The Luckiest No Matter What!

Okay, it's been a year... I. CAN'T. BELIEVE. IT.  Things We Learned About Nolan: Nolan's biggest accomplishment was that he learned to WALK!  The first time he took steps he took two to grab onto the couch chase lounger and he also took two to get to me.  There is nothing like a proud baby, with a smile on his face, walking towards you to come into your arms.  Love, love, LOVE!  Nolan continues to tinker... with everything.  He gets this concentration face thing and don't even THINK about taking him away from whatever he thinks he needs to accomplish.  I also lovingly refer to Nolan as my terrible two-year-old trapped in a one-year olds body.  He has started to have little temper tantrums; not a good luck for him :)  If something gets taken away from him, he will want to throw his body down on the ground and role around while screaming.  Thankfully, they don't last and it doesn't take much to stimulate him again, but I'm...

Now that Nolan and Judah's first birthday is here, I can't help but reflect a lot on how incredible and life-changing these last twelve months have been for me (and for Josh).  While I know there will be enough gushiness in other blogs I will write, I decided to give a nod to the not-so-glamorous take-a-ways I've had throughout this last year.  I have leaned A LOT A LOT A LOT .  Here are the twelve most practical things I learned during Nolan and Judah's first year (one for each month): MONTH ONE: Breast feeding is NO joke... it is difficult and time consuming and not without it's struggles and set backs.  We were not naturals at breastfeeding and had to work at it a LOT before we got it right.  With that being said, I am SO grateful I stuck with it! MONTH TWO: Smiles from babies can cure just about anything, including, but not limited to: sleep deprivation, witching hour, having awake babies in the middle of the night when they should be sleeping, etc....

While on vacation, Josh and I were out in public a lot more than we typically are at home.  Part of our goals on this vacation was to try and take more risks and also be outside as MUCH as possible to take advantage of actually being somewhere with nice weather after the winder we had endured.  While out and about, we were constantly being approached by people.  We have become accustomed to this (see blog about us being freak shows from several months ago), but there was something a bit different in Florida.  At home, people always stare, sometimes whisper, and occasionally come up to us asking if the boys are twins.  In Florida, though, people were coming up to us wanting to talk all about the twins in their own life.  One example was an elderly couple who came up to us at a restaurant while we were eating dinner to tell us that their own twin boys were turning SIXTY-ONE this year.  In addition to being approached by more twin families, we sa...

Since I have already blogged about how difficult the traveling aspect of our trip was, no on to the great stuff: the actual vacation part of our trip!  St. Augustine, Florida was a perfect spring break destination.  It had beauty, history, absolutely perfect weather, and plenty of ways for us to spend as much time outside as possible.  Here is a little play-by-play of our time there... Thursday April 10th: Our first real day in St. Augustine started with a morning walk to the ocean.  At 8am, as we walked down the fishing pier, we quickly noticed the that beach was basically deserted, which was awesome!  St. Augustine has beautiful white sand beaches.  After that, we unpacked and got our condo to be more baby friendly.  We moved a big chair into a bedroom so we could have our story time before naps and bed, hid fake trees and books, put glass items and safety hazards up high and completely out of reach, and put plug protectors on all the ou...

Between Wednesday April 9th and Tuesday April 15th, Josh and I took Nolan and Judah on our first official big family vacation.  We have been up north, visited friends, and went to my parents' cottage, but this would encompass our first plane ride together as a family and we were gone for longer than we've ever been away from home.  In order to fully help my readers out there comprehend what the vacation was really like, it was imperative that I split up the actual vacation part from the traveling since they could have not been more different... ON THE WAY THERE Our traveling starting Tuesday when we would drive to the Detroit Airport and fly to Jacksonville, Florida and then drive a little less than an hour to St. Augustine.  We left relatively on time (it is completely different trying to get a family of four dressed, fed, packed, and buckled in to leave than it was when it was just Josh and I) and got to USA Park, the parking lot we always use when we fly out...

This can't possibly be my last reflection post before they turn ONE?!?! WHAT?!?! Things We Learned About Nolan Gerard: Nolan is certainly preparing himself to take his first steps.  A couple of weeks ago, I bought a little walker thing for them to practice and play with.  Nolan was skeptical about it for a day and now pushes that thing all around the house.  He gets so frustrated and mad if he runs into the wall or furniture and can't continue walking with it and the look of pride on his face is just priceless :)  Nolan is now skilled at doing a few things that we wish he wouldn't: he can open the refrigerator, stand up in his high chair, knock over shelves in our entertainment center, open up the diaper pail, take the lid off, and reach in to find dirty diapers (gross), and climb over the ottoman in their bedroom that I usually use to barricade them away from their book shelf.  This last one ultimately results in him knocking over (or trying to k...

Disclaimer:   Don't judge what you're about to read too harshly.  My family is awesome even if we are a little codependent ;)  I wouldn't have it any other way! Every March I find myself analyzing whether March is going to go in or out like a lion or a lamb.  Making it to March feelings like you're finally seeing the light at the end of the winter tunnel and especially this year, since winter's been so awful, I was so looking forward to making it out on the other side.  However, as March kept marching on (okay bad pun), I found myself using this lion/lamb metaphor for more than just the weather... In the beginning of March, my sister Colleen moved to Illinois to be closer to her boyfriend who was already working in Chicago.  If you think our Pavona clan celebrated and rejoiced over this display of growing up and becoming independent than you clearly don't know my family :)   No offense Nick... this ...