Friday, December 31, 2010

2010

Because I don't open any copyrights to any pieces of music, you'll have to view this slideshow sans music. You can hum a tune yourself or imagine a song. I suggest anything by Jack Johnson.

Oh, and it's 14 minutes long. So, don't start it unless you have some time. :)

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Pictures of the Week: Dec. 30

I'm posting these a day early ...

Because it's New Year's Eve Eve and I have a special surprise for you tomorrow.

Because I have a series of beautiful shots that my sister took.

Because I missed last week's Picture of the Week.

Enjoy!





Wednesday, December 29, 2010

It's My Checkup, and I'll Cry If I Want To

Yesterday was the twinkies' one-year checkup.

And it was a doozy.

To start it off, the appointment was at 1 p.m. — smack dab in the middle of their long afternoon nap. So, I had to wake them. I cannot state enough what a terrible, terrible thing it is to have to wake your children. Especially if you have the kind who struggle to sleep. Looking at you, Claire.




But I woke them, loaded them up and headed to the doctor's. Normally, I don my SuperMom costume and lug two heavy babies in their car seats to the appointments myself. But lucky for me (and the girls), my sisters were staying with me for a couple of days and "got" to come with us.

The moment I laid the girls down to remove their clothing, they started screaming. And they didn't stop until we got out of the office. No, seriously. I'm not kidding. They screamed for nearly an hour.

Being measured was scary. The scale was terrifying. And seeing the doctor walk in was horrific. They clung to me like their lives were in mortal peril. And that was BEFORE we even got to the shots.

But afterward, we rushed them outside, let the fresh air dry their tears, and they calmed down almost instantly.

I cannot thank my sisters enough for hanging out with me for the last couple of days and helping me feed and play and care for these little twinkies. We are so lucky to have them in our lives.





P.S. Sorry, Cassie. I couldn't find any photos of you and the girlies. This was the best I could do.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Babies' First Birthday



Despite being woken from their naps early, forced to change clothes (something Grace detests) and the house being full of "strangers," the girls had a fantastic first birthday.

They had a chance to meet cousins they have never met, play with friends they haven't seen in a long time, and they got some good grandma time, too.



We owe a huge thanks to everyone who came, especially since the invitations were so late. Turns out you need to be a super organized person to have a birthday and Christmas so close together. And super organized is not how I would describe my home life right now.

But good times were had by all.





By far, the best part of the whole day was watching the girls dig into their first birthday cake. Claire's strategy was just to keep stuffing it in and hope that no one told her mom that she was eating that much sugar. Grace's strategy was to just look at it and wonder what in the world she was supposed to be doing with it.







But eventually, Grace really got going.



And Claire called it quits.



And Scott ate the leftovers.



Happy first birthday to my favorite little lovies!!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Babies' First Christmas

I don't even know where to begin. The past few days have been a whirlwind of family, friends and milestones.

It started Friday afternoon with our first Christmas celebration with Scott's side of the family. The gifts were a hit, but the wrapping paper stole the show. No toy could compare to getting to crinkle and tear and occasionally eat it.



After that, we loaded up and drove to my parents' house.

We played a little dress up…





Ate a little dinner …





And headed to bed. They slept so soundly, I briefly considered moving back in with my parents. (Just kidding, parents … for now.)

We woke up the next morning to two well-rested, happy little babies. It was a Christmas miracle!!

We weren't sure if Santa would come considering all of the naughty behavior lately, but he did and they were SO excited about what he brought them.



They (I) opened the rest of their gifts while they crinkled, tore and ate some of the wrapping paper.

After lunch, Grace zonked out and Claire didn't. Naturally. Then we loaded back up and came home to prepare for the big day on Sunday.

But more on that tomorrow. For now, I leave you with some more photos of babies' first Christmas.









Thursday, December 23, 2010

Housekeeping

Our new dishwasher was installed yesterday. It took approximately 11 seconds to "do" dishes, and now I am enjoying a little relaxation. Something I haven't had much of lately.

I'd like to take this opportunity to get you caught up on the latest twin happenings. Except I'm stuck.

I have so much to tell that none of it is coming together coherently.

So, I'm just sitting here. I finally have the time and the energy to write a blog for you, but my mind is blank. I type something. Delete it. Type something else. Delete. So, instead of forcing the issue, I'm just going to shower you with baby pictures from this week.


Mom. Seriously. Take Off The Snowman Pants.


Hit And Run


But Officer, I Swear It Was An Accident!


Permission To Destroy?


The Short End Of The Stick

Must. Have. Present.

You Can't Resist This Look And You Know It.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

I'll See That Bet

Dear Gracie,

Bite me.

Love,
Claire

P.S. I could walk without the walker if I really wanted to.




Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Upping the Ante

Dear Claire,

Your move.

Love,
Gracie



Editor's note: Yes, I'm wearing snowman pajama pants. Wanna make something of it?

Monday, December 20, 2010

A Case of the Mondays

Today is Tuesday.

Check again. I'm not wrong.

Today is most certainly Tuesday.

I know this because yesterday was most certainly a Monday. There is no way that my day yesterday could have existed on any other day than a Monday.

As many of you know, throughout the last year, Grace has been my kid with eating troubles and Claire has been my kid with sleeping troubles.

This weekend we fought the sleeping troubles.

It was rough. I didn't mind when Claire decided to drop from three naps down to two. That seemed normal. I didn't mind when she decided to drop from two naps down to one. That seemed a little early, but still within normal range.

But yesterday I reached my limit. She was cranky in the morning, but refused to take a morning nap. Then she nearly refused to take an afternoon nap, and it took both Scott and I and all of the tricks we know to convince her.



And even then, the nap was only for 45 minutes.

All I could think yesterday was if we put our two babies together, we would have a fantastic eater AND a fantastic sleeper. And I started fantasizing about what life would be like if we had one child who both ate without screaming and slept without screaming.

But then my fantasy took a turn for the worse when I realized the result could also be a baby who screamed while eating AND sleeping. I shuddered at the thought.

Scott and my mom figuratively slapped some sense into me, and I stopped fantasizing all together. Instead, I just thanked my lucky stars that I have such healthy, smart, lovable little girls.

Even if they do make my Sunday feel like a Monday.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Picture of the Week: Dec. 17



My sister Carrie arrived from Florida this week. She hasn't seen the girls since August. I can't even remember August. Who knows what we were doing back then.

They played and played and played and even got introduced to one of our favorite childhood games: dress up.

I'm fairly certain they won't be allowing her to leave.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

A Dish Washer

Part of the reason I haven't posted much this week is that we are crazy busy. In a life that's already fairly busy, we don't really have room for more stuff to do. But last Friday, our dishwasher thought otherwise.



When I turned it on, it made a terrible grinding sound. I ignored it and just went about my business, avoiding the sound of my dishwasher dying. But when I returned to the kitchen, I found water pooling on our hardwood floors. You can't ignore water on hardwood floors.

The dishwasher fix-it man couldn't come out until Wednesday. As in six days. I have twin babies, man!. We do a lot of dishes. And that's six days of washing bottles by hand. On top of that, we have Dr. Brown's bottles, which if you know anything about bottles, you know they come with about 85 different parts.



When I told the receptionist this, she laughed and said "Oh, I totally understand. See you Wednesday then?"

So, if you're wondering where I've been, now you know.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Her Moment

Remember me? I'm still here. It's just been a busy week.

I have loads to tell you, but I'll start with the most important. You better sit down for this one.

Last Friday Grace took a step.

GRACE!

A STEP!

I KNOW!



Right after she took it, she looked at me like, "Whoa, did you just see that!?" And then she turned around and stuck her tongue out at Claire. Seriously, she did.

There was a period of time that I worried Grace would never roll or crawl or pull herself up. For months, it was Claire did this and Claire did that. And it made my heart ache for my little girl who was getting left behind. But she eventually caught up, and even though Claire did all of those things first, I was still so stinkin' proud of her. Proud of both of them, actually.

But finally, this moment belongs to Grace.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

O' Christmas Tree, Part III

Need to catch up? Read Part I and Part II!

We learned from our mistake last year, and lugged that tree inside before any blizzards or birthing got in our way.

Scott got his "burly man" on and carried the tree in himself.

He set it in our tree stand. Which, by the way, was an impulse buy when we purchased our very first tree in 2005. The owners of the tree farm really did a number on us. "You'll never need to buy another stand. It will last a lifetime. It's so easy to put together. You tree will look amazing. Your hair is gorgeous. Did I mention I love your coat?"

So, we caved and bought the tree stand. I think it was like $50 or something outrageous like that. It worked great the first year we used it, but then we didn't use it for a few years and well, to be honest, it's a tad complicated. With five different ropes and hooks and a pulley system, it took me some time to remember how to use it.

But I finally did, and Scott was only slightly annoyed with me as he held the tree in place until I figured it out.



We retrieved the box of decorations, opened the lid and got started.





Claire loved the idea of taking things out of the tote, so she helped, too. Including a glass snow globe. And a very breakable snowflake candle holder. I swear. Their parents really should be supervising them.



And Grace? Well, she wanted to help, too. Just as long as we were holding her.



Or letting her bang a piece of metal on the wood floor.



But their favorite part of the evening was when we forced them to take pictures with us in front of our first Christmas tree. They LOVED it.



Wednesday, December 8, 2010

O' Christmas Tree, Part II

For Part I in our adventurous Christmas tree series, click here.



So, we pick out our tree, call the young fellas over to "chop" it down and pay the nice old man his $35.

The young fellas throw it on top of the car and tie it down. The old man, presumably their grandfather, is instructing them where to tie it and how to tie it.



We hop in the car and head on down the road. Scott turns on the hazard lights and we toodle along a good 25 mph under the speed limit. We open up the sunroof to keep an eye on the tree and that's when I dramatically say, "Oh crap! The tree is sliding off the car!!"

We pull over. I hop out and discover that the young fellas didn't tighten the rope enough.

Here I am, on the side of the highway, dodging passing cars, trying to find a way to secure this tree when a brand new F-HUGE50 pulls up behind us. A nice older woman, wearing a John Deere stocking cap and Carhartt coveralls, gets out of the driver's side and offers some extra rope.

Together, we tighten the rope, add more rope and she ties some wicked knots.

We drive the rest of the way home with no problems.

So, yeah, girls rock.

Check back tomorrow for Part Three "Decorating The Tree ... Claire, Put That Down!!"