Christmas and new years

This year for Christmas, we did both families on Christmas eve and spent christmas day at home with just us at home.

Needless to say, Christmas eve was hectic but good. We started the day by spending it with Joy's mom and brother. We had lunch over there. This year, the boys weren't too into opening presents but they loved playing with the toys and taking stuff off the tree. After opening presents we put fantastic mr fox on but the boys weren't too into it. We then put on how to train your dragon which they did. Jacob fell asleep on Joy's brother.

Jasper took a nap on the way to my parents' house. The boys loved playing with their cousins and running around my parents house. Their cousin Aidan had a star wars lightsaber, which the boys took and loved. The next day, they pretended a wrappng paper roll was a lightsaber.

My parents got the boys big cat trucks which make a lot of noise and move. So aside from running around and lightsabering, they loved playing with the trucks.


On Christmas morning we headed upstairs for the big unveiling of their playroom! The boys quickly ran for the bed and the drums. They also loved the car, that we already had for them. I don't think they understood the greatness of the playhouse yet but I showed them the basketball hoop which they love. Joy played with the megablocks which they loved to


destroy.

On Christmas the boys seemed a little beat from the previous day, so we did some movie time.

Great Christmas.

I had the rest of the week off because I took a vacation. We had plenty of time upstairs. Just yesterday, they seemed to really love the playhouse. Joy and I both took turns going in the house. Jasper loves climbing through the windows and Jacob loves playing peekaboo.

Tonight, we're planing on going to first night for new years eve.

-- that was written dec 31, 2011.

Last night, we headed to Akron's first night. We all had a blast seeing lot of bands play. The boys enjoyed clapping with the music. We saw a Yiddish band that was a lot of fun. Lots of dancing which we all enjoyed watching. We then headed out to watch the fireworks at nine. The boys perked up during the fireworks.

We headed home after the fireworks and we had fries and ravioli. Our plan was going to let them stay up to watch the ball drop but Jasper fell asleep on Joy before. Jacob almost fell asleep on me but then took off to play. After the ball drop he fell asleep easily in his bed.

-- that was written on jan 1st.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The boys' first vacation!

We had our first vacation with the boys last weekend. We, including Joy's mom drove 9 hours to Asheville, North Carolina to spend the weekend in a cabin.

We left Friday morning around 4:30am. We hoped the boys would fall right back to sleep in the car but they were up for awhile. It didn't help that I was in the backseat goofing with them a bit. Jacob was really interested on what was going on and Jasper was laughing.






They were really great in the car. There were no big freak outs. They got a little antsy as we got closer but it was nothing the Mary Poppins soundtrack couldn't fix.

We had directions to Emma's rd but we needed directions to Emma's cove. Emma's road took us to a scary backwoods mouton area. We were relived when Joy discovered the problem.

The cabin was really nice. It had two bed rooms, a loft, kitchen, living room, big porch over looking a creek. The place was called Mountain Springs.






The boys loved discovering things around the cabin. They were able to get into the lower kitchen cabinets and get out pans and various other kitchen objects. They also enjoyed the fireplace, which we had to constantly get them away from.

Outside, they loved running around the big porch and we let them play a little bit in the creek.

Also outside was a large field with a play ground. They both loved playing in the sandbox. Jacob loved getting in and out of the sandbox. Jasper loved having the freedom to run around the field. On night, I played the "I'm gonna get'cha" game with him as he tried to run away laughing and falling.

Friday night Joy, I and the boys headed into downtown Asheville for a drum circle. The city was awesome. Very musical, a lot of street musicians. We also watched the Marine Corp band play too. They were doing a big concert.






I think the boys were tired and weren't that into the drum circle. We tried to get them to clap their hands or saw "ahh" but had no luck.

Saturday we went to a family picnic. Joy's aunt got ordained as a minister and they had a whole bunch of family get together for a picnic at someone's house. The boys loved playing with their cousin Elizabeth who also adored the boys.





Sunday, we stayed around the cabin. Joy's mom watched the boys while Joy and I got inter-tubes and hung out in the creek.

That night the boys weren't feeling too good and we thought they got sick. So instead of leaving in the morning we left at 11pm and drove all night.

Joy and I took turns driving and trying to sleep in the car. The boys did pretty good in the car but we has to play Mary Poppins a bunch.

We got home and the boys seemed to be feeling better. I called the doctor's office but by then they seemed fine. Joy's mom watched them while Joy and I took a nap. Then when they took a nap we all took another nap.

Our first vacation was a success! Joy did great at planning it all out and doing everything. The boys were angels. Isn't traveling with babies supposed to be crazy!?

First Birthday Party!!

We celebrated the boys first birthday party on Sunday. Their actual birthday isn't until Friday but celebrating a weekend early was best for family.

We ordered pizza and had lot of deserts. My parents, sister's family, and Joy's mom all came.

We spend the afternoon trying to get the boys to nap. It did not come easy. For starters, the boys stayed up later the night before so they slept in a bit.

Jacob got up around 8:50am and was barely awake. I took him on the couch and we watched a couple episodes of Spongebob Squarepants.

Eventually, I heard Jasper moaning slightly in his crib. It was 9:30 and time to get up. I thought he was going to be standing in his crib, ready to get out. However, he was still laying on his stomach. I took him and eased him into waking up.

Shortly after, Joy and her mom were up. Joy made waffles for all of us from scratch and Joy's mom fed them breakfast.

The boys were still tired, so around 11, I put the boys down for a nap with bottles. A few minutes later, I heard Jasper crying. I went into their room to find Jacob passed out and Jasper trying to stretch on his stomach but his bottle was in his way. I moved the bottle and he saw me and wanted out of his crib.

I took him to the couch where we watched Mary Poppins while Joy and her mom got ready for the party. We watched Mary Poppins for about 45 minutes with no luck of sleep. He was calm but not falling asleep.

Joy and I went on a car ride with him but he seemed to wake up more as he found things to play with on his car seat.

We got home to find Jacob had gotten up. So Joy's mom took Jasper and Joy took Jacob.

As Jasper got more wild with grandma, I took him and tried to rock him to sleep in their bedroom. He was not happy, so Joy took him in our bed where she finally got him to sleep around 2:15.

Jacob was happy and didn't seem like he was gonna go back to sleep so he played around. He screamed of joy and pounded on doors. Surprisingly not waking up Jasper.

I changed his diaper and grandma came in the room. He went from hyperactive to laying his head on my leg and stared at grandma sleepily. Joy took him and he fell back asleep after 3.

4:00pm hit and my parents and sister's family arrived. The boys were still sleeping but woke up shortly after. I thought they would both be in shock with people over but they dug it. They warmed up very fast.

It wasn't long before they were playing on the floor, trying to open presents and see what everyone was doing.

Joy put on Scene It- party mode for anyone to play in the living room.

My parents had gotten them both big bouncy balls and the boys were playing with them by hitting them and chasing them. Also picking them up. They get a lot of enjoyment out of them.

They opened presents. They were more interested in the wrapping paper, ribbon, and boxes rather than the presents they got. It was fun watching them open. Jacob would lift both his hands up high and then bringing them down to pound on the boxes. It was really cute. Joy and I switched off from camera and the video camera.

After presents the boys ate pizza, completely on their own. They did a great job at eating. They love pizza.

Joy made the boys cupcakes. We gathered around the table with the boys in their highchairs below a Happy Birthday banner their grandma had made them and sang happy birthday.













Jacob was not shy about getting into his cupcake. He got the frosting all over his face. It looked he had face paint on. He then ate his entire cupcake.

Jasper was a little more reserved with his cupcake. He was probably wondering why everyone was watching and taking pictures of them eating.











I set the video camera up on tripod next to them. Jasper would look up and make faces to the camera.

After they ate, they got to wear some new really cute t-shirts they had gotten and play. They joined Uncle Jim and cousins as they were playing Scene It on tv and played more with the balls they had gotten.

They also enjoyed being held and played with by the family. They had a really great birthday party. They enjoyed everyone's company.

For their birthday on Friday, we hope to go to zoo and Joy plans on making them each a little cake.

First Christmas

Christmas went pretty darn good. The boys made out with a lot of new toys and they are eager to play! The boys did a great job at opening their presents. At the time they were more interested in tearing off the paper and eating it. This made it somewhat stressful on Joy and I at my family's gift exchange. It seemed there was a lot going on and hard to pay attention to everything, most importantly our boys not eating wrapping paper. But it was a major success.

The boys got to meet their 4 y/o cousin from out of state. He had been eager to meet them. He treated the boys with much respect and wanted to share his toys with them. At one point, Jacob was unhappy and so my dad took him into the other room to help him calm him down. Their cousin helped by rubbing his back. Later on he played on the floor with Jasper with his truck that he got. It was really cute to watch.

On Christmas morning, we moved the coffee table aside so we can set the boys on the rub to open their toys. Again, they really enjoyed opening the presents and trying to eat the paper. Joy and I took a bunch of pictures and video. After awhile the boys got a bit cranky so we quickly finished opening presents and then put the boys down for a nap.

Later on we had lunch and presents to open at Joy's mom house with her mom and brother. Joy's mom made apple sauce for the boys to eat. At first first they were none-too-happy because the apples were granny smith apples. However after a few more tries Jacob really enjoyed them as did Jasper. We opened presents and they got a whole bunch more toys and clothes.

After we got home around 6, we had enough of Christmas. Joy was ready to take the tree down. She started as I unpacked all the new presents we got from Joy's mom house. After words I helped and not long after all the Christmas decorations and tree were down. After that we rearranged the living room so that our rug was out from the coffee table. This is so we can let the boys play on the ground.

We noticed during the last few days that boys are really good at sitting up by themselves and they are still very determined to crawl especially since how there are toys they NEED to get to.

Jam packed weekend!

Our goal was to reverse the boys schedule so that they would sleep more at night rather than the day and be up all night. Getting barely any sleep had been catching up to Joy and I. So we had a jam packed weekend to keep them awake during the day.

Saturday, we had a get-together at my parents' house. The boys got to meet their 87 year old great grandmother for the first time. She was thrilled. My one aunt who is normally really quiet was the most bubbly that I've seen her. She took the boys and introduced them to everyone.

The boys got their shot at being held by everyone. Joy and I got a chance to chill and be fed. Eventually the Jasper fell asleep in Joy's arms and Jasper in my mom's arms.

After we left, we took the boys to Sam's Club to do some grocery shopping. I grabbed a large bag of coffee and started to sing "Daddy loves coffee" to the tune of "I want candy" which gave Jasper some good belly laughs.

Sunday, we continued our grocery shopping. Jacob was really mellow and Jasper was a little fussy. Joy ended up holding Jasper, which did the trick.

We were at Wal Mart and they had a flu shot station, so Joy got hers while I was in line and I got my mine after we checked out.

We went home and then took the boys for a walk in the park. I totally miss being able to take them out for a walk every night. Now that it is getting dark earlier, I'm unable to do so. I've been thinking about taking them to the mall to do some walking but that hasn't happened yet.

Joy brought our dog Ace with us, who hasn't been on a walk since right after they were born. Ace got really protective over the boys when other dogs walked by. He barked, which he didn't normally do. I think trying to take him on a walk with us is going to be a lost cause. It was way too difficult to both watch the boys and hold ace while he was freaking at other dogs. Good thing both Joy and I were there.

So I think our plan worked. The boys seem to be sleeping a lot better at night! Jasper has almost been sleeping through the whole night. Jacob has been getting up every few hours. I think because he wants to be held or cuddled.

The boys also tried banana over the weekend! The first was homemade mixed with soy formula which they ate but weren't very fond of. We got some baby food from the store which they liked a lot better. Joy noticed they mixed the banana with water. I think we will try that in the future.