Christmas is almost here!

I can't believe that Christmas is less than a week away. And naturally I still have several gifts I need to get. Since my last post there hasn't been much news. We did take the boys for their 18 month checkup at the beginning of December and they were doing great. They are still a little on the small side, mostly for height, but that's not surprising given that they were preemies. Brandon was 24 lb 14 oz and 31 inches tall. Colin was 22 lb 15 oz and 31.75 inches tall.

The other weekend we also took the boys for pictures with Santa at the mall. We waited in line close to an hour with myself and Bill taking turns pushing the boys around in the stroller while the other held our place in line. That kept the boys calm and happy. And then it was their turn to meet Santa. I placed Brandon on one knee and he was very content. Then I went to grab Colin who started arching his back and kicking and screaming. Any time I went to place him on Santa's other knee Colin was a bucking bronco. They even tried to place a rocker at Santa's feet for Colin but he wasn't having that either and nearly fell in the floor from his antics. It became clear at that point the only way Colin was going to be in a picture with Santa was if one of us held him, and I was not ready for my closeup, shall we say. So Bill, wearing his finest jeans and tennis shoes, held Colin for that picture. We also got a good picture of Santa just holding Brandon, though he is so laid back in the picture he looks down right bored.


And the day I ordered our Christmas cards, using 2 separate pictures of the boys wearing Santa hats, our babysitter got these cute pics of the boys together wearing their hats. Figures!

We are still struggling with Brandon pushing Colin down a lot. And no matter how sternly we say "NO PUSH", as soon as we turn him loose he usually takes off giggling and pushes Colin again. Ugg. We just set up a pack n play in the dining room for their "time out" area. But so far he doesn't seem to mind it too much, especially when Colin goes and visits with him in there. BTW, when Brandon isn't being mean to Colin he is sometimes sweet, like when he gave Colin some of his sippy :)

Here is our pathetic little tree made all the more pathetic with a baby gate around it. We decorated it in phases so that by the time the boys saw it lit up with ornaments the novelty would have worn off. And that actually has worked pretty well and they don't mess with it. But it still has that stupid looking gate around it.

Lastly, here is a picture of the boys taken just before I took them out to Poppy and Grammy's for their first sleepover. That was the day of our first real snow fall so I figured they would be warmest in their fleece sleepers and hats. And they looked so cute and goofy :)

That's all for now. I hope everybody has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!!