Elliott on the move!

Tonight, we were able to catch Elliott walking on video!  He is much more cautious than Isaac.  Elliott typically takes only a few steps at a time.  When he falls, he sits for a second and appears to ponder what just happened and what he will do next.  He's our little engineer, always analyzing!  Please excuse Isaac, the camera hog--he has quickly learned how to "video bomb" as Bob would say.  Translation for the rest of us...he tries to steal the scene.  He cannot steal this moment from Elliott!

Congratulations!

Though this blog is titled "The Jewell Twins", every now and then something exciting happens in our lives that does not involve the boys.  Saturday, November 19, 2011, was one of those days for one of my best friends and devoted blog-reader, Amy. The gorgeous fall day marked the beginning of a beautiful marriage for her and her husband, Ryan!  Amy and Ryan are perfect for one another and the wedding and reception were perfect as well!  It was a wonderful day of celebration!  We are so happy for you both and wish you many years of love, joy, and laughter for a lifetime of happily every after!  Congratulations, newlyweds!

And yes, we wanted the Krispy Kreme in the picture!

Isaac on the move!

We love this video of Isaac walking!  He is going to be our Energizer bunny--he just keeps going, and going, and going!

We have yet to capture Elliott walking on video, but he provides lots of silliness in this one. 

In case anyone wonders, the band-aid is from Isaac's flu shot.  Clearly it did not slow him down!

This week...

We had fun while eating!

We rode in our infant car seats for the last time!

Mom and Dad sure are going to miss the convenience of these car seats!

We had fun playing with boxes!  Who needs toys, anyway?!

We rode in our new car seats and discovered a silly boy who is always in the mirror!

 

We practiced walking!

 

We had belly laughs when Daddy tickled us!

Other updates from the week...

Elliott and Isaac are both saying banana now.  Well, their version is "nanana" and it is said very loudly when they see a banana.  It just may be their favorite food.

Elliott got sick after his second flu shot.  He needed a sick day with mom to recover.

Isaac mimics me when I say "Bob". Now, he looks at Daddy and says, "Bob". To which Bob replies, "It's ok, you can call me Daddy".

They are walking better every day!

They both give kisses now.  The kisses are rare, but so very sweet!

11-11-11

November 11, 2011 is a day that will go down in history for the Jewell twins.  Isaac and Elliott started walking!  Yes, you read that correctly--BOTH boys started walking on the SAME day!!!  Isaac started walking at daycare but it had a dramatic ending.  Apparently, he was walking with his socks in his hands, so when he fell after several steps, he had a spectacular tumble.  His first day of walking also resulted in his first bloody accident, a busted lip.

Elliott also had a rough day at daycare.  He came home with a bruise from being bitten by a "friend".  Doesn't sound like much of a friend to me!

Isaac was in no mood to show us his steps, so he had an early bed time.  Elliott saved his first steps for us to see after Isaac went to bed.  He wanted all the attention on his milestone!

11-11-11 was a rough, but very memorable day in the Jewell household!



Happy Thirteen Months!

The last couple of weeks have flown by.  We have been passing around a cold that we are all finally getting over--at least that's what we are telling ourselves!  Before sickness set in, we celebrated Elliott and Isaac's thirteenth month with a weekend at home and a walk to the neighborhood park.  The boys are still too small to enjoy most of the playground, but it was a nice afternoon for a walk, some swinging, and lots of mulch-eating! 

Isaac is a little apprehensive with both Daddy and Elliott behind him!

The monthly "sticker" pictures have been a challenge for the last twelve months.  It has been one of those activities that we strategize about the night before, thinking about the best scenarios, new distraction techniques, and last-ditch efforts so we get a non-crying picture at the very least.  So, now that the boys are thirteen months old, what do we do?  Order a set for the next twelve months, of course!  We are gluttons for punishment!  For the next twelve months, we vow to be a little more relaxed with the sessions.  Our expectations are lower, or shall we say, more realistic--we are hoping to see most of their faces without any tears.  We have also lowered our seating choice as you will see below.  Hopefully that will lower our stress level since the boys won't have far to fall when they hurl themselves forward!

Isaac at 13 months...
Cruises quickly, barely holding on to anything
Signs more, eat, Dad, Mom, and dog.
Says Dada, Mama, Otto (more like Ah-wo), Uh-oh (yes we can tell a difference from Otto), hi, and bye
Still a silly, happy boy who is starting to test his limits!

Elliott at 13 months...
Also cruising, but slightly more cautious than his brother.
Signs more, eat, Dad, Mom, dog, and ball.
Says dog, ball, Dada, Mama, hi, and bye.
Still our little engineer, he continues to observe how things work and fit together!

For the first month of this new year, I think we met our expectations!



Pajama Wednesday

Creation Kingdom, the boys' daycare, chose to have the children wear their favorite pajamas instead of Halloween costumes this year.  Since Elliott and Isaac were not at CK on Halloween, they wore pj's today.  Their (well, really our) new favorite pajamas are space-theme and glow in the dark! 

Before bath time, the boys played a bit in their room.  They love the toys that they can walk behind.  Tonight they raced!  Boy, do they move fast!

Here is a short video of the race...

One would think Elliott and Isaac would be tired after a busy day at daycare, entertaining the ladies at dinner club, and playing lots at home.  Apparently their relaxing bath energized them for one last round of silliness.  My apologies for the abrupt ending to the video below.  Though they were being silly, I know you will understand why Mom had to put the camera down and intervene.  Maybe Elliott has discovered his size advantage!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween evening began as all special events do at the Jewell household...with a photo shoot!

Our little pumpkins loved the real pumpkin, the grass, the leaves, and loved watching the other trick-or-treaters.  Isaac, however, did not love his stem hat.  Elliott was a good sport, but Isaac pulled his hat off faster than we could put it on his head!  After a few minutes of playing and admiring Elliott's stem, he tried to put it on himself, but he wanted no help.  Needless to say, the hat spent more time in the grass than on his head. 

Our French pumpkins! 
That's what Bob called them since the stem was beret-style.
The first shot before Isaac realized he was wearing a hat.

Only Isaac can put the hat near his head.  So independent!

Brother, is your leaf better than mine?

Precious pumpkins!

Nature and other kiddos beat taking a picture with Mom and Dad any day of the year!

After our photo shoot, we went to a Halloween party at Ann and Brandon's house.  We had lots of yummy food and excellent company!  Elliott and Isaac played with their little buddies and had so much fun!  No candy for these kiddos, but lots of puffs.  A line of puffs on the floor worked like magic to get the babies to stay in one spot for a quick picture. 

Pumpkin Isaac, Dinosaur Isaac, Pumpkin Elliott, Snow White Madeline, and Strawberry Hadleigh.
All little buddies except Dinosaur Isaac were born within two weeks of each other in October 2010.  Isaac was born two months later in December.

One would think none of the children ate supper by the way they swarmed Laura.  Thankfully, Isaac and his mom did not mind sharing their food with the other little trick-or-treaters.  Food is always better when it belongs to someone else!

Elliott was such a good sport with his costume.  He kept his hat on throughout the entire party!  He only took it off in the car when we were about halfway home.  Isaac thought the party was a blast--he was asleep before I finished buckling his car seat!  The evening ended with a special Halloween treat from Meme--fun, new cars and trucks.  After checking them out and crawling around the den with them, our pumpkins pooped out!

We hope everyone had a great Halloween!



The Guinness Book of World Record's Youngest Whistler is...

ELLIOTT JEWELL!!

When Elliott woke up this morning, he was whistling in his crib.  I thought it was a fluke, but he mimicked us throughout the day.  During our extensive research (i.e. Google search), he very well may be the youngest whistler in the world!

See it here first!



We love Saturday!

After a busy week, we had a wonderful Saturday!  We had a lazy morning and then went shopping in the afternoon.  Nothing exciting, but everyone was in a great mood so that made the day fantastic!

Thanks to Bryce and Tessa for letting us borrow fun toys!

No bird-watching at this house...we Otto-watch!

Isaac seems to understand why Otto enjoys his bone so much!

As Ellen DeGeneres would say, the photo below is a "What's-wrong-with-this-picture picture".  I sure did not think anything was wrong until Elliott started crawling away.  Then, I realized I had put his overalls on backwards!  It did not slow him down and it is photographic proof that dressing a moving baby is a definite challenge!

The boys played with the first toy we ever purchased for them.  We found two of these walking/riding toys at a twins' consignment sale shortly after finding out we were expecting two babies.  The toys are a hit, even if they only choose to play with one at a time!



One Year Stats

On Monday, Elliott and Isaac had their one-year well child visit with Dr. Parrott.  My how they have grown in a year!  Last year, well actually 364 days to be exact, they were both hovering around six pounds.

Weight: 20 pounds, 10 ounces
Length: 29.5 inches
Head circumference: 47 cm

Weight: 18 pounds, 9 ounces
Length: 29.5 inches
Head circumference: 48 cm
(Isaac's stats, not Bob's--Bob did not want me to display his weight or head circumference, he just wanted in on a picture!)

At their first visit with Dr. Parrott last year, we were a bit overwhelmed with the joy of being parents of newborn twins.  We realized we never took a picture of him with the boys for their baby books.  Luckily, Dr. Parrott is a good sport and was willing to pose for pictures with two boys who were beyond ready for naps.  Dr. Parrott is a smart man--he posed before their 12-month shots were given. 

Fall Festivities

Today, we took advantage of the beautiful Fall weather and went to Boyd Orchards in Versailles.  We had a wonderful day!  First, we checked out the petting zoo.

After getting our fill of the "Goaten Gate Bridge", we walked through the patch of mini pumpkins.  Perfect for our mini humans!

Waving is a favorite activity these days!

We also went on a hayride to a corn maze.  We opted not to do the corn maze since the stroller could not go on the wagon with us.  Instead, we played in the grass and played a little cornhole.

 

Look at the winners of the next Jewell reunion cornhole tournament!  The boys dominated the cornhole boards...literally!

Elliott enjoyed the breeze blowing through his hair on the return hayride!

Our day ended in the "pre-picked" pumpkin patch.  They are much easier to climb on and roll than those silly ones attached to vines!

Isaac practiced his balance!  He was so proud of himself!

My favorite!

What a gorgeous October day!