happy new year...

what a year it's been...last year at this time we were traveling from brooklyn to massachusetts visiting aunt nina and uncle chris, and molly. we spent new years in a club i frequented in college, watched a ridiculous drag show and got insanely good pizza around 3am. the boys were still cooking and angela was getting so big. we got married legally in connecticut on december 30, 2010 so that we could easily and legally change our last name - it was important that the whole family have the same last name. for a lot of people this isn't important but living in a state that in no way respects us as a family unit it was incredibly important to us.

so...last year. we came home and settled back into life. we came home and had almost 5 months of prepping and moving and fixing and readying our home...then on may 26th at around 5:30pm we came to a realization that in less than 24 hours we would become moms - something that we had been dreaming about for longer than we had been actively trying and that we thought we were ready to take on full throttle...7 months later it's safe to say that we were ready...it's safe to say that we have not only found the family we always wanted but have also found each other again and that has truly been the greatest gift.

now on to this year...well for now let's stick to the last month or so...

jared has 2 teeth...

until today caleb had 1 and after a day of crying and fussing and general grumping i discovered tooth #2!

caleb and jared are both sleeping through the night (most nights) and neither baby is swaddled any more.

the boys are sitting up almost completely independently

we celebrated our first channukah and our first christams - the tissue paper wrapping was much more enjoyable than the actual presents but once the excitement of paper wore off the toys were pretty neat.

tonight was the first bath in the real bathtub - we couldn't find an inflatable tub that we could fit both boys in so we settled for the bumpers

it's incredible how quickly time goes by - our trip to nyc last year seems like such a recent event it's hard to believe it was 365 days ago...i'm looking forward to seeing where my rolling, squealing, laughing, smiling, sparkling eyed boys do over the coming months...we've got 5 more months till 12 months old...by then these insanely cute boys will have gotten insanely cuter!

boo hoo hoo

It was an interesting weekend around the derby-wright household with screaming caleb Friday night and screaming jared Saturday night and poor, stuffed up Caleb who couldn’t suck his paci for how stuffy he was…oy. We made the decision Friday night with caleb to let him “Cry It Out” a method that many moms today find barbaric and completely inappropriate. It basically involves attempting to calm the screaming child multiple times without successfully getting them to remain calm without being held. On Friday night caleb wanted to be held and nurse…he had gotten in a habit of just wanting to be held and the minute his little legs touch the mattress of his crib he starts screaming again – which inevitably wakes jared…so instead of teaching caleb that all he has to do is scream and we will come running I took jared downstairs to bed with me and mommy stayed with caleb while he screamed for 2 hours before falling to sleep. Well…apparently jared got the memo that this was a fun game and proceeded to do the same thing the next night…

We let the boys cry it out because for us it is important for them to learn to self sooth – this is a crucial part of development…and caleb has gotten into the habit of crying just to get us to come hold him – which trust me I would love to take him into bed with us each night but we can’t…it’s not safe for him and not good for us to let our bed become a family space. Any way…we had two straight nights of crying it out and both boys did eventually go back to sleep…both were long nights but well worth it in the grand scheme of things…

All in all i'd say it was a good weekend. 

it's always difficult when sleep deprivation and a desire to be everyone's everything comes into play but in the end it always ends on a high note...or at least a note of satisfaction with knowing i have an awesome family!

just happy

to be my kids' mama...

this makes me happy
gets me through the day
my insanely wonderful wife also helps with both of those things too :)

with every day we get better and that's what counts...

gates

yup - it's that time...time for the baby gates to go up.
that's the plan for this weekend anyway
i plan on putting the gates up since jared has not realized he can roll...and then roll again...and then roll again

this is definitely the end of the infant era and a transition into the era of "baby" and i'm guessing we will soon move onto toddler...yowza!

half a year ago...

it's 11:16am on November 27, 2011...half a year ago, 6 months ago, 182 days ago plus or minus a few hours we were sitting (well angela was laying) in a hospital room on the L&D floor of UNC hospital. we were only a few hours away from the craziest moment of our life.

over the past 6 months so many things in our world have changed and so many things about these two little boys has changed!

jared day 1

 

caleb day 1

one month

one month

over the past six months you've learned to roll and squeal and how to get our attention by screaming - how to make your bouncy seats work by grabbing them - J, you've sprouted a tooth and C, you are definitely working on a few teeth of your own...
you are eating bananas, avocados, turnips, green beans, butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes and baby cereal...
you often attempt to hold your own bottles during night time feedings now and you are consistently (but not always) sleeping through the night
you jump in your johnny jump up and twirl around in your exersaucer
you talk and laugh and play with us
J when you're nursing you stop to stare at me which is the most heart melting thing ever
C when you wake up from a good nap you've got the best smile!
we've had to buy baby gates because over night you went from infants to babies...we saw your cousin ari today and she classified you as "kids" and it's true...it feels like over night you went from these tiny little 5 pound nothings to these gorgeous, incredible little boys!
i look forward to the changes and challenges of the next 6 months...

yeast?

apparently not...pizza dough attempt #1 = fail!

i guess it's time to wait for my sleepy heads to rouse and then off to the store we go

5th month...fifths disease

oof. we've got two boys who woke up with bizarrely red cheeks. caleb had hot, bright red cheeks - we're talking someone took face paint and smeared it all over his face. jared on the other hand woke up with stranger red splotches around each eye. typically we wouldn't have done anything in terms of going to the doctor but we were supposed to see our cousin ari today and she's pregnant - we wanted to make sure the boys weren't contagious. well turns out they likely have fifths' disease which isn't awful in the grand scheme of things but horrible if they come into contact with a pregnant lady...
oh wait - and mommy has viral pink eye - not contagious thank goodness but still.
what a weekend.
currently everyone is sleeping and i'm getting some long overdue sitting on the couch time. is folding laundry and watching "bones" and "ncis" on my computer...
i should start making the pizza dough for tonight's white pizza...but it's a beautiful fall day and i've finished my first cup of tea for the afternoon - i've got a fat kitty sleeping next to me and another sleeping on the babies' play mat.

after all that and this morning's work training i think i'll make my way into the kitchen and begin making pizza...
pizza is something my family made every thursday night as long as i can remember
i have the recipe in my head that my mom made.
it was just something we did as a family...
i think i would like to continue this with the boys...maybe not every week but at least teaching them how to make pizza and how making your food makes it that much more rewarding.

hmm...some how i feel this post that started as a brief description of the boys' first real illness or diagnosis has disintegrated into a rant about life and food and family...not too bad really.