Valentine's Day

Tonight we went over to friend Matt's house for Valentine's Day. He made spaghetti and the meatballs that beat Bobby Flay on "Throw Down". The kids had a blast and Matt surprised them with some heart cookies.

An Early Valentine's Treat

Lizzy came over tonight. She brought a pizza and a special valentine's cupcake for the twins. Elaine was a little upset at first when I cut it because she wanted it all for herself! This thing was HUGE, so that was not a possibility.

She quickly got over it, but decided using her hands was too messy....they definitly had to be cleaned up after this!

After dinner Elaine took Lizzy on one of her favorite actvities....

WALKS!

She loves taking our hands and letting us take her for walks around the house.

How Bad Can It Be?!

Ethan got his first bad haircut today. While we were out running errands I tried to get his haircut, but all of the kids places require an appointment. In frustration I told Patrick to just stop at a Great Clips.....Bad idea! It's hard to see totally in this pic, but they CHOP his hair! At least their 2 year old pictures got pushed back because of Elaine's cast! He'll have a few weeks to grow out a bit before it can be fixed by his regular hairdresser! :)

Get Well Wishes!

Elaine has a bunch of admirers. Lizzy and her family gave her a stuffed dog and some valentine themed bandaids to help her feel better. She named the dog Charlie. I can only guess it is because it's a brown dog. She sleeps with it every night. Aunt Cate, Uncle Don, George and Henry sent her a Dora DVD. Both twins are in LOVE with Dora right now so it was a great gift that will definitely het used and help her get the rest she needs. She has also gotten numereous calls and cards, thanks to everyone!

A Visit to A Favorite Spot

Since we were in the Clifton area, we met Lizzy for lunch. We went to one of my favorite places, Skyline! It was the same one I'd go to in college. In fact we sat at the same table we'd normally sit at back then. Only this time it wasn't 2am, we weren't drunk, and we weren't smoking up a storm. Lizzy and I had a laugh that the place used to be smoking....it's so small, the whole place had to stink!

Ethan found it much easier to place his desired food in Lizzy's hand and eat out of it. What a weirdo! :)

A Super-Duper Birthday Present

To celebrate the twin's birthday I thought it would be fun to take Ethan to the doctor...haha! Nothing serious, he just had to get a two week check up on his ear tubes. The doctor said it looked great and he'll see us in six months.
While we were waiting the kids had a blast playing at the kids' table. Elaine has starting a new saying. Her bulky cast gets caught on stuff, so now she looks at me and says "stuck, stuck". I don't know where she picked up that word, but it is really cute. Here her cast is "stuck" on the table leg.

A Few Laughs and A Few Steps

Kids and I were goofing off today and having a blast taking pics of ourselves.

Elaine is back to her old self! She can hobble around and is smiling again. She normally doesn't wear such boyish pj's but she has to wear Ethan's because the legs on her pj's are too small for her cast. You may also notice she is wearing her shoe, that is to help compensate thickness of the cast and the boot.

Elaine is really starting to move around more on her own. It looks a little funny, but whatever works I guess.

Off the Couch and On the Go

Elaine got her new cast today! I brought the camera with me, but forgot to take any pictures because I was too busy loving her! :) Now that she has her permanent cast she can move around. They gave her a little boot to put on so she can walk on it and not damage the bottom of the cast. Things are way different than when I had an ankle cast on in high school! Hers is completely waterproof! She can take baths and even go swimming. Right now she is just enjoying her Daddy pushing her around on her new tricycle.

Something to Occupy The Lady

With Elaine still in a temporary cast, she is starting to get restless. Luckily Patrick put their trikes together and in the rocking position she can sit on it and rock back and forth. She really likes that.

PS. She normally doesn't wear such boyish pj's but with her cast she has to wear Ethan's pjs because hers are too tight in the legs.

The Twins' 2nd Birthday Party

We had the twins' birthday party today. Everything was great until Elaine hurt her leg before they started opening their presents. She was not happy and missed out on a lot of the present opening. Luckily Ethan had lots of help from his cousins and eventually Elaine started opening a few cards. They received so many wonderful presents! Thank you to everyone, they were all so generous! After dinner, presents, and cake, the kids were able to try and win a goldfish to take home. EVERYONE was a winner!

Thanks again for everything and thanks to everyone for braving the snow to get here!

The Start of a Big Day

Today is the big day.....ear tubes! We started the day off with a doctor's appointment to get the okay for the surgery this afternoon. Ethan did really well and past with flying colors!

The Check In

We got to the medical center and were quickly checked in, then the wait began. Ethan was in high spirits especially considering that all he had all day was a glass of waterdowned apple juice.

He quickly settled in and started snuggling up to his blanket.

Patrick tried avoiding my photo documentation but couldn't hide fast enough!

A Big Success!

After a tear jerking experience of holding him while they put him to sleep, I headed to the waiting room where Patrick was waiting. Within 15 minutes the doctor came out and told us that everything went well. We had to go back to the waiting room and wait until they got Ethan to wake up. It seemed like forever. Eventually a nurse came out to get us. On the way back she seemed too happy and laughed about how cute he was. She told us that when they were trying to wake him up he put his hands up and covered his eyes. He then would open them a little and peek out trying to act like he was still sleeping. Immediately Patrick and I both had thoughts of him flipping out and she was just trying to be nice to us. Much to our surprised we didn't hear any crying. She led us to a recovery area surrounded by curtains and I saw a bunch of people around laughing. We got through the crowd of female nurses and there was a red cheek Ethan in the center on one of the nurse's lap flirting with all the ladies! There were so many of them they couldn't close the curtain!


The nurse let me take her seat and Ethan sat down completely content. The nurses left to let us spend some time with our baby boy but first she filled his cup with some much needed watered down apple juice and goldfish crackers. I tried to get Ethan to slowly drink his juice but he was so thirsty and he gobbled down the crackers! The nurse came back 15 minutes later to tell us we could leave, Ethan held up his empty cup and said "Juice!". She laughed and got him more juice and a couple packets of animal crackers for the road.

On our way out Ethan waved goodbye to all the ladies until he saw the Anesthesiologist. He just looked at him with a blank stare. The ladies had a huge laugh. Ethan was so good on the way home eating his crackers and watching Little Einsteins.

Once we got home Ethan was very excited to show Nonie his new monkey that he got at the doctor's office and his stash of animal crackers. Nonie came down the night before to watch Elaine so we could concentrate on Ethan's procedure. She was such a big help....thanks Mom!

PS. Ethan ate more that night than I've ever seen! He ate a bag of goldfish and a bag of animal crackers. Then he had a big bowl of mac n cheese and a bowl of noodles with butter and parmesean cheese. Later he had more noodles and some jello. He went right to bed with no complaints snuggling with his stuffed cow and his new buddy the monkey! Hopefully ear infections are a thing of the past!

Brunch & Family

This morning we met up with Melissa, Timmy, and Phillip for brunch.

The twins had fun, but we definitely need to feed them a smaller breakfast when they first wake up so they are more interested in eating. They love spending time with their cousin Phillip though.

Snap, Crackle, Pop!

Tonight I taught the twins the art of popping bubble wrap! They thought it was the best. Ethan was the most excited about it.

A Week of Treats

Today I went to our favorite bakery to order the twins' birthday cake and matching cupcakes. Even though they just got a treat from Lizzy, I had to pick them up a fun cookie. Elaine got a snowman and Ethan got a dinosaur.

Surprisingly Ethan was a lot neater with his cookie than Elaine. He just nibbled at it while she opted to rub and lick it all over her face.

Lizzy Comes Bearing Gifts

Lizzy came over yesterday to visit. She brought the twins a little treat...Busken cookies! Elaine was in a shy mood so she did not want to be photographed....or looked at, but Ethan was ready for his treat!

PS. She brought me a treat too!...Yagoot! I love that stuff. Thanks Liz!

Breakfast Has a New Menu

The twins have accomplished a new milestone....cereal with milk! They love eating their Cheerios with milk all by themselves. They are really getting good at it too! Now they just need to grow tall enough to get everything themselves so we can sleep in!

A Weekend of Fun

The twins spent the weekend at Aunt Jamie and Uncle Mark's house. Today we met them halfway. After a few days, they were full of energy but ready to come home! Patrick and I were ready for them to come home too!

Charlie Comes Home

We went up to Urbana today to get Charlie. We had to leave him behind at Christmas because the car was too full. While the twins were napping at Nonie and Poppy's, Patrick and I headed over to Jamie and Mark's so Patrick could help build a mud room. To thank everyone for their help, Jamie treated us all to dinner. After the dinner the boys finished up their electrical work and the twins relaxed. It was a short visit, but nice and relaxing....plus we got Charlie back so that makes everthing seem back to normal after the hectic holiday season.