squished up

at the museum of science.

water and boats.

swimming lessons. will he ever learn to swim without a bubble?

 maybe if he concentrates...

he actually puts his face in now with the teacher. not with mom...

 dad took him to see the USS Ross which was docked in boston for st. patrick's day.

 pretty cool tour of an active guided-missile destroyer (i had to look that up)

i guess they did not realize the destroying power of this guy so they let him climb all over.

 and what did he come in so excited to tell me about?

the sidewalk that went up for the construction workers they saw on the walk over...that's my guy!

birthday time

one week ago (sorry for the delay but we were taken down by yet another bug...except dad. he has been lucky this year) matty was so excited to take his brothers on a birthday ride in the wagon, passing out cupcakes to all our neighborhood friends. the weather did not cooperate, but we still had fun playing with it. and we will take the birthday ride as soon as it warms up a bit!

 jack was ill and required constant snuggles. no problem for super-dad.

 he perked up when matty unwrapped their first present.

 then he realized he got his very own corn popper but did not know how to open it. seriously, he recognized the handle.

 cake! ahh, not really interested in food with the fever, snot and diarrhea.

 wax however, yumm-o!

thankfully we had a cake redo when aunt maria and uncle jim came to celebrate on saturday. this was the icing of the second cake:

 i just noticed i called matty the "big bother" in the last post. i am not correcting because it is a funny typo.

a year of twins

i can not believe these little guys are one. here are some of my favorite memories of ben and jack's first year:

my big bother.

little did i know how temporary this joy would be.
and i will never forget how big he looked when he jumped into my bed after the babies arrived.

"are they twins?"
it is unbelieveable how many people ask

 umm, no...?

 they have been dressed same or matching every single day. matty used to tell people who would approach with the crazed grin "yes, they're twins. two boys. c'mon mom." he got sick of people asking and yes, people would often guess "a boy and girl, right?" yes, in their identical blue outfits.

 seriously people. 

the ouchie-outie belly button

 sorry jack. if it is any consolation, i am now an outie. no matter how many crunches i do or miles i run my button is an outie and i have saggy stomach skin and it's is half your fault. and half ben's.

my sweet baby w

(snort, gargle, belch, choke, cough, bark, snort, whoop, whoop, choke, gargle. snort.)

extra funny now because he is just so darling.

and i will never forget laughing hysterically at god-knows-what-time-in-the-middle-of-the-night with my mom about 'when nicole has a baby' and the bowl of percocet. good luck aunt ninny! (today is her due date, and i hope the little one comes today as this date will always be special to me.)

this picture:

it looks so sweet but my heart was racing and i was thinking 'how the &%@# do i put them down?'

and this picture:

taken on their actual birthday. just a funny moment i am so glad to have captured in a picture. it was a true role reversal for these two.

my twin survival list:

sleep. any and all.

my mom who always--i mean always--answered the phone and listened. and gave me my often used mantra: i am bigger. i am stronger. i am smarter.

journey and boston. thank you for the energy on many a weary morning.

mum mums. best baby snack ever.
boppys and bjorns.
my friend lori, for always holding or feeding a baby while chasing her own two. and being pregnant.
coffee.
the handful of other local twin moms who are so encouraging.

and although we battled fevers up to 101.7 last week, we still had fun on the big day. (well maybe except for jack.)

i am at my limit with photos on the blog, and had to purchase more space and waiting for it to arrive (? whatever), so many more photos to come.

bleh

happy spring! we did take a stroll despite disappointing temperatures.

it even snowed yesterday.

we make the best of it.

sweet little jack has been battling a fever and cold for the past 36 hours or so. we did manage a few smiles when a birthday package from aunt nicole and uncle scott arrived.

these are the funniest singing toys ever!

and the smile when this one realized there was a little gift in there for him! he was sooooo happy (especially since his old one broke a couple of months ago)

ben was a bit skeptical of the entire situation. he did wake up just moments before.

they could not take their eyes off the weird singing toys.

big brother showing them how it works. he told us this morning he is excited that today is the last day his brothers will be babies because tomorrow they are "little boys." he will be fine if he never hears the word "babies" again. singular baby is fine. and we are hoping a new baby joins us this week--tomorrow! c'mon baby lundy!!

this morning after a good does of tylenol, i tried to get a picture of the "little boys" on the chair. was still not the right time.

(it was a) happy st. patty's day

 on the eve of this official city holiday, we got what may be mom's favorite thing ever.....

 a birthday wagon for jack and ben!

 our inaugural run had to wait as it was raining, but we managed to play with it for hours inside.

 ben stayed in it for an hour. seriously, just sitting in it. (jack became skeptical when we he discovered, thanks to big brother matt, that it rolled.)

 and yesterday was soooo warm out (remember, it's a relative term here in the great northeast) we had to walk past the already drunk revelers to one of the best playgrounds on the harbor.

 jack is warming up to the sand. (file under: we may be able to go to beach this summer after all)

 and the little boys discovered pigeons, who were snacking on some dropped goldfish.

 ben discovered we live near the airport

matt played on his favorite fountain while mom secretly hoped this was the moment the city had it scheduled to turn on.

 and then...we debuted our new wagon. i know we are a cute bunch, but boy this was the sweetest sight ever.

 thank you gigi and pepop! we love it!

(and what a grand idea :)

 this is our "monkey tree" out back where we have taken pictures of matty hanging from this spot since we moved here about three years ago. and we have used the changing leaves and flowering branches to predict when the season were changing. he used to barely reach the branches. now he climbs all over it. it will be sad to leave this area.

happy spring (in three days)!