Taga Time!

There is a new addition to the family and its the Taga Bike! Its a stroller bike that just came to the USA about 6 months ago from Amsterdam. Its a bike with a stroller attached to the front. I am so excited because it will give me a chance to get some exercise, fresh air, and also spend some quality time with Harrison! We took it out today and it was definitely a work out. I am so weak after this pregnancy. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things!

Henry goes back to the dr on Wednesday to get his helmet. He will have it for 4 - 8 weeks and wear it about 23 hours per day. We went last Wednesday and had him fitted for it. It was a crazy experience. These 4 ladies put a stocking cap over his face and set him on a stool in the middle of this room surrounded by cameras and weird lights. It was like something out of a sci-fi movie. Of course he hated it because he had to sit up straight with his neck upright. He doesn't quite have the strength for that yet so I know it didn't feel good. As much as we hate all of this, we know it must be done and at this age it will be the easiest it will ever be to correct!

The boys are doing great! Charlie is 10 lbs, 12 oz. Henry was 13 lbs, 6 oz at his last weigh-in but that was over a week ago. So I am guessing they are at least 3 lbs apart at this point! Totally different body types. Both as cute as they could be. They are smiling so much and interacting with us more. They usually sleep at least 6 hours at a time, which is great for this age! We have taken them to eat at Steiner Ranch Steakhouse and Hill Country Pasta House and they were angels.

Harrison has been saying some really sweet things lately. The most recent: "Princess mommy protects me from monsters", "I miss your face", and "Mommy looks like that angel". However there are days when he tells me he wants to poop on my face, so I guess I will just focus on the sweet things! Adam and I took him to Dave and Buster's the other day at lunch and he had so much fun. He is really lucky too! Amy and Parker came over for a playdate the other day and Parker spotted a tarantula on our deck and just picked it up! I think Amy and I were more scared than the kids were!

Adam and I had our 4 year anniversary last week. Our plan was to have a drink at the Tapas Bar where we had our first date. However, when we arrived we realized it had a new name. Then after ordering our first drink, we were quite sure it was now a gay bar! Oh well. It was still fun. We had a wonderful dinner at the Driskill Grille afterwards and Adam had a 7 course dinner!

We finally found a home for Oscar. A nice family of cat lovers took him in. I can't believe someone wanted him since he has epilepsy. I miss him, but he needs to be in a home where he will have attention. Also, I can't worry about him biting our little ones!

Poop-tastrophe

My little ones are already 2 months and 5 days old! At their 2 month appt, Henry weighed 11 lbs, 10 oz (in the 52%) and Charlie was 9 lbs, 6 oz (in the 6%). They were both 21 inches long (2%). The doctor says they are both perfectly healthy and growing exactly as they should. We have an appointment about the helmet on Tuesday. Henry is our big guy. We nicknamed him "Hank the Tank" because he is so solid! They are still adjusting to the transition to formula. The first week was rough and I felt just terrible for them, but they seem to be ok now. We had an outing to Oasis for dinner with MeeMee and PopPop and an outing today to Luby's to celebrate Mim's birthday. We also had our first trip to the park this weekend. But other than that, we keep these babies at home! Nana came to help out last weekend too. They are both starting to smile and coo and are just so cute!

I was hoping I wouldn't have to hire help for the babies. I tried it on my own for awhile! And the realization was that although I could do it on my own, I couldn't do it well enough. One person just isn't quite enough for 2 infants and a 2 year old. There was always someone crying, someone neglected...And poor Harrison would have to occupy himself while I fed the babies which was all the time! I was terribly stressed out with my blood pressure way high. We now have a nanny named Mary Anne who comes 25 hours per week to help me. She is exactly what we needed! I am able to spend quality alone time with Harrison. When I am spending time with the babies, Mary Anne plays with Harrison. So everyone is now getting all the attention they need. Because of it, Harrison is so much happier. He's nicer to his brothers and so sweet to us. He tells us how much he loves us regularly. He told me the other day "Mommy, I love you. Please don't ever go away. I will come find you!" I overheard him tell Mary Anne "I like you. You're my friend. I want to do things that make you happy". He also has told me "I am going to be nice to Mommy. I am going to bake you a cake, water your garden, put on my construction hat and build you a house. And then build you another house". He is just such a sweety! Harrison and I spent so much time together before the babies came. And then I went on bed rest and then hospital stays and then taking care of the newborns and I hated that for us! But now I feel like things are perfect again with us. We still have our share of tantrums! But they are just because he is 2 and we will just have to survive those.

Ahhh and I can't write this blog without mentioning a couple good poop stories. It had been several days since Henry had done his business and I was starting to freak out about it. One morning I had him in the Bjorn while I washed bottles when I saw that he was doing his thing. I let him finish because there was no way I was going to screw this up for him! When I took him out of the Bjorn I saw that he had poop all the way up his back to his hair! Thank goodness Adam was still home. We just had to bathe that poor kid. But he had a smile on his face after that! I will be telling this next story for a long time. I put Harrison down for a nap the other day, which is becoming more difficult everyday. I got the babies to sleep too and then called the insurance company to sort out this stack of medical bills. I turned down the volume on Harrison's monitor for a few minutes while I was on the phone. When I finished, Henry and Charlie were starting to wake up (thanks for the 15 minute nap guys!). I grabbed Henry and went to peek at Harrison before I started feeding the babies. Little did I know the poop-tastrophe I was going to walk into. I first see the poop balls in the middle of the floor. I look up to see Harrison without pants or a diaper on. There is poop smeared ALL OVER his sheets. He apparently used his foot to smear the poop in every inch of the sheet. There is a puddle of pee in the middle. Poop all over his hands, feet, hair. And a big grin on his face. Around that time Henry starts screaming at the top of his lungs (Henry doesn't mess around when he's hungry). I laid Henry down and started to approach the crime scene with wet wipes when I realized how pointless that would be! So I just had to plop him in the tub. It was madness for awhile. I would have NEVER expected this from Harrison! He doesn't like "yucky" stuff! But he is a little boy and I have 2 more to expect these shennanigans from I guess!

Well I must go now because there are a million things to do before we can go to bed. Things in our house are so much better now that I am not spending 4 -5 hours pumping everyday and I have help! Things are exactly as they should be! (and bonus - my blood pressure is back to normal!) I will try to update again soon!