Tag..... You're It!

The boys are almost 10 months now - crazy how time flies, yet it also feels like it has been forever as well. Since I last posted we haven't done too much, have stayed local at least so that has been nice. Tho we have a few weekends of travel (weddings) coming up soon so we're gearing up for that. This coming weekend we are going to Shannon Bishop's wedding, a good friend of Chris's from Annandale. Sounds like it is going to be beautiful as they are getting married at her parents' lake home. Excited to bring the boys and introduce them to some new people they haven't met before. And in a couple weeks we head to Duluth for my cousin, Shannon MacKay's, wedding, for which I am the matron of honor.

A couple of weekends ago we ran over to Grandma Diane's camper cuz she had brought Dani's kids up for the weekend and Jolene and the kids were there as well. So all the cousins were together once again. The boys did pretty well and made us all laugh with their antics, and we had a really nice visit. That weekend we also ran over to "Pa Pa Wroolie's" house that he is in the middle of building to check how that was going. Looks like it is going to be a VERY nice place. Can't wait to see it when it is finished.

Last weekend Chris took a long weekend and went up to Crane Lake with a group of guys and rented a big house boat. Steve came up a night early and we sat out on our new deck and had a few drinks after the boys went to bed. Next thing you know it was 2am - geez. So the boys started out their trip a little tired, but it sounds like they had a really good time. During the time Chris was gone, Grandma Chris came up to help me out for a couple days... and yet again got her fill of the boys. She even got to witness a couple firsts with the boys......

First off...... for the past few weeks naps have been a little difficult with the boys. They've either completely forgone their afternoon nap or they fall asleep so late that they only get about 20 minutes of a nap. The last straw was last Thursday when it took them about an hour to even fall asleep on their morning nap. Finally hit me that maybe they are ready to transition to 1 nap daily - but it just didn't seem right as everything I hear says that happens closer to a year. But since Grandma Chris was there to help out if anything went terribly wrong with the new schedule.... we decided last Friday to push their nap out and only give them one really nice long nap. Worked like a charm and I think the boys are doing better than ever with the new schedule. So Gma Chris was pretty happy to be a part of a big milestone like that for the boys.

Secondly...... to our sheer amazement and utter enjoyment, we caught the boys in their own game of tag. It was HILARIOUS to watch. At first we didn't realize what was going on, just a lot of giggling and shouting (happily) between each other along with that wonderful sound of skin (thier knees) squeaking on the hard wood floors as they scoot around...... something I hear all too often daily and don't think twice. But all of a sudden we realized what was going on. MacKay was egging Oscar on to follow him or come to him (he would be about 5 ft away from him)... and when Oscar would get just out of reach MacKay would throw his hands up in the air and squeal with laughter and turn in another direction and scoot about 5 more feet away.... giggling all the way. They did this about 10-12 times.... both giggling and shrieking, thoroughly enjoying this new game they invented. They've played it a few times since and it is just so entertaining to watch.

Let's see - what else is going on? Well we tried to get the boys eating more solids. After a big trip to Cub getting tons of things (soft) that we thought they could handle.... we ended up with bananas being really the only thing they will eat in chunks. They are getting a ton better about their little Gerber puffs. They eat those like they are going out of style. But we've tried some other things like chunked can pears, pasta, stage 3 foods.... and they won't eat it. Oh well... we'll give it some more time. And MacKay has gotten so good at pulling up on furniture now, infact he can even pull up on things that don't have ledges and I find him standing in his crib all the time now. Oscar has been doing that for a while and really has picked up the pace to his scaling furniture...... and also has been getting up on his push toy and walking behind it. Such a site to see with those chubby little legs just booking behind that thing. And we really do have quite a pair of giggly boys that love to play with each other. They do get in their little spats here and there when one of them (usually Oscar) tries to steal something from the other. MacKay just needs to get tough and fight back a little harder :) But even in the car lately, they just turn to each other and start giggling back and forth at each other and jib jabbering on. We sit in the front seats just laughing at the two of them back there..... such a fun age/stage they are at right now.

Well that is about all I can think of for now..... will probably post early next week after we get back from Shannon Bishop's wedding. Will probably have some more updates as well as some more pictures. Take care.

Daddy finally got our tree swing set up for the boys and they LOVE it. We've been out there quite a few times and they almost seem to enjoy watching the other one swing more than when they swing themselves. Here are some of the goofy faces they make while giggling....

The boys in their new Radio Flyer red wagon from Grandma Diane. This thing is great. Pulled it around the yard and let them explore the outside from the safe confinements of the wagon :) They loved it and giggled every time I got it going again

Daddy reading to the boys. I should note, not often do we have the guts to take both of them like this, but every once in a while they are nice and calm and we can do this. Here they are reading "Miss Nelson is Missing" - one of my favorites to read when I would go to the MacKay's when I was younger (cuz they had this book). But the book that drives MacKay into fits of laughter and can calm him down when he's getting rammy just before bed is "The Roly Poly Spider". All you have to do is show him the book and his eyes get wide and light up and he starts giggling.

Oscar with his push along walker toy. He actually can get up with it himself and will push it until he smacks into something that just won't let him go any further. And just the proud look on his face makes you melt.

Here are the boys discovering the bathroom (I usually keep this door shut)..... MacKay very quickly discovered the toilet paper and started shredding that up. Oscar was more interested in the toilet.

Here are the boys after their only nap of the day.... note the big red marks on MacKay's face as he was sleeping on his hand. It's hit or miss whether you will come in to find them super happy or cranky as the dickens.... but this day was a happy day.

Just to show how the boys love being with each other. If one of them is in a stand up toy (here a bouncer) the other goes to him and stands up and plays there. They really are true buds.

Oscar loves stairs... and MacKay's first haircut

Well it's been a couple weeks again.... and a lot has happened with with the boys. We took a trip up to Grandpa Gary and Terri's place in Duluth on Island Lake. They got to see a ton of the Kamps again (Muffett, Dan, John, Greg, Claudia, Sarah) who stopped over on Friday night. Saturday we ran over to Great Gma Bev and Great Gpa George's new place to visit for a bit. The boys had fun crawling around and exploring new environments. Later on we attempted to take the boys swimming. I say attempted cuz they were both a little cranky (MacKay especially) from not getting a morning nap..... Oscar seemed to do okay with it but MacKay screamed the entire time. So he sat up on shore while Oscar floated around in his inflatable car..... he even got out and floated on his back (assisted by Daddy) and really seemed to be entertained making noises and hearing what it sounds like when your ears are full of water. He seemed pretty relaxed and almost looked like he was going to doze off like that. Sunday we had a brunch and had Claudia, Greg, and Sarah back over.... and my Uncle Denny and Aunt Sandy MacKay (on my mom's side) came out as well to visit and see the boys. So glad they could as last time they saw them was Xmas and we will be seeing them soon at Shannon's wedding, but things will be so busy for them that they wouldn't really get to see the boys anyway. We had a really nice visit and I was so glad they were able to come out.

And just this last weekend we were down in the cities. I had to go down to get my dress fitted for Shannon's wedding, and we made some plans with a couple of Chris's friends (Matt, Jill, Steve and Stacy) to have some dinner. Had a fun night out with them and hoping to plan a weekend for them to pop up here and hang out soon as well. On Saturday night MacKay even got his first haircut. We've been talking about getting it cut for a while, but we finally HAD to do it - it was getting out of control and looking rather nappy (as you will see in pictures). So their Uncle Dennis came over and attempted HIS first infant hair cut, and MacKay's first haircut. It was quite the challenge cuz as soon as Dennis would grab some hair MacKay would wrench his body around to find Dennis. We tried distracting him with toys and things to play with but those didn't work for very long. The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes or so and he did SO well for it ... up until the last minute or so when Uncle Dennis finally got to the real long stuff on the top of his head and was trying to figure out how to shape that. But they both pulled through with minimal tears (on MacKay's end) and the result was a very nice first haircut for MacKay - he looks so swanky and debonaire now. And while MacKay was having one of his "firsts" Oscar found a "first" of his own as well. Oscar discovered STAIRS. He kept going over to them and staring up in amazement here and there... and then eventually made his attempt. We didn't realize he was going to go so fast cuz Gma Chris went to grab her camera thinking she had a few seconds to do so... only to find Oscar already on the 2nd step making his way to the 3rd. With some prodding and support he actually made his way up the entire staircase which was about 10-12 steps. Way to go Oscar. I think we'll have to start playing downstairs here at home more often so they can get some more practice with steps.

As for the boys...... there is LOTS of crawling going on. They get into everything and are tearing the house apart. They love to tear up newspaper and magazines, rip CDs off the rack, pull up on the TV stand (unngh), chase Angus around and get in his kennel (his safe haven where he hides when he's had enough of the boys) with him. There's no resting these days. And we have a lot of NOISE as well. They are pretty verbal and love playing with different sounds.... AND I should mention volume levels. A lot of clucking going on too - they find ways to click and cluck their tongues and once they find a new noise they just keep at it for hours. Oscar has been pulling up on furniture with ease and is scaling furniture pretty well...... MacKay took a while figuring that one out though. He's been getting up on his knees for a while, but just recently he's pulled all the way up to standing a few times. I think he's getting the hang of it now. And to date, MacKay has 4 teeth (2 up, 2 down) and Oscar has 4 (2 up, 2 down) but has 2 top teeth (the next ones out from the middle ones) that look like they are going to burst through any day now (tho they have looked that way for about a week now)

And man do they enjoy each other. I constantly find them staring at each other or playing with the same toy and just giggling at each other. Sure, every once in a while they try stealing a toy from one another and then the grunts and groans and shrieks start up with them pulling back and forth on a toy..... but even then after a couple tugs back and forth they start giggling about it all. It is so fun to watch them interact - it's like for them it is so natural to have this other "buddy" there all the time.

We've even started meats with the boys.... just the Gerber jarred ones for now. They weren't a fan at first but now they are eating them like champs. There really hasn't been much they don't like so we're lucky that way. Still haven't tried any REAL solid foods too much. We have given them those little puffs or cheerios and about half the time we end up with someone gagging so hard that they throw up. Not a fun mess to clean up multiple times a day - so we don't do it very often. We had their 9 month appt (late) yesterday and the doc told us to try some other more slimy foods instead. So I think we're going to start with some bananas, pears, peaches, eggs etc and see if we can't get these guys to start chewing and mashing their own food and get away from these stupid purees sometime soon.

Stats....... according to the scale at the doctor's office, Oscar is 22 lbs 7 oz which puts him in the 75th %tile. And MacKay is 21 lbs 13 oz which put him in the 50th %tile. Big boys... and they have caught up so quickly. And they did so good through their blood work (no shots this time - YAY) to test for Iron and Lead. Now we just need to schedule (unnnnghhh, I need some valium for this) MacKay's "snip" surgery for sometime in the next couple months. Neither Chris or I feel remotely okay about this but our pediatrician assured us that this is such a quick procedure that he will be under and out within 5 minutes. Like I said...... I hope they give valium for the parents during this.

Anyway - here are some recent pictures and descriptions as always. Enjoy and will have more later.

The boys with one of their newest toys. I feel horrible cuz I cannot remember who gave this to us but the boys like it. It's neat cuz it's a little "tyke bike" like in the pictures but it also converts to this push along thing to help them transition to walking.

Had to capture this - some of the boys' new favorite activities...... making a royal mess tearing up magazines and ripping CDs out of the rack (MacKay is more the instigator on this, Oscar just follows along). And playing with (in) card board boxes - why do we even buy toys? :)

The boys with their relatives they got to see up in Duluth. In order: Oscar and Great Gpa George (Kamp). MacKay and Great Gma Bev (Kamp). Claudia and MacKay & Sandy (MacKay) and Oscar.

Oscar enjoying swim time at Island Lake in his inflatable car (MacKay was onshore with Terri)

Our big boys - all three of them. The boys love to follow, play with, torment Angus. Here MacKay and Oscar have invaded Angus's safe haven, his kennel. The boys love playing in his kennel now whether Angus is in there or not.

Here are the boys playing at Grandma Chris's and wearing their cute little outfits from Gma Bonnie and Gpa Dean (Hoglund). I love these shirts - so bright.

THE HAIRCUT:

The before and after shots. What an unruly mop he had before ......

Some pictures of Uncle Dennis making his best attempt at a good hair cut. Two pictures (one right after the other) where MacKay caught Dennis trying to snip some hair in the back and decided to shove his spoon in Dennis's face. And lastly a picture of the two survivors...... MacKay and his Uncle Dennis.

Oscar's first encounter with stairs.... he did pretty darn good for a first timer.

Back at home after two weekends away... watching Daddy mow the lawn out the front door. The boys love looking outside and climbing up the glass doors...... Had to include a picture of Oscar slobbering up our window for us.