A Very Sarti Valentine

The Sarti twins were stealing hearts and taking names this Valentine's Day! We had a very fun day despite daddy having to head back to the friendly skies. Thursday night I set out their gifts and made sure their valentines were ready for the play group party :)

The boys got chairs for the backyard and a bunch of sand toys since we don't have any and they are loving to play in the sand. I'm hoping this will encourage Will to play with the sand instead of eat it. Daddy got candy and a card. We may attempt a date night next week!

Zucchini, carrot, apple muffins for their friends at the playgroup party :) 

In the morning the boys played with their chairs and sand toys inside and had a fun breakfast with a pink smoothie, banana hearts, bagels with strawberry cream cheese and a muffin. Then we all headed up to our friend Kerri's for the party and Dan headed out to work. Kerri did a great job with decorations, snacks and activities for the kiddos. Of course, my boys were the only ones who wanted to play in the mud, but I managed to get a few shots of them in their shirts before they became filthy. 

The boys were beat after the party and took a niiiiiice looooong nap! That evening I invited my fellow airline widow aka pilot's wife friend Tori over to share my little valentines. She brought pizza, flowers and chocolate covered strawberries. So sweet! We had fun with the boys and it was great to catch up and have girl time over some wine. Who needs husbands?  

We hope you had a happy heart day with your loved ones!

The Twins Were 11 Months!

"The twins turned 11 months" aaaaaaaaand that's all she wrote. I promised myself I wouldn't beat myself up about missed posts so the fact that I'm posting this 5 months late, so what? I am cleaning out my drafts and since I put some effort into it, I'll publish it. We'll just call it a walk down memory lane, mmmmmkay?

 This is the pic I went with for their birthday party invites.

This is what ends up happening when I take pictures of them. Brothers!

Will took his first steps on 9.23!

Since I'm a slacker and didn't actually do this post on time I'm relying on my awesome memory to fill in the blanks...

• We had a fun outing to the mall and ate lunch at Cheesecake Factory quite successfully with a teacher friend turned SAHM and her two boys.
• Attended the Baby Time class at the library regularly
• Visited Grandma and Grandpa in Prescott
• Went to the park with the cousins
• Ben and Will start wrestling with each other and have a ball  

All About Benjamin

Benjamin aka Ben, Benny, Wen, Wenny, Wenners, Munchkin, Munchie, Munch, Cookie, Cook, Little Cook is the sweetest little peanut this side of Will's placenta (too much?). At 16 months old Ben is a 19 pound ball of energy. Serious, curious and busy, Ben loves to figure things out. Just the other day he managed to change to freezer settings to deep freeze and now I can't get ice out of the door, whaaaa?

Outside of the house, he'll barely crack a smile but at home his grin and giggle could bring the house down. He loves to be chased and will start to run if you say "I'm gonna get you". Sometimes he'll change course and run straight at you and throw his arms around your neck, just so you can "get him". We call him Benny the snatcher because he loves to take things from Will, particularly his wubbanub. After a minute, he hands things back to Will and sometimes gives him a pat on the back.

He loves to growl like a lion, or tiger, or dog, or any animal really but we're working on all sounds, not just "roar". He tries to mimic words you say but can regularly be heard toddling around to "dadn, dadn, dadn" which is for Daddy and is both of the boys most used word. He tries "shoe, sock, fish, duck, book, uh oh, and ball." He prefers to sign and is always asking for milk, which is interchangeable with water, he also signs more, hurt, baby, bath, dog, and all done. The last time I was folding laundry he handed me a sock and I shower him how I pair the socks. Then I asked for another sock and he would sort through the pile to find another, I was pretty impressed! Most of the time however, he whines and points and I have to figure out what he wants by process of elimination. He usually wants his snack cup or my water cup because he loves to drink from straws. He also loves the cell phone and don't get this kid started with bubbles. They are both obsessed! We have to hide the bubbles otherwise they will stand at our feet and cry shaking the bubbles. Obsessed!

When I say it's time for "a night night" he walks towards the gate because he knows it is time to go to his room. He's just recently started giving kisses and he makes an "mmmm" noise when he leans in because I always say "muah". I can't get enough of this little guy!

He's a pretty good eater, when you are giving him something he likes including; bananas, scrambled eggs, pb&j, sweet potato and snacks. Benny loves snacks; cheddar bunnies, pretzel goldfish, veggie sticks, anything in the snack cup! If I have something in my hand, he comes over and "asks" for a bite, he'll even try to take it out of my mouth if he wants more.

Ben is a hugger. He loves to be held, preferably while you are standing up and he'll go to just about anyone as long as they're willing to hold and hold and hold him. He throws his arms around your neck and you feel like you've won the lottery. Benjamin is just so. darn. special. I love this little guy more than I knew I could love anything and I tell him that hundreds of times a day, accompanied by an equal amount of hugs, kisses and nibbles on the the earlobes. Yes, I may be a little crazy but I'm just so in love with this baby!

Photo an Hour; Day in the Life

Stephanie from A Southern Mess had a fun idea to take a photo an hour during a typical day and I thought it'd be a fun way to document our little routine! I love to see what others are up to, hence my obsession with Fbook and Insta so if I'm going to look into your windows...might as well let you look into mine!
*I wasn't able to link up, since Blogger was giving me trouble adding photos but I decided to post anyway :)

I kept forgetting to start with the first photo each day so yesterday when I thought about it while laying in bed, listening to the boys chat away to each other at 6:30am, I thought to myself "ok, at 7 I'll go get the boys and get started!" Well, they became more demanding in their chatter so I was actually out of bed before that and then missed my 7:00 opportunity! Anyway, I got started a few minutes late but managed to make it the rest of the day, so here we go!

 8:00am 

Breakfast with Ben and Will; blueberry waffles, grapes and yogurt. Lots of yogurt!

 9:00am 

Playtime! Despite Ben mean mugging the camera, he was having fun.

 10:00am 

While the boys napped, I ran out to pick up some groceries and make a quick stop at TJ Maxx. I needed a new wallet that could hold my phone, keys and chapstick because when I don't have the diaper bag, I don't carry a purse. I was tired of having all of those items loose so I picked up this little number and so far it's working out nicely. I also needed a new, larger round brush since I just cut 10 inches off of my hair!

 11:00am

Checkout at the grocery store, it's true what they say about grocery shopping without kids; it's like a vacation!

 12:00pm

I was able to shower and test out my new round brush, thumbs up, before the boys and I headed out to the surprise birthday party of our twin friends' mama.

 1:00pm

Keepin' it real! Changed diapers before heading out to the party. We should buy stock in Huggies.

 2:00pm

Party animals! It was a beautiful day and the Skalny's have an awesome backyard. Lots of toys and other kids to play with, I think there were at least 6 kids two and under in attendance.

 3:00pm

Typical. I was going for a photo op, Ben had other plans :)

 4:00pm

Home from the party, filling out my apology note...a fun stocking stuffer my mom dropped in our stockings, makes saying sorry a little more fun! When we came home from the zoo the day before, I unloaded the twins and the car but accidentally left the sliding door on Will's side open. I noticed it later that night when I took the diaper trash out, well apparently it was long enough to kill the battery! And I didn't discover this until we were on our way to the surprise party. The one where you need to be early in order not to ruin the surprise? Yeah, that one. Luckily Dan is awesome and jumped us quickly and we made it in time. Sarry!

 5:00pm

Unloading the dishwasher; sippy cup and pouch central. 

 6:00pm

Dinner with our sweet friends Ty and Tori, they brought the fixins for homemade sushi. Yum!

 7:00pm

The twins playing with Aunt Tori before bed.

 8:00pm

We're old. Playing Euchre with the Greenwades. We're lucky they are good sports and don't mind having dinner and nights in at our place all the time! This is what happens when you haven't found a regular babysitter. Besides Tori :)

9:00pm

The lovely Tori and I after a few glasses of wine. We beat the boys butts in cards!

There you have it! A day in the life. This particular Saturday was actually rather eventful considering there are days when the brothers and I don't leave the house, Dan isn't home and we don't have company over, but who wants to read about breakfast, diapers, playtime, naptime, lunch, diapers, playtime, naptime, dinner, diapers, playtime, bathtime, bedtime? We sure love our little life!

Baby Talk

So, the brothers are beginning to attempt to talk. They've been babbling for the appropriate amount of  time and saying "mamamama and dadadada" but not in context. A couple of months back we started saying "uh oh" when they'd drop their cups, although they said "uh uh". Now they throw their cups and say "uh oh", even though it's not an accident. I digress.

Anyway, a little over a week ago Will and I were playing with a couple of ducks and I said "duck" and he said "duck"! So exciting! So I think that's his official first word although sometimes it comes out as "guck". Ben wasn't into trying to repeat words so much at this point.

A few days later at Target he repeated cracker or "cak ca". And then came book, sometimes "gook". At this point Ben decided to join in DNA he says the same words now and his personal favorite "hi". This is only a couple of days old and so cute! They are both trying a lot of new words now but mostly just making sounds that sound like what we're saying.

Either way it's exciting! And right on track with what the NICU follow up home nurse told us at our 12 month visit. They same one where she basically kicked us out of the program because the boys don't have any delays. She told us not to worry about language at this point because preemies talk late, boys talk late and twins talk late. Triple whammy. Not that I was worried, most of my nieces and nephews talked late...like two and a half to three late. The nurse said once they're stable walkers (Will began at 11 months, Ben at 12) for 3-4 months, they'll be ready to focus on talking. Looks like we're there! I'll be curious to see what the pediatrician says at our 15 month well visit.

I can't wait to hear what is coming next! What was your little one's first word?

Here's To 2014

This year I may blog a little, I may blog a lot, I'll certainly continue to write multiple blog posts in my head but never type them up. That's ok! Instead of feeling bad for not blogging this or that and wishing that I had "recapped" our vacation 6 months ago, I'm just going to go with the flow. I'll probably post about the twins more than anything but I may just venture out of twindom here and there.

2014 is off to a good start and even though time continues to fly by, I don't have overwhelming anxiety over it. Now that I'm at home with the boys, I feel more balanced and I have the chance to take it all in. Dan's schedule is finally become more predictable and that will make things easier around here. We've gotten into a good routine of having play dates with the boy's cousins at least once a week and I plan to get out and about more with them, especially with this weather! I'd love actual seasons, but when it's in the negatives through the rest of the country and we're sunny and 70, I can't help but take the boys to the playground! Just talk to me in June when it's 118 and we're home bound.

I'm looking forward to my "no stress" approach to blogging this year and I will definitely continue to read all of my favorite blogs! If you're really curious about what we're up to between posts, you can follow me on Instagram, username "mrssarti".

Happy 2014!