A couple more pictures of the Sanibel trip....

Beckett with dear friend Jan.



So many things are changing so quickly around here, it's really incredible.

Babies!
The boys are moving more and more every day--cruising pretty ably around and to/from furniture, pulling up on almost anything, and rolling all over the place. Both babies have taken single crawling "steps" here and there. Theo did a few together today. Both Theo and Beckett move pretty well backwards, especially when wearing only diapers and especially on the hardwood floors.

Their sleep has been rapidly changing (hint: not for the better) the last few nights, too. While Jeff's parents were visiting they stayed up a little later (til 8pm or so) but they still haven't adjusted to daylight savings time so they're often up at 6 or 6:30am or even earlier. Last night was a return to the early days--Beckett woke up at 11pm, conveniently just after I had fallen asleep. He was unconsolable, so I nursed him and he went back to sleep. I decided not to wake Theo up to eat, since it was so early. So I went back to sleep. Theo woke up and wanted to nurse about 10 minutes later. The rest of the night was a blur. I lost track of how many times I was up last night. Today was rough. I had my first caffeinated beverage in many years to help me make it through the day. Because the babies also couldn't coordinate their nap schedules, so when one was sleeping, the other was awake (until 4pm, when I got a 45 minute nap). Tonight we're back to the drawing board, trying out a return to 7pm bedtime to see if sleep begets sleep....

They are also eating differently all the time, and most recently eating a ton of table food. They ate BBQ and macaroni and cheese at a restaurant Sunday night, and tonight they ate the same thing we did--bean soup with sausage and banana bread. How great! It feels like they change over the course of one day. It's a great week for me to keep an eye on them and not to miss anything, because I'm only working Monday and Friday. Mindy's grandmother is ill and she is in Arizona to be with her, so we're on our own for childcare for 10 days. Greg and Kathy came up Saturday to help us with a number of things, including fixing our bathroom vanity and babysitting Monday! And helping us pick up our new...

Car!
We finally picked up the new car that we picked out and signed on the dotted line for last month. We are now the proud owners (or JEFF is the proud owner, but that's a different story) of a 2012 Mazda5. It is black with black interior and it has heated seats and is really nice and clean and the 3rd row of seats folds down to create a ton of storage space. We took the boys to Limp Lizard, a BBQ joint five minutes from our house, with Jeff's parents Sunday night, and we all rode in the "microvan" together. Hooray!

Happy Spring! And Happy 10 Months Old!

We celebrated the 80+ degree weather this morning by taking a long walk around the reservoir and through the neighborhood. When Mama and Daddy Lovebo got home from work we spent about an hour in the front lawn watching the neighborhood kids playing and enjoying the last of the afternoon sun. We also "installed" the swing we got from cousins Diane et al in New Jersey, in a tree branch in the front yard. It was a HUGE hit with both babies. Now we just have to get another one so they can both enjoy it! Another first to celebrate the ten month birthday: first beef! I bought some organic ground beef from a farm in Dryden en route to Ithaca last weekend, and we made tacos with it tonight. I can't say it was a "hit," but almost nothing is the first time we try it. It took about a dozen times before the boys would eat more than a bite of peas without spitting them out, and now it's no big deal.

Last week we took the boys to their 9 month checkup at the pediatrician. Theo's at about the 5th percentile for height and the 10th for weight, and Beck's at about the 50th percentile for height and the 25th for weight. They are on track developmentally and did lots of good waving and clapping for Dr. Morisseau. They also passed their lead and iron blood checks, with more than enough iron and not too much lead.

Developmental update: Both babies are

• Pulling up to standing very quickly from seated position.
• Returning to sitting once standing, rather than careening sideways and ending up landing head-first like they used to.
  
• Crawling backwards.
• Using a combination of crawling backwards, pivoting on hips, and rolling to move around.
• Clapping.
• Waving.
• Babbling (favorite sounds are dada, baba, mama (Theo more than Beck), up, cat, ("ca-TUH"), guh, num-num).
  
• Sharing, occasionally. When the babies are seated facing each other, Theo will sometimes play with a toy for a while, then look at Beck and reach the toy out to him. Beck takes the toy and plays with it while Theo watches, then Beck hands it back to Theo. Every once in a while if Theo is eating something with his hands he will offer some to me as well, and then put it in my mouth.
  
• Enjoying peekaboo. I think they could play variations of peekaboo all day long.
  

Dinner Conversation (Between Theo & Beckett)

Sanibel 2012 Travelogue Part II

The biggest hit of the trip was the inflatable wading pool. The boys took most of their baths there and spent at least a good hour in the pool each day we were there. It was great because we could set it up in the shade and all gather round it as the boys played. Their favorite thing was drinking the water from the holes in their bath cups as we dripped it in front of them.



The beach tent was also a hit for the afternoon we spent there. The boys did NOT enjoy the feel of sand on their feet or in their mouths or eyes (I'm looking at you, Theo), but they did like banging shells against each other (until they broke and shattered, creating a safety hazard). The water in the ocean, while unseasonably warm (76 degrees) was still too cold for the boys to enjoy.


My favorite memory from the trip is the walks I took with the boys almost every morning, sometimes by myself and sometimes with Grandma Joanie. We actually caught the sunrise a couple of times, which is truly special. I've really gotten the hang of getting both boys hooked into our two Ergobaby carriers, one on the front and one on the back. Theo's a little better on the back than Beckett, because Beckett tends to hang his head back as far as possible (he loves inversion, the little yogi) which then makes me worry that I'm snapping his neck with every step. Theo's better about keeping his head upright while riding in back.

Sanibel 2012 Travelogue Part I

So the plane rides were relatively uneventful. When describing our travel plans to friends and acquaintances before our trip, I got strange looks and lots of "good luck with that!", which I didn't think much of before we left. Now I understand. It is a serious undertaking merely to PACK for a week-long vacation with infants, much less to organize carry-on and checked luggage and get to the airport and rent carseats at holiday destination and keep everyone fed and in (clean) cloth diapers along the way. We were very lucky in that the boys were mostly good natured and our fellow passengers were empathetic and good sports about the whole thing. The oddest thing about the airplane situation is that you have to tell the airline in advance that you have a lap baby (a baby sitting in a paying adult's lap) but they apparently do no more to accommodate that situation than to print out an extra boarding pass for the baby. The problem is that each row of three seats has only four oxygen masks above it. Jeff and I were seated next to each other on each flight, so when another person was booked in the third seat, there was one too few masks on that row. So each flight we boarded we had to rearrange our seats to make sure everyone had a mask. Why the airline could not figure this out in advance and book our seats accordingly, I do not know. Twice we were asked to sit multiple rows away from each other, and once I had to tell a gate agent that that would not work because my breasts were not detachable. On the trip back from Florida we decided not to wait for the flight attendants to huddle anxiously around our row to try to find a creative solution to the problem; we simply asked people in our row to shuffle around for us so that we could sit on the aisles and pass babies across the aisle. We were lucky on the Philadelphia-Fort Myers flight to have the third person in our row moved elsewhere, so we had three seats between us. That would probably have been the optimal thing to do, to book a third seat. It was good to have a place where a baby could sit or we could stash toys and snacks and stuff. On the way back we probably should have fed the babies more food along the way, because I think Beck's crank factor was mostly because he was hungry (poor baby!). When we got home they practically ate their weight in cereal, yogurt, sweet potatoes and apples. But in all, we were lucky and the boys traveled pretty well. The vacation itself was absolutely wonderful and a much-needed escape from the end-of-winter doldrums here in Syracuse.

The boys enjoyed restaurant eating at our favorite spot on the island, the Lazy Flamingo. Theo especially could not get enough grouper (a mild, flaky white fish popular in the Gulf of Mexico), so much so that Mama Lovebo had to cut him off so she could get enough!


Theo also enjoyed chomping on the table, and Beck spent a good deal of time sucking on the menu.


Theo and Beckett were mesmerized by this guy with an awesome flamingo hat with a beak that extended a foot or two in front of his head. Look at Theo, who can't take his eyes off the thing.

Splendor in the Grass

Beckett and Theo enjoyed watching Daddy Lovebo play tennis with Grandma Joanie. Both played very well, especially considering that Daddy Lovebo hasn't played tennis since we were in Sanibel two years ago!

Sanibel Vacation

We just returned tonight from a fabulous and relaxing and beautiful trip to Sanibel Island FL. We stayed with Joan and Stu and had a wonderful week enjoying the beach, the pool, bike-riding, and eating great food. More pictures and text to follow, but here's a preview.