Strawberry Fields Forever

Two weekends ago we took advantage of a Sunday with nothing on our calendar and decided to go strawberry picking.  I really wanted to take the boys strawberry picking ever since our slightly lame attempt at berry picking last fourth of July.  After almost a year, we finally got our chance!  I picked out a u-pick organic strawberry farm south of Santa Cruz and we headed over the mountain.  The boys were excited to go so I figured the outing would be fun and easy, and it was!  We had a great time.  Brody ate every strawberry he picked off the plants; not a single one made it into the baskets.  While munching, he did a little dance that included a cute arm swing, a spin, and a booty shake.  His talent is really unquantifiable.  Brady ate a few strawberries in the field but in typical Brady fashion, he clung to the first strawberry he picked the entire time we were out there.  While delicately holding the original strawberry with one hand, he plucked new strawberries with the other.   Thirty minutes later (in the car), I turned around and asked him were his strawberry was.  He slyly pointed to his tongue and with no words -just a Soprano like gesture- he let me know his strawberry now slept with the fishes (can you tell I am binge watching the Sopranos?  A little late to the game I realize, but thanks to Amazon Prime, I can finally get caught up on TV from the year 2000.). 

After berry picking, we decided to keep heading down the coast.  We wandered down to Carmel, let the dogs play in the ocean, walked around town and had a great afternoon.  The boys are getting so much bigger and more mature that's getting easier and easier to do these kind of adventures.  They skipped nap, and although they were tired and cranky by the end of the day, they were in good spirits the rest of the time.  It is great to see how easily they can roll with fun!

Big Boy Beds

We finally completed the transition to big boy beds!  This has been a long road, starting with the boys climbing out of their cribs back in November. I decided to write the whole long story, not because it's all that interesting, but because I want to remember that EVERYTHING is a process and no change happens like the flick of a light switch  This can also serve as a reminder to the future me that (especially with twins) what is good for one child at one time may not be the best for the other and that much of parenting is taking two steps forward and one step back.  Note to future Carrie: reread this post when the going gets tough! (Chris has been sending me a lot of emails from myself via my ipad saying things like "Future Carrie, you may want to buy more cereal when you are out because your husband was hungry and ate the last of it", or my favorite "Hi Future me, I thought I should know I'm super nerdy."  These have been cracking me up!)

Way back in November when the boys first climbed out of their cribs, we decided to change the cribs into toddler beds for safety reasons.  However, after a few nights of mayhem, it became clear that the boys were not mentally mature enough to accept that they had to stay in their beds or there would be repercussions.  Also, "repercussions" was not something I really had in my arsenal.  Aside from constantly putting them back in their beds, I really did not have any other carrots or sticks that they cared enough about to help them to learn what they should be doing.  This was especially true for Brady who did not have the impulse control need to spot himself from jumping out of bed and running over to his brother.  So after a week or two of terrible bedtime behavior, we put Brady's crib back together.  We spent months working on getting them to stay in their beds once the lights were off and we pretty much had to wait in their room with them until they fell asleep to ensure that no mayhem or dangerous behavior ensued.  SLOWLY though, Brody learned to fall asleep without getting up and he understood the meaning of the rule "no feet on the floor when the lights are off".  In time, he got really good at putting himself to sleep during nap time, so much so, that he would fall asleep way faster than Brady.  Turns out, Brady likes to play in his bed and settle himself down by reading or talking to himself and his energy was keeping Brody awake.  So, I split the boys at nap time; Brody sleep in his toddler bed and Brady fell asleep in the master bedroom in a pack n play.   For whatever reason, even though Brady knew he could climb out of his crib and the pack n play, he seemed to respect the barrier and would not escape (even when I found his brother standing right next to his crib with open arms saying "D- I catch you").  As of a month or so ago, we were in a really good spot sleeping wise, the boys were falling asleep by themselves at night, no one was getting back up after lights out, and naps were pretty regulated, so of course we decided to change everything by giving them their big boy beds ;)  Thankfully, this transition has been much easier.  They like their beds and based on our excitement and explanation, they understand that they were upgraded to something more special.  It just goes to show you that waiting for the right time (and a little maturity) is usually the right thing to do (if you can do it).  The passage of 6 months and the introduction of a new bed has made Brady really wants to sleep in his bed at nap time so he has been learning to settle himself down more quickly (if he does not settle down within a reasonable time period, I move him out of his bed).  Also we give stickers for good bedtime behavior which 6 months ago meant nothing to them.  More carrots and  more sticks has made my job a little easier!  All in all, it is wicked fun to have big boy beds in the house even though I was terribly sad that the cribs were gone!

The hats, inflatable hammers, and tool belts were party favors from an awesome birthday party and they got them the day of the disassembly.  Perfect timing so the boys could help Dad do some deconstruction! I have not decorated the room with other fun toddler tidbits just yet so I will post more pictures when the transition is final.  For now we are enjoying wide open floor space and comfy places to read books and to work on Mom's computer (what?!)!

Take me out to the ball game

 For as long as I can remember, Chris has refereed to us at the family of Giants.  I assume this comes from the fact that he and I are both tall, we have a 110 lb dog, Rocco, and a 60lb lap dog, Adriane.  Once the boys came along, they were immediately included in the family title, not only through heredity but also by 'carrying' their own weight and being on the bigger size (for twins) at their birth.  It seems only too fitting that we moved to California and landed squarely in Giants territory.  Of course Chris and I quibbled over whether or not the boys would be loyal to our home town teams, but taking it as a sign that we were meant the follow the Giants, we committed to being Giants fans (as much as you can commit, by buying shirts and hats!)  To sweeten the deal, the Giants have a minor league team that plays in San Jose, only 20 minutes from our house.  We went to a game a few nights ago and we are hooked!  The minor league games are SO family friendly, complete with local ice cream, craft beer, pitching and hitting games, and a bouncy house. What more could you want, really?  We enjoyed explaining the game to the boys, letting them cheer at the top of their lungs, and feeding them some of the nicest stadium food I have ever seen.  It was great fun and we will be back!  For now, they boys are enjoying wearing their Gigante hats and singing "Take me out to the ball game" as many times as they can!

Happy Birthday Mother's Day

I received the royal treatment yesterday and I could not feel happier or luckier.  I slept in, got cards and coffee in bed, went out for farmers' market gourmet breakfast sandwiches and then spent a few hours at the spa.  I feel like a new woman.

I loved hearing my boys say "Happy Mother's day" and "I love you, Mommy".  I think seeing the joy it brought me fueled their vocal fire because they said those phrases all day long!  To make it extra memorable, Brody kept saying "Happy Birthday Mother's Day" instead of just "Happy Mother's Day".  For whatever reason, he was unable to disconnect the 'birthday" from 'Happy Mother's Day' and it was adorable!  Luckily I recorded it because I am sure that is the last time I hear it that way! 

Thanks boys for a wonderful day and for the pleasure of being your mother!  I love you!

April happenings: My Easter smells of rich mohogany and such

April is usually a really busy month for the McLeans and this year was no different.  We start off the month with Chris's birthday and our anniversary.  This year Chris changed roles the first week of April and we usually have visitors for at least two weeks during the month.  Add Easter to the mix and it makes for one fun month!

The boys were very excited to celebrate Chris's birthday.  They are fully aware of what fun birthdays can be and to have another pop up was very exciting.  In order for them to be ready to sing happy birthday to their Dad, I started practicing with them in March and they got pretty good at singing the whole song by themselves.  The boys picked out their own birthday cards to give to Chris by screaming and pointing  "Monkey one" or "Puppy one" at the desired card and they also decorated a box that held all of his presents.  The boys and I got take out from our favorite dinner stop to have waiting for Chris when he got home.  We also made a cake together and the boys helped decorate it.  After a lovely round of Happy Birthday, Brady and Brody raced Chris to his candles and blew them out before he had a chance.  They also tried to lick his cake and put their faces right in it!  To end the celebration, Chris's parents came into town that evening to spend the week with us!

A couple of days after the McLean's arrived, Chris and I took off for our first overnight stay away from the boys.  We headed to Napa to celebrate our anniversary, his birthday, and anything else we could think to celebrate.  We  had a WONDERFUL time.  We stayed in a nice place, drank tons of wine, rented bikes to ride to a local vineyard, ate fabulous meals, slept through the night, got massages, ate more fabulous food, and drank more wine.  We packed about as much into 24 hours as you possibly can and I only have the most random assortment of cell pictures to prove it! I can't wait to go back!

 After our over night trip, we got to enjoy the rest of the week with Granny and Papa.  We went to the beach, road bikes, blew bubbles, acted out silly songs, colored, traced hands and feet, did puzzles, and read books (the last four Granny pretty much did on demand the entire week!).  The boys loved having them around 24/7 and were so sad when they left.  It was really hard to drop them off at the airport because the boys did not understand where they were going and I was getting emotional trying to explain to them that they had to go home.  It must have been very impactful because every day since their departure one of the boys says "Papa/Granny airplane" and points to the sky.  Chris joked that maybe the boys just think his parents are circling in an airplane above us at all times.  It's quite a funny thought but that does not make us any less sad to see them go!

A few days after Mary and Oscar left, my Mom flew in to spend the week with us.  Her visit was equally as enjoyable.  We went on mini adventures each day to places like the local farm, CuryOdessey (also with Aunt Kathy), Costco, Santa Cruz and such- allowing us to show her the fun things that we do in our neck of the woods.  It was great to have another set of hands to handle the boys when we were out and about.  They loved playing with Nana every waking hour of the day and demanded -in somewhat militant voices- to be read to and played with.  Nana's trip also coincided with Easter/Aunt Kathy's birthday which was a treat for all of us!

The first day of my mom's arrival was sightly marred by the fact that Brody fell at our local park and got a pretty good size gash on his forehead (he tripped while running and hit his head on the leg of the bench).  We walked to the park that day without my regular diaper bag and I had nothing with me to apply pressure with.  Being resourceful, I took off Brody's shirt and used it to stop the bleeding (I have to say, I thought of my own shirt first but decided that was not a good idea, thank god in the heat of the moment I still had some wits about me).  We were a solid 10 minute walk from home so I had to walk/run to my car with my 35lb screaming, topless, toddler laying in my arms whilst I applied pressure to his wound with my chin.  We were a sight, to say the least.  Him lying down and me applying pressure in that way actually worked pretty well because the bleeding slowed way down by the time we got home.  I used an pack of steristrips from my graduate school days (how did I still have them in my closet, I will never know) to cinch the wound closed before loading him into his car seat.  Once Brody stopped crying he turned back into his sweet self and kept pointing to the blood on my shirt and saying "Ut oh, Mommy owie".  He though I was the one who was bleeding!  I took him to our doctor and after getting a closer look at the wound, they decided it did need stitching.  He was a champ through the whole event!  Once he was numb, he simply laid there and let the doctor stitch him up, only eying him warily out of the corner of his eye and never wiggling away.  He was just as angelic when the stitches came out.  The plastic surgeon said that if every kid acted the way Brody did, his job would be a piece of cake.  Chris and I were very proud of our little guy!

At the end of the week, we cashed in Chris's birthday present adventure from me which was an ocean kayak whale watching tour.  We went down to Santa Cruz early Saturday morning to paddle out into the deep blue sea and to be one with nature. Within two minutes of being on the water we saw sea lions, sea otters and grey whales (moms and babies).  It was fun and terrifying all at the same time.  I have no pictures of any creatures because I was white-knuckling my paddle the entire time.  It's weird how vulnerable and far away from life you can feel when you are floating on the open ocean.

Easter:
Last year the boys loved the  Easter egg hunt we set up for them so this year Chris and I were extra excited to plan and execute our Easter egg hunt.  Last year, however, I felt that the boys were too young to enjoy coloring Easter eggs so we did not include them in our celebration. This year though they were totally able to participate so I bought extra eggs and egg dye for the fun.  Being the pseudo hippie mom I am, I purchased all natural Easter egg dye (one step removed from making the dyes myself which I really wanted to do but was not able to fit in this year).  The all natural dye included three colors, a redish color, a purplish color and an orange/yellowish color (that kind of looked like iodine).  I mixed the dyes and brought the cups outside to my mom and Chris who were waiting with the boys.  I then brought the hard boiled eggs for coloring.  I handed the boys each an egg and explained to them how we were going to dye these Easter eggs beautiful colors.  All the while, Chris and my mom are looking at each other and eying me sheepishly, kind of waiting for me to catch onto something.  When I made no mention of the elephant in the room, one of them finally said to me "Um, Carrie, did you hard boil brown eggs on purpose".  It never occurred to me to buy white eggs for this project.  Also, I used the free range organic eggs, you know, the kind where they practically give the chickens back rubs at night to make sure they are happy instead of a lesser egg for such a child centric task (aka, when things are going to hit the floor fast and often).  Since the dyes are all natural (read between the lines: less than vibrant) we basically colored our eggs shades of brown instead of pretty Easter colors. The boys did not know or care that the experience was supposed to be any different, but the three of us were laughing the whole time saying this was one for the books.  The best part for me is that I hard boiled the eggs a day or two in advance so I thought I was 'mom of the year' because I had them sitting in the fridge- ready for action to be pulled out at a moments notice.  In the end, it looked like we had a box of wooden eggs for Easter.  Live and learn I guess; this this one will make me laugh for years to come.  

On Easter morning the boy got up, opened some presents from their Easter baskets and then went on an Easter egg hunt.  The bunny loaded the eggs with either tiny pieces of Easter cookies, raisins, or stickers.  They loved searching for the eggs.  Once they figured out that they could guess if the egg had a piece of cookie in it by shaking it, they got really competitive.  I even witnessed Brady trying to scam Brody with an unopened egg because Brady had already shaken it and knew that it did not make the "cookie" noise.  They are so funny.  The look of incredible excitement that they got on their faces when they found these treasures was so cute.  I am happy I got some of those looks on film!

 

After our egg hunt we headed to Santa Cruz to spend the day with family.  It was Aunt Kathy's birthday and cousin Megan's birthday (a few days later) so we had extra reasons to party.  We celebrated with some kite flying on the beach, a beautiful brunch, and some cake.  Aunt Kathy let the boys put their fingers right into her cake, that was definitely the best part (thanks for the pictures Kath)!

The next day we said goodbye to Nana.  See you soon Nana, we miss you!

April was one busy but great month!

What's going on

Phew!  We have been doing a lot without me writing about  it.  Time to catch up!

We had a few weeks of rain and gloom here in sunny California.  In some ways, it was a nice change and a chance to catch up on some indoor fun.  We made tents, did lots of art, and played lots of indoor games while waiting for the skys to clear.  I love watching the boys play together.  They converse all the time and give clear instructions to enhance whatever game they are playing.  They like to read to each other and are abe to recite a ton of words from books that we read regularly. 

Brady has said some things that I want to record so I can remember exactly the way he says them.  He has a wonderful memory and if I ask him where something is, he tells me "right here, mommy" while showing me where said item is located.  It is so darn cute the way he says "right here" while pointing with his little finger.  He also likes to ask "what's that, mommy?" to E.V.E.R.Ything.  This is a newer phrase that is cute (for now) but ask me again in a few weeks.  He also likes to tell me "no ___, mommy, no ___ " while wiggling his little pointer finger.  The "No" list is endless these days and includes things like butter, pants, diaper, car, and home.  Brady is also very clear when does not want something and makes his wishes known by insisting, sometimes crying, and saying "other one, other one".  He is a very opinionated little dude.  He likes to pick out his shirts (usually his robot shirts) and have a say in what he is wearing.  Brady loves to count.  One night I overheard him counting to himself in his crib: "One, two, three, five, six, circle" and I laughed hysterically for a long time after that.  I still recite this random list to myself when I am doing a mundane task because I think it is so cute.  He also, on more than one occasion, has said "eleventeen" and I also think that is one of the cutest words I have ever heard.  Brady loves to sing and he can really carry a tune.  He loves Jack Johnson and can sing several of the choruses of his songs.  One of the Jack Johnson's songs has the line "I can tell we are gonna be friends" and every time Brady hears that line, he points to his brother and says "Brody".  It melts my heart that he knows his best friend is his brother and if I think about it for a split second too long, I start to cry!

Brody also has some really cute sayings.  I love when he says "Come on, I'll show you" and he takes me by the hand and shows me what he is talking about.  He also does this funny thing after nap where he gathers the plethora of stuffed animals he sleeps with and takes them into the livingroom.  If his arms can't hold them all, the directs and instructs me to carry the extras.   Brody also likes to talk a lot about exercise!  Whenever he sees me in workout clothes he always says "mom, work out- exercise".  If that's not motivation, I'm not sure what is!  Also, if he sees a low bar or anything he can hang on, he exclaims "exercise" and runs over to swing on it and try and do pullups.  Brody also likes to proclaim "I did it" when he complets a task.  Its adorable and hysterical. He likes to say "Happy birthday" to Chris and to others at random times.  He is a pro at singing the song and blowing out candles. He does not like stinky smells and wrinkles his nose at smells like hard boiled eggs, stinky farts (his own, the dogs or his dad's!) and even at his own stinky diaper.  He hates wind blowing on him from an open car window (just like his mom) and he has started to express disgust for shirt tags rubbing on his belly.  He is making his wishes heard loud and clear.

The boys still call each other "D" when speaking directly to or about one another, though they each know their own names now.  By far the number one word said around here is "mine" followed by "D".  "No, D, mine, D." is uttered no less than 100 times a day.  This includes strings of sayings like "My eyeball, D,",  "No my eyeball.".  "My ankle, D" (have you ever heard a two year old say ankle?  If not, seek one out because it's adorable) or another favorite "Big poop, D, big poop".

Another amazing thing about this age is that they boys genuinely find themselves and each other hysterical.  In particular, Brady will laugh and giggle at Brody's antics with reckless abandon.  This is one clear area that I can see Brady taking after his mom.  He loves to laugh and he will let out a full belly laugh if he thinks Brody is doing something humerus.  One specific occasion that comes to mind was on Chris's birthday.  I set the cake out and we started to sing to Chris but Brody kept pretending/attempting to lick the icing off the cake.  Brady found this hysterical and belly laughed each and every time Brody did it.   They really are two peas in a pod and a dynamic duo.

 

We started taking swim lesson and we started soccer lessons again.  So far we love both and it has been nice to mix the structured with the unstructured activities.

Mostly time feels like it's speeding by and my days feel like the picture below.  Better go exercise so I can keep up!