OMG It's Twins!: Brandon and Colin are 1 year old!

I don't know which is more surprising to me. The fact that Brandon and Colin are 1 year old, or the fact that we survived the first year with our sanity mostly in tact. Mostly. The past year has alternated between moving by at a snail's pace (the first 4 months, ugg) and whizzing by so fast I barely knew what day it was (the last 2 months especially). Life is full of challenges, and the week leading up to the boys' birthday was no exception. They contracted their second cold, less than a week after finally getting over their first cold. The first cold evolved into croup and consisted mainly of wheezing and coughing. This cold started and ended with the most disgusting runny noses with coughing, ear infections, and projectile vomiting in between. At any given moment last week Bill and I either had snot or puke on our shoulders, or both. Sounds delightful, no? Bill and I also came down with the cold and it was no picnic for us either (I'm still coughing 1.5 weeks later). Then Bill had to haul Brandon into the pediatrician the day before their birthday party for an ear infection and vomiting. To say I was a wee bit stressed the night before the party is putting it mildly. But the good news is that the boys felt much better on Saturday, the day of the party, and in the end everything turned out GREAT! All of our immediate family was able to come (parents, siblings, nieces and nephews) as well as my Aunt Alice, my best friend Michelle and her family, and Bill's best friend Jeff.

I must say as nice as the birthday party turned out, I was awfully glad for things to get back to normal on Tuesday. We were finally able to take the boys back to daycare, since green stuff was no longer oozing out their noses, heh. And after missing several more days of work last week, Bill and I returned to work and stopped feeling like unshowered slackers with greasy hair :)

Brandon and Colin had their 1 year checkup with the pediatrician yesterday. Brandon weighed 20 lb 10 oz and Colin weighed 19 lb 10 oz (they lost a little bit of weight while being sick). But overall the doctor said they are doing wonderful. She said their weight gain is good given their prematurity but to keep throwing food and milk at them. She also said that Brandon's ear infection had cleared up but to be sure and keep giving the amoxicillin until its gone. Both boys are speed crawlers now and pull up on any and everything (especially Mommy's pant legs preventing me from moving), so the doctor said they were on track developmentally. She just encouraged us to try and get them to start walking by holding on to our hands while we move them around. Right now when we try and do that with Brandon he cries, but hopefully he will soon realize that it's a fun activity and not something to cry about.

Yesterday we also took the boys to a professional photographer to get their picture taken. We actually had that scheduled last week but had to cancel due to the inordinate amount of snot and boogies coming out their noses. That really was not something we wanted preserved in a picture for eternity :) So we dressed them in their Sunday best (which is anything other than a sleeper, something they wear 95% of the time) and took them for pictures. Both of our boys have adorable smiles, if I do say so myself. But getting them to both smile for the camera was a challenge. To illicit those beautiful smiles involved an old man talking in a freakishly high voice pretending to poke the boys with a long fuzzy dust mop. If you don't think that sounds like the makings of a Kodak moment you would be correct. Brandon was constantly on the verge of tears, though Colin actually enjoyed this freak show and grinned throughout. We had seated both boys on a small white bench for the pictures and I stayed off to the side of Brandon to spot the boys and also try and perk Brandon up and get a smile. I failed horribly at both. While I was trying to get a giggle out of Brandon Colin fell off the bench. I was able to catch him just as he was about to make contact with the floor. Colin was unphased so the photo shoot from hell continued. Then 30 seconds later Colin leaned forward and fell off the bench again, this time making contact with the floor. His high pitched wails brought an abrupt end to the photo shoot. Yes, that's right, I let my son fall off a bench not once but twice while I was 3 feet away. Where do I get my Mommy Of The Year medal?

Okay I will shut up now and post some pictures :) Here is Colin wanting out of baby jail. It even looks like he has on a prison jumpsuit with stripes: