Seeking advice ... again

So, I never updated you, but the transition from formula to milk went well. We eased the girls into it and we have been drinking full-on milk ever since.

But now, I come to you again, seeking advice.

We are attempting to transition from bottles to cups, and it's not going so well.

Well, let me re-phrase. It's not going so well for Grace. Claire has had no problems with the change, but Grace refuses to drink milk out of a cup. Figures, right?

We know she likes milk. She drinks it out of a bottle. And we know she likes things out of a cup and cold because that's how she drinks her water.

That's what we do know. What we don't know is how to convince the little booger to drink her milk out of a cup so we can get on with this whole growing up thing.

Thoughts? Ideas? Advice?

Pictures of the Week: Feb. 25

My absence here has led to a backlog of pictures, which makes for a twin-licious Friday for you!


Lately, Grace has been really interested in "helping me cook."



And, of course, Claire wanted to help, too.



Then she went and got turkey stuck on her face.



And we went outside and Grace made this funny face.



Then they both sat in this duck for approximately 3.6 seconds before they started screaming about how they were touching each other.



This is Claire after the turkey incident. She's a little embarrassed.




And in case you missed it on facebook ... the coolest kids this side of the Mississippi.

The Gift That Just Keeps Giving

We have some pretty big news to announce.

We're having another baby!

Haha, I joke, I joke.

Or do I?

No, seriously, I'm really just kidding.

Grandmas, you can begin breathing again.

Our really big news is we have finally ditched the baby car seats! Not quite as exciting, huh? I know, but either way, you were going to wonder why getting new car seats was something to blog about.

We live at least 10 minutes from any sort of shopping establishment, so when we travel, the girls have to sit in their car seats for a chunk of time. And lately, they have decided the best use of their time is screaming.

That's where the new forward-facing, big-girl car seats come in.





They love them. They are able to see what's going on, to see us, to beg for snacks. It's a whole new world. And it came just in the nick of time.

Last weekend, we took a mini road trip to my brother's house about 90 minutes away. With the old car seats, we would have turned around and came home after about 20 minutes. But with these new car seats, we made it the whole way.

Ok, I admit, we did have a little extra help.





AND not only did we get new car seats, but we also got hours of future fun. This is where having a mom that used to be a preschool teacher really comes in handy.

Nature Called

If you have followed our blog for any amount of time, you already know how completely different these two little girls are. Case in point:

We enjoyed the warm weather from this past weekend by taking the girls outside to let them roam around for the first time. They both love to go outside, but with snow and the lack of walking skills, we had yet to let them down on the ground.

Grace loved it. She crawled. She walked. She crashed. She burned. She got right back up and tried again. I could barely get any pictures of her because she was always on the move.









Check out that road rash! She didn't even cry. Shocking, I know.




Claire, on the other hand, had a few concerns about touching the prickly grass.











C'mon Dad. Mom won't pick me up.



Sucker.

Weird Things My Kids Do: Feb. 22

Claire hates barstool cushions. Does it get any weirder than that?



No barstool cushion stands a chance when Claire's on duty.



Ok, it may not be the cushion itself. Just the fact it's on the barstool.



But she's determined. They all must come down.



Weird.

Still here, promise

Hi!

I'm still here.

Awh, I miss you, too.

Life is CR-A-ZY busy right now.

With work and babies and, well, that's just about it, really. But that fills up the day from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.

But I'd like to say I'm sorry. Sorry I haven't been here for you. Sorry you've missed your twinkie fix. I hope you can forgive me. While I'm working on cranking out some blogs about the hilarity of twin one-year-olds, here is this for you to enjoy.

My best friend, my love

Scott and I agreed a few years ago that we didn't really need gifts on Valentine's Day. Just a reminder that we still love each other.

So, Scott, here's your reminder.

A "poem" that I wrote for you in 2005.

You are the love of my life.

You are the petals on my flower.

You are the sun in my sky.

You are the lightning in my thunderstorm.

You are the tomatoes in my salad.

You are the current in my ocean.

You are the breeze on my beautiful afternoon.

You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.

I love you,
Katie

Weird Things My Kids Do: Feb. 8

I noticed this idiosyncrasy one day when I was skyping with my Mom.

Claire was taking turns playing with her Little People firetruck and looking out the window and talking to Grandma and typing on her laptop. Fairly normal for a one-year-old.

My mom and I were just chatting away when we both, almost simultaneously, noticed that Grace had spent the last 15 minutes doing the following:

1. Taking the blocks out of their container and tossing the blocks around the room.



2. Gathering all of the blocks.



3. Putting the blocks back in their container.




And she repeated this process for 15 MINUTES! I've never seen a one-year-old with that kind of attention span. She must have tossed them out/picked them up more than a dozen times.

She never got distracted. Never moved on to something else. Just completely zoned in on her block collecting.

Ok, so she did get distracted at one point.



Yes, Claire, we see you have her block. You'll make a great thief one day.

Parenting Fail

Last night, the girls unrolled half a roll of toilet paper. We found them giggling on the bathroom floor with a mountain of TP between them.

I thought Scott was watching them. He thought I was.

Parenting fail.

I would have stopped to take some pictures, but Grace was getting ready to stick a handful of it in her mouth, and Claire had already started ripping it to shreds.

So, instead, I thought I'd post some cute pictures from last week.

Picture of the Week: Feb. 4

Look at these little book worms we're raising! During the process of transforming the office into a bedroom and the sunroom into an office, we have boxes of books sitting in the living room. Each day, the girls unpack the boxes and choose a few books to peruse. I told you NPR would pay off.

Weird Things My Kids Do: Feb. 2

Yesterday was much improved as far as juggling the job and babies. And although it isn't this week's weirdness, Grace was plenty weird yesterday.

It started with the new office/play room that we are still in the process of creating. We are transforming our sunroom (read: junk room) into a place for us to work AND a place for the girls to play.

When Claire walked in, she was fairly certain she had just found her own play paradise.

Grace, on the other hand, was a little nervous and dealt with that anxiety in the only way she knows how: crying. She just stood by my leg (or Scott's) and cried until we picked her up. Scott and I traded her back and forth until finally late yesterday afternoon, she decided the room was safe to roam on her own.

So, ya, my kids are weird.

But back to this week's bizarre behavior.

Claire has some pretty intense attention to detail, which translates into picking up every teeny, tiny fiber/paper/cheerio/plastic/penny she comes across.



Like any responsible one-year-old, she hands it to the nearest adult. But occasionally she won't actually pick up anything. And when this happens, she hands us a big piece of nothing.

You have to see it to fully appreciate how weird it is.

The best part though? Now, every time we tell Claire thank you for doing this, Grace automatically pinches her fingers together and hands us a big piece of nothing, too. Claire isn't the only responsible one, ya know.