Eleven Months Old on Valentine's day

Two standing babies!

I can't believe that Ian and Evan will be a year old in another month.  The times has both flown and gone so slowly.

Happy Valentine's Day

Ian continues to crawl on his hands and knees, but pulls up to cruise around more.  On occasion, he will let got of the sofa with both hands and look at a point a little farther away.  I'm pretty sure he's thinking about walking, but still nervous about it.  He will often laugh when he's cruising around--I'm sure he thinks it's awesome.  But he laughs often and is just a happy kids.  He prefers to feed himself now and has eight teeth (four on top and four on bottom), but if I use a metal spoon (which makes a noise when he bites down) he will sometimes let me feed him.  He also likes to put whatever he can find in his mouth while he crawls around--so I often find him with a toy, bottle, binky (though that's more rare), and small pieces of whatever.  I'm constantly pulling stuff out of his mouth.  Josh and I both think that he's starting to understand more and more of what we say, but we're not sure he's speaking yet.  A couple of times he's said something that sounds little like "uh-oh" and he calls both of us "da da da da da."

Happy Valentine's day!

Evan has started to crawl only on his hands and knees this month and has gotten really fast.  He is fascinated by brooms, the trashcan, and other things that I don't want him getting into.  He's pulling up a lot, but not cruising much yet.  He thinks it's funny when I try to get him to stand on his own and inevitably catch him when he falls.  He's started to try to "scare" us and will make a short "ah" sound when he jerks his body and then watches our reaction.  He loves it when we try to scare him back (and Ian is usually around and will laugh too).  Evan also likes to make Ian laugh and will do his "scary noise" while flopping forward toward Ian.  There have been several giggle sessions because of this.  Evan also calls both Josh and I "da da da da."  I sometimes think he's telling me all done ("ah dah") when he wants me to hold him because he's done playing with something.  He's understanding more and more too and will stop what he's doing when I say "no," but then will return to his previous activity without a worry.

Both babies had ear infections this last month.  Evan was the first and when I was taking him to the doctor I was wondering if I was just going to be told that he has a cold and he'll get over it.  I was glad I went in and got the antibiotic.  He seemed better within 24 hours.  I asked the doctor to check Ian at the same time, but he got a clean bill of health.  I took Ian in a week later to find out that he had a double ear infection.  Meds worked wonders again and he appeared better really quickly as well.

Two babies laughed hysterically when they found each other again (Ian was done eating and crawling around)

They both continue to grow really well and are growing out of 12 month clothes.  They enjoying being around each other and will generally stick close together to play.  When they do separate for a bit they will both get excited to see each other again.

Ten months old

Evan and Ian have had an exciting month.  They were both glad on Christmas to be able to play with the wrapped presents under the tree, but were happy with the first one or two and then wanted to be free.

Ian continues to crawl really well and has started to crawl on hands and knees more and more often.  He likes to pull himself up and try to grab things off of the sofa--especially the Xbox controllers.  Once or twice he has let go of what he's holding on to and stand on his own.  I think he's a little nervous about it, but it's exciting progress.  He likes to pick up his food to feed himself.  Every so often his babbling sounds more like he's trying to talk (more variety in his sounds). He's started sleeping longer at night and I think if Evan wouldn't wake him up in the morning he would sleep even longer.  This sleep was a little disrupted during our travels this month, but is starting to get back on track.  He's generally a happy kid and will smile at them from a distance, but he isn't so sure about being held by people other than his parents and sometimes his siblings.  He did get sick around Christmas time, but is almost better.

Evan has gotten really good at scooting around.  For a while he was pausing to kind of lean to one side.  Then one day from that position he got himself into a sitting position.  He is sometimes a little nervous about getting down from this position, but is starting to get the hang of it.  He is also enjoying the variety of foods he gets to feed himself during meal times and is still okay with mom feeding him.  Sometimes when he's talking to me he becomes very adamant about it.  Evan's been struggling some with sleeping during traveling, but starting to get back on track.  He has also been sick since Christmas and we're hoping both boys recover soon.  He is very content to watch people and is okay to be held by them, as long as mom or dad are nearby.

I finally put them both in the real bath together, since they are both sitting well.  They thought this was the best thing ever and enjoyed splashing like crazy.  Our house was full of giggles while they played in the water.

Ian and Evan also got to try popsicles for their first time ever on their 10 month birthday.  They were somewhat unsure about these popsicle things.

Christmas break 2018

We decided to spend Christmas morning here and I'm glad that we did.  Christmas Eve we all opened new Christmas jammies and sang songs. 

It was nice to wake up in our own house on Christmas morning and start (restart?) some of our own traditions.  I got up earlier than others in order to get ready, but I always take so long.  The kids were happy to help get babies ready and go down to check out their piles of presents (Santa leaves them in separate piles so everyone can tell who's is who's).

Lizzy is such a nice big sister to help her little brothers open their presents.

Matthias, Elizabeth, Ian, and Evan received a trip to Disneyland from Grandma and Grandpa Garn and from Grandma and Grandpa Teichert.  Matthias and Lizzy were pretty excited and Ian and Evan were excited about the balloon.  Ian and Evan also received this ball pit (which also came with a rocket ship tent and a tunnel) and balls.  They were pretty happy babies.

I received quite a bit of make up and skin care, which I was pretty excited about.

Josh received a bunch of biking gear, including this helmet and goggles.  He also received gloves and pads.  We're glad that he can be protected from future crashes... and hopefully there are no more crashes.

Matthias received a number of guns.  Both he and Lizzy received BB guns for Christmas.  Lizzy gave Matthias the nerf gun and Matthias got at least 3 rubber band guns from Grandma Lewis.

Lizzy received books, clothes and a couple of LOL surprise dolls.  I can't believe I forgot to get a picture.  But she was so happy with all of her presents.

We had eggs, bacon, chocolates and french toast casserole for breakfast.  After breakfast we quickly cleaned up so that we could try to arrive in time for Christmas breakfast in Burley.

We enjoyed our time in Burley, which included playing in the snow, playing games with family, and a visit to the dentist.  Lizzy and Matthias both had teeth pulled by the dentist and have been pretty happy with it.  We're hoping big teeth grow in soon and we're saving for braces.

Josh has to bring his bike everywhere.  He enjoyed sliding around in the snow.

 After a week in Burley we drove down to Alpine to spend about two days with the Lewis side.  Grandma Lewis was away helping Grandma Janice (after her recent fall), so we were glad to spend a relaxing couple of days hanging out with Grandpa Lewis and Uncle Tall Paul.  We were also able to see the Webb Family.  It was a busy time with sick kids, so I didn't take many pictures.  We did go to eat New Years Eve dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe and won best parents of the year, which only lasted a couple of hours.

New Years Eve dinner

 We were able to meet up with Kirti at IHOP for a New Years breakfast.  It's always so wonderful to see her and Matthias is always excited to tell her all about whatever he's thinking about.

We then drove down to spend a couple of days in St. George.  Since this was still work time for Josh, the kids and I had fun exploring different parts of St. George.

Matthias and Lizzy loved the scavenger hunt at the Dinosaur Museum.

I made all of my kids dress up in the Children's Museum.

Visit to the St. George Temple

 We were able to do several family things while in St. George as well.  We went swimming in our in door swimming pool a couple of times.  We also did a small hike through Snow Canyon, which Ian and Evan enjoyed by napping in the stroller.

 

We also found a place where the kids could learn how to shoot their BB guns.  Josh was really good to help them learn about gun safety and practice hitting targets.  It was tricky at first, but they got pretty good at it in the end.  Ian and Evan also napped through this adventure.

After St. George we spent some time in Southern California.  I was able to chat with Grandma Janice for about an hour.  It was nice to see and hear how she's doing.  Poppa Paul took a bunch of pictures, which meant that I forgot to take any.

We spent a full day with Alicia and family.  We went to a park together and Ian and Evan got to swing for the first time.  Evan loved it and Ian liked it.

On January 8, Aunt Alicia watched Ian and Evan while the rest of us went to spend the day at Disneyland.  We rode on a bunch of favorite rides and stood in a lot of lines.  Lizzy was lucky to talk to Alice and the Mad Hatter while we had a quick lunch.  We left around 6 because we were tired and wet (we saved Splash Mountain for last) and so we could get back to rescue Alicia from a long day with three babies.

I spent the next morning watching Leeshy's kids so that she could go to the temple.  Not quite a far exchange, but I'm hoping it was nice for her to have a kid-less break.  :)  Her kids are so cute and fun.

Dan, Ian, Evan, and Lacey enjoying a snack on the floor.  Lacey needed her space.

That afternoon we traveled up the Castaic, CA to spend time with the Goates who have been our friends for 8 years.  They were nice to let us stay at their house and take us with them to Six Flags.  Lizzy and Matthias are apparently adrenaline junkies and loved the fast, crazy rides.  Matthias commented several times that Disneyland was just a warm up for Six Flags.  During this time Lizzy and Joyce became good friends and loved doing everything together.

The X2 was a bit intense... maybe we should have skipped it.

The next day we drove the whole way back to Reno.  We did a lot of driving this vacation, but it was so fun to see family and friends and go on adventures as a family.  We also got home so that we could have a weekend getting unpacked and ready for real life again.