I’ve been letting the girls go up front to church for the “Children’s Sermon” for quiet some time now.  Usually they sit there quietly and look out at the sea of faces looking back at them and they seem to listen, somewhat, to Chad or Jeff…

But this Sunday, in response to Jeff’s question: “What do you plant in your garden?” Nora exclaimed “FLOWERS!”

I think Jeff was as shocked as we were.  I was so proud.  What a participant.

And…it’s true…

Granny Cozine we are THINKING of you today and sending all our warm wishes of comfort and health and strength YOUR way today!

We are ready to put this winter behind us…

It’s been a long, cold one…

Summer–here we come…

A now a song from the boss ladies…

Hit it DADDY!

Well, we kinda felloff the blogosphere at the end of 2008, but with good reason.  A huge project consumed my life for the better of 8 weeks through October and November and for the last three weeks we’ve rotated through a puking spell that has left all of us completely exhausted.  Such is life now, but we’re determined to rebound and embrace 2009 with better health and more comedy than ever before.

December has brought so many changes to our lives, including using the potties like BIG girls and shedding our addiction to the highchairs.  The transition to toddler beds will happen in the next few months, and who knows what else is in store.  We talk a mile a minute.  Play silly games.  And comfort each other when we are not feeling so good.  It’s really a sweet time.

This stomach virus has consumed most of our December and while it’s been tough on our little bodies, the girls have been so sweet to each other.  They will rub each other’s backs and help get water and blankets for the other.  Of course, if you’re not the one who is sick, it sometimes makes you feel left out so you concoct ideas about “fake vomiting” and start screaming from your bed “I GROW UP, TOO! [supposed to be "throw up"] I GROW UP, TOO!”; followed by pathetic attempts at throw-up sounds.  The first night that Tess got sick it was about 2:00a.m. and Chad and I rushed in their room to help her, and it scared Nora, understandably.  She wanted to get out of her crib so we let her out and while we were stumbling around still half-sleep trying to clean up the child and the room in the dark Nora helped out by flipping on the light switch and announced cheerfully, “TIME TO GET UP EVERYBODY!”.  Uh, no.  I thought Chad was going to tackle her.

Tessa does not like to be sick.  It is so sad to see a baby so limp and zoned out.  Nora seems to push through it a little better and so we have a hard time telling when Nora is really feeling sick or just doesn’t want to be left out of the fun (hence the “car cleaning incident of ‘08″).  But Tess will let you know when her tummy hurts and when she’s not feeling well.  They have been so good at communicating, it has really changed our life to be able to understand their needs.  Of course, such verbalization comes with clear opinions and a fiery independence.  “ME do it!”, they’ll say.  Ok, ok, if you want to cook your own eggs–then have at it.  Nora has demanded that SHE drive the car somedays.  Uhhh, no.  But they are great helpers.  In fact, they refuse to sit down at the table until every piece of silverware, every napkin, cup and plate is ready and in place.  They have little stepstools now so they can see the action and help us get out meals ready.  It’s been really fun to have them as my little sous chefs. 

2008.  Crazy.  So different than I had imagined.  Tough in new ways and rewarding in so many more.  We are blessed.  I can’t wait for 2009.  I think it’ll be lots of fun.

This is what we’ve been doing right after our nightly bath when we’re getting ready for bed:

1.  Get nighttime pacis.

2.  Put on backpack.

3.  Put on hat (sometimes gloves).

4.  Get purse.

5.  Get out blocks.

6.  Build a tower.

7.  Intermittently push baby stroller in circle and say, “Bye! Bye!”.

8.  When asked where we’re going we say, “Grammy’s House!”

We have A LOT of books.  I get a lot of them at garage sales on the cheap.  The girls have always loved to read them.  And even though we have tons of books–it feels like we read the same ones over and over.  We have them all memorized. 

When I read to the girls, and when the girls want to listen to me read, they sit quietly on my lap.  Sometimes I prompt them to end the sentence or I ask them questions, but mostly they just listen.

More often lately, however, I think they’re hardly paying attention to me when I’m reading.  They dilly-dally and squirm and tickle each other.  So, I get frustrated and just stop reading as I struggle to see the words and they seem to be uninterested.  Of course when I stop they protest.  But I have found that when THEY read the book themselves, they can really recite a lot of the lines themselves.  It’s really quite amazing and does something for one’s ego when it appears that your 2-year-old child can sit down and read an entire book.  So, I’m pretty sure they are paying attention when I read, sometimes it just doesn’t feel like it.

So, you might imagine my surprise when Nora sat down on the living room floor yesterday, plucked a book entitled “Hanukkah” from her book bin and, somewhat ironically, broke out into a toddler version of “Jesus Loves Me”. 

???

[4 o'clock a.m. CST]

From the other room: “[grunt] [quiet whine]” Quiet, but persistent.

I look over at Chad.  Still to the world.

“[whining gets louder. more persistent.]”

I go into their room, look over at Nora.  Still.  Look over at Tessa, her eyes half open.  I reach down to touch her.

*squish*

The bed is soaking.  The child is soaking.  The diaper is full beyond capacity.  That will teach me to let her have an entire glass of water before bedtime.  “All wet,” she says. Indeed.

I clean her up.  New diaper.  New jammies.  Entire set of new bedding.  She is so still and quiet and helpful.  A dry kiss goodnight.

[4:20 a.m. CST]

From the other room: “Wah wah wah.  Wah wah wah.”  She is saying “wah”.  It is awkward, not a cry, but words.  What could be wrong now?

Then, I hear singing, “Baby on da bus go ‘wah wah wah’ ALL through da TOWN!”

An early morning serenade from a wet, little cutie.

We were so lucky to have Granny Cozine stay with Grammy Gwen during the summer while she transitioned to Minnesota.  The girls loved to go over to Grammy’s house to see Granny Cozine.  We kept trying to get the girls to say, “Granny Cozine”, but they just kept calling her “Cozine!”

Then the questions would start:

Tess: “Where Cozine go?”

Me: “She’s right there baby.”

Nora: “Cozine eating.”  Stating the obvious.

Me: “Yeah, baby, we’re all eating lunch now.”

Tessa: “Cozine done?”  Mid-lunch.

Me: “No, baby, we’re all still eating lunch.”

Grammy pulls out some pie and ice cream for dessert and the girls randomly break into a rendition of “Happy BIR-DAY, CO-Zineeeeee! Happy BIR-DAY to Uuuuuu!”

We miss Cozine, although we’re happy that she’s finding a new home in Minnesota.  The other night, out of nowhere, Nora asked, “Cozine go?”  We can’t wait for our first visit.

Four generations:

Our first family vacation.  We went to Cancun.  The girls turned two while we were there.

Here’s Mommy and Tessa:

Nori in the ladybug:

Breaking for a snack (pronounced “‘nack!”):

Tessa and Nora really loved the beach.  We only went there in the evenings because it was too hot during the day.  When we’d get down there they would run and run and then just throw their bodies into the sand…Here’s Tess:

 I love this series of Nora and Aunt Gana:

Freedom (tongue style):

Tessa loved to fill her bucket with sand:

Some Daddy/Daughter time…

Some down time…

And a few footprints…

We love hats.  And dressing up.  And saying “CHEESE”.

So silly.

It’s July in Kansas.  It’s hot.  It’s sticky.  It’s Kansas.  The girls, however, struggle to realize that once you move from the air-conditioned comfort of the house to the sticky, bug-ridden backyard–well, it gets miserable fast.  Nevertheless, throughout dinner last night Nora randomly exclaimed “BACK-YARD! BACK-YARD!”  Tessa chimed in, “PARK! PARK!”.  So we had to figure out something to do.

So, we settled on going to the bookstore at a nearby mall.  They love the kids section there and we can read books and play with the “CHOO CHOO TRAIN! CHOO CHOO TRAIN! CHOO CHOO TRAIN!”  ok ok ok…

Not only was the bookstore a great success but to top it off there was outdoor live music.  There were a lot of people there.  Mostly sitting in chairs, relaxing and taking in the music.  The girls really love music.  They were doing their routine of swaying and crooning back and forth, back and forth.  They really get into the music.  Sometimes I think it’s a fine balance to allow children to enjoy participating in an experience while not eclipsing the performance itself.  We stand to the side, out of the way, but close enough that that the kids can see and experience the joy of music.  Seeing one child singing and dancing is enough to draw a few smiles and approving glances, but seeing two little kids who are spitting images of each other (no matter how much I try to make them look like their own person) really starts to draw a crowd.  And so, a crowd started to gather.

Then some young woman, about my age, came up and asked if she could take some pictures of them.

Huh?

My best guess is that she was on staff at the mall or from one of the radio station sponsors and was getting pictures for marketing materials.  So, sure.  Take some pictures.  I’m proud.  The girls are cute.

So we continue to croon on and then another woman comes up to me and asks me if we go to the Oak Park farmer’s market.  Again–huh?

We did once.  I thought about blogging about the market, but it was rather uneventful.  Just a way to pass the time on a beautiful Saturday morning.  We pushed our way through the crowded market with the girls in our arms.  I remember that we stopped for just a moment to smell some pretty flowers at one stand.  “Fluwers!” Nora exclaimed.  Both girls scrunched up their noses and gave a loud snort of the various bouquets.   About 10 steps away from that stand a man called out to me, “Ma’am! Here are some flowers for your girls!” He handed me a neat, tight assortment of tiny flowers in an old glass bottle.  I thought it was strange that he went so far out of his way to give away flowers that he was selling at the market.  We pushed on and at the end of the market there were a couple of guys playing guitars and we stopped for a bit to sing and sway and sing and sway.  The girls made friends with a couple of other kids and they all started hopping, skipping and dancing to the music.   At one point one of the singers acknowledged Nora and Tessa and their enthusiastic participation.  I think performers appreciate it when they see such uninhibited joy coming from someone who is clearly enjoying the performance.  Later we had some lunch and packed up to go home.  It was fun, but rather uneventful.

“Is that Nora and Tessa?” the woman at the mall asked me.  “I remember them from the market–they were dancing at the market!  They were so fun to watch.”

Wow.  Seriously?  You remember my kids (and their names) who were dancing for 30 minutes at a market that we went to one time a month ago?  So, now not only do have we have an audience and a photographer, but we have groupies.

As a fond parent, I sometimes worry that I might overthink the impact of my children on the greater community.  Of course I think they are cute and fun to watch and they fill my life with such sheer happiness with their sense of humor and pure spirits.  But I try to adjust my view of the girls through my mommy-colored glasses and not exhault them.  While they are the world to me, I understand that my love and amazement of them is compounded by the fact that they are my kids.  I know that there are many people who love and admire the girls, but my mommy ego sometimes explodes upon the realization that complete strangers are giving them flowers, taking their picture and remembering them from momentary, and seemingly uneventful, episodes in time.  Sometimes I am struck by the impression that Nora and Tessa do make on other people.  While the initial allure of the girls may be their twinage, it is their explosive and engaging personalities that draw people in and make a lasting impression.  Their uninhibited song and dance and giggles and flirty glances at people around them bring those people joy and happiness.

And, for that reason, I am struck with awe and pride that I get to share in their lives.  To me they are wonderful.  But to others, they are also wonderful.  And for that, I give thanks.

My ability to blog has been eclipsed by my skyrocketing work level, but I still manage to make it home most nights for dinner and the bedtime routine (park, bath, books, milk and cuddles) only to pick up working again in the evenings.  There is a light at the end of this work tunnel that I think will come around the middle of this month…

Anyway, the girls are really into “labeling”.  I guess this is the phase where their vocabulary soars as they label each and every item around them and their memory for events is repeating in this “labeling” storytelling.  This past weekend Chad’s parents came over for lunch on Sunday and to wish Daddy Chad a Happy Birthday (shout out to Daddy!).  We had a great time, but there was a moment when we were sitting in the living room and Grandpa Chris leaned over in his chair and KABOOM! he fell.  He was alright and we helped him up.  But Nora was very very concerned and scared.  She insisted that I give him a hug at least twice.  And every day since then Nora has gone up to that chair and said, “Grandpa Chair.  Fall down!” 

Their little memories are amazing.  One time (only once) we saw two ducks in the little creek by the park by our house.  The girls were so excited.  Every time we go by the creek on the way to the park they say, “Quack quack duck!”  And when we don’t see them I ask them, “Where did they go?”  In Nora and Tessa’s minds there are only two responses to this question: 1) “Sleepytown nite nap!”, and 2) “Snack”. 

Everything thing that leaves has either gone to bed or is eating something.  It’s so cute.  They say this about everything–ducks, dogs, cars and even airplanes.  “Where did the airplane go?” I’ll ask after it passes overhead and flies far off.  Nora will say with certainty: “Snack”.  And Tessa will agree and say “Sleepytown nite nap”.

Last night at dinner we were sitting around the table talking about milk and water.  They love to see what everyone is drinking.  Mommy was having milk.  Daddy was having water with ICE.  Ice is a big deal.  They love ice.  Toward the end of dinner Tessa wanted to see if Daddy was done with his water.  “Almost.” She said when she saw the glass almost empty.  “Ice?” she asked?  ”No,” I said, “Daddy’s ice is all gone.  Where did it go?”  I thought this was a good opportunity to talk about melting.   Tessa disagreed, “Ice sleepytown,” she correct.  I laughed so loud.  True, I thought.  The ice probably went “sleepytown.”

These are the two pictures I have sitting on my desk at work right now:

Tess:

Nora:

I can’t even tell you how much I love these two people.  They make my day just smiling at me on my desk.

About once a week our daycare provider, Barb, calls me to say that the girls have brought her the phone (not sure how they are getting the phone, but whatever) and they are asking to talk to me.  It makes my day, every single time.

  

Here’s the sum of our conversation:

Me: “Hello?”

Nora: “HI MOMMY!”

Me: “Hi baby.  How are you?”

Nora: “FINE!”

Me: “What are you doing?”

Nora: “PLAY.  SNACK.”

Me: “Are you having fun?”

Nora: “LUV YOU!”

Me: “I love you, too, baby.  Let me talk to Tess.”

The same conversation ensues with Tessa except there is a lot more button pushing and beeping in my ear.  They both conclude by screaming “BYE BYE!” and then actually kissing and hugging the phone. Each. 

I am the luckiest person in the world.

On April 11, 2007, we welcomed our new cousin Lincoln to our family.

He is such a cute little bug. Everyone is doing great. Cousin Vance is enjoying being a new big “bro” to baby Lincoln. So happy and sweet…

We got to go see baby Lincoln at the hospital. It brought back all sorts of wonderful memories for Mommy.

The girls talked about baby Lincoln all day. “Baby baby baby!” they would say. Then they’d cry like a baby does and laugh like a baby does and say “goo goo ga ga” like a baby does.

They sure do love babies. I can see why.

Nora and Tessa are 20 months old–going on two years.  Nora likes to announce this fact by constantly declaring, “Nora do it! Nora do it!”.  Needless to say, she likes to do things for herself.

 

Tessa likes to try things out, but she often, and without hesitation, asks for help.

 

As a mother who has about 1,000,001 things to do all the time, you may be able to imagine how time consuming it can be to allow your daughters to “do” everything themselves.  And, sometimes, how it is frustrating.  This roaring independance, which sometimes ends up on the floor kicking and screaming and crying, is frustrating for me because I want to encourage Nora and Tessa to be confident, able people.  I want them to learn and grow and explore their world.  I love that at the age of 20 months they can mostly put on their own shoes and coats!  I love their determination to “do it” all for themselves because it makes them capable, self-sufficent, curious, intelligent human beings.

But, we all get frustrated when “do it” doesn’t work out…when the frustration of being almost two-years-old has limitations that are beyond their understanding.

It is frustrating for them and it is frustrating for me.  And, so, I am trying to learn that it is the journey that I should embrace, not the end result.  Nora and Tessa live in the present, not the future.  It is the walk to the park…the dilly-dallying over every rock…the challenge of holding hands while crossing the street…the feel of dirt and concrete on our hands and knees, not the park itself, in which we learn about life. 

It is the washing of the hands, not the clean hands, in which we learn about what it feels like to get your whole shirt wet and how the floor becomes slippery when there is water all over.

 

So, I’m learning to pick my battles lately.  And I’m learning patience (although it’s really really tough sometimes).  And I’m trying to embrace the reality that in order for Nora and Tessa to become confident, happy and helpful people there are many life lessons to be learned, albeit within the boundaries of love and guidance from Mommy.  And we’ll try to pepper in a few “please” and “thank you’s” along the way…

Time is getting away from me.  Free time, that is.  We did have a fun Easter weekend, though.  The eggs were a hit, although they were sometimes difficult to manage.  (Tessa on the left, Nora on the right.)

 What to do…what to do…

When we tried to pick them up…

even more spilled out!

But we still had a good time.

 

With all the frills upon it… 

 The other evening my mom was over playing with us while Chad was at church.  After some time of playing dress up…

 

and trying on hats…

 and riding our horse (with more hats)…

We were ready for dinner.

We like to play some games during dinner.  Our favorite game is called, “Whose milk is that?” whereby we ask the girls, “Whose milk is that?” and they identify it as “Mommy’s milk” or “Daddy’s milk” or “Tessa’s milk” or “Nor Nor’s Milk”.  It’s fun and we go around and around the table.  Since Grammy was sitting with us that night, we were able to practice “Grammy” which is just starting to sounds like “Gra”, but we’re working on it.  They also like to tell each person when they are “all done! all done!”

We made up a variation of this game called, “Boy, is this milk delicious” whereby a person takes a swig of their milk and they follow it with a loud and refreshing “AHHHHHH!!!” sound.  Everyone got multiple turns.  As I noticed that the girls were not eating their carrots, I decided to take this game one step further.  So, I took a carrot off of Tessa’s plate and made a big deal rubbing my tummy and saying, “Mmm Mmm DELICIOUS!”.   Then I pointed at Grammy–her turn!  “Mmm Mmm DELICIOUS!” she said.  Then I pointed at Tessa, who is not adverse to vegetables but chooses normally not to eat so many of them, and she popped one in her mouth and smiled, rubbed her tummy and said, “mmm mmm”.  Not totally convincing, but she DID eat a carrot.  Then, it was Nora’s turn, who also enthusiastically popped a carrot into her mouth.

Her face dropped.  Half gagging on the disgustingness that is a carrot, she thrust the half chews bits back out of her mouth with her tongue as Grammy and I roared with laughter and shrieked, “Don’t laugh! Don’t laugh!”

That kid genuinely does not like carrots.

Oh well.  Sorry baby.

Yes.  We are still here.  This blog is still alive.  It has just been crazy. Too crazy.  And the thoughts and the memories slip away and things change before I can post them…So, let’s get back on track. 

The girls turned 18-months-old on Valentine’s Day.  I love that.  It just seems so fitting that the two people who have their arms wrapped tightly around my heart have a 1/2 birthday on V-Day.  They are so sweet.

Right around Valentine’s Day we had a LOT of people asking us how many words they say.  As if I have the time (or the thought) to sit down and COUNT their vocabulary.  So, I started counting and here’s what we came up with as of 18 months.  And, in full disclosure, the girls have always seemed to progress through milestones at the same time or within a week or so apart.  Variances are otherwise noted herein (god–do I sound like a lawyer or what?).

I divided their vocabulary into three categories: words they can actually say, signs that they can make and animal noises (or object sounds).  I’m sure I missed some, but here’s the bulk in no particular order:

WORDS THEY CAN SAY:

Toe (this is their favorite song thanks to Cassie and Mackenzie!), Snow (they scream with enthusiam as it falls and falls and falls out our window), No (no comment) , Yes (mostly nodding, but they do say it when prompted), Nora (Both girls can say “Nora”, although Tessa has it down to an art-form.  Tess says, “Nora” ALL THE TIME.  She clearly knows that it’s her sister’s name, but she also uses it arbitrarily in other contexts.  It’s odd.  Nora can also say her name, but she calls herself, “Nor Nor”.   I think that’s adorable…)

Tessa (Again, both girls can say this although sometimes it sounds like “Da Da”, so you have to pay attention.  For awhile it sounded like Tessa was calling herself “NoraTet-Ta”, but I think I figured it out.  It’s goes like this:

Me: Tessa, what’s her name? [pointing at Nora]

Tessa: Norrr-A.

Me: Good.  What’s YOUR name? [pointing at Tessa]

Tessa: NoraTeta.

Me: No, you’re Tessa.

Tessa: No-you’re-Teta.

Get it?  NoraTeta and No-you’re-Teta.  I thought she was confused that her name was Nora also so I kept correcting her telling her “no, you’re Tessa,” so she’d repeat me saying “No-you’re Tessa”.  Oh geez.)…Now she just says “Tet-Ta”.

Shoes (sounds like “chews”), Barbara, Da-da, Ma-ma (although it’s usually in triplicate “Ma Ma Ma”)…

 

Baby (OBSESSED WITH THE BABIES LATELY), Elmo (with variations of Mo and Melmo), Big Bird (although they can only say Elmo and Big Bird, the can identify every single Sesame Street character by pointing.  We have these old books that have all the old characters and they know and LOVE all of them), Down, More, Oranges (Tessa only once said this, and she totally over enunciated it–which was hilarious), Ball, Pa (for paci), Go (they repeat this a million times when Grammy comes over because they think they get to “go” somewhere with Grammy), Bye bye, Balloon (although it sounds more like “Baoon”), Cracker (with a “gra-crack-car” being a variation on graham cracker), Pa Pa (for Papi Jerry), Cheese (for the food and the smile)…

 

Go dog go (their all-time favorite book thanks to Alex and Jacob), Zebra (Tessa only), Nite nite (mostly Nora), Coat (with a silent “t” for coat),  Water (really, wa-wa)…

 

 Dora (Tessa says this clearly and distinctly from “Nora”, and I think Nora calls her more like “Doe”).

SOUNDS THEY CAN MAKE:

Cat (all time favorite animal), Dog, Duck, Cow, Sheep, Snake, Rooster (this one is hilarious “ca-ca-doogle-do”), Witch (they’ve got a cackle down), Horse…

 

Bear/tiger, Fish face (fishes make faces, not sounds, sillies!), Elephant (we got a hand gesture down for the nose on this, too)…

 

 Owl, Frog (we do a side-to-side tongue thing, not “ribbit” because that’s what our books says), Monkey (with arm-pit scratching effects), Cookie monster (we can put away cookies like that dude), Seal (arf! arf!), Car, Burr (cold), Airplane (with sign), Microwave (boop boop boop boop boop! as they play on their toy microwave in their toy kitchen–also a variation on elevator buttons–I desperately wish I had a picture of them playing with their microwave).

SIGNS WE CAN MAKE:

Milk, Eat, Cookie (we get a little sound with this, “cuk”, but not really a word), All done (we do say “ah dun” with this), Dirty (so cute), More (ok, we say this CLEARLY, but it is a prominent sign), Diaper, Bath (Nora says “Ba” with this), Bed (Nora now says “nite nite”), Hug, Baby (we can say this, but we furiously sign for it, too), Sick, Help, Airplane, Book, Cold, Car, Please (we can say “peas”), Thank you, Clap (for good job), Brushing teeth, Wipe-nose (we scrunch up our nose and blow)…

Share (I made this sign up because we need a sign for it).

So, it was a pretty good vocabulary of words/signs/sounds for 18 months… 

But since February 14th, we’ve really seen an explosion of annunciations of new words.  They can repeat a lot of words when asked.  New words that they’ve never said before.  More than I can list.  Some require prompting, some are spontaneous.  It’s incredible to see them on the verge of something new, something exciting, something liberating.  I was really pleased with the signs that they knew before they were verbal.  I remember seeing the relief in Tessa’s face when she signed “milk” the first time and I handed her the cup of milk.  It was this expression of “Oh, lady, you totally know what I want.  Eureka!”  The animal sounds starting coming along and I would just make their sounds into sentences.  Nora would “meow” and I’d say, “Do you see a kitty-cat?  Kitty-cats say ‘meow.’ ” And then the words started to flow.

It’s fun.  And I’m so proud of them.  The next ride is about to begin… 

I do not like this time of year,

I do not like it in my ear;

[Read: we are all sick sick sick with crud]

I do not like the cold and snow,

I do not like it cause it blow(s);

[Read: we cannot go outside because the windchill is minus 30 everyday and we're getting cabin fever]

I do not like the cold and flu,

I do not like it in my shoe;

[Read: did I mention illness?]

I do not like no pictures to post;

Because I ate them with my toast.

[Read: Illness + Cabin fever = Bad Photo Ops and Bad Blogging.]

Although these two pictures (Tessa and Nora, respectively), make me very happy every time I look at them–even if they date back to November:

One of my favorite things about the one-year-old crowd is that you never know what it is that they are going to find fascinating.  You could be in a warehouse of toys and somehow, I believe, my children would gravitate toward the used plastic food containers with lids.

Behold, the CoolWhip Free containers:

 

I’m not going to lie.  We eat a lot of CoolWhip Free.  Actually, I think I eat most of it.  Of course, it is consumed in the name of providing my children with life lessons of opening and closing containers and putting certain objects inside and outside of said containers until the cows come home–so it is a sacrifice I feel is worth the extra poundage.  Add eight fat crayons to these glorious buckets-o-fun and you’ve got yourself near 30 minutes of unfettered creative play.

 

We open them; we close them.  We shake them; we carry them.  We take the crayons out; we put the crayons back in.  Of course, like all things around Walmer Street–there are a few rules.  The crayons do not leave the picnic table unless they are in a closed container.  You may walk around with them in the closed container, but once the container is opened you must return to the table.  The other day a crayon inadvertently rolled off the table and Tessa reeeeached for it while still trying to keep her bottom on the bench.   Tess = rule-follower.

 

We grab our crayons by the fistful and scribble like mad.  We are mostly into the “dotting” method of coloring whereby we slam the fistful of crayons into the paper to get the most dramatic granular, broken, and flickering effect – qualities not unlike those found in the impressionist works.

The picnic table has taken a few hits that are a necessary consequence of the “dramatic” arts that is our coloring, but we like to think of it as an extension of our art.

We’re serious about this, you know.  Verrrry serious, indeed.

I was at work today (I have been at work a lot lately) and this partner (who has two small kids of his own) says to me, “How old are your girls now?”

“17 months today,” I replied without hesitation.

“Wow,” he said.  ”I can’t believe you still keep track of that stuff.”

“Well,” I thought silently to myself, “they are my world.  How could I not…”

 

I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.  I’ve been overwhelmingly busy at work.  The holidays, and all of the parties and food and stuff, seem to be upon me before I realize it.  I have not had much time to write, and, therefore, it all just starts getting crammed in my head and I need it out.  I need a break, a vacation.  I try to rest, but I always seem to have something pulling at me.  And so this weekend I sat down to make a list.

The other day I came upon an old list.  A really old list.  A list of stuff to do, things to buy, stuff to clean and organize.  I love lists.  Chad–not so big on the lists, but he understands my need to list.  It is the genesis of organization for me.  If I have a list, I know what needs to get done and then I can cross stuff off my list when its done.  It feels good. 

Just after having the girls, I remember writing a friend, a fellow mother of twins about how hard everyday was.  Those first few months are tough.  The three hour patterns of feedings, diaper changes, crying, rocking and trying to get some rest before starting it all over again and again–it starts to take a toll and it’s hard to do much in between for yourself or the house, much less think about anything outside of the four walls of your home.  And so I mentioned to my friend how hard it was.  And she said, it’s not that the work is hard, so much as it is constant.  She was right.  It is the constant-ness that makes it so exhausting.  It’s the same stuff over and over and over again.  Every day. Every week.  Every month.   It’s the laundry, the food, the clean-up, the naps, the tears, the games, the challenges.  Winter brings its own set of obstacles with the snow, the icy roads, the cold and the feeling of the inability to escape the constant work that needs to get done.  And then for me to work full time–work hard–on top of all this.  It’s a lot. 

Then, the other night Chad and I went to see a movie.  A break from the kids, from the holidays, from the rush.  The previews forecasted a new movie called The Bucket List.  The idea is that these two old guys are late into their life and they make a list of the things they want to do before they kick the “bucket”, thus–the Bucket List.  Love this idea.  Chad and I haven’t really had the chance to travel in the past few years since we moved here from Chicago, got pregnant, took another bar exam, had to work, had two babies, am raising two babies…so I thought it’d be fun to make a list of the things we still want to do as the girls get older, as we get more comfortable with our resources.  I mentioned this to Chad on the way home and he said, “We can do that, but I’ve already done everything I want to do on my ‘list’.  I married you.  We had the girls.  I’m set.”

As I look into the long stretch of 2008, I start to think of the things that need to go on a list, things that go beyond the everyday chores that need to get done.  And I get overwhelmed.  Because I am tired.  And when I come across an old list, a list that has been completed long ago, I think of all the energy that went into completing the tasks on that list and how the things on that list don’t matter to me anymore.  And I look at my new list and think, does this stuff matter?  Do I care enough to devote the little energy I have on the couple of days that I have off from work to do these things amongst taking care of the girls, and the feedings and washing and cleaning and holiday stuff?  What I like about lists is the organization it gives me–the tasks are concrete and achievable, and the satisfaction of crossing it off.  But when my list is constant, bottomless, perpetual, the list does not serve its purpose for me.  And when I see an old, useless list, I begin to realize that I need to remove myself from these burdensome feelings.  I need to break free of the lists. 

I think about Chad’s “bucket list”.  About its blankness, it’s freeness.  The void of Chad’s list is the very satisfaction in itself.  It does not need to exist because it is complete.

So, as I think about 2008 I try to imagine the feeling completeness, of satisfaction, of a life without lists.  And I resolve to embrace that feeling.  To give thanks for what I have.  To take some satisfaction in winging it and letting some things go.  To relax.  To enjoy.  To give thanks for all of the help and good health that we have. 

And while I cannot let go of my lists, I can make them shorter; I can prioritize what needs to be on that list and what doesn’t matter–what won’t matter–so I can focus my energies on the things that matter the most right now.

Happy New Year.

This is Tessa, one year ago, on Christmas morning 2006:

And this is Nora:

And this is us now, Tessa and Nora, respectively:

I would not believe it if the pictures were not right in front of me.

Our bottles are a thing of the past. We can run, not just walk. We talk and sign and hold our own spoons. We kiss and laugh and smile and chase each other around and around. We are best friends.

We sing and dance. We shake rattles. We ask for more.

We play together and apart. We have our own preferences, our own tastes, our own individual personalities.

We love animals and books and music. We love to ride in our wagon. We can color with crayons. We can put our baby dolls to sleep and kiss them good-night.

We shout and scream and giggle. We pre-brief at the beginning of each day and post-brief before we fall asleep. We wear our hearts on our sleeves.

We are warm and friendly and inviting. We love other kids. We are very, very busy.

We share. We apologize. We are gentle.

Sometimes we have bad days, or we are sick or sad.

But mostly we are happy and we have fun.

And we are in love…

We can’t wait to see what 2008 brings.

The girls love Elmo.  I don’t know why.  They call him “Mo”.  They also call all other Sesame Street characters “Mo.”  I think we’ve watched Sesame Street only about 5 times in our entire lives, but we do have lots of Sesame Street books and we read those every day.

 Yesterday when we were playing on the slide we were practicing taking turns.  But when Tessa went down the slide, she wanted to come back up the slide while Nora was trying to go down.  We told her to “go around” and she would stand up and run “around” in a circle.  It was hilarious.

The baby dolls get more kisses and hugs than anyone else.  I am often jealous.

Books are often read simultaneously and are frequently read upside down.  It’s a skill.

Nora loves to try on clothes (see below) and mix and match shoes and socks, but this morning when Daddy went into the nursery to get the girls up, Nora had somehow managed to take off her shirt and was giggling uncontrollably.

Tessa loves to hide in the tunnel.  The girls touch hands through the tunnel and giggle and giggle and giggle, like there is some mysterious creature on the other side.

Every day is a new adventure.

Read two different books to two different babies…

 

on a Saturday morning.

Congratulations Layne and Greg!

This past weekend we were honored to attend the wedding our cousin Layne, and her very strapping husband, Greg Potter. 

This weekend was a “first” of many things for us.  Our first airplane ride, our first night away from home, our first three-day-pass to pacifier heaven…

We got to play with so many of our family members.  And, I have to say, the girls were marvelous. 

We got to see our great Granny again and we made quick work of all her magazines and breakables.  She was so gracious to allow us to spend some time with her in her cozy home.

We got to eat cookies, cookies, cookies!  Tess:

Nora:

Tessa wanting a bite of Nora’s cookie:

The wedding was beautiful for so many reasons.  It was beautiful in its own right–as two people share their love for each other with their community of family and friends–and it was beautiful in the thoughtful details and the labor of love that it took to piece each part of it together.  Layne and Callie, Joyce and Mike, were all so gracious to us and so patient with us.  And we appreciate it and give thanks to them.  It seemed like such a whirlwind of a trip to us.

But I did take one moment to look over at Layne and Callie at the reception.  And in the midst of all of the excitment, I caught a glimpse of the future.  As the two of them leaned into each other to tell a story, to make a comment, to whisper a secret—I saw my girls. 

There is a unique bond between twins that is so incredible I cannot find the words to describe it.  But I can see it. 

And, as we raised our sippy-cups to Layne and Greg in celebration of the wonderful life that they will live together…

I was also reminded of the life that my girls will share with each other and allow us to be a part of.  We should be so lucky and blessed to have such beautiful, wonderful girls as Callie and Layne…And for that, I raise my glass.

At my house, when I say “Cheese” this is what I get:

Nora:

Tessa and me:

And…the best family photo to date…

One year ago, this week, I went back to work after the girls were born. Oddly, I remember that week quiet vividly. In particular, I remember writing my dear friend– and fellow-mother-of-twins–Amanda an email message about the shock of being back at work. I searched for that email message this morning and re-read it. Here’s how it started:

November 15, 2006:

I tried to write you Monday but I started to get teary so I stopped.

Yesterday I was swamped (welcome back!)

This morning I thought of you, too. Here’s what I was thinking…

Have you ever seen that McDonald’s commercial where the lady in the minivan goes through the drive through window and orders some breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee. She looks over at the passenger seat and there is her 12-year-old kid and two more in the back. The tag line is something like, “It wasn’t until Pam took her first sip of McDonald’s delicious coffee that she realized that she had three kids and was late for soccer practice.” I guess the coffee is so good that it shakes you out of the mind-numbing stupor that is your life to make you realize that your really a mother of three with motherly duties. That’s me. Except I haven’t had the coffee yet.

On Saturday night, unlike the “Saturday-nights-before-Nora-and-Tessa”, I went to to grocery store after the girls went to bed because it was going to be the only time that weekend that I could get the grocery shopping done and Chad stayed home to listen for the girls and worked on his sermon for Sunday morning. As I turned down the coffee aisle at the store, I was reminded of the terrible batch of coffee sitting in my pantry, and so I opted for something new–a Seattle’s Best something-er-another…I don’t know what it was. Over-priced, for sure, but it was coffee, it was already ground and we needed some. Badly.

So, today, this morning, I’m driving to work in the morning dark with my regular large mug of coffee. And I get to about halfway to work and it hit me.

I am so thankful for this life.

I am so thankful for Nora and Tessa and for our families who have been able to share with us the greatest joys of our lives.

I am so thankful for the laughter and the squeals and the tickle-times and the songs and the singing and the games of tag and the ring-around-the-rosy and the meals and the milk and the books and the air and the parks and the wagon-rides and the words and the hugs and the kisses and the endless endless endless love.

One year later and finally I feel like I’ve had my coffee–that I am awake to the life and the love around me. And so I give thanks.

Here’s to another year of thanks…and to good coffee.

There are some neat toys out there.  I can see how parents get caught up in the excitement of toys for their kids.  It’s so exciting to see your own children so amazed and wrapped up in all the neat toys and games and STUFF that is available.  It’s so fun to watch the girls play and play and play.  They do some amazing stuff, too, by making up their own games, imitating us in the kitchen, and working all the flips, switches and buttons on the toys that are constantly scattered across our family room floor.

I would have to say, though, of all the toys we’ve bought for the girls, the toy that is the most fun–hands down–is the beach ball.

When the beach ball comes out…(Nora in blue, Tess in pink)

It is GAME ON, BABY!

SMACKDOWN!

We need to get some video on the intensity and hilarity of the beach ball chase.  The girls get a hold of the beach ball and they start bouncing off the walls and floor and EACH OTHER–just like balls in a pinball machine–and they laugh and laugh and laugh hysterically.  Apparently, the goal of the game is to do a total face smackdown into the ball and bounce right off the top.  There have been a few close calls, I have to admit, and the thought of padding the walls of the family room have come to mind…  But the beach ball chase is just so much fun (and such a great way to burn some energy) that we have to break it out every so often.  And it only cost $0.99.

Don’t touch my beach ball, baby…

On Sundays, I’m home alone with the girls from the moment they wake up until Daddy gets home from church around 1:00 or 1:30–if there’s no after-church meetings or anything.  About every other week I manage to get the girls up and ready to get to church around 10:30 for some fellowship and then to the nursery during service.  So, I feed the girls at least two meals by myself on Sundays–breakfast and lunch.  It’s no big deal.  Actually, it’s pretty easy and fun and the girls are pretty good about eating most things.  We’ve figured out what they like and don’t like and are always trying new things and just trying to take it slow.  Mealtimes are busy and it is sometimes exhausting to be fetching the milk, making the meals, warming the food, picking up everything that gets chucked to the ground, helping with spoons, making something else cause they’re still hungry and/or refused to eat what you just spent 20 minutes making, retrieving the sippy cups from the floor again, trying not to cry over spilled milk, brushing teeth after every meal, general entertainment during mealtime consisting of songs, dancing, disappearing acts, and pretending like Mommy actually gets to eat too during mealtime, etc., etc.

So, a couple of Sundays ago, we got through a good breakfast and the girls were asking for more! more! more!  So, I open the fridge and think–”Hey! How about some yummy yogurt!”  Oh…the girls were so excited.  So, I dished it up, handed them each a spoon and here’s what happened…

Tessa…

Nora…

Say Cheese, Tess!

Love you, Nora!

Tessa…

Nora…

It took me a long time to clean up.  We’re not usually this messy.  But the smiles were worth it.  We love yogurt–just not the clean-up.

Look who is a member of the “Clean Plate Club”: Miss Norita.

We love sausage and corn chowder, peaches and carrots.  Yum.

Taken with Chad’s camera phone because we could not pass up this photo op:

God that was good!  We laughed until we cried.

We love you!

Sometimes…when you only get a couple of hours of sleep…you entire world gets turned on its head.

Or, maybe we should just do some yoga and call it a Friday…

Working on less than three hours today…no apparent explanation.

Hello, everyone!  Tessa the Ladybug here…

Just gearing up for Halloween over here on Walmer Street…

Here’s Nori the Bumblebee…

 

Ahhhh!  Attack of the killer Nori-bees!

Don’t worry…I’m safe in Grammy’s arms…

We thought Trick o’ Treating was lots of fun.

We’re too tiny to get any candy, but it was fun to get out and see all the other kids and just walk around.

I love this video Chad shot with his camera phone.

I’m not good at embedding so I’ll attach the link as well:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUeKJYgsBQM

Here, the girls are home with Daddy and he turns on the music–their favorite song “Toes”. What I love the most about this video is not just the sweet dancing that’s going on but how the girls connect in different ways with the music.

Tessa (in green) goes to get the rattles to dance to the music which is demonstrating her connection of the rattles to the music. And she starts dancing and bopping around the room with her rattles. How appropriate to get out the rattles to shake to the music–which Tessa vigorously engages in.

Nora (in pink), however, goes to get the pink capes. The capes are actually just blankets that we put on the girls (like capes) and then we fly around the room and sing. The girls love to wear the capes. She first hands one to Tessa. Sharing. Helping. Engaging. Tessa, however, is busy with her rattles, but Nora insists that Tessa takes the cape, which she balances in her mouth for a short time before it falls to the ground again. Nora then takes her cape to Daddy so he can help her put it on her back. You can hear her say, “Dad” before the sharp “uuuuh!”–the insistence that Daddy is not moving fast enough to put the cape on her. Then you see her swaying and “flapping” along with the music. Once Nora has her cape situated (and Tessa’s cape falls off) you see Tessa decide that she too wants to wear a cape like Nora and begins to petition Daddy for his help. But the video has to be put down to accommodate the “cape maintenance” responsibilities of Daddy.

I’m not sure why Nora connects the capes with the singing and dancing, although we do sing and coo when we wear our capes. I think she is initially prompted to go over to the toys (and capes) when she sees Tessa go over there to grab the rattles. This is an example of the “herding” that I see with the girls. We call it “monkey see, monkey do” around the house. It reminds me of the part in Jurassic Park with the dinosaurs are running in the field and run as a pack, a herd, following each other wherever the leader is leading them.

Anyway, I think this video is fascinating. And not too bad for a camera phone.

They’re not babies anymore…it makes me both happy and sad.

Tessa has a SILLY hat(s)…

…a SiLLy hat(s)… (sing it, girl!)…

…a SIL-eeeeey hat(s)…

…now, Nora hAs a silLy HAt(s)…(and some mysterious water-substance or probably lunch…)

…on her HeAD!

It’s hard to do justice to our “silly hat” song on a blog.  But those are the lyrics.  The song mostly applies to our friend “Pez”–a dead tree down the street carved into the shape of a Pez dispenser that (who?) has various “silly hats” on its (his?) head depending on the season of the year.   This is “Halloween Pez”…

We love pez.

Nora is far…

Tessa is near…

We could spend hours in our tunnel.  We chase each other round and round and round in the tunnel.  Sometimes daddy sticks the tunnel on his head and it looks like he got eaten by a giant rainbow worm!  So funny. 

Ring around the rosie…

Pocket full of posies…

Ashes, Ashes…

We all fall DOWN!

Look at Nora (in blue) already doing the “again again again” sign. 

It’s so much fun to play.  After they fall down they say, “down, down, down”.  The girls will even hold each others’ hands and play.  And they sing, “ooo oooo oooooo”.  Very cute.

Thanks daddy and poppie for the game!  So fun.

Our life is too busy.

Last week I got a card for my 32nd birthday and in the card was one simple phrase: “Enjoy every moment.”  I don’t think she meant the very fleeting moments of my 32nd year of life.

So, I am reminded, to enjoy these moments:

Tessa says, “Chuz”.  For “shoes”.  When I get home from work, both girls run frantically to the drawer where we keep their shoes.  I don’t know what this means.  But I do know they love their shoes and urgently want to put on mismatched variations of shoes and socks.

Both girls say, “down”.  They don’t say “no” yet but “down” is more like, “Let me down, lady, I’m outta here.”

When asked what sound does a kitty cat make, Nora says, “Mmmm…ow”.  There’s no long “e” sound.  Just a long, closed mouth “mmm” followed by “ow”.  Nora loves kitty cats.

We have the “oo oo oo” sound down for monkey, and it easily translates in the the sound also made by owls and ghosts.

“Mum mum mum” still comes in triplicate.  “Da da” for dad.  “Pa pa” or “poppie” sometimes for poppie Jerry.

We can point to everything.  We can point to specific people when named, our ears, our eyes (ouch!), mouth, sometimes to the song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” our feet, where our hats go…our head, and we can point to my personal favorite, our bellybuttons.  Very cute.  We’re trying for “elbow” but that’s difficult to reach.

We can play “Ring around the rosy.” And if we can’t find a partner to make a circle, we just turn around and around by ourselves.  Falling randomly to the ground.

We can dance and sing.

When we go downstairs (feet first, facing forward–’cause the girls refused to turn arond and go down on their bellys), we say “schooch, schooch, schooch, DOWN” and drop to the next step.  The girls imitate us saying, “chu chu chu, DOWN”.   Cute.  They are very good at the schooch.

Tessa says, “All done” for everything and consistently gives the sign for it. 

“All dun. All dun.”

The most reliable, and universally applicable, word we use is “ball.”  Everything is a ball–particularly during the season of pumpkins.  “Ball. Ball. Ball.” Everywhere we go.  There are balls. 

And giggles.  Lots of giggles.

Happy Happy Happy Birthday.

To Aunt Mergana and Mommy.

 

Sharing a birthday is great.  Just hang out and enjoy it!

Do you remember Alexander and his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day?  It all started off when he went to bed with gum on his bedpost and woke up with gum in his hair!  I can relate to that lately.  Not literally, but figuratively as it has not been a good run of events for us as of late.

Chad got into a car accident a few weeks ago, and while he, thank god, walked away unscathed, the car was totalled.  Also, work has not been going well for me.  Enough said on that front because this is not the forum for such discussions, but suffice it to say that I feel like I’m at the bottom of my game this last month.  Teething is amongst us again with big gnarly fat molars invading the delicate gums of my very young, non-verbal, and consequently cranky children.  We also have many friends facing illnesses, worries, sadnesses and they have monumental struggles in front of them, in front of all of us.  Worry and concern grip me at my throat as thoughts of them wander in and out of my mind every day and night.  And, last night, we went into the basement to get some paper towels and I realized that the carpet was wet.  We spent last night moving things out of the basement and ripping up the wet carpet.  Sigh.  It has been a hard couple of weeks for us.  It seems unrelenting.  And I am exhausted.

And then something happened last night–a gift from an angel.

Grammy and Gana were over helping me get the girls ready for bed as Daddy was at a church meeting.  The girls had eaten their dinner, played played played, taken a bath and they were in their jammies winding down, getting ready for bed.  Grammy was in the rocking chair singing a lullaby and my head was resting on her knee as the girls were busily playing, reading books and gabbing gabbing away.  Then, out of nowhere, Tessa walked over to me, looked me square in the eye and said, “I love you”, paused, and planted a kiss on my lips.

 

If I didn’t have Grammy as a witness, I would not have believed it.  It was a GOOD KISS, too.  Not one of those open, curled lips, licking sort of kisses.  It was really good baby pecking kiss!  And nothing sounding like “I love you” has ever crossed Tessa or Nora’s lips.  Of course, there was no repeating that incident as we were instantly swept up into our books and blocks and the slide and the sippy cups and could not be bothered to say it again…

I love you.

It was at that instant in time, a moment out of nowhere, that I knew that I had been given a gift to empower me to turn around my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  As these days are too fleeting and do not repeat themselves.  I cannot turn back time, I can only face what is in front of us.  We walked away from that accident.  This job allows me to buy a new car.  Out of sickness there is hope and peace.  The teething is almost over (I think we’re up to 16/20 or so now).  And, I don’t know what to say about the carpet.

But I do know that Tessa and Nora amaze me.  They inspire me.  They bring me hope with each and every new day.  I love you, too, Tessa.  I love you, too, Nora.

We love fall.  My goodness it is so cool and brisk.  We love it.  We love it so much that we are already gearing up for Halloween.  Even though there’s no chance that we will get any candy, we are trying to decide on the best costume to wear for all of October. 

 Right now the “Caped Royals Crusaders” are the obvious choice.

First, we get our capes and our hats on.  Thanks for the help, Poppie.

Then we buzz around the room with electric excitement!  Cheese Tessa!

Nora strikes a pose.

 

 Also in the costume running…

“Sock hands”

But it’s hard to grab candy with socks on your hands!

Ann, we will be thinking of you tomorrow. 

 Here is our cheer for you:

Go Ann!  Go Ann! 

 

Kick some bottom dollars and feel better!

Rah! Rah! Rah, Ann!  We love you!  Feel better!!!

We’re pulling for you AW!

Our sweet rescue dog, Frankie, came to live with us in October of 2001. At the time, he had been abandon on the streets of Chicago, picked up by animal control and placed in a doggie rescue shelter. He had a host of ailments, including an ulcerated eye and chemical burns on his belly due to the chemicals used to clean the cages at animal control. When Chad and I were looking for a dog we wanted a mature dog, preferably house-broken, who would cuddle up on our laps when we’d watch movies or go on walks in the park.

The doggie rescue shelter hosted a showing of the dogs at a local PetSmart. We looked at several dogs that day and were about to leave when the owner of the rescue pointed out Frankie–a sad little (actually very large for his breed) pup shivering at the back of his cage. At first glance he didn’t have the character I was expecting in a dog for us. He was big and kind of weepy from his eye problems. His coat needed grooming and was flaky from the chemical burns. We took him out of the cage and walked around with him. It was so interested in his surroundings and was sniffing everything in the store–paying very little attention to who was on the other end of the leash. After a few minutes I scooped him up and sat on the floor to get a closer look. Poor Frankie was so exhausted that he fell asleep in my arms almost instantly and started to snore. From that moment on we were hooked. Frankie “chose” us, as the rescue owner had put it.

Frankie was our first baby. He was a terrific, laid back dog–rarely barking and never biting. He loved anyone who would take the opportunity to give him a scratch behind the ears and he loved to have his hips rub–he’d do this funny little “butt scratch” dance when you found the right spot. His big puppy-dog eyes would melt your heart and we was so cuddly and fuzzy that we called him our “love sponge” because he would just soak you in.

Frankie, however, has more than his share of ailments. Everything from ruptured disks in his neck to Thrombocytopenia–this dog has had more lives than a cat. He was hardly house-broken and would often pee (or worse) in the kitchen or other parts of the house. The surgeries, medicines and vet visits have costs us thousands of dollars over the years we had Frankie, but given our resources it seemed hard, almost cruel, to ever deny him the medical treatment that he needed. Besides, only once did we truly take “heroic” measures to save him–and at the time we didn’t blink. He was our baby. I would do it again.

This past year Frankie entered the “geriatric” stage in his life.  It was sad to see Frankie’s rapid descent in our lives. He seemed okay with the babies, but you could sense his depression.  His health seemed to take a turn for the worse this past winter, starting with a skin infection that has spread to all parts of his body, including his sensitive eyes.  His liver was failing him and his body just wasn’t keeping up.  When the girls where about eight months old, Tessa reached out to touch Frankie and he snapped at her.  We were all there when it happened and we knew instantly that we couldn’t manage two babies with an unstable dog.  We found a wonderful new home for Frankie with our loving vet’s parents who have cared for Frankie for the past few months.  This week we got a call from our vet that Frank’s quality of life has taken a turn for the worse. He skin condition has returned and his liver is failing.  It is time.  So, yesterday we said good-bye to Frankie one last time.  It was not easy but it was time.

Frankie was our first baby. For years he gave us unconditional love–I think in gratitude for rescuing him from his old life. We gave Frank a good life and in return he has given us many moments of love and joy and laughter.

Frankie, we pray that your “trip to the rainbow bridge” is a peaceful one where you can run around and eat all the snausages your heart desires.  Say “hi” to Mookie for us.

Hope you have a great weekend…

We’re gonna go to the park!

Aunt Morgana got us these rockin’ fun balloons to play with for our birthday.  We loved them so much.  They helped mommy get some really good pictures.

 Rock on, Tess!

Such a sweetheart.

This is called the “Nora Squint”.  She makes this face a lot.  We don’t know where she got it but she’s being doing it for a long time.

This is the other Nora face, called the “Baby Nora Grimace”.  Again, don’t know where she gets these expressions–could it be from their overly theatrical mother?  Nah. 

Tessa is singing a lot these days…It’s like a owl call, “hoo hoo hoo”.

Here we got an “ah ah ah”.

Nora likes to sing too.  She’s also into the owl call.

Have I ever mentioned that the girls have very very blue eyes.  Wow.

See ya later alligator!

We have very blue eyes…

 draped with long eyelashes…

The treats had been lovingly handcrafted by Hen House (after disastrous attempt to bake cupcakes by Mommy)…

Gifts had been opened and the wrapping paper devoured…

And then we dug in…

Nora, on sugar:

Tessa in a cupcake trance:

The girls with “dairy” mustaches:

All in all, August 14 was a great success.  Happy Birthday babies.

The girls got these cute little car/scooter/walker gizmos for their birthday.

It’s a bit hard to maneuver on the carpet right now, but when we get a little bigger I think they’ll be a huge hit out on the patio.  The cars have lots of cool features, for example, ample trunk space to store multiple pacifiers (Tessa modeling the front-trunk apparatus):

 

This little fluttering thing whirls like mad when you take off at excessive speeds (see below).  And your sister can even reach over behind you to crank the “gas” cap in case you need that type of assistance.

Here, Nora is screeching to a haul due to the awesome acceleration capabilities:

The girls mostly like to just get on and off the cars.  And then on again and off again and on again and off again.  And they make a motor sound like a continuous raspberry.

We like to sing this Beach Boys rip off when they are playing cars:

It’s the little old babies from Walmer Streeter
Go Tessa, go Tessa, go Tessa go!
They have a pretty baby bed of white gardenias
Go Nora, go Nora, go Nora go!
But parked in their rickety old garage
Is a brand new shiny green Super Stock Plastic-mobile!

And everybody’s saying that there’s nobody cuter
Than the little old babies from Walmer Streeter!
They drive real fast and they drive real hard
They’re the terror of Walmer Boulevard!

Dismount!  We’re outta here!

Dear Nora and Tessa,

On Sunday night, your father and I sat on the couch long after you went to bed and reminisced over the past year.  Mondays, every Monday, since you have been born, remind me of your birthday.  It is a strange memory in some ways, that every Monday morning, as I drive into work, I remember the same drive your father and I took to the hospital.  I can see St. Luke’s Hospital, where you were born, from my office window–just a couple of blocks from my office building.  Often, as I settle in for the week I sip my coffee and look over at the hospital, remembering…   

 It is almost like a movie of that day–a great love story–that plays through my mind, August 14, 2006.  I suppose it was a hot, sunny day–a day fit for a Kansas summer.  I remember many of the doctors and nurses that helped us.  I remember around 1:00 in the afternoon I ordered your father to “go eat something NOW because you might not otherwise get a chance to eat today“.  It was true.   I remember the exact moment that hit me like a bus when I realized that I HAVE TO HAVE THE EPIDURAL RIGHT NOW.  And after that, so many of the details were lost to me in the fog of labor. 

And then all of a sudden, in two separate moments of time that changed our world forever, Nora Marie, you were born at 2:41 pm, and then Tessa Leigh, you were born at 4:14 pm.  And our lives began all over again.  Two little changes, so profound, so dramatic, so expansive that our lives and love and hearts would forever encompass both of you.

Nora, you are an angel.  Sweet and innocent.  You were the first to twist my heart with your first (and my favorite) word, “Mum mum mum”.  Always in triplicate.

 Your flirty glances and sweet smiles are received with joy and elation by everyone you encounter. 

 You are our comic-relief amidst the chaos.  (Nora on the right)

Tessa, you are so full of curiosity and compassion.  You are happy and engaged and eager to learn.

What amazes me most about you is that not only do you already know the rules about everything, but you know when you are following the rules, and you know when you are not following the rules…

And you love to sing and coo and sing and coo and sing…

As you both have grown over the last year, we have learned so much about you and about ourselves.

Happy Birthday, Nora Marie, my little Norita.  I love you.

Happy Birthday, Tessa Leigh, my T-bird.  I love you.

I know they don’t turn 1 until next week.  But I couldn’t wait.

Daddy and Mommy got Tessa and Nora a brand new shiny red wagon for their first birthday. 

Needless to say, it is a huge hit.  Tessa…

Nori…

It comes fully loaded with flip-up seats, safety belts, drink holders, and we still have plenty of room to wear our wide-brimmed hats…

Daddy, the wagon-puller,

Tessa, protesting hat wearing, and

Nora, the hat thief.

Still a little too close for our girls:

Happy almost birthday, girls.  Mommy just couldn’t wait…

Oh dear.  It must be raining again on Walmer Street.

We must don our best ‘kerchiefs lest we get drenched.

Hmmm…I shall ponder such wisdom briefly…

What great fun and such sweetness it is to have such silly hats!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to participate in the amazing 2007 Bryan T. Reese C.A.S.T. For Kids event at Shawnee Park. 

 

This event provides an opportunity for at-risk youth from Kansas City, Missouri to participate in a day of fishing, having fun, eating bar-b-que and making new friends.

The event is organized in honor of Bryan Reese who died three years ago in a car accident.  I never knew Bryan, but his sister, Liz Birch, and family are friends of ours that we met through our church.  One of the most wonderful parts of the event is to hear Bryan’s family and friends tell his story and honor his memory.  The most relevant memory for the day is one shared by Bryan’s father.  One day the two of them were talking and Bryan’s father asked him, ”What would you do if you could do anything you wanted?”  Bryan replied, “I would take kids fishing that otherwise would not have the chance.  Give them a hobby they might love for life.”

And so we fished.

Each volunteer (about 50 of us) were paired with a youth (about 40 in all).  Kennadi and I were fishing buddies.

Kennadi is a sweet sweet girl.  She’s 10 years old and had never held a fishing pole before this Sunday.  I must say it had been some time since I had cast out the old rod (or is it a pole?).  My memories of fishing with each of my grandfathers are wonderful.  One time in Louisiana my granddaddy took my sister, Morgana, and me fishing and we were using crickets, held in a cage, as bait.  Morgana, who is always concerned about the life and well-being of all animals, freed most of the crickets on the dock before we could get much fishing done.  After wrangling a few crickets on the end of our poles (and inadvertantly feeding most of the fish with a swarm of recently-freed crickets) we then proceeded to catch a turtle and then a boot.  I think we saw an alligator or something and flipped out so granddaddy took us home.  We loved it.  My grandpa would also take us fishing in the park in Nebraska.  I remember the warm summer days, the quiet stillness of the park, the coolness of the breeze off the pond and getting ice cream on the way home!  Wonderful.

When I heard about this event I couldn’t pass up the chance to participate in creating a memory for a child who had never had such an opportunity to go fishing.  So, down to the pond we trudged our pole and tackle box, some mysterious bait-like substances and a life jacket.  It was a beautiful day–overcast, fortunately, to keep the hot July sun off our faces.  We attached some mystery bait and figured out how to toss the line into the pond a few feet.  Many of our first attempts got snagged in nearby plants, trees and nearly some other participants, but then–in that undeniable way that kids are able to catch on so quickly and amaze us–Kennadi soon seemed like she had been fishing for years.

I wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to stand there, line cast into the water, staring at the red and white bobber not making a move.  My own kids have about a one minute attention span and I wasn’t sure that a 10-year-old girl who had no previous fishing experience would be able to stay out there and wait…

and wait…

But then I realized, waiting is one of the wonderful, relaxing aspects of fishing.  And somehow she found this patience–touched with hope for a bite–and she really enjoyed it.  We enjoyed it.  After a couple of hours, with no bite, we headed back for lunch.

And a balloon release…

A water balloon toss!!!

Face painting

A ring toss for soda

But, Kennadi kept wanting to head back to the lake.  So we started to head back down to the lake to see if we could catch a fish.  On the way down we passed a sign posted in the fire-pit in the middle of the camp.  “Fishing for Bryan”, she read.  “Who’s Bryan?”

Oh wow.

Surely, the group Higher M-Pact, an organization that reaches out to at-risk youth and who organized the boys and girls to come out here, had mentioned Bryan.  We had been talking about him all day at camp, over lunch, even the t-shirts we were wearing had his name. 

I didn’t know Bryan and Kennadi didn’t know him.  But we were brought together that day because of Bryan, because of a dream he had and because his family and friends wanted to honor him, to remember him and to give some kids a chance to love fishing as he did.   I cannot imagine a better way to honor a person’s life than to reach out to give others an opportunity that they might not otherwise have.  We were all there for different reasons that day–some to honor a memory, some to support our friends, some just to get a chance to catch a fish.  But we were all there for Bryan, because of Bryan, whether we knew it or not. 

Kennadi and I found a spot on the “island” down by the pond in the shade out of the hot sun.  She cast out her line (a good 50 feet–what a pro) and we sat and chatted and just enjoyed being there in that time and that place.  We watched the turtles bob their heads up out of the water.  We speculated on the source of some bubbles coming from deep inside the pond.  We made predictions on how big the fish would be that we would catch. 

We didn’t catch any fish that day.  We gave it a good shot.  We had a couple of nibbles but it was not meant to be.  Earlier in the day I was worried how she might react if she didn’t catch a fish.  Would the day be a disappointment for her?  But I underestimated the impact of the entire event on Kennadi–fish or no fish–it was a tremendous success.  She slipped her hand into mine as we walked back from the lake to turn in our fishing poles and chatted the fun events of the day.  As the kids were lining up to get on the bus, I knelt down to give her a hug.  And she hugged me good and long–a second longer than I expected from a kid I met only hours ago. 

As she gathered up her bag filled with prizes, a tackle box and a plaque with her picture on it we both knew, in our own ways, that we had made an impact on each other’s lives because of Bryan and the family and friends who keep his memory and dream alive.  Peace be with you, Bryan.  Thank you.

We’re teething right now.

Thank goodness for Tylenol.  Yum.

 

So, last night Chad and I fed the girls dinner.

It was all going along just fine.  We were eating all the yummy food, drinking all the delicious milk and, for the most part, avoiding too much splatter on the walls, ceiling, windows and floor.

 Toward the end of the meal Tessa looked up at her dad who was feeding her, and as plain as day said, “All done!” while giving the perfect sign for “all done”.

For a second Chad and I just stared at her.

“Did she just say ‘All done’?”  I asked him.

“I think so.”

There were a couple of spoonfuls left of her fruit and so he said, “Should I try?”

“Sure.  Test the Tessa Hypothesis.”

SMACK!  Onto the floor went the spoon and a huge glop of banana-orange medley.

I guess she was all done.  Wow.  It just gets crazier each day. 

Where did all the funny stories go?

Why in the world aren’t there any recent posts?

Mommy is busy at work. 

There is light at the end of the working tunnel, though…

Sorry for the delay.

We had a great weekend.

We walked and babbled about, you know, baby stuff.  Worked on getting some MORE teeth. Wore our pants on our heads. 

 

You know, just hung out.

We love to get up on the couch and look out the window.

When a person or a car whizzes past we ask, “Where did it go?”  “Where did it go?” And we put are hands in the air and shrug our shoulders.  It’s quite possibly as cute as the Mackenzie-patented “touchdown”!

These hats were Daddy’s birthday present from the girls.  They are toddler size, not baby size, so we can wear them for years and years to come…Here, Nora poses in style.

Tessa had to take a break from window gazing to check out the score…

Oh no!  We’re losing.  So we started to wonder…

“Who in the world is this pitcher?”  “Where did the Royals score go?”

Don’t look sissy.  It isn’t pretty.

I don’t think I ever imagined 8 years ago that this is what we would be doing on our Saturday mornings…

But I’m glad we are.

And I’m glad I’m doing it with you.

Love you, Chad.

Swim lessons did not go according to plan (if you can even have a plan with infant–I mean toddler twins).  More later, maybe.

It’s “toddler” once they start toddlin’, right? 

We’re walkin’, yes siree…

And we talkin’, ’bout you and me…

Let’s get ready to….

TUMBLE!!!!!!!!

Word.

They’re pretty good at it too.  Nora was the first to take off about a week ago.  And then this weekend Tessa decided she better catch up.

What’s so cute is that they KNOW they’re walking and they are so proud of themselves.  You can see it in their laugh and in their eyes.

Down in a meadow ina itty bitty pool

swam 2 little fishes and a mommy fishy too

swim said the mommy fish swim if you can
so they swam and they swam all over the dam

oomp boomp dittum dattum wattum choo
oomp boomp dittum dattum wattum choo
oomp boomp dittum dattum wattum choo

and they swam swam all over the dam.

Tonight begins Lesson 1.  Stay tuned…

The evolution of my love for Nora and Tessa is expansive.  And although I have loved them from the very first flutter in my belly, as the girls grow and their personalities begin to blossom my fascination with every moment of their being magnifies.

Adjusting to being a parent in my mind has been more difficult in some respects than any other change I have encountered in my life.  I say “in some respects” because there is a certain degree of necessity that kicks in upon giving birth that doesn’t seem to give you much time to think about anything because your so busy doing all the time.  But the adjustment to thinking about myself as a mother–as a parent–is a leap that is unparalleled.  It’s difficult to know what to expect, how you will feel, how you will react, whether you are doing the right thing for your child, your children…

I guess I am sometimes struck by how different my love is for them as opposed to what I thought it would be like.  Although I have always instinctively loved Nora and Tessa, I didn’t expect automatically to fall deeply and passionately in love with them.  How can you fall in love with the idea of something?  How can I love someone that I don’t know?  So, I knew my love would be a process–the mulling over of each quiet moment with a baby snuggled in my arms, the moments when my heart aches over bumped noggin or a fever, the hilarious moments when their is laughter for just the sake of laughter.

When we bought this house exactly two years ago we make some updates, painted, put in new carpet–we made it our home.  It feels like my home.  It’s mine. 

But, when we had the girls, almost a year ago, they didn’t feel like mine.  Even though they are our very own flesh and blood.  Even though we make every decision for them, about them, with the thought of them in our hearts.  Even though they are are on my mind every morning and the very last sweet moment of every night…

 

I have realized that they are not mine.  Rather they are passing through–through us, with us, along side us.  They are here to join us on this ride.  And as my love for them grows in each moment of each day, so does the realization that they are mine, but they are not. 

I am still learning from Nora and Tessa, but this much I know is true, as so perfectly articulated by Bill Staines’ Child of Mine…

You have the hands that will open up the doors
You have the hopes this world is waiting for
You are my own, but you are so much more
You are tomorrow on the wing,

Child of mine.

I love you Nora.  I love you Tessa.

I knew the day would come.  I knew it would be soon.

Yesterday Nora took her first two steps.

Casually gripping the side of the exersaucer, she let go and took two steps.

Freaked out.

And then fell to the ground.

The first episode of many, I am sure.

Let the fun begin.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

 We want to sing you a song…ooooooooooo!!!!

 And then get into a tickle attack!

 

 And then give you a BIIIIIGGGG HUUUGGGG!

 We’ll even let you play with our toys!

 

Most of all we just like being with you.  Love you, daddy.  Happy Birthday.

Those silly stairs are no match for these 10-month-old babies (with Mommy as the spotter, of course)!

 So triumphant.  Piece of cake.

We have been swamped.  Absolutely swamped with work and weddings and funerals and with books and teething and family and friends and walking and–did I mention teething?

But, alas, a moment to celebrate fathers…

To the tune of Fathers and Daughters, by Paul Simon.

 

If you leap awake in the mirror of a bad dream
And for a fraction of a second you can’t remember where you are
Just open your window and follow your memory upstream
To the meadow in the mountain where we counted every falling star

I believe a light that shines on you will shine on you forever
And though I can’t guarantee there’s nothing scary hiding under your bed
I’m gonna stand guard like a postcard of a Golden Retriever
And never leave ’til I leave you with a sweet dream in your head

 

I’m gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you’ll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you

 Trust your intuition
 It’s just like goin’ fishin’
You cast your line and hope you get a bite
But you don’t need to waste your time
Worryin’ about the market place
Try to help the human race
Struggling to survive its harshest night

I’m gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you’ll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you

We love you, our daddys.  We hope you get some well-deserved rest…

Probably a lot of this…

Sorry we haven’t posted in awhile.

We’ve been having summer fun.

Journey Home  By Bill Staines. © 2004 Mineral River Music (BMI)

I have stood on the banks of the river
And felt the pull of the passing time.
Been touched by a breeze, little more than a shiver
As it lightly leapt on down the line.

And on that wind, I heard a story.
A story old and ever true,
“Come follow me, I’m bound for glory,
And there’s a place out there for you.”

Oh, I have climbed to the top of the mountain
Where the view will steal your breath away,
And washed my soul in the highest of fountains,
Just at the breaking of the day.

And with bright flowers all around me
Standing golden in the sun
I felt a hand was there to guide me
Until my journey home was done.

Someday I’ll hear some far off calling
That I have never heard before.
And it will beckon me to follow
And walk a strange and different shore.

But as I rise to make the journey,
Across that wide and darkest sea,
I know some star, forever burning,
Will shine its light as a path for me.

My first memory of Bill Cramer was on a drive to the KCI Airport from Chad’s second interview with Southminster Presbyterian Church–my first meeting with them.  Bill said, “What will it take to convince you to come here?”

I remember being struck by this comment.  This moment suspended in time.  A moment when I first actually wondered what it would take to convince me to move from what I thought wanted–what I worked for, what I earned–to coming home to Kansas.  I never seriously contemplated leaving Chicago before that moment.  I had been there for seven years, Chad for eight, when Chad decided to look outside of Chicago for a church.  A calling, so it is said.  We had made a life in Chicago–we’d bought a home, I had a great job, the thought of Nora and Tessa were watering in my mouth.  Chad had looked for a church in Chicagoland for over a year when he asked me if we should look outside Chicago?   He almost had the church in Evanston, but, obviously, it was not his calling.  I remember half-heartedly saying, “Sure.  Go for it.  Let’s see where this path takes us.”  Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would bring us to Bill and Jean.   But it did.

So, that moment in that car…. a time that now seems like years ago–a time when Brent was still with us–a time when Bill was telling stories of sports salve and wine-tasting and his CB Radio–a time when our babies were a hope, and not a reality…it was our beginning here.  A new family for us.  We are so blessed to be surround by our actual family here.  But we are doubly blessed to be surrounded by our church family.  A family made up of aunts and uncles, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers in God.  I remember Bill asking Chad one day if his grandfathers were still living.  Chad replying a somber, no, all of his grandparents had all passed away.  And Bill was so adamant that he said he would like to be Chad’s grandfather–our grandfather.  It was touching–genuine–in a way that only someone like Bill and Jean could be.  Who asks that question to a virtual stranger?  I think that’s when I knew we had a home in Southminster.  A real home.  An intimate home made up of friends and church family who embraced us without condition.  Without question.  God was leading us home.  I truly believe that.  Bill taught me that.  He gave us that.

“It could have been a Tuesday,” Bill would say.  It was his story of how someone, when telling a story, got caught up in the irrelevant details and failed to focus on the deeper message.  A husband and wife would engage in a seemingly long-winded banter about whether the subject-matter at hand had previously occurred on a Wednesday–or was it Monday–I thought it was a Sunday–it could have been a Tuesday….  “WHO CARES WHAT DAY IT WAS?!?!” Bill would interject.  “You’ve missed the point!”  The point is…

The point is that Bill Cramer was an extraordinary man.  A hero of our time.  A husband, a father, a grandfather a GREAT-grandfather.  An inventor.  A unwaivering patron of Southminster Church.  A friend to us all.  Jean is an amazing mother, grandmother, GREAT-grandmother, spouse and friend.  The Cramers are genuinely wonderful people.  It was a privilege and an honor to know Bill.  And to be his friend, his granddaughter, is a gift to cherish and remember.

After Jeff called me tonight to tell be that Bill had died, I sat for some time in the nursery.  Taking it all in.  Nora had cried out–twisted in her blanket, lost without her pacifier.  I touched her open, warm hand.  The sweet back of her neck.  I softly adjusted Tessa’s cramped sleeping style so she too could rest comfortably.  This year I have thought a lot about the cycle of life with the passing of my grandfather and my friend’s father.  Just as a life is budding, bursting with newness…another life closes its cover.  It’s conflicting to feel so torn between the celebration of what is to be and what has ended.  In those moments in the darkness, as tears of loss flood my senses, the sweet, supple presence of Tessa and Nora comfort me.  It is a passing of the baton, in a sense, that I envision.   To continue to live as Bill taught us to live.  To give to others the love and friendship that Bill gave to us.  Through our lives we can continue to keep Bill’s memory–his legacy–alive.

Bill, we will miss you.  Rest in peace.  Thank you for saying good-bye.  Amen.

As many of you know, Chad and our church youth group are about to leave town for a week-long work camp project in New Orleans where they will all pitch-in and help with the salvaging of the homes that were damaged in Hurricane Katrina.

We wish them a safe and enlightening journey.

We got an early birthday present this year.  A NEW SWING-SET!

Tessa (right) is particularly overjoyed by the swing-set.

This child is pratically hysterical with laughter each time she gets in the swing.  Tessa loves it.  She absolutely loves it.

Tessa is always  a very “smiley” kiddo, but the swings really get her going.

Nora likes the swings, too.  She did a great job of holding on tight to the sides.

Nora is very verbal lately.  Especially with the “ma ma ma ma ma”.  You can see the “m” forming on her lips here.   I love it.

Daddy is a great pusher.  Not to be confused with “push-over” which he will also be when the girls start saying “da da da da da da” and look at him with their ocean-blue eyes.

Thank you, Grammy and Poppie.  We love it.  I think we’re going to have a lot of great memories of our swing-set.

When I’m home with the girls and someone, like Daddy, comes in the house we all cheer for that person’s grand arrival.  We whoop it up and sing songs and clap our hands.

Recently, when Grammy and Aunt Gana come over we get up on the couch and look out the window at the birds and the trees and the houses and the cars whizzing by UNTIL, oh my, is that Grammy getting out of the car!?!?!

The girls start screaming and jumping up and down and are so excited.

When I get home from work and the girls see me come in the house, it is more of an urgent hyperventilation like, “Oh my, finally that mommy-lady is here.  Oh my. Oh my.”  And they crawl, flop and roll in my general direction.   It’s not as much as a cheerful ovation as it is a desperate reunion–as if they are wondering how we made it through the day being apart.

Then I throw on my play clothes and settle in for some sweet, wet kisses.  It’s one of my favorite times of the day.

Uhhhh….. Good morning, Tessa.

My dad found this horse/truncated-neck-giraffe toy and thought it was perfect for the girls.  They loved it—as you can see.

Riding partners.

The lone Norita.

So cute.

What is really amazing about the girls at this stage, is that once they figure something out (like pulling themselves up) they really take off with it.

Many of you know that I leave for work before the girls are even up in the morning.  Chad told me this morning he went in to get them up and Tess was standing up in her crib.  Wow.  I hate missing that stuff.

Happy Birthday, Tessa!

Happy Birthday, Nora!

You turned 9 months old yesterday.  It’s hard to believe, I know.

Nora, my first, my champion.  You weighed in at 22 lbs., 5 oz; 29 inches.

Tessa, my baby, my sweetheart.  You weighed in at 23 lbs., 1 oz; 29 1/2 inches.

Time for new carseats.

Happy birthday, girls.

I know it looks like I posed the girls like this, but the fact of the matter is–we now live in a baby obstacle course and the main speedbump is sissy.  It doesn’t matter WHICH sissy is in the way, but there is always someone to crawl over.

This isn’t the best “live action” shot (below), but you get the picture.  Nora just has to get to something and Tessa’s legs are clearly in the way.  Tessa usually does more of a “full body block” over Nora’s back and Nora starts screaming until someone rescues her or Tessa finishing her descent over Mt. Nora.

The exersaucer also is a great location for crawling through.  Nora was in there with Tessa but she saw the camera and bolted for me.  And now the girls have started pulling THEMSELVES up on the gate (pictured below) and on the side of the saucer.

We’re in for some fun (and bumps) now!

This day, day 1, the first day I became a mother, is not as fuzzy in my mind as everyone said it would be.

In fact, I have thought about that day almost every day for the last 8 months and 27 days.  It was the most joyous day of my life.

Until I had my own children I don’t think I every fully grasped the profoundness of motherhood.  I never truly understood the pride a mother takes in the little things about her children…

I never really comprehended the connection that there would be…

…or the heart-bursting joy of a coo or a smile…

I had no idea how much fun, really incredible fun, this would be.

One thing that really strikes me about being a mother is the reflection of our own mothers and what they have and continue to do for me, for us.  From the world view of a child, it is hard to understand the constant and deep reflection that a mother has for her own children.  And then to think back to our grandmothers’ lives and the work and love it took to raise children of their own…

We are so grateful for what our mothers taught us about being wonderful parents.  And we are so thankful that they can now immerse themselves in the joys of being grandparents.

To our moms, Gwen and Terry–Happy Mother’s Day!  We love you.  And thank you.

We were all playing the other day and I looked over and saw this:

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Has that child pulled herself up from her belly to her knees???

Nori, sweetie, whacha doing?

Momma, I’m learning…

…to stand all by myself!

Oh my.  Now we have to baby proof above the 2 foot mark…What a babe!

In just a few days, we’ve reached so many new milestones.

Both of the girls went from a crawling position to a sitting position this weekend.

I think Nora said “ba” for ball yesterday and really meant it.  She’s been calling me (and every living and n0n-living thing) “ma ma ma ma ma” for the past week.

Tessa is crawling circles around all of us.

Nora pulled herself up into a standing position by herself. (Pictures forthcoming)

Both girls have decided that they are going to feed themselves from here on, thank you very much.

Both girls have starting making a ticking sound with their mouths, which, I think, is an imitation of me kissing them CONSTANTLY (will this lady ever stop with the kisses?!?!).

I was telling a friend the other day how much I love each new stage.  How I rarely look back at the past month, the past year and yearn for its return.  I am a proud and boastful parent of each amazing accomplishment that my girls make, together and separately.  I remember cheering so loudly when Tessa rolled over for the first time that I accidentally frightened her with my reaction.  My babies grew quickly from the start and so they have rarely seemed like babies to me.  They already seem like little girls, little people with opinions and thoughts and emotions.  Their “littleness” is not so little anymore.  I can see and hear their personalities emerging in each great big triumphant cry.

Maybe it was all the changes this weekend, maybe it was the fact that so many of my friends are having babies right now, maybe its because its been so cloudy and rainy, but lately I’ve really felt myself gripping onto the past.  Holding tight to those moments that now seem fleeting.  It seems to be slipping away so quickly and I can hardly keep up.

I have always believed that I must enjoy my time with the girls in the moments that we are together.  Time spent freting over the past or what events the future may hold is time that is wasted.  But its getting harder.  I have to force myself to live in the moment and savor it for what it is.

It is.

Hey!  Look who!  It’s our crazy cousin Vance!  Vance and his folks came over to visit last weekend and we had a ball.  He’s so cute!  He’s almost 6 months old now.

Check out this standing position.  This kid has got it DOWN!

Phew!  All that standing to entertain Tessa and Nora is exhausting!

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Tessa got to chat it up with Aunt Michelle (note Vance back in standing position).

Then Tessa broke into song with Uncle Joel.  He’s so much fun.  Scruffy too.

Nora had to tell Cousin Vance how it is.  “Look kid, all you gotta do is…”

Vance thinking, “Is she trying to kiss me?”  Pucker up!

Swings are the greatest invention EVER.  We LOVE to swing.  In fact, the last time we went to the park we squealed so loudly on the baby swings that kids who were playing around us stopped to take note of HOW MUCH FUN WE WERE HAVING ON THE SWINGS.

Check out the white-knuckled grip Tess has on the swing.

Oh my my my.  The breeze on Nori’s toes is glorious!

Loving this…

Every night during “grabfest” (ok, grabfest is usually a round-the-clock event but it just seems especially aggressive in the evenings) we try different tactics to distract the girls from the non-stop tug-of-war over every single toy.  We are by no means short on toys, but it just seems like whatever toy one girl has the other one HAS to have it and slobber all over it.  Case in point.

Hi, Tess!  Looks like you’re playing so well by yourself.  Is that your sister Nora I see inching up behind you???  I think she’s eyeballing that toy you have.

Hey sis.  What’s this?  Something to put in my mouth.  Yum.  Looks like fun!

If I could just get my mugs on it.  Tessa is holding on tight!

HEY DADDY!  NO TICKLING FROM BEHIND.  THAT’S NOT FAIR!

Ok.  We can share Daddy.  He’s so much fun.  Ahhhh….peace at last.

Hey!  Is that the REMOTE CONTROL!  Gimme!

As recent (ok, maybe two years isn’t so recent anymore) transplants from Chicago we loved the Brookfield Zoo, which is really the mother of all zoos.  But we decided to give little ol’ KC’s zoo a shot.  Let me begin by saying—there is nothing little about this zoo.  We went on a relatively cool day last week with the girls and we thanked our lucky stars that it wasn’t hot out because the “Africa” exhibit is literally IN AFRICA.  It is so far between each exhibit that I feel like I got my exercise quota filled for the week.

We had a great time.  Here’s us gearing up in the parking lot.  Woo hoo!

You can already see Tessa eyeballing Nora’s toy.  Get ready for grabfest Kansas City-zoo-style.

The elephants were awesome.  We got so close.  They were “painting” pictures by spraying paint with their trunks on paper held by the zookeeper.  Cool.

Birds.  Lots of birds.

There was this cute little shelter with a big wooden rocking chair overlooking the lake.  Who needs to travel to Lake Tahoe for a vacation if you have the KC Zoo!?!

Sooooo fun.

We got some snacks.  Yum, keys at the zoo are delicious.

Those were some FAT hippos.  Likely they had too many snacks, too.

The zebras, giraffes and a rhino were all in one, relatively large area.  The giraffes kept charging the zebras who were just trying to get to the lake.  It was fun to watch the animals RUNNING around but it seemed a little stressful for the zebras.  I don’t think Zookeeper Bob got the memo on African rivalries because at one point the giraffes had the zebras cornered and we weren’t sure they were going to get to have a drink that day.  Yikes.

More fun—paci-style.

Check out that kitty cat.  Meow.  This was the ultimate stare-down.  Tessa blinked first.

By the end of the day we all fell asleep.  I highly recommend the KC Zoo to anyone who enjoys walking.  The zoo was beautiful and we got to see a lot of animals but a hot day would probably be tough on the parents and the kids.

Oh my goodness.  The cutest thing ever!

After hours and hours of “peek-a-boo” the girls have caught on and are playing it on their own!  Check it out…

Where’s Noooooraaaaa???????

THERE SHE IS.  Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee.

Where’s Noooooraaaaa???????

THERE SHE IS.  Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee.

WHERE’S NOOOOORAAAA????

This goes on for hours.  So cute.

Sometimes they don’t actually cover their face but just put their head down and close their eyes.  So very cute.

A couple of weeks ago we were at a restaurant and some guy was really upset about his meal and making a scene at the restaurant.  The girls started playing “peek-a-boo” in their seats and it put the whole place in a better mood.  Loving this…

We’re back!  Actually we didn’t really leave town but we had a great vacation and boy do we have some great stories to share.

First off–the race is definitely on.  Tessa is army-crawling along at a rapid pace.  And even though the girls are genetically identical Nora has a totally different mode of transportation.  We call it “the inch”.  She’s really getting good at it.

It begins much like the “plank” position in Pilates.

Then she pulls up her knees so she’s on all fours.

Then she pushes off with her knees on to her belly (oof!)

And volia!  She’s reached her destination.

We call her “inchy” for short.  It’s cute.

The Easter pictures are in!  We had a terrific Easter celebration!  We hung out with our friends at church and were able to see ALL our grandparents!

For awhile we donned our head bows, but they were too tempting to grab (plus Tessa got a headache–just kidding).  Check out the BOOTIES!

We had a test drive of the bows before gearing up.

We got to hang out with Aunt Gana, too!  So fun.

Hope everyone had a terrific weekend!

I know you are all waiting at your computer screens clicking *refresh* *refresh* *refresh* in eager anticipation of the Easter portraits.  I am sorry to disappoint.  We are having technical difficulties and so said pictures have not yet been loaded.

However, I will leave you with this little gem:

Does anyone feel a breeze in here?  Who put this diaper on this baby?  You are just asking for an explosion.

We try never to disappoint…

A stellar prize to whomever can guess the baby in this picture (photographer guessing excluded!).

Ok, so this is just a picture of Daddy giving Nora the “bunny ears” and Nora protesting by trying to eat Daddy’s hand…

We have a few million things going on after our long (but fun) Easter weekend including: a gut remodel of our main hall bathroom while Barbara tries to care for the kids at home, two cavity fillings today (me, not the girls, although they have enough teeth to buck a horse—I don’t know what that means), a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Herring, meetings, meetings and more meetings, real estate closings, closings and more closings, preparation for a “pseudo-vacation” next week, not to mention laundry, grocery shopping, car-washing, potato-peeling, car-racing…where was I going with this?

Oh, Easter pictures forthcoming.  Thank you for your patience…

Now that the carpet race is on, Nora and Tessa have a new favorite pasttime called: “How hard can I pull on Frankie before he’s had enough.”

All things considering (which is a lot in Frankie’s case), Frankie has adjusted fairly well to the newest members of the Herring “pack”.  Frankie has always been a pretty mellow dog and so he mostly just wants to be around all of us.  Until now, the girls had very little interest in Frankie—occasionally watching him mosey across the room or out in the backyard.  But now that the crawl is ON the girls like to, um, gently pet Frankie.

Hello, Nora.  Playing on the floor?

Yes, mommy–I’m just hanging out.

What’s this?  Frankie?  My, he is close.  Close enough to…

GRAB A FISTFUL OF HAIR!

Frankie took off behind the couch.  (No photo captured of the grand escape as the camera was thrown to the floor to prevent further bloodshed and/or a snack of doggy quaff.)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy Easter!

We’ll see you on the flip side.

The motivation was there…

…the ol’ stand-by “the reach” had failed her…

…she complained, she grouched…

…desperation set in…

…and then Nora dug her heals in…

…and pushed off!  Nora crawls!!!!

Congratulations, baby Nora.  We knew you had it in you.

In other news…mom and dad are freaked!  TWO CRAWLING BABIES!!!

A lot of people ask me if the girls recognize each other and play together. Do they ever.  Well, I suppose you could call it “playing”.  It’s more like this…

Hello, Nora and Tessa.  How’s it going?  Looks like you two are playing together.

Yes, mom.  We each have a toy to chew on.  It’s great fun.  We love toys.

Hey!  Tessa thinks that the toy Nora is holding looks like more fun than this green bowl.  Could I play with that toy?

Lemme see that toy.  That is not a question.  It’s a statement.

If I could just get a hold of that toy.  It would be mine.

I’m getting close…

Foiled again!

Now, I am going to make my opinion on this matter known to all.  See the expression on my face?  Nooooot happppppyyyyy….

Forget about the toys, says Nora.  How about I play with your face!?!?!

Getting closer…

What’s going to happen next???

Was that a flash?  Oh, hello mother.  We forgot you were there.

The toy is mine.  Sorry baby Tessa.  Better luck next time.

So, that’s playtime/grabfest on Walmer Street.  Just wait until you see the battle that goes on in the stroller…

It’s official.  It may be a belly-draggin’, deep gruntin’, pseudo-rollin’, army crawl—but it is definitely a Point-A-to-Point-B mode of transportation.

Congratulations, Tess.  We are baby-proofing this weekend.

In other news…

NORA FLIES!

 

…with a little help from Aunt Gana.

I love spring.  Fall is my favorite season but I do love the spring.  The glorious feel of warm air on your bear skin after so many months of layers and layers of clothing is unbeatable.

For what seemed like months and months we’ve been bundling up with big sweaters, thick socks, hats, hoods and gloves.  You’d think we lived in the arctic tundra instead of just Kansas City…

Hello?  Are these kids about to go walk (crawl–ok wiggle, really) on the moon???

Finally, spring is upon us.–the buds are budding, the leaves are sprouting, the daffodils are popping and we’ve busted out the summer gear.  It’s time for sunglasses and sandals, bonnets and beachgear.

Summer fun–bring it on!

Grandpa, we know you’re dancing on the clouds above with Grandma in your arms.  What a joyous reunion that must be.  You will be missed.

http://www.revbluejeans.com/MorrisBailey.html

My grandpa, Morris Everett Bailey, died this morning. Grandpa would have been 92 this April. He lived a good, long life in Nebraska as a husband, a farmer, a mason, a father, a grandpa and a great-grandpa. My memories of my Grandpa are filled with jolly laughs, kisses sweet with chewing tobacco and a fiery spirit.

Morgana and I used to spend a couple of weeks in the summer with Grandma and Grandpa and during the year we would see them what seemed like about once a month. During our visits Gana and I would kick around the old dirt roads of Schuyler.

We’d help light the fire in the trash can to burn the trash away so only flickering ashes were left. We’d visit the neighbors and play with their kittens and dogs and poke at the minnows in Norvall’s broken down ice chest. We’d wander along the cornfields that edged our grandparents property.

We’d play kickball in the basement of their house. We’d help pick sour cherries from the cherry trees. We’d skip down to the local filling station and buy candy bars. We’d ride on three-wheelers with our cousins. We’d pull dusty bikes out of the basement and ride around the quiet streets of Schuyler.

We’d go swimming.

We’d have “dinner” for lunch and “supper” for dinner. We’d go down to the dimestore and play with the plastic toys and stop by Don’s Bakery on the way home. We’d get stuck waiting for the train to go by on the way home.

We’d play with the plastic fruit and gingerly touch the coveted “roadrunner” broaches Grandma kept in their bedroom. We’d look in the makeup mirror that would magnify in exponential measure any blemish or mark you had on your face. We’d play Uno. Grandpa’s hearing aid was constantly beeping. He would yell “Helloooo!” into the phone, followed by the high pitched chirping of the hearing aids he always wore. Once he fell asleep with the TV remote in his hand and just kept turning the channels and turning the channels in his sleep. It was hilarious. During the fourth of July we’d go down to the park and watch the fireworks and eat ice cream and drink pop.

At Thanksgiving Grandma would pull out a table so long that it stretched nearly the entire length of their living room and we’d scoop up handfuls of nuts and mints until we were sick (literally). During holidays and birthdays we’d unwrap presents and have cake or pie. Grandma always said she’d put bricks on our heads to keep us from growing up too fast. I wonder what Grandma and Grandpa would say about my girls now…

I always remember crying when we’d leave to go home. It was fun there. And we loved our grandparents.

Schuyler, Nebraska is a different place now. New families have moved in and the old farmers have died off and many of their kids and grandkids have left for bigger towns. The dimestore and Don’s Bakery are gone. Grandpa’s house provides a roof for another family, another generation. But for me Schuyler will always be the middle-America town that I used to love—a place of youth and innocence and fun during our summers as kids.

After Grandma died we’d take trips to the cemetery to see her tombstone. On Saturday, Grandpa will be laid to rest next to her. Finally they will be reunited after 12 long years apart. I’m happy for their reunion. As grandparents they could not have loved us more. We’ll miss you, Grandpa Bailey. Love you.

In the seven (plus) months we’ve been with the girls, it is rare that I’ve only been with one girl at a time.  When they were first born I would take one out for a bit–like to Target or church–while someone watched the other, and then I would alternate and take the other somewhere else.  But they were so little then and now that their little personalities are really blossoming, it’s a whole new ballgame.

A couple of weeks ago something funny happened.  When I put the girls down for a nap on Saturday Nora wasn’t tired and just played in her crib grabbing her toes and giggling.  After about 20 minutes I scooped her up and sat down in the big rocking chair in the nursery with a couple of toys.  We just hung out with a stuffed monkey and a couple of books while Tessa slept.  It was so neat.  Normally, it is tough when both babies don’t nap at the same time but this was such a unique opportunity to bond with Nora that I couldn’t pass it up.  It was great.

Later that afternoon–you guessed it–Nora was zonked and Tess was gearing to play.  It was cool outside but partly sunny and so we spread out a blanket in the backyard and just played and played.  It was great Tessa time.  Luckily, I got some pictures.

Such sweet babies.  And such a treat to get to know each one better, separate from her sister.

I have always maintained that I would treat the girls as individuals–like sisters.  I imagine that it is difficult as a twin to break apart from your “twinness” from the “unit” that is the two of you.  It’s even more difficult as a parent of twins to find the time, the energy to know my girls separately as I have come to know them together.  But it is so so important.  It was a great lesson to learn that weekend.  And such a sweet treat.

This weekend brought warmer weather and a day at the park for the family.  A first of many times.  We had some lunch and hopped on the swings for a great time.  It was so much fun.

Nora:

Mom and Nora:

Tess:

It’s almost baseball season…Yippee!

We take hundreds of pictures of the girls.  The beautiful thing about a digital camera is you can take so many pictures and pick and choose what you want to print (or post).  It’s terrific.  There are so many pictures that it’s hard to choose what to keep and what to cut.

For example, keep:

Cut:

All in all, we have some great shots.  These are a few worth framing:

Baby Love…

Tessa and her rattle…

Tess stands tall…

Chad and I give thanks every day for the happy healthy sweet babies with which we have been blessed.

Nora (BIG eyes):

We acknowledge our fortune and happiness each and every moment we are with the girls.

Tessa (fitting into 12 month clothing already):

The last seven months have undoubtedly been the best of our lives together.  At a time when we have friends who are saying good-bye to their family members in the final stages of their lives, we look to the bright future with our girls with hope and happiness and joy.

Daddy and Nora:

And thankfulness.

Mommy and Tess:

Yesterday was a big day for me.  I would say “us” but this is really a selfish post.  It’s about me.  My pumping, my milk, the sacrifice of my time, my energy, my body.  Yesterday I returned Pumpy, my breastpump, to my lactation consultant.  It was possibly the second greatest moment of my life (the first, of course, being the girls).  I’m done.  My last pump was last Thursday and now I’m done.  Hallelujah.

The girls will be seven months tomorrow. It’s been an incredible journey so far–packed with meals of sweet milk and kisses, baby food, endless diaper changings, outgrowing newborn clothes and playing Playing PLAYING all the time. Of all of the challenges that I’ve faced as a new mother of twins–more than the sleep-deprivation, more than the simultaneous crying, more than the separation of going back to work–I steadfastly maintain that breastfeeding is at the top of the list. Breastfeeding is a constant battle for my time, energy and the body I so desperately want back.

As I look back on the last seven months I wonder how on earth did I make it this long and why? The “why” is the easier question as it is difficult to challenge the numerable benefits of breastfeeding. There is a lot of research that shows that breastfed babies may be healthier and smarter babies than their formula-fed counterparts. Much of this research may be debatable–as I, for one, was a total formula-fed baby and seemed to be a well-adjusted, healthy, intelligent person. But I have always felt like I should try to breastfeed my girls so that they will have the best possible start to life. While I was committed in my mind to making this happen, the reality of breastfeeding two babies is that you need some help. Making it seven months has not come without trials and obstacles. So, if you are in need of a few tips, this is how I have made it this far.

1. Get a “hands-free” nursing bra. Pumping would not be happening without my Easy Expression Bustier from mommygear.com. You do not have to hold the cups so it leaves you hands free to read a book, take a drink of water, flip channels on the TV, write email messages. Whatever! I love this thing.

2. Get multiple pump parts.  Target has them cheap.  I got enough parts to last all day at work so when I finished I would throw the parts in a plastic bag and then toss them in the dishwasher when I got home.  This saved me from either hand-washing them at work (gross) or doing the microwave thing.  Let’s get real–this process already takes a long time, why waste more time cleaning at work when you can get extra parts for a few bucks.

3. Find a lactation consultant that works with you, who supports you, who understands and helps you. If you can’t find a lactation consultant that you like, find a friend who understands, who sympathizes, who has been there before. Breastfeeding can be tough and you need to find encouragement and support no matter whether you decide to breastfeed or not. If you can’t find a friend like this–call me.

4.  Get a kitchen timer that counts down.  My mom thought of this and it was great to just set the timer and forget about it until it beeped.  I really loved this idea.

5. Join a lactation support group. I thought this was a good idea for moms who needed some guidance and support. My biggest problem with it was that there were mothers at my group with teeny tiny babies who really should be cuddled up on their couches at home and kangerooing with their babies and NOT at some hospital on a hard chair trying to get a baby to latch on at some random hour of the day. I think kangerooing with your baby is the best way to establish good nursing practices.

6. Befriend you pump. Give it a name. My pump is named “Pumpy.” We have a love/hate relationship. Pumpy gets a lot of time and priority in my life but that is because I have decided to do this. I don’t have to do this. I can let it go at any time. But I decided to make Pumpy a priority and until I decided to stop I did not begrudge Pumpy and the hours of attention she took from me everyday (and night and day and night and day and night–you get the picture).

7. Relax. It is physically demanding to give birth. Top that off with a little sleep deprivation, crying (the babies and ME) and worrying and things can get difficult quickly.  I always need to remind myself to just stop and just reflect on the girls and remember what is really important in life.  My girls.

Finally, and most importantly, I wanted to thank those who have supported me on this endeavor.  It has been difficult but it was so important to me and I couldn’t have done it without the support and the extra hands to watch the girls when I pumped and pumped and pumped.  Just a few…

Amanda, I could not have done it without your support–so many of these helpful tips came from you.  You inspired me with your strength and courage and all the obstacles you faced when pumping.  Everytime I thought about giving up–I thought of you and I kept going.  You gave me great ideas and suggestions on how to really make this work for me.  Thank you for your guidance.  I leaned on you during some of the more difficult times of this endeavor and you were always so encouraging and supportive no matter what decision I made.  Thank you.

Mom, you are my rock and my strength.  You have given so much of your time and energy to making this work for us. Thank you for taking over when we needed a break.  Thank you Thank you Thank you.

Jennifer. Jennifer, also a mother of newborn twin girls, came up to me at my first lactation group meeting–right before I lost it–and inspired me with her wisdom and love.  Thank you for your support, your words, your encouragement. Wow.

Chad.  What can I say?  I love you.  Thank you for taking control when I needed to pump and pump and pump.  I’m glad it’s over now so let’s get some sleep.

Pumpy.  Nursing was too difficult with both babies past about three months (the teething started early!) and so this would have never happened without you.  I resented you for the time, the pain, the energy that was sapped from my already worn and tired body.  But, I loved you for what you allowed me to give to my babies.  This was so important to me and we made it happen.  Thank you.  And good-bye!

As the teething marathon continues (five tooths each now–three on bottom, two BIG ones on top), we have introduced the famed Zwieback Toast.

Delish. The toast is mostly yummy and crumbs get everywhere, including in the folds of the washcloth-evasive triple chins.

To wash down the toast (which could really use some jam) sippy cups have made their appearance and make for good chew toys.  They also act as water sprinklers for the dog and dying household plants.

When we’re finished chowing down for the afternoon we are going on marathon walks.  It’s been particularly sunny (and increasingly warmer) here.  So, we have to don our shades.

Have your peeps call my peeps and we’ll chat.

One of my favorite parts of being a new mom is that I am now….

THE FUNNIEST PERSON IN THE WORLD!

I’M HILARIOUS!  So cute.

Aunt Morgana is pretty funny, too.

Staying true to the Bailey tradition, the girls love to eat. We’ve made the slow progression to “solids” over the last few months and both Nora and Tessa are eating like champs.

I meant solid food, not solid objects!

This month we got the green light from the pediatrician to start on solids at every meal. Their favorite food is carrots. They aren’t so found of bananas and applesauce–but we’re sure they’ll come around. While feedings now take longer and are more involved and MESSY, it is a joy to watch the girls explore this new world of food.

At first we fed the girls in their bebe pods (i.e., the greatest baby invention–ever!). This worked out well because they could sit up and eat and it left our hands free to spoon food and not worry about them tipping over.

We’ve recently moved to the high chair for feedings. At first the girls seemed dwarfed by the massive chair.

But, now they’re growing into their chairs (and soon they’ll be growing out of them–like everything else).

Of all the yummy food they’ve begun to explore, Nora and Tessa love it the most when they get their delicious bottles. Especially when the bottles come with a slice of love from their grandparents.

Go Chiefs!  Yeah, baby!

Oh, football season is over?  What about “Go Royals???” Oh, it’s STILL February?  Go…uh…”Wearing Red/Yellow/Chiefs Gear Day”????

Ok, so Mommy just really liked this pictures and needed an excuse to post it.  We’ll be ready for next season.

It seems that Nora and Tessa are growing and changing so much each day!  There are so many things that I want to remember about them. Like…

their tiny little toes…

…the deepest blue eyes…

…smiles that melt your heart…

…and the time Nora tried to eat Tessa!

Wait a minute!!!! 

This is so much fun.  To anyone interested–I highly recommend having twins.

Recently Nora and Tessa met their great-grandmother, my Granny Cozine.  N & T are the first generation of the great-grandchildren on my maternal side of the family and so it was a really special treat for them to meet their Great-Granny and all their great-aunts

!

We had so much fun “talking” to everyone and showing off our smiles!

Hey! Aunt Joyce was so much fun!

We had so much fun playing with our family!

We hope they come again soon! 

It’s a race to find out who will crawl first!  Tessa really seems to have the logistics down–pulling with her arms and alternating pushing with her legs.  But it is sweet little Nora that really has a fire in her eyes to TAKE OFF.  However, the coordination for Nora’s “crawl” looks more like a skydive. 

Q: What weighs under twenty pounds and has THREE teeth?

A: Nora and Tessa!

Welcome to our blog. We’re Nora and Tessa, and we’ve decided that we want to share some daily adventures with family and friends.

Today we’re six months old. It was one year ago today that mom and dad sent a valentine to their family announcing our arrival-to-be.

What an adventure it’s been for them! And for us, too.

We’ve grown so much in the past six months. Just the other day we got our offical weigh-in: Nora registers at 19 pounds; Tessa at 19 pounds, 11 ounces. We’re big, healthy, happy baby girls! Mom and dad are so proud.

Check in several times a week as they post pictures of us and our daily adventures.