The Party

Here are my "toddlers" who are now one year old! We had some friends over on Saturday and the boys had their first taste of cake! Before the mess...

And after a couple handfuls of frosting (Joseph loved the frosting!)....

Jacob liked playing with the cake but didn't like the taste so much...

And of course I can't resist posting a couple more videos of my walkers....

Here's Joseph wandering around (Jacob is playing the piano in the background):

And little Jacob....

One Year Old!

Well, here are my big boys turning 1 year old!

Jacob....
Joseph...

And both together playing as always...

If you want to see the whole collection from yesterday, visit my flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trulytam/sets/72157603753163827/

Bath Time!

I couldn't resist taking these photos tonight during bath time...

"Perfect" Playmates

First, I know I haven't been posting any pictures lately, only videos. Here's the reason why....all of my pictures lately look like this...

They don't sit still anymore....

Here's little Jacob showing off his new walking skills....

And I do have a couple cute video clips of the boys playing together. They just love playing together.

Walking Part 2

Not to worry my friends in Shreveport....when I got home from work on Friday, look what Jacob was doing....

And the amazing thing is that they both are getting better every day! Joseph can pretty much walk across the room confidently. He is much more cautious and careful than Jacob. Jacob is crazy. He just turns around and goes for, usually falling straight on his face. But he'll just get up and keep going.

Walking!!!

Both Joseph and Jacob have been walking furniture for a couple months and can take a couple steps between objects, but this evening Joseph discovered WALKING!

He started walking in a big circle around the living room by the furniture barely holding on when he decided to just go for it - and walk from one side to the other. After Matt and I were screaming and clapping, he decided this was fun AND nonstop walking from side to side was all we saw for the next hour.

I tried to capture some on video (he has bronchialitis so his laugh is kind of funny sounding)....

My future prodigies

I've played the piano throughout my pregnancy, while the boys were babies, and as they've grown this past year. But now that they can get around by themselves easily, I don't get a note in because they always want to play the piano.

What's really funny is that they are extremely expressive when they play the piano. Jacob will lean his head back, close his eyes (Ray Charles like). Do I do that?

Joseph tends to lean into the piano when he's playing and he likes to use the WHOLE keyboard.

Of course, if they don't end up being musicians, they are just going to be brutes because they love to ram around the house. Matt dug this truck out of the basement and this is the latest "favorite" toy.

Happy New Year!!!

On this beautiful 1st day of 2008, we woke up to find around 8 inches of snow on the ground (& car).
The deck was covered.

And poor Rusty was the first to venture outside.

So we decided to dress the boys up in the snowsuits from Uncle Dave. As you can see, they don't move very well and were at Mom's mercy on the floor.

And outside to the snow we went...

Then poor Dad had to go to work shoveling (I bet he wishes he had a snowblower like the neighbors).

Our First Plane Ride

The entire family went to visit Aunt Tanya and Uncle Dave in Cupertino, California. Going through security was a bit of a logistics nightmare trying to get through with a double stroller, two car seats, carry-ons with food and formula, two babies and two adults. But we made it through and the boys did a really great job on the plane.

Here's Jacob on the first leg from Detroit to Minneapolis:

And Joseph on Daddy's lap getting ready to go...

And the boys checking out our connecting flight from Minneapolis to San Jose....

11 Months Old - almost a year?

It's been a crazy day with mixed emotions. At 7:30 am, Matt calls me at work (where I'd been already for a couple hours). He asks where the camera is because he asked Tracy, our nanny, to take pictures of the boys because they're 11 months old today. The "bad mom" complex sets in because 1) I forgot, 2) I may not even see the boys today because it's my late meeting night, and 3) just plain guilt for having the nanny take photos because neither of us are home today.

The good news is that I got home by 7:00 pm and was able to help put them to bed, and then when they were asleep, I was able to view all the photos that Tracy took...my boys are so cute!!!

Here's some of my favorites...

And you can view all of them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/trulytam/sets/72157603492951812/

Now I pose to you my same dilemma as I had not seen the boys in their outfits today (they were still naked from bath time when I got home). The question of the day....who is wearing the Spartan outfit (green & white for those of you who don't hail from MI) and who is wearing the striped outfit (tiger/prison look)?

I did figure it out pretty quickly but I have to admit that I had to take a double take a couple times.

Finally Posting...

Okay, I know it's been awhile. The boys will be 11 months old next week and they are incredibly active! I'm working way too many hours and just barely feel like I have enough time to spend with my family.

But the time together is so fun! As you can tell, they are into everything...

And look what they can do now....

Here's Jacob scooting around in the horsey.

And here's Joseph with the push walker.

Biting...what to do???

Okay. I've been reading about this problem on the internet and in parenting magazines but it actually happened in our house!

Matt and I came home from work on Wednesday to find a "boo-boo" report from the babysitter...Jacob bit Joseph. This incident occurred earlier in the day, but as you can see in the photo below, the bite marks were still clearly evident in the evening when we got home.

I debated about taking the photo, but decided that I must for proof when the boys get older!

It's been a while...

We were in Minnesota for the first week of November and had a great visit with family. The boys got to visit and play with all their cousins including their two new cousins...

We were also able to visit their good friend, Miles (just 3 weeks older than them).

Yes...they're 9 months old!

Okay...I knew the boys were growing up, but it seems that they are learning how to do new things every day.


Just this week, they are grabbing on to everything (even each other) to get to a standing position and then walk around the room....from change table, to jumperoo, to toy chest, to ottoman...

Of course, sometimes one doesn't like being stepped on or pushed out of the way (like Joseph is below)...but it's a great shot of some of his teeth. They both have 8 teeth with more coming out.

And the toy I showed in the last post....they love climbing through it, on it, walking around it...here's Jacob....

And Joseph.....

It's so much fun right now...

• Joseph knows how to wave bye-bye, but won't say it. Jacob will say bye-bye, but won't wave it. Go figure.


• They love to play peek-a-boo with anyone, even each other. Just last night they were hiding from each other behind the laundry hamper, laughing away at each other.


• They learn everything so quickly. We just got a new toy - a ball/hoop combo that I didn't think they would play with for a while. After just showing the boys how it works a couple times, Joe put the ball in the basket by himself....

Since I wanted to make sure I took some good photos at 9 months, I went a little overboard because they are so funny. So if you want, you can visit my flickr account to see all the photos I took today: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trulytam/sets/72157602538262614/