WARNING: Now Entering the Terrible Twos

So the boys turned two on May 1st. Yay, boys! Hard to believe, really. They're around 27 pounds now and definitely aren't having any trouble gaining weight. We no longer have to go to a gym for a strength workout -- these days, we just pick up the boys.

A few shots from the birthday bash:

(Thanks to Mandy Hennebury for the Awesome Cake. Thanks to her husband Matt for the awesome sliders and hot dogs. Thanks to everyone else for...being awesome.)

If you look closely, you'll see that the boys did get a little taste of the cake icing.

And they had some help from the neighborhood kids opening presents.

We attended a Harris Methodist NICU reunion today and saw some familiar faces. (Sorry, didn't get any pics there. If anyone reading this has some to share, let us know.) We realized we haven't been to Harris with the boys since they first left the NICU. Seems like yesterday we were there. Yet another example of how time flies.

William and John-Raven have been working hard, and it's paying off. Their progress isn't speedy, but it's progress nonetheless.

Have I ever mentioned we love mirrors?

We have no idea whether the boys are really about to enter their "terrible twos" or not. Most people comment on what good attitudes they have. And they're right -- most of the time, the boys are happy kiddos. But trust us...they have their moments.

Springing Forward

Ah, spring. Aside from the itchy, watery eyes, the layer of pollen that turns our vehicles yellow, and the looming anxiety of another brutally hot Texas summer, we love spring around the CobbQuad household. Not that Winter was all that bad. We manage to stay happy even when it's cold outside...

...but we're definitely ready for the warmer weather and are already enjoying geting outside more. And now that we know their congestion issues have been due to adenoid problems rather than allergies, we're a lot more comfortable getting the boys out.

Speaking of adenoids, the surgery seems to have done the trick. Since then, they've had fewer congestion issues, which means easier breathing, less snoring, and fewer gag-triggers. Plus, it was one of the easiest surgeries they've had so far. They handled it like champs, as usual.

We all enjoyed a morning out at the recent Deep Ellum Arts Festival. Unfortunately, the boys were determined not to keep their eyes open during pics.

Their development is coming along, and they're getting stronger (and bigger) every week. We recently purchased a crawler to help the boys work on those crawling skills.

Early on, they HATED the crawler, mostly because it made them work. But the work is paying off, and as they get stronger, they don't mind as much. John-Raven even does a pretty good Superman impression from time to time.

In fact, John-Raven is probably leading brother in strength and overall physical tolerance. He can sit up for short periods (with a little assistance), and his core strength is improving. He even handled his time in a grocery cart pretty well (not that you can tell from his expression...I think I have that same expression when I go grocery shopping).

But William is getting better, too. We think the main thing holding him back is his personality rather than his ability. He's our resident lazybones. He'd rather smile and look cute than actually work.

So as we cruise into the warmer months, we look forward to some more outdoor time as a family. As the boys are getting bigger, we're all looking for a chance to get some air and stretch out a bit. Or just hang out in our pajamas.

Friday Night with the Boys

John-Raven and Dad hung out on Friday night after brother went to bed. (Because SOMEBODY refused to go to sleep.)

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Update: Adenoidectomy This Friday

Quick Update: I posted last time about our trouble with congestion and how our allergist referred us to an ENT (ear nose throat) doctor, right? The results are in: the ENT doc said William's adenoids are very enlarged and need to come out. Knowing the boys' tendency to mirror each others' ailments, we took John-Raven in too. The not-at-all-surprising results? His adenoids need to come out too. So both boys are going in this Friday for an adenoidectomy. It's a day surgery and should be one of the easiest they've had to date. Recovery shouldn't be too bad either (the biggest trouble with recovery after adenoidectomy or tonsilectomy is that eating is difficult with such a sore throat, but the boys are tube-fed, so that won't cause any trouble).

So, wish us luck folks, and we'll keep you posted on the outcome.

-The Cobb Quad

Congestion is Snot Fun

One of the things keeping us busy in recent months has been, in a word, snot.

The sinus fairy blessed the boys with powerful and persistent congestion problems back in the fall. Though not among the most dramatic challenges we faced in 2010, the problem certainly has been frustrating.

And we haven't really identified a source yet. In the fall, we assumed it was allergies. Then we thought it was a cold. And since both boys have been teething so much (I'm beginning to think they're part shark), that seems to be adding to the problem.

It's been snot city around here. Remember this scene from Ghostbusters?

Kinda like that. (Just don't call William as "an ugly little spud" even if he does slime you. He will revenge pee on you.)

One of the ways we've been combatting their congestion is with breathing treatments.

Most of the time, breathing treatments don't annoy William too much.

The sinus drainage also tends to set off their gag reflex and cause them to vomit (which they're more likely to do being tube-fed kids), so we've fought hard to hold back the slime. We've done the allergy medicine thing and the cold medicine thing and the breathing treatment thing and we've used teething stuff to help with that. We recently went to an allergist who did skin tests and showed that apparently, they aren't allergic to anything except lack of attention, which they react violently to.

Over time, John-Raven seems to have shaken most of his congestion. William's has lingered, and a bout with some sort of cold in December didn't help.

William took a few days to fight off his cold (complete with high fever, inability to keep anything down, etc.) I always hate to see the boys feel so cruddy, but they usually keep a good attitude. And they support each other, too...

Solidarity, my brother!

Since the allergist ruled out allergy issues, we're next taking William to an ENT (ear nose throat) doctor. Since William has almost always had a tendency to snore, I have suspicions that he has some other issues going on. Here's hoping we get some answers.

Wait, it's 2011 already?

Seems like only last month it was 2010. Crazy how time flies...

But seriously, time HAS been a beast these last several months. I realize I've been slacking on my blog responsibilities. I was looking at my Google Tasks list just the other day and saw the entry for "Update blog with boys' recent measurements."

I thought to myself, "Okay. I can do that." Then, because I was curious, I checked the date to see when I was originally planning to post that info.

August 22, 2010.

Nice. Clearly, I'm on top of things.

Despite a couple of false re-starts, I'm trying (once again) to get back on track. Will I really really really honest and for true actually start keeping the blog up to date again? Only time will tell for sure, but you can help keep me in line. If you notice I'm slacking, break out the whip and crack it by sending a message to cobbmatt (at) gmail.com, where I reads the emails from the Interwebs.

Now on with the show...

Since I've been so sloppy with my updates (and since I know you might not be reading this if it weren't for the pictures), I'm just going to drop some pics below.

Over the holidays, the CobbQuad has an early morning appointment and stops by the Galleria afterward for breakfast.

At Gammy and Granpaw's house, John-Raven tests out a carrot. It didn't excite him.

William calls it a night a little early.

Mom and John-Raven decide it's time to call it a night, too.

Our little superheroes. World's finest!

I hope that holds you over for a few days. I hope to have another update soon.

Blog? What Blog?

So in my last post, I said I'd get more pics in a few days. But what I MEANT was a few weeks. Right? Hear me sigh deeply at not having enough time to keep up...

I'll try to get a better post up soon. In the meantime, here's a pic of the boys from earlier tonight, courtesy of Lissy, one of our two amazing nannies.