Hello

Hey guys, sorry we are a day late on getting the blog out.

The Doane clan is great everyone is growing, recovering (Devo) and getting ready for the new fate that awaits us in Phoenix.

They boys are just amazing! It seems like they are on growth steroids or something, every morning when I go in their room I am amazed at what changes seem to have taken place overnight. Caleb is getting skinny!! His face is thinning out so much and his gut (though still there) is really shrinking. Braydon is growing out of shoes like it is going out of style and his 3T clothing is starting to be look "fitted". SOMEBODY STOP THIS!!! I love it and I hate it all at the same time. They are amazing and their little personalities are something else, I love getting to know them as little people but I want babies to snuggle and smooch on!! Anyone out there feel sorry for me?? If not I am doing a good enough job of feeling sorry for myself so no worries.

Caleb's new cute things: He puts his little finger up to his lips and says Shhh!! He also pats on his leg when he calls the dogs. Pat, pat "dawggs, dawwggss" it is so cute. He also has started lashing out at his brother, for the past few months when B will take something from him Caleb has just started screaming but as of this week he throws his arm back and wails on his brother, landing the blow anywhere from top of head to barley making contact on his back. This move is immediately followed by timeout but I can assure you....he doesn't care. Timeout is like (a second home) I mean... a place to sit to watch the action where his brother can not touch him, he kinda loves it there. So this poses the question....."Who is winning this battle?"

Braydon is 90% loving brother 10% devil reincarnate. You can find these two playing together for hours without problems and then out of nowhere we see the 10%. Just yesterday Braydon and Caleb were in the driveway and B had Caleb by the back of the shirt and would not let go. He got Caleb turning while he was holding on, Caleb managed to stay on his feet for longer than B had hoped so he walked up and shoved him. That was bad but the worst was that he pushed him over a scooter and Caleb fell nose first onto the cement. He now has a big cut on his nose and a raspberry on his forehead. Nice work 10%!. The 90% Braydon is an angel and I cant get enough of him. He says please and thank you, throws "mom" onto the end of every statement which is adorable. "I have to go potty, mom" "mom, can you get me some juice mom?" "Can I take my car out of my pocket now mom?" "Awww mom"....ok, it doesn't sound as cute in writing but it melts me.

I would love to report that Baby 3 was measuring in the 200th percentile but unfortunately that is just how my stomach is measuring. The info online is telling me that this week the baby is the size of a fig.....some fig.....from the outside it looks a lot more like a large grapefruit.

I know at the top of every ones list of questions is "How is Devo" Have no fear, she is great and only a scar and a week of peace for Rob and I to prove she ever had a break from driving me nuts.

Phoenix, here we come!! Rob got an amazing offer from the position in Phoenix and we are meeting with Realtors this week to get this house listed and moving. Keep your finger crossed the house goes fast! When the house goes, we go!!!

We miss you all and love you guys!!

August (69 photos), by maureen jenkins

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Howdy and sorry for the Belated Blog

Hey guys. Sorry I am a few day behind on the blog, this weekend kicked my rear and I was exhausted Sunday night so just never got around to doing it.
We had a great week and an even better weekend. Someone celebrated an early birthday with a party full of friends and water fun, the boys went to the snack farm this week, Devo is more than on the mend, and the fam is preparing for a fun weekend of Grammie and Grampie being in town.
So the boys week was full of playdates and fun. There were two "bests" 1. They got to go to the Snake and Exotic Animal Farm as well as get memberships to our local library. The snake farm was hot but from what I hear well worth it. They got to pet goats, zebras, chase chickens and hold snakes!
The library was next, the boys got their own membership cards and they had their first lessons on public library behavior. I would say they did quite well and I am becoming quite the expert on the dewey decimal system. They were great about staying quite and they found plenty of books they liked, we now have to work on taking one book out at a time and not pulling 5 off the shelve at once and leaving them on the floor (Zonie!). For 20minutes I restocked books and then we got to check out, the boys each took home 3 books. To my shock they were allowed 50 books!! can you believe that? I would never trust myself with more than 10 at a time, who knows where 50 would end up!
The boys and Lauren have already been back for multiple visits. This last visit the checked out a few books on tape and that was a HIT. They have a CD player in their room they can listen to the book and turn the page at the ding (Great call Lauren).
The week flew by and we were at Friday night preparing for the Sat party before we knew it. Now, I know everyone of you is asking "Why did you have the party a month before his birthday?" Good question..... There were two reasons and neither of which ended up being a factor. First we were not sure if Rob would still be in SA in Sept and we didnt want to take our chances. Second was that we had an invite to do a joint party with a neighbor that ended up not panning out at the last minute. Sooo, instead Braydon just thinks he is Three when he really has a month to go :) .
The party was a blast we had about 30 people over, pizza and juice boxes. Our neighbors were generous enough to let us use their inflatable water slide, it was a total hit! We put up another pool in the back with a slide for the kids, everyone had a blast. Bradyon was so distracted by the cake that he could not enjoy the second half of the party until cake was cut and the toys on top were officially his! (I will upload all the photos to Snapfish so yall can check them out shortly.)
Saturday morning before the party and after a rush of yard work we ran down to Lowes where the boys (that is right...both the boys...Caleb is big enough now) got to build their very own bug boxes!! The boxes got put to use as soon as we got home, two lady bugs were caught and lost their lives almost instantly to the violent shaking of little boys.
On another note, Devo is well and back to jumping fences and eating plants. "Welcome back little girl"
As for this coming weekend, the boys are building with excitement. Grammie and Grampie, Charlie and Max are going to be staying with them and they are soo excited! Rob and I will be in California for a friends wedding and are so lucky to get to go. Thanks Doanes!!

Don't have much else to "story tell" on but here are a few updates, Braydon has taught Caleb how to climb on the bed and all other furniture. Caleb is running in a less goofy way with both knees bending now. Braydon has really taken to teaching his brother things like: What it is like to be locked in a dog cage, how it feels to be bonked on the head with a variety of objects, and my favorite lesson came as the moment of the week. How long can a little boy of 16months be stood on without crying....
Moment of the week: Mom and Dad are in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner we cant see Caleb in the family room but Braydon is playing nicely on the far side of the coffee table with is trains, rolling them all around and having a ball. Then we hear a faint...."ughhh,....ughhh,.....ughhh". Rob and look around, it sounds like Caleb but we cant see him. "ughhh" then Robbie standing behind the sink looking at the cute train playing Braydon says "Braydon, are you standing on your brother?" Dead silence "Braydon!, are you standing on your brother?!!" "Yeah, but it is ok, he likes it, Dad." :) Too funny!

We had a great relaxing but productive weekend! The trend of the weekend was diapers/ undies, I don't think those two had real clothes on for more than 2hours this whole weekend. A sign of good times if you ask me. Other than the weekend apparel, Devo got spayed, kids scored at a garage sale and house work got completed, we did have one small adventure......the boys got locked in the house by themselves for about 20min....all is well now :)

Ok, so the week was busy and the boys did some great art with Mrs. Lauren and took lots of field trips to various places. Rob and I worked but it was a great week all together, Rob didn't travel this week so we had 5 straight nights of family dinners and breakfasts.

When the weekend came around we didn't mean for it to be such a lazy diaper wearing thing it just happened. We started each day with Breakfast upstairs and cartoons (always a treat), the two hours the boys were actually dressed was for a quick trip to Lowe's and a garage sale. We got new door knobs (we are down to one key and since the locks are so old the new ones we have had made do not work) and paint. The garage sale was meant to be a "drive by" but when the perfect set of little boy golf clubs was spotted Rob was out of the car and in negotiation mode. We came home with a Dancing Elmo doll and of course the clubs and bag. B's first golf game is on the horizon. By the way, and all joking aside, he is REALLY good, he is a lefty (playing with right handed clubs) but he is REALLY good. After the outing the boys came home for a nap and got back down to their skibbies almost immediately. Rob changed all the door fixtures while I power washed the front and back patio areas as well as the deck.
Sunday was Diaper Dance party, haircuts for both the boys, Pool party with a neighbor at our house and more work for mom and dad.
As for the adventure......Rob was golfing in the morning and I went out to stain the deck while it was still cool, the boys were in the living room finishing their morning cartoons and playing (I was checking on them every 5 minutes or so). .... Well I went to check on them at one point and the door was locked (remember these door knobs and locks are less than 24hrs old so a new toy in the eyes of some). B had come to the door and locked the deadbolt as well as the door knob. I start talking to him through the door and asking him to let me in.. he could get the deadbolt no prob but for some reason he did not understand what I need him to do to the door handle. We are working on this together through the door for about 10 min when I go to check the front door and windows....no luck. I go back to the back door and now the boys are playing Hokie Pokie with Elmo and are choosing not to return to the task at hand....I am outside a nervous wreck and they are having a Hokie Pokie party. My phone is inside with Everything!! of value...BOYS. I run to a neighbors to use a cell phone, no luck reaching Rob. When I get home.. it occurs to me that the front door only had a deadbolt and B seems to have no problem with those...so after 5min of knocking, a few rings of the door bell and a final threat of an early nap Braydon leaves the dance party to come and open the door. First try...no problems and with a look of "can I get back to Elmo now mom" I was in, the neighbors went home and Rob called in a panic from the course to see if he needed to run home.
Nice Sundday.
On a much cheerier note and a string of hope for us. Our neighbor listed her house last Sat and within a week had three offers, 2 cash. Keep your fingers crossed.
Devo is not quite on the fast track to recovery and it is to be given first attention tomorrow AM when the vet opens. She got spayed on Fri morning and came home Fri night she has since stopped eating and is staining our carpets at every opportunity. Their are babygates up in this house in such a way you would think we were babysitting for sextuplets! Lets all wish her and her bowles a QUICK recovery.
New baby is doing great, Rob and I went to the Dr. last Friday and we got to see the new peanut on the screen and see the heart beat. Still no sign of girl or boy but it was really great to see it was doing so well!
Miss you all and cant wait to see everyone.


Moment of the week: Devo laying down acting sooo pitiful that Braydon brought a bowl of rice and eggs to her and hand fed her for about 10minutes.

My Girls

So the last number of blogs have been about the boys, how cute they are and how they are developing. Tonight we will get a glimpse of that but with MY GIRLS in the story too. It is easy to forget that we have two great little girl puppies at home that are just a part of the family makeup as the two trouble makers I just put to bed. The boys and girls have games that go on throughout the day from morning wake up to bedtime bath.
I also do have a couple really cute Boy stories to share with you from this week and then last but not least I am going to try and start a "Moment of the week" the idea will be that the moment is one of those moments that has caught me during the week with a strong emotion, sad, hilarious (this week), crazy or just the boys being boys.

Ok, so the girls... when we go upstairs to get the boys ready in the morning we are always joined by Devo and on the rare occasion that Margie is not searching the downstairs tile for a fallen food kernel she will join us as well. The door opens I start singing and Devo does a crazy rush, she runs in checks each bed for the right occupant and then in a full sprint will circle the center of their bedroom floor two or three times before leaping onto B's bed or darting out the join Marge on the food search. "Good morning boys"...love the girls.

During the day there seams to be a constant dog interest. Caleb feels the only way to get his hands clean is to stick them in Devos face and let her lick them, he has yet to understand why it works only some of the time (like when he has food on them but then not so good when it is dirt).
Braydon finds things to throw for Margie or he will start a game of chase that Margie loves for one lap and Devo sees through for the next 20 or 30 laps. They laugh hysterically the whole time. Caleb has a favorite past time of going outside with the dogs (all by himself) sitting in a patio chair and watching the girls run, fight and chase birds! He will be out there for hours!
Zonie also likes to grab Devo by the collar and drag her around..he doesn't get too far before she pulls away but they are a cute pair.
We have started family walks in the evenings and the boys both take turns walking Devo. Braydon always starts because she has the most energy at the beginning and he knows how to pull on the leash and plant his feet so he doesn't get pulled down. Zonie is also getting quite the knack for it, the only problem is that every once in a while he will just let go of the leash and no one recognizes it until Devo is off on her own somewhere.

"Good night boys"... when the boys are in the bathtub Devo loves to come in. They line their toys up on the side of the tub and she comes by to lick the water off of them and one by one knocks them all back in to the boys. They think this is the greatest!! Braydon will be in fits of giggles from the first one she knocks back and Caleb (loving to do whatever his brother does) will stock the side of the tub for round two of Devo knocking them in.

Margie is my "bench warmer" she never really starts a game and she doesn't really ever see a game through to the end but when she is put in to play she is the best and the kids love the game that much more because she is now participating. When it comes to a dog (Devo is great don't get me wrong) but Margie is irreplaceable!

They are great dogs and though I am often overwhelmed with Devo's PUPPYNESS but we are really lucky that the boys have such good friends.

Now for the boys. Caleb has had a BIG week he has started running! It is adorable. His little knees dont bend at the same pace, actually one leg is running while the other is walking but he is certainly covering more ground and loves to put the new skill into action when he sees you coming at him with a diaper in hand. He has also added a few new words to his vocab..."All done" and "your welcome". My favorite thing to report on him is that he is my laundry helper. He loves to push the buttons I show him after I have loaded the clothes and when the dryer is done he will stand in front of the open dryer with me behind him and take out each article of clothing one by one. He takes it out and holds it over his head until I grab it and then he get another one. It is the perfect height for him and in all reality taking the clothes out of the dryer is half the job...So thanks again Zonie!

Braydon fell back in love with a bunch of old toys this week. There were a handful of wooden trains, cars and other random objects that had totally lost their appeal until he and I glued Googlie eyes on them all. That was our craft project one night and now he has put his other toys aside and is playing with all the new faces. (who knew what eyes and a sharpie smile could do to a castaway). They went to the Children's Museum this week with Lauren and had a blast and I am THRILLED to report that Dino Fish is dead....no one took it too hard.

"Moment of the week" Both boys standing around the coffee table playing when Braydon stops playing....looks at Caleb and says "Zonie are you pooping again?" I couldnt stop laughing!!