A Richelsen Visit

The second weekend of September, our friends, Stephanie, Tony, and their son, Nick, all came down to Harrisonburg for a weekend visit. Our kids just love little Nick; especially Miss Vivian.

They arrived on Friday night just in time for dinner and the start of everyone's bedtime routine. The next morning we drove about an hour south of us to the Natural Bridge Zoo. There were over 50 different species, elephant rides, and lots of animals to feed (basically, you should get ready for a picture overload).

Wes and the twins rode an elephant! Very cool!

There were even giraffes that you could feed!

In case you didn't know already, Pax is absolutely, positively IN LOVE with ducks! When he found these little guys, he chased them all over.

Family pic in a rattle snake!

Vivi likes to photo bomb.

All eight of us before we left:

When we got back to Harrisonburg, we went to the arboretum before dinner and got some great 8 month old photos of Nick. These are my favorite.

It was a great day and a great weekend with the Richelsens!

Gymnastics

Two weeks ago, the twins started gymnastics again. They were both very excited about it. But when class started, as we predicted, Vivian was really the only one who was "into it."

I don't know what Gavin's deal is, but he just doesn't seem to be interested in following any of his teachers' instructions.  He's either trying to rebel because he needs more attention or because he's just bored. Last week, I pulled him out and made him sit next to me until he calmed down. I asked him why he didn't want to do what everyone else was doing. He responded, "it's dumb. I'm bored. I don't want to do that part anymore." They switch stations every 7-8 minutes, which you would think would be a short enough time, but he still gets bored. 

Vivian, on the other hand, LOVES all of it. Every single part. She takes it very seriously, follows all directions, and talks about it a lot when we get home. 

I guess we should start looking for something else for G in the spring. 

A Lefty

So far in his short life, it seems as though Paxton favors his left hand. He writes with his left (even when you put a writing utensil in his right hand, he switches), he eats with his left most of the time, and he generally throws with his left. It's true. Pax might just be a lefty. 

They Argue A LOT

Gavin and Vivian, that is. Our precious little twins argue over everything. Their most common disagreement is between who gets to sit on the left side of the back seat in our van. We don't know why. It's insane. They also like to argue over which chair they sit in at dinner, which side of the couch they sit on, who had a toy first, who owns each and every toy, and who hurt who. Wes and I feel like we live with people who need medication. Any suggestions?

Baby Grant

A couple of weekends ago, we went to MD to meet Wes' brother's new baby, Grant Marshall Rosier. 

The twins watched a movie and Pax slept most of the 3 hour drive. 

The twins were very excited when they got to Philip and Courtney's apartment. 

Then it was time to meet their new little cousin (Grant is actually their first real first cousin on either side of the family). 

We also got to play at a local park while we were in town. 

We stayed at GG's house that night and had some more park playtime the next day. 

It was a jam-packed couple of days! Welcome to the world, Grant!

A lot of people think...

... that Paxton looks like his brother. But, the other day, I was looking at photos of the twins when they were Paxton's age, and he's actually a SPITTING IMAGE of Vivian; not Gavin. Don't believe me? See for yourself.

THAT is Paxton. I can't even handle it. 

And here's Gavin right

around Pax's age:

I know. It's crazy.

P kinda looks like G, 

but he mostly looks like V.

Seriousness

A Few Paxton Updates

It's been a while since I wrote a post about Paxton's development, measurements, etc (I think the last time was his 12 month birthday, actually). Well, in the last few months, Paxton has changed a lot. Here are the highlights.

Communicating

I feel like Wes and I are constantly saying to each other, "he really understands us!" And it's true. Paxton seems to comprehend most of what we say to him. He also trying to communicate to us. Whether he's pointing and grunting to let us know that the microwave door is open (the kids seems to hate it when doors are left open) or he's nodding or shaking his head after we ask him something or he's using actual words to tell us something, it seems like he's talking and blabbering all day long. In fact, his vocabulary has started increasing again lately (he definitely took a "listening break" in recent weeks to focus on walking, running, and climbing). His repertoire includes words like: mama, dada, ball, bye-bye, book, baba, this ("Dis"), yeah, more ("Mo"), baby, cheese (which sounds like "CH-SSSS"), and okay. Overall, he's very good at understanding us and it's not too difficult for us to understand him.

Walking/Running/Climbing

Pax has spent the last couple of months perfecting his walking skills, learning to run, and climbing on everything. He's gone from wobbly walking barefoot to being able to run on wood floors in socks. He's also mildly obsessed with trying to get up on the couch, our dining room chairs, and anything else that his siblings regularly get on.

Eating

Paxton is a great eater; at least most of the time. He usually eats a wide variety of foods and a lot of it. His absolute favorite foods include pickles, hotdogs, corn on the cob, watermelon, pizza, green beans, and Greek yogurt. Other foods he likes a lot are broccoli, peas, carrots, blueberries, grapes, cheese, french fries, ground beef/hamburgers, and chicken. For some reason, he doesn't like bread or other bread products (weirdo), but he loves meats and veggies. 

Sleeping

Pax is down to one nap a day that starts sometime between 10 and 12 (it really depends on whether the twins are home or at school). And he naps for 1-2 hours. At night, he comes upstairs with the twins to brush teeth, get in PJs, read books, and go to bed. After books, I usually take Paxton to his room to rock him to sleep. He's still waking up once in the middle of the night. One of us will go get him, bring him to our bed, I'll nurse him (Yep! I'm still nursing him!), and he'll go back to sleep til the morning (to be honest, I think he's intentionally waking up so that he can nurse just to get those few minutes of comfort). Wes and I just love sleeping with that little nugget and we hate that our co-sleeping days are numbered. 

That's the update!

They Work Hard for the Money

In the past few months, we've been trying to teach the twins that they have to work for things they want (i.e. not just get anything they want whenever they want). Well, after doing some chores last week, Gavin and Vivian each earned a whole dollar. When we told them that we were going to take them to the dollar store, they were ecstatic to spend their hard earned money. Vivian got a princess stamp set and Gavin got two little toy skate boards.

Labor Day 2013

I found an awesome FREE fair in Bridgewater for Labor Day. Admission was free, the rides were free, and some games were free. The only thing you needed to pay for was the food. It was awesome.