Christmas 2011

This year was so different than last Christmas. The boys did a whole lot more this year. Instead of just laying there and being passed around from person to person, we were taking turns watching them as they run around the house! They weren’t too into the whole unwrapping presents, but they did love what was inside all the wrapping.

Christmas Eve we went to church for the Christmas Eve service and then had my parents and Jonathan’s parents over for dinner. The boys got to “open” their gift from Jonathan’s parents and were to interested in playing with it to go to bed when the time came. They got a big truck full of blocks!

Christmas Day We opened present at our house and then went to my parents for lunch with my family.  My parents got the boys some riding firetrucks so we have been playing with them for the last week. After lunch we drove to s=Sulphur Springs to spend the evening with Jonathan’s family.  The boys did really well for not having more than an hour of sleep all day.  We expected them to sleep the whole way home from Sulphur Springs but they did no such thing! They were over stimulated, over tired and not in the mood to sleep.  Overall, it was a fun day.

Here are some photos of all our Christmas fun.

Christmas Eve at our house

Christmas Morning

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas from the Blundell Family

 

My How They’ve Grown…and duplicated

Every year at Christmas we have our annual Turner-Medlin Christmas extravaganza.  Since us “kids” are all grown up now, we try to take a picture of all our kids each year to see how much the have grown from the last year…and its fun to see the group multiply year after year. Here are some of the pictures we have taken over the years. We started doing this in 2006 and I have no clue what happened to the 2007 or 2008 picture, but I have 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011 to show you. Its interesting to see the group and how as the kids get older, the picture is more organized and just a better photo overall…It will be fun to see if the group grows more next year! (NOT BY US ADDING TO THE GROUP)

Its a tradition now that the little kids get new pajamas from the grandmas so in every picture you will see them wearing their new PJ’s.

2006 - Jake (6), Brooklyn (2), Aubrie (2mo)

2009 - Jake (9), Brooklyn (5), Aubrie (3)

2010 – Jake (10), Brooklyn (6), Aubrie (4), Hayden (2mo), Ian (2mo)

2011 - Jake (11), Brooklyn (7), Aubrie (5), Hayden (14mo), Ian (14mo), Blake (2mo)

Blog Book

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Last year, I printed the posts from my blog from our journey through infertility and pregnancy with twins. I wanted the boys would have a keepsake one day and know just how special they are to us.  I have decided to do that every year so the boys can have their life in print (well at least the first few years…we’ll see how long I keep it up).  I finally finished last years book and received it in the mail.  I feel like Christmas came early this year!! I absolutely love it and can’t wait for people to see it!

Christmas Photos

Last weekend we had some pictures taken of us for our Christmas card.  We had 1 cranky boy that only slept about 30 minutes that afternoon so he was not in the mood for pictures!  But we did get some good ones despite our cranky toddler.  Its so funny to see how the differences in our boys comes through in pictures. Hayden is all into stacking things like blocks and playing with toys, where Ian is all about the electronics (much like his daddy).  The only way we could get a picture of Ian was to give him my cell phone.  Ian also started climbing on the step ladder, so we just threw lights around it and made it a part of the photos.  So here are some of the pictures we got…

Our Family

My boys

Hayden

Hayden

Ian

Ian

 

 

Thanksgiving 2011

Our Family Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day was a little different this year than it was last year. Last year, we had two little babies in tow that pretty much just sat there and were passed around from person to person while we ate, visited and so forth.  This year, they were a little more mobile, to say the least! They were running everywhere and getting into everything.  We brought their high chairs so we wouldn’t have to sit them in our laps while we attempted to eat and feed them at the same time.  They both ate some yummy turkey that my aunt Gwen made, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and their favorite, rolls.  Their feast was much better tasting than last years feast of formula!

We are blessed in that my niece (7) and nephew (10) were there and more than willing to play with the boys, AKA chase them around so we can have a little break. They had fun playing with the sit and spin, their toys, play dough and sliding down the slide.

We had a great time with my family and then it was time to head over to Jonathan’s parents house for round 2.  His cousins had already left before we got there but we did get to see some family before they headed out too.

The boys didn’t get much of a nap that day – maybe 20 minutes in the car -  so they were pretty sleepy and cranky by 5:00 or so.  We visited with Jonathan’s family for a little while and then headed home so we could get the boys in bed before total meltdowns occurred.  Here are some pictures of our fun from that day. Some of them are from my phone so they are a little blurry.

Brooklyn playing play dough with Hayden

The boys playing with play dough together

Hayden sliding while Ian waits his turn

Ian sitting in my moms rocking chair she had as a kid

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The cousins playing together

Lastly, here is a picture of the boys last year at Thanksgiving and this year….it’s crazy how much they have grown in a year!

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Thanksgiving 2010 and 2011

 

 

Friday Video Fun

This day in age, we all have cameras, and I absolutely love that my phone is my camera and video camera.  The problem is, I get video a lot but never do anything with it.  It just stays on my camera indefinitely until I figure something to do with it. So here are a few videos I shot in one day with our boys, just to give you an idea of what a typical day is kind of like with two 1 year olds.  It is about 6 minutes long because I just couldn’t cut anymore out of the videos, I liked them all!  But I am a little biased. There is a part of the video where Ian tries to push the chair back up after it fell and I love his persistence in trying…even though he eventually gives up and moves on.  I also love their faces when they realize they got caught trying to sit in one of their toys after they had been told not to.  Enjoy!

1 year check up

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I just realized I never posted anything about the boys’ 1 year doctor check up, oops.  They had to get more shots this visit and boy did they NOT like it.  I think this was the first time they got shots and really protested.

Neither of them have gained a whole lot of weight since their 9 month visit, which is pretty typical for this age.  Hayden weighed in at 24 pounds and was 30.5 inches long, and Ian was 20 pounds and 29.5 inches long.  They both grew almost 2 inches with Hayden being a whole inch taller than Ian.  I think Ian is just going to be smaller than Hayden.

They both checked out great and are developing just as they should.  We are slowly switching them to whole milk from formula, and our wallet can’t wait!  They are drinking great from their sippee cups and cups with straws.  We are going to try giving them milk in their sippee cup 2 meals a day and keep the bottle for morning and nighttime only.  We’ll see how that goes!

Ian is eating very well, he will eat anything we give him but Hayden on the other hand has been on a hunger strike.  I think the strike is over, but he is just completely picky in what he’ll eat!  At this point its mainly bread, crackers, milk and sometimes 4 or 5 bites of baby food. He has been getting better the last few days so hopefully he’ll start eating more and more soon.  We think his reflux was the reason he wasn’t eating much a while back.  We switched him off Prevacid to Zantac and that’s when we really noticed it.  So, we thought it was the zantac causing the problem and we put him back on Prevacid.  Since doing that he has been much better, and less fussy.  So we think it was his reflux all along.  Ian is still on the Prevacid and has failed every time we try to back him off it, even a little.  So he will stay on it indefinitely.  I think he just got his momma’s reflux, poor guy!

They will go back at 15 months for another check up, and hopefully we’ll stay away from there until then!

A first Birthday Party

Last weekend we had a birthday party for the boys with family and a few friends.  We had a great time and the boys experienced a birthday party for the first time.  I decided to make two big cupcakes for the boys for their cakes.  And since their are two boys, we had two separate birthday “cakes”…and we sang “Happy Birthday” to them each one at a time.

They both did really well with having as many people in the house as we did.  We only had two meltdowns by Ian, and they weren’t totally his fault, I must admit.  Meltdown #1 was when I was putting the hat on them.  I think I accidentally snapped the side of Ian’s face with the elastic.  Then they were eating their cakes and meltdown #2 happened.  They were doing so well, we sang to them and then let them dig into their cupcakes.  Ian kind of just touched it and then licked his fingers, while Hayden shoved his whole hand into the cake.  That’s when it happened…when Hayden did that, we all started to laugh and my sensitive Ian lost it, followed by Hayden after he saw Ian was upset.  We got them all cleaned off and dressed again then they were ok and all ready to open their present.  They got some great gifts and will be all set for a while. They have had a lot of fun lately playing with all their toys!

Here are a few pictures of the big day.

Birthday Boys' Highchairs

the boys' cakes

 

The Cupcakes

 

Hayden's photos

Ian's Photos

1 photo every month to see how much they grow

Hayden digging into his cake

 

 

12 months old – Happy Birthday!

My boys are ONE year old today! 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 whole days old. I can not believe how fast the time has flown by and how much the boys have changed in just one short year. In the last year, they have more than doubled their size, both learned to sit, crawl and walk (and not just toddle around, they are all out walking).
I know a lot of people that cry when their tots turn 1 because they are sad their babies are no longer babies but are now a toddler. I can honestly say I’m not sad, they are a year old and their birthday is a day to celebrate their first year of life and all they have accomplished, not to mention all the joy they have brought to our lives!

Its also a time to celebrate us, as parents, making it through the first year of life with twins! This was a hard year, in more ways than one. The first 6 months were easier than the last 6 months, which I think is the opposite of what most people think. The last few months have been difficult. The boys are mobile now and in to everything, they are clingy in the evenings when we get home from work because they just want to be with us – they don’t care that we need to make dinner, they just want us to hold them. But, we have survived the first year and despite all the difficult times, we have had some of the most joyous and memorable times of our lives. I wouldn’t trade any of those middle of the night feedings or nights with screaming, hurting, teething babies for anything in the world…it is all worth it!
Both Hayden and Ian are walking all over the place now. Its such a crazy sight to look up and see them walking around. It seems like just yesterday they were so little they couldn’t even hold their heads up, and now their walking.
Their individual personalities have definitely come through and boy do they differ from one another.

Hayden is our thinker and loves to sit and play with toys. He loves to find out how things work and is very tactile. If it has a texture, he’ll touch it. He is cautious and very deliberate in what he does. He can find a single piece of dog hair in our carpet and pick it up to look at it. He loves to be where either me or Jonathan are. He could be completely content playing with his toys and if we leave his sight, he tries to come find us. He likes to have our undivided attention in the evenings, and that is sometimes hard to do when you have 2 little ones wanting your attention. He has the sweetest smile and will absolutely melt your heart when you see it!

Ian is our crazy man. Not really, but he is definitely more on the go than Hayden. Ian should be called Ian, go-go, Blundell because he is always on the go and moving. I have to admit that he is a lot like me in that area. My mom used to call me Laurie, go-go, Turner when I was little. I laugh because Ian just walks around the house aimlessly, the boy seriously loves to walk. He also can just sit and play with toys for a while completely content. In the evenings he likes to be held, there are many nights we will cook dinner holding Ian. Ian is a sweetheart, just like Hayden is. He is very concerned about how others feel and is pretty sensitive. If Hayden is upset, Ian will look very concerned and make sure he is ok before going back to whatever it was he was doing. If he hears someone laugh really loud or yell (in excitement) he gets very upset and bursts into tears. Ian has such a cute smile you can’t help but want to grab him and squeeze him.

This year has been so much fun, I can’t wait to see what the next year will bring!

Backdrop Fun

Several weeks ago I set up our backdrop and studio lights so I could take some photos of the boys and my niece and nephew.  First off, it is very difficult to take pictures of moving targets! The boys were more interested in the curtains, and lights than getting their picture taken. And, trying to get a picture of the two of them together, HAHA…that’s out of the question!

It has been almost 2 years since I really took some pictures and used the lights and all.  That being said, it took me some time to get used to the lights again and how to set them up.  The lighting in the pictures was not perfect, by any means and because of that, the colors were all off.  But, we did get some decent photos of the boys! So here are some of the pics I got of the boys.

Hayden

Hayden

Ian

Ian

I tried to get one of the 2 of them

Cousins

I absolutely LOVE the picture of the four of them.  It came out amazingly well.  I just told Jake and Brooklyn to keep looking at the camera and look pretty, no matter what the boys did. I think the boys were looking up at my brother, Brad who was trying to make them laugh.  Its a great picture of Jake and Brooklyn and even though the boys aren’t looking, its still a good one.

I’ll have to try again and see if I can get the lighting better some other time.