Big bites

Lucy is typically our better eater. Even though she is tinier. She eats more variety (ie something besides fruit and carbs that Harper lives on) and usually more quantity.

The other night she was taking big bites of her meatloaf


While Harper waved her fork around.


Tonight I found a dinner that they both loved. Chicken sausage from Central Market and Butternut squash polenta. I thought for sure it would bomb because it would be too spicy or flavorful, but they kept asking for "more sausage".

While mommies were drinking

That's five children in the dog crate.


We decided they look like they could be sisters


We each have a blonde

Even prima donnas need a snack break

Paint your twin art project

Interesting conversations

Now that the girls are speaking a little better, we have been having some interesting conversations.

Today on the way home from MDO

me: Lucy, what did you do at school today
Lucy: Cry
me: Cry? Why did you cry?
Lucy: Mommy left

Ouch.

Later that afternoon.

me: whoohee. Who poopied?
Lucy: Harper
Harper: Lucy
pause
Harper: Me! I have biiiig poopy. Clean it.

Dropoff Report

Fervent hugs and a shaky lip from Lucy. Tears from Harper. Lucy looked on the verge of tears at pickup and gave me another meaningful hug.

They have a new classmate- a rat named Becky. Today poor Becky had a bloody foot, I guess she had gotten a hangnail. A rat is a far cry from the bunny rabbit or even guinea pig i was hoping for. Around here rats are eviscerated and left on the front mat. Hopefully, that won't happen if we have to take Becky home over Christmas break.

Sisterly love

Tonight on the way home from a friends house who graciously hosted us for dinner, Harper was upset because she didn't have po po (pacifier). She cried about halfway home. At one point I looked in the review at Lucy who was looking very concerned at Harper. When we got home Lucy piped up "Home. I get Harper po po." And she insisted on giving it to her. And then hugged her. It was so sweet it almost brought tears to my eyes. And then she viciously knocked it out of her mouth, so she could give it to her again.

Little Mermaid

Harper loves lying down in the tub and letting her hair flow. She says "mermaid" and its difficult to get her up sometimes. She also says "loud" because she likes to hear noises underwater. Lucy isn't so brave, she'll only lay down when the water is out of the tub. She just gives Harper zerberts while she mermaids.

Bikes!

Daddy put together the girls' birthday gifts. And boy, it was love at first site. They wouldn't leave Daddy alone while he was assembling them.

The immediately discovered the bell feature and now ring it whenever they want us to commence pushing their bikes.

New toy glut

The awesome number of new toys has bought me minutes upon minutes of quiet time, interrupted by bouts of fighting over said new toys and requests (Mommy cut bread).

Right now Lucy is baking cookies and Harper is cutting vegetables (thanks C&R!).

grocery cart


cash register

Happy Birthday Harper

You came out purple, and scared the cr*p out of us. Just part of the territory with you, my little thrill seeker. You were always moving from the get go. The first sonogram you were flipping around while your sister slumbered. And everytime I went to the doctor you had changed positions. Your cry always got me running. It goes from 0 - 60 in no time flat.



Miss Independent. You like to explore new areas and to do things "myself". You are a little wary of new people, but like to assess the new surroundings yourself as long as you know where Mommy is. You love toys and games and art and become very enraptured in whatever you are doing.

Praise is very important to you. You glow in it. You are a great helper. If you get in trouble it really upsets you.

Sleeping and eating are a necessity to be executed, nothing to be linger over and enjoy. You love french fries. Anything else is sketchy.

You make me laugh everyday. You are developing a repetoire of funny faces and physical comedy. The funny face. The side eyes. Your strange bent over wing walk. Sometimes they are not meant to be funny, but they still are.



You hit all the physical milestones before your sister and are coordinated. I remember I was amazed when you first held your head up. I think you were still in the NICU. You are always running.

You are an adrenaline junkie. You love to be tossed in the air. The higher the better. You love to swim and I am afraid you will jump right in by yourself. You have gone under a few times and gotten a mouthful of water, but it hasn't deterred you in the least.

Your sister can really push your buttons. But you love her. You always want to go wake her up from her nap. And glow when you are finally reunited.

You have enviable long, curled eyelashes and gorgeous blue eyes. It looks like you are going to have long legs. You have Irish-white skin and beautiful dark hair with just a touch of Daddy's curls. Your giggle is the best sound in the world, and I would do just about anything to hear it.


Happy Birthday my beautiful, bright, little nugget.

Happy Birthday Lucy

By 10 minutes, you were born first. You always acted like the first born. You got head down right away and stayed there. Kicking your sister vigorously. You were so quiet in the NICU, but one day we came in and the nurses said you were a diva and going to be a handful. When you needed to make noise, you did it right.



You've always been littler than your sister, but this always surprises people. You can be bossy, acting like the little mommy to your sister. But you are sweet. Cuddly. You have your flirty looks down pat.

You like to be babied. You never wanted to hold your bottle yourself, and you would still prefer I spoon-feed you dinner.

You are a champion sleeper. Which makes mommy happy. Sometimes I peek in and your are just chilling and sucking your thumb. A little "me" time.

You are a great communicator. Not just with your facial expressions, but you have always been ahead of the curve in terms of using signs, saying words, and generally getting your point across.

You love parties. And your friends. You are a little wary sometimes in new situations, but love to connect one on one.



You are cautious. When I toss you up in the air, you hang on. You like to have me hold you in the pool. But, ohhh, you love climbing. You are good at it too. And when you jump from somewhere you fling yourself, fully trusting that we will catch you, and with a huge grin on your face.

You are sensitive. When Harper has a fit, you come give me a hug. You cry when I leave you (which upsets me, but I secretly like it). You tell your sister "I'm sorry" and kiss her when she's hurt. Even though it wasn't your doing.

You LOVE shopping. You don't like me to go without you and you cry when we go home. You love bags and shoes.

You have the hair color I have spent oodles of dollars on trying to achieve. A perfect light butterscotch brown with golden highlights. And delicious curls. And a permanent golden complexion. If you were in junior high in the 80s, you would have had a killer tan. Your beautiful brown eyes, just like Daddy's. And those two dimples on your right cheek. I will do just about anything to see them come out.



Happy Birthday my beautiful, bright, little sugar muffin.

Sappy 2 year birthday montage

Thanks, girls for the amazing ride so far.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Its my party

The girls turn 2 very soon and we had our birthday party this past Saturday. As I mentioned, I opted for the Gymboree route to spare myself babyproofing for and entertaining 20+ toddlers.

20+ kids + Parents = Craziness

The pictures make it look a lot calmer than it sounded. I think most of the kids had fun and we had relatively few meltdowns and (as far as I know) no injuries. Harper and Lucy had fun and finally got their own cake.

School Girls

We had our first day of school this week. Without me. I prepped them ahead of time that I was leaving and they seemed o.k. because I promised lunch with milkshakes afterward. When it was time for me to go, Harper was occupied with a toy, but Lucy was clinging and crying. It was pretty rough leaving and I did indeed shed a few tears in the car.

I went to Einsteins for a bagel and coffee and to HEB to pick up a few things for their birthday party and headed home. It was so quiet. They were only there for 2 hours and I went back about 15 minutes early because I wanted to peek in the window to make sure Lucy had recovered. She was happily playing with dolls. Nooshi (their teacher) reported that there were a few more tears when she changed her diaper, but overall they did well.

MDramaO

A while ago, I made this blog "readers only". The reason was because a man who lives in my neighborhood first wrote a comment on Team Freas that they should move rather than remodel (in not so nice terms, ie "if you try, we will stop you"). When I said she had good taste he called out our house as "tacky faux hacienda" and also put my street name on there.

We found out who he was by checking web logs and matching the url visiting at the times the comments were made to an address of a member of the homeowner association. He had my blood boiling, more for calling out my street. Where my kids live. I had a lot of revenge fantasies including gathering up a weeks poo from our house and throwing it at his front door, and telling his employer what he was doing with work resources (taxpayer supported btw, by the property taxes on my tacky faux hacienda).

Well, today at the park I saw a woman who's daughter is in our preschool class. This jackass is her father. And I met his wife, the grandmother. All very nice. I'm already thinking of what I say when/if I meet him.

Right now "isn't it so sad your granddaughter has to go to preschool with kids who live in a tacky faux hacienda?" comes to mind.

School

Today was our first day of school. Our MDO gradually breaks them in. Today was 45 minutes in the classroom with me and only 1/2 the class. I figured it didn't really count. Until I have to leave. And cry in my car.

They seemed to love the classroom and talk about their teacher, Miss Nooshi. They bathed some dolls (where they got the idea below) served food, played in the sandbox and painted their nails. Hopefully on Friday they won't even care when I leave.

Throw out the babies with the bathwater

There was a moment of peace today. I was making lunch and spacing out for a minute and had a sudden "hey, why is it so quiet" thought, and peered on the other side of the fridge. H&L were bathing their babies in their little baby tubs. Cute. Wait. I didn't give them water. They were using the dog water. On their cloth dolls. I considered throwing them out and then cleaned 'em up and figured I was lucky they didn't draw from the toilet.