Sorry blog.....I joined Facebook!!!!

Nathan laughing at Jack.

Matthew laughing at Jack.

Jack's huge icicle he found hanging from our deck...which he subsequently insisted on bringing inside.

Matthew asleep in his feeding seat.

Matthew asleep in his feeding seat....again!!! (maybe if he didn't wake up every few hours at night screaming like a banshee he wouldn't have such narcoleptic tendencies!!!!!)

Jack having fun holding Matthew....Matty, not so much.

Getting ready for Jack's first soccer practice!

The babies watching Jack playing soccer - they're so enthusiastic....

Jack's first soccer match. He pauses often to stop and wave at us....in the middle of the game.

According to Jack, "The Easter bunny must like the babies because he left them presents too!!" These are their new Easter toys. (And yes they have jackets on....it was cold in the house when we got up that morning and I hadn't turned on the heat yet!)

Matthew smiling.

Me trying to get two babies to stop crying!

Jack's favorite thing to do in the whole world is make the babies laugh...and he's really good at it!! They LOVE to watch him and laugh at him.

Matthew unusually happy after waking up from a nap.

Nathan happy as usual after a nap.

Jack hanging out in his toy room (having this space was one of the major reasons we chose this house).

The newest addition to our family room....attractive isn't it??

Help us - we're being held captive against our will!!

Jay took this picture...a typical purchase of baby food.

We've had several unseasonably warm days so on one of them I pulled out these great onesies that say "Daddy's Little Wingman". Maybe someday.....if they don't have my eyes!

Sorry for the LONG delay in posting and the even longer string of pictures. Under the pressure of many friends, I joined Facebook which has been wildly addictive. It actually is a really useful tool for reconnecting with long lost friends.....as well as people you didn't know were your friends. :-)

We are settled into our new life in VA and have come to really appreciate what a great part of the country this is. I love the fact that you get more of a distinct feel for the four seasons here. Right now the area is just blossoming with flowers and new leaves/buds on all the trees. It's just wonderful to see spring in full swing!!!

Jack has ever so slowly adjusted to his new school and has even made several good friends. Although strangely he still doesn't know the names of all the kids in his class. He has also started playing soccer through our YMCA which he just loves! Although a little clarification was needed because upon learning he would be playing soccer he said, "Alright! I'm going to score a touchdown and run around ALL the bases!!"

The twins are getting so big along with their appetites!! I cannot believe how much formula and baby food we go through! The transition to whole milk and table food cannot come soon enough. They still refuse to eat any of the baby meats (which, granted, do smell a bit questionable) but they eat everything else, usually at a voracious pace. And while they eat about the same amount of food, Nathan is still roughly one pound heavier than Matthew. We will get more exact weights next week when they, thankfully, receive their last Synagis shots (special antibody shots to protect them from RSV; they've been getting them every month since last September). But Nathan is about 16lbs now and Matthew is around 15lbs. Nathan is finally ready to move into size 6-9 months and size 3 diapers, but Matty isn't quite there yet.....at 8 months old! They are almost a full size behind their actual age, but I guess when you start out life roughly half the size of most babies you've got some catching up to do!!

Our biggest battle has been with colds. All the kids have been sick off and on since the end of January. YUCK. It hasn't really slowed Jack down too much, but the twins just keep getting whatever Jack brings home. They will finally get rid of their runny noses and then boom, they're sick again. We have also had some ear infection issues with the twins which is new territory for me since Jack has never had one nor has he ever been on an antibiotic. It started in early February with both the twins having ear infections. Nathan's cleared with one 10 day round of amoxicillan (sp??) but Matty just couldn't kick it. So three antibiotics and three months later and he STILL has one ear that's infected. Apparently, according to the doctor, they don't usually put tubes in just one ear for babies. So since Matty only has problems in one ear they aren't sure what to do with him. Right now we are just waiting to see what his little body can do on it's own (but I have a prescription for a fourth antibiotic on hand in case he acts like he is really in pain) and will re-evaluate at his 9 month check. Now, mind you both babies are cutting three teeth at once and, of course, have colds again so I'm not really sure how I'm suppose to distinguish possible ear pain from the also just as likely teething pain or potential fussiness from yet another cold.....

Jay is getting used to life on the ship but none of us are used to the idea of him leaving for seven months. His departure date is looming (May 12) and I'm still in denial!! I know I have been spoiled, but on Jay's previous deployments I have been able to see him at some point during his time away. Not so this time around which is difficult for me. I worry too that I'm going to be spread a little thin which means I might not always be such a nice Mommy! I don't want the pressures that I will face with having to manage everything on my own to trickle down to the kids - they deserve the best that I can give, especially during such a hard adjustment. Pray that I have enough energy to take them places and play with them and still have enough left that I don't end up making Mac & Cheese for dinner every night!!!

Again, sorry for the long lapse in posting! But, on the bright side, once Jay leaves I'll be posting all the time so he can see pictures of the kids!!! :-)

We Made It!

Yeah! We made it to VA!!

Hey Mattie!! Still always has an arm in the air.

Nate chillin' on the floor....he smiles at anyone.

Nate on left and Matt on right.

Nate playing with his new favorite toy.

Nate checking out big brother Jack.

Being weird.

Santa found us!!

Santa brought Geo Trax to our house (and new footsie jammies and a turtle fur hat)!

Santa also brought a Bozo punching balloon, which sadly didn't last more than one day at our house before he got a hole in him.

Jack got to pick out one book at the bookstore....he chose a Tiara-making book. Jay was thrilled. Here is his finished Tiara. :-)

Well, we made it to VA and we are actually almost unpacked!! It was a stressful move already because of the babies but it was compounded by the fact that it was Christmas time as well. But despite all of that both us and our stuff made it to the new house unscathed. Unfortunately, everything was just too much to handle for one of our cats, Zack. He became ill on Christmas Eve and after some tests we discovered he in fact was much sicker than we imagined (kidney failure among other things). Upon the advice of our vet we made the difficult decision to put Zack to sleep. We all miss him....especially Timmy, our other cat, because they were good buddies. On a lighter note, we still had a nice Christmas (Santa managed to find us in VA!) and have had fun taking "field trips" exploring the city. I must say it's a welcome change to actually have interesting places to go visit! Not to mention all the great restaurants we have nearby - eating out is one of our favorite things to do and there wasn't a whole lot to choose from in FL. :-) Jack is enjoying his new school but it is a lot different from his old preschool so it has been somewhat of an adjustment for him. All the other kids in his class are there all day (to accommodate working parents) so the fact that his schedule is different (he is there a half day)sets him apart a little. But he seems to be warming up to it and hopefully will make some new friends quickly. The babies continue to do really well and turn 5 months old today, believe it or not!! At their last check up right before Christmas Matthew was up to 11lbs and Nathan was 11lbs 15oz. Nathan finally can fit into 3-6 month clothes but Matthew has yet to make that jump. I have started to experiment with feeding them rice cereal which initially was met with overt rejection (Nate refused to even swallow and while Matt swallowed a little he looked like I was poisoning him). But today Nate decided he liked the stuff and suddenly couldn't get enough! Matt did not eat any this time and still gave me the death look for even trying to get the stuff near his mouth. So maybe we'll try some veggies soon and see if Mattie likes those better!! Jay leaves on Sunday to return to FL for a few weeks to finish up at the squadron and then he'll be back with us in early Feb. He checks into the ship in Feb. but will be taking the month off to spend time with us before he really gets back into the swing of things with the ship as it is gearing up for deployment in May. Well, that about does it for us!!

Updates

Matthew almost always has one arm in the air.

Nathan has tried to suck his thumb on a number of occasions but can't quite seem to get the hang of it on a regular basis.

He also LOVES this soft blue bear/blankie from Great Aunt Lynn & Uncle Ed!

Two on the play mat is getting a little crowded (they started out parallel to one another)!

Matthew in his Christmas jammies.

Nathan in his Christmas jammies.

So it's been pretty busy in the Lambert household lately! First, we sold our house - yeah!!! However, the buyer wanted a fast close so we decided that rather than move into temporary housing here in FL until our previously scheduled February move to VA, we would just go ahead and move our tribe to VA immediately after closing. Thus, on Saturday (12/13) we start our trek to Chesapeake, Virginia where we will spend the next 24 months. Jay will be attached to a ship (USS Bataan) which is a first so we are looking forward to what that experience will bring. He deploys in May which is both exciting and challenging for everyone! Second, Jay finished his MBA through Auburn University this semester!!! He has worked so hard on this and after over three years of perseverance, he is finally done. We are so proud of him! The twins will be four months old on Friday (can you believe it?!?!?) and they just keep getting bigger - Matthew was 10lbs 2oz at our last weigh-in (which was around Thanksgiving) and Nathan was 11lbs. While they still aren't even close to sleeping through the night, we love them anyway! The amazing thing is that they have started to "talk" to each other. Several times we have noticed them cooing & smiling at one another while they are facing each other on their play mat. It's really kind of neat to watch them interact like that and I think it's only a glimpse of the kind of special relationship they will have with each other as they grow up.

Disney, Double-Life, & Smiles

Carving our pumpkins.

Jack "fixing" his race track.

Jack at the hotel at Disney World.

It was really hot at Disney so they ate a lot of ice cream!

Disney World was all decorated for Halloween.

Jack at Disney (Jay mistakenly told him that Mickey lived in the big castle so he was very confused when I asked if he'd seen Cinderella's castle!).


Nathan is all smiles now!

This is what we have to haul around when we transport both babies!

This was taken when the twins turned two months old.

Matthew loves to be on his tummy!

Well, a lot has happened since I last posted.....sorry it's taken me so long! Jack and Jay took a trip to Disney World a couple of weeks ago and they had a fantastic time. It was still really hot and it was actually pretty crowded (for the middle of the week in October) but they had fun nonetheless. It was great for the two of them to spend some time together and also to get away from everything baby!

We also discovered that Jack has been leading a secret double life. Yes, our son would make a terrific secret agent. You see, we have been struggling to get Jack to poop on the potty for some time now. He is able to go pee without a problem all by himself and he wears undies all the time except for at night. I had reached the point where he would ask for a pull-up and then he would go into the bathroom, shut the door, and poop in the pull-up. But no amount of bribery would get him to even attempt to poop in the potty, and believe me I tried everything from stickers, to potty charts, to wrapped "poopy prizes"..... I even offered to pay him cash if would just go poop in the potty. Well, I was trying to remain patient and let him decide to do this at his own pace but I was getting pretty tired waiting for him! Then last week we discovered, thanks to his teacher, that Jack has been going poop on the potty at school since it started in September!!! And we had NO idea!!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!! Needless to say, he has since not been allowed any pull-ups at home and miraculously has been going in the potty. Lesson learned - your kids may actually be smarter than you even at the ripe old age of three and a half. :-)

The other major news here is that the babies have started to smile at us! Matthew smiled first (last Monday) and then Nathan's first smile shortly followed (last Wednesday). Nathan has since become quite the little flirt and even coos for attention. Yesterday he giggled out loud at me.... and I'm thinking it was actually AT me because I go to such great lengths to get them to smile. On another note, surprisingly the twins have blue eyes.....what are the odds that all of our kids would have blue eyes while Jay & I both have brown!! Also, we had our two month check-up this week and they continue to gain weight nicely. Nathan is now 9lbs 14oz & 22 1/2 inches and Matthew is 8lbs 13oz & 22 inches. We have now finally surpassed what most babies weigh when they are born! :-)

Where did we find him???

So after Jack's nap this afternoon I asked him to go back to his room, take off his pull-up, and put his undies on......and this is how he honored my request. We wonder about this one sometimes..... :-)

Sleeping, Baseball & Painting

Matthew sleeping peacefully in one of the swings.

Nathan sleeping and smiling in the other swing.
Hi Dad, glad you're home from work...here, take a baby...or two.

"See my new baseball glove? It's like the ones the 'big guys' use!!"

Action shot.....future MLB player???

Jack's new favorite thing - painting.

The next Picasso??

So things here are going relatively smoothly except for the total lack of sleep for the adults of the house. The babies have mastered napping peacefully quite nicely....during the DAY. Nights are still a real struggle even as we are going on two months of having babies in the house. Two, two-hour blocks of sleep are the norm, unfortunately. But, their little tummies can only get bigger so hopefully they'll start to go longer between feedings soon! And since it's finally getting to be a tolerable, if not actually enjoyable, temperature outside here we bought Jack a baseball glove and ball which he absolutely loves. He's got a great arm but we're still working on the catching. :-) Jack has also discovered his artistic side since starting preschool again this fall. They paint quite a bit and he has thus requested painting time at home too. So out came the paints and he is happy as a lark out on the back patio painting away!

House For Sale!

Well, it's official....our house is now for sale and the sign goes up tomorrow. Check it out at: http://www.pensacolamls.com/(4x05km55nuan5hub5fkopz45)/propertyDetails.aspx?mls=358223. Or go to http://www.pensacolamls.com/ and search for MLS #358223. It's a sign of the financial times that we are forced to list it for over 10K less than we paid for it. But, we'll be happy just to sell it and not have to worry about it after we move to Virginia in February- so tell all your friends that our house is up for grabs!! :-)

Whew! Catching Up....

** Update ** I took the babies to the doctor today (9/23) to discuss some feeding issues (actually Jack was along too which made it my first excursion alone with all three kids....needless to say we weren't exactly speedy). The big news is that Nathan weighs in at a whopping 7lbs 15oz (up from 5lbs 8oz on 9/3)!!! Thus, he no longer needs the special high calorie preemie formula we've had to use because he's just getting fat on it. :-) Matthew is also getting bigger although not by quite the same margin - he is 6lbs 6oz which is a definite gain from our last weigh-in on 9/3 where he was 4lbs 12oz.

Sesame Street Live

Jack & Jackson watching Sesame Street Live

Getting blown away down at the beach

Check out our big waves!

Two babies asleep on my lap!

Close up of sleeping babies!

We're one month old!!!

Hard to get a shot where everybody looks good....

Sorry for the delay in posting....it seems like I never have a free moment any more! We've done a lot since the last post. First, Jay took Jack to see a performance of Sesame Street Live up at the base where he works. It was a free show put on by the USO. They gave out lots of free stuff (including DVDs) and it was fun for all the kids. We also ventured out to see the huge waves (20ft surf) at our beach from the hurricane. The wind gusts were tremendous but it was worth it to see the amazing surf. The twins are now over a month old and continue to do well. They are both growing although we don't know how much they weigh right now because we don't go back to the doctor until the beginning of October. Nathan definitely is taking on the look of a newborn and is even sporting a double chin now! :-) Matthew is gaining but still has the look of a preemie. Hopefully he'll catch up soon!

First Day of School & Doctor Visit

Wednesday was Jack's first day back at preschool and this year he will be going Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. He was so excited about starting school that he could hardly eat breakfast that morning! He has the same teacher as last year but is in a new, larger classroom with all kinds of fun new things to play with. Here he is with his good friend Jackson who was in his class last year.

The twins went to the doctor for a weight check on Wednesday and they are both gaining nicely - Nate is a whopping 5lbs. 8oz. and Matt is up to 4lbs. 12oz. While Matt still hasn't caught up to Nate, they have both gained a pound since birth which is impressive and it means that they are gaining weight at proportionally the same rate. Nate is almost too big for preemie clothes but still swims in the newborn outfits and Matt is filling out the preemie clothes nicely. Our nights are still a struggle, it seems as though someone is always crying from about 11pm to 1am but hopefully we'll get a routine down sometime soon!

Bath Time!!

So I attempted to give the twins a bath yesterday simultaneously.....which turned out to be a raging disaster. While they both tolerated the water pretty well, I was not prepared for them to roll face first into the water - one right after other! Yes, while I was bathing Matthew, Nathan decided to take a roll face first into the water. He was fine except for a few bubbles in his mouth (and, thanks to me, possibly a life long fear of baths), but while tending to him Matthew decided to do the same thing!!! So, in the course of approximately three minutes I managed to almost drown both of my babies. Lovely. Note to self - bathe twins INDIVIDUALLY from now on. :-)