To the TV!

We recently got a Blu-Ray player has YouTube on it. So now when the boys are acting up, we can pop on the Gummy Bears song, which is their favorite. Whenever it's on, they get glued to the TV (we used to play it on on phone) and forget about whatever was bothering them. They also discovered that they love Elmo but the downside is that now they are constantly trying to get to the TV. It has been been an exercising experience of constantly trying to get them away from TV.

Jasper has gotten really good at moving around standing up and onto things like the coffee table, couch, and chairs. During the week, Joy was putting laundry away and put a baby gate up in the hallway. She came out in the hallway after hearing him whimper. He had went from standing up with the gate to being against the wall and couldn't get down. Since then, both of them have gotten really well at sitting themselves down.

Yesterday, the boys had teething biscuits for the first time. My mom had given them as valentines. They weren't really sure about them at first but they loved them!

Speaking of teeth, we believe their top teeth are on the verge of popping out.

Joy edited the videos we took of the boys and made a really neat movie. She added songs to go along along with. It turned out really sweet! It is really amazing to see how much they've been grown in such a short period of time (8 months). She made a really nice slide show of tons of pictures. Joy made neat jewel case covers and is giving them the DVDs as valentines.

Sleeping has gotten a little better. They are now going to sleep around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Now, we're gonna try to push it a little later.

Monday, Joy and I are planning on going on our first date since July. We're going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 1. Grandma W planing on holding the fort with the boys.

On The Move

Both boys are now crawling and finding a whole lot of new things. After I had written the last post and before I actually posted, Jacob began crawling.

Joy's mom was staying over and sleeping with Jasper on the couch in the living room. Jacob had woken up and I tried to get him back to sleep in his room. Around 3am, I figure "alright, you win, go play." I put him down on the rug. I sat against the wall and crawled over to me.

I looked down for a second and when I picked my head up, he was standing on to the dresser. He was so proud of himself. Eventually he fell down and I comforted him till he fell asleep

The rest of the week, we had to constantly be watching them as Jasper's new favorite thing in the world is our tv and new surround sound system. We have to keep a good on Jacob as he wants to stand up on everything.

A couple nights ago, we busted out the playpen, which we stored away because they weren't big fans of sleeping in it when they were newborns.

They love the playpen now, Jacob had an easy time standing up in it and didn't hurt himself when falling down. I put toys in there with which they both loved.

Jasper had been so determined to stand after Jacob. He would crawl right behind him and try to use him a way to push up. Jacob wasn't too thrilled about it but he was a good sport.

A couple nights ago, I put the boys in their playpen while I went downstairs to get the laundry. When I came back, both boys were standing. I was so proud of my boys.

One thing is really cool I noticed this week that boys are really starting to become buds. They go with each other when one wants to go down the hall or in the other room. They talk to each other and make each other laugh. It was so awesome to watch.

One really cute instance was when they were both in the playpen. Jacob was laying down and kicking his feet on the side and toward Jasper. Jasper was sitting up and grabbing jacob's foot and they were both laughing.

As as sleep goes lately, they've been going to bed around 6 or 7 in the morning. It has been really rough and we have no idea how to change their schedules. Perhaps I'll ask the doctor later this month.

Learning new things

This was written yesterday but I didn't get to post it:

Last week when I was trying to put Jacob to sleep I realized he had way too much energy. I put him on the ground as I laid on the couch. I put him down in a crawling position next to the couch. Next thing I knew he had gotten himself to sit up on his butt. Just a couple days ago, I noticed Jasper doing sitting moving to sit on his butt.

Now their new thing is to really work on standing up. They've been trying on the coffee table, their toy basket, and just themselves. I really think they will be master the art of walking at some point soon! They get so determined.

Their vocabulary is "mom mom mom," "da da da," "yeah yeah yeah," with occasional "hi."

They have gotten a lot better at communicating what they want. We had friends, Heather and Kit over for the weekend and Kit offered to watch Jacob on Monday so I could go to sleep. She took Jacob but he quickly turned to me and pulled his arms out and tried to grab for me.

The boys did really great with company over. They got an ubber a lot of attention. They didn't seem too scared of Heather and Kit when they arrived but we held them for awhile before passing them off.

Yesterday, I got my guitar back from being repaired and was playing it on the floor with boys watching on the rug. Jasper was really into what was going and really wanted the cord that was going from the guitar to the amp. So for the first time, Jasper actively crawled forward to get the cord.

He was so proud of himself, he started crawling all around. He went down the hall to work on getting the drawers we have in our hallway.

On the side of the room, Jacob got him standing on his knees, leaning on our rocking chair. I got the video camera out and started taping. I got Jacob pulling himself up and Jasper crawling towards the camera.

Crawling and speaking/singing

Last week, I took a week of vacation between Christmas and New Years. It was so nice being home with Joy and the boys. It was a great week of just hanging out at home. There were days were we didn't leave the house.

The boys are moving a lot more on the rug we put out for the them. They are really good at turning around in a circle and crawling backwards. They love trying to get to their toys or to our dog or cat.

Jacob loves being on the rug so much he hasn't wanted to play in his jeep. Jasper on the other hand has been much more active in his jeep.

The boys have been sleeping much better at night. Although Joy and I figured it would be better to divide and conquer. Joy has been bringing Jasper to bed with her and I have been sleeping with Jacob on the couch. This works because we all get sleep.

Jasper has been talking up a storm. He sings himself to sleep and then talks during the day. In last couples days he has been saying "mom mom mom." How cool is that? His grandma is constantly trying to get them to talk by saying "mom mom mom," and "dad dad dad."

Jacob has been singing by holding a single note out. It's really impressive! Out of nowhere, he'll just sing "ahhhhhhhh". It's so cute.

I gotta get my phone out to record them speaking! I tried the other day but as soon as I did they stopped.

On The Floor

We've been making an extra attempt to let the boys learn how to crawl, and they are getting close. We learned that the one disadvantage we have is our house has all hardwood floors, which we love but not the best for boys learning how to crawl. We would consistently make sure they don't fall and hit their heads on the hardwood floor.

We have several options. We put them in their cribs and put them in a crawl position. This works pretty good because if they fall over they land on a mattress. Also they have been doing a good job and rolling over in their cribs. The other night, Jacob went back to front.

Another option we tried was putting a blanket on the floor. This is a good idea because it gives the boys a lot of extra room to try to crawl and roll around. The bad side is they had a hard time moving because the blanket would crinkle up every time they kicked their feet. So they didn't really have a good leverage.

Finally, what works best is the rug. We have a rug in front of couch. The rug has a coffee table on it but when moved, it is just like carpet. We lined what coffee table was left on the rug with pillows.

The boys really enjoyed their time with all these options. They loved being on the floor with our dog and cat. I think our dog enjoyed the boys company just as much.

We put toys in front of the boys to try to get them to crawl to it. They also really wanted to get to our dog.

I think they will be crawling very soon! They are really determined.

Just trying to get around

Wow, what to write about. It seems that the boys are growing so big so fast! Since the last update, Jacob learned to run in his walker. I was sitting near the TV and trying to put Jasper to sleep. I was finding it difficult to put them both to sleep at the same time and Jacob had a lot of energy. So I put Jacob in his walker and worked on Jasper.

I started hearing a thumping noise. I looked to my left and saw Jacob with the biggest smile on his face trying to get over to us but couldn't because of the rug. Instead he was running in place.

So all week, he's been running around the house chasing us, the cat, and trying really hard to get our dog's attention. He gets so happy with himself. It is really the cutest thing. We had to bust out the video camera.

Jasper can move in his walker as he displayed last night while I was in the dining room and he came in the from the living room. However, he is more interested in playing with the buttons and toys in his jeep.

Last night, Jasper was so determined to crawl! I think it will be a matter of days before he does. I put him on the couch and he went right into crawl position. He got up on his legs briefly. I was getting prepared to wake up Joy to a crawling Jasper.

My sister-in-law gave us a bunch of toys and clothes that their kid has out-grown. One of the toys is a table with buttons and sounds. Wow, do the boys love it! I think we can return all their Christmas presents because this has won them over.

Joy put them in the walkers and set them up around the table. They just love it to pieces.