Matt showing Blake how to shoot the bow we got him for Christmas.

Mason enjoying meal time...neat as a pin!

Smitty enjoying meal time...what you can't see is the yogurt in his hair and the mango in his ear. Awesome.

The cabin SchuylerBuilt Fine Homes, Inc. is building in the Gallatin Canyon, right on the Gallatin River.

Cousins. I guess they just wanted to touch Blake's face and he obliged.

A new toy and look - we can sit up!

Lieutenant Mason. It's hard to resist those cheeks.

Smitty and his uni-brow.

Yes, I am finally back to blogging. It's taken me this long to recover from the mayhem of the holidays. Plus, Mason and Smith have been sick with colds (thank you, Grammie and Blake, for passing the crud on to us :), so I've been busy wiping runny noses and filling the humidifier with water. Ha.

We spent Christmas in Billings, splitting our time amongst the Schuylers and Myers/Nuttings. Addie's blog goes into greater detail, but, essentially, our holiday was both relaxing and chaotic, fun and full of drama.

Already eight months old, our little guys are doing very well. They decided, Christmas day, that it was time to start sitting on their own. Most of the other milestones have been mastered one at a time - Smitty started rolling over months ahead of Mason, Mason has mastered the art of eating solid foods (a misnomer - nothing they eat is solid, it's pureed to almost a liquid) while Smith prefers nursing. Sitting up is a milestone they get to share. I like that.

They have also discovered each other fully. They laugh and smile at one another and are able to see each other through the rungs in their cribs. I imagine nap time will become increasingly difficult to maintain as they will want to talk to and play with one another.

Mason is quick to respond to the sound of his name - he rewards us with a cheeky little grin. He gives me quick little hugs when I hold him. The hugs are brief but I treasure them. He continues to suck his right thumb and cover his eyes with his left hand when he is sleepy. He loves to eat! I can't put the spoon in his mouth fast enough - green beans, peas, carrots, squash - no matter what it is, he wants it fast.

Smith likes to roll around and get into whatever is within his reach. He's not crawling yet but he's getting good at scooching backwards and rolling forwards. He can actually cover a lot of ground this way. His smile is mischievous. Although he likes to be spoon-fed, he's not very good at it. After every bite he sticks his index and middle finger in his mouth. I think it helps him suck the food down - I'm not quite sure. Regardless, he makes a terrible mess and it takes forever to feed him. Lord, grant me more patience! :)

As I mentioned previously, the little guys have been fighting colds since returning from Billings. Smith woke up at around 11:30pm, one night, with a terribly stuffy nose and decided he was NOT going to go back to sleep and he wanted to be held. He proceeded to wake his brother and I had two wailing boys on my hands. Once I removed Smith from the room, Mason was able to go back to sleep. I took Smith downstairs and rocked and swayed, rocked and swayed, in the dark, hoping he would fall asleep. Oh no. He stopped crying but wanted to play with my hair, grab my nose, look around, suck on my shoulder, scratch at my neck...you get the picture. 12:00am rolled around, and just as I started to lose my nurturing spirit, I realized that Smitty-O wasn't feeling that miserable - he just wanted to be with me, to be close and be held and be together. I decided to relish the next 20 minutes or so, thinking of the time, maybe 15 years from now, when he'll be too cool to hang out with his mom, when he'll be too big to sit on his mom's lap, when he'll be too embarrassed to give his mom a hug. So, we rocked and swayed, rocked and swayed, in the dark, and Smitty played with my hair, grabbed my nose, sucked on my shoulder... and I treasured every minute of it.




They love to bounce. Mason really gets into it.