Bedtime Rituals

It is with great certainty that I confess that I am terrible about bedtime routines, rituals, and practice. I regret that I did not take a picture of Hope asleep in her high chair last night, but a few weeks ago she fell asleep on the stairs while I was putting the twins to sleep. I heard her hollering out, but she refused to go with Grandma and insisted she didn't want to lay down with the twins...but she finally gave out on the stairs. Documented.

New Skills for the Twins

I'm normally not a fan of bare bum shots, but it's been happening with more frequency in our home lately, so I could hardly not mention it. I believe it started with Grace gaining the agility to remove her clothing, and then Joy followed closely behind. A few weeks ago, Grace decided to have breakfast in the buff, here she is casually eating her yogurt with no regard that she has not a stitch of clothing on. Then last week, they both removed their clothing after getting dressed for the day. I grabbed the camera and this was the most posed shot I've ever gotten, they must have been so proud. Grace even went down on one knee for her pose. Grandma Dori, felt their behinds were too adorable to miss, so we had to open the fridge as a distraction for them to turn away from the camera.

Puppy Party

Happy 4th Birthday to Hope! Over the past year, Hope has had a certain obsession with puppies. We brought several with us on our trip to Michigan this summer and she tormented her cousins with Hide-and-Seek puppies. I think she has at least ten, all with their own names. So, our puppy theme was perfect. We started with adorable invites for an Adopt-a-Puppy party. Special credit goes to Designing and Motherhood blog for posting this cute idea that I used.

We got puppies from Oriental Trading and each child picked their own puppy to adopt. We even made little puppy carriers for each one.

When each child arrived, they filled out a certificate with their new puppy's name, fur color, eye color, etc, and swore before a witness that they would love and take care of their puppy as its new owner (adapted from a Cabbage Patch Doll certificate).

We had a vet check station, where puppies could receive their shots and make sure they were healthy.

We had a "Make a Collar" station where each child made a jeweled collar and groomed their doggy.

We had a snack station, where guests could enjoy "Kibbles and Bits" with their puppies. We used small cat food bowls for them to serve their snacks in.

A family friend helped make these absolutely adorable puppy cupcakes. She gets extra credit for making such a great variety of different puppies.

We had a station where guests could pose for a photo op with their puppy.

In addition to taking their puppy home, we had favors for each guest including candy dog bones, a puppy ball, puppy puzzle, and a mini flashlight for walking your doggy.

I had such a fun time planning this party, and Hope had a great time too.

I Do Believe in Fairies

It turns out that raising three little girls takes up more time and energy than a mission around the moon and what I'm left with at the end of the day is about enough to eat a bowl of ice cream and watch a favorite tv show without falling asleep 50% of the time. Writing a journaling blog of the cute things those girls are doing just hasn't made the cut of things to get done in the day. Then so much time passes that it's just embarrassing to write something and try to cover all that you've missed. So, I'll work on mostly current, and try to keep up.

Early in October Disney released Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue. This movie entered our home and immediately captured Hope's heart, which in turn captured Andrew's heart as well. On their next walk to the lake

near our home, they found branches and leaves and flowers and made a Fairy house. Soon our home was overrun with Fairy houses as well. Not long after that, Grandma Dori bought three fairy dresses and Andrew wanted to surprise Hope with hers down at the Lake (by their Fairy House) and then in turn have her find dresses for Joy and Grace in our own yard. Here's the note that Tinker Bell wrote:

I had a clever Halloween costume for all the girls, but Hope had become so enraptured with Tinker Bell that she started telling her preschool teacher that she was going to be Tinker Bell for Halloween and the rest is history. So, for Halloween, Hope was Tinker Bell, and Joy and Grace were also Fairies - I think Hope called them Rosetta and Silvermist. We had a Halloween party with the local twin mom group and I think half the party was made up of Fairies. Our cousin, Giselle, even ended up in a fairy costume when we went trick or treating on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. I don't know how long the magic of fairies will last, but it's delightful to see Hope enjoying something with her sisters.

"Multiples" of fairies
(terrible background editing, but a cute shot with all the girls)

Ready for the some trick or treating

After Piedmont Avenue activities, enjoying our loot

Speaking of Hope and her sisters - they mimic her so much. Today she was clever enough to stand on a basket and plop herself into a chair. Immediately, both Joy and Grace had to try the trick as well. Just yesterday, Grace mastered clearly saying, "Hope." They are all three growing so fast. It's hard to keep up.

Lake Temescal Summer Fun

We adventured to the beach swimming at Lake Temescal this week. It was Grace and Joy's first sandy beach/lake experience and they loved it. We've been hitting the pool and getting comfortable in the water and they were great. Hope had lots of fun getting completely sandy. Instead of the seagulls eating our food at the ocean, we had ducks that came by our blanket to see what scraps they could get. I liked it better than the ocean, because the water was warm and the girls could go in easily, there wasn't an undertoe that we had to worry about with the kids, and the weather was perfect!

Summer Is On Its Way

Mandy has this great practice of playing on her patio in swimsuits on hot days. Hope has been over to her house recently on a couple of our hot spring days, and she thinks she must change into her suit too. Here are all the girls enjoying playing in their swimsuits. Thanks, Grandma Linda, for the water table - it's so much fun! We are looking forward to enjoying it all summer long.

Dr. Seuss Birthday Theme - Thing One and Thing Two

I had so much fun with this "Thing One and Thing Two" theme for the twins' birthday party. In case you can't recall, Thing One and Thing Two are from Dr. Seuss' "Cat in the Hat" book, but we rounded the party out with all kinds of Seuss. Because we mostly had adults (they're the ones I owe big thanks to for help during the first year) I made tags with names of Dr. Seuss books to put on people's backs for them to ask 'yes or no' questions to guess what book was on their back. Many of us realized just how many Dr. Seuss books are that we forgot about. I also had pictures of the twins during their first year hanging from paper lanterns and the other game we had was to put the pictures in chronological order. My niece, Jackie, got six out of ten right and she won a goldfish (remember the fish in the bowl from "Cat in the Hat" - he was at the party too). I put together favors with a blank Dr. Seuss mini-book, bookmark, and mechanical pencil. I found a fun idea for centerpieces online that had Gerber Daisies and a brightly colored boa - very Seuss-like. Thanks to Tracy for making a fun Cat in the Hat cake - I can't believe I managed to miss taking a picture, I really meant to. She took the idea and ran with it and I loved her finished product. She also made individual "Thing One" and "Thing Two" cakes for each twin. The cake was Red Velvet Cake and went with the bright colors we had for the party. Joy and especially Grace very much enjoyed the cake - they started a little timid but we're very thrilled by the end, Grace even managed to get it in her hair. I also had Grandma Dori make special shirts for the girls out of Thing One and Thing Two fabric, very sweet. (Mom and Dad both had Cat in the Hat shirts too!) Oh, and I couldn't forget to thank Stephanie for her photography - it was such a beautiful day that everything looked so vibrant and beautiful. Her candid shots were excellent!

Happy 1st Birthday, Joy and Grace

One year ago today, our precious Joy and Grace arrived and changed our world. It was definitely challenging in the beginning, but I had so much support that I can't help but feel incredibly blessed. Grandma Dori has been so helpful with cooking among so many other things; Grandma Linda stayed with us for the first month (or so) after they were born - and would even sleep with a baby and help with night feedings. This year really has flown by and there have been many delightful points. Many people at my church were supportive with holding babies and giving me a break. The Thorsen Family have become especially dear to my heart for all the love and cuddles they've given to Joy and Grace (and all the breaks they've given me). I'm sure this first year would have been much more difficult without them.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

And isn't it just heavenly, when your little angels are sleeping? I admit, there is a tiny pang of guilt at just how much joy I feel when my girls are sleeping. We recently decided to toss out the vacant crib and toddler bed, and just go for one big bed for all the girls. I think it's working out well so far. I go in and out of the bed during the night to nurse the twins, who seem more interested in nursing in the night than during the day. They are seeming to nurse less and less during the day. I know it'd probably be good to work on night weaning - if anybody knows of a way to do this without causing a lot of turmoil - I'm open to suggestions.

ANGELA WINS GOLD IN HOPE/BABY RELAY

Tonight for the first time Angela won a gold medal in the Hope/Baby relay. Let me recap the action.

Its 9:21 at night, the opening bell is sounded, Hope gets out of bed upstairs and makes a faint sound. Angela has sharp ears from competing in this event many times, she knows immediately what’s at stake. She springs to her feet determined to get to Hope before she fully wakes up, cries, and wakes the Twins, creating a trifecta of awake children at 9:21.

Angela turns and performs the dangerous Baby Chuck by tossing Grace 3 feet laterally into my arms. Too risky you say? What mother throws her sleeping baby 3 feet into the arms of her clumsy and sleepy husband? One who is trying for the Gold Metal. A woman who knows what’s at stake. God gave us twins for a reason, so we’d have a spare, we can take these kinds of risks.

Then without hesitating this fearless competitor spins, slides across our hardwood floor, nimbly dodging a pink shopping cart, a pink dollhouse and 2 pink purses, she reaches the stairs in record time.

Now Angela vaults over the ottoman blocking the stairway from crawling babies, and she is now at the most difficult part of the track. The silent stair run. Many a past competitor has run up the stairs, only to wake the baby sleeping in the pink crib next to the stairs. Many competitors have also walked quietly up the stairs, only to reach Hope too late, after she has awoken fully and started crying.

Angela performs the silent run, maintaining a full run up the stairs without making any loud sounds. With the agility of a shoulin monk, she reaches the top of the stairs before Hope, and without waking any children. She scoops Hope into her arms and soothes her back to sleep.

The time is now 9:21:17:05

Gold Medal.

--Andrew

Once there was a Snowman

Just before the new year, we went to the snow for Hope's first time. Max and Ruby live in the snow, Dora Saves a Snow Princess, even The Little Einsteins visit Mount Everest. We needed to show her some real snow. The drive was long there and even longer back with Hope saying, "I wanna go home," and us replying "yes, honey, we're going home" until she finally gave in and went to sleep exhausted. It was worth it for Hope, she had a good time experiencing snow, sledding a little (very little), and building a snowman.

Hope and Andrew were playing a little game together and this just caught his expression perfectly.

This caught the babies expression perfectly and how they really felt about snow. Note to self: carrying two babies in snow suits is hard. They can't bend their bodies to do their normal monkey cling to your body. Balancing two babies on a sled is an easier method to move them, but just as hard to try and keep them from eating snow.

This was the beginning of their snowman, and had I not been occupied with holding babies, I'd like to think that I would have shown him how to really build a snowman, but still it's an 'A' for effort. I love that Hope and Andrew have identical expressions in this picture, she's her father's daughter.

Just trying to keep everyone from crying.

The snowman got a little more life when they added a face and arms. Next time Andrew says we will remember the carrot.

This week has been a crazy weather week. I've enjoyed the storms that have come in this week. We've had a little lightning and thunder, a couple of rainbows, and today, yes, snow.

We even got ambitious and built our little California snowman. We even had a carrot!

And when she was good

As the twins were napping (at the same time) this morning, I realized I had better seize the opportunity fast and take a shower while I could. I put on Baby Einsteins and let Hope know I was taking a shower, and left the door open so I could hear any disrepair. A little bit later she came by the bathroom door dragging an empty laundry basket and said cheerfully, "I'm doing laundry." To which I replied, "there are towels in the dryer you can fold." She must have gone to check because she came back to make sure and said, "it's okay I can fold laundry?" Yes, definitely yes. This is the sight I came out to when my shower was done. She only made it through one washcloth, but her heart was in the right place.


She looks like she's concentrating so hard to get the fold just right.
Later, she came in and said, "I came here to help you" when I was unloading the dishwasher. She actually was helpful and put away all the silverware, singing as she went, "forks go here, spoons go here..."