More practice...

This video is kinda long (maybe 2 min) and you have to wait till the end to see Jason walking... but it's so cute! :) He is doing this more and more. I don't think he would be classified as walking just yet, but he's getting close.

Tired babies!!!

We got to Chicago and back w/o incident. The babies are getting so much older! This trip was a far cry from the trip to PA back when they were 3 months old and even the trip to TX at 9.5 months old. We made the trip to Chicago (about 3 hours) without stopping... well on the way back we had to stop for gas, but the babies stayed in the car. We had a little fussing here and there, but nothing like past trips. I had to drive them by myself so THANK GOD they were good! :) The worst part of the trip down was that I had to pee... it was raining... and I couldn't imagine stopping and getting two babies out in the rain so I just plowed forth w/ a VERY Full bladder. Thankfully there was parking right in front of Kelly's - I couldn't have carried babies and gear for blocks w/ my bladder so full.. Anyway!

We had a good time visiting the Bryants... though Jason and Lily had a tough time going down for naps and Jason didn't sleep so well the first night there. I think we may have scared poor 'ol Mikey into thinking babies are a bad idea at this juncture in life. Mike - they are MUCH better at home!! (here's a link to Kelly's post about our visit.) BTW Kelly, I'm NOT offended. :) All - in - all they did a decent job I thought. Kelly and I didn't get to go have girl time just w/ us, but we had a great time hanging out anyway.

Mike grilled up some fabulous burgers ( I had to have a bite b/c everyone was raving about them!) I ate a veggie burger.. which wasn't bad. ha ha

Jason and Lily have been crazy sleepers today. Poor Lily has a fever and is VERY clingy today - Jason has been relatively good about sharing HIS mommy w/ her. :) She seems to be coming out of it and I'm not sure what it was all about - she had no other symptoms.

After my trip to Kelly's I am in search of a good bread maker. We had fresh made bread while we were there... w/ a bread maker it is a piece of cake. Not only is it yummy and good for you it's good for the environment... no plastic bags!

Jason and John Michael right after Jason gave JM a love:


the view from Kelly's:

Finally got some video...

of Jason walking. I can't be too far away so it's not great video, but you get the idea. This is about the farthest he walks so far.

First night alone.. then off it ChiTown

Well, Tom just pulled out of the driveway to head to Chicago for Bike the Drive and I'm flying solo tonight. Wow.. the kids are almost a year old and this is the first time I will be alone w/ them over night... and Tom travels quite a bit. Thank God for Grandma! Hopefully we will get through the day just fine and the babies will go to bed easily. The critical hours for me are around 4:30pm to bed time around 6 or 7pm... Hopefully I can keep it together without losing it on them. :)

I'm already packed and my stuff is layed out for my bike/run tomorrow. I need to get the rest of the CRAP LOAD of baby stuff together... diapers for 2 for 3 days, (UGH) snacks for three (me included) for the drive down, for the overnight in the hotel and for the weekend, toys, drinks (for three).... eek!

The second wish hope dream is that J/L will sleep for a good portion of the solo drive down to Chicago on Saturday. We are leaving here around 12:30pm which coordinates with their nap... so here's to hoping they will sleep for AT LEAST an hour in the car.

We're excited to see Kelly, Mike and John Michael while we're down there. Tom, J/L and I are staying in a hotel on Sat night then doing Bike the Drive on Sun a.m. and heading to Kelly and Mike's for the night and will play some on Monday then head back to MadCity!

I will be 'unplugged' while we are out of town.. not that I've really been updating too much lately. Hopefully I'll have some fun stories and pictures to share when we return...

by the way.. Jason has taken a total of SIX consecutive steps. Big man just might get his act together in the next 2.5 weeks and be walking on his first birthday. He's also STILL working on his FIRST tooth.. it may or may not make an appearance in the next couple of weeks. It's taking it's sweet time coming through.

Have a great memorial day weekend and we'll be giving you another shout out on Tuesday - ish.. I might need a day to recover. HA!

Isolation...

Being a stay at home mom can be quite isolating! I miss the days of hanging out w/ my girlfriends non-stop and talking about anything and everything. Now I see my mom friends once a week and here and there in between. Sure I see Tom every day, but it's just not the same. I miss impromptu get togethers. I miss sleep overs! I miss sharing an apartment w/ a girlfriend and staying up way to late talking and drinking wine and then doing it all over again the next night. I miss meeting people for lunch. Damn... I just feel so alone sometimes. How can I feel so alone when I am w/ two people EVERY WAKING MOMENT of my life? OH right, they have little to say!

I certainly don't want to be all scheduled and have activities w/ the kids every day just to get my socializing on, but most days I wish I had something to do w/ someone. Today the kids and I walked over and did some errands and got a coffee and a muffin and walked to the park... while that was all well and good it would have been so much better to do w/ someone else... another adult .. that will talk back to me (I didn't walk around talking to myself.. don't worry) and that - most likely - won't whine and complain and cry intermittently throughout the entire excursion.

Well, I best go get the "non-talking, almost walking, a few word saying, whining when they want something, pooping in their pants (or on the carpet like yesterday), mommy wanting, cutest ever love bug's" dinner ready before they get up and want to eat pretty much immediately!!!

Sometimes I feel like I need a life.. ha ha I know, I know... I have a damn good life! :) ha ha

Oh, real quick... my swimming lesson this morning was like school for the gifted! I used BOTH a pull buoy (floating device you hold between your legs) and paddles (go on your hands) to do my 10x100 (that's 10 repeats of 100 yards - aka 4 laps - so um FORTY laps) this a.m.... it was hard to turn around w/ my flippers on my HANDS! ha ha Then I got to do my 10 x 50 w/ flippers (took off the paddles)... Next week I'm doing the water aerobics w/ the old ladies in the deep end. ha ha

Klean Kanteen and the Mullet-ectomy

We finally got our shipment of Klean Kanteens for the babies. I was worried about the weight of them, but the babies LOVE them.. probably b/c they are new and like mommy's bottle. :)

Here is a pic of the enjoying some water:



in other news Jason got a mullet-ectomy today. He looks like a big boy. I trimmed a little bit off to save in his baby book and we decided to just use scissors instead of clippers. He did really well, but freaked out toward the end so it still needs a bit of evening out, but it looks much better:




And here's Lily in her very cute skirt.. which I think came from her cousin Riley ... she also loves to play w/ Tom's hat. (ignore the fact that she doesn't match)

Smartest baby on the block.

After a long day where I felt pretty much like this:



Jason and Lily were being so fun tonight. They were laughing like crazy and Jason took 4 steps all by himself before he dove on me.

In other exciting news we were playing and Tom was playing w/ a duck and saying 'Quack, Quack" and Jason responded "Quack Quack" clear as day like he'd been saying it forever. He then was able to choose a duck over a frog.... here's video of him picking up a duck and saying quack quack.

11 month comparison

Okay... so this pic was taken when I was 11 months... does she look like me?

Third nap coming to an end???

What will I do when they are done taking their third nap? Lately they don't seem too into it. Today they seem a bit tired and I think I put them down more because I needed a break and need to figure out what the hell I'm going to feed them for dinner... My never ending battle.

And I didn't realize that bananas and cheerios would become staples in my house when I had kids. We are at critical mass on these items and I feel like I JUST bought them... am I really going to make a trip to the store just for cheerios and bananas??? YES! I'll have to!

Maybe the babies will just have what we're having for dinner... burgers and fries. ha! They can also have their left over Quinoa from lunch... I wish they could just open the fridge and pick something themselves... of course when they are that age they will probably just complain that we never have the right foods stocked! ha ha

I can't wait to take them to their 1 year appt to see how much they weigh. Lily is finally feeling like she's got some heft to her!! :)

Okay was this post random enough. I think I need a snack! Cheerios anyone? Just kidding I have to save what's left of those for the kiddos.

11 months and counting...

I can't believe we are only one month shy of the ONE YEAR mark. So far I am lame and haven't made plans for the big bday... I'm sure we will at a minimum do something w/ gpa and gma... something that includes first cakes. So don't worry you will at least get those photos. In the mean time here is the 11 month pic w/ 10 month to compare... they are growing up so fast!



and the 10 month romper room photo.. it's getting harder and harder to get their pic.. they are beyond BUSY!



at least their wardrobe has changed to the warmer climate attire. It's supposed to be 86degrees today and when they wake up from their nap we are headed out for a bike ride... go mommy go!!!! Don't forget - while I'm out there huffing and puffing and SWEATING pulling my TWO babies that weigh 40+ lbs - you can donate to the cause by going to: http://www.active.com/donate/tntwi/tntwiLMount

I've got $100 raised... need $2600.... quite a ways to go!

Bang Trim

I couldn't take it anymore so I took a scissor to Lily's bangs... Just enough of a trim to keep them out of her eyes...





Jason could use a mullet trim, but I KNOW I'm not talented enough to tackle that sucker so we'll wait for either a buzz cut from daddy or a visit to the barber around his first birthday.. GULP - in a month!

Lily climbs some more...

so Lily climbed up here herself. I just put my arms up in case she fell.... she's one little monkey.



We went on a bike ride to the farmer's market today. Jason and Lily seemed to really like it. It's super busy so they got to see a lot of people. Man if I could learn to love or even just appreciate the winters this place (Madison) would be the best. I went out for an hour long ride the other day and was basically out in the country the whole time. It really reminded me of the Burke Gillman out in Woodinville. I wound through the Arboretum, out into cow town and ended up back in town close to the house. Then today I ran through heavily wooded neighborhoods then back on the bike trail that runs right by our house.

Anyway.. so far spring has been pretty sweet! It's great to be outdoors again.

Jason's turn...

seems all the posts have been about Lily. :) Here are some photos of Mr. Man. The first one just cause it's cute and the second one of him standing. The quality isn't great because I had to hurry and he was really close to me, but you get the idea. :)

My happy boy:


So proud of himself!

Lily wants more!

Lily signing More:

I just can't stop....

taking video of these cuties. Here's them playing... I love the sound of their laughter. They did this for a good thirty minutes. Twins are great (when they are acting like this. ha ha)



And here's a photo of Peanie standing all by her big girl self.



And one more video for today... Jason says ball. Look at the funny face he makes.



Life is good in the Mount household. It's so amazing to watch them!

Caught in action...

we caught little monkey - I mean Lily - climbing up the gate last night... :) She's usually so cautious! :) Yesterday she climbed up to the third stair on the landing and sat there holding onto the gate and cried until came to get her down. Thank goodness she didn't try to get down herself.

Some video and some firsts

So here are a couple videos.. the first is of Lily walking w/ her walker.. then Jason pushing Lily on the walker.. .Listen real close to see if you can tell why I'm laughing at the end.





Two firsts happened today. Lily tried to climb the old record player. I couldn't get the camera fast enough to catch a picture. Jason started throwing the ball... on his own w/ no prompting. I did manage to get a short video of it:

Great news!!!

Well, two pieces of great news.... 1. (and more important/exciting than 2.) my brother and sister in law, Andy and Karen, are expecting their third child! She announced it on her blog so I suppose it's okay for me to announce it here! They aren't finding out what it is... jerks! ... and she's due on mine and Jesus' bday! :) 2. I don't HATE swimming anymore. I had my third swim work out today and felt quite improved thanks to my coach Chris! :) I actually felt like I was swimming.. as opposed to just flailing around w/ hopes of making it to the other end of the pool w/o drowning. Granted I used either a pull float thing (don't even know what it's called, but it makes your legs float so you can focus on your arms) or swim fins (which are AWESOME.. now if I could just grow some big gigantic feet I'd be in good shape). Anyway... I'm feeling much better and hopefully won't dread going to my next work out. I've also been instructed to do some strength training b/c .. well my triceps are like noodles.

Told you #1 was more important/exciting than #2. :)

The magic of YOUR own children

so.. not to say that I don't think it's amazing when other people's kids do stuff.. don't take this as "i don't want to hear how great YOUR kids are"... ha

Over the years people have told me about the GREAT things their kids have done... like first steps and first words and all that jazz. I would respond w/ the normal.. wow, so cute/smart/talented etc. Of course I'M not as excited about it as the PARENT is, but you know it's neat. Well, now that MY OWN kids are doing these things... oh my God it's AMAZING! Now I get why parents tell of FIRSTS w/ such exuberance. How exciting is it the first time your kid smiles, laughs, walks, talks, signs etc!?

Jason and Lily are entering the explosive stage of development where they turn into little people right before your very eyes. There babyhood is quickly coming to an end as they approach their first birthdays. Here are some of the things they have recently started doing.

Walking: They both LOVE their walkers. Jason has been into it for quite some time while Lily seemed disinterested. She is now all over it. She gets so frustrated/mad when she pushes it against something and can't go any further or when Jason decides he is going to claim the walker - b/c after all it is HIS. Both have taken a few steps on their own before lunging at me. (Oh, better get that written in the baby book before I forget!)

Babbling: Oh my gosh these kids have A LOT to say! They babble babble babble... non-stop. It's so adorable to watch them make faces and expressions w/ hands as they 'talk'. They talk to each other all the time!!! Sometimes they screech (okay a lot of the time) at each other... mostly when one takes something from the other.

Games: The like to crawl around after each other and peek behind things.. LAUGHING in hysterics the whole time. Lily just found her belly button and likes to compare it to mommy's. They will both go get a hat or ball if you ask them for it. Lily has started taking things then handing them back and now they are both starting to put things back in instead of just taking them out - anything and everything. They love kisses and tickles, playing on the exercise ball and they both LOVE their daddy. When he comes home the screech and crawl super fast laughing toward the back door.

Signing: Lily has really got the sign for milk down. She uses it for milk, hi/bye and GIMME. She got really frustrated walking and sat down crying, it was close to nap time so I looked at her and asked if she was ready for milkies (nap time) and she signed milk w/ both hands just looking at me. (she stopped crying) My heart about melted. :) Jason also signs milk, but mostly just on the way up for milk/naps.

Emotion: The other day Noah and Xander were over and Noah was having a little melt down sitting and crying and Lily grabbed his pacifier and kept trying to hand it to him. (he wasn't really interested, but she kept trying) It was so cute I about cried. Jason still loves to snuggle and will snuggle pretty much anyone (I thought it was a mommy thing.. oh well) including Lily and his little friends that come over. Some friends appreciate it while others not so much.

Teeth: Lily still has just her two bottom teeth (though I think more are in the works) and Jason is cutting his first tooth right now. It has yet to make an appearance, but he has the big lump on the bottom indicating that it's coming...

They are growing up SO fast!

1.5 hours on the bike

Had our first 'group' ride today. I rode 1.5 hours w/ our coach Chris and my mentor Gena... I am happy to report that I was able to hang in there. I really am amazed at how the body remembers. Laying down that base is so important and even when it's been over a year since you took your body to task when the time comes it remembers and your endurance comes back pretty well. :)

I did take a nasty beginners fall in the beginning.. okay maybe it wasn't that nasty, but it was pretty embarrassing. My chain came off when I was shifting up a hill (something you shouldn't really do too much of) ... well here I am clipped into my bike (is that even how you say it... for those of you that don't ride... my feet are attached to my bike pedals)... I spazz out and as I'm trying to get one foot out I lean to the other side and well... I fell over. So it really wasn't like a crash or all that nasty, but it didn't feel good.. on my elbow that I landed on or my ego that didn't do a very good job of cushioning my fall. Thankfully Gena had a multi-tool (brand new) w/ her and Chris is a bike mechanic so we got me all straightened out and I managed to stay upright for the rest of the ride.

I guess I should just be glad that I got it out of the way b/c it was bound to happen eventually... and will probably happen again. :)

Tomorrow I hit the pool again... I got some new goggles... at least I'm excited about that part. I'm mostly nervous about looking like an asshole.. when will I get over that.

We're "walking"

The kiddos are "walking" all over the house these days. They love their walkers.

Lily walking (and Jason crying in the background b/c Lily is using HIS - everything is his - walker)



And Jason gets a turn.

Um, swimming makes you SORE!

When I do a long run or ride I KNOW during that event that I will undoubtedly be sore the next day... I can feel the tired burning sensation in my muscles. Yesterday (was it really just yesterday?) I never felt any muscle pain while swimming.. fatigue yes, pain no... so I am just SHOCKED at how stiff and sore I am today! It really started yesterday.. We'll see how my run goes tonight.. good thing I don't have to run on my arms! :)

1st swim... Check

Okay.. so I did it.. I showed up, wore my swim suit, goggles and cap and swam. Turns out there are two people on the tri team.. me and a guy that started training in January just to get back in shape and decided to set a goal... so well, he knows how to swim pretty well. We worked a lot on my stroke (or lack of) and I do feel like I have a clue now or at least know what I need to work on. (everything)... swimming is way harder than it looks for anyone that is wondering. It's pretty cerebral in the beginning.. not the put your shoes on and put one foot in front of the other of running. Sure there are things about running that you can do better and improve your time and endurance, but you won't drown b/c you don't know what you are doing. ha ha I feel annoyed by the fact that I have to breathe while swimming.. hello I'm TRYING to think and pay attention to my form! I go so slow that it pisses me off and makes me feel like I might just sink... but I'm working SO hard.. oh yeah, BREATHE! I think I got the length of the pool three times w/o stopping and using the breast stroke. I did use flippers for a while to help w/ my kicking (b/c when I tried to kick w/ a kick board I didn't go anywhere.. GEEZ!) and using the flippers I actually felt more comfortable and could work on my stroke... so I'll have to remember that for practicing, but going back to no flippers SUCKS ASS! ha

I know I'll get there and it will just take practice... and I didn't feel like a TOTAL dork. Gotta swim on my own on Sunday.. it's so involved.. drive to pool, change clothes, shower, submerge, swim, shower, change clothes, drive home, HANG wet stuff..... running: put on shoes, go outside.... so much easier! ha ha

Okay.. now I have to go parent.... I feel good having gotten that first swim out of the way. Oh, and I need some new goggles ... my 7 year old, never used old school goggles just fill up w/ water. Helps w/ my 'sweet' factor. I look super cool!