Thursday, March 31, 2011

Early Bird

Nearly 29 years ago, my mother was a healthy two weeks past her due date. Incredibly uncomfortable, wondering when her baby would decide to be born.

My new niece, Cambri, on the other hand, arrived nine days early. Isn't she lovely?



Welcome to one crazy family, little Miss. We're so excited to have you!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Anticipation

This weekend, Scott (and about 10 of my closest friends) gave me a surprise birthday present. It was awesome. But more on that later. With pictures. And sweat. Lots and lots of sweat. And blood and tears.

For now, though, we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of my niece. Her due date is the April 8, but they are scheduled to induce on Friday. But now she's showing signs she may be ready to go earlier. Or it's possible she's playing her first April Fool's joke just to torture her parents. If she's anything like my brother, that's exactly what she's doing.



Don't they look a little too rested?

Friday, March 25, 2011

Pictures of the Week: March 25





All smiles (and teeth). That's life lately. And I'm eating it up.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

A $15 Miracle

Remember this? Well, this year it's a $15 miracle.



We snagged this bad boy from our favorite consignment sale for a mere 15 buckaroos.

Complete with a set of food and dishes, it is already providing tons of entertainment.

The girls open and shut the doors. Put the dishes in the oven. In the sink. Back in the oven. On the floor. Stir their imaginary food and very thoughtfully (and sometimes aggressively) give us bites.



As they grow, they will be able to turn this kitchen into a restaurant or a bakery or whatever their little imaginations come up with. We can add a small table and chairs, fake menus, aprons … the possibilities go on and on.



I spent a ton of money at this sale … way more than I planned to, but this may have been the best purchase of the evening.

$15 is such a small price to pay for inspiring the imagination.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Weird things My Kids Do: Mar. 22

So, I'm not quite sure if this is actually all that abnormal of a behavior, but it cracks me up every time I see it.



Yep. That's right. Claire is searching under the high chairs for any lost pieces of food. She does this at least a couple of times a day.



You might think she's hungry. And I suppose she might be. But she gets three solid meals plus three snacks a day.



I think she just likes to eat. And in reality, I guess that's not all that weird.



In fact, now that I think about it. The other kid who refuses to eat just about everything might be the weird one.

Monday, March 21, 2011

New Wheels

Spring made us do it.

The beautiful temperatures, the warm sun, the cool breeze.

We really had very little choice in the matter.

How could we resist?



It took a little effort.



Ok, a lot of effort.



But in the end, it was totally worth it.





P.S. Scott said I made it look like a parade float. Comfort over style, dude.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Two words

Uh oh.





Or ... also applicable ...

Oh crap.


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Mini Me

The first time I noticed it, Grace was sitting on the floor in her bedroom, looking at her arms and lightly rubbing them. I stood there for a minute watching her, curious what she was doing.

Unaware of my presence, she "dipped" her hand back in the closed tub of moisturizer on the floor and started rubbing her arms again.

Then I remembered. About five minutes earlier, I put lotion on my hands and arms.

She was totally copying me.

And it was awesome.



I will never cease to be amazed by how they start out as such floppy, unaware little beings and grow into thinking, walking, talking, mimicking(!) little girls.

As I was standing there, enjoying the moment of watching my little girl pretending to be like her mama, another thought occurred to me. If she is copying such an innocent behavior as putting on lotion, what else is she learning?

Note. To. Self.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Good Morning

Each morning when we go in to fetch the girls, this is pretty much how it goes. Grace pretends to run away and Claire shakes the crap out of her crib.







(Sorry about the poor-ish video quality, it's pretty dark in there)

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder



There are three reasons I have been so absent lately.

1. Work. Turns out when you move from part-time to full-time, you have less free time. Who knew?
2. Sickos. Starting mid-week last week, Claire started with the runny nose, watery eyes and cough. It spread to Grace a few days later and we spent most of our free time wiping noses and cuddling sick babies.
3. Mobility. Holy cow, they are so mobile now. And it really irritates them when you close the door to a room, so we just chase them around from room to room as they explore every nook and cranny.



But despite all of those things, we are having so much fun together. The working together, being with babies all day thing is going really well. Of course, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. We have days that feel like we're being pulled a hundred different directions. But most of the time, things are just delightful.

Now, if we could just get a little sunshine, life would be pretty much perfect.