Noise off

Dear Calvin,

I promise, one day you will catch your tongue. If you are not sleeping or eating you have your index finger and thumb in your mouth trying to pinch your tongue. You have stopped crying from your crib when you wake up in the morning. (Thank you, your screaming was a rough way to wake up.) Now, you chatter and scoot around your crib. When Mom or Dad come in to get you, you smile and kick your legs as soon as you see us. Mom and Dad have discovered that your brown blanket holds a magic sleeping power. The instant you have it on you, you fall asleep.

Dear Luke,

Mom sucked her index and middle finger. Dad sucked his thumb. You are trying to break the record for most fingers in a mouth at one time. So far you can fit three at a time. You and Dad have been having "sound offs". Dad makes a funny noise and you try to imitate it. It gets pretty loud! Your green blanket also has the same magic sleeping power that Cal's has. But, bad news Luke. I'm going to have to break you of your swaddle. I know, I know, you love it. Seriously Luke, you are getting too big. You are filling out (and breaking out of) the largest size they make. Mama's tired of re-wrapping you at 4am. I'm afraid not having you in your baby straight jacket will mean no one gets any sleep. Maybe we will try not wrapping you for naps first. (Oh wait, that would mean you have to nap for more than 20 minutes.)

Turns out Garrett is funny

Dear Calvin,

You laughed for the first time today!!! Did you laugh at a funny face? Nope. Did you laugh at Mama singing a silly song? Nope. Did you laugh at Garrett making fart noises? Ding ding! Yes! Looks like I'm in for many years of boys making fart noises in my house...

Dear Luke,

You may have found a friend you love more than Jeff. Now that you can use your hands to grab anything you want, Jack is your new favorite toy. You have discovered that he is the best toy to touch. After all, none of your other toys lick back. Luckily Jackwill do anything for a treat, including let the human puppies touch him.

I Promise To Be The Dad That...

Mom always hogs this blog and rightfully so. Shes very good at writing it. But I wanted a chance to write something so Maggie allowed me a guest spot. I entitled it, I Promise To Be The Dad That...

I promise to be the Dad that

hugs you no matter how much bigger you get than me.

breaks up the two of you fighting all the time.

always plays awesome music way too loud in the car.

always has your uncles around for you to make fun of.

throws you around in the pool as many times as you want.

teaches you to respect girls and treat them nicely.

lets you know its okay to be a Mamas Boy.

lets you follow your dreams.

lets you think you are cool when you are 14.

always embarrasses you on purpose.

wakes you up during a late night basketball game so you can see the last shot.

gets you out of school early unannounced to go to a Detroit Tigers game.

says, "Yeah we can do that, just don't tell your Mom."

will always be there for every single major event that happens in your life.

knows you as a person.

gets very angry when you both walk in the door at 6am from a party.

high fives you.

always has you draped in Michigan colors.

shows you how to be a leader and not a follower.

to tell you I love you.

always comes outside to play.

shows you how fun Disney World can actually be.

your friends always say, "I wish my Dad was like your Dad."

will always first and foremost be your Father, but also your best friend.

Creepy little Fullers

Dear Calvin and Luke,

What's creepier than the gigantic smiles you give me when I wash your little boy parts? Maybe the squeals of joy while you watch me shower from your bouncers.

3 months old

Grabby little hands

Dear Luke, (you get to go first this time, it's only fair)

You are putting your sweaty little hands to good use! (Yes, your hands really are sweaty, it's kinds weird) You now grab the toys hanging over your play mat. Today you learned how to hold your sleeve and wiggle your arm out. (picking you up and one sleeve is empty was quite a surprise for Mama) When Dad feeds you, you love pulling at the hair on his arms. Dad is not as thrilled as you are about this. What's your favorite thing to pick up? Jeff!!! You love grabbing him with both hands and rubbing him on your face.

Luke rubbing Jeff on his face and Calvin pulling at his clothes.

Dear Calvin,

You are using your hands to grab things, too. As long as what you are grabbing is attached to your brother. You love pulling his ears, poking his eyes, and putting your fist in his mouth. You have also become a bully. The other day you pulled Luke's pacifier out of his mouth making him cry. I assumed it was an accident. I put his pacifier back into his mouth and you did it again! I'm hoping you learn how to use your hands for good instead of evil.

This week Luke obviously learned how to read. After pleading with him to take a decent nap, he slept for two hour the next afternoon! It was wonderful. The boys have also started sleeping through the night. We cut out the 11pm "dream feed" and they have been sleeping from 8:30-5ish, eating, then going back to sleep until around 8. Calvin's dimples have been getting deeper and deeper. He is starting to look just like Garrett. Luke has learned how to suck on his bottom lip, drooling all over himself and making the oddest slurping noise. He's such a funny baby!

More elusive than Loch Ness

Dear Calvin,

I will buy you your first car if you let me get a glimpse into that mouth. You have all the signs of teething. Sometimes. You are cranky. Sometimes. You are a drool faucet. Sometimes. You chew on your entire fist. Sometimes. Your crankiness is instantly calmed with a frozen pacifier. (you can thank your Dad for that brilliant idea.) You are constantly touching your head. Maybe you like how your fuzzy hair feels. I would love to get a look at those gums without you putting your tongue EXACTLY where I need to look.

Dear Luke,

Ya know how good you feel in the morning? After your 11 hours of sleep at night (by the way, thanks for being a champion night sleeper) How happy and smiley you are? How Mom and Dad are hilarious and you love everything we do? Well, your entire day could be that much fun if you would nap for more then 20 minutes. I promise we will not have any fun without you. You won't miss anything if you nap for say, an hour. Jeff can even nap with you. Deal? (Oh, and if you could stop waking up your brother, who would easily sleep 3 hours, that would be great.)

What's more elusive than the Loch Ness monster? In the Fuller house it's dimples! We have had three separate dimple sighting by three different people. First was Garrett who during a late night feeding claimed he spotted the beginning of dimples on Calvin. To this I thought, yeah right! First of all we are in a dark room. Second, Calvin's cheeks are way too big to see dimples. However, I saw the second dimple sighting during some morning play time with the boys. The third dimple sighting was by my sister Mary. She was not aware of the previous two dimple sightings and while playing with the boys asked if Calvin had dimples. It seems like Calvin may have inherited Garrett's dimples. Back to stalking Luke's cheeks for dimples...

So cute I will forget it's 4am

Dear Calvin,

You are thrilled by your body! You love shoving your fingers in your mouth and squeal with delight watching your feet. I'm glad you are getting so much joy out of something I spent a lot of time making. You have started scooting around your crib at night. You move so much I won't be surprised if I find you across the room in Luke's crib.

Dear Luke,

Not even your best game-show-host smile will make me forget it's 4am. But it helps. A lot. Since Jeff has come into your life your projectile spit-up has stopped! Maybe your little body has matured. Maybe you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of Jeff.

This week in twin land the boys officially turned 3 months old! We can't believe how quickly Calvin and Luke are changing. They are smiling and laughing at everything which thrills Garrett cause he always has an attentive audience! Calvin is tolerating more tummy time on the Boppy and Luke is very involved in his new relationship with Jeff (who already needs a bath...) Calvin loves watching us. He will watch us fold laundry, try and eat a full meal, and spend some time with Jack the forgotten child. Luke watches Jeff.

This week there was also a small intervention in the Fuller house. I love to read and will read anything. When I was pregnant I read tons of pregnancy books. Which Garrett tolerated. When I was put on bed rest, I was tired of everything pregnancy related and read a few from the New York Times Bestsellers list. Garrett was pleased to not see a book with a pregnant woman on the cover in my hands. Now that the boys are here I'm slightly (completely) obsessed with books about twins. Every few weeks a beautiful brown box arrives at our door from Amazon.com containing lovely, glossy covered, cleverly named books about twins. I have collected an entire shelf full of book about raising twins. Garrett has had enough. To give Garrett some relief from my twin books obsession I have started making crafty little things for...wait for it...my twins! I've started making "cool" bibs for Luke "the drool king" Fuller. (Yes, I know the "cool" in cool bibs is quoted. Lets face it, bibs can only get so cool.) We will see how long my crafty-ness will last...

I started this months ago...

I wrote the first part while I was pregnant...

I don't know who you are

I don't know what color your eyes are

I don't know if you will have any hair when you are born

I don't know if you will look alike or completely different

I don't know if you will be funny like your Dad or laugh with your shoulders like your Mom

I don't know what your voices will sound like

I do know that there are two of you

I don't know what your favorite toys will be

I do know that you both love orange juice

I do know that one of you gets the hiccups every time I eat

I do know that you each have 10 fingers and 10 toes

I do know that you are both growing perfectly

I do know that you are both boys and we couldn't be happier

I do know that you both have been the best surprise your Dad and I have ever gotten

I do know what we are very excited to meet you both

And now...

I now know how different your first cries sounded

I now know how different you look

I now know that you both have blue eyes, in different shades

I now know that you both have a little hair

I now know that you love when Dad makes silly noises

I now know what your smiles look like

I now know how much Dad and I love you both

Jeff the giraffe

Dear Luke,

You are completely in love with your giraffe, Jeff. Feel free to change his name when you can talk, mom and dad were not too creative.

Dear Calvin,

You are not very attached to Steve. Yes, we are calling your giraffe friend Steve. (sorry) But you love Mom. You tolerate Dad.

It's getting busy in the Fuller House

I really enjoy sleeping. Luckily Garrett and I were blessed with two champion sleepers. These boys are letting us sleep from 11pm-7am! (I am fully aware that I just jinxed myself and will not be sleeping tonight) During the day is a different story. We just started trying to get the boys to nap in their cribs and not with one of us. So far, not so good. They will sleep for hours with us, and about 5 mins in their crib. So, during the day there is not a lot of time for me to write since I am spending a lot of time setting the record for stair sprinting. (seriously, I can get up our stairs in 8 seconds to grab the awake baby.) With the lack of time during the day my goal this year is to sit every evening after the boys go to bed (ok, the goal is every evening. Reality will probably be once a week...) and type out a "Dear Calvin/Luke" note of one thing that each boy has done that day (week). Hopefully by the end of the year Garrett and I will have every milestone documented!

Ok, here goes...

Yesterday you two were officially 3 months old...and wearing 6 month sized clothes. At this rate you will be my size walking into pre-school.

Dear Luke,

Today you discovered a thumb and it must have been delicious since you latched onto it for over 20 mins. Too bad it belonged to your brother... Your favorite toy is your giraffe friend that cousin Anne made you. You think the ears are almost as tasty as Calvin's thumb. Good thing giraffe friend is washable...

Dear Calvin,

I'm pretty sure you are in the early stages of teething because today you did your best Luke impression and alternated between content and screaming every hour. Today you spent a full half an hour resting on your boppy pillow...on your tummy! You watched TV (your favorite...) and finally loved tummy time.