The Brothers...

These two boys sure are growing up fast. They are changing daily, and part of us wishes we could freeze them in this innocent time for them....but just part of us, and some days a very small part! It is no joke, raising two boys. Alex and I are getting worked for lack of a better word. Between the awesome fishing adventures, walks, family back rubs, and laughs we do have our fair share of tears, agression, blow outs, screams, etc. I guess it comes with the territory! One thing I didn't realize about parenting was the extreme highs and lows little kiddies have, and the corresponding affects on the parental figures. Holy moly most days we're just trying to tread water over here, and then we'll have a super sweet moment with one of both of them and it makes it ALL worth it, and then some!
So, for an update on each of the little rugrats....

 Talin is growing like a little weed and coming out of his mellow baby shell a bit. He is now 6 months 3 weeks old and I believe he weighs about 17 lbs. He is sitting like a champ, sometimes trying to lunge forward, and rolling a bit, but for the most part is not yet mobile, (I think our Christmas tree is safe this year!) He eats solids like a champ...when he likes what is being offered. He is a bit picky, and will only take his formula or breast milk seperate...no mixing for this baby for some reason! He is getting probably 5 formula bottles a week, and is on breast milk the rest of the time as well as carrots, winter squash, potatoes, beets (when his mood is right!), and of course all the good sweet fruit. Rice cereal goes well with breast milk and a bit of fruit for him, and his little digestive system can sometimes still get the best of him as he transitions from pure mama milk to a variety of things. He is waking up still in the night to eat, but we are slowly getting on a 12 a.m. feed, and then a 6 am feed which is excellent for this mama. He is a bit of a gassy baby, still needing to be burped to be completely happy.
He loves his brother, but doesn't love his brothers agression and will go from laughing to crying in .2 seconds flat when Forrest gets to be too much for him. For the most part though he laughs and LAUGHS when Mr. F gives him attention. We are just approaching the whole sharing thing as Talin is getting more and more grabby, wanting toys, etc. And, yes, the phase where EVERYTHING goes straight to the mouth is here. So toys smaller than his fist are put away...I hope!
He is a great traveler, (besides his carsickness, which is a real problem. I feel so bad that he has acquired my soft stomach! I hear that once I can turn his car seat around this will improve... though that is awhile off. I am going to invest in a "barf bib"...the name says it all. Hopefully this will help with the clean up, poor guy!) and in general  is in a great mood. He is a blankie and pacifier baby for sleeping, and usually goes down well. He has a habit of cat napping during the day, so we are working towards a solid 2 nap schedule to get him down longer than 30 minute stretches, (as I type, he's been down for over an hour, so far so good!)
I'm just soaking up my little Talin baby. He is truly wonderful and makes me smile with his good natured open mouth kisses and love!

Forrest is marching closer and closer to the big 3 years old! At almost 2 years and 9 mos he is steadily, though slowly, finding his language. We are actually looking into helping him out on this with an evaluation with a speech therapist as although is comprehension is normal, and even beyond normal for his age, his speech is a bit behind. He jabbers on and on, though has some troubles pronouncing certain sounds that he perhaps should have by now. People tell us that kids make huge leaps between 2 1/2 and 3 with their speech, but we would rather be proactive at this point.
He is still a VERY agile and active guy. He can cast 100 feet across the river and reel in like a champ. He seems to have the coordination of a kid far older than 2, but is still in a 2 1/2 year old body. I think this coupled with his lack of language, and who knows what leads to a bit of agression that we are dealing with. It is our biggest struggle with Forrest, just learning what makes him tick and what sets him off. One minute he's cool as a cucumber, and the next, well, watch out! We are lucky to have daycare/preschool providers that are very tolerant with him, (their 4 year old child had similar issues,) though to not see much improvement in the last few months does get to us. We try reward systems, timeouts, explanations, etc and hope this is just a "phase" but it does make for a tough time when he is in one of his bad spells.
Despite the above, we are continually impressed with Forrest and how caring he can be! We have determined he has "healing hands" as he loves giving his Dad back rubs with lotion and is very gentle with this. He gives out hugs and kisses whenever leaving his daycare, or when I have to leave for work. He still loves his trains and this makes for some good bargaining for us parents. He also still loves anything mechanical or anything that involves building things. Legos, mega blocks, etc are made for him and can really entertain him for awhile. Movies are a treat. He loves them and we try to limit them somewhat, though it is nice to have an ace in the hole when you absolutely NEED that break. His recent favorties are the BBC series Human Planet that we have purchased, Finding Nemo, anything having to do with Thomas the Tank Engine and Diesel, and Mary Poppins. As far as weight, I think he's around 33 lbs. He's a good eater and loves salmon, apples, pasta, carrots, and of course his special treats he gets on occasion, ("Dee doos" aka cookies....:-)
Overall we are surviving quite well over here. I realize these days do really go so fast and despite the fact both Alex and I are stretched pretty thin at the moment with our kiddos needs, we really do work well as a team in this whole child rearing deal. I could not have a better father for our kids than Alex. He gives it his all and despite the crazy, hair loosing, head banging experiences that two kids can have on a single parent, (when one of us is working), it really is so awesome to see what cool people our boys are turning into. And to see what awesome brothers they will be for each other!