The Patterson Family: January 2010 Pictures & Updates

Like every other bad blogger this new year, I have decided to get my rear-in-gear and be a better blogger. Thankfully, Jack is great about taking pictures and posting those but I know I'm going to forget all the fun (and maybe not so fun) things the boys are doing at 2 1/2. That's right, the boys are 2 1/2 this month and you can just imagine all the chaos that's part of life in the Patterson House.

Here's an overview of some of the chaos:

1. RUNNING EVERYWHERE! Luke especially likes to run in circles and say, "Go faster, go faster" or "Be careful" (wonder where he got that?). The best is when they are chasing each other in circles around the house and then fall down on purpose, say, "fall down" and giggle. I absolutely love watching them interact and play with each other...which brings me to #2.

2. Brotherly Love - it's what I always said would be the best thing about having twins and it definitely is. They are always asking where the other is (even when they're right there) and what's really funny is that Luke calls Jacob "Yaw" so we've all started calling him "Yaw". I know, probably not the best thing for Jacob's speech but it's just so darn cute when Luke comes up with his arms out saying, "Where's Yaw?". Obviously Jacob doesn't have the words to ask where Luke is but he will take my hand and lead me over to Luke's room and say, in his own Jacob language, "Where's Luke?" and then start looking all around the house.

3. Jacob's Hair - Poor guy is just going to have my hair and it's going to be a struggle. He is a rocker in his bed so by the time he wakes up in the morning his hair is almost completely matted on the sides. You can imagine how very little he enjoys me trying to brush through it. I know people look at him and think how sad it is that his mommy doesn't brush his hair! Some days I just can't put him through the struggle of trying to drench him in conditioner and brush it out. I've been there, I know it's awful.

Mommy and Jacob with our matching hair.

4. Big Boy Beds - I am so proud of the boys for how well they have done with their transitions to toddler beds! No one has fallen out, gotten out or completely refused to sleep in their "big boy" beds...yet. We did have a few early morning wake-ups but I think they're past that now. They have so much fun playing "night. night" that we're thinking about putting them back together in the same room because we think they would have fun being together. The jury is still out on this, though.

Luke in his big-boy bed

Luke enjoys life without the bars

Night night, Lukie

5. Jacob's allergies - We found out a few months ago that he's basically allergic to every environmental allergen out there: mold, cats, dogs, dust, cockroaches (I had NO IDEA people were allergic to cockroaches - YUK). Even with his medication (Zyrtec, Nasonex and Patanase) he is constantly wiping his nose and scratching his eyes and is completely annoyed about it. He may need to have his ear tubes replaced so, in that case, we will go ahead and have his adenoids removed which might be helpful as well.

Jacob stretching-out before bedtime

Pretty Jacob - notice the red nose...

6. Jacob's Speech - As I've mentioned many times before, Jacob has a speech delay and has been in speech therapy for about a year. He started with an ECI therapist once-a-week for an hour and now sees a private therapist twice-a-week for 45 minutes/session. He has also continued to see the Pediatric Developmental Specialist they have seen from birth who has been a great support through this confusing and frustrating situation. Jacob has made some progress over the last year but it has been very slow. I know FOR SURE God has been teaching me a lot about patience and acceptance throughout all of this.

That's all I can think of right now and my fingers are starting to hurt. So, enjoy more of Jack's pictures of the boys this week...