Priceless

Melt-my-heart-cuteness between Zach and Max. At least I think this is Max. I’m like 90% sure.

And I’m 100% sure I have the cutest husband.

Another project down; a million to go

Garden fence, completed by Zach. The best part? It’s REMOVABLE. Genius I tell you.

Our updated list for May:
Backyard sprinklers
Fence around the garden
Air conditioning in process, electrical done (Thanks Vince) and concrete pad being poured soon
Patio Roof
Gravel off of patio area

Next up…new patio roof/covering. I can’t show a “before” picture until I have an “after” picture to follow directly after. It’s that bad. When we painted the house a few summers ago, we didn’t paint the awning structure because we considered it to be a waste of paint. The upside is that just about anything will be an improvement!

Oh, and there’s this for June. Rust-Oleum cabinet Transformations. No sanding, no priming. It’s a new product this year, and the reviews are ALL positive. I bought it, and it was less than $80. The Befores & Afters out there for this product are amazing. Our very sad little kitchen could use an update.  

Fixin’ My Noggin – Part Two

Miles has been feeling jealous of his brother’s cool new helmet, so he was fitted for his own this morning.

Awww… look at the two little helmet heads …and Miles knawing on his brothers arm. Well, gumming. Not knawing.

Side view.

And while we are on the subject of helmets, I need your votes for the poll below! The boys want to look cool and decorate their helmets. Here’s a few ideas I found from a website called blingyourband.com. (These helmets are commonly called “bands” but I think that is ridiculous as you can see there is nothing band-like about them) The stickers are vinyl, and can be arranged whichever way you can get them to fit. Their names would likely go on the front. Colors are fully customizable.

There are several of the “I do my own stunts” variety. Too cute!

Just Fixin My Flat!

And one I found a “Future Climber” idea online. Quite appropriate considering what family they are part of. I don’t have a front view, but their names would have to be a part of this to tell the helmets apart.

Fixin’ My Noggin

Brain bucket,  chrome dome, party hat…whatever you want to call it, Max now has one. Later this week, Miles will have one too.

The helmets will correct a condition called plagiocephaly. This is looking like a 3 month commitment, possibly four. We aren’t stressed about the process at all, just relieved that the technology exists to correct the issue. 

Here are my two flat-noodled babies.

Max:

Miles:

Miles putting on the charm.

A little background story… Actually, let’s do bullet points. I’ll paraphrase because time is precious when my little hooligans are napping.

• In February at 2 months old, both boys had noticable flat spots on the back right portion of their heads.
• Both boys favored looking left, and hated looking right.
• Pediatrician says to do physical therapy at home to help with neck strength, (an issue called torticollis) and lets wait and watch head shape. We also tried repositioning.
• Flat spots “rounded out” but not really… the back of their heads just became flat as flat tires. And their foreheads got pushed out, looking a bit unnatural.
• Zach and I decide that if Max and/or Miles should ever be twenty-something and bald, we would hate for them to be twenty-something, bald, and have mis-shapen heads. Life would not seem fair. Especially when we as parents could have done something about it.
• Insurance says ‘Sorry, but this is a cosmetic matter. We don’t cover flat heads, just like we don’t cover liposuction or boob jobs. No coverage for you.’ (I wouldn’t mind either of those, but are you kidding me with the comparison?)
• I say ’At this point in time it’s a cosmetic matter. Studies have proven that if left alone, brain growth and cognitive development are at risk.’  They are ignorant and arguing gets us nowhere.
• We go ahead and make appointments, planning to pay the up to $8K out-of-pocket, then appeal the insurance company.
• A few weeks later, insurance says ‘Guess what… we changed our minds. As a company we now offer full coverage for plagiocephaly. Turns out you were right, our dear premium-paying customer, when you told us that brain growth and cognitive development are at risk.’ (Again, I am paraphrasing.)
• I think Hmmmm… perhaps we’re being blessed for paying our tithing. Because we sure don’t have extra thousands of dollars lying around. Or perhaps we just got lucky. Either way, I don’t feel like testing this theory.

How did Max & Miles end up with flat heads in the first place? Well, for starters, they were quite cramped in utero. Twins commonly end up with plagiocephaly, more than single babies. They didn’t have noticeably flat heads after birth, but they were predispositioned, in a way. They were born a bit early, and these two newborns slept alot. With bone that is really quite soft, and constantly being on their backs, the flattening became visible.

So how does the helmet work? Both of their heads were electronically scanned, but only after a white gangsta-looking cap was put on their head. The helmet is actually considered to be an orthotic. It is hard plastic on the outside, and is line with hard styrofoam on the inside that’s about an inch thick. It is electronically carved out, based on the earlier head scan. In places where the growth needs to be restricted, no room is left in that particular spot for growth to occur. Where growth is wanted, there is room to grow in that particular spot on the helmet. We have appointments for head scans and helmet adjustments every two weeks.

Max looking gangsta before his scan.

Here is Max on his first day with his cute little blue party hat. He’s happy in the video, but I believe he’s had a change of heart since then. This is day one, so I’ll cut him a break. Tomorrow I hope to have a happier baby.

All About Max & Miles

Prepare yourself. This could be photo-overload.

It really seems that months 3 and 4 flew right on by.

To put their growth from newborn to now into perspective…

Max & Miles are really happy babies. Even though, Max can be a real piece of work sometimes, a contrast to Miles’ mellow personality. My case in point.

They love going out in their Chariot. And by love I mean, they are quiet, alert most of the time, and don’t cry.

Today they enjoyed the view of downtown. Or perhaps the bush that is blocking the view of downtown.

This was on my birthday. We went shopping. Boys don’t like shopping.

But boys like meals on wheels.

They are attached to their pacifiers but can rarely keep them in their mouths for any length of time. Mile gets blue and Max gets green. Yes we color code our boys so on bad days we can tell them apart.

They are more than happy to sit and watch videos with dad. Even rocklimbing videos. Strange, how that is.

They don’t mind getting cuddles. Even furry, scratchy ones.

They are good at just hanging out and just looking cute. I did not pose this. Well, I sat them up, but I didn’t put Max’s hand on his hip with such attitude.

They love attention from all their Grandmas. (They have 6 grandmothers!)

They think it’s fun when we torture them with tickles.

They truly like to be swaddled. They got used to cramped quarters early on.

And… they like to stretch real good when we let them loose.

Of course they hate getting shots.

They LOVE LOVE LOVE to lay in one crib, nearly naked, under the mobile. Lots of kicking/talking/giggling/screeching takes place.

They enjoy seeing how much of a hand (or two) can possibly fit into their mouth.

Maybe if I try a different angle…?

They aren’t big fans of their Bumbo chairs for long periods of time, but they get to deal with it anyway. 10 minutes is like forever.

Moooooom…. pleeeaaaase…! Are we done yet??

Mooooommm… my head is SO HEAVY!!

They love bathtime, and if they knew just how cute their butts were, they’d love it even more.

Take a closer look because cellulite was never cute until now.

Their favorite toy is this thing below, and it plays annoying songs until Zach and I want to take drastic measures.

They have a bit of a drooling problem. This picture illustrates that, or just about every other picture. There are not enough bibs in the world.

…And they love to have bare feet when it’s warm. (who doesn’t?)

Pay no attention to the toe jam. I do bathe my kids, I promise.

Home Improvements

We were well aware that we were living in a small house before we had twins. Of course, with two babies and all the stuff that babies come with, it feels about 3 times smaller. We’ve decided it’s a better time than ever to upgrade. Our plan is to buy a new house in about a year. We’re saving like mad to make this happen. Our current house will go for rent, and we realize it’s probably necessary to make some home improvements to attract renters in a flooded rental market.

We have a list. It seems rather long, but we’ll cross things off one-by-one. Today we crossed off a backyard sprinkler system.

 

Zach drew up the plans and his dad came over to help. A couple days of manual labor and a ton of money saved.

Everyone admired Zach and Jim’s handiness.

The boys were quite impressed.

Thanks Jim and Donita for your help.

Next up for May: central air conditioning, a fence around the garden, new porch cover in the back of the house, and adding gravel, but not necessarily in that order. And that’s just May.

Old News

**I wrote this post ages ago, but apparently forgot to post it. This is kind of old news.**

This is Zach’s quad.

This is Zach’s knee after riding his quad. The ridiculous cause of this injury is to follow.

That little thing was behind the plastic on his quad.

 It poked through this plastic…

Through this knee guard (and pants)…

Then through this knee. 5 stitches, a lame story to tell and a bill from urgent care. I’m glad this is all that happened.