Sgarlata Scrapbook

First trip to the movie theater

2012-01-26T12:35:00.000-08:00

Well, we can officially cross another "first" off the list. The kids went to their first movie a couple weeks ago. The three kids and I ventured out on a snowy, cold day and saw Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was a cute movie and I was surprised that it kept the twins' attention for almost the whole thing. Of course one of my fears with going to a movie with twin two year olds without another adult, was that the twins wouldn't sit down and watch the movie, but would run around screaming and distract the other movie watchers. Fortunately, they only got up to run around the theater at the last 10 minutes of the movie. They loved going up and down all the steps, so I'm glad that they didn't notice all the stairs until the end of the show. I anticipated that they would love doing this, so part of my strategy was to get into the movie once it was dark and the previews were already planning. Looks like my strategy worked!

Still, I still cannot believe how lucky I got with the whole movie experience. The kids behaved and most importantly, we were the only ones in the theater. I guess the 10:25 AM showing on a Friday isn't a popular time to go see a movie. I will have to remember this next time I want to venture out with them to go see their second movie. The time even worked well with Miss Piper because it coincided with her morning nap, so she just slept most of the movie. She did wake up at the beginning because it was really loud, but then she got use to it and just fell back asleep.

Since the movie trip happened on a whim, when I told Jonathan of my new plans he thought I was crazy. Taking three kids two and under to a movie all by myself does sound crazy, but the trip was a success. Part of the reason the movie experience went so smoothly was because the boys got their very own kid snack pack that included a lemonade, popcorn, and a box of candy. You can image their excitement when they got candy. They rarely get candy because like any kid, they love it. So once they had their movie snacks, they were perfectly content sitting in their chair watching the movie while they ate out of their kid's pack. All in all, a great experience and I'm happy I was there to share it with them.

One sleeping baby and two happy boys, check and check!

Two happy boys watching their first movie in the theater.

White Winter

2012-01-19T13:30:00.000-08:00

As I write this, I cannot believe January is half over. It seemed just like yesterday, I was ringing in the New Year in good old Minnesota. While in Minnesota I was lucky to say that I celebrated a white Christmas, our home state, the cheese state, had more of a brown Christmas. Looks like we picked the right year to celebrate in Minnesota! :) However, just these past few days, it seems that our luck has followed us home. We finally have snow; our white winter has arrived!

The boys are at the age that they love playing in the snow. Over break, Grandma was a trooper and took them outside almost every day. I on the other hand enjoyed watching from inside while I sipped my warm coffee and held Piper. Now that we are back home, Jonathan and I have had the pleasure of playing with them in the snow. They love to get pulled on the sled, go sledding, run down hills, eat snow (only white, no yellow), throw snow up in the air, and trample through the yard as the snow climbs up their leg with ever step. They enjoy being outside so much that they deny being cold, even when their bright red cheeks are telling me differently. I hope this snow stays around, so we can enjoy playing in it for a little bit longer.

Piper of course doesn't have a clue about snow. She may on the other hand, notice that she gets two blankets instead of one in her car seat which doesn't sit too well with her, since she hates the car seat. I don't know what it is about the car seat, but she really does despise it. As soon as you put her in it she starts arching her back and trying to slide out. I remember the boys doing the same thing when they were over a year, but it was short lived. Piper on the other hand, is not giving up. I personally think she hates the confinement of the car seat and the fact that she cannot move her hands up to her mouth so she can suck on her thumb. The only way for her to sit in the car seat and not be upset is to have a pacifier in her mouth. Within the past month she had grown found of her pacifier and it comes in handy when we get ready to go in the car.

Along with the new found affection for her pacifier, she also has started to become an active four month old. When put on her belly she scoots in a half circle. She has been doing this since right after Christmas. Also, when on her belly she fully extends her arms and looks like she is doing a yoga pose. It personally looks uncomfortable, but she holds that position for a good 10 to 15 minutes before she is letting me know that she wants to go on her back. She loves being on her back and bringing up her legs so she can grab her feet and every now and then put her feet in her mouth. She will just stare at the boys playing around her and will laugh or smile at them if they talk to her. She also loves to try to sit up. If you have her sit up she'll actually do it for a few minutes. She looks like a gorilla when she does it because she just holds herself up with her hands extended in front of her body. Just this week, I learned that I cannot put her in a swing anymore(not that she liked it that much anyway) because she will try to sit up and cause the swing seat to be off balanced which causes Piper to almost touch the floor with her hands. She also goes crazy with her arms and legs. When she's on the floor, she just kicks and swings her arms like she's on a sugar rush. In the bouncy seat, she grabs the toys and whips them around and around. She definitely has the death grip and watch out, if she gets ahold of you, she's not letting go. I laugh, when the twins tell me that Piper's got them. It is so darn cute!

As of right now, she is a complete mix of the boys. Piper's physical appearance is a meld of Mason and Chase. I think she has Chase's big eyes, but are not as sunken in as Chase's eyes. She has more of Mason's petite features, but Chase's skin and hair color. It is nice that she is a meld because before she was born, the twins looked like strangers, since they had completely different looks. Now with Piper, she makes all the kids look like they are siblings. As for other attributes, just recently, we learned that she sounds like Mason. We use to call Mason the velociraptor because his talking was an extremely high pitch sound and well, she's got the same tune. We also think she sleeps like Mason, meaning she sleeps well and for long stretches; definitely a nice attribute to have in the family! We think she has Chase's personality, very laid back and likes to watch her surroundings. As for other things, we'll just wait and see. One thing is for sure, Jonathan and I enjoy watching her grow!

Here are some more pictures from Minnesota break.

Loving their favorite christmas gift, personalized ipads with shock absorbing covers.

Piper's 1st Christmas.

The trio in their Christmas pj's.

being silly...as usual

What a cutie!

being silly...again

...and again

Chase is hugging Mason, so precious.

dad and daughter

a forced pose in front of the Christmas tree and Santa's gifts

They loved opening up presents this year!

running joke in our family...someone is always picking their nose.

exhausted from the morning's chaos

Christmas Vacation is Over

2012-01-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

As we pack up to go home and officially end our Christmas Season vacation, my first thought is, "how did we fit all of this STUFF into our SUV on the way here?" Then I remember that I have kids and start thinking back to all the gifts they received over the Holiday.

My family was very generous this year, showering my kids with toys and electronics. The boys are really into legos and what else to get them, but more legos. My Mom definitely has the gift giving gene because she knows exactly what to buy them that they'll like instantly. With that said, Grandma and Grandpa bought them the coolest legos: zoo, camping, and postman themed collections and the boys absolutely cannot get enough of all the figurines. She also bought them two backpacks which they love to wear around the house. I never would have thought to buy a two year old a backpack, but they are a hit. It helps that one is an elephant and the other is a zebra backpack. They also got cute Columbia jackets and matching hats for this spring, gotta love the useful gifts. They also got Yo Gabba Gabba and Super Why puzzles, which were an instant obsession along with wooden cars and blocks. Lastly, the BIG gift of the year were matching ipads. They love them. It is so cute to see them help each other and show each other how they got to a particular app. Wow, they are amazing learning tools as well and nice distractors when mom needs to get something done! :)

Now, this was the first year that the twins kind of got the Santa thing. We read a lot of books about Santa, his reindeer, St. Nicholas, and the Christmas Season, which they seemed to enjoy. We got them dressed in cute, new Santa PJ's and tucked them into bed telling them that Santa was going to visit over the night. We were suppose to set out reindeer food, but forgot. :) However, when they got up, they were kind of tired and weren't interested in opening up presents. We had entice them with the big gift and once that was open they were not at all interested in opening the other gifts. I think I actually opened the rest of the gifts trying to show them what they got. The twins' big gift was the Cars geotrax set which they absolutely loved!!! I wasn't surprised since they are obsessed with trains. Chase loves to push them and build them and Mason loves to make them move. They also got a remote control dodge ram, another car that moved but wasn't remote control, Melissa and Doug shapes that you put onto string, and a Melissa and Dough block puzzle that had 6 different puzzles you could make with the same blocks. All in all, Santa was good to the boys this year.

Piper on the other hand, had no clue what was going on, but sure looked cute. She smiled every time I'd show her what Santa brought her. They'd make noise and move, so what almost four month old wouldn't like that? Piper received the cutest fisher price, my first ring toy, a musical toy, and pastel eggs that roll around when you try to grab them. I decided to spend significantly more on the boys this year since Piper has so much hand me down toys. Plus she too got showered with gifts from my family. My favorite gift of hers is a my first purse set that the purse talks and sings. It comes with a ring, mirror, bracelet, and crinkly money that fits into the purse. It was an instant hit amongst her and the boys.

Sadly, vacation time is over, back to work.

my beautiful family

The trio

Piper's 1st Christmas.

Boys are being silly and Piper looks confused, typical day.

All the grandchildren. Ethan (almost 4), Elise(8 months), Chase(2), Piper (almost 4 months), and Mason (2)

Picture taking took a toll on cousin, Elise.

2011 Santa Gifts under Grandpa and Grandma's tree

Good Bye, 2011. Hello, 2012!

2012-01-01T21:30:00.000-08:00

As I am sitting down to write this, I am realizing how inconsistent I've been with blogging about our lives as a family of five. That is officially one of my New Year's resolutions, to blog more about my three wonderful children. I don't know how many times I was told by people older than me that "time flies," "kids grow up too fast," "if you blink, you'll miss it," I guess too many, yet I didn't really listen to them. As I'm experiencing first hand, kids do grow up too fast. With all the hustle and bustle of our lives, you tell yourself that you'll remember everything, that you'll blog later, but you don't. I know that it can seem just too hard or too time consuming to write down what milestones they've hit, what their favorite toys are, or simply, what our household is up to these days, but it really isn't. Starting today, January 1st, I am going to do a better job. I want to look back at this blog and the books that are products of these posts and smile at all our wonderful memories.

Here is our "where we are right now" recap.

Piper Caroline is four months old as of the 30th. She is very happy baby, but unfortunately got her first significant illness, baby measles, during Christmas vacation. Even as a sick baby, she was pleasant to be around. I could tell that she was under the weather, but apparently no one else could. My brother, Matt, even said, " She's sick? She's not even fussy." Luckily, she was only sick for a few days and now is back to her always happy self.

Piper's personality is becoming more evident daily and she's getting to be very active. She is grabbing at everything, toys, my shirt, your fingers, my hair, anything in your hands, her two pink monogramed blankets, basically everything that comes close to her death grip fingers. Her favorite toy is the lamaze butterfly, and the two octopuses. She can hold up head very well and can even sit up for a few seconds. She holds onto her toys as she's picked up. She even just started turning in a half circle when on her belly. She rolls over from belly to back and is intrigued with anything that makes noise and flashes lights. She loves to smile and be held and will allow pretty much anyone to hold her. She loves to giggle and smile when you play peek-a-boo, tickle her, watch her brothers play around her, and sing her name in a lullaby way. She will sit in the bumbo and play with her toys suspended in front of her, lay on her activity mat and grab at the fabric flaps, she'll sit in the vibrating chair, go in the baby carrier, but don't put her in the swing, that is one place she doesn't like and she lets you know it.

Piper's physical appearance is constantly changing. For one thing, she is huge, literally off the charts for height and weight. For her 2 month check up she was 99% in height and 75% in weight. She is wearing 6 month clothes with creeping into 9 month bottoms and just started wearing 9 month pajamas.
She is starting to get more hair, but still has a big bald spot on the back of her head. She has big, beautiful eyes that everyone comments on. She definitely has her own look, but resembles part of Chase and Mason. She has Chase's coloring, actually, a little darker than him, but may end up having blue eyes like Mason. Her facial features of split, eyes and eyebrows are Jonathan's; nose is mine; chin is undetermined.

As for sleeping, Piper's spoiled Jonathan and I since birth. When she was only a day old she slept for 7 hours and then I woke her up to feed her. When she was a brand new baby sleeping in her crib she was going to bed around 11 ish and waking up at 5ish. Then she started going to bed at 9pm and sleeping till 5ish. She was sleeping through the night (9pm to 4/5am) at 5 weeks, but now had started to revert back to getting up twice in the night. Once around 2/3ish and the other around 5ish, so hopefully that will end soon. Hopefully, she makes a full circle and starts sleeping through the night again.

All in all Piper is a very good baby. Jonathan and I are blessed to have her apart of our family! Love you, Sweetie Pie.

Chase Jack is an inquisitive 27 month old. I can already tell he has that left-brain, engineer type thinking. He enjoys learning his numbers and letters. He loves trains, fire trucks, books, legos, cars, puzzles, "jumpy jump,"sports, his ipad, and playing pretend.

Anywhere there is a train, Chase is right there playing it. Whether we are at a friend's, at the Children's Museum, or at home, he likes playing with his trains. If he hears one, he is looking around for it; if he sees one, you'll hear about it. He is into most of the same books since the summer, but just since Christmas he has started to like Clifford books.

Legos, legos, legos, he loves to build, knock down, and re-build. He mostly enjoys building tall towers, but also occasionally builds castles and houses.

He also is obsessed with fire trucks. Whenever we are out and about he always wants to drive by them. He also likes to pretend that his lego bucket is a fire man's hat which he then precedes to run around the house. Just the other day he told me, "It's time to fight a fire." It was so precious and he quoted one of his favorite book's, Little Critter's Going to the Firehouse. Dad also taught them how to stop, drop, and roll from the same book. It is such an adorable sight to see them in their PJ's getting ready for bed, listening to Dad read them the Critter book and when they get to the stop, drop, roll page, they giggle and stop, drop, and roll; they also like watching Mom and Dad to do those actions along with them.

He still likes to play with puzzles, but is now gravitating to regular puzzles instead of nob puzzles. For Christmas he got a Super Why puzzle and was really excited. We have tons of Melissa and Doug puzzles at home and he has outgrown the nob puzzles and now only plays with the latch or regular piece car puzzle.

He also enjoys playing "jumpy jump" which entails jumping on the downstairs couch and falling into the pillows on the floor. It gets to be fun to watch when both Mason and Chase are on there jumping and competing on who can fall the coolest or jump the highest. They also like to wrestle with Dad on the pillows and ride Dad's back. They pretend Dad's a horse and then fall onto the pillows. They of course, fight over who's turn it is and always want a longer ride than the other person.

Like every other boy, he likes cars. He plays with his dodge ram noisy truck, the remote control truck, the fisher price car toys from their first Christmas, and dump trucks that they take for spins around the house. He also got a cool Christmas gift from Aunt Sara and Uncle Luke that was a wooden crane truck that picks up magnetic blocks and swings them around; Chase was very fascinated with that toy.

Chase loves sports; watching them and playing them. His favorite sports are golf, baseball, and basketball. Every change he gets he wants to throw balls in the house, which are not only allowed in the basement because he was a really good arm. He loved playing golf and hitting the golf ball into the hole and he is pretty accurate with his hits. Chase has loved those two sports since summer, but now he just started getting into basketball. At some of the play gyms we go to, they have basketball hoops and that is where he positions himself the whole time we are there. I have even taught him how to shoot correctly and he's starting to get the right form. Of course, like any kids misses a lot, but he has swooshed the basketball, but of course couldn't catch any on camera.

Lastly, he is obsessed with his new favorite activity, playing with his ipad. Super why is one of his favorite apps along with netflix. He loves to try to sneak a cartoon, Kipper, Dora, Yo Gabba Gabba, (to name a few), but isn't allowed until after his afternoon nap. He still likes to cuddle, kiss, and hug which I enjoy because I know those days are numbered. He is very aware of his surroundings, noticing if Piper or Mason are crying and telling me to pick them up. He just recently starting playing pretend play. Over Christmas break he was sitting on his rocking chair and pretended to feed the baby and burp it. It was funny, but very cute. That I need to catch that on camera. :)

Mason Jon is an energetic 27 month old. Mason is my free spirit, an adventurer, and the comedian of the kids. He likes to play on his own and doesn't need the comfort of others to feel secure; doing his own thing and not following the crowd. I really love this trait of Mason's and hope he stays that way all through his childhood and adolescence. Peer pressure can be very powerful and with Chase sometimes copying Mason, hopefully he leads Chase and himself into the right direction. As with everything, there is good and bad and with the free spirit trait comes the "i'll do what I want to do." A lot of what you tell him to do, he does it when he wants to, and in most cases, usually does the exact opposite.

Just like his brother he likes, sports, "jumpy jump," fire trucks, ipads, pretend play, cars, and books, but Mason also enjoys dancing and being silly. Mason jumps up and down which he calls dancing. As a dance lover myself, I can tell he has good rhythm. Just like Chase, he wants to drive by fire trucks and wears his lego bucket as a helmet. He plays cars in the basement and loves to run around our house with his dump trucks or remote cars. He likes to be read books, especially any thing that has animals in it. He too likes his new ipad, but doesn't like the letter and number apps as much as Chase. He does however, like cartoons on netflix. I can already tell I might have to delete that app if they get too sneaky or defiant.

He loves sports, especially golf and baseball. He and Chase have great hand eye coordination and can really hit those balls far! Mason has started to play pretend too and boy is it funny. Just the other day I heard him say, " you are in time-out, you are being naughty" to a stuffed bear and then spanked it. My first thought was, "Do I say that a lot for my kids to act it out?" but quickly got over it and laughed. I have to remember I have two, two-year old boy twins, so there is a lot of defiance that leads to disciplining at my house.

He also is the comedian of the kids. He can be so silly and he knows when his silliness is funny to others and proceeds to do it for as long as people will let him. Just recently we were over at my parent's home and Mason decided to run around their house over and over and over again, giggling and shaking his head until he was about to fall over. Everyone was laughing which only fueled the silliness.

Both boys are excellent talkers and the stuff they say is precious. They can almost talk in full sentences, but of course, mix up wording her and there. My favorite sayings are:
"What happen (person's name) do? Instead of saying, " What happened? or What did they do? both boys combine them. Also, when they are speaking about themselves they still use, You, instead of Me or talking about you and saying me. So Mason will say,"play with you" but he means that he wants me to play with him. Chase however has started to use "me" in the past few days.

I guess it would only be fitting as twins to be obsessed with two. They want two of everything, especially food items. They cannot have one, they need two or they want two.

Well, that is it for now. Happy New Year!

Piper's Baptism

2011-11-16T17:33:00.001-08:00

Piper being baptized.

Yeah for God's grace!

Piper wore her Grandmother's and Mother's baptismal gowns.

Being announced to the church congregation.

J's side of the family.

Our little sweetie, Piper Caroline.

Godparents, Luke and Sara, with J, Piper and me.

One big, happy family.

Piper with her Godparents, Luke and Sara.

Fourth generation picture. Feel so blessed we are even able to have four generations alive at once!

We Love Milwaukee Sports

2011-11-16T17:30:00.001-08:00

Piper looks good in green and gold.

One of the youngest Packer fan.

Milwaukee Brewer Fans

Pumpkin Patch Photos

2011-11-14T13:00:00.001-08:00

October 2011

2011-11-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

Wow, I cannot believe October 2011 is almost gone. October has been a fun, but very busy month; with all of the parties and traditions we've started as a family, I'm glad it's October 31st.

We started off the month with one of my favorite Sgarlata-Lehtinen family traditions, visiting Eberts pumpkin patch. It was such a beautiful and hot, in the high 70's, day. We got there right after it opened which was a very smart idea since the crowds grew exponentially every hour we were there. Since the kids were 2 years old they also could go on a lot more activities than last year. They enjoyed the new, exciting bouncy bounce games, feeding the goats, the hay-slide, and of course the familiar activities, the hay ride, big bouncy slide, and corn maze. This year we picked out the pumpkins for the three kiddos instead of letting them pick, because time got away from us this year. However, I personally think we picked the perfect pumpkins and to this day, they haven't been touched by a squirrel or other animal, thanks to some hot sauce coating we applied to the pumpkins when we got home. All in all, a wonderful day as a family of five!!

Next in the month, were the twins' birthday party and Piper Caroline's baptism. We initially had the twins' birthday party scheduled on their real b-day, the 2nd of October, but our house was sick with croup, so we had to reschedule. We decided that having the baptism and the birthday party on the same day would be easiest for people traveling and on Jonathan and I's sanity. Looking back, we were crazy to have them on two separate days with how much work it was getting ready for their parties and the fact that the boys were not interested in having a party or opening up presents. I'm sure that will change with age. :)

Even with the twins' disinterest in their party, both their birthday party and Piper's baptism were wonderful events. We chose to have Piper's baptism at the earlier service since their was another baptism at the later service, plus it allowed for us to eat and open up gifts before the kiddos crashed for nap times. Now picking the earlier service made sense in theory, but having to get up really early to clean, finish cooking, give baths, take a shower, and get the house, you, and your family ready to be out the door by 8:30 was a lot of work. We somehow managed and got there on time. Now a little background, Piper is an EXTREMELY laid back, easy, baby; barely cries, and lets anyone hold her. During her baptism however, she wanted to eat, cried more than normal, and squirmed like crazy in Sarah's (Aunt and Godmother) arms and managed to kick off one of her gorgeous sparkly shoes. Not very characteristic of her, but most importantly she received God's grace and is a child in God's Kingdom. AMEN!

Lastly, our block was lucky to be picked as the 'Haunted Block' of our neighborhood association's Halloween trick or treat route. I spear headed the event and worked as the liaison between my neighbors and the association, which ended up being more work than I planned, but isn't that how it always works out. :) Even with all the work, I personally think we had an amazing Haunted Block, but I am a little biased. One thing is for sure, Jonathan and I had the best Haunted Block display. I'm not just saying that, but everyone was taking pictures and telling us that what we did was so funny and unique. "You guys won for sure" was quoted by a few people, even though there wasn't a Haunted decorating contest. What everyone was looking at was a genius decorating theme thought up by J and me. We decided to do a funny switched roles theme with a deer and a hunter. We had a deer sitting in a tree stand with a bow and area on his lap shooting a hunter down below in our truck. We put an arrow threw the hunter, had the truck crash into some hay bales and had the hood smoking. It was really funny!!!

As for our costumes, J and I were high schoolers, sporting our letter man jackets, the twins were monkeys, and Piper was a pea in the pod. Piper barely fit into her costume and managed to kick her feet out of the 'pod'. A far cry from when the twins wore the same costume, they were swimming in it. The twins' were so cute in their monkey costumes, which had signs, saying "monkey see, monkey do", which is so true to their personalities.

The Halloween night when by so fast; with 1200-1500 trick or treaters and having a bon fire in the front yard, We enjoyed passing out candy while staying warm by the fire and spending time with friends and family. Everyone said we should do the same thing next year and I think we just might do that.

So as you can see, October has been fun and busy. Looking forward to saying Good bye to October 2011 and Hello, to November 2011!

Piper's Birth Photo Shoot

2011-10-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hello, Piper Caroline Sgarlata

2011-10-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

Piper Caroline Sgarlata graced us with her presence on August 30th, 2011, her due date no less. You were born at 1:42 pm after over 30 hours of labor. You were 7 pounds 14.2 ounces and 21 inches long. You had dark black hair and olive skin, you looked perfect and most importantly, you were a healthy baby! Praise God! When you came out, I was surprised to see that you didn't resemble Mason or Chase. Your father and I both thought that since Mason and Chase came out to be carbon copies of each one of us that our genes wouldn't produce a mix of both us, but what a pleasant surprise. Once you came out, you shocked everyone by staying awake and alert for hours after your birth. You loved being held and looking up at your new family. Mason and Chase came to see you with big brother stickers on their Polo sweater vests. They even could say your name right away, Baby P-I-PER, pronouncing every syllable. It sometimes sounds like Pepper, which is adorable.

Piper Caroline, what a cutie.

Chase loved holding the baby.

Mason being goofy, but still enjoying his sister.

The amazement of having a baby sister.

All I have to say is your birth was a long time coming. You were born after 30 some hours of labor. I starting feeling regular contractions late Sunday night, early Monday morning, and had a hard time sleeping that night. I started keeping track of my contractions around 8 am on Monday morning and kept contracting every 10 minutes till later afternoon, when they moved to 5 minutes then 2-3 minutes apart come evening. We grabbed Panera for dinner and took Mason and Chase to the McKinely park to run off some energy and have a good time before we had to go to the hospital. We dropped the boys off at Matt and Nikki's and arrived at the hospital at 8:45 pm. When I arrived, we hadn't called ahead so the receptionist asked me, "and you are here for...?" I said, " to have a baby!" I tell you, I never thought I would have to explain myself at the labor and delivery unit of a hospital, but there is a first for everything. :) Unfortunately, Piper was having a swell time working her way down because she moved at a very leisurely pace. I ended up being sent home at 11:30 pm after I walked for an hour and a half and didn't dilate anymore than when I entered the hospital. We left the hospital and were home for only an hour and a half and went back to the hospital because I was in so much pain and couldn't sleep even with the ambien pill they had given me at the hospital. Lucky for me, when I got the hospital I was further dilated and they admitted me. Soon after I got an epidural and fell asleep. I woke up tuesday morning around 5:30 am and was feeling fabulous, thanks to the epidural, and we just waited it out. The doctor on staff came in close to lunch and said I was fully dilated and could labor down for an hour or two. I pushing for almost and hour and that is when we met, Piper! By the way, we didn't know we were having a girl and not knowing was so magical. When I saw that you were a girl, I gasped because I was convinced I was having a boy. You were truly a wonderful surprise!

notes taken on contraction times

Our last family photo before we become a family of five.

Welcome, Piper Caroline. I feel so lucky to have a daughter and I love that I was able to name you after Great Grandma, Rita Caroline. She is the most amazing, faith-filled women I ever have met.

Awake and alert after birth, amazing!

Hello, my baby girl!

Our family of five.

2011-10-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Mason and Chase! I cannot believe you guys turned two already; time is just flying by. I still vividly remember October 2nd, 2009 and when I think back to that day, I get the biggest smile on my face. Finding out I had not one but two boys was such a surreal feeling. I secretly wanted a boy and to have two, was a double blessing. You two boys are the best miracles from God a mom could ask for; I love you so much!

Now the day of your birth may be engrained in my mind, but the couple months leading up to your second birthday were a blur. Granted August and September were chaotic months because we were preparing for your baby sibling and once we become a family of 5, that was enough to keep the craziness going. I just want to say that you guys have been troopers these last two months. When I was in my 'nesting' stage, you guys handled the cleaning, organizing, and mess associated with both cleaning and organizing. You also have been the best big brothers a sibling could ask for, great job guys, but more to come on that in a little bit. :)

A few highlights on Mason and Chase's development from August to October include, but not limited to... ( Just kidding, I just have seen a lot of disclaimers lately and wanted to make myself laugh as I type this. )

1) Yeah, the day has come that Mason is not called Mimi. Way to go guys!

2) I can understand almost all of their vocabulary. Chase especially speaks very well.

3) Chase can count up to ten by himself and sometimes continues on, but does goof up every now and then. Still, I think being able to count at all is wonderful at this age. Mason on the other hand, bless his heart, has no interest in counting past 3 or 4.

4) The boys think they can discipline each other. Having them put the other twin in timeout or say no is funny. Now, when they put themselves in timeout, that is hilarious.

5) Hello, terrible twos. I always thought terrible twos came around the middle of their first year because they cannot communicate, but not at our house. All of a sudden, the boys woke up one day and decided they wanted to do things there own way, that they were there own person. Don't get me wrong I want my twins to be different people, but they are so different and want such different toys, food, activities, ect. that the terrible twos may be here to stay for longer than I'd like. The "No Mommy" said with mega attitude is getting old and I can only hope they will come up with a new favorite phrase.

6) Books, books, and more books. Mason and Chase love books. There current favorites are: Goodnight Gorilla, Danny the Dinosaur, Sammy the Seal, Dear Zoo, Yo Gabba Gabba Love my Family and Friends, and Little Critters Firehouse.

Love you, Mason and Chase!

The Twins 21 and 22 months

2011-09-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Summer Highlights!

The boys started calling me Mommy around 4th of July. I actually miss being called Mama. Same for Daddy.
"What happened?" was the question of July and August and so far September too.
The Boys have become sassy right after 4th of July..."no" said with attitude was coming out of Chase's mouth all July and beginning of August and now Mason says "no" with a smirk. He mostly says "no" when we ask him to go potty.
They loved hugging and kissing Mommy's belly and "baby."
They love playing with balls especially golf, baseball, soccer, and basketball (basketball hoop to them.)
They like to walk on their own now and want to take the shopping cart around the block.
They rough house around the house, 'run bases', wrestle and like to pull each other down and like to tell me they fall down.
They use the stool to see what Mommy and Daddy are cooking and use it to get up in their chair at the table and grab things from high up places. I wish they didn't know how to use the stool.
Mason is now Mimi per Mason and Chase.
Everything is mine, my turn, Chase's, Mimi's..ect. They are very possessive of their things.
They do share and say sorry and have been getting 'time outs' in the living room chair and just today Mason started telling Chase he needed a time out, which is hilarious.
Mason is my free spirit and does what he wants and when he wants to.
They can say Grandma now which makes my Mom happy.
They are obsessed with poop. When it's in a book, when someone poops they want to see it and always refer to poop as big poop.
Everything is jumpy, they want to jump everywhere.
Mason is talking so much in the last two weeks. Chase and Mason are both excellent talkers now. They repeat everything you say and have started to memorize their favorite books-Dear Zoo, Goodnight Gorilla, and Fire Truck Littler Critter.
They are so much fun!
They can say Piper from the first day she was born and they love their baby sister.

August 2010

2011-09-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

4th of July Fun!

2011-09-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

4th of July 2011

2011-07-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

Another 4th of July has come and gone too quickly. We have started a tradition of spending the 4th of July at Eshquaguma. It is a tradition that I absolutely love and look forward to every year. Our 4th of July break was perfect. The weather was the best it has ever been, in the 80's every day, except the day we left. The water was warm which it usually isn't. The 4th of July parade was eventful and we even won 2nd place!!!! We did a spin on MN shutting down all government run organizations indefinitely. It was pretty funny! We learned from last year that the golf cart competition is fierce so we opted for the group competition this year. Last year we didn't place, so getting 2nd this year was a big deal for us. Spending time with family, laying and playing in the sun, golfing, eating at the country club, and watching our own 'private' firework show made the vacation unforgettable.

This year was black and white from last year regarding the activity of the twins. Last year, the twins just sat, crawled, walked in the grass and sand. Sat in the water and splashed around, built sand castles, and still napped twice a day. This year, the twins ran everywhere. Played in Ethan's jumpy jump, Ethan's sprinkler, rode the jetski, rode in the boat, tried to swim, threw sand, payed toy golf, kicked and threw every kind of ball, played with balloons, followed Ethan around, chased the dogs, played with shovels in the sand, and only napped in the afternoon. It was chaotic but fun.

All week we were worried if Chase and Mason would regress in their potty training success, but we had half success. Chase pretty much is potty trained in the day but still wakes up wet sometimes from bedtime and/or nap time. Mason on the other hand has decided that he doesn't want to be potty trained and he'll go on the potty when he wants to. He has gone on the potty a few times while at Grandma and Grandpas but it is a far cry from him going on the potty at our house 80% of the time. We are not going to push him, but we are keeping the potty out for when he wants to go and hopefully he will be potty trained before baby #3 comes.

Fun, Fun vacation!!! I even got tan which is rare! :)

Summer Pictures

2011-06-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

Brewer Game:

Busy but Fun Summer

2011-06-20T11:09:00.000-07:00

Oh, I cannot believe I haven't blogged in almost two months. What can I say, "this summer is flying by and we are super busy!"

Okay, here is the 2 month recap:

At our first Brewer baseball game, the Twins' got two game balls. How crazy is that?! We had the most amazing seats from J's company. He caught a game ball that was tossed behind the Brewer's dug out and I coaxed the people in front of us, who also caught a ball, to give us their ball since we had twins and only one ball. It was pretty cool and I was so pumped that both Chase and Mason got Brewer balls from the same game!

Talking, copy catting, talking some more....

Just the past week or so, Chase has been reciting everything we say. It is so neat to see him say 20 new words in a day. He has just started to ask, "what happened?" Which is actually really annoying but I put on a smile on my face and answer his question most often several times in a row. Mason is talking too but not reciting everything like Chase. They both just got the bye bye-dad da mix up fixed. Until a couple of weeks ago the boys thought the word "bye" was also da da. I can see how they got confused, since the real Da Da goes bye bye in the morning but now they use the right word for bye.

City Pool-

The Boys love going to the pool. It took them a couple of days to get use to going in the water and getting splashed from all the kids around them. It took a week for them to go up the steps to the water slide and go down all by themselves. Now, they love going and playing on the water equipment. They have always loved the sand area not to mention love the playground right outside the pool. They say slide and swing with enthusiasm and always want to go on them when they see them. They even are great at keeping their hats on their head. People always comment on how well they keep their hats on and hopefully it stays that way.

Playing-

The kids are rough housing more and more. Mason usually instigates it and Chase is the first to start crying. They still like to play with the vacuum, shopping cart, car parking lot toy, and read books. Their favorite book was one of my favorite books as a child, "Happy Man and his dump truck." They also like "On the day you were born and Danny the Dinosaur." Basically any book that has a giraffe, balloon, or picture of a baseball game, they love! Lately, they are obsessed with bubbles. We are definitely in a bubble phase! They also love golfs and baseball. While watching the US Open, Chase was copying J when he was swinging his "air" golf club. The Boys fight over the golf balls but are only allowed to roll them. They love watching baseball and throwing baseballs. They watch J play softball during the week and will watch the Brewers on TV.

Walks-

The kids now ask to go on a walk in the stroller. So cute!! They get so eager to get in the stroller. We have always gone on walks but something changed that they now request it everyday. Plus, the fact that they can ask me to go on a walk, is so cool. Hearing them say stroller and walk is adorable.

Camping-

The Boys went on their first camping trip. They did great. We all slept in one tent, had two pack in plays for the boys to nap in, but they usually slept with J and I during the night. It was a littler cooler and I only saw 2 mosquitos the whole time we camped, which is crazy! Out of the two mosquitoes, one of them was on Mason's forehead. They liked the fire, but mostly stayed away from it. They loved eating "camping" food and we indulged them a little too much. They played with all of the "home group" kids and the adults enjoyed everyone's company.

Lastly, Potty Training-

Yup, that is right, we are in potty training boot camp. We started this weekend and have been going strong every since. The boys take turns being a better pottier but both are doing great. Our motivator is sugar, reese pieces and reese cups to be exact. The sugar motivator really works. They also love using their cousin's potty. It is too early to say they are potty trained but we are on the right track. I hope we succeed!!! It would be great to not have three in diapers come September.

Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt

2011-04-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

The Twins and I with Baby #3

Grandma's Easter basket gifts.

Uncle Nick and the Family
Uncle Matt and Family
Grandpa Johnny and his grandkids.
Our Family

Cool ball, Mom.
Loving their German chocolate.

Enjoying his German chocolate.

The Twins' Easter baskets.

J and I were so excited to get the privilege to host Easter in our new home. We orchestrated a tasty brunch after church as well as a full fledged Easter egg hunt for the kiddos. Everyone was dressed in their best while we celebrating Jesus's resurrection over a homemade brunch of caramelized onion and gorgonzola quiche, bacon and cheddar quiche, pear and apple salad, cheesy hash browns, fresh fruit, honey ham, strawberry balsamic tart, and lemon tart.

The Easter egg hunt was the icing on the cake for our Easter celebration. I hide 60 eggs in our backyard labeled with Easter egg hunt signs pointing where to find them. Before the hunt had started the older kids were scouting out the backyard for eggs. Luckily, the weather was wonderful and everyone was able to watch and/or participate in the hunt.

I look forward to many more wonderful family-filled Easters.

Good Bye, Great Grandpa Laurie

2011-04-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

With all the wonderful milestones that Mason and Chase have conquered so quickly that if you blink you'll miss it, we came to a stand still last week as we approached our very first unpleasant milestone, the death of Great Grandpa Laurie.

The milestone came quicker than planned but not unexpected. Luckily, the twins' and I had just seen Great Grandpa Laurie less than 3 weeks prior to his death. I decided to make a Minnesota trip on the whim which turned out to be a great decision. Great Grandpa Laurie seemed the same, at least how he's been since they've been born but the Grandpa I remember had been long gone due to his growing dementia.

I feel so lucky that my children met there Great Grandpa and that the twins and I were able to be apart of a four living generation family. With people having their children later in life, there is going to come a time when you don't even meet your Grandparents let along Great Grandparents. He is gone now; in heaven with Great Grandma Betty, the Great Grandparent the twins' never met but would have loved at first sight.

Even though Great Grandpa Laurie wasn't able to really interact with the twins' since they were only 18 months when he passed, he has touched them in ways they both don't even know. They will grow up eating and loving his bread, well actually it is Laurie's mother's recipe but I know it as Laurie's bread. They even helped me make it when we were in Minnesota which also happened to be the last time they saw Great Grandpa Laurie. They play around and even set toys on furniture he made for me as a teenager that we have in our house. I'm sure when they are older, they will get tired of hearing the same stories about their Great Grandpa Laurie and just how Great he really was.

Love and Miss you.

Vacation at Grandma and Grandpa's House

2011-03-31T18:27:00.000-07:00

This past week, the Twins and I have been having a blast at my parent's house. Spending quality time with family-Grandparents and even Great Grandparents, baking homemade bread, playing in the snow, taking daily stroller rides with Skipper, playing with the Fisher Price Little People House and Barn toys that I played with as a child, and visiting the Children's Museum. Wish we didn't have to leave but we have to get back to reality. Hopefully the trip back will be as smooth and fast as the trip coming up here.

Learning how to shovel.

Really liking to shovel.

Playing on the deck.
So cute!

So cute!

Getting ready for our walk.
Making Great Great Grandma Senya's bread recipe.
What great helpers~

Love you, Grandma!

Loving on Baby. Getting good practice being a big brother.
Not so nice, anymore.
Ah, I'm done playing with you.

Look, it's Baby's belly button. Pat, Pat!

That looks like fun, I want to hit the baby too.

Fighting over THE stool.
Smile!
Loving Great Grandma's stool/chair.
Snack time!

It's a PJ day.

Mason's 1st Black Eye

2011-03-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

Mason can check off another 1st... getting his 1st black eye. I'm sure there will be many more since he's a boy, has a twin brother, and is rambunctious as all get out but this black eye was a result of open gymnastics. He tried stepping up onto a trampoline where I was ready to grab him but jumped and was short on his landing, hitting the metal underside of the trampoline. He cried really hard for a half a minute and then was up smiling ear to ear running back and forth on the open gym mat. This is several days into the black eye so unfortunately these pictures don't even do it justice.

At first I was surprised how dark it got in color and how it seemed to creep inward of the eye when he actually didn't hit the eye at all, just the corner outside the eye. I guess it is normal for the swelling and blackness to move into the eye since that is softer tissue then where he actually got hit. Whatever the case, it is a black eye and he looks like a tough dude. It has been two weeks since the mishap and he still has a slight dark ring under the eye so hopefully he looks 100% soon.

Copy and Repeat

2011-03-22T11:02:00.001-07:00

The Twins have really started to take off with their vocabulary skills. They are constantly repeating what I say or copying their sibling's words. Mason has always been very vocal and the past two weeks, Chase is starting to get the hang of talking. The words that they've repeated more recently include: alligator, snake, two, thank you, please, yellow, blue, purple, broom, outside, and bible. I am sure that I'm missing several words but the list above is a pretty good representation.

THE word out of their mouths is uh-oh. At first it was precious and it still is to an extent. Now it is just plainly overused. Every little spill, misplaced item, crumb on the floor, dropped or thrown toys, leads to "uh-oh." Frankly, I don't think I used the word, uh-oh, very often but obviously I used it often enough to pick it up. :)

Mason recently picked up the sound baa and meow (Chase can say moo, too). Now when he sees a cat he will meow and likewise when he sees a sheep. He can say cat too but he hasn't gotten the word, sheep. We are still working on horse-nee; hen/chick-cluck; dog-woof; pig-oink, ect. He is getting close to woof but just isn't quite there yet.

They both are starting to dabble in phrases too. Just a second ago, Chase repeated me in saying, "not tired, while shaking his head, no." They can say: more please; bye bye Dadda; go outside or go downstairs; and poop Mommy while grabbing at Mason's diaper.

I am just so proud of my Twins and their verbal skills. I hope they continue at this speed and how knows...they may be able to say their numbers, letters, colors, and some spanish words sooner than later. :)

First Hair Cuts

2011-03-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

The beginning of the hair cut.

The end result.
The inbetween...

Another monumental event of the Twins' lives can be checked off the "to do list" -getting their 1st hair cuts!

Chase Jack- 2/11/11

Hair cut by Nana in our kitchen by her scissors while seating on Mom's lap.

His mullet is officially gone and we are happy about that.

Mason Jon-3/5/11

Hair cut by Nana while Mom and Dad were at their 4th Wedding Anniversary Dinner.

Got his bangs trimmed.

16 Months and getting bigger than ever

2011-02-27T09:29:00.000-08:00

So Different and we love it!
Going to church in our Packer Gear on Super Bowl Sunday.
Getting ready for the Packers to win the Super Bowl!

The Twins are 16 going on 17 months and just keep on getting bigger and older.

I swear I can see them changing from day to day. Yesterday, I was gone for the afternoon and when I returned Chase looked older in the face. I just kept staring at him sitting in his white chair, drinking his milk, getting a bedtime story read to him by his Daddy and he looked legitimately older. He looked like a toddler in the face.

Even though the Twins are opposites, in every sense of the word, they do play really well together. They truly enjoy each other's company. During the day they mostly play together or right next to one another. Chase usually goes to where Mason is and tries to take the toys or books he is playing with. Mason likes to instigate new messes to make and Chase joins right in. They like to chase each other around our house (good thing our house goes in a circle) and run into furniture and walls with their shopping cart, giraffe tricycles, or push carts. They spin in circles in the kitchen and sometimes lose their balance and fall down, laughing all the way through it. They love to get into the plastic wrap , freezer bag drawer and show me what they are not suppose to be playing with. I would say their newest favorite activity to do together are sitting in a laundry basket or lying on a blanket and get pulled in a circle around the house.

Mason and Chase sitting in a laundry basket getting pulled around the house.

Chase seems to be more interested in learning or just has a longer attention span. He knows almost all of his body parts and can point to them when asked where they are. He likes looking or playing with number and letter toys. I have tried to teach Mason his body parts but isn't as receptive. He just gets bored and goes and plays with something else.

Mason definitely is more independent. When another boy is here to play, usually Chase and this boy play together and Mason does his own thing. He doesn't even mind, he likes to play without being interrupted or have to defend the toys he is playing with. Lately, he really likes to play with the laundry basket Auntie Jo bought. If it is lying down then he gets in it and just lies there but it is is sitting up he pushes it down to get in it. Jonathan even has carried Mason in the green laundry basket and swings him around in it. He loves it! He also likes to play with balls a little more than Chase but Chase has a great arm. Chase can throw really hard and straight while Mason just swings his own body and breaths hard to let the ball go an inch in front of him or sometimes it goes behind him. It is really cute to watch and makes me laugh b/c he speeds up his breathing right before he releases the ball.

Mason lying in his green laundry basket, a new favorite toy of his.

Here comes Chase to join in the fun that Mason is having. :)

The Boys do like most of the same stuff. They both like flash cards wether they are on my iphone or are tangible cards. They both love Brainy Baby but Masons' favorite is the animal dvd while Chase's is the 123 dvd.

15 Months and Counting

2011-01-02T15:21:00.000-08:00

I love playing with Dad's cellphone.
I love playing in my kitchen cupboard.
Look, I'm wearing Grandpa's Northern Minnesota hat.
Playing with Grandpa's Hat.
The Boys are 15 months today. Wow! They are on the move, more than ever. Running, pushing, shoving, talking alien talk, being fascinated with their tongue and teeth, smirking after they've been naughty, and just plain being silly.

Mason is still excelling in his speech. He has quite the list of words and the new additions to his vocabulary include: bear, cat, the sound roar for a lion, sheep, giraffe, Mommy, milk, and baby. Chase still says a lot of das, bas, ma's and doesn't talk as well as Mason. Both Boys do have their own alien/gibberish talk. My Boys definitely have their different strengths. Chase is more physical while Mason his the talker.

They both lately enjoy sticking out their tongue and making noises with it. That has been fun to watch but wonder when this phase will pass.

Chase has gotten a lot less stranger shy the last month but Mason is still full blown in the separation anxiety, I have to hold onto my parents or I will surely die.

They hold still while getting a diaper change and rarely try to get away from you. I think they are noticing that they are wet more when wearing a cloth diaper. We've also been doing a lot of potty stuff. Watching the toilet flush, watching people go the bathroom on the potty, talking about the potty and all that good stuff, and occasionally putting them on the potty when we know they are doing a #2.

Mason is really getting into books. He has a few books that he constantly wants to have. They included: Hey Diddle Diddle; Colors; Animals; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?; Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear; and Blue hat, Green hat. Chase likes them too but only when Mason is currently looking at them.

Chase prefers to play with his hands. He likes to put the booster seat's safety belt clasp together, playing with cars, and pushing his real life shopping cart around the house.

Both Boys love playing with balls. All kinds and sizes of balls. I'm not surprised since J and I are both athletic. It is bound to happen that our kids will be athletic and have good hand eye coordination since it is in their genes.

They also love Mom's and Dad's cellphones. Mason loves flipping open Dad's phone. I think he likes the blue colored screen. They both like playing with my iphone but specifically my flash card apps. Chase first liked flipping through the flash cards but Mason has now liked doing it too. I am going to have to buy some more kids' app for my iphone so they have something other than flash cards to entertain them when we are not at home.

Boys' Hair

2011-01-02T15:02:00.001-08:00

Mason's curls
Cute hair swept to the side.
Business in the front....
Party in the back.
Yes, it is long enough to be in a pony. :)

I haven't cut the boys' hair yet because I kind of want them to have longer, hockey hair. Mason's hair is growing out really well. He has cute, little curls in the back of his head with long bangs that sweep to the side. Chase on the other hand is almost bald on top with long hair in the back. He officially has a MULLET. As my Dad would say laughing, "business in the front, party in the back." Now I am in a perdicament. Do I cut his hair because I don't want him to have a mullet for a long period of time? I had a mullet when I was a kid and now I laugh about it but when I first saw my mullet, I was horrified. Is that how he will feel if we continue to let it grow...horrified as a teenager? I wish the hair on the top of his head would kick it in gear and catch up to the hair on the back of his head. As of right now I am undecided but hopefully I will come to a decision soon.

Christmas Break 2010

2010-12-31T11:22:00.001-08:00

Jonathan and I have a tradition that we share Christmas and/or Christmas Eve with my family one year and then his the next. Alternating the Christmas Holiday with each other's families has worked great for us as a couple and even greater once kids came around. It turned out that this year we celebrated with Jonathan's family for Christmas Eve while we celebrated with my family a weekend prior.

We were lucky to host Christmas for my family on December 18th. Jonathan made his famous prime rib with mashed potatoes, brown sugar carrots, salad, and bread. The whole family was at our house and it was wonderful. Boy oh Boy did we make out with the gifts. I got my Le Creuset dutch oven that I wanted and the kids got tons of stuff. The Boys got the little people parking ramp, Melissa and Doug house and animal big knob puzzles, Columbia fleeces, Betty Brinn Pass, Zoo pass, jeans, art smocks, Dr. Seuss pop up book, and money. While we opened up gifts, the kids just went crazy, dipping pretzels in to the dill dip. Chase was eating it by the mouth full and would get upset if you tried to pull him away. Too funny!

End of the night, Mason has his fly open, shirt bunch up and stained...classic!

For Christmas Eve, Nick and Carrie host the Sgarlata side and we enjoy a wonderful evening with immediate and extended family. We eat dinner with family, participate in a fun white elephant game(even though it involves new presents and the essence of white elephant is suppose to be used), and watch the kids open up their gifts. Jonathan and I love the white elephant game and I hope to start the tradition with my family. This year Jonathan and I almost came home with both of the gifts we brought but there was a mix up in communication and came home with only one of the gifts( the gift called things)...which was fine with me.

During dinner, Chase was a riot. He learned how to use a big person's fork and knife. He would be make the motion that he was cutting up his food with the knife and then using his fork to transfer the food to his mouth. He is quite good at using big people utensils but exploded when he couldn't get anymore bread out of the bun with his fork and knife.

The Twins got a lot of gifts...too many in my opinion but, they love playing with all of them. The got Melissa and Doug numbers and letter puzzles, broom and vacuum, tricycles and push wagons, clothes, money, drums, and baby brain dvds. Kids, Christmas, and Presents...they all go together and I love seeing my Boys eyes' light up when a new gift is unveiled but this year I couldn't stop thinking about the kids that didn't have any gifts to open up.

On a lighter note, the kids looked adorable in their Ralph Lauren cords and sweater and had a blast on Christmas Eve. The first gift that was opened up was a broom and vacuum. Of course, this was THE gift Chase wanted and once it was unveiled he was cleaning the rooms and didn't care about any other toy that was opened. Mason on the other hand, was my present opener and helped me open all of his and Chase's presents. When he would see a toy he'd like he'd gasp, like he does when he gets excited, but I had to keep him focused because there were tons of other gifts that had to be opened. Shortly after the gifts were opened we headed home and put the kids down for bed, way past their bed time. Once we put them to bed, I put together their big gift from us so they would be able to play with it right away.

Christmas Day was wonderful and very low key. We woke up at our house, the first Christmas in the new house, and enjoyed opening up presents from Santa. The kids got a real life Melissa and Doug shopping cart and three books. We lounged around the house until we had to go to Matt and Nikki's for brunch. Puddie sandwiches, hash browns, eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice, and screw drivers was served to us. What a wonderful morning with family.

After brunch, we stopped and Red Box and rented a movie to watch with Jonathan's Dad while the kids took their afternoon nap. The movie was okay but it was fun to just hang out and relax.

Christmas Morning at our house

The next day we packed up our new SUV and headed to Minnesota to spend some time with my family. So far, we've just relaxed to the upmost degree. I have taken naps every other day,(which I never do), play cards, watch movies, make homemade bread and egg rolls. The kids also played in the snow for the first time. They didn't like it at first but gradually they opened up to being outside. They really liked being pulled on the sled since they had a hard time walking in their snow gear.

Boots are a little tight...sorry Mason.
Poor Mason, he isn't liking his snow gear.

Chase just toppled over and he couldn't move.

Being New Years Eve we have plans to go out to dinner at 5pm (gotten make it an early night with the kids) with my parents, my mom's parents, and a friend of my dad's. I will be enjoying some delicious surf and turf. My kids are quite the eaters and I'm sure will definitely enjoy some good sea food and steak. What can I say?, The kids have great taste!

Simply Adorable

2010-12-29T11:08:00.000-08:00

My Boys have gotten their fare share of sweets this Holiday season. Sometimes they like to eat cookies, sometimes they don't and I find the cookie crumbled all over the main floor of our house. In this instance, Chase definitely like the blue frosted sugar cookie he had been given.

This day Mason was making me really laugh, He keep wanting more crackers but he would just horde them in his hands. Usually he and his brother horde the food in their cheeks but not this time. I was amazed at how many crackers he could hold in his tiny hand (looks like there could be 12 or more)....amazing isn't it?!

I wanted to do a photo story of Mason crossing his ankles because he does it all the time. I think it is so dainty and adorable. I just noticed it is always, right foot over left foot. Hmm..I wonder if that means anything. Here are a few times that I remembered to photograph him.

Simply Adorable!

Molars...Grr!

2010-12-29T10:51:00.001-08:00

Over Thanksgiving, Jonathan and I awoke to Chase crying frantically. It was so unlike him and the cry was not normal. That night we both were up trying everything to soothe him. We of course were at Grandma's and brought a small bottle of kids tylenol which was used up quickly with no replacement in the house. Nothing worked. I think he finally just fell asleep after many hours of consoling because he was just so tired. In the morning, Jonathan and I noticed that Chase had two new additions in his mouth...a top and and a bottom molar. Eureka....that was what last night was all about. Wow, people weren't kidding when they said some kids act weird with teething, let alone, molars. Chase never was bothered by the teeth he previously acquired but his molars, that was a different story. Well, that officially was the worst night we've had since they were born and I hope that we don't have a recurrence anytime soon. Mental note... bring a lot of kids tylenol when you are visiting relatives that don't have kids!!

Mason too has gotten a moral...maybe two. I have to inspect my kids' mouths to count how many teeth they actually have. Mason's moral experience was far less dramatic. Completely opposite of his other teething episodes. Mason definitely was more agitated and his moral came in without a fuss. So weird how your twins are opposite in everything...even how they teeth!

December is Here

2010-12-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

Ahh, December has arrived and to my surprise, it's snowing! I love snow. It looks so beautiful; everything covered in a white blanket that sparkles in the light.

We are starting to get into the Christmas spirit. Sending you some holiday cheer with an adorable photo of Mason and Chase with their new Pottery Barn Kids chair cover mail sacks. I cannot wait to start receiving Christmas cards because the Boys will put them in their red mail sacks.

Instigator and Victim

2010-12-01T06:40:00.001-08:00

THE INSTIGATOR

Chase is wearing the DID TOO Shirt, opposite of how he has been acting lately.
THE VICTIM

Mason wearing the DID NOT shirt...I'm trying to subconsciously get him to fend for himself. :)

It is December 1st and in one more day the Twins will be 14 months. My little guys are getting so big and HEAVY. I almost grunt when I have to pick them up at the same time...grrr. Well in my defense, they together weigh over 42lbs.

Among the obvious growth, they sure are developing their own unique personality. Jonathan and I have dubbed them The Instigator and The Victim. We obviously don't say this to them because we don't want to create a complex but use the new nicknames between ourselves and close family. The Instigator is known as Chase and the Victim is Mason.

All day I have to keep my eyes out for the Instigator's attacks on the Victim. You never know when he will attack but lately it has been quite often. Pushing, shoving, pulling on the shirt, hitting, taking toys away, those are the moves of our Instigator. Every now and then the Victim will shift places with the Instigator but not very often.

I honestly am tired of it because I have to act on naughty behavior to set rules and boundaries. It is getting exhausting. For the last couples days I have had to create the "time out chair." It is a booster chair in the dining room that faces the wall for a minute. I don't think it is working that well because Mason wants to get in it when he sees his brother in it. I try to tell him it's the naughty chair but he just associates booster chairs with food and eating. Hopefully this is just a phase and Mason will start fighting back or Chase will let up on his bullying. Until then, just call me Mama Referee.

Mason climbing onto Chase...are we seeing a shift in personality?

Yup, this is pretty much the common attack.

Fighting back!

2010-11-30T16:56:00.000-08:00

Mason Being Himself

2010-11-30T16:44:00.000-08:00

Mason loves to go into the hall closet, throw down the shoes and boots and sit on the trunk.

Mason trying to get out of the basket.
Mason sitting in a pottery barn white basket.

2010-11-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving in Minnesota

2010-11-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

I feel so blessed to be able to be in driving distance to family. The majority of Jonathan's family is only a few minutes away while my family is 7 1/2 hours away. Even though it is a hike to see my folks, the 7 1/2 hours doesn't deter us. Anyone who has kids may think we are crazy to travel that far with kids all in one shot(no stopping overnight or for long stretches) but we have the trip down to a science so the possible hell on wheels chaos that could happen usually doesn't.

Traveling to Minnesota for Thanksgiving was a breeze going up and coming back. On the way to Minnesota, we did something that we've never done before...stop and spend the night at a hotel. It wasn't really our choice to stop, we are the type of people who just want to get the drive over with but, the weather was getting worse so we surrendered to it. We stayed in a hotel at the Wisconsin Dells and enjoyed the water park and kids indoor playground.

Even though we didn't want to stop it turned out to be a fabulous idea. We tired out the kids at the waterpark (even though they didn't like it) and the indoor park (which they loved) and had a relaxing drive in the morning b/c the kids slept most of the way. On the drive back home, we didn't stop but managed to time our trip and the kid's long nap, just perfectly. It also helps that Jonathan and I have tiny hips so we can fit in the back seat in between the two car seats and still be seat belted in. Sitting in between them gives us the ability to entertain them. We also brought their favorite Brainy Baby DVDs and propped the computer up on luggage for Mason and Chase to view. Bringing DVDs is a must and I can't believe we haven't thought to do this prior to this Thanksgiving trip.

Thanksgiving Day was wonderful. Family and food...my two favorite things. Jonathan and I wanted to help my mother out and contribute to the dinner by cooking some amazing food. Amazing food doesn't even come close to what we ate. We prepared a wonderful pear and apple salad and the tastiest of them all, roasted chestnut soup. The soup was to die for...seriously it was heaven in a bowl. I think we just stumbled upon our signature Thanksgiving dish!

The Boys looked festive in their Pottery Barn Indian headgear but didn't care for the main event, the turkey. They loved the pears from the pear and apple salad and bread but would spit out the turkey. I take that back, Mason ate mashed potatoes too so they pretty much ate the fruit and carbs of the dinner. As if I am surprised by that...! ")

Halloween 2010

2010-11-27T18:39:00.000-08:00

Thing One=Mason and Thing Two=Chase
So cute!!! I just love the Thing One, Thing Two hair!

Chase and Mommy
Thanks for the Deer PJ's Aunt Carrie...they were great Thing One and Thing Two outfits! Their hat was a tissue paper pom pom from their birthday which my husband sewed onto a hat. I love re-using things! :)
Jonathan and I dressed as Sue Sylvester from Glee and the Twins in our awesome stroller all bundled up!
Jonathan and I's pumpkin after our fat squirrel got to it. You can kind of see the JJ design.
MC's pumpkin...you each had your own but our fat squirrel got to one so we had you share. :)

Mason and Chase were Thing one and Thing Two for Halloween this year. It only seemed appropriate to continue the adorable turquoise and red them through Halloween since it was their 1st b-day theme earlier in the month.

Although this was officially the Twins second Halloween, this was the first Halloween that we went trick-or-treating. We went trick-or-treating at our neighborhood's Haunted Block which completely exceeded my expectations. The street and sidewalks were packed full of people which made it kind of difficult to maneuver a double stroller but, my husband somehow managed. Since it was a very chilly evening, we only went door to door asking for candy for less than an hour and in that time my husband and I scored a good amount of treats in our Twins awesome Pottery Barn monogramed treat bags. (Thanks Aunt Nikki!)

The smallest things are the biggest deal...

2010-11-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

The Boys have been doing the cutest stuff lately and I had to share them with you. First of all, they understand what kiss and hug mean so when they hear those words, they immediately give their version of a kiss and a hug. It is the most precious gesture. A hug to them means....just tilt your head to the side and a kiss means to open up your mouth and tilt you head back. Every now and then you have to watch Chase b/c he will try to stick his tongue out too when opening up his mouth. Kiss and hug are my favorite gestures of the kids especially when they do it to eachother.

Mason and Chase love going outside so when they want to play in the yard, they go the the back door and yell at me. Mason will go even further and get his shoes and put them next to his feet. He has only gotten his shoes once and but I'm sure it will happen more frequently. They definitely know the words, "We have to put on your hat and coat before going outside". When they hear those words they start walking to the closet where those outdoor items are located. It just makes my heart melt! :)

For all of those who received the Boys birth announcements over a year ago, I think you will agree with me that they were DARN CUTE (found at the top of this post)! I just found them posted on my friend's site who created them. She does this as a business so if you are in need of some cute cards...check her out!

http://sketchgraphics.blogspot.com/

Holiday Family Photo Shoot by Rose

2010-11-17T11:55:00.000-08:00

13 Months

2010-11-17T11:19:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe that November is already half over. Where has the time gone? My 13 month Boys will soon be 14 month olds...ah! This month has been a pretty slow month on the "new developments" list.

The Boys have definitely perfected their running skills and love to trot around the inside of our house since it conveniently makes a circle. They actually haven't been saying as many words but know sound like an alien with their jibber jabber. They still love to cuddle, especially when they are just getting up from sleeping. They love to eat, Mason has improved his appetite but I just think he's going through a growth spirt. They love to play with each other and love chasing each other around the house. Chase takes toys away from Mason more often than the reverse so I feel like referee a lot of the time. As you can see, not too many new things but I am loving this stage they are in right now. They are very mobile, can communicate with you to a degree, and still love being cuddled, kissed, and hugged. I just love being Mom to Mason and Chase!

Pumpkin Picking

2010-11-17T10:17:00.001-08:00

Mason on the big, blow up slide...needless to say, He loved it!

Chase was enjoying himself too.

In late October, we as a family visited Eberts Greenhouse Village in Wisconsin. This place was amazing! It had a Fall festival every weekend in October and the price is right! It is a little past Oconomowoc but the drive is worth it. They had so many activities for all ages of kids; pony rides, huge slides, carousel, hay bail course, face painting, pet the animals, hay rides, corn maize, and many more activities that I cannot think of. Since the Boys are still young we did the hay bail ride to the corn maize that lead you to the pumpkin patch as well as the huge blown up slide. We had heck of a time finding our way through the maize but finally figured it out. Watching the Boys pick out their pumpkins was adorable. They loved trying to pick them up and push them over. They were so intrigued at the orange ball things that were all around them. While we enjoyed the pumpkin patch we had to find four pumpkins, a Mommy one, Daddy one, and two that could pass off as Twin pumpkins and luckily we succeed. The weather was gorgeous and by the time we left around noon the place was packed. I am very excited to go to Erberts next year and experience all the activities it has to offer for our slightly older kids.

Thing One Thing Two Photo Album

2010-11-11T11:33:00.000-08:00

Little Me :)
"who train...car...whatever!"

Thing One's Drinks and Thing Two's Drinks.....aka Gatorade!

This is my favorite expression of Mason!
Mason getting into his "who train."
Nice toofers!
Love this :)
Love this too! :)

Daddy made your cakes...even though they didn't turn out as planned it is the thought that counts. :)

Chase Jack with Grandpa Larry
Mason Jon with Grandpa Johnny
Look at those cute boys...love the cloth diaper butt!

Thing One and Thing Two...you two are such cuties!
Jonathan and I are so blessed!!!
The crowd didn't even phase Mason, he's totally a Lehtinen.
Chase hated everyone staring at him...poor guy.
Family Photo opportunity.

This picture says it all! Doesn't it?!
Hey Cutie, Thing Two.
This is great.."Can I do this every day?"
I love all the attention! Happy Birthday to me!

Wow, this is good! Great job on the cake, Dad!

Oh, this bib is tasty! Wait, I taste cake frosting...yummy! Dang it, you found me crawling up the stairs again!
Weee...this is fun, Grandpa Larry!
What is up, Thing One? You look a little sugar'd out!
After the party, sugar high!

Thing One Thing Two-Twins' 1st Birthday

2010-11-09T10:48:00.001-08:00

It was a magical event! They both looked gorgeous, the food was fabulous, the decorations were to die for, and the venue was beautiful! I'm not talking about a wedding but my Twins' 1st birthday party!!! It was an awesome event and had so much fun planning for it. I hate to admit it but, the birthday took a few months to plan for. I know, it is only a first birthday but I was determined to have a big bash. They only turn one, once!

Now, even though we moved to a bigger house it still is relatively small but then again, houses in Tosa are small. That is the price you pay to be close to the city...or at least that is what I tell myself. :) Small house but our backyard is a good size, I would even dare to say big for Tosa standards. So I didn't hold back on our invitation list and invited the 50 families that we are close to. I knew that if the house got crowded then people would go outside plus it was only going to be the first weekend in October and the last weekend in September was gorgeous. But of course, the weather was freezing cold so we couldn't really utilize our backyard. Some guests did wander out there only to hover over the fire pit but most people stayed in our crowded living room. Luckily we have a half finished basement that families with young kids could escape to when the packed first floor of our house couldn't hold anyone else.

The event went off without a hitch. We decided to do a themed birthday party and chose Thing one Thing Two from Dr. Seuss. We decorated the whole first floor with red and turquoise while the Boys' wore Thing One Thing Two shirts. The Thing One Thing Two party went from 4pm-8ish on their actual birthday, October 2nd! Over 30 families were able to celebrate Mason and Chase's 1st Birthday Party. We did the usual 1st Birthday thing, socialized, ate a lot of food, and watched the Twins eat their 1st cake. The cake watching was fun. Chase didn't like being in front of all the people but didn't mind once Mommy put some frosting on his lips. Once he tasted the delicious cake Daddy made for him, he dove right in. He even put his head in the cake at one point. Mason liked the cake but wasn't as excited as Chase. I guess I'm not surprised since Mason isn't really into food.

All in all, the event went well (besides the cool weather) and I look forward to a fun-filled year with Twin toddlers!

1st Lake Eshquaguma Parade

2010-11-07T06:55:00.000-08:00

4th of July at Aurora parade

2010-11-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

More of Chase at Eshquaguma

2010-11-07T06:39:00.000-08:00

Oh, I fell over onto my walker.
How do I get down from this thing?
Seriously, I am stuck. :)
Playing with Ethan's toys...one of my favorite activities.
Playing in the Sand...another one of my favorite summer activities.

More of Mason at Eshquaguma

2010-11-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

Love the Minnesota shirt but you are Thing 1 not Thing 2...oops.

Love, Love this picture.

More of Lake Eshquaguma #3

2010-11-07T06:13:00.001-08:00

Chase with Great Grandma Rita over Memorial Day.
Mason with Great Grandma Rita.
Lake Eshquaguma puts everyone at ease...enjoy that cat nap.
Hey, Look how cute I am!
Grandma Teresa and Mason...having a ball together.

There are so many great photos from our trips to Lake Eshquaguma that I have to post most of them. I only wish I could upload more than 5 photos at a time so bare with me on the Lake Eshquaguma number posts. :)

More of Lake Eshquaguma #2

2010-11-07T06:08:00.000-08:00

More of Lake Eshquaguma

2010-11-07T05:46:00.000-08:00

Chase and Mommy
We loved playing in the water.

Four generation picture!
My brothers and Mom.

Mason at Lake Eshquaguma in July

2010-11-07T05:26:00.000-08:00

My adorable look alike.
Mason, Mom, and Dad.
What a doll! Love the shirt, it was Mommy's when she was little.
Daddy and Mason
This was so cute, I had to post it.

Chase at Lake Eshquaguma in July

2010-11-07T05:11:00.000-08:00

Look at Chase, He's standing up in the water!
Chase loves playing with the sand and squeezing it between his fingers.
What a cutie pie! Love the shirt, Chase...that was Mommy's when she was little. Go Minnesota Gophers.
Chase and Daddy on the deck. You can see my parent's beautiful lake home in the background.
Handsome Hubby and adorable look like!

1st Twin's Game at the end of July

2010-11-07T04:42:00.001-08:00

Family Photo at the Twin's Game in Minneapolis, MN. The new Target Stadium is AMAZING but not kid friendly. We couldn't follow our friends into the bar/restaurant where we would be able to do so in good ole Milwaukee!
The ladies behind us didn't think Chase and Mason were Twins.
Our adorable Twins at the Twins game..how cute!! :) Gotta love the Iphone camera...comes in handy when you forget your camera.

Much Over Due...

2010-10-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

As I try to recap the last two months, my mind starts to spin recalling all the major milestones reached. Since the middle of August, we've managed to move to a new home, host a fantastic 1st Birthday party, run a marathon, and say goodbye to our infants and said hello to our new toddlers!

That is right, Mason and Chase are officially toddlers! This comes with great excitement b/c I am loving this walking/running, trying to communicate stage. Mason started really walking well a week before his birthday. Jonathan and I didn't know if he was going to pull throw in the clutch but he did! You Go, Mason! Now he is a great walker and borders on being a runner. Chase on the other hand has been on the fast track, walking really well at the middle of August and now is running. He actually walked almost the whole time we were at the zoo last week. He was loving it, until he had to leave which required him to be confined in the stroller.

Also, it seems in the last couple weeks, the Boys' vocabulary has really taking off. Mason is my little talker. He loves to repeat what you say to him and has 10 or so words he can pronounce without being prompted. His favorite words are, Ball, Deer (Jonathan loves this), dog, more (which sounds like Ma Ma and was hard to detect what he was meaning), star, train, Chase, this, that, Ma Ma, yes, and Da Da. He also now goes into the kitchen and tries to pull himself up into his booster seat to tell me he wants to eat. There of course is a lot of pointing fingers and just saying, "ah ah but I'm happy with how our communication is developing" He really likes to point at the Tv and demand to watch Brainy Baby Dvd's and of course understands when I say No. Just the other day I was asking him some questions and he was responding with Yes and I don't think it was a coincidence. Gosh, I have such smart kids... but every parents says that.

Chase is a good communicator too but doesn't try to repeat the words you say to him as much. He has a few less words than Mason, but again to Jonathan's liking, Deer and Dog are Chase's two favorite words. He says Ball, Ma Ma, Da Da, Na na (which means more), train, and that. Chase points and makes really loud noises when he sees apples, and squirrels, and other items. It is like he gets angry at them or something. He also loves to just say Da Da in the car when we are listening to music. He even says his Da Da's to the beat...very impressive Chasie!

Among the other new developments, Dancing and Climbing the slides are two favorite activities at the Sgarlata household. We have a dance party almost every day while I'm cooking dinner to trying to distract the kids while Dad cooks dinner. Both Boys love to dance. They dance in their booster chair, bob their head, and just bounce when standing up. Today at Maddie's birthday party Chase was a dancing machine and even was caught sticking his tongue out when bouncing to the beat. The Boys also love slides. Big ones, small ones, steep ones. You name it and they can go down it and climb up it. They like to climb up the slide the wrong way but will take the stairs to the top every once in a while. Mason is really good and climbing up the slide barefooted. Mason also prefers to go face first. Not what I recommend but he loves it and has no fear. He climbs up and just zooms on down and the cycle continues. Chase is more timid and will go face first but prefers butt first.

Okay, so that is enough for one post but I need to put up pictures soon!

Last

4th of July in Minnesota -Day Trip Continued

2010-08-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Eating at the Duluth Zoo...Chase was intrigued by the camera.
Mason didn't care for the camera. :)
My bashful, flirtacious boy.

4th of July in Minnesota

2010-08-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Mom, I love the Duluth Aquarium!
The Duluth Aquarium with the boys.
The Duluth Zoo....did I tell you mom, how much I hate my hat?!
Look at me I can stand up in my play pen.
Oh, I love standing up in my Mom's baby crib b/c I can jump on the mattress. :)

Summer in Minnesota

2010-08-10T15:42:00.000-07:00

As Summer is coming to an end, I smile as I think about all the wonderful Minnesota memories. My parent's home has been the main memory maker this summer. With us being homeless since Memorial weekend, our nomad-ness has lead us to Minnesota. The boys and I have been in Minnesota for Memorial Weekend, an extended 4th of July weekend (2 weeks), and 2 weeks in August. I have been lucky to lean on them and I know they enjoy seeing their daughter and twin grandsons. Looking back, Wow, have the boys changed; my boys are growing up so quickly.

Seeing where the boys are now, it is hard to remember how they were around Memorial weekend. I actually had to look back in the calendars I keep for each boy, to see what they were accomplishing around this Holiday. Chase was standing up for the first time without holding onto anything around him. Go figure he stood up for the first time when he was being fed food. It seems to be his thing, driven by food. Hearing from other Moms that they get their kids to potty train by giving them M&M's, I think Chase will do just fine in that department. Chase also started standing up in his crib and stood up for the first time in his play pen at Grandma's House. :)

Along with standing, Chase and Mason are crawling. Chase crawled for the first time a week or so prior to Memorial weekend and was in the beginning stages of learning how to crawl well. He picked up it really quickly and is a speedy little sucker. Mason on the other hand, started to crawl but his crawl was not the typical crawl. He did and still does a gorilla crawl where his knees don't touch..it is very unique and adorable. He started standing while holding onto their musical stand toy and even stood up in his crib for the first time at Grandma's house. Mason also got his first tooth mid June while Chase had a mouth full of four new teeth.

Over 4th of July, the boys got their first experience of being in a lake. They both took to it well but the water was really cold so it was short lived. I think the sand peaked their interest more than the water. Oh, did both boys love to play with sand toys, especially the shovels. Along with playing with the shovels they also thought eating sand was a fun activity. This Holiday was the holiday for "clapping". Once they learned how to clap they really like to do it especially when they know they are being praised.

Over the 4th the boys surprised us with climbing up stairs. On the 3rd we were all in the house getting ready to eat and Jonathan caught Chase out of the corner of his eye climbing up the stairs. We all watch him as he went up three stairs all by himself for the first time. It was so neat that everyone saw his first stair climb. Mason climbed his first stairs two days later. Along with standing, clapping, climbing stairs, their new favorite toy to play with is a ball...typical boy. :)

Now, that we are in August ( wow summer is flying by) we are onto the "trying to walk" stage. The boys have been cruising for a good month and now Chase has been taking his first steps. He has gotten up 8 steps. He has incredible balance and will be walking regularly really soon. He stands up and squats down to pick up toys and then stands back up. You should see his thunder thighs in action..wow is he strong. He is like his Dad in this department. When Jonathan played volleyball at the college level, I always thought his quads were way too big, scary big for his body. I wouldn't be surprised if Chase develops these types of quads with all the squats he is doing daily. :) Mason on the other hand has been standing up by myself for a few seconds and getting longer everyday, but hasn't taken any steps yet. I am sure they are going to be soon b/c they love practicing walking with their new favorite toy, the pusher/walker. They are getting really good at steering it and changing directions when they get stuck in a corner or hit a wall. They even plow over anything and everything that is in their way. I have seen Chase walk over Mason and try to plow him over as if he was snow on a winter day.

Both Boys are trying to say some words. Mason says Ma Ma. Chase says Da Da. Both try to say Ball and Dog. Chase has started babbling a little bit too but he just says Ba or Da over and over again. They still make funny high pitched noises but talking is on the horizon. Chase does the cutest thing, he brings his chin into his neck and just open up his mouth and shuts it squeeling while moving his head up and down like he's agreeing with you. Mason does a little sqeeling and more screaming than his brother. With his powerful voice, I can't blame him. As soon as he opens up his mouth, he's got everyone's attention. Both boys love to giggle too. I read that before 12 months kids don't play with each other but I have to disagree. At Grandma's house the boys chase each other in a circle, giggling the whole way. They fight over the pusher/walker toy and all four balls we own. They even stand on opposite sides under Grandma's Table smiling at one another, laughing, and trying to touch each other's faces. What can I say... I love my bundles of joy!!

Busy Boys

2010-07-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Crusing, clapping, standing up without holding on to anything, those are my Boys' favorite things to do. Chase and Mason, what busy little boys. You don't realize how easy you had it till you've past it and are on to the next milestone. I thought crawling was a tiring activity for both me and the Boys but now that they are crusing and trying to walk... I'm in a whole different ball game. Lately, Chase has been standing up several times a day for several seconds at a time, not holding onto anything. Mason hasn't accomplished this milestone yet but he's getting close. They both still like to crawl and have perfected their crawl to be efficient for them. Chase still is super fast and does the traditional crawl except when he is outside and crossing over pavement/cement, then he does a "Mason" crawl to protect his knees. Mason on the other hand does a doggy crawl, where he has his legs fully extended so his knees are not bent and don't touch the ground. Very clever, especially when he is outside and the terrain doesn't feel the best on little knees. He too has perfected this crawl so he is super fast like his brother.

Even with their efficient crawls, walking is in our future. Both Boy's love to cruise along furniture and Chase has even took his first steps. They pull themselves up, they let themselves down, like they've been trying to walk forever. Chase took his first steps this past Friday. I was on John's elevated level of his kitchen preparing an egg salad sandwich, when Chase saw the food and went from cruising along the couch's ottoman to taking two steps from the ottoman to the couch, the shortest way to get to the food. Well, I guess I found his motivator...food!

This past Saturday we were at a friend's first birthday when the funniest thing happened to Chase. Now a little background for you....Chase has become the explorer. Mason does a little exploring but pretty much is content with what is around him. Not Chase, you put him down and you better watch him or you'll loose track of him. So we were at this party and we were letting the Boys play in the grass. Mason eventually wanted to be held but Chase loved crawling all around ,playing with the birthday hats, the pool full of balls, and the garden (mostly the wood chips). When we were getting ready to go, we went to wipe Chase's noise and all of a sudden a sparkly thing was coming out of it. I saw this from the side so from my view, it looked like a shimmer snot bubble until J and Nick, our friend, said, "What is that?" It was a piece of glittery paper from one of the birthday hats. That glittery paper was coming out of Chase's noise, which meant that he had previously eaten it and it didn't go down his throat but up his noise. Gross!! OMG was it funny, we all started laughing b/c whose kid starts snotting glitter? I guess, ours does. We might have to start watching him a little more closely especially when we are at someone else's house.

Lastly, as the Boys have aged, we've seen a shift in their personalities. At birth, Mason was the dominant one and a little more work. When he was hungry or needed attention, he let you know it and he let you know that he wanted 5 minutes ago. Chase on the other hand was a passive, content little baby. He started to get the nickname, Angle Baby Love, since that was what his Dad was called when he was a baby. Boy have the tides shifted. Now Mason is the mostly content baby and Chase is a now the dominant one. Chase takes all the toys away from Mason and gives you a piece of his mind but Mason does take Chase's pacifier just to spite him. It is very interesting how this has happened and I'm so curious to see if they will change back or if this is how it will be from now on. Twins are so cool and as I'm finding out kind of mysterious. You think you have everything under control and then it changes.

9 Months!

2010-07-11T18:21:00.001-07:00

9 Months...3/4 of the Twin's first year is over. Just the thought of that makes me sad. I have enjoyed every month so far and each month brings new surprises. From their 8th month till now the Boys have been doing a lot of one thing...Cruising!! They crawl so quickly but they love to stand up and move between the coffee table, side table, and couch. They love climbing stairs too. So even though they are not "walking" they sure feel like they are with how much I'm on the move following them around the house.

June was wonderful and we enjoyed staying at Matt and Nikki's. I think Ethan liked it the most since he loves his cousins, Macy and Chase. Every morning he would wake up and Say, "Macy, Chase... Hi Baby, Hi Maci, Hi Chase." It was so adorable. He would mimic them, crawling around with them and encouraging them to crawl faster. The only time he didn't like having his cousins around were when they wanted to play with his Yo Gabba Gabba toy. I am so blessed to be so close to family. I feel just tickled that my sons are going to grow up just blocks away from their cousin.

As July approached, Mason, Chase, and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Minnesota for an extended 4th of July weekend. The kids loved playing on the beach and in the water. Oh, how they were so intrigued with the waves and the feel of sand. I think they actually really liked eating sand, a habit I hope they outgrow. Even though it was Minnesota, it was hot and stuffy. I had to keep watching the boys to make sure they had enough SPF on so they wouldn't burn. Oh, did they look cute with their Land End SPF swim diaper covers. Mason had a whale and Chase had a alligator on their butts. Why is it we focus our attention on baby's butts with cute appliqued animals? I don't know but it is absolutely adorable!

4th of July came and went but we had an amazing, patriotic time! 4th of July at my parent's country club is so much fun. Among amazing fireworks, the Twin's witnessed their 1st parade and even rode in a parade. We dressed the Twins up in Minnesota Twins apparel and had the golf cart decked out in red, white, and blue streamers and pinwheels. We had a huge sign, that said, " Wisconsin Twins love Minnesota Twins." We thought it was clever and we got so many cute remarks while we rode the golf cart in the parade. I wish we would have known that they judge the parade but next year we are bringing the big guns out. Our golf cart is going to be the Best entry next year!

Now that the holiday is over we are staying with Jonathan's father's house. I am happy to say that we put in an offer on a house and will be moving into at the end of August. I'm so glad there is a end in sight. I have grown tired of being a nomad with 9 month twins and so have the Boys. I do appreciate the hospitality that John gives us and it's so wonderful to be close to family who takes you in when you are in a housing crunch. Thanks John!

Talk to you soon.

My Little Italian

2010-06-03T12:31:00.000-07:00

Getting caught under the blanket..Peek A Boo
I love Tessa's exersaucer...thanks for letting me borrow it :)
Hoyt Park-Is there anything better than sharing a baby swing with my brother? Absolutely not!
At the Milwaukee Zoo with Mommy and Daddy for the 1st time.

Naked! Need I say more?

My Little Finn

2010-06-03T12:19:00.001-07:00

Swinging at Hoyt Park.
I love being Naked!!!
I love Ethan's exersaucer...thanks for letting me borrow it.
At the Milwaukee Zoo for the 1st time with Mommy and Daddy.
Eating in my car seat in the leather chair...who says I need a high chair.

8 Whole Months

2010-06-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the Twins turned 8 months. Wow...8 whole months. They are growing up so fast that I already forgot what they were like a few months ago. I look back at pictures and think, "I don't even remember you this way." I'm sure the sleep deprivation is the culprit but time is passing so quickly. I honestly have loved every stage thus far, but something about the stage their in now, I just want time to freeze. Right now, they show their affection for their loved ones, are very interactive, wear their emotions on their sleeve, babble and giggle like it's going out of style, love cuddling with Mom and Dad, and are not walking. I know some of these things are coming to an end which makes me sad, but I'm sure the next stage will have other aspects that I love. I am cuddling the Boys as much as I can b/c soon they won't want to cuddle. Since they have recently started crawling (yes they are mobile..ah!), I know that they will want to be on the move, exploring their world, not being held by Me or Dad.

As mentioned earlier, the Twins have started crawling. Chase took his first two movements two weeks ago but then didn't pick it up again until this past Memorial weekend. Mason took his first movements yesterday. Both Boys were actually very mobile prior to crawling forwards b/c they learned how to crawl backwards. Mason first scooted on his butt which was hilarious and then learned to crawl backwards. Chase just started crawling backwards and skipped the scooting stage. Since they were mobile early on (6 months) I still wonder if I should record their first crawl when they did it backwards. I mean that was a crawl, but it wasn't the forward crawl; so does that make it not a crawl? Well, I guess I will just have to remember that the Boys were special in the fact that they "crawled" early on.

Over the Memorial weekend, we also had to lower the Boys' cribs to the second setting. They just stared to sit up in their crib and grab onto the railings. I first saw Mason do it and thought, OMG, don't stand up and fall out. I was never told when to lower the crib railings so I just watched them and figured they would let me know when to do so and they did. :)

Of course, the Da Da phase is still in high gear. I keep telling the Boys that I'm their Ma Ma but it isn't working. I know they'll say it when they are ready, but it doesn't hurt to reinforce the idea. First words, that is a phase I'm excited about. Sure, they say words but they don't know what they are saying. Chase said Ma Ma at 3 months when he would get upset but I knew it was dumb luck that those were the sounds that he mad when he cried. That phase has passed and I do wish he still cried "Ma Ma." On the other hand, it will be so cool to see them associate a word with it's object. Hopefully Ma Ma is first, hey a girl can dream. :)

Oh, I almost forgot...the Boys are standing up while holding onto my fingers. Mason did it for the first time yesterday and Chase started two days ago. It came out of the blue, Chase was sitting facing me and was grabbing onto my fingers and then just went from Indian style to standing up in a mere moment. I of course praised him and was so excited to show Daddy what Mommy and Chase did during the day. Mason followed shortly after. I can just think was Mason was thinking, "Oh great, Chase stands up before me too, I need to kick it in high gear." Even though they are only 8 months I bet there is a little competitiveness b/w them.

As for eating, the Twins love solid food. Chase has always liked solid food but Mason has finally turned a corner and now likes it too. They have advanced to eating non cow's milk dairy products. The newest addition is Goat's milk yogurt that I bought from the organic food store. I tried to find goat's milk cottage cheese but that not must be a popular item b/c they didn't have it. They also are eating the Graduate brand puffs. I cut them in half b/c I am paranoid they'll choke but I'll work up to giving them a whole one soon enough. They also are loving the combination veggie and fruit purees. I believe their favorite fruit is now the banana mixed berry. They showed such enthusiasm for this food that I tried it and it was yummy. It reminded me of the Naked smoothie drinks, which I happen to love!

Lastly, we officially sold our house and are staying at Matt and Nikki's. The Twins love seeing Ethan daily and I think Ethan feels the same. Wow, do kids love kids. The Boys just watch him and try to climb on him by pulling on his shirt, his hair, and his ears (which Ethan isn't fond of). Ethan is a good sport about it though. He does love his cousins. Every morning, he rushes downstairs to say, " Hi Babies. His Chase. Hi Maci." He can say Chase really well but Mason is tough for him. He's said Mason a few times but it doesn't sound like how we say it.

Today, I was in charge of watching him and the Twins. It was actually not bad. We went to the park, Ethan and Chase in the double stroller and Mason strapped to me with the Moby wrap. I must have looked like I had my hands full b/c I got several looks from Moms and even one said it. I figured it is just a glimpse into my future...a Mom of three.

Staying here makes for a lot of people under one roof, but it is nice that their house is already baby proofed, especially since the Twins are now crawling. That is one less thing I have to do. :) Oh, since we've been staying here, I have been using disposable diapers. I could tell that Matt and Nikki weren't thrilled at the fact that I would be using their washer and dryer for my cloth diapers. I'm happy to make life easier on me and on them by using disposable for a little while. I have to admit, my experience with disposable hasn't been great. I have had horrible success with Pampers and Huggies but I found the ticket... Luvs. I never hear about them but they have been excellent thus far. It is nice not doing cloth diaper laundry for a change and the Boys' don't look like they have booty butt anymore. I will go back to cloth diapers but it is a nice break.

The Twins also are in love with Roman and Sienna, Matt and Nikki's two cocker spaniels. They are not use to seeing Dogs so every chance they get, they try to crawl over to them. Roman and Sienna really are feeding off the attention b/c I caught them both kissing the kids on the face..yuck. They are good around the Boys which is a relief. They even let the Twins touch them but I have to be watching since Mason and Chase don't know what "gentle" means.

The Boys

2010-05-18T19:40:00.001-07:00

Ethan and Chase...cousin love
How sweet!
The Boys love the Ladies and the Ladies love the Boys.
They know when they spot a pretty girl.

Mason

2010-05-18T19:31:00.001-07:00

Chasers

2010-05-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

Middle of May

2010-05-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

I don't know how it is the middle of May but it is and that really freaks me out. I don't know where the time has gone. Lately, we haven't had any major milestones but a lot of constant action. Chase now has his second tooth. He got it literally right after his first tooth. I cannot stress how good he is dealing with teething. Mason on the other hand shows that he's in pain and definitely is more irritable. I am guessing that his first tooth is going to surprise us any day now.

Besides teething, eating is in full gear at the Sgarlata house. The Boys are up to several veggies and fruits but we haven't tried meat yet. My Pediatrician said that you are actually suppose to start with meat but she said if she tried to push it on her patients that they'd think she was crazy. She's right, I would have thought she was nuts. I mean have you smelled a jar of baby food meat?...Gross!!! So we have tabled the meat talk and just have been focusing on fruits and veggies. One of the new and exciting fruits that was introduced today was watermelon. Chase only tasted it b/c Mason was sleeping when I was eating it for lunch and he loved it! Chase just stared at me and I thought, "Why not, he can try a tiny, tiny piece...I mean it's practically all water anyways." Although watermelon is delicious, Mason and Chase love pears. Second favorite would probably be bananas or sweet potatoes. They eat pretty much everything but I would have to say their least favorite food is green beans. Next on my food list is to introduce yogurt from Goat's milk, prunes, and fresh squeezed fruit juice based on the Super Baby Food book. I haven't followed the book to a T but have been as consistent as I want to be with introducing new foods. One last thing, I am so thankful that the Boys don't have any food allergies or at least not yet. I have a girlfriend who has a child that is allergic to so many foods that I get stressed listening to her talk about their food protocol and what not. Wow, peanut and cow's milk allergies are serious stuff. I really like peanut butter and milk and I would hate for my kids not be able to eat that yummy goodness.

Oh, I almost forgot about a funny "milestone" that occurred this week. This is a type of "milestone" that I would have been happy not reaching but it was inevitable. I have to preface that you may think this is gross but it made me laugh and I immediately jotted it down in their event calendar. This week was the first week that I could smell that Mason and Chase had a poopy diaper. That is right, yesterday was the first time I could smell that Mason went #2. You may be shocked that they are almost 8 months and this is just happening but, I guess I don't have a very strong nose. Jonathan on the other hand can smell everything, which I am learning is a good and bad thing. I use to be kind of envious of his ability to detect the slightest fragrance in the air but now I realize how good I have had it all this time. If I just started to smell their poppy diapers, how long has he been able to do so? Ya know what, I don't even want to know.

Little Tid Bits:

Chase's hair is getting thicker by the day. I wonder if he'll have wavy hair b/c when it gets wet, it gets kind of curly. Mason on the other hand is going to have thin straight hair and it looks awesome in a faux hoc hair style.

Mason loves to say Da Da. He finds a word or syllable that he likes and he goes crazy with saying it. I secretly which he loved Ma Ma as much as Da Da. A little bit of me finds comfort in the fact that he doesn't know what he's saying. I know a lot of babies say Da Da first but I really hope Ma Ma is said first.

Chase has to be a good couple inches taller than Mason. When Mason was born people called him Minnie Mason and I hated it. It is okay for me to hope that Mason gets a growth spurt sooner than later...right?

Sharing or Not

2010-05-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

I think the sibling rivalry has begun. Since the Boys can sit up and play with toys, they always want the other person's toy. I have tried to capture this tug of war too many times but got lucky today. The video displays the loving nature Mason and Chase have for sharing or lack there of. The look on Chase's face is priceless when Mason takes his toy and repeatedly tried to do so. He just purses his lips in disgust and rage. I just chuckle b/c this is only the start of wanting what the other person has. :)

Chase's 1st Tooth

2010-05-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

Oh, do we have big news...Chase got his first tooth! Last Saturday, May 1st, he grabbed my finger and put it in his mouth; I immediately felt something sharp. I looked and it was a tooth poking thru his gums. Here I didn't have any clue he was teething other than a random night last Thursday when he was abnormally cranky in the middle of the night. That night J and I thought, "What is going on?" but I dismissed it b/c his weird behavior stopped. Sure enough, that night his tooth probably was breaking thru. Chase didn't have any of the normal signs of teething..he barely drooled and other than that one instance he didn't fuss. Hopefully the rest of his teething experience is just like the first tooth, pretty painless or at least it seemed that way. I tried getting a picture of his cute budding tooth but that was not a success.

Sitting Up

2010-05-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

It seems like the Boys were just starting to roll over but now they are loving to sit up! Where has the time gone? Mason and Chase are very strong boys and must have abs of steel. They not only sit up without support and have been doing so for for over 3 weeks, but now can slowly lay down and do a sit up. Oh, I just saw Mason reach for a toy in front of him which he had to go onto his knees to grab it, then returned to his sitting position...Wow! Almost seven months and they are becoming big Boys faster than I anticipated. They love sitting up, being semi-mobile, rolling around in every which direction, and communicating! (and by communicating I mean shrieking) Lastly, Mason just started this infatuation with sticking out his tongue. He licks his lips and sticks out his pointy tongue while Chase pretends to eat his bottom lip.

Here are some wonderful pics of the ever growing Twins!!! Can you believe I get the question, "Are they identical?" I know, it baffles me too...obviously these people haven't seen a baby in a really long time. Ha!