Circus, Circus

The week before Memorial Day Samantha decided to stay at Granny and Grandpa's. After going to cousin Bryan's "Gradulation" party, Sammi said she wanted to stay. This was completely unexpected (as Granny could tell by the lack of clothes I packed for her) but a pleasant surprise for all. Samantha had a blast in Bel Air. She went to chuck e cheese, the library, and even th zoo. And what a surprise to run into cousin Cullen at the zoo!

Memorial Day weekend was so much fun. On Saturday Aunt Jen and John brought Sammi up to Hershey with us and we went to Hershey Park with Aunt Kelli and Kevin too. As always, we really enjoyed ourselves. Saturday we went to a party at Aunt Kerry and Uncle Sean's new house. Sammi tried really hard to drive Cullen's tractor up a steep hill, but she kept spinning the wheels. Cullen showed her how to drive it until he ran her over. Monday was the big event! On Monday Grandpa and Granny drove up and we all went to the circus. It was Sammi's first and the boys went too so I guess it was their first as well. Samantha enjoyed it a lot! I forgot how much fun the circus can be!! After the circus Grandma and Pappy hosted a memorial day bbq that was both fun and delicious. Sammi had helped me make strawberry shortcake, and although the shortcake didn't turn out quite right, it was still delicious!

Celebrating Mom (by Mom)

I started back at work last week after 11 weeks off and several weeks on bedrest before I had the boys. It was great to get back to work but I had a lot of trouble focusing and spent a lot of time socializing. I'm sure I'm one of those annoying people who only talk about their kids!

We spent the weekend in Hershey. Saturday morning we had a girls morning. Sammi got her haircut and then we went to Friendly's for breakfast with Grandma. Followed by some shopping. Gabby and Jack came up to go to HersheyPark with us and even Kevin came. It was fun to watch the little ones at the park. Our boys did great at the park although they were ready to get out of their carriers by the end of the visit.

Sunday was Mother's day and it was great. We were at Cracker Barrel at 7:30 in the morning! After breakfast I played with Sammi for a long time. Lots of rolling around and tickling. Then I took a nice long nap! We went over to Kelli and Matt's for an early dinner and played in their backyard. Uncle Matt taught Samantha how to use the powerwheels. Steering isn't really her strong point, but she had a lot of fun.

Here's some pictures:

Dylan (L) and Bradley (R)

Yes, that is masking tape with Brad's name on it on his shirt. It was only his second day at daycare.

Samantha with Dylan (L) and Bradley (R)

Sammi and Gabby at Hersheypark

Gabby and Sammi playing Rock, Paper, Scissors on the balloon ride at HersheyPark

Aunt Kelli, ?, Uncle Matt, Dylan (L) and Bradley (R)

Sammi and Gabby's favorite rock at the park

Why won't she look at the camera

Sammi and Ken about to ride the space shuttle

I don't wanna go back to work

Today is my last day of maternity leave. I've decided I don't want to go back. Well, I'm actually looking forward to seeing my coworkers and even working on some things. I'm just not looking forward to the chaos of work and really just getting out of the house in the mornings and rushing to get everything done in the evenings. I just hope no one expects me to hit the ground running.

Yesterday was the boys first day of daycare. Miss Gladys said they had a good day. They even got to go to the birthday party for Avery! I was so happy to go pick them up and give them a tight squeeze. I was even excited to feed them (having missed out on 8 bottles during the day!) Today was actually harder when Ken and Sammi left with the boys. At least yesterday I got to help drop them off. Well, back to normal tomorrow.

Sammi's True Allegiance

I think it is clear who Samantha's true allegiance is, sorry steelers:

Granted, the girl has to be a bit confused wearing a Raven's cap at a Pirates game in Nationals Park. And she's really an Oriole fan.

She even got to meet the Nationals' mascot "Screech"

And one of the racing presidents (kinda weird looking in person... kinda weird looking not in person too)

As you can see we went to the Pirates vs Nationals game on Saturday. Grandma watched the boys and Sammi, Pappy, Ken, and I went to the game. The pirates lost of course. The day was fun, Sammi rode the train and sat next to me. At every stop on the Metro she asked if we were getting off, there must be 30 stops on the way. We only had about four potty breaks at the game and of course we spent a small fortune on food and drink at the stadium. As far as I'm concerned I've been to the new National's stadium once and I don't ever need to go back. I prefer Camden Yards any day, or even PNC park since it takes about the same amount of time to drive to Pittsburgh as it did to get through DC (ok, not really, but it sure felt like it).

A little sad, a little excited

So today is my last day of maternity leave with the boys. They start daycare on Monday and I go back to work on Wednesday. I'm very excited for them to start daycare because I think they'll get a lot out of it just like Samantha has. But I'm sad because I feel like my special time with them is up and we are about to move into our new final normal routine.

I've had such a good few months with the boys. I've learned so much about them and about myself. We went from bringing home a 4 pound 6 ounce Dylan with Brad still in the NICU to our sleepover in the hospital and bringing Bradley home on the Apnea monitor. We went from struggling to get them to eat one ounce every 3 or 4 hours to them wanting to eat every hour. I went from struggling to handle them at the same time to being able to feed them at the same time. And from being stuck in the house for a month to trips to the mall and walmart for just the three of us.

I'm excited to go back to work and challenge myself again and enjoy the social opportunities work provides me. But I just am sad that I won't be the one who is with them all the time. I know them so well right now. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm glad I took advantage of it. They are such sweet boys and I'll miss these days with them. At least I know that Samantha will be there to take good care of the boys.

more pictures

Dylan and Bradley are 10 weeks old today. Here are some recent pictures.

Little D is stretching in this video:

Two Month Check Up

I took Dylan and Bradley to their 2 month doctor appointment today. First of all, I'd like to acknowledge that I did this all by myself. Quite a feat. Dylan now weighs 9 pounds 8 ounces and he is 21 inches long. Bradley is 10 pounds 14 ounces and 22 inches long. They each got four shots and there was some crying involved. Both boys are very healthy and doing great.

Dylan (L) and Bradley (R)