i scream...

(started last week)

oh i mean ICE CREAM!
not too much to say with this one just a photo explosion of the boys' first real trip to Maple View Farms where they had their first real taste of strawberry ice cream - ice cream made fresh from the cows who stood there watching (from down the road) as we ate their ice cream
it was so nice to spend time with cousins (edan, laurel, ari, and aunt suzi) and just spend a lazy sunday afternoon eating some ice cream and enjoying the weather...although judging from their faces caleb and jared did not really enjoy their ice cream very much...strange strange children.

Sweet sweet willa june

This is willa june
Willa June is Angela and my niece...she was born May 10, 2012 around 10am<br>
She is also our god daughter and she is lovely
When nina went into labor I was at work but my insanely amazing wife had a ticket booked and a bag packed by the time I got home 2.5 hours later
When I walked in to Nina's room at the hospital she was completely flabbergasted that I was there but so happy
It is such a joy to be here and be able to help her with my sweet niece
One nurse commented "you did a lot if research" when I said something about willa and I just laughed and said "no...I just have twins at home!"
I so wish we lived closer so we could be a part of this little girls every day...

This is willa and she is amazing

baa baa baa

our boy can sing :)

well - he likes to sing along with us...if you can spare angela and i singing in the background this video of caleb singing the "baba for the baby" song is amazing
this is a song i made up one night while they were both completely melting down and i was frantically trying to make bottles...i sang it for angela the next night when she was home and caleb started to sing along...it is the cutest thing ever. jared wont sing along yet but he does bounce up and down and squeal and gets quite excited.
cutest video we've taken in a long time

new look

it's official...caleb had his first haircut yesterday - after a traumatizing first expereince with the actual haircut place (mom let her kid run out the door and he almost got hit by a car) we settled in to JJ's Kids Cuts in raleigh. It was not our ideal situation - there's this place in durham called PeekADoo which we have heard great things about but they moved and haven't reopened yet and after a weekend of people saying "she's so cute" and pointing to caleb we decided it was time.

before...

more before

getting ready in the police car chair

i'm ready guys

after...what a handsome little dude

my handsome little man

my little boy looks all grown up!
next time we will definitely switch haircut places - but he did so well and didn't really squirm all that much.
i'll post the video when i have a chance - right now Jared says it's 'mama play with me' time!

back on solid ground

This is what one flight to nyc does to a baby who got to watch soccer on his own personal tv screen and eat lots of freeze dried yogurt bites...

All in all it wad an incredibly successful trip devoid of screaming or melt downs!!

the one in which we attempt flight

today's the day we all get on an airplane and fly to new york for aunt nin's baby shower and GG's 95th birthday party. oy.

i'm hoping that 2 babies on a plane is not going to be as anxiety provoking once we are in the air as it is with my feet planted firmly on the ground. main concern is the ears popping and while nursing is supposed to help with that there are 2 major hurdles.
1) the boys don't really nurse on command any more - they basically nurse when THEY decide it's time
2) there are 2 of them and only 1 mommy

currently mommy is at the doctor and caleb is telling me it's time to eat...ahh the joys of not being able to feed the poor kid...he's quietly fussing in his crib right now after a not so successful nap - i'm hoping that the water he just jugged might confuse him long enough to wait for mommy to get home

on another note today is also the boys 11 month birthday...is just over 30 days we will have ONE YEAR OLDS! i cannot believe it's been a year. i'm slowly starting to work on a full write up of the boys' "birth story" from my perspective. as the non-biological parent it has been a whirlwind of a year trying to figure out the kinks and how we all work and fit together. we have not yet gotten all the legal paper work written up but do have documents hand written and signed my A simply stating that in the event of her not being present or incapable of making decisions that all those things fall to me...at least there's that!

so off we go in to the air!

i will post pictures as the weekend progresses

signs of spring

it's official...we have a garden AND grass! i think it's something of a miracle but it's also awesome
not sure how much of the grass in the front will stick around - tyler has already dug up all the old holes that i filled in but hey, he's a happy, happy dog!

GRASS!!!

grass in the boys' play area

beets (i think)

vegetables of some kind...didn't tag these

we had seder at my mom's house both first and second night of passover...the boys didn't really last much of seder but were the life of the party. it was so nice to spend time with family and get to see aunt nina! the last time nina saw the boys was thanksgiving and they still got big smiles on their faces when they saw her! we can't wait to see her again in NYC (well brooklyn) in a few weeks.

we also spent easter with angela's parents and minus the leaving the boys in the nursery anxiety the time spent with family was nice. we spent time hanging out at the house (once all the company left) just sitting out on the lawn watching the boys crawl around on and off of the blanket. jared tackled big grandpa after he decided to lay down - it was quite possibly the first day i didn't feel like an outsider and it felt like we were all part of the same family

this week we celebrated the arrival Edan William Jedediah Derby! he is the son of my cousins ari and laurel and he is a lovely little man. he decided to make his entrance right before passover and has been dually named "matzoh ball derby"

i am so excited to see what the years bring for this family and for ours and hope that no matter where we all end up we end up close by. i never knew my cousin until i was 16 and even then really knew nothing about her...then there was this year, a time when her wife was in israel and i had the opportunity to get to know my cousin more than i have ever known her. it was awesome! we spent hours talking and drinking coffee and just hanging out. she taught me how to make matzoh balls and i in turn taught her to make chicken soup from scratch...i have been truly blessed to get to know her and get to know laurel since her return from israel.

after all that has happened this spring you'd think it was over but it is just beginning. we are now in the throws of planning the boys' birthday party and a trip to brooklyn (and first airplane trip) and then another trip once my little niece is born and the boys' 1 year photos and and and...there is so much to do and so little time and i look forward to every minute (even if it means being exhausted!)