Two Little Monkeys

We have entered into a climbing phase around here. Everything is fair game, but furniture is the favorite. And thankfully they haven't tried beds yet. For a while now their favorite game was for us to put them on the couch or love seat and let them jump and play around. It was an instant mood lifter! But the safety was that they couldn't get up on their own which gave me peace of mind to turn my back for a bit. Well, the safety has come off in the last week or so. Pierce "Monkey Toes" Weil first learned to climb the new chair in our living room. His technique is entertaining to watch and he uses his toes to scale the front of the chair to lift himself up to the seat. It's served him well so far and he's been able to apply it to the sofas as well. Blaine has a little more trouble because he adopted the leg hike method where he lifts his right leg up to the very top and tried to leverage himself up that way. (On a side note, he's apparently quite flexible.) In any case, I figure that this is something I can't really fight because eventually they have to learn how to get on and off furniture and handle themselves while up there. It's scary though because I've described them as big enough to get up on things, but not big enough to understand the possible outcomes. Every now and then one of them will stand up and then start rocking back and forth. It makes my heart stop as I anticipate them falling back on their head before I can get there.

The same scares me with stairs. They've learned the proper way to go down (on their belly, feet first), but sometimes they'll perch themselves halfway up in a way that looks as if they could tumble down. In fact, Pierce took his first spill on Rachael's stairs a couple of days ago. I was right there with him, but he made one weird move and started tumbling down. Thankfully I was able to grab him after only five or six stairs, but it definitely scared both of us.

In this phase I've really seen their boy-ness coming out. Their need for adventure and their inability to sit still for long. They have no fear and I have witnessed first-hand the act now, think later mentality. Just today Blaine lunged at me to catch him from the white chair. Luckily for both of us, I still have my cat-like reflexes. :) I love having rough and tumble boys and seeing them explore and learn new things, but I also have a feeling I'm losing months off of my life in the process.

A typical conversation with Blaine

I could listen to this all day...

A Tale of Two Eaters

I could not have more different eaters. I've decided that each boy represents a different end of the toddler eating spectrum and there seems to be nothing I can do to change that. Blaine has always been my good eater. He caught on to breast feeding easily and sometimes practically choked himself trying to consume his milk. Pierce was a little slower to latch and took his time. Shocker.

Thinking back though, Pierce did latch on to solids better initially. There were a few weeks in there where Blaine wouldn't even entertain the idea of pureed foods from a spoon going into this mouth. And apparently if it were up to Pierce he would still be eating mostly pureed foods. Blaine has done great with the transition to big boy foods, but Pierce will only eat certain things. He won't even try most foods and it can quickly lead to a meltdown if you try to make him or over-encourage. Blaine, on the other hand, will try practically everything and usually likes it. He likes most meats and pretty much eats whatever we're having for dinner. Both boys do great with breakfast, but it can typically go downhill from there for Pierce especially. And neither boy will eat real vegetables no matter what it is or how it's prepared. But they will still eat veggie baby food. I can't understand how they (P especially) would prefer plain pureed veggies over seasoned, prepared real vegetables. I'm pretty sure it's a concept thing at this point.

In any case, Pierce can just about put us both over the edge during dinner. We've agreed to only even attempt a handful of family meals throughout the week b/c it can be so stressful. My biggest fear is that he is going to end up a completely picky eater who is unopen to new foods and will only eat what he knows he likes. I wonder if I didn't introduce enough variety initially or what.  We're trying to get tough and we've never done the short order chef routine where we constantly fix him different things in hopes he'll eat. We usually offer him what we're having and if he won't eat that we give him a baby veggie and/or fruit. I want to get him off pureed altogether, but at least this way he's not getting rewarded for not eating what we eat.

Part of why I'm journaling about this is in hopes that I can look back in a few months and laugh about how worked up I was about this. I will look back and laugh, right?

15 Month Update

(Should have been published 9/12/12)

It feels like we've reached a whole new phase this month. It's funny how it really does seem to go in 3 month phases. Months 9-12 seemed pretty easy. They were crawling, experimenting with standing/walking, but not too confident. Now they are into everything and so very curious. It's still fun to see them learning new things and trying to discover, but it has been fairly exhausting as well. They want to climb on everything and get more frustrated with boundaries.

Pierce has been very frustrated lately. we're not sure if he's going through a developmental time, but he has perfected a whine. He sticks his little chin out and does short whines non-stop. (BJ does a good impression, but just can't understand why I don't find it funny.) He's also learned the art of the tantrum. He'll arch his back and throw his head back. I sometimes will just put him on the ground, walk away, and he often calms shortly thereafter. He has worn me out lately and tested my patience the most it's been tested in a while. But we do remember Blaine going through something similar right around first steps times. I remember feeling so exasperated with both boys, but then would realize that Pierce had really been fine all day. Now it's the opposite. He has his happy times still, but with a lot more fuss and frustration sprinkled in.

Blaine has recently been Mr. Easy-going and is on his way to running now. It's still surreal to see him toddling around now.

They haven't added a lot of words. Pierce's main word is still "uh-oh" and he truly says it in the cutest voice possible. Blaine still says "dee" to all animals and seems to be using "mama" more. (Albeit usually in a whine while tugging at my shirt.) Blaine also babbles a lot in his own language and I could listen to it all day. He will look right in your eyes and tell you something like it's so important.

Both boys understand waving and can blow kisses. (Pierce's version usually turns into an Indian call.)

Pierce has two top teeth! He's going to look so much older once they come all the way in.

Fights over toys are a more common occurrence these days. They also pick on each other more often while in the stroller or a cart. I guess it's really more of Blaine picking on Pierce, often in the form of hair pulling. We don't run as many errands as we used to.

Pierce's First Steps!

In typical Piercey fashion, he stood by himself and took his firsts steps all in the same day. Chris and Matt had been here for a visit (Saturday 9/8/12) and Pierce started experimenting with standing. We all clapped and cheered for him and the determination continued into that evening. After we got back from the Old Settler's Celebration we were all four playing in the living room. We were standing Pierce up and seeing how long he'd go and then he started trying to move forward. And the child has no fear of falling! He would take a step and then just lay out to the floor. We'd send him back and forth between BJ and me and his record was 12 steps! When Pierce decides he's ready, he just goes for it. We were so proud of him. I've said this before, but it's always a little surprising how exciting it is to watch Pierce learn a new milestone. Even though Blaine has done something for weeks, it doesn't take away from the fact that Pierce is doing it for the first time. Plus he waits so long, that you kind of forget it's ever going to happen. :) He hasn't shown as much interest in the last couple of days, but now we all know he can. Now he thinks it's fun to take a step and then collapse into your arms. Yay Pierce!

Headed Back East

The boys slept in their latest yet until 8:15! We all probably needed it though. So our 9:00 departure time was out the window. We had wanted to get out as early as reasonably possible to get home before too late. We ran around like crazy people, but were quite efficient really. We finally headed out at 10:00- not bad considering all we had to pull together. I felt fairly depressed to be leaving our fun vacation, the cool mountain air, and our fun family time away. Kansas always seems so lame after an amazing vacation in the mountains. But I keep telling myself that home is where the heart is and my heart is sitting next to and in each seat behind me. As I write this we are in western Kansas and our thermometer reads 98 degrees up from 65 in Estes. Ugh. I think part of the difficulty is just going back to the real world. Coming down from the mountain if you will. It’s back to routine and work and everyday stresses. But this trip has been a good reminder to keep our priorities in check and have a balanced perspective. Pleasing God and staying close as a family is what matters the most. And I pray we always do that.

Quick update after the fact: We ate at Golden Corral in Hayes for dinner. I'm not sure why it sounded good, but it did to both of us. Plus we knew the food would be ready and the boys would have a variety. It was pretty lame and I wouldn't touch the Mexican section of the buffet (if you can call it that) with a 10 foot pole. But the cotton candy was good and Blaine loved the mac and cheese. Desperate times after lame meals in Estes, I guess. 

Our Last Day in Estes

Our last day in Estes had come. I was trying not to be sad and just soak it up. I feel like our family had bonded so much on this trip and it’s always at this point that you have to start thinking about packing up and travel plans home and what awaits you there. Of course it’s nice to get back to some things, but I knew I’d miss the carefree schedule, no cooking or chores, BJ around all the time, and just the four of us climbing mountains together. We decided to head back to Bear Lake that morning to hike to Alberta Falls. Of course the boys slept in again that morning, but we managed to make it just in time again even after longer construction delays. We loaded up again (After sunscreening the boys. I had forgotten on Monday and Blaine got a little pink in the face. Bad mommy.) and headed off. We had tried to switch packs so we could be with the other boy, but soon realized we preferred the other packs. So Blaine and BJ and Pierce and me it was. Alberta Falls was beautiful. It’s a huge waterfall and we got some good family and scenery pictures. I always wonder if the boys could tell it was something different and understand the beauty of it at their little age. I know the whole trip was so stimulating to them. It’s so fun watching them explore a new environment. They loved our cabin and it always reminds me of the importance of continually exposing them to new things even at the age of one. I realize now how bored they are with the first floor of our house. They had been so whiny and clingy before we left, although they were also getting over a cold. Blaine fell asleep on the way back again, but woke up to eat his quesadilla (kept warm rolled up in our thermos!) and they napped when we got back to the cabin. BJ and I sat at the river their whole nap reading and soaking in the  beautiful view. I even got a great nap in with the river flowing and a cool breeze. Best nap of my life I think!

After the boys woke we decided to squeeze in one more hike around Lily Lake on the other side of Estes. It was a pretty lake and we found a cool trail up the side of one of the mountains surrounding the lake. We hadn’t gotten very far when it started to sprinkle and look pretty threatening. We decided it wasn’t a smart parenting move to keep going at the top of a mountain carrying our children in metal on our backs with a storm moving in. So we regretfully headed back down, but got in some good tripod pics before we left.

Dinner that night turned into a charade. It was our last night so we wanted something a little nicer and Estes-y. Turns out that doesn’t really exist. We went by a tavern that had gotten great food reviews, but one peek inside confirmed it was really more of a tavern than a family friendly restaurant. We wandered around a bit more, but ended up back at the Trailhead Restaurant where we had eaten lunch our first day. We sat down feeling silly we hadn’t just started there. Beautiful views, decent food, Why not? Well, about 10 minutes without even being greeted or gotten drinks confirmed why not. It went downhill from there. They boys were tired of sitting and full of crackers. We finally got our food (gross burgers) and ate what we could and got out of there. Not a good last dinner experience. We realized that Estes just doesn’t have great dining options. We figured out that all the cooks and wait staff are mostly people who are either biding time until ski season or lost in life. We decided to head back to end things on the right note with one more ice cream cone. The boys loved it, but it got really windy and past their bedtime. They weren’t in bed until after 8, but had been so pleasant. They really amazed us yet again with their flexibility and overall good moods. There were plenty of fussy moments and lots of distractions with crackers and every toy we could find, but they did so well overall. We are so proud!

Day 3 in Estes

This day we decided to pack into the car and head up to 12,000 feet via Old Fall River road. It’s an old one lane road that is just dirt and leads up to the top of a mountain with gorgeous views all along the way. It was incredible (minus hearing The Wiggles and Elmo most of the way up). At one point we stopped by a pretty river, left the boys in the car, and set up the tripod for a quick shot of the two of us. BJ set it up and decided to take a different way across the river, slipped a bit and dunked his whole foot into the cold water. I cracked up and we got some funny pics!

About 90 minutes later we made it to the Alpine Visitors Center and set up (thankfully with high chairs) our packed lunch. The boys were kind of antsy and approaching nap time so we got a couple of pictures and packed back up. We took Trail Ridge road on to Grand Lake on the other side of the mountains. It was a cute western-themed town, but there really wasn’t much to see. We headed back up the mountain and then down again via Trail Ridge Road for some more spectacular views. We even saw a big herd of Elk Dees, but sadly both boys were asleep and probably couldn’t have seen them from the car anyway.

We made it back to the cabin and let them play for a bit and then headed back to downtown for shopping and dinner at Casa Grande. Dinner was pretty good, but we might try a new Mexican place next time. The boys did pretty well though. I’m amazed that we ended up going out to dinner every night. We never do that at home and it’s at the end of the day close to bedtime. They really did remarkably well looking back. Such adaptable, good travelers! After they were in bed BJ and I just sat by the river reading and chatting. It was so nice! 

Day 2 in Estes

We had planned to attempt Bear Lake that morning and knew we had to be there by 9. Of course the boys slept in until 7:40 that morning, an unheard of time for them. I think we both refuse to set alarms because if they do happen to sleep in on a rare occasion we want to reap the benefit. So we flew around to make it out by 8:20 and stressed the whole way there if we would make it. We weren’t sure at what crossing we were in, but we made it! We pulled ourselves together in the parking lot and set off. (Before that BJ had gone back to the car with Blaine to grab something and on the way back saw a tied up llama. I could hear Blaine giggle from a ways away and realized why within a few steps! Pierce loved it too. We hadn’t had luck seeing many wild “dees”- Blaine’s name for all animals thanks to Kitty Diego.)

We first saw Bear Lake (beautiful!) and then headed up the trail to the other lakes (Nymph, Dream, and Emerald). We weren’t sure where we’d quite make it to, but we thought we’d try to get as far as we could. We had so much fun and saw some beautiful sights from the mountain. The boys did great! Anytime they got a little antsy or cranky, we would get up next to a tree and let them “touch some nature”. Pierce especially loved it. Every time he would reach out to touch it he would make a little question noise where his voice would go up. So cute! We got some great pics along the way and were glad we’d bought the Target tripod suggested by Abbey. We made it to Dream Lake and let the boys out to stretch. They loved “mountain climing” on the boulders and charmed everyone around us. Blaine even played peek a boo behind a boulder with a woman. They were pretty upset to go and we knew we’d better head back. Thankfully the trip down was much faster and both boys ended up falling asleep in our packs not far in! We were so surprised they’d fall asleep like that, but I guess the bobbing motion, fresh air and the fact it was close enough to nap time did them in.  They woke up at the car and ate peanut butter sandwiches until we got to the cabin where we put them down for naps.

BJ and I relaxed in the cabin and by the river and realized it was nice making ourselves have the relaxing downtime too. After naps we headed to downtown Estes to shop around for souvenirs and eat dinner. We ended up eating (or attempting to eat) at Poppy’s pizza. They were so tired and we weren’t able to entertain them long enough to quite make it through dinner. We got our food and pretty much packed it up and headed out. It was a little nicer of a place than I had expected and they were the only kids there. I didn’t want to make any more of a scene than we were. Our waiter was very sweet. We ate on the go and the boys ended up eating better in the stroller than inside. They each ate a piece of pepperoni pizza! We went to Hayley’s (my favorite) for ice cream and cookies for later. It always smelled so good outside the shop. I think it was the fresh waffle cones. Yum! We headed home for bedtime and relax time for us. Such a fun day!

Day 1 in Estes Park

Our next social engagement was to meet up with The Wallaces that day. We had them meet at our cabin around 10:30 and then go to lunch. The boys had gone down early that day still making up for the 24 hours before. We chatted until they woke up and then went to a restaurant at the edge of the park called Trailhead Restaurant. We ate outside and had a beautiful view of the mountains. The food was ok, but the boys were wonderful. We said goodbye to the Wallaces and then headed back to change and try a hike. Bear Lake road was under construction and we could only go before 9 or after 4. We decided to try the Cub Lake trail. We were on our way down the trial. It started our pretty open without a ton of scenery, but it felt so good to be in and amongst the mountains. We were just starting to get to some prettier scenery when BJ said uh-oh and that he felt something warm and wet down his back and then leg. Blaine had peed through his diaper and we had no diaper supplies! Hadn’t seen that one coming. So we turned around and headed back to the car. At least we got a little hike in! We quickly learned to hike with extra diaper supplies. We went to Sweet Basilica Italian for dinner and ate outside. The boys were getting pretty antsy and tired, but Blaine did enjoy my veggie lasagna. We put them to bed right after and relaxed with a movie listening to Fall River.

Our Family Vacation to Colorado!

After much debate about when to leave for our 10-12 hour journey we finally decided to leave around noon so the boys would nap right off the bat and stay in Denver for the night. We’d initially planned on leaving later and staying in Colby or Goodland, but thought it made more sense to take advantage of their naptime. We fed them right before we left and headed west. It really worked perfectly. They fell right to sleep and slept for a good two hours. We made one stop for a diaper change and frappe after their nap and then made it to Colby for dinner. We felt excited to be on our way just the four of us!

We decided on Pizza Hut where we could sit down to eat and stretch a bit. The boys did great at dinner and the servers all complimented us as we left on how easy we made it look. I always take that as a huge compliment since I don’t usually feel that way! We had found a little park across the street that we thought the boys could play on for a bit, but it was raining when we left so we had to scrap it. We realized we had forgotten travel wipes and antibacterial wipes so we went by Wal-Mart on our way out of town. We decided this was the best place to change them into their jammies, although I was cringing at the thought of my children being naked and exposed in a disgusting Wal-Mart bathroom, but I suppose there are worse places. We were pretty worn out by then as evidenced by the fact that I took Blaine into the bathroom with both pairs of jammies and no night diaper. Of course I didn’t realize this until I already had him naked and thrown away his old diaper. This wouldn’t have been too big of a deal, but BJ was away retracing his steps to find a thrown paci from Pierce. So Blaine was stranded naked in the women’s bathroom in Colby, KS. I just had to hold him and keep peeking out of the bathroom until BJ got back. Luckily I had a burp cloth with me that I wrapped around him so I wouldn’t get peed on. I got him dressed and then BJ walked into the men’s room with Pierce with jammies and no night diaper. He quickly realized it though and I was right there to hand him one. Good times in Colby!

We finally were on our way again and the boys fell asleep by 8:45 and slept the way into Denver. I had been communicating with Evan about trying to get together while we tried to figure out where to book a room. He invited us to stay with them and after some debate about imposing we decided to take them up on it. Our plan/hope was the leave the boys in the car, set up the pack ‘n plays, and quickly transfer them. No chance. They both woke as we arrived and quickly became wide awake. By this time it was after 11:00 our time and we didn’t know what we were going to do. Luckily we were in their basement so we didn’t feel like we were totally disrupting their night. We tried putting them in their cribs, but they freaked out. I don’t blame them really. A new room in a foreign place. So we tried letting them play a bit and then putting them down again. No go. Then we tried letting them in lay in bed with us with the iPad hoping they’d get sleep and we could just all fall asleep together. No go. So we finally just had to let them cry a bit. I felt terrible because I knew they were probably so overtired, scared, and confused. Plus I was so worried we were keeping the Besperats up. But within 30 minutes they were both asleep. We quietly slipped into bed and did our best to sleep. It was pretty hot with a double bed. Needless to say we were pretty tired in the morning. They boys still awoke at their 6:30 time. We realized later that it was the first time we had stayed in someone else’s house with the boys. We survived!

We played with Owen a bit in the morning, but the boys were starting to fall apart by 10ish, so we quickly packed up and headed out. We decided that we had to fit an IKEA trip in so we headed east towards Centennial to fulfill my retail dreams while the boys napped. Yes, we decided to tackle IKEA on little sleep with two one year olds. But it went really well! We ate in the cafeteria first (Swedish meatballs for us and chicken fingers for the boys) and then hit the 2 floors. We ended up starting the wrong way and went upstream the whole second floor. We were smarter on the first floor. We got some Christmas presents for the boys and few other nick nacks. Successful all in all.

We loaded up again and headed to Estes. The boys ended up not napping on the way as we had thought/hoped. Plus we got slowed down by a bike race in Boulder. It was weird…we had made it to Denver in great time, yet the journey to Estes felt forever. Two cranky boys, four Wiggles, and two exhausted parents later we made it. We headed right to Safeway to get some essentials and the boys rode in their first double car cart. So cute! We made it to The Woodlands, bathed them, and put them to bed. They pretty much went right down. It felt so good to shower that night. It had been 48 hours for me. I was definitely road weary and we slept great that night. Silky sheets and cool weather!