March 2012.

March was a great month.  I would say it was busy, but busy seems to be our normal these days.  We started out the month with a trip to the beach.  A group of friends from work were getting together for a going-away beach BBQ and we decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to take the twins for their first big beach excursion.  It was a ton of fun and we learned that one of the secrets to having a successful beach trip is to have plenty of extra adults around to hold babies.  That and shade.  Shade makes 4 hours at the beach manageable!  The babies got to dip their toes in the ocean for the first time and Brennan was in absolute heaven playing in the waves with his Daddy.  He even got to boogie board a bit.  Mr. Beckett loved the beach and I have no doubt that he'll grow into a beach bum like his big brother.  Kiernan was a little more skeptical, as the sun and the wind were a bit much for his sensitive eyes.  But after he had some time to adjust he loved wiggling his hands through the sand.

For those who don't know, one of Brian's favorite books of all time is The Lorax.  He can recite almost the entire book from memory and has been able to since I met him … like, way before kids.  So he was very excited to hear that the movie was coming out.  We enlisted our friend Laurie's twin-watching skills and headed out for a Mommy-Daddy-Brennan date.  After a quick bite to eat, we arrived at the theater to take a few pictures by The Lorax sign.  We were 3 of 5 people in the theater.  Brennan spent the majority of the movie sitting on Daddy's lap, squeezing his Lorax stuffed animal.  I think I had more fun watching Brennan watch the movie than anything.  He did incredibly well for his first movie.  At the end of the movie I cried - not because of the movie, but because my tiny little baby is now a big enough boy to attend a movie.  ::sigh::  It's just amazing how much he has changed over the last 6 months.  He's more mature and his vocabulary is incredible.  I love having conversations with him now.  It's so funny when he throws in words like, "Hmmmm let's see.  Oh ok, that's right."  He's like a little adult.  Love him so much!!

The following week Brian's parents flew in to visit for a long weekend.  We spent Thursday afternoon swimming in the pool at their hotel.  Beckett & Kiernan loved spending time in the warm water and of course Brennan the fish was ecstatic.  His lips were blue, his teeth were chattering, he said "yes" when we asked if he was cold, but he cried and cried and cried and asked to be throw in one more time when we said it was time to be done.  On Friday Brennan, Brian, and his parents had lunch on the beach then spent the afternoon while the twins and I were at our Mom's group.  That evening we packed up and headed to Orlando for the night.  Brian's sister Jen and her husband Brian were in town and he had a surprise 30th birthday party planned for her.  We enjoyed the evening at the party and spent our first night in a hotel with all 3 boys.  It went better than expected and on Saturday we headed back to our house to spend the day at the beach.  It was a nice, relaxing St. Patrick's day at the beach with the family and a few of Brian's coworkers joined us for a bit.  Saturday night after the boys went to bed we declared it Family Game Night and spent hours playing games with Jen, Brian, Loren, & Pat.  Sunday morning came early.  Jen and I ran/walked the local Strawberry Festival 5K.  When we were done we strolled around the art festival for a bit before saying goodbye to the family.  It was great to have visitors in town and made us excited for our next round of family visitors.

The rest of March was in one word - awful.  We all had fevers, colds, and coughs at varying times and to varying degrees.  Poor Brian got hit the hardest and it lasted the longest for him.  Kiernan and Brian are STILL not 100% better, both with lingering coughs and runny noses.  We're looking forward to a fun, HEALTHY April!