Talk, Talk, Talk

Hey waiter, where is my food??? (and why does my sister refuse to wear pants at the table?)

Ok thats better. Wait, is that a dunkin donuts bag attached to my hand? How did that get there?
Coconut ice pops. Teething heaven. No teaching Reese. She was a pro off the bat.
Lily - not so much with the sweets. No one believes us. Chava doesn't mind. Oh yeah, Chava is back.
Again, notice the chocolate glazed munchkin on the table. Lily would rather eat cheese sandwiches.

Talking up a storm. It is really the cutest thing when Lily tells you "more" or Reese calls the kids walking down the street "baby" - she calls all kids "baby". Reese has perfected her "Chava" especially the "va" part. They are so fun just trying to say almost everything you say from "firetruck" to "ladybug" to cookie. Oh yeah, Lily loves to say that one. So cute. Just because she loves to feed Chava the cookies. Not herself.

Just can't get enough....

Party at the kiddie table. Look at poor Deville listening to all the girl talk talk talk.
Lily or Reese? You decide.
Sitting in the big girl chair. Little person!
NICU reunion.

Playing house with Deville. Deville was such a hot number the ladies were jumping out of the back windows and storming the front door!

Some pics from the weekend. No bumps or bruises but one case of pinkeye (Reese), one yeast infection (Lily), and 3 infected ears (one for Lily, two for Reese). No worries, everyone is fine and medicated. They actually had no outward symptoms for the ear infections. We were taking Lily in for her "diaper rash" that wouldn't go away and *bingo* the MD finds an ear infection, in which we immediately decided we better bring Reese in too.

We had the best time this weekend anyway. Running around outside with Deville and Jonah on Saturday (and eating at the little kids table which was amazing! Definately making an IKEA trip this weekend for a kiddie table in order to retire the high-chairs - EEK - they are growing up!). And Sunday we managed to get to the NICU party which was fun. Got to eat mac&cheese, cookies, and ice cream and chase kids around. FUN!!

In other growing up news, Rich and I received the letter we had been dreading. The one that lets us know that the girls are graduating from "Infant B" (the room they started in at daycare last September) to "Toddler A" (for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 year olds). This soooo bittersweet. We simply adore their teachers and they rule their classroom - I guess it is time to move on to a more challenging environment. And anyway, they start Montessori in September. But it is also the end of an era for them and us. Their first day care experience, where we didn't know how it would work - for them, for us, or how we would pay for it - and now here they are moving along. Luckily there are some other kids also "graduating" to the next room, so there will be some familiar faces. And not to sound too modest about how great our kids are, but Miss Jen and Miss Kristen (their teachers in Infant B) are sooo bummed they are transitioning. In fact, Miss Kristen said she didn't even want to talk about it Friday when she handed Rich the letter. How sweet!! We will miss them much.

Baths!

Rockstar
I am a girl, see!
Funtimes in the bathtub.
Giggles.
Lily in Mohawk. Its so NOT me.

I tried to upload Melissa's mothers day pics but they were posting teeny-tiny so I have posted some bath pictures from about a month ago....

The girls have been freaking both Rich and I out by responding to questions with head-nods, although most of the time its a no. And their new words of the week include "apple" and "owl" - and I do hear some "woofs" when dogs walk by the house, so cute. One other new thing we have become obsessed with is throwing out garbage. Almost everything can potentially be garbage. I just wonder when they can start washing dishes. That would be helpful.

We are hoping for a sunny weekend ~ we have a bbq dinner with some friends Saturday and then the NICU reunion Sunday which will hopefully translate into loads of fun and exhaustion for the babes. The NICU reunion will be interesting, all of the graduates from the St. Peter's NICU are invited to this Rutgers gym, looks like it is country themed, as in cowboys and cowgirls, so the girls may have to bust out their pink boots, which are a fashion statement in themselves.

We are on night one (of three) of da-da being away. He is flying out Chicago tonight for a work conference so me and the girls started the party off right tonight. Tonights activities included peanut butter sandwiches, pizza, and cake (well the last two are my dinner which are leftovers from mother's day), and night bottles on the porch watching for dogs. So far so good.

Athens

Reese and Country Cat #1
Birthday Boy Isaac!!
Party
Reese watching the dog on the porch. She was crazy for this dog.
Reese with her party face on.

We had a rockstar weekend. I wanted to get some pics up since I knew the little Lily & Reese blogworlders would want to know how their first roadtrip went. AWESOME. They got to be country girls for the day and hang out with their new bud, Isaac who is such a doll (see picture). I have to say, we timed it perfectly, had everything ready to go for when they were ready to take thier AM nap, that included 4 bags: clothes bag, food bag, diaper bag, toy bag. Count 'em. Four bags! They slept amazingly until 12 noon and only had to be awake for about 1/2 hour which we just gave them thier snack traps and they were content. We walked into the house, and hello, there were about 10 kids so they were just in heaven and all smiles. Oh and a dog and a cat or three, so that was just even better. Reese went on a super-nature walk that I am hoping Rich will blog about at some point, and Lily, of course played balloon-volleyball with the big kids. We stayed until bedtime, put on the jammies, packed the ladies in the car, and off we went. Ahh. Misson accomplished.

So today we of course had to make up double time all the things we space over two days, which was ok, the girls are use to action packed weekends. One thing the ladies are amazed by these days, Ants. I will try to post a video.

My Second Post - Dada returns

So Heather has been a very devoted blogger and I  - - - well have saved my few writings for emails and the one blog post early on.

This blog has featured videos, tons of pictures and lots of my wife's wit and more rick springfield references than I am comfortable with - I will try to answer the question or questions I get asked most often.

What are the girls like?

In general, I am amazed everyday by these little wonders.  While I often joke that they are right in between monkey phase and personhood.   

Eating:

They are amazing with their spoon skills when eating.  It probably is one of the most exciting things to watch.  They look so grown up when eating their cereal with fruit, yogurt, applesauce, oatmeal, and cottage cheese with the spoon in hand.  They continue to love new foods.  But other than cookies, Lily still doesn't like sweet things.  They hate milk but recently discovered chocolate soy milk.   They both enjoy stealing food off of each others trays.  Reese likes to give Lily the food she doesn't like or want to eat and applauds herself for being such a good "sharer."

Motor Skills:

They don't love books as much as they used to instead they like putting objects into things, putting lids on stuff.  They absolutely love climbing.  Lily has even climbed up the front of the high chair - can't wait for the milltown town wide garage sale.  They love to draw - especially on the magnetic egg pads Grandma C bought them.   Every so often it looks like something.  I can't wait to hang up their art work in the office and on the fridge.  Oh big news hidden in this blog.  We got into the Montessori school in East Brunswick.  The girls will start in September and I will be looking forward to my first parent association.  

Things we say:

dada, mama, a version of grandma that sounds like gamama, hot, pop, bus, cat, dug(dog), dat(that). Things we try to say: circle, star, up.

Right now is tough as the girls can really understand most things but they struggle to verbalize what they want.  So we have seen an increase in tantrums as they figure out other ways to communicate.  But their understanding makes you feel closer to them - like all those things that you said were being absorbed and now they know things.  I am amazed by how much they know. 

Most important

Both Lily and Reese give big open mouth wet sloppy kisses.  And they even kiss other people than Mom and Dad.  While nothing will make me feel more special than coming home from work with them waiting at the back screen door - smiles ear to ear, screaming, and then giving me a big hug and a kiss - I am glad to share their love with others.  

Dancers

They love to dance.  Spinning especially but Lily has taken to spastic slapping and violent arm swinging.  Reese is more subtle.  She prefers to rock her head, and bob.  At times she reminds me of myself when I was at hardcore shows.  

A little about Lily

Neither of the girls are the dominant twin.  At times Lily can be the bossy one.  She is not as good at sharing and often takes things from her sister.  But she is sooo adorable and sweet.  She is so excitable.  We call her sissy pants.  Because she runs like Robin Williams in the birdcage.  Her legs and hips twist as she high steps.  When she smile she uses her whole face to smile.  

A little about Reese

Reese is still more of the snuggler.  She is scared to death of leaves blowing in the wind.   Her smile is warm and just ropes you in.  She also is a little more of a smart ass than her sister.  She enjoys doing the exact opposite of what you say when correcting her.  

A list of things we like to do

- Stare at older kids.

- Play with older kids especially boys.

-pocketbooks, putting on lipstick, lotion, brushing our hair and just about anything that makes you never forget that they are women.

- bugs - lily likes when ants crawl on her and the sight of an ant or spider could make you 15 minutes late for day care

- waving hello to everyone and blowing them kisses when we leave

- seeing dogs

- petting cats

- jelly man kelly, and most of the sesame street silly song

- 80s music - mom's influence

- shoes - we love shoes.

- playing on the porch

- buses, motorcylces, trucks, and garbage trucks 

all right so I am setting records for longest blog, so I will leave you with a few last words.

Those little woobies are two of the greatest gifts I have ever been given.  Like any other kids they are not perfect, but in my eyes they are as close as they can be.  As they grow and change - they change me.  I am a better person because of my kids.  I have more love in my heart than I ever could have imagined.  

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Oh, and Heather and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary a few weeks back.  I can't imagine that two people were ever meant for each other more than us.  I know that people always look at us and wonder how we deal with everything that we have experienced.  It is real simple - we have each other (and now these two wonderful daughters).  I am so blessed and really really happy and loved.