The Austins

Quintessential Calvin

Beach...Cheesy Family Pic Edition

I forced Tara to buy the fam coordinating outfits :)

Our trip to Seacrest beach was AWESOME!  We all had a blast...the twins especially. I have about a million pictures, but the family shots are the only ones I have managed to get through so far. Here's a few...

 

Albeit belated...

We had an awesome Mother's Day!  While Tara and I both celebrate each other on Mothers day...we have designated it has her day and then Father's Day is my day-- "Other Mother's" Day.  That way we each get a special day.

Tara is our glue.  She keeps everything together and running smoothly. She is the best mom a set of twins and an "other mother" could ask for.  She somehow knew we were going to have boy girl twins before we even had embryos...she has that mom sense. She can anticipate-and she is hands down the best person in the world at Getting. Things. Done. In the time it takes me to get dressed she will have cleaned up breakfast, changed 1 and a half kids into clean diapers and clothes and snuck in a load of laundry.

Tara I love seeing you as a mom:  reading books with funny voices, folding tons of tiny little clothes, teaching the babies your dance moves, being a little short tempered...just like your dad :)  Thank you for being our Mommy.

Our Easter Chicks

We had a great Easter this year!  Marmee came over to help the twins dye easter eggs for the first time.  It was interesting to say the least. Looking at the pictures....I bet you can guess what color most of the eggs were.

 

We went to Papa & Lolli's house to hunt easter eggs and have easter dinner.  You guys ate way too much candy, but you had a blast with the fam.

And how could i forget...the easter bunny brought you guys BICYCLES.  I will have to post more on those later-they are pretty sweet.  We didn't do a whole lot for your birthday, so we splurged a little on the bikes for easter :)

And now for what you really came for...

 

This boy...

Calvin,

It has been incredible watching you turn into a little boy. There are very few remnants of your babyness left- diapers and the nighttime paci are about it.  That and your pouty face--While I know the aforementioned will likely be gone before the year ends-maybe you can hold on to that pouty face for a bit longer...

I love how you can be Mr.Serious.  I think maybe because it reminds me of me.

 

And then you turn on the charm...

 

And then there is this...

But we are working on that.

I love you son...

Mama

 

Cousins!

Sent from my iPhone

Pirate Birthday Party

Calvin and Slaon celebrated cousin William's 2nd Birthday in style! 

 

 

 

Fun on the see-saw

 

5...4...3...TWO...1...

We welcomed the age of 2, Space Mission-Style at the Austin house!

Family, friends, chili, cupcakes...it was perfect!  I didn't do the best job of taking photos, but tara had the place looking awesome.

Homemade chili, hot dogs, cheese stars, and a buffet of other toppings...

Cupcakes- BROWN, per Calvin's request.

 For the grown ups...

Moon pies, MIlky Way, Starburst and Pop Rocks

  

The twins had a blast, I can't thank everyone enough for making this birthday weekend so special.

Our cosmic girl...

Rocket boy...

End of the night...everyone was tired, but we had a blast!

About to be 2.

So in less than a month you two will be two.  We will no longer relay your age in months...we just say "they're two." You are incredible little people---how lucky are we to have you in our lives??

I don't even know where to start!

INTAKE

You are pretty decent eaters as far as toddlers go.  It is kind of all or nothing these days.  Some evenings you just play with your food...others you can't seem to get enough.  You still eat your veggies, your favorite right now though is probably grilled chicken.  The two of you would put away a whole bird if we let you. You also loooove our homemade pizzas.  Our favorite thing to do right now is to grab a dough ball from Vino's and add a little olive oil, diced roma tomatoes, chopped fresh basil, and shredded mozzerella---we all love it!  We try to be conscious of what kind of food we expose you to...we try to keep it healthy-always a veggie or two, some meat or other protein (we try to have at least one vegetarian meal per week), and a serving or two of carbs.  We always offer fruit at the end of the meal and you guys can't get enough.  Sloan you call it "poot" and it is Hilarious!  We let you eat some of the requisite kid foods...because we like them too :)  But we always prepare one meal and all four of us eat it, together.  Some favorites right now:  grilled chicken, pizza, chicken nuggets, broccoli, peas, corn, raisins, oranges, grapes, any fruit really.

You are drinking whole milk, but we are transitiong you to 2% this month, then 1% after your birthday.  Maybe even to skim after that.  You also like apple juice and we are still watering it down with about 1/3 juice, 2/3 water.

 

COMMUNICATION

This is my favorite thing about the two of you right now.  You are both speaking in sentences...and you  both repeat anything we say.  Some things we hear a lot these days:

"how'd you do that?"

"Where'd this come from"

"I want some apple juice."

"Turn the lgiht's on"

"turn the music on mama/mommy"

"oh my GOSH"

"I want chicken nuggets mommy...and ketchup"

"I have a penis, sloan has a gina"  (whaaaaat??????)

Calvin, your understanding of syntax and grammar is incredible.  you know how to use the word "too" and mine, yours, I, you.  You can even use the correct tense most of the time. 

Sloan, if we ask you what you are, you will say "I'm a good girl" :)

The best phrase the two of you say of course is "I love you _____"  which sounds more like "I lub you ____"

As far as non verbal communication goes, you both are masters at pushing and hitting each other :(  and us for that matter.  We can tell you are approaching that "trying toddler" stage.  When you get mad you tell us to "go away", and that always results in a time out.  We have started doing timouts and they seem pretty effective.  As effective as anything can be with a 2 year old.  It essentially involves:

1. a warning of time out. 

2. carrying of toddler under arm to some type of isolated area. 

3. both of us sitting down and then counting to ten

4. we take some deep breathes and -usually- we can resume our activities without problems. 

Calvin you have learned how to apologize, " I sorry mama" and then give hugs and kisses. Sloan, you absolutely refuse to apoligize for anything you do.  I can't say it surprises me :)

ELIMINATION:

Stilll in diapers full force, and to be honest...i am totally ok with that.  We have the potty and sometimes you guys will ask to sit on, to which we oblige.  Sloan, you will usually sit on it and pee before bath.  You both can tell us when you need a new diaper, Sloan you will even take yours off and bring it to us sometimes (not cool baby girl).

SLEEP:

You go to bed at 8 ish, wake up at 7 ish.  You take one 2 hr nap.  Sometimes you guys will skip nap-not pretty.  Sometimes instead of sleeping you will talk to each other, throw all of your blankies and animals out of your cribs, remove all of your clothes and diapers, and then pee on the remaining items in your crib.  That has happened not once but twice.  Drop dead hilarious the first time (I had to call tara to come upstairs and look at our naked children), still funny the second time...not sure how i will feel next time around.

 

I have to apoligize to the two of you for the lack of updates over the last year...it has been a whirlwind of a year!  I finished school, we moved, mommy started a new job, mama started a new job.  All on top of trying to keep up with you!