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Rachel caught the boys kneeling up on their Thomas table looking out the window longingly. They both love to play outside, and they had been cooped up inside too long for their taste.

I don’t usually post pictures of the boys, but I like this one so much I had post it so others could see it.

Today Wyatt had his 18 month check up. Everything seems to be fine. He weighed 22 lbs 3oz (8th percentile) and his height was 31 3/4 in (45th percentile). His weight is a little low for his age, but it has been tracking that way since he was born. He has made every milestone except his speech. We aren’t overly concerned about the speech at this point, but it is something we will work with him on and make sure it develops.

As we were leaving we made appointments for Wyatt’s 2 year check up and Noah’s 3 year check up. It is hard to believe that those milestones are coming up so quickly.

Earlier in the week our kitchen faucet started acting up. Last night we decided to go ahead and replace it. I’ve done this lots of times before. It’s not a very hard process and usually takes less than an hour.

This time was a little different. I had two little helpers to fetch me tools and crawl under the sink with me. Yes, they were in the way from time to time. And Yes, they did like laying on me or standing on me while I was laying on my back under the sink. It was still a great father and sons experience that I would never change in the world. They both had to go and get their toy tools to make sure we got the job done correctly! Noah really had a blast helping.

I’ve wanted some artwork to put up in the office for awhile. Earlier this week, my first pieces of original artwork arrived. I now have them hanging on my office wall. I’ve taken a picture so everyone can see. I’m so proud. The one on the left is from Noah. The one on the right is from Wyatt.

Rachel should get some props because she actually lets them play with markers, paints, and crayons. I know a lot of mothers who don’t.

Recently we’ve been having a rough time with the boys sleeping habits. In the hopes of improving the situation, we started putting the boys down while they were awake and getting them to fall asleep on there own. Some time has also past since we took away their pacifiers.

This has greatly improved Noah sleeping habits. He now goes to sleep on his own and stays in bed until 5 or 6 in the morning. Wyatt still wakes up pretty early in the night, but he is improving. Here is hoping this improvement continues and we can all catch up on our sleep.

You would think we would have a working nighttime routine figured out by now, since our oldest is two and a half. I’ll tell you that we don’t.

At one point we could put our youngest, Wyatt, in bed after having a sippy and he would fall asleep. Noah would go to sleep after rocking for a while and getting a story. Wyatt will only go to sleep if we rock him, now. He gets up in the night and cries until one of us sleeps with him. Noah will only go to sleep if we sit next to his bed. He gets out of bed and comes get in bed with us most nights. It has gotten especially bad since we have taken away the pacifiers.

So what is a good nighttime routine to get them back in the habit of going to bed by themselves and staying in bed?

2007 has been an exciting year full of changes for me and the family. We’ve bought 2 acres of land a couple of miles outside the city that we are planning on build a new house on in 2009.

I left Tone Brothers, Inc. in December of 2006 and started working for AOL. So work has been completely different for me this year. I went from a 70 mile a day commute to working at home. I went from working in a manufacturing environment on an iSeries server to working on the Navigator browser using Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X, and Linux. This has been the most fulfilling year for me as far as work goes in a long long time. The announcement on December 28th of the EOL for Netscape client side software, it looks like I’ll have lots of changes in 2008 to keep me going.

Noah turned 2 in August and Wyatt turned 1 in November. We have had Noah learn to talk and talk and talk and now going through the terrible twos. Wyatt has learned how to roll over, sit up, crawl, and then walk. Noah had a case of hives that lasted for several weeks and we never found the culprit. We had some serious scares with Wyatt and his deformational plagiocephaly which hasn’t been any problem since he seems to be developing right on schedule. We have had a ton of bumps, bruises, good days and bad. I am so lucky to have found a job where I can be home for all of it and love watching every minute.

Rachel and I celebrated our 9th anniversary this year. Its crazy how fast the time goes by, it seems like we were newlyweds only yesterday. I have the most wonderful wife in the world. She is a wonderful mother to our 2 boys and she has been extremely supportive in my decision to change careers at such a crazy time in our lives. We have our moments, you have to remember that we both are at home all the time now, but I fall in love with her more everyday and I can’t think of another person I would want to spend the rest of my live with. We both quit smoking in October of this year.

This has been a wonderful year full of changes, I hope that 2008 will be the same.

Now that Noah is about to hit his 28th month, I think we have entered the terrible twos. Over the past couple of weeks he has become much more melodramatic when he doesn’t get his way. Although, his tantrums are not nearly as bad as some of ours friends children. He has taken to saying the opposite of whatever we say as well. If we say up he says down etc… I wonder how long this period is suppose to last?

Friday we met with plastic surgeon about Wyatt’s head. He said that although Wyatt has some closure, he does not have craniosynostosis. He has deformational plagiocephaly. The plastic surgeon says this is nothing to be worried about and he will grow out of it. This has become extremely common since the American Academy of Pediatrics started the “Back to sleep” program. As many as 1 in 70 children are now effected with it.

Noah developed hives a week ago Saturday. He is still getting them and we have not been able to determine a cause yet. It seems like they apear the most when he has been sleeping. The hives are really causing him a lot of itching and pain. If he is still getting them by the end of the week, I think we will take him back to the doctor.

Noah’s speech continues to amaze us. The other day as I was coming up from my office after work and he said “Your my best friend”. It times like that or when he says “Love you” that you know exactly what being a parent is all about.

Wyatt is developing at a rapid pace. It seems like something happens at about the 10 month mark where they really start to change. He has gotten his first tooth and is working on a second one. He is crawling, pulling himself up to everything, and is clapping.

For those of you wondering, we’ve gotten the results of Wyatt’s CT Scan. It does show he has a craniosynostosis. This is not the diagnosis we had hoped for, but the pediatrician is optimistic. It is what he calls a minimal closure of the anterior fontanelle. We’ve scheduled an appointment in a couple of weeks with a plastic surgeon who specializes in pediatric head and face reconstruction.