-May 25, 2011
I forgot to include this year's Muster pictures in the last update. We had Muster again, organized by Jamie, at Casa Bianca in Aviano. It was the boy's (Eli, Callum, and Porter) first Muster. They did great eating their dinner and socializing with each other.
This month has been all about moving. Moving around, army crawling to all-fours crawling, pulling up, pulling (each other) down, cruising along the window and bookshelf and baby-gate--lots of moving for me and Evan too!
Do you see what I see? As I finished the morning dishes, it was a little too quiet. My friends are escaping their boundaries!
I installed the legs on their two activity tables. They are way more fun now. They crawl under them, around them, and a lot of times one of the legs comes off and the table falls on them. I've rescued many a stuck baby, but now that standing is so fun, it's nice to have something on their level.
We went to a picnic for the office. The guys played bocce ball--Andrew was helping out.
I didn't get the laundry bag put back soon enough in their room. Eli found it and crawled inside.
The cruising at the window is really picking up. Instead of just pulling up and standing and then sitting down again, they are moving down the line. If the other brother is in the way, they just plow through. In this pic Porter has the advantage moving to the left. They also enjoy opening and closing the window--a LOT. We just sit and push and pull the window open and closed all the time.
Sleeping babies. They are getting so long in their cribs. I still can't believe they used to both share one for some naps.
A new trick they have is when we pick them up now they wrap their little legs to our hips. Not just limp little noodles anymore. This also means when they don't want to be held, they turn into worms and wiggle away. Porter also holds his hands up from the seated position when he wants to be held or we are starting to bend down to get him.
This is one of my favorite toys because it's bright, colorful, and plays fun songs about monkeys, elephants, and hippos. They now stand up to it and dance--or bounce up and down which I consider dancing for them. They are bouncing in the picture so it's a little blurry.
No big deal. Just escaped the barriers...again. It's a team effort at least.
Playing with Dad by the window.
Silly goose Eli. Not only has he managed to wiggle his shoe off, but he pulled the umbrella shade over his car-seat and pulls it back and forth during the car ride.
Both boys have been pointing a lot lately. While they are eating and we hear a dog, I have always looked out the open window. Now they point to the window--for a dog and sometimes a bird or car/motorcycles. Pointing to people, the doors, the windows, really anything that makes noise--they look and point, we'll work on the "pointing is not polite" a little later I guess.
The wagon has re-appeared. Now that Porter and Eli are little bigger and sturdier on all 4s, I thought it would be a good time to bring it out. They love it. I love it. We all love it. I put toys in it--I take them around in it. They both push and pull it and pull up all over it. WHAT a fun toy.
I know, and have read, that around this age words start to form but they may not know what they are attached to. For example, Mama and Dada but just saying it over and over but not attaching it to us. Sometimes they do say it when we're around or looking at them or walk in the room--meaningless or otherwise, I like it.
I picked up and put away most of their soft toys/animals in our Aggie bucket. The boys have been exploring their room, which is where the bucket-o-animals is located. They found it. And now they enjoy emptying it out and playing. Fine by me--I have time to refill diapers, wipes, change sheets, put laundry away, and clean-up all their stuff!
Blocks are a favorite toy to put in their mouth and carry all over. The dancing/bouncing is fun and it's really to any music--they also like it when I dance. I dance like a fool to get a reaction and it always pays off.
We ventured over to Sadie and Christy's house one afternoon for a little play time. They loved it--crawled all over, got the blanket messy from our quesadilla snack, and stole some of Sadie's Cheerios. Sadie is 3 months younger but she hangs with the big boys at playgroup all the time as the only girl usually.
Their palettes have expanded and they eat a lot of the same foods we do now. I still feed them Gerber everything but I also introduce new foods and snacks a lot. The latest has been an Apple-Pea-Edamame mixture. OHmygoodness they love it! When I have toast for breakfast I have been sharing it with Porter and Eli. Eli will hold the tiny piece, put it in his mouth, and bring it out again until all the jelly is gone. Then he eats the toast. Hysterical.
When they have rattles of any kind in their hands, I always sing, "Shake, shake, shake. Shake, shake, shake. Shake your rattle, shake your rattle yeah." They hold their rattles up and shake, shake, shake.
The base thrift store has really served me (and the boys) really well. So far all of our toys have been from there and the favorite so far are the maracas. They like to crawl with them and shake them and about once a day
someone gets hit over the head with one.
We celebrated Gram's birthday--Happy Birthday GRAM!!
We seem to have a little problem with boundaries huh? Eli has pushed the gate over and is wrapped inside. Porter has left Eli in his dust.
These next few weeks are busy weeks--grandparents just left, we go on our cruise, and another set of grandparents are coming! Most importantly, my favorite little boys will celebrate their one year birthday. It seems like yesterday...
After lunch, the boys were already lathered in sunscreen so we dug into the sand near the water. Literally, Porter and Eli dug into the sand and ate it. They ate so much sand that day, and they sucked on a few seashells too. We ventured into some tide pools, then into waist deep (for the boys) water, and finally Evan and I took them out to a sand bar. 
The result of our beach day? See below. While I was changing Eli in the back of the car, Porter fell asleep. He only had on a dry diaper so we wrapped him up in a towel. 
Sleeping babies are the sweetest.
He's not sleeping but he's sweet too.
This was a trial-run of sorts--what should we take, should not take, how do they like it? It was a success of all fronts, and I can't wait to take them back.
Next we moved onto Vistorta in Sacile. We enjoyed walking in their wine cellar and tasting their wines and eating lots of cheese. The boys played in the grass for the remainder of our time--ate sticks, grass, and dirt; crawled all over the yard; and wore themselves OUT! 
