Good Buddies with Popsicles!

Dinnertime Shenanigans

I just can't explain some things.

Hayden refuses to eat anything for dinner unless it is covered in marinara.
Wrong way Donovan.

Breakfast Communication

Clap, Clap, Choke!
Hyperviolent Hi!

If anyone wants to judge us parents, then I present Exhibit 1, 2 and 3

We have two very happy little men in our house now! Swing time, all the time, every time!

Rummagin

Melissa and I are holding our first rummage sale. We are unloading some of the boys' stuff that we don't use anymore. Don't read into it that we are getting rid of stuff because we aren't having another baby or babies. We are just clearing up room in the house. If you need some of our stuff, then come on over. If not, then come over anyways to visit.

I will be doing most of the selling, and frankly, I will probably pay someone a dollar to just take everything by the end of the day. Either way, it should be interesting. Maybe I can barter and have someone mow the law in exchange for a table. The boys are not for sale.

Memorial Day

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend. A lot of good things happened. First, Hayden's first two bottom teeth are coming in. Donovan's top and bottom front two teeth are already in. Second, we also got a ton of Little Tykes stuff from rummage sales. We got the Turtle sandbox which doubles as a cooler and a secret storage space for sensitive documents. We also got the Fisher Price basketball hoop. We will use that at the Lake to play lake basketball and other violent games. We also got a Little Tykes table and umbrella along with a stencil board. A good haul to go with a lot of riding toys and other fun stuff for Donovan and Hayden. Third, Grandma Sue and Grandpa Dan are putting in a septic system for their camper. We are very excited. We celebrated by having a brush fire from all of the trees that were cut down as a result!

On behalf of the boys, we wish every one a wonderful and humbling Memorial Day. Our neighbor up north has a flag pole in his back yard. I thought about the meaning of this day and how many have given everything so that we can be free to live, when I heard the metal clips holding that flag high clang against the pole as the wind blew. Members of our family were proudly involved in nearly every major armed conflict of the 20th century. We are fortunate that no one gave the ultimate sacrifice that so many others did. There service nonetheless was for all of us. To our friends and family who proudly served our country, thank you is not enough. Service of that nature isn't sacrificial. It is selfless, courageous, and done for a greater good. I know we can do now what we want to do because of you and people like you. Such an important little thing such as camping to us is possible because of what so many have fought to protect and to further. As I am pulling brush to the fire, I hear the clang of the flag. I feel Humbled. I feel Grateful. I feel Proud. Donovan and Hayden will understand the importance of Memorial Day.

Happy Birthday Aunt Laura!!!!!!

We celebrated by clapping!
And standing with one hand on the table!
And . . . well don't ask . . . .

Visit to the Doctor!

Donovan and Hayden had their one year check up and shots. The loved the shots! Both babies are healthy which is good. Donovan weighed 22 lbs. 3 ozs. (50th percentile) Hayden weighed 19 lbs. 10 ozs. (bottom 10th percentile). Both babies were 29 inches long. (25th percentile).

The doctor gave us some tips to help give them a little boost in the weight department. Based on her suggestions, I am adding cheese to whatever they eat now. They are having cheesy bread, cheesy chicken, cheesy corn, and cheesy cheese for dinner. For dessert, they will get cheesy ice cream. This sounds cheesy, but . . . .

Moose's New Litter Box

Whenever we come home from up north, we travel east bound on Wisconsin Avenue, and whenever I see the house, I say, "well, the house is still standing, that's half the battle." The other half of the battle could be as follows: (1) did the burglars leave anything left, (2) are the cats still alive, (3) how many fish died, (4) did Moose defoul our basement in lieu of using the litterbox as a way to get back at us for leaving for so long. Moose usually only does her #4 on sporadic occasions, and of course only when she is sick.

When we came today, the house was still standing! Whoo Hooo, we are half-way there. When we got inside the basement, everything was there but no cats were greeting us. I went upstairs and Heretic was in the kitchen purring. I checked the family room and was still intact. No fish had died even though they had not been fed since Monday. Then I heard Moose yowling from upstairs. It didn't sound good, because I already figured out what happened. She got stuck behind the upstairs gate (even though she could jump over, she is just lazy) and was trapped upstairs. For how long we don't know, but she was sure hungry when I let her loose. Fortunately, we left the toilet seat up in the bathroom. But what she did to our bedroom could only be classified as worse than an S7. For a description of those craptastic escapades, see the following posts:
http://gulyababies.blogspot.com/2007/09/s-storms.html
http://gulyababies.blogspot.com/2007/11/s-7.html

Melissa used the Little Green Clean Machine. It did ok. I think it is time to bring back our cat sitter.

Busy Busy Busy

Life has been pretty busy this previous week. I left town on Mother's Day for work. The boys and Melissa traveled up to the Lake and stayed there for the week. I met up with them late Wednesday night. We've had a nice visit, but it has been cold and today it was really windy and rainy. We went rummage sale shopping this morning. We got a Little Tykes play table and a slide with a climbing cube attached to it. Pretty cool stuff . . . well for Donovan and Hayden it is. For us, the Wii is pretty cool. Donovan thought standing up and clapping was cool. No one is walking yet, but it will likely be soon.

Melissa and I watched Sicko last night by Michael Moore. We were not convinced, and it was not as good as some of his other movies (I refuse to call them documentaries). We get movies for free from the library down the street from us up north. We also got Breach, but we haven't had a chance to watch that one yet.

Dan and Sue watched the boys tonight from 4 - 6. Melissa and I went to Walmart and dinner. It was very weird going to Walmart together without the rest of the team. It was also nice not getting stopped 53 times with people asking if the babies are boys or girls. We then went to dinner at a local supper club. It was unremarkable. If anyone knows the difference between a Supper Club and a restaurant, then please let us know.

Hopefully the fish survived this week. I just bought a giant can of food for them. Wish them luck!

Happy Mother's Day Melissa!

Hayden and Donovan wish their mom a wonderful and happy Mother's Day! Right now, the boys are eating breakfast, and their Mom is taking a well-deserved nap!

Happy Mother's Day Melissa! You are a great Mom!

Birthday Party!

The Boys had a great time, a lot of great visitors, and they got a lot of great presents! Thanks everyone for coming to the party and for all the great gifts.

Party is ON!!!!!

Hopefully you can make it! The First Birthday Bash starts at Noon and goes til whenever! It is at Hayden and Donovan's House! Call us if you can make it too! (I am going to go buy the cake, Cristal and beer now)!

ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy First Birthday Hayden and Donovan!!!!!!!!

Donovan and the Fibrele Seizure

I got a call tonight at work from Melissa. Donovan was really sick and was running a high fever. Melissa was really worried about him. I left work, got in my car and headed home. Melissa called me when I was on the interstate. She had called 911. Donovan was having a seizure. It lasted 2 to 3 minutes. I got to the house. The ambulance was parked out front. Melissa was coming out of the house holding Donovan with the two paramedics. Donovan was just in his diaper crying uncontrollably. Melissa and Donovan headed off to the hospital. Fortunately, my mom was in town. She was with Hayden. Our neighbor Matt came over to offer to help. We appreciated Matt coming over to offer help, especially if I wasn't around and Melissa was alone with the boys.

My Mom and I followed the ambulance. When we got to the hospital, Hayden and I headed in and found Donovan and Melissa. Donovan's fever had spiked again. He was still crying uncontrollably. The doctors ran several tests. We now have a new F-word in the house. The doctors determined he had a fibrele seizure due to the fever spike. It was a very scary night, but Donovan started doing a lot better and Melissa gave him some crackers and he got happy again. I dropped my mom and Hayden off at home and went back to the hospital to be with Donovan and Melissa.

Donovan was discharged later in the night. We checked Hayden after he went to bed, and poor little Hayden was running a high fever - 103.7. Melissa and I were very worried, so we woke him up, gave him a sponge bath and medicine. Melissa was really worried he might have a seizure too. You just don't know. Fibrele seizures are hereditary, but neither Melissa nor I ever had them.

Looks like we will be staying up for part of the night checking on them. Melissa and I are going to make a Motrin run upstairs now and hopefully they go right back to sleep. As of now, their party is still on for Saturday unless the doctor says otherwise! In addition to party guests, we should have a good turnout of viruses to share. Right now though it is Motrin time!

More Baptism photos!

Baptisized!

Grocery Shopping!

Melissa and I have thought about time saving initiatives to use so that we use our time more effectively. For example, I have orderd diapers online rather than traveling to Babies R Us to use 53 million coupons just to get the price down to a Wal-Mart level price. Today, I saw the Peapod truck driving by. Peapod is an online grocery store that delivers . . . you guessed it . . . GROCERIES!!! Then the truck passed us and I saw the back door of the truck was swinging open. That was probably not a good thing. We may still try Peapod, but if my groceries have tire marks on them when delivered, then we will not use them again.

Last night I got home from work and took the boys for a walk with the jogging stroller. We made our usual 1 1/2 mile beer run down to Metcalfs Sentry and Pick N Save on State Street. We haven't made that trip since the fall due to the weather, but it was nice to take the boys down there for the beer run. There is a big hill to climb on the way back, and I noticed the boys are just a heck of a lot heavier than they were last fall. I remember I would buy a ton of groceries last fall and push everything back with ease, but that may not happen now since they are so much bigger. Friday was fun with them. Just like last fall, we would just cruise around the store aimlessly just to keep moving and keep the boys sleeping--eventually we would get our shopping done, but we were never ever in a rush.

I usually wear my headphones so that I don't have to talk to the populace while at the grocery store. I also wear them so I have another excuse for ramming ankles of shoppers who fail to yield the right of way to us. For example, I might say, "Oh, I am sorry, I didn't hear you preparing to stop your partially filled cart in the exact middle of the aisle so that no one can get around you on either side while you spend 13 minutes examining which disgusting wheat pasta to purchase."

We did buy my babies' momma some Starbucks Frappucinos instead of flowers at the store. Melissa thought those drinks were better than flowers. I think so too. You can't drink flowers.

Ten Days to the Party

And we haven't really done anything to get ready. We are probably still good parents, but we have our flaws. The Boys are finally going to get baptised this weekend on Sunday, at St. Bernard's in Tosa if you want to witness the boys taking the plunge. Last minute cancellations, a stint with Buddhism, working with coordinating four godparents (who have been extremely accommodating and helpful to us), hoping grandpa Dan doesn't get sick (he is well again thankfully), among other things pushed us out almost a year. I did order the Boys' cake for Sunday. The cake place was out of candy crosses, so we will have them put a picture of Motorhead on the cake instead. The screen printing is so amazing that they can even put in Lemmy's wart.

While we have been up to a lot of things lately, the boys haven't been to the park yet this week. It has been too cold. When it warms up, it will probably rain. The boys did use the swing up north quite a bit over the weekend. We need one for our family room. The boys are probably getting cabin fever. While we did take them to the store Monday night and to Boston Market, Hayden and Donovan destroyed an empty Luv's Diapers box this morning before I went to work. I think they are venting. Soon enough guys, summer will be here.

A lot has changed over the last year. It is very wierd thinking that Melissa was very pregnant with them a year ago. Their birth came as quite a shock, as you will see if you go back to the May 2007 posts. It is just hard even remembering Melissa being pregnant since it seems like so much has happened in the interim.

I know I definitely feel older, especially when we talk about replacing Melissa's 1995 Chevy Astrovan with a new minivan instead of a nice sporty sedan. The old van has character and is a good ride (although it handles like a UPS truck). It is rugged, its been through some fierce battles, its tricked out with wood grain on the inside with soothing mood lighting, and it is aqua in color (or maybe it is metallic avocado). It will be missed when the day comes, but that day is still far off. When we shop for the new van, I'll have to ask the dealer to make certain the new minivan does not have the "noose option," since I do not want to be caught dead in that thing by any of my friends. I just want to be able to get out and run.

If anyone has any minivan recommendations, then let us know. Melissa is interested in a 2008/2009 Toyota Sienna in the "Calvin Broadus" edition with AWD. Alright, now I am venting. Time to go to the park.

Camping!

Well, neither Donovan nor Hayden were selected in the first or second rounds of the NFL Draft. We will see how tomorrow goes, but we are not getting too excited.

The boys are rumbling around the camper this weekend. It is a lot different so far this spring with them in the camper than last summer. The boys just crawl all over, turn on and off the stereo, play under the dinette, and just have a good time moving all around. Last summer, we were absolutely exhausted with only sleeping a few hours at a time, with Melissa often sleeping even shorter spurts. At least we remember what is going on now.

Donovan and Hayden now have their own bedroom in the camper. We removed the bunks from the bunk area, and put their pack-in-plays up there for them to sleep. Melissa and I now have our full bedroom to ourselves and we are not sharing it with a travel crib and a makeshift crib (from an old bouncy chair, that Donovan loved sleeping in since we had nothing else to put him in other than the closet, a dog bed or a drawer). We also don't have a big honking travel swing polluting our family room of the camper any more either which is very nice. Now it just dumping all of the boys' toys back into the ottoman at the end of each night.

Some people accuse of not "roughing it" when we camp. They are wrong. In an effort to demonstrate how we truly rough it when we camp, we decided to get the cables to hook up the Nintendo Wii in the camper. Since it was really cold today, we spent a bit too much time on the Wii. If I can find a table top dishwasher that works (without needing a garbage disposal), then we are set. But we are truly roughing it, because by camping like this, we realize how little you truly need to survive in a home--but a faster internet connection would be very desirable.

Mo' Chicago Pictures

Tubby the Alien!

It's Just a ______ Cow. There is no need to take a picture of this thing.

The boys are in the stroller, I assure you, they are there in the picture below the metal sidewall.

Playing in the water at the Museum of Science and Industry

16 Days to Go!!!!

Donovan and Hayden got a bath tonight in anticipation of their Birthday Bash Bonanza Spectacular! Donovan and Hayden are both walking behind their little push toy. I think it is only a matter of time before they will be walking on their own. However, they may decide they like crawling more and just do that. Either way, they will get to spend the weekend in their swing up north (in the rain probably).

17 Days to The First Annual Great Birthday Bender Bash!!!!!

Let the countdown begin!

I brought up the patio furniture tonight from the garage. I cleaned it up, just for the party! Melissa needs to order the cakes, the clown, the inflatable ball pit, the juggler, the magician, the bar keep, the waterslide, the singing telegram, the $!%(@@^#, and the food!

I am very excited (Melissa isn't), and I hope the great Wisconsin weather is nice and that it does not snow that day (or rain, or hail, or sleet). Keep your fingers crossed.

We hope you all can make it to their first birthday party. As I said before, if you read the blog, then you are invited to come to the party.

Date: Saturday, May 10, 2008
Location: Donovan and Hayden's House!
Time: Noon til ?
RSVP: Email me, Melissa or call the house.

This Blog Cracks Melissa WAAAAYYYYY Up!

http://amazingtrips.blogspot.com/

Plus this lady knows how to write.

Cougars at the Field Museum

The boys and I have had problems with Cougars attacking us ever since the boys were born. We got attacked by several more this weekend at the Museum. The one in the picture was probably a younger one.

Melissa helped Donovan dodge possible cougar attacks by hanging out near this penguin!

If you ever want to avoid a cougar attack, then just eat like these two slobs while at the Field Museum.

We also went to the Planetarium and walked around the City. On Friday night, we went up to the top of the John Hancock Tower. The boys slept the whole time. Melissa and I had a nice relaxing dessert at the Ghiradelli store before we went up. It was nice and peaceful to sit outside again, have a nice drink and listen to the City all while the boys were peacefully O.F.C. (asleep). Tomorrow we head to the Aquarium to go fishing and to the Museum of Science and Industry. We plan to protest as Luddites at the Museuam of Science and Industry to make that experience more fun.

A T-Rex named "Sue" at the Field Museum!

Taking the day off

Donovan, Hayden and I are taking the day off from work. We are going to head down to Chicago to take care of business. This will be there first trip to Chicago. If their Mom's van breaks down, then it might be their last.

Lovin' the Swing At the Lake

Looks like I know where the boys are going to spend most of summer while up at the lake!

More Fun at the Park Today!

We have a Pool in Our Bedroom (and stupid hats too)!

Little men at work!


I know I look nuts, but you do too!

Yeah, Ok, I'll Smile, Ok, Now take the $#%@%^&# Hat Off Of Me!So you will give me a cooke if I just wear the hat and smile?

Scrub-a-Dub Dub

Guess What Tubby Did in the Tub?

The park!

What is wrong in each one of these pictures?