Tyler (Left) and Hunter (Right)

13 months old

Well, I cannot believe how long it has been since I've even visited this site. Who knows if anyone even bothers to check it anymore. Oh well. I have a few minutes so I'm going to update it quickly.

It's been about a year since our last post. In fact, I think it is just over 1 year since we were in Ottawa. Tyler and Hunter are now 19 months old. They are running, talking, mischief machines! Not really - they are very good boys for the most part. Sometimes their curiosity gets the better of them which gets them into trouble, but usually they are very good boys.

Highlights of the past year:
- Crawling: Tyler started to crawl around 10 months. Hunter never really crawled at all.

- Cruising: Tyler started to cruise around 9 months. Hunter hardly cruised at all, mostly in his 11th month.

- Walking: Hunter walked 1 week before 1st birthday, Tyler walked 1 week after 1st birthday. Tyler was more mobile but he was afraid to let go. Hunter learned by watching Tyler and then basically just got up and went one day!

- Talking: This one is so hard to pinpoint because they have been babblers almost since the get-go. I'll have to refer to the baby books to see what the first words are and when. But it was around that 1 year mark. They are now big talkers. More so than your average 19 month olds. They have a large vocabulary, learn quickly and are constantly talking!

- Favorite Toys: They still love cars, trucks, strollers... anything with wheels. The bigger the better. A second choice toy would be weebles/little people, or tupperware shape sorter.

- Books: They love books. Hunter slightly more than Tyler, but they are both drawn into reading books. They know the words by heart of some of their favorite stories and will recite the correct word when you pause.

- Activities: Their favorite activities (besides playing with cars/trucks) is going outside for walks, playing in the playgrounds (slides are especially fun), watching Dora and Diego on TV, running up and down hills, jumping in puddles... that's all I can think of right now.

- Eating: They will eat almost anything. Of the two Hunter is pickier, but if he is in the right mood, he is usually game to try something new. They do love Mcdonald's I'm afraid to say, but we try to reserve it for special (or rushed) occasions!

Favorite foods: Apples, cheerios/cereal, pasta, peas, cooked veggies, potatoes, bread/toast, teddy grahams, crackers and cheese.

- most exciting thing: they were chosen for a recurring role on a locally filmed Canadian comedy called Robson Arms. They play Baby Robbie. It is only just now starting to air on tv and it is really cool to see your kids on the screen! And to see the finished product after the months of filming, and hours spent on sets!

So - there you go. I shall try to post some pictures now. Bear with me.





One of the many huge snowfalls this winter. They loved the snow!






Tyler (top) and Hunter (bottom) on the set of Robson Arms



Tyler - Left, Hunter - Right.


Hallowe'en
Hunter the Pumpkin and
Tyler the Lion (hear me ROAR!!!!)
with Auntie Tammy

We survived our big trip across Canada! We flew to Ottawa, Ontario from Vancouver, BC on February 25. We returned home on March 13. Because of Transport Canada regulations (and good regulations too), I had to fly with another adult with the boys. I flew out with Donna because she was going to Ottawa on business. And mom flew back with me so she could have a visit here too.

Here are some of the photo highlights...

Tyler and Auntie Donna, getting ready for take off! We almost didn't have enough time to get to the plane. Definitely not time enough to change the boys out of their sleepers! They were great on the plane out. Napping at appropriate times and not being noisy at all. I don't think they even cried during the whole flight!! COMPLETE opposite for return flight!!!!

All set for our big walk down the road in the snow. It was sunny but COLD! I got the boys all bundled up and we went for a walk down the road to the cemetery (to see Lewis!!! ha ha!!!) with Grampa. It's a good thing we walked this day because it snowed soon after which meant I couldn't roll the stroller, and then it got bitterly cold for a few days (-29 celcius BEFORE the wind chill!)

Grandma & Grampa have "happy hour" every afternoon. Grampa likes his Rum & Cokes! Apparently so does Hunter.

Grampa after the Rum & Coke! :-)

We got all dressed up for Uncle Tim's Birthday. We can't tell you how old he turned (we really can't count yet), but we CAN tell you that the local fire department was on alert when we lit the candles on his "hippy pappy bthuthday thuthday" cake.

(Dad looks very funny without his eye glasses! Cataract surgeries are in progress.)

We turned 7 months when we were in Ottawa and had a great big party. Here's us on our way to the party.

Just before we left we got to visit with special friends: Carol & Bob Southern. Here's a picture of Tyler with Carol (AKA Flipper!)

Things we learned while we were away:

• snowsuits are a pain to put on. You get really hot and it always means that you're going out somewhere cold!
• we don't like hats
• transfering toys from one hand to another
• exersaucers are bouncy
• how to sit up, but have lots of pillows around us because we aren't very stable
• rattles are hard and hurt when you drop them on your head
• cousins are great babysitters (Thanks Arianne & Edward!)
• how to take a napkin off our face (thanks Uncle Tim - that's a great game!)
• how to hold our bottle (well, Tyler learned that one. Hunter still needs to learn it)
• sleeping more than 2 hours in a row is no fun
• Gramma and Grampa's water isn't good for our little bellies. Bottled water works much better.
• Grampa pretends that he doesn't like babies, but he has a lot fun with us
• there are lots of people in Ottawa who love us!

Christmas photos

A boy and his father

Tummy time for Hunter
A sleeping Tyler

Life with Twins...

One of the other most common questions i get asked when out with the boys is... "how do you find it? how is life with twins?" I usually just answer - busy- Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

Here's the real answer...

Life with twins is good and bad. It's extremely busy and most days I have not a minute to myself. Barely time to go to the bathroom, let alone do some reading which I absolutely adore. It takes me an awfully long time to read anything. (Right now I'm reading "A Tree grows in Brooklyn" - I've had to renew the book several times already.) Anyway, Life with twins is busy.

And Life with Twins is also boring. We do the same thing everyday, all the time. Sometimes the boys sleep a little lonter, sometimes a little less. Sometimes they are little crankier, sometimes a little happier. That is the only real difference between the days - sometimes the boys' mood changes slightly.

Somedays we go out in the afternoon, very rarely we go out in the morning. It's too hard to get them ready to out in the morning and their mood is more unpredictable in the morning. It's hard to predict if they are going to want to eat. They don't eat as consistently in the morning as they do in the afternoon. In the afternoon they eat every 3-4 hrs, and a full bottle. In the morning, they take sips here and there so that between 7AM and noon, they eat one complete bottle. So I never know when we go out in the morning, if they are going to want to eat. And it's really hard to feed two babies when I'm out and about.

On being a mother - It's something I've been dreaming about and working towards, it seems like my whole entire life. Now that it's here, it's not even close to what I imagined it to be. Some days I hate it, and some days I adore it. It sort of depends on the boys' mood! I adore the boys and live for the little smiles and snuggles that I get. But it is so much work, so much more than I imagined. I've struggled with post partum depression, which seems to be finally getting better now that I've been on medication for about 6 weeks. Not to mention now that there seems to be less stress going on in my life! (Ken's out of the hospital, Christmas is past, and I'm in a better routine with the boys... now if only we had more money! Then all the stress would be gone.) Really, the PPD is what has made this difficult. Thank goodness for the friends and family members who have helped out over the past 4 months. I tell you, you really learn who are your true friends, those that you can count on in difficult times, when you have twins! There have been those that have helped out at a drop of the hat. And for them, I am extremely grateful. They've saved my life (not to mention - the boys' lives!!!) more than once.

So - in some ways, life with twins is not all it's cracked up to be. On the other hand, in other ways, life with twins is way more than I could ever have imagined. The whole "bonding" thing took a little while to happen, but now I know it's definitely there. It happened with Ty when he had his surgery, and Hunter when he had his cold. Now they are my life, my whole being, my soul.

That is why, when people ask me, I usually just answer "Busy." Because there is too much to say otherwise.

I'll try again...

Here's the jist of what I erased accidentally before...

People keep asking me about differences in the boys. I know they are "identical" twins but they are NOT identical. They ARE two different people. Here's a little snapshot of the boys at four months and their likes / dislikes:

Hunter at Four Months: very demanding (wants what he wants five minutes before he asked for it by screaming); likes to bounce in the baby bjorn bouncer, likes to get "air", we call it "running"; can be a great smiler, if he wants to that is!; But also screams really loudly too! Not too sure about this solid food thing; sometimes likes his thumb better than a bottle

Tyler at Four Months: very laid back (usually); likes to bounce on our knee, the rougher the better; can sleep from midnight to 5 am (just not consistently); likes to eat rice cereal; enjoys chewing on his fist and sucking thumb... what else? I don't know but he's paging me from the bedroom now so I better go...

Four Months already...

Argh - wrote a whole thing and erased it by accident. Now I'm outta time. But here are the photos which I didn't erase!

Friends

A Christmas picture... my little santa elves Tyler our pianist
The boys' first Santa visit. No crying!!! :)

New Photos... portrait style


Tyler

Hunter


Taken at 2 months.

Tyler's Hernia Operation -
Yesterday was a long day for everyone but we survived!

Both Tyler & Hunter were troopers through the whole long day. And thank goodness for Auntie Tammy who hung out & entertained Hunter for much of the day.

They weighed Tyler when we arrived... would you believe he tips the scales at 14 lbs!!!!!! Holy Toledo!!! I THOUGHT he was heavy! I wonder what Hunter is???

Even tho Tyler hadn't eaten in 5+ hours, he really didn't fuss much before the surgery. Oh it was hard to hand him over to the nurse who came to take him in to the ER. If he had lingered at all, I would have lost it, but luckily the guy took him really quickly so I hardly had time to think about it at all. Once he was gone, Tammy, Hunter & I went to the lobby to get a coffee (heck I'd been up since 4 AM so was needing SOMETHING!) Right around the time that they would have started Ty's surgery, Hunter started to cry. Must be a twin thing.

The surgery was done in an hour and I went into the recovery room to be with Tyler. Apparently he awoke STARVING - wouldn't you after not eating for half a day when you are used toeating every 2-3 hrs? - and he was sucking back some sugar water. He had lots of air in his belly so was also in a lot of pain from that. No pain from the surgery yet because he had a block like an epidural that numbed him from waist down. Once he'd had the sugar water & a LOT of burps, he toddled off to sleep on my shoulder for a couple of hours. Whenever he woke up, he ate more sugar water, burped and back to sleep.

The released us from the hospital just before noon and we drove home. Ty was awake for a number of hours but didn't seem to be in too much pain or anything. We got an hour of sleep in the afternoon and then were up for the rest of the evening. Mom's tolerance was wearing thin around 10 PM (we're talking 36 hours of being awake, with only about 4 hrs of sleep) and she tried to put everyone to bed. The boys were having none of it. Hunter developed a cold yesterday and was fussy. The dog kept wanting to know why the boys were crying. And Tyler was just wide awake. It was only Mom who wanted to sleep!!! I ended up giving both Tyler & Hunter some Tylenol - knocking Hunter out. Ty was STILL awake. I put him in the swing by my bed and went to bed! It must have lulled him to sleep because he was out a few hours later when Hunter awoke for food.

Ty seems to be fairly okay today tho we are still giving him tylenol regularly. I think we'll stop now tho, I'm not convinced he needs it but it's really hard to tell with an infant isn't it? I woke up with a cold today so all three of us were feeling under the weather today.

All in all - it was an adventure and it is taken care of now. Hopefully that is my last experience with children's hospital & surgery for the boys!