Hooray for PEAS!

Amidst the many food groups available and introduced to the boys these last few weeks, FREAKING PEAS take home the highest rating. Not just a "MMM, MMM give me more," its a HURRY UP! HURRY UP! GIVE ME MORE! like a crackhead. PEAS?!?!? Really? Oatmeal - Yum. Squash - Alright. Sweet Potatoes - Whatever. Avocado - yes please! Bananas - Shivers with a bit of gag reflex. Peas are met with screams and squeals like Andy at a Jonas Brothers concert... Meanwhile, the boys continue to do well sleeping, Ethan is up once in a while, but we seem to be headed in the right direction. The boys could care less about the Christmas tree - this is about the most attention they paid the tree this year as Andy cussed and yelled about the lights in knots as we decorated the tree. Christmas cheer was abound in the Hesse house this year... The boys are officially spoiled by the Grandparents and Great Grandparents Our house is a wasteland of toys, bouncers, swings, jumperoos, highchairs and children's laundry... hopefully our families are not too disgusted by the third world living conditions the boys are surrounded with - however, hopefully any judgmental family member will realize it is their doing with the 946 buzzing, singing, flashing and moving toys purchased for the boys in the last month... Shawn can stick out his tongue, at all times, morning, night, while eating, while playing, while drooling, talking - we are not sure if he wants us to copy him or not, but the tongue has entertained him for about 6 days now... Ethan is a bully - he insists on touching his brother when next to him on the couch, stroller or high chair, however, during play time - poor shawn gets grabbed, pulled, poked, laid upon and punched. Shawn can put any object directly in his mouth - yet struggles with sweet potatoes... Grandpa Dave played with a singing, rolling, flashing, self propelled, vibrating ball the boys got for christmas - yes - toys do all those things these days... i guarantee i will break my ankle on the toy shown in this photo - either i will kick the 8 pound object through a window or a wall or roll my ankle in the middle of the night, and as i writhe in pain over the incident the woman's voice within the ball will ask, "Hey! Wanna play? ROLL ME! HAHAHA!" I hate that toy already, but of course, its the boys favorite... The boys were moved out of their infant carriers a bit too late (shame on Kristi)...
Ethan at 30 weeks old
Ethan at 2 weeks old

Shawn at 30 weeks old

Shawn at 2 weeks old

All in all, it was a great christmas - we are blessed by these two boys and can not imagine it any other way. The two of them are interacting with one another by staring, touching, holding and fighting already. Its an overwhelming feeling to realize how lucky we are to have the two of them, but even better to know that they have each other. We have come to realize our life is a series of FIREALARMS as the boys go from 0-60 within seconds, the sad and sobering reality is, they arent even moving yet. HERES TO 2009!

The light at the end of the tunnel

Jinx or no jinx, Kristi allowed THE MAN to lay down the rules and we let the boys "cry it out". Needless to say, WE WON!!! The first night was 1.5 hours of pure torture, Ethan woke Shawn up and they both wailed for over an hour each (have no fear grandmas, we checked on them every 5-10 minutes, with very little threatening). The next night the agony lasted 2 hours - poor Ethan was very tired the next day (go figure). Night three - 15 minutes. Night four - (drumrole...) 3 minutes. And beautiful night FIVE - about 4 grunts and done. Thank you, thank you - we are now faced with the nights full of sleep, we do not know what to do with ourselves (David - I will keep this to a PG rating - but i thank you for your opinion), and what the heck will we write about on the blog - time to get some new material.
Ahh, the joy of success. We are very lucky to have two good babies, and I know full well that they will regress and i will pay for these statements - but DANG it feels good to sleep! I will put it this way - 9 months ago, I wanted a new mattress - last night I was convinced that I was sleeping on THE most comfortable mattress on the planet - Its also shocking how much we like each other more with some shut eye - apparently, Andy does not look very good with bags under his eyes and Kristi did not wear that "dont mess with me, i'm tired" look very well. SLEEP, WONDERFUL SLEEP!!! Christmas has come early!

aside from the conquering sleep, Kristi has started making baby food. The real thing takes a heck of a long time to prep, but OOH WEE! its pretty good! the boys are all about it.


Ethan is days from crawlingBristo is days from being shot or asked to run away (he is an attention whore, any time we are playing with the boys, Bristo insists on being part of the action) - things are looking up for Bristo, however, the boys are moving to solid foods and testing their hand eye coordination with puffs - its not going well for them, but Bristo has hit the jackpot!
Shawn has started physical therapy for his neck - no need for alarm, either his head is giant or he favors one side - we have enlisted some light impact workouts to get him back on pace.

Shawn also grew two sharp teeth from tuesday to wednesday - he woke up one morning with two very sharp biting utensils - teething is easy (so far).


Other than that, we are slowly evolving into a normal and boring family (+/- one dog), i am sure once we have two babies crawling in different directions, we should have an entertaining story or two.

6 months, a bit of progress and a lot of chaos...

the last six months have been about the longest span of our lives - a lot has happened and each night is an adventure in patience, (spousal) tolerance, and the delicate experimenting of "how much sleep do need to achieve (fill in the blank) task". People ask us what it is like with twins - Andy's cousins are twins and they had a perfect response, "what's it like not being a twin?" - we could not even imagine. These two boys are amazing in every way, we could not even fathom the work load or our lives with only one. Our relationship with each other and the bond with our kids would be entirely different. It was cheesey when we heard it, but this last six months has been the hardest, most rewarding times of our lives - we feel like the luckiest people on the planet... here's to them never growing up and making me eat these words.

November Highlights:
1. we finally started the boys on rice cereal
2. Shawn sleeps through the night
3. Ethan does not
4. Shawn is practicing for american Idol
5. Ethan tried to convince us that our bed was the only way he could sleep at night - we fought and won that battle.
6. Ethan rocked the vote on Nov. 4th
7. Shawn can sleep through a gun fight
8. Ethan can not
9. Shawn can be put in his crib at nap time and fall to sleep on his own
10. Ethan does not
11. Kristi can change baby A diaper and still manage Baby B from rolling off the couch
12. Andy cannot
13. Andy can change a diaper at 2am without opening his eyes
14. Kristi does not think that is something to be proud of
15. The boys think Andy is the funniest person on the planet
16. Kristi does not

"BOO"-ya

The boys first Halloween - we didn't make them look that ridiculous.


Sorry boys - the costumes looked really cute on the rack - we had no intention of making you both look like ewoks. you were supposed to be monkeys...


Trevor, Ethan and Shawn exhausted after an excruciating night of trick or treating - dont worry, all the candy they secured is included in this picture... can you spot "it"?

What a difference a year makes...

What a difference a year makes…..

Well, I can’t believe it. One year ago today we saw two little heartbeats flickering away. I was only six weeks pregnant and what an amazing sight it was. We got our first of MANY positive pregnancy tests on October 7^th.

Then, one year ago today, we saw the most beautiful little heartbeats beating away. And, what a difference a year makes

Then…

Now…

I know for most of us there are many times in life when we ask why. Why is this happening to me, why is it so hard, why isn’t life fair, why can’t I have what I want, why why why????

We got our answer, and so much more than we had ever hoped for. Why was it so hard, why did we have to wait so long? Because we were waiting for them!

FOR SALE or LEASE

I haven't the energy to be clever this week, the boys, God bless them, have decided that 2 hours of sleep at a time during the night is socially acceptable. what's worse, they also do their best to drop as many naps as possible during the day.

we are forced to offer up a trade for a newborn set of twins, or, yes, even a pair of toddlers. we are desperate for sleep, we know how to do newborns now, that was easier to get used to, and nanny 911 makes a toddler (or two) look somewhat manageable. In fact, a toddler can be reasoned with or threatened - a 4month old and his fiendish sidekick just do what their stomachs tell them to and stare at you blankly as you plead and beg for mercy, in fact, they smile at you.

Amidst the long, rough nights, once we see a smiling face at the break of dawn, all is forgiven (forgotten). what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger, kristi should be lifting toyota prius' by the end of October.

On top of it all, Kristi denied our brave attempt to secure DirecTV NFL Ticket - donations are now being accepted until Oct. 13th, money orders are welcome, no canned goods, please.

Ethan
Shawn

In order to pacify those of you out there who insist that the boys look alike or are looking "more alike" now that Ethan swallowed a school bus - let's review:

Ethan - 25-3/4 inches long and 16.5 lbs of muscle

Shawn - 24 inches and 15 lbs of cheeks

please call 1-888-twins-r-trendy to offer up a reasonable trade for either or both of the boys, at least until they start sleeping more. donations are also being taken for DirecTV NFL Ticket at www.sundaysarenotthesame.com.

PLEEEAAASSSEEE MOMMY?!!!!

Here is the boys and Andy's passive aggressive attempt to get DirecTV NFL Ticket...



How can she say no to that? Stay tuned, we will let you know how the $350 guilt trip pans out. Keep the boys in your prayers as they press on through the next 4 months of the NFL season with only network television.