Merry Christmas - a few days late...

Well as I am sure you can imagine Christmas was a little different around the Tolliver household this year!! We had an amazing Christmas!! On Christmas eve for our church service Terry played Joseph, I played Mary, and Baylee played baby Jesus during the 4:30 service and Rylee played baby Jesus during the 11:00 service and we served to tell our part of the Christmas story as part of the service. It was a humbling experience to play that role and really helped us focus on the true reason for the season.

Then came Christmas day and for the most part it was all about the boys!!! Terry's parents came over for the "first shift" of Christmas and here are some pictures from that.

Even though they both had a present to open Baylee thought it would be more fun to come help his brother open his than to open his own.

We all had to help out with the gifts - they were into the wrapping paper for a minute but then would either lose interest or put it in their mouth so one of us would take over.

Then the boys had a nap and my parents came over for the evening shift. Here is a shot of me with the boys and my mommy and daddy.

Between Santa, and all of the grandparents they had lots of toys and fun stuff to play with but this is what they chose to do....

Baylee had to help daddy read the instructions to daddy to help him put together his new shop vac.

Rylee was enjoying some time with Great Grandma...

Baylee rounded out his exciting day by helping mommy clean up after everyone left.
Thanks to everyone for making our first Christmas so special!!!

Birthday photos

Overall the boys had a good 1st birthday yesterday - we had a few visitors and they got some really fun toys that they are enjoying. Here are some shots from the day.

I couldn't resist getting them "My 1st Birthday" shirts so here are shots of both of the boys in their shirts...

Kate came over to play with them for a while and after they went down for a nap she helped me decorate their cupcakes - Thanks so much for your help!!! Following are pictures of the boys enjoying their cupcakes!!!

Baylee just grabbed the whole cupcake and munched off of it.
Rylee was showing us that he knew he was 1 today!! It was really funny because he just did this on his own with no "coaching" from mom and dad to do it for the picture.

He also discovered that if he moved his cupcake to this position he could just lean down and eat off of it and wouldn't have to hold it - we told him he was being lazy :-)

We are all very excited for tomorrow as well with family and celebrating our first Christmas together. Hope everyone has a great Christmas eve!!!

One year ago today...

What were you doing last year at this time? Probably much the same things you are doing this year - planning your Christmas meal, wrapping those final few presents, maybe rushing to the store to buy those final few presents. We were doing much the same thing just getting ready for Christmas. However, thousands of miles away something very different was happening. At 11:45 am at Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam Tuan Minh Ho entered the world. Just five minutes later at 11:50 am Tu Minh Ho entered the world. I don't know if it was that day or prior to that day that a 26 year old woman made a choice that would forever change our lives! She chose to leave the hospital and leave those two precious baby boys behind. I don't know what was behind her choice but I do know what a blessing it is to our life that she made that choice. Last year as we were preparing for Christmas we talked about how different it would be this year with a child, remember we didn't "meet" the twins until April, so we were still talking in singleton speak back then. However, we had no idea last year just how richly we were going to be blessed this Christmas. As we celebrate their big 1 year birthday today I can't help but think of their birth mother and what she is thinking today - does she wonder where they are, does she wonder how they are doing, does she think about them at all? All I can really focus on is again how blessed we are by the choice that she made. Ok so that long drawn out mushiness was to essentially say today is the boy's first birthday!!! It is hard to believe they are one already!! We don't really have any plans for the day and in fact tonight we have to go to church for practice for the Christmas eve service but the boys are wearing their 1st birthday outfits and have some presents to open. With all the change that has happened in their life in the last two months it would probably be a little overwhelming to do too much for their birthday anyway. However, mommy and daddy are celebrating their lives and how much they have already added to our lives!! Since they are still just on baby food, pretty much, I do plan on making them cupcakes later just to see what they do with them so i will be sure and post those pictures tomorrow.

The last few days have been quite eventful here at the Tolliver household. The boys are exploring more and more, which means we are babyproofing more and more. Also with exploration comes some tumbles and spills so there has been a fair share of fussing. Also with more exploration and adventure comes more of mommy saying no - which they are not real fond of either :-) It is so great to see them up and moving and much as they are - I know I have said it before but I am just amazed at how well they have been doing!! Here are some shots from the last couple of days.

By the way I do have a barricade up now so they can't get to the christmas tree but I had moved it to let my aunt out and when I turned around they were both at the tree :-)

2 months ago today.....

Can you even believe that it has ONLY been two months since we met our precious boys?? It seems like so much longer and I again can't get over how well we all have adjusted and I really can't get over how well they are progressing!! Here is a picture from our first few days in Vietnam where pretty much all they could do was lay on the bed because the only mobility they had was to roll overAnd now....they are pulling up on everything and will probably be walking soon!!!

They continue to amaze us more and more everyday. We have been so blessed in these two months and can't wait to see what each day holds for us!! Thanks again to everyone who has shared this journey and experience with us!!

As for yesterday, everything went well with Terry's surgery - anyone who has had Lasik surgery can probably relate to the "fly eyes" that Terry had to wear yesterday....

The boys did fairly well during the wait - it was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be - we got there at 11:40 and didn't leave until 2:30 but overall the boys were real troopers and spent most of the time playing with toys! We had to go back up today for a follow up appointment and he said all was well. Since we were on the north side of course we had to go to Costco! Hope everyone is having a good weekend before Christmas!!

Another big day

Well yesterday was another day of first. I needed to go out and get some groceries - in the past when we go out one of us would take the stroller with the boys and the other would take the cart - well i was going to be by myself so i was thinking what am i going to do - there is no way i can push a cart and a stroller so i gave in and let the boys ride in the cart. As you can see from the first picture Baylee was not too sure that he was liking it so he held on to his brother - i thought that was just adorable. They still don't look real thrilled when i took their picture once we got into the store but they got more used to it and happier as the trip went out. Of course you will also notice that i do have a cart cover - come on people would you expect any less from me - do you know how germy those carts are!?!?!?!?!They also found a new favorite thing to do instead of climbing the stoop - needless to say this picture was taken before i put on the fireplace guards and they have since been put into place.
Terry is having eye surgery today so we are heading there in a little while - not sure how well the boys are going to enjoy the wait. They used to be fine sitting in the stroller for a while but now that they are more on the move i am interested to see how it goes. Have a great day!!

TOO much WAY TOO fast!!!

It has been quite a week here at the Tolliver household and mommy is just getting more and more surprised at these boys everyday. It has been a big week for Rylee especially here is his list of accomplishments for the week:

Learned to clap

Learned to click his tongue - that is the best way I can describe it

Learned to climb the stoop

Started pulling up on anything that he can and walking along side of it while holding on

Has a tooth coming in on top - I tried to get a picture of this but he was having none of that!!!

Baylee has been doing the clapping, tongue thing, and climbing for a couple of weeks now but this week Rylee started doing all of them too. We ended up having to lower the mattress on both of their beds because they are both starting to pull up in bed and we didn't want to create an opportunity for them to fall out. When they came home, just seven weeks ago tomorrow, all they could do was scoot and army crawl and now they are on the verge of walking - it is hard to believe all they have already accomplished in such a short period of time. I am so thankful that I have been able to be home to experience it. Only 3 weeks left - I am already dreading the thought of going back!!!! I am going to miss them so much during the day!!!

On another note - I have often read the warning labels on things and thought why did they have to put that on there - like don't use your hair dryer in the bathtub - the other day i read on my refrigerator manual not to store live animals in your refrigerator when moving but yesterday i realized why they put some of the warnings on things when i turned around and found this...

All of the excitement of the week has worn Rylee out apparently - yesterday I went upstairs to put Baylee down for a nap and came back down and found this...guess he was ready for a nap too!

Mommy is NOT David Copperfield!!

Yesterday after making multiple trips to the Christmas tree to get my son and after moving multiple ornaments I got the brilliant idea that I would create a diversion - I would put the chaise lounge in the path that Baylee always took to the tree and my thought was if that were there it would deter him and he would give up. Well think again - he proved to me that I am in fact not David Copperfield and I did not make the tree disappear!! If you look closely on the bottom right side of the picture you can see a little butt and one little foot feet that have gone around the chair as if to say duh mommy the tree is still there I just have to go around!!

He did try to make up for it though by helping me clean - Kari I guess there must be something about boys and the swifer sweeper!!

I did find yesterday that Baylee was momentarily distracted from trying to go into the other room when he "discovered" the bouncy chair. When the boys first got home I tried to use this but neither were really interested in it so about all I use it for now is if they both REALLY need a bottle at the same time when I am here by myself I will do one on my lap and one next to me in the chair. So when I am doing that the bar is not on it - yesterday I was moving some stuff so I had it put together and hadn't moved it out of their play area yet - well Baylee found it and was looking at it and then I turned on the music and effects and that kept him entertained for about 20 minutes - and gave me 20 minutes of not chasing :-)

I couldn't remember if I had ever posted a video of Rylee in his Jumperoo before and he was in a very jumpy mood yesterday so I thought I would share.

I had a moment of disbelief yesterday when I was looking at the calendar for something and realized their birthday is NEXT TUESDAY!! My little babies are going to be a year old!!!! I just can't believe how fast time goes by!!! Hope everyone is having a good day!!! I am trying to get some Christmas things done today - I have had a few little distractions this year so I am not as on it as I usually am - but the distractions have been SO well worth it :-)