The Twinskis

A Little Bit On Margaret's Nose

2009-07-27T22:24:00.002-05:00

We know, we know. We haven't updated this blog in quite a while.

What did you miss? Well, there was a birthday in there, and now our precious little Twinskis move into the third year of their lives. And we have to move that much faster (and think that much quicker) in order to keep up with them.

Speaking of moving, they are no longer content to be confined to the small sleeping spaces afforded by their baby cribs. They can now shimmy up and down the walls and up and over the sides at will. In order to contain our little Birdgirls of Alcatraz in the hopes of eliminating our tiny late night visitors to our bedroom, we had to install crib tents. Now, our girls don't so much get put to bed as they are locked in captivity for their sleeping ritual. Strangely, though it breaks mommy and daddy's heart to zip that door closed for the night, they seem to derive a bizarre joy out of having their own little mesh fortress in which to jump, flip, and sing their way to dreamland. Night after night, we are responsible for establishing "Camp Twinski" so to speak.

Speaking of speaking, the girls are doing it....endlessly. Even when they don't have an audience and are speaking in glutteral growls and lyrical tweets instead of actually forming coherent words and phrases, as if they are channeling some tribal shaman of the infant world. It is hard to keep track of these things, as the list seems to increase exponentially each week, but we estimate them to be up to around 75 words or so. Notably, they can identify all of the most important individuals in their lives: Dora, Diego, Boots, Ming-Ming, Tuck, Pets, Elmo, Ernie, Bert, "Bee Bee" (Big Bird), and "Cookie." Oh, and Margaret has adopted her own nickname for herself, and now refers to herself as "Mimi." I suppose among the potential contenders of Margie, Maggie, Marge, Meg, Peg, Mags, Megs, Gar, Argar, Teragram, and Queen Lothar of the Snake People, "Mimi" is not so bad. You'll have to ask Kate just where she came up with the Queen Lothar thing.

Speaking of Mimi, she has a new habit of losing her nose. Well, not so much losing it as having it stolen off of her face. By Daddy. About 3-4 times a day.

You see, what happens is when one desperately needs to grab her attention away from the Nog channel on DirecTV, you can place your hand on her face and "grab her nose." Daddy will grab it, and show it to her (the old "thumb in between the the closed fist fingers" bit), at which point a very concerned look will fall over Margaret's face, and she says, "Nose...take, Dada!" Now, if Daddy really wants to get her aggravated, he takes her nose and puts it in his mouth, prompting Mimi furrow her brow and exclaim, "Eat...Nose, Dada!?!" Daddy is sure to swish it around in his mouth for the added effect, which always prompts a giggle from Mimi, no matter how dire a situation her nose finds itself at that moment. After a few seconds, Daddy spits the nose out into his hand, shows it to Mimi one more time, and puts it back on her face just as it was. Mimi takes this final trick in stride, giving a plaintive "Thanks!" and going on her merry way.

When Daddy first tried that trick, he was sure that she would not get it. But it is amazing how self-aware they are. Daddy even had her diving beneath the bubbles in the bathtub tonight looking for her nose before it went down the drain. Oh, the precious innocence of a child and their desire to keep all their appendages in place!

Must wrap up this long-overdue tale of Twinski travails. There is no good excuse for our lack of blogging of late, except to say that the Terrible Twos are actually the Terrible "Fours" when you have twins, and that equals much time and energy away from the other things in life. Blogging is one of the first activities subjugated by the Twincesses reign over our family kingdom. We are just fiefs plowing the fields in our daughters' lives, hoping and praying that our benevolent dictators continue their relatively peaceful rule, and perhaps, maybe, hopefully, get some good nights rests occasionally.

18-month Update / Looking back on 2008

2009-01-05T09:49:00.024-06:00

Hello and Happy New Year! Anna and Margaret turned 18 months old on December 29. For those of you keeping track, that was about 2 weeks ago, which shows just how behind I am on everything lately. Though it's a lame excuse to make up for the poor blogging - raising 2 eighteen month olds seems equivalent to running a cage-free zoo of wild monkeys. The girls are all over the place and into everything. The other day, they left the kitchen for just a minute, and when I walked down the hallway to find them, out of the corner of my eye I catch them standing on top of the dining room table, flashing me mischievous smiles as if to say, "I know we're not supposed to be doing this, and that's why it's so much fun!"

I think my exhaustion in taking care of them stems from the fact that the girls have always been incredibly physical. They're coordinated and agile for their age, as was pointed out to me by an instructor at a "Parents and Tots" YMCA gymnastics class I took them to last weekend - during which they leaped, kicked, twirled, ran, tumbled, and jumped their hearts out, often running circles around the 2 and 3 year olds in the class (and subsequently took a 3 hour nap, much to my delight). They can jump, walk backwards, twirl in circles for minutes at a time, climb up and jump off of high surfaces, and manage to maintain their balance when I almost always expect a tumble. Some photographic evidence of their zaniness:

They're constantly requesting to sit on the kitchen counter (which their sucker of a mom gave in to one too many times, and now they fully expect to sit up there every day)

So much climbing!! No horizontal surface has been spared of their climbing

And then one particular lady thinks it's downright hilarious to take off her diaper and make a run for it, giggling with glee while her mother attempts to chase her down

The ride-on toys still give them endless amusement and so we take advantage of warmer winter days to take a ride on the deck

The girls have recently developed an obsession with clothing choices, with hats being the most common request ("Hat! Hat!" while furiously pointing to their heads)

While they seem to take life at full speed, the one area in which they seem to hesitant to jump in with both feet is talking. I've had some friends reassure me that there just are some kids who are "talkers," while some are "doers," and our children tend to be of the latter. While they do use about 10 words on a daily basis, they largely rely on baby sign language and furious pointing to get their point across. As a parent, you worry about everything - and I discussed my concerns about their seemingly delayed verbal skills with the girls' pediatrician, who thankfully reassured me that they are average, there doesn't seem to be cause for concern, and they'll be talking in no time. I imagine one day I'll look back at this post and laugh- and long for the days when they weren't talking my ear off. ;)

Speaking of pediatricians...here are their 18 month stats!:

Anna
Height: 32 inches (59%)
Weight: 24 lbs 3 oz (48%)

Margaret
Height: 32 inches (59%)
Weight: 22 lbs 2 oz (18%)

And since we've entered a new year - here's a quick "Twinskis Year in Review," in photos!:

January: Playtime (and perhaps the last month that they could be contained to one area)

February: Learning to crawl

March: First Easter spent at the beach in Sarasota, FL

April: Sharing a swing at the park

May: Exhibiting their love for mom and dad's laptop

June: our little girls turn ONE!

July: Uncooperative and goofy for mom during an attempted photo shoot on the front porch

August: Cooling off on a hot summer day by running through a reflection pool in front of Nashville's courthouse

September: A photo shoot with our friend and favorite photographer Kim

October: A fantastic trip to Nana and Grandpa's place in Sarasota, Florida

November: Running an errand with Mom and Dad and enjoying a ride in the cart

December: Finding joy in feeding each other snacks

I wish you all a joyous start to the New Year! Joey and I are looking forward to another year of constant love and laughter that these 2 little gals bring into our lives.

Taking care of toddlers can be dizzying sometimes

2008-12-14T23:58:00.002-06:00

Just a few minutes later, Anna ran face first into the chair as it was still spinning wildly in circles (with only Margaret riding at this point), leading to many tears and a little blood, as her tooth had cut her gum in the collision. So perhaps we won't be repeating that activity!

We finally can stop calling them "Cousin It"

2008-12-08T23:15:00.002-06:00

I'm once again neglecting this blog! I'd like to blame it on the fact that time has been limited with Joey being out of town for work last week and part of this week - but truthfully, we haven't been up to a whole lot! However, we did take the girls for their very first hair cut this past weekend, and Joey managed to get some video of the event. Here are a couple clips! (ha - "clips")

Anna getting her hair cut, with Daddy showing her the video camera (with the screen turned around so she can see herself as a great distraction). You can see just how bad she needed some bangs since she keeps trying to push her hair away from her face and looks generally annoyed that they are in her way!

And Anna finishing up - with Margaret running in to the scene at the end. And then the video abruptly ends as the destructive twosome manage to take out an entire shelf of shampoo and conditioner bottles. It's getting interesting to take them out in public.

Climbing out from under everything

2008-11-18T09:02:00.005-06:00

I generally like to stick to the happy stuff on this blog, and - much to our great fortune - life with Anna and Margaret is blissful and wonderful. But the past 2 weekends have been rough on all of us, explaining why I haven't posted anything since we got back from Florida.

Two weekends ago, I spent 48 hours straight on the couch while Joey took care of the girls in his always capable, super Dad fashion while I suffered through some weird stomach virus and the nausea that went along with it. Hoping it was behind us, we spent last week in our usual routine of play dates and trips to friends' houses, and prepared for an eagerly anticipated wedding of a dear friend of mine (who I've known since I was 10!) in St. Louis - and looked forward to seeing my family again. On Friday night, weather between Nashville and St. Louis was downright awful with gusting winds, pouring rain, and low temperatures - and so my paranoia of taking my 3 favorite people in the world on potentially icy roads for 5 hours straight, in the dark, got the best of me and we decided to stay in Nashville Friday night and leave early Saturday morning to make it just in time for my friend Joelle's 2:00 wedding.

In hindsight, that was a good decision to stay for many reasons - as I awoke to Margaret screaming at 3 in the morning, grabbed her out of her crib, tried consoling her in our glider...and noticed an odd smell. I took her out in the hallway, and sure enough - she's covered head to toe in her own vomit. The night went downhill from there - as the poor girl threw up for 3 hours straight, and after multiple clothing changes and clean-ups, she fell asleep exhausted and drained.

The next morning, we gave her a very necessary bath and made breakfast...at which point Joey started feeling not so right, sealing the decision to stay in Nashville. He ended up catching the same virus, as did Anna, and luckily I remained standing and spent the weekend doing a lot of laundry, clean up, and baby/husband care, while I watched them all suffer and couldn't do much to help anyone.

The good thing is - everyone's feeling better, so we have so much to be thankful for - and that was a much needed though painful reminder to all of us to not take good health for granted. And despite the rough weekend spent entirely indoors, as well as a missed wedding of a dear friend - there were some funny moments. Like listening to the girls newfound love for animal sound impressions (their elephant and tiger are the funniest, and when I ask them what a dog says, they strangely pant instead of saying "woof"). Or watching them and their fixation with picking out their clothes - the recent obsession is wearing patent leather shoes and winter hats around the house, which makes for an awesome fashion statement.

By Monday night, everyone seemed to be feeling back to normal, despite the girls' runny noses and Margaret's molars coming in, which are causing some pain for her. Just before their bedtime, Joey put on some music in the kitchen and we had a very goofy, spur of the moment family dance party - basking in the euphoria of feeling great again. I am so grateful to be surrounded by so much love and laughter.

Florida Recap

2008-11-07T15:26:00.008-06:00

All week long, I've been meaning to sit down and write a meaningful post about all of the fun things we did while visiting my parents at their condo in Sarasota, Florida - how much the girls adored the pool, how they could have spent hours with their pail and shovel on the beach, digging little holes and pouring sand on their legs (and occasionally taste-testing), how enamored they were with living for 5 days in a warm climate in which they could go outside at any time of the day without being pestered to put on a sweater - but I figured our week there would best be told in pictures. So enjoy!

Our (yes, admittedly dorky) family bike ride. Much to my surprise, our girls actually loved wearing the helmets and insisted on wearing them while walking around my parents' condo - which was quite a funny sight.

Check out Anna's delighted face as Daddy takes her for a spin around the parking lot (well, we did make it beyond the parking lot - we actually took them into the main drag of Siesta Key and stopped at Captain Curt's for lunch!)

Bad timing for their first dip in the pool - the weather was a little chilly that day, the wind was blowing hard, and the pool heater didn't seem to be working very well - poor little Margaret's teeth were chattering, so she welcomed a warm towel and hug from Nana (my Mom)

Anna seemed unaffected by the cold and insisted on playing in the pool with Daddy

All warm and dry in their cover-ups (and Margaret carrying around the 2 sand buckets that she insisted on holding for the majority of the day, including bath time in the evening)
Anna finally took a break from the pool

We dressed up Anna and Margaret in their (somewhat makeshift) Halloween costumes and did a little photo shoot near the pool and on the beach, since we didn't take them trick-or-treating that evening.
Margaret and I
Our little (fairies? angels? something like that...) on the boardwalk to the beach
I love how the sky looks in this photo
Loving how curly their hair has become
Catching our beach fairies sitting together (this lasted about 5 seconds)
Daddy giving Anna a lift while Nana and Margaret hold hands
Margaret and her Nana (not to be confused with Anna, or their favorite morning snack, a banana)
Catching a cute moment between Daddy and his girls
Margaret's elated reaction to having her feet buried in the sand
A surprisingly happy reaction just minutes after taste-testing the sand
I think they could have stayed at there for hours. Don't you just love little gals in pigtails?

Our grand tour of the upper midwest

2008-10-24T10:55:00.012-05:00

It's obvious how behind I am in updating this blog when I'm posting pictures from last weekend - on a Friday. I've had a mental block about writing lately...but I figure a rainy day is as good of a time as ever!

Last weekend, we visited Joey's family in Mishawaka, Indiana to meet his brother Aaron and wife Michelle's new baby boy, Logan, who was even cuter than in pictures and remarkably calm and well behaved. Proving once more that our 2 wild monkeys, Anna and Margaret, were indeed the high-strung, colicky babies that I remembered.

Here are a few pictures of the new babe and family:

Logan in all of his adorableness

Proud parents Aaron and Michelle
And a tired Daddy taking a nap with Logan
Uncle Joey
Uncle Joel (Aunt Karolyn, so sorry I didn't get you in this picture!)
Grandma and Grandpa and their 4 nieces and 1 nephew

And a few pics from enjoying the beautiful fall weather and falling leaves in Indiana:

The friendly stray cat that's hanging out at Joey's parents' house:
Perhaps it won't be by as often after getting chased:
Margaret enjoying a few throws in the air by Daddy:
Anna attempting to catch the leaves we threw in the air for her
Margaret not enjoying this game as much

Sunday night, we drove to Columbus, Ohio, as Joey found out quite last minute that he had to be at a work meeting Monday morning. I was a bit apprehensive of the whole experience, as we had yet to sleep in a hotel with the girls, but it went surprisingly well. The 2-room hotel suite was perfect, and the girls were strangely giddy and ran laps around the hotel room when we walked in at 10 p.m. - well past their bedtime. The hotel bathtub was also a huge hit, as apparently the travel sized hotel shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash and lotion bottles are the coolest - things - ever to 15 month olds. I think they carried those bottles around the entire time we were there.

Monday morning, Joey attended his meeting and I lucked out to find a city park (Goodale Park) right next to our hotel to burn some energy and entertain the girls before we got back on the road. Anna and Margaret tried out the playground (doing their requisite attempt at climbing up the slides, as they do every time), petted a few dogs (the new obsession in their lives), and even posed for a few photos taken by several Ohio State University photography students at the park doing class homework. We wandered over to the pond and gazebo area, at which point the girls were drained and wondering why their mother was denying them of the critical morning nap - note the exhausted looks:

After they could take no more of the park and stroller, we went back to the hotel room and had a little Fruit Loop snack party on the floor while we watched Elmo. Who they strangely refer to as "Da." Spoken in a high pitched, frantic, "DA!!!!" every time they see him on TV. Elmo is #1 in their lives right now. Don't try messing with them when Elmo's World is on in the morning- that's must-see-TV for these chicks and their furry, red, monster friend.

A trip to the farm

2008-10-15T09:38:00.005-05:00

Joey, the girls and I made a trip to Gentry's Farm and Pumpkin Patch this past Sunday. Anna and Margaret had a great time - Gentry's had this children's activity area where the girls saw goats, chicken, and roosters; rode the toy tractors; climbed up a little barn ladder and slid down a slide; played with farm animal toys in a little barn play area; swung on the tire swings (with assistance from us, of course); ran through the 4-acre corn maze; and their favorite thing of all - they played in this area that had feed troughs set up filled with shovels, toys, and grain feed. That seriously fascinated them - I think we were there for 45 minutes.

Here are a few photos from the fun day! What is lacking is a trip to the actual pumpkin patch - we wore them out so much doing everything else that we never made it to the pumpkins. But we managed to pick 2 up for our front porch on our way out.

Walking up to the farm entrance - on an unusually hot October day. We had 4 straight days of upper 80-degree weather.

Anna quite proud of herself for climbing up an old, rickety, narrow barn ladder (and Margaret in the background, contemplating going down the slide on the other side). And then there was me - praying for no trips to the Emergency Room.

This little city girl can drive a tractor!

Or maybe not.

Anna caught site of the goats (which she called "dogs," hee hee) and was immediately out of there.

Playing with the toys in the troughs

Do not feed the animals. Don't feed the goats, either.

And we're back to the troughs. Those things held their attention for so long that I briefly entertained the notion of buying a trough and putting one out on our deck for them to play in. And hey - I can feed them out there too!

Running after Daddy in the corn maze. I love the fact that they've actually started to figure out how to run - even if it's still a little bouncy and awkward looking.

Catching up to Daddy! I was so proud of the girls - they walked/ran the majority of this corn maze without Joey or I holding them. I think they were so enamored by the fact that they could walk wherever without us stopping them. Margaret lagged behind because she kept wanting to pick up the ears of corn on the ground. Our little hunter/gatherer.

We have a nephew!!

2008-10-14T12:42:00.005-05:00

Joey and I are thrilled to announce the arrival of our nephew - the son of Joey's brother, Aaron, and sister-in-law, Michelle!

Logan Anthony

Born October 13, 2008

4:20 p.m.

8 lbs, 8 oz

21 inches*

He is beautiful and perfect and gorgeous in every way - an adorable face with rosy cheeks, long, dark, eyelashes, and a head full of thick, black hair. Photographic evidence is on their blog!

We're so thrilled for Aaron and Michelle, and so very proud to have a nephew. It's so hard to not be there and hold him - so we're making a trip up to Indiana soon to visit, during which I plan to cuddle Logan and stare at his adorableness.

Congratulations and welcome to the world, Logan!!! Logan is the first grandson on Joey's side, after 4 girls in a row. Prepare yourself, Logan. You may have to fight off some bossy girls in a few years from attempting to dress you up or make you join a tea party.

*Making note of the fact that Logan is just a little less than 1/3 of the size of my very petite sister-in-law, Michelle. Hee hee.

Busy, busy, busy

2008-10-10T16:39:00.015-05:00

I usually hire a babysitter for about 3-4 hours on one day of the week to get out by myself, get some errands done that ordinarily are impossible to accomplish with the girls in tow, and just get a little sanity break. I just realized the other day that I haven't hired a babysitter to come in over 3 weeks - and I find myself happy to say that I have just been having too much fun with the girls, and our schedule has been too packed with fun activities, to even bother having someone come watch them.

I think that really made me aware of the fact that I'm truly settling into this parenting thing, that I finally - after 15 months - have got the hang of it, and that it doesn't seem like as much work anymore. I won't say that taking care of two 15-month olds is a breeze - I collapse on the couch out of exhaustion every night after we put them to bed - but I will say that now that they are aware of so much around them, that they can enjoy so many activities, and that I in turn am experiencing things a second time through their eyes - I'm totally loving spending time with them.

The girls thrive on a busy schedule, and did particularly well this past week, during which I gave them little downtime to just play around the house, and even forced them to skip a morning nap one day (an experiment that I have chosen not to repeat) in order to pack in several activities during the day. We spent the week hopping around town from one play date to the next, exploring various playgrounds and parks around town, and enjoying our weekly music class.

One of my friends in our moms' group is awesome about taking photos of our group events, and managed to snap a bunch of photos during a trip to The Little Gym on Thursday afternoon, during which our toddlers tumbled and jumped and climbed various gymnatics equipment. I thought I'd show off a few of Anna and Margaret:

Margaret taking a photo break

Anna, Margaret and a friend running up and down (repeat 10x) this inclined foam mat

Margaret shows off her impressive balancing skills

The girls tap their sticks along to the music during circle time

And my favorite photo of all: Margaret attempting a forward roll. The instructor had demonstrated with each of the kids how to use that barrel shaped foam to show a toddler how to roll - and after the demonstration, Margaret was desperate to do it herself. She sat in this position for a couple of minutes, trying over and over. Go Margie!

Way Back When-esday!

2008-10-08T12:54:00.004-05:00

I decided to take part in blogger friend Cheryl's "Way Back When-nesday"! Thanks, Cheryl, for letting me participate!

Here's my "way back" photo:

Date: July 9, 2007
Twins' Age: 2 weeks old

This photo shows Anna (left) and Margaret (right) in their post-bath glory after their first sponge bath at home. My Mom was staying with us at the time, and took the lead in bathing the girls. I can't believe how tiny they are - and how those newborn onesies are huge on them! It's amazing to think that we could bathe them on the kitchen counter and not worry about their rolling off. We have a video of this bath somewhere - and at the time, I remember finding it fascinating to see their little movements (look, she blinked! listen to those coos and gurgles!) - but now that I look back at it, I realize that newborns are slightly, well, boring. But adorable, beautiful, and best of all - easy to contain. ;)

Have a great day!! Thanks, Cheryl - your blog continues to be so much fun to read!

15-month check-up stats + picture update

2008-10-07T17:23:00.018-05:00

Yesterday was the girls' 15-month pediatrician appointment, during which I discovered that:

A) Anna and Margaret can now open the doors of the exam rooms and fling themselves out into the hallway, running in opposite directions with delight and shrieking while nurses chase them down;
B) They now have sympathy for each other during the dreaded immunization part of the exam and whimpered alongside each other...sad but cute. And not a good thing for the second kiddo (in this case it was Anna) to get her round of shots, as this time around, she had an idea of what was about to happen to her, judging from Margaret's howls;
C) They hold grudges against nurses bearing said shots - Margaret gave Nurse Jessica a growl as we passed her on the way out; and,
D) They have huge noggins. Check out these stats:

Anna:
Weight: 23 lbs (49th percentile)
Height: 31 inches (60th percentile)
Head circumference: forgot the number...but 92nd (!!!) percentile

Margaret:
Weight: 21 lbs (18th percentile)
Height: 31 inches (60th percentile)
Head circumference: Also joining the big head club at 92nd percentile

I'm behind on getting any photos up but grabbed a few off my camera from the weekend. Enjoy!

Margaret swinging at the park (with her new sneakers on, which she hasn't quite figured out how to walk in just yet and sort of clomps around like she's wearing clown shoes)

The girls' favorite part of Dragon Park: the water sprayer

Anna playing peek-a-boo

Dressed in their "Commodores in Training" t-shirts for a visit to Vanderbilt's campus last Saturday morning for ESPN Gameday

What is it about sneakers and jeans that makes a kid look so grown up?

Margaret being helpful by feeding her friend Josie Cheerios

They actually shared a toy for like 9 seconds

I've made a couple of attempts lately to allow them to feed themselves with a spoon (in this picture, Margaret trying Mott's strawberry banana applesauce). I'm not sure they have the hang of that just yet. But, they had fun. And Mom had a lot to clean up.

Captured during their daily make-out session. Funny, yet kind of weird.

We live in Tennessee, after all...

2008-10-03T10:07:00.009-05:00

I present to you, 2 gals in a pick-up truck!

Taken by my lovely friend Carrie, who allowed Anna and Margaret to crawl around the back of her Honda Ridgeline while it was parked in our driveway. The girls were endlessly amused - it was like an elevated, outdoor playpen.

Carrie and her beautiful newborn baby girl, Adylin Claire ("Ady") came to visit us the other day, during which we (the girls and I, as well as our friend Mandy and her beautiful 9-month old daughter Hannah) sat and ooh'ed and ah'ed over her 3-week old baby, a whopping 7 lbs of cuteness. Her little gurgles and stretches and funny newborn faces (and audible toots - baby farts are funny) made my heart melt. Even her tiny little socks were falling off of her. I loved every second of meeting baby Ady - and was also eternally grateful to my girls for sleeping for the first hour that Ady and Carrie were here, as I knew that the second they were up, we'd have to be protecting poor lil' Ady from a toddler mauling.

As predicted, the girls wanted to touch baby Ady's face and were fixated on the poor kid the entire time she was there. Anna seems especially interested in babies (her new favorite word is "baby," repeated 10x per day - baby, baby, baby). Carrie took a photo of Anna's reaction to a sweet sleeping Ady - that little smile was on her face the entire time Ady was here.

In fact, Anna seems extraordinarily fascinated by both babies and dogs at the moment. Joey and I have been making a habit as of late of going for a jog down our neighborhood's greenway with the girls in their jogging stroller when he gets home from work. It's a perfect way to calm down the girls, get some exercise, and get outdoors and enjoy the fresh, crisp fall air. About that time of the day, many of our neighbors are taking their dogs for walks, and Anna practically jumps out of her seat with excitement every time we pass a dog.

I mention her love for dogs and babies because I find it sweet that Anna, typically the more aggressive of the two girls, has such a sweet side and love for those of the canine and infant variety. It's heartwarming to see, and a nice relief after watching Anna bulldoze through the house all day long, terrorizing poor Margaret and stealing toys out of her hand at every opportunity.

That's the cool part of raising twins - seeing 2 completely different personalities develop, and then being surprised the minute you see a side to them you never expected.

Rock Out!

2008-09-28T08:27:00.000-05:00

We've survived September

2008-09-27T15:25:00.008-05:00

Still alive here! I've once again slipped into my infrequent posting ways. September has been a crazy month! Here's a quick run down of the month:

We spent Labor Day weekend visiting Joey's family in Mishawaka, Indiana and attending his brother Aaron and sister-in-law Michelle's couples' baby shower in anticipation of the first grandson on Joey's side, soon to arrive in mid-October.

The second weekend of September, my friend Anne and her boyfriend John visited Nashville and treated us to an amazing Ben Folds concert with the Nashville Symphony. Then it was back to Mishawaka the following weekend for the Notre Dame/Michigan game - otherwise known as Moonsoon weekend. The area received 11 inches of rain within 48 hours, and we were poured on during the 3rd and 4th quarters of the game - but managed to hang in there until the end, despite being soaked head to toe, as the game was awesome and we had 50-yard line tickets.

Last weekend was a big first for me in that I left the girls overnight for the first time (in the wonderfully capable hands of their grandparents) to join Joey in attending a wedding in Baltimore of a friend of his from law school. And despite the fact that I pined for the girls the whole time, thought about them incessantly - particularly during their bedtime, as that felt like the hardest time to be away - and had to physically restrain myself from stopping and cuddling every baby in a stroller we encountered in our walks around the Inner Harbor, I enjoyed the time away immensely. We slept in both mornings, enjoyed long, leisurely brunches with coffee and the paper, strolled around Fells Point with no particular purpose, ate the best crab cakes we've ever tasted at a local favorite, danced the night away at a fabulous outdoor reception under a beautiful tent (at a completely amazing venue), stayed up late partying with friends, and noticed how easy it was to get ready for a wedding without 2 babies whining at your feet. And though it was a nice reminder of how uncomplicated life is when traveling without children, I can't tell you how much my heart pounded with joy to pull into the driveway Sunday evening and see these beautiful little gals running to the car to hug us.

I've got so much updating to do - the girls are doing all kinds of funny things that I've wanted to make note of - but for now I'll leave you with some great new photos (click here!) that my friend (and our favorite photographer) Kim took of the girls. Kim was in town over the past 3 days and stayed with us on Thursday and Friday night, which was so fun - and so we managed to squeeze in a photo session and finally (!), after 15 months, get a nice family picture of the four of us. Thanks, Kim!

Hoping to write more soon...but in the mean time, we're truly enjoying being in town this weekend and just hanging out together as a family. Have a great rest of your weekend!

We took the plunge...

2008-09-11T10:13:00.003-05:00

and finally bought ourselves a minivan. My transformation to a (future) soccer mom is now complete.

The day after we bought it, my parents congratulated us, and then my Dad jokingly told me to go to McDonald's, order 3 orders of large fries, and then dump them all over the back seat and floor of our minivan, as eventually it will look like that.

I'm not sure why I still cringe a little when I tell people that we bought a minivan. Seriously, it's completely awesome, and brand new and wonderful in every way. I read that the Honda Odyssey (which we purchased) is often regarded as the Lexus of minivans, and that couldn't be more true - the ride is smooth, the interior is beautiful, roomy, and comfortable, there are compartments and storage areas for just about everything you can think of, and the car is just built for kids with side curtain airbags, automatic sliding doors, built in sunshades, and tons of other great safety features. Best of all, Joey can actually drive this car (he was too tall to even get behind the wheel in my old car, as the convertible car seat forced the driver's seat so far forward that his tall legs wouldn't fit). We've already taken one road trip up to South Bend, IN in the minivan, and it honestly seemed like Anna and Margaret were just more comfortable. Throw in some snacks and a DVD, and voila - a (somewhat) whine-free road trip.

So I'm getting over that minivan stigma quickly, although strangely enough I still find myself behind an infuriating driver of on Odyssey, Sienna, Town and Country, etc. - driving 10 miles below the speed limit and changing lanes without even looking - and I find myself mumbling under my breath, "Dang minivan driver." And a few other words that I cannot print in this blog. Luckily, I really don't care about the "coolness" aspect (or lack thereof) in driving a minivan - I neither measured my hipness based on the car I drive, nor ever could claim to be hip in the first place.

I really do feel so lucky to be driving a brand new, completely awesome car that is perfect for our girls - and I'm so thankful to Joey for working so hard to enable us to do this. Our girls are positively giddy about the car. I made the mistake on the first day we owned the car of letting them crawl around inside (while parked in the driveway) while I was organizing a few things and setting up the car seats, and I think the thrill of not being strapped into car seats got to them, as they now demand to play in the car every day. Something about pushing the radio buttons, climbing up and down the seats, sitting behind the steering wheel, and walking from the front seat to the back provides for the world's best indoor playground. I really should never have started that - but hey, it does kill about an hour of time every day.

I need to update you all on a few cool new things they are doing and saying - so I'll work on that today! Have a great Thursday!

Happy 30th Birthday to Anne

2008-09-03T09:55:00.009-05:00

Today, my friend Anne turns 30 years old. Happy Birthday Annie! Wishing you so much happiness on your special day!

Anne and I met when we were 15 years old at the fine academic institution of Visitation Academy High School in St. Louis, MO. I feel so blessed to have had Anne as a friend by my side through high school, college, grad school, and our moving all over the place - her to Philadelphia and back to St. Louis, me to North Carolina, DC and Nashville. We've seen each other through job changes, relationship changes, house moves, and the ups and downs of life.

Anna and Margaret are so very blessed to have "Aunt Anne" in their life - Anne was calling and emailing me moments after their birth, spent a weekend getting to know them in Nashville when they were 4 weeks old, and then made multiple trips to see them since then - and was there to help us celebrate their first birthday. She's spoiled them with gift after gift and treats them with so much love, generosity, and kindness. We are all so lucky to have her in our lives, and I often feel that I don't deserve such a perfect friend who unconditionally loves and supports all of us, even through this last year when I haven't been the friend I've wanted to be because I've gotten so caught up with caring for the girls. To have a friend who forgives you for not returning emails and phone calls, and for not being there when they could have used your company and support - well, that truly is a good friend.

At my bridesmaid luncheon in July 2004

Holding 4 week old Anna

And 4-week old Margaret

Thank you, Anne, for being the most loyal, supportive friend in my life. Joey, the girls and I are so thankful for you! We are so excited to celebrate your birthday this weekend in Nashville. Lots of love from our family to you.

Discoveries

2008-08-28T21:27:00.004-05:00

Every night, after we put the girls to bed, Joey and I go through the living room and kitchen and put back the myriad of toys strewn about the house - a hurricane clean-up of sorts. In the past week, I've found the following items in rather odd places:

My car keys in the dryer
One of the girls' shoes in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator
My cell phone in their playhouse
Cheerios in the bottom of my shoe
The TV remote control in the storage drawer below our oven
Hair clips in the tupperware cabinet

And you know what? Finding these little things always makes me smile - because they are just little end of the day reminders that we have these lovely - and very, very busy - little ladies in our lives.

Taken in May 2008: The last time they ever sat still long enough to get a picture of them together.

Perfect Weekend

2008-08-26T09:37:00.000-05:00

So I'm a day late in posting this, given it's now Tuesday...but I thought I'd give a little run down of our fun past weekend in Nashville:

Friday

The girls and I met Joey right as he was getting out of work at the Nashville Courthouse Public Square, which happens to be directly across from his office and viewable from his office window. I've been wanting to take them there for some time to play in the huge spray fountains. Not to my surprise, they were entirely intimidated by them - particularly when they towered at least 6 feet over their heads - but they were quite enamored by the reflecting pools. After an hour and a half of playing in them and being soaked from head to toe, we literally had to drag them away, kicking and screaming, to take them home for a late dinner and bath. I'm sure we were quite a sight as we frantically pushed two screaming toddlers in just their diapers toward the car.

Thrilled at walking back and forth across the reflecting pool

As an afterthought, it's pretty gross that we let them play in these, given the pools are frequently visited by dogs

The aforementioned fountains in the background of this photo - apparently we're not quite ready for those just yet.

Soaked! And taken just after Margaret dunked her entire face in the pool

Drying off by chasing Daddy on the lawn

Saturday

We enjoyed a quiet morning at home, making breakfast and playing with the girls. After their nap, we took a test drive of a Toyota Sienna as part of our ongoing search for a minivan. The car was nice, though the test drive was slightly humorous, as our car salesman happened to be a 3-days in rookie on the job and didn't know anything about the Sienna. As we were driving, Joey and I were actually pointing out the features to him, so I guess we sold him on the car, ha ha. No big deal, though - everyone has to be a beginner at their job at some point.

That night - a babysitter came over to watch the girls so that Joey and I could have a date night! We enjoyed a 4-course meal at Zola and really got a chance to talk, free of the distractions of the girls and household chores that we normally get wrapped up in while we are home. We shared a chocolate cappuccino tart for dessert, fulfilling my serious craving for chocolate that I've had for the past few weeks since we've cut out buying ice cream in an ongoing effort to drop the pounds.

Sunday

Joey's college roommate, Bo, who now resides nearby with his wife Rhiana and daughters Evie (2.5) and Amelia (3 months), called and asked us if we wanted to meet them at the Nashville Zoo. Seeing that we thrive on last minute planning, and it was the perfect day for a trip to the zoo with overcast skies and cooler temperatures, we jumped at the opportunity and even bought a family membership while we were there. It was perfect - the kiddos behaved well and the animals apparently were up for showing off that day, getting close to the fence to let us take some pictures.

As you can see, Anna and Margaret are far more interested in their snacks than the very cool giraffe behind them

Margaret and Daddy

Well, off to attend to my non-napping daughters - I hear them both screaming and "talking" to each other in their room. I think Anna and Margaret are caught in this weird, in-between phase of not being tired enough to take the morning nap, but not ready to stay awake until their afternoon nap, so our days have been erratic and often filled with overtired meltdowns. Toddlerhood has been interesting!

To my sister-in-law, on her birthday

2008-08-25T14:48:00.006-05:00

Dear Karolyn,

Happy Birthday to you!! You are so special and amazing in every way, and I feel so honored and blessed to be in your family. Thank you so very much for always showing so much love to me, to Joey, and to Anna and Margaret. How lucky they are to have an aunt who loves them so very much. We are missing you always, thinking and praying for you today, and looking forward to seeing you in just a few days.

As always, we were late in getting your birthday card and gift in the mail - and so Anna and Margaret decided to make you a little e-card to brighten your day.

We love you!!!!

Joey, Katie, Anna and Margaret

Somehow this still hasn't gotten old

2008-08-22T16:21:00.002-05:00

The tupperware party continues!

Mental Note...

2008-08-18T08:44:00.003-05:00

Large amounts of sugar early in the morning aren't conducive to winding down for a morning nap. Anna is currently standing up and spinning around in circles on our living room floor, and then laughing hysterically after falling down on the ground out of dizziness. Slightly hilarious to watch, but I fear trying to get her to take a nap in 15 minutes.

The reason for this sugar high? Eggo Bake Shop Muffin Tops for breakfast. Oops.

Hello everyone! I promise I will get back to this blog this week - I've been quite neglectful. It feels great to say that between my moms' group, a music class that we're taking, and meeting up with friends, we're having so much fun that it's leaving little time to blog. And we've had beautiful, pleasant, tolerable August weather (that sounds like an oxymoron), so we've visited every park in town. This sure beats last summer, during which we experienced the hottest summer on record since 1955. Have a great week!

Question for the week: When will our mother cut our hair instead or resorting to these ridiculous hair styles to keep our bangs out of our face??

Five instances this week during which they proved to be the geniuses I always thought they were

2008-08-07T14:25:00.006-05:00

I think I need to give my children more credit for what they know and understand. I jabber all day long, not really thinking they are listening or comprehending all that much - but they proved me wrong the past few days.

Incident #1: We're preparing to go outside and I say to the girls, "Okay, ladies, let's go put on our shoes."

Twinski reaction: They both walk over to the closet, pull out their shoes, and bring them to me. (Admittedly, they grabbed 2 mismatched shoes, by hey, pretty cool, huh?)

Incident #2: We've come back inside from yet another sweltering, humid day, and I say, "Let's take your shoes off."

Twinski reaction: Anna sits down and begins pulling on the Velcro strap on her shoe.

Incident #3: Anna has dug my keys out of my backpack and is carrying them around the house. I call to her from down the hallway and say, "Anna, please bring Mommy the keys."

Twinski reaction: Anna walks on over, hands the keys to me, and smiles. I felt like I should have patted her on the head and given her a treat.

Incident #4: Margaret hands me a small, crumpled up piece of paper that she found somewhere in our house. I act surprised and truly overjoyed to receive this gift, and say, "Oh, how nice, it's beautiful, but I insist you keep it - it's for you."

Twinski reaction: Margaret takes the piece of paper back and puts it to her ear.*

(*Okay, that one needs an explanation. Whenever we're playing with the myriad of toy phones we have around the house, I pick it up, pretend to have a conversation with someone, and say something like, "Oh, you'd like to speak to Margaret? Okay, she's right here. Margaret, it's for you!" So I think when Margaret heard the words "it's for you," she instantly thought we were playing the phone call game. Cute!)

Incident #5 - or, my heartwarming moment of the day: I'm in the girls' room, about to put them down for their morning nap, and we're playing with their dollies. I pick up a doll, and to demonstrate being affectionate, I give the doll a hug and a kiss.

Twinski Reaction: Margaret watches intently - then leans over and gives Anna an enormous hug. Awwww!!!!!! Moments like this make the challenges of raising twins all seem so very, very worth it.

Of course, the hug then went on for 30 seconds too long for Anna, and turned into a wrestling match with kicking and screaming, but it was cute there for a second.

So it's not much, and certainly no need to sign them up early admissions to Harvard. But I guess I find myself so surprised that they're absorbing so much - and understanding so much language. It also makes me realize that their ability to selectively listen is there - and when I'm saying to one of them, "stop pulling your sister's hair!" but they refuse to stop...it's not a lack of understanding as much as mind over matter.

On a completely different note...we took a few photos of the girls outside this past weekend, and so I thought I'd post them. They look so OLD to me - my goodness, where have my babies gone?

When does Fall start?

2008-08-05T09:20:00.004-05:00

I'm sure I'll long for these hot, sunny August days in January...but for now, all I can think about is jeans and sweater weather. It's just so darn hot and humid. Our grass has turned crunchy and a shade of yellow, the flowers start wilting an hour after I water them, and you could hear a pin drop when you walk outside our door, whereas during nice weather, the sounds of kids laughing can be heard from the playground just down the street. The girls get red faced and cranky after just a few minutes of being outside, and our car is an oven most days when we get in - so the temptation to just stay inside all day and play is always there, which means we're experiencing a winter-like cabin fever. Luckily, the girls are easily entertained - they spent a half hour the other day climbing in and out of a cooler.

Which gave them close quarters for some open mouthed kissing (HA!)

There's just not a lot to do with 13-month olds, particularly when they're not content to sit in a stroller for any period of time (otherwise I'd be spending far too much time at the mall). Whereas Nashville is full of opportunities for pre-schoolers, from pottery painting and cooking classes to the new planetarium at the Adventure Science Center - taking young toddlers to those places is like throwing money down the drain, as I learned after paying the $13 admission fee to the Nashville Zoo in June and spending half of our time in front of the drinking fountain (the girls' favorite attraction, strangely enough).

During the week, my moms' club is a true sanity saver. We're headed to the library later today for their story time hour, which is such a completely awesome, free event. The last time we attended, the girls weren't walking yet - and so even though Margaret insisted on climbing into this other mom's lap four times in a row (apparently her lap was more comfy than mine), they generally stayed in my vicinity and actually paid attention to the story and puppets for about 5 minutes. I fear what today will be like, though, with their being proficient walkers - and sometimes runners (!). Luckily, the story time presenters don't seem to mind their audience making a lot of noise and moving around.

I've also signed the girls up for a music class on Thursdays at a bookstore, which I'm really looking forward to. I'm hoping Anna and Margaret will show off their rhythmic swaying/bobbing moves to the class. I hear the high-energy instructor is awesome but insists on all parents full participation, which means I'm going to make a fool of myself for an hour straight while I sing along and make the associated hand gestures to songs like "The Wheels on the Bus." I just always pray in those situations that no other adult is watching me.

Our weekend was nice and relaxing, although I ended up getting a head cold/sore throat/earache that was worse than any cold I've had in years. I guess I'm lucky to say that it really was the first time since the girls were born that I was too sick to take care of them - and so father of the year Joey stepped in and took the lead in tickling/chasing/throwing/singing to/feeding/and generally exhausting himself for 2 days straight, while I layed on the couch and watched. At the height of sore throat aching, all I could think of was eating a popsicle, so we took the girls to Dragon Park with the ultimate plan of walking over to Fido for a Las Paletas popsicle.

We had the park to ourselves, of course, and I adore this place - it's located directly across from Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and features a fully handicap-accessible playground, which is also quite awesome for wobbly toddlers not quite ready for the monkey bars and slides.

The Water Sprayer - which was quite a hit until the wasps started to surround us

Oh, and the Las Paletas popsicles? Totally hit the spot. We highly recommend the Mexican Caramel and Strawberry Pineapple Banana flavors, although Joey and I got a mere taste whereas the girls devoured them. I'm not even sure they stopped for air.

Well, I'm off to get a shower while the girls are still sleeping. Have a good one!

Catching up on some photos...and tangential stories

2008-08-01T23:55:00.007-05:00

My parents came to visit us last weekend and brought with them a CD of photos from their first birthday celebration in St. Louis last month. I uploaded those photos to our web gallery, but thought I'd pick out a few of my favorite.

Anna's signature thumb suck - I love how she always hooks her finger around her nose

This photo cracks me up - check out their annoyed faces when we put on the birthday hats

Their favorite trick right now - putting their hands in the air when we say "Hands Up!"

Our first ride on a carousel - Margaret absolutely loving it

Anna - not so much

Margaret was desperate for another turn and couldn't believe the ride was over

Showing their determination in attempting to scale the slide

Totally loving climbing up this plastic tube

Not quite comfortable in the prickly grass

On an unrelated note, Joey and I test drove a Honda Odyssey minivan today, and we loved it. I make myself a little nauseous just writing that - if you'd have asked me 2 years ago if I would ever consider buying a minivan, my answer would be a definitely no, no way, never gonna do it. But seriously, this thing rides like a dream, has an infinite amount of storage space for the caravan of junk we take along while traveling with the girls, and you just push these little buttons and presto!, the doors close. Purchasing a car that gets a mere 16 miles to the gallon in this economy seems like a sin - but I've still got my head wrapped around buying a car that doesn't feel like the clown car I'm driving around town right now.

On the way to the dealership, I asked Joey if he feels like his fun and crazy bachelorhood is truly long gone since he's taking his wife and 2 kids to look at minivans. You know what he said? That he loves his family so very much, and that this is exactly what he wants to be doing. I truly married the right man, and 2 days ago, as we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary over a romantic dinner and a dozen roses that he brought home for me, I was reminded of how lucky and blessed I am. I love you, baby. You are an incredible husband and father.

July 31, 2004

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, Indiana

Slipping into my old blogging ways

2008-08-01T23:05:00.005-05:00

I was doing so well for a while there - keeping the posts coming every few days. And then, I don't know - I could blame my lack of posting on company coming in town, the girls' simultaneously getting colds and new teeth (and associated lack of sleep affecting all four people in our household), and a general fatigue from caring for very mobile, active, headstrong toddlers. But I think laziness is more to blame than anything. So here I am again - resolving myself to do better!

I've heard of the terrible twos - even the terrible threes - but is there a word for this stage right now? The willful ones? Perhaps I'm just getting a taste of toddler hood and I wasn't prepared for how strong-willed 13-month old toddlers were capable of being. Every day is a constant and endless battle of my trying to figure out what Anna and Margaret want. Their lack of words, and my inability to decipher their screeches and frantic pointing and head shaking, leave all three of us exhausted and frustrated by the time Daddy walks in the door from a long day of work. I have to say that the finger pointing is quite funny, though - numerous times during the day, the girls beg to be picked up by running over and slamming their bodies into my legs. Once in my arms, they locate something across the room they'd like - the light switch, a glass of water on the counter, the much coveted laptop computer - yet when we get over there and they've had their fill of that particular object, they just move their finger pointing to another object in the room. So, I spend about 5 minutes just moving them in whatever direction their little constantly migrating fingers are pointing. I'm sure they find it to be a fun little game.

I had heard of baby sign language and had once considered it to be a fairly useless skill for parents with too much time on their hands. I am now eating my words and we're diving in headfirst to signing in some hope that we can find some way to communicate. Surprisingly, after just a day, Anna was signing back the word "eat" to me - although her favorite way to show me she's hungry is to walk over to the highchairs and push them away from the counter, as I always do before each meal. She's direct and to the point, and I appreciate it.

So despite the screaming, the frantic head shaking (boy they've learned to say no!), and the occasional tantrum (complete with feet kicking, fist pounding, and even an intentional and quite painful head pounding into the wood floor for good measure), life is still incredibly funny and charming with the girls (seriously!). They fascinate me with what they're learning every day, and make me laugh with their funny little quirks. Just some things I can think of off the top of my head:

- They're learning to share. Though it's far more common to see one swipe a toy away from the other one, I do catch really tender moments throughout the day when one will bring the other a toy or reach over and hand a piece of food off of her highchair tray to the other. They also love to feed me - so I frequently am the lucky recipient of a gummy wad of macaroni and cheese during lunch time. Delicious!

- Simples phrases are understandable to them, such as "please give that to me," "be gentle to your sister," "stop pulling her hair" (repeat 10 times throughout the day), "it's time to take a nap," and "let's go outside."

- They revel in the routine of walking Daddy to his car every morning and saying goodbye. It's pretty funny - they start waving to him and saying "bye-bye Daddy" when we're still inside and he's packing up his bag. After he pulls out of the driveway, they like to stand there for a few extra minutes, waving goodbye in the general direction of where he drove off, and if we come back out there sometime in the middle of the day, they instinctively wave again. It's a little Pavlovian but very endearing.

- Anna has this adorable all over body smile - she raises her shoulders up to her ears and her whole face lights up.

- Margaret makes a "fish face" periodically throughout the day, and has also learned to smack her lips together.

- The girls both adore music and dance in their own funny way the minute anything starts playing. Margaret does this funny little thing where she walks while bobbing her head and pounding her feet excitedly on the floor. We were at a restaurant the other day and caught her bobbing her head to the background music. The girl's got rhythm!

- They love to mimic - they hold play phones up to their ears, attempt to brush their hair with a hairbrush, and I even caught one of them punching the numbers on their play kitchen's microwave the other day. Aw - they cook like mommy does! With a microwave!

- It never fails that around mid-day, they chase each other around the kitchen island, laughing hysterically in their chase and often changing course to surprise each other.

- Anna has a serious fixation with the Hershey's syrup in the fridge, and the other day I took my eyes off her for just 10 seconds after I had opened the fridge door to get something, and in that time she swiped the bottle out of there, opened up the cap, and was sucking chocolate sauce out of the bottle. I caught her with a guilty look on her face and chocolate smeared all over her chin. I mean, the girl loves chocolate. She's definitely my daughter.

There's so much more, but I imagine I've bored you by now. So I'll leave you with a cute little video clip of Anna giving Margaret zerberts (and punches). You'd think Margaret wouldn't appreciate getting pinned down like that - but she seems to roll over and come back for more at one point.

Silly little sisters!

96 degrees and rising

2008-07-21T14:59:00.007-05:00

What do you do with two 1-year olds when it's just too hot to go to the park or even get into the car and drive somewhere?

How about fill a few solo cups full of ice and sit on the deck?

Just had to post these

2008-07-17T22:56:00.010-05:00

I'm once again stealing someone else's pictures. My sister-in-law, Karolyn, posted (on Facebook) some funny pictures of the girls from their first birthday party in Indiana, and I had to show off a few that made me smile (thank you, Karolyn, for taking these).

The festivities kick off with party hats

Margaret's not so big of a fan of the hat

The fastest way to consuming chocolate cake, as demonstrated by Anna

The girls loving their cake

Wait a minute - there's still chocolate left on the plate! Jackpot!

Yummmm....there's chocolate left on my fingers too!

Oh wait - there's a little bit left on the plate (persistence pays off)

By far my absolute favorite - Anna's signature "shoulder shrug smile," a little look she gives several times a day when she's positively overjoyed by something (usually when her Daddy comes home from work). I love this little satisfied grin she's giving here.

How little we knew

2008-07-15T23:02:00.010-05:00

You'd think the girls' first birthday would put a moratorium on any sentimental, "flash back" type of posts on this blog. But after going through our camera the other night and pulling old videos off of it, I couldn't resist not sharing one from the first few days of their lives.

Seeing the girls so itty bitty is really sweet. I can't believe they were that alien-like - I mean cute and tiny - just one year ago. But I pulled this video in particular because I really have to laugh at myself for the following (enumerated, because I'm that nerdy) reasons:

1) My voice sounds ridiculously chipper and full of energy (and awfully cheesy as well). I think this may have been the most energy I had for the next 7 months or so, and I must have been still experiencing the after-delivery euphoria of having brand new babies (and the luxury of having nurses taking care of them for the majority of the three days I was in the hospital). Someone should have clued me in at the hospital that Anna and Margaret didn't sleep for those 3 hours between each feeding, as I naively thought. I think I was seriously under the impression that once the nurse took the babies back to the nursery after I was finished feeding them, they would just soundly sleep until they were wheeled back in to our hospital room for the next feeding (and dumped on my lap by the nurse like a sack of potatoes, as I vividly recall).

2. I'm kind of freaking out in that video about that tiny bit of spit-up from Anna. Little did I know that that little bit was just the beginning of a deluge of spit-up over the next 6 months. It was a long time before I stopped smelling like curdled milk all day. The day after the girls were born, one of the girls spit up for the first time and I recall demanding that Joey go down to the nurse's station to fetch a nurse and have her come check on the baby to see if that was normal. We must have given that nurse a good "clueless new parent" story to chuckle about.

3. I wonder if I can get the girls to lay there and calmly stare at each other like that again?

Nah, I doubt it.

Giving a new look to this thing...

2008-07-15T09:10:00.002-05:00

I'm trying out a new header for this website - the Pepto-Bismol pink header just isn't cutting it anymore. I don't have a creative bone in my body, so I'm using the awesome powers of scrapblog to try something new. I'm not exactly crazy about the whole bathtime theme, and the photos are fuzzy and have shadows, but I just wanted to try this out and see if it works. I'll be working on a new one (and perhaps enlisting the help of the uber creative person in our family, Joey) in the next few days - stay tuned!

A few disjointed pics and stories...

2008-07-14T14:38:00.006-05:00

Yesterday was one of those messed up days that makes it hard to be a parent of twins - the girls were on completely opposite schedules to the extent that the minute Anna went down for her afternoon nap, Margaret woke up - so neither of us ever really got an afternoon break free of chasing babies around the house. It was beautiful outside so Joey suggested I take Margaret for a walk in a stroller while he stayed in the house, waiting for Anna to wake up from her nap. I gladly accepted the opportunity to not only get out of the house and get some fresh air, but also the chance to feel what it was like to just take 1 kid out. I put Margaret in a cheap umbrella stroller - 2 of which I had purchased months ago at Babies R Us for $9.99, but had never really used. And I cannot tell you how weird it felt to push one baby in a very light stroller, instead of using all my strength to push an unwieldy and ridiculously heavy double stroller up and down our hilly neighborhood. I'm not sure I even broke a sweat pushing her around. When I got to the park and was putting her in a swing, a man with his 2-year old son started talking to me and asking how old Margaret was, and I found myself, before even answering his question about her age, telling him that she was a twin. I felt silly saying that, realizing that he didn't even need to know that information and it was completely irrelevant to the conversation - but somehow, I felt as if I was ignoring Anna by not mentioning her. Weird, huh?

After we returned from the park, Anna woke up from her nap, and so Joey got out the other umbrella stroller and we took a spin around the neighborhood to take advantage of the break in the humidity and the beautiful late afternoon sunshine. Although it's not a good picture of the girls, we snapped one just to document their little adventure in their own strollers. I think they seemed to enjoy sitting in their own seat, free of pestering hands next to them!

(And onto a completely unrelated story...) I just checked on the girls a few minutes ago in their cribs and found them in funny sleeping positions. Neither Anna nor Margaret have ever shown any attachment to a blanket or stuffed animal, no matter how much I've loaded up their cribs with little softies and cute bunnies and bears (in the futile attempt to find something besides me to soothe them in the middle of the night...). So I was completely shocked when I found Margaret wrapped around this cute pink teddy bear. She even has her lips pressed up to its mouth! And her little diapered rear end just makes me smile.

Anna, on the other hand, decided to cuddle up next to a nice shiny piece of metal. When I put her down for her nap, she was desperate to hold this little antique sterling silver baby cup that we have on display on her dresser, and wouldn't stop screaming/furiously pointing at it until I gave it to her. Whatever works, I say.

Somehow, no matter how I put her down in the crib, she always manages to wiggle a leg in between the crib slats - a problem exacerbated by our taking the bumpers off their cribs. Yet after witnessing them attempting to scale the sides of the crib by using their bumpers as leverage, I'm not willing to take a chance and put them back on. Can't win, can you?

Showing off a new toy

2008-07-13T22:31:00.004-05:00

Nana and Grandpa got the girls a very cool play house (Step 2 "Neat and Tidy Cottage") for their first birthday, and Joey and I finally got around to assembling it this weekend. Or, I should say, Joey did all of the assembling, and I was there for moral support. All along, our plans were to put the house in our backyard, but after Anna got a nasty mosquito bite on her face, just below her eye, that now is swollen and puffy and looks awfully like she got socked in the face - we decided to keep the house indoors until the fall, when hopefully there aren't as many mosquitos.

Of course, that raised the question of where on earth would we put a play house inside our living room - and the only solution to that problem was to remove our kitchen table from the room, and place the house where the table once stood. The transformation from a normal living room to a Happy Fun Play Area is complete, and Anna and Margaret officially rule this house.

The girls are seriously loving this house, and the addition of a kitchen play set to the house, complete with pots, pans, a colander, and several cooking utensils have kept them inside this house for about 80% of their waking hours. Thank you, Neat and Tidy Cottage, for keeping my children away from my own pots and pans cabinet, which ordinarily gets emptied about 6 times per day.

Joey took a video of the girls discovering their house for the first time after coming downstairs from their afternoon nap, and I took a few photos as well. Enjoy!

Daddy rings the doorbell

Access is granted

Daddy makes a phone call while he's in the house (while the girls stare at him as if to say, "are you sure you really belong here?")

True Happiness

A few pictures from the week

2008-07-12T00:08:00.008-05:00

On Wednesday, the girls attended their friend Jack's first birthday party.

Margaret and Birthday Boy Jack hanging out - and playing with a door stopper

Anna and good friend Gus sharing a "Lady and the Tramp" moment with a toy

Margaret briefly considered getting a closer look at the bird in that cage - luckily, we stopped her before that happened.

Anna's ready for cupcakes

Smiley Margaret

But her mood quickly changed when I tried to put a birthday hat on her

We met up with our friends Lilly and Paisley (who are about to turn 2!) for a play date in the park

Covering ground quickly now that they're walking!

Anna preferred to be in control

Swinging

Have a good weekend!

Indiana Trip Recap

2008-07-10T23:25:00.005-05:00

We've been home from a great trip to see Joey's family in Mishawaka, Indiana since late Sunday night, but somehow I still feel like I'm catching up on sleep and organizing piles of stuff everywhere and haven't committed time to sitting down and posting some pictures from our trip. Thankfully, the girls seemed to seemlessly travel from one time zone to the next and back without even a blip in their schedules - and jumped back into our daily routine without a complaint. They are truly becoming versatile travelers in their old age of one - and we've also discovered the true joy (and sanity saver) of the car DVD player. I never really bought into that whole Baby Einstein phenomenon until witnessing 2 complete silent hours in the car while the girls stared in amazement at the screen, mesmerized by random objects like wind-up toys and puppets popping into view, set to some (actually quite relaxing) classical music. I'm now off to buy the entire collection.

As they always do, Joey's family graciously treated us to a completely fun, relaxing weekend of hanging out with family, playing with nieces (and eagerly talking about the much anticipated arrival of our nephew in October!), eating great food, and celebrating the girls' first birthday. The weather was almost too good to be true - in the mid-70s, sunny, and with a cool breeze. The kind of weather that is perfect for being outside all day long without ever feeling hot. We heard fireworks in the distance, smelled barbecue in the air, took a dip in the pool, had a perfect meal complete with sweet Indiana corn (which is decidedly far superior to any corn you can buy in TN), laughed with our family until our stomachs hurt, and sat outside on the grass and stared at the sky. It was one of those weekends where I felt like I truly lived and breathed summer, and even if I barely get out of the house again over the next month due to the oppressive Tennessee humidity, I felt like I experienced a perfect weekend in Indiana that made the summer complete for me.

Even though the girls both ran a slight fever while we were in town, I think they too loved being home with family, and truly ate up being the center of the attention at their birthday party. The weather was too beautiful to sit inside, so after lunch, we moved a bunch of chairs outside on Kathy and Joe's beautiful front lawn and opened presents and ate birthday cake outside. Aunt Karolyn bought a tasty cake with chocolate frosting for the girls. All along, I prepared everyone for what I thought would inevitably be a disappointing ending to the much anticipated eating of the first birthday cake by Anna and Margaret. After witnessing Margaret pick, in disgust, at her cake the weekend before while in St. Louis, I figured I'd keep everyone's expections low and make sure they were't prepared for what customarily everyone expects by one-year olds at their party - you know, the cake all over the face and in the hair kind of fiasco. I clearly underestimated the power of chocolate. Anna apparently decided that her hands were useless, and if you truly love your dessert, just dive right in, face first.

*Note: this and the next few clips are a little long, but you'll get the main idea in the first few seconds anyway

The chocolate cake face dive continues

Licking the plate and her fingers clean - with a very self-satisfied grin

From now on, I'm keeping chocolate cake in our refrigerator for cranky moods.

Another fun part of our trip was meeting long-time blogger friend Rachael and her sweet family. It's pretty surreal to meet someone in person that you've known solely in a virtual sense for some time. Rachael and I traded messages while we experienced pregnancy together, and I started reading her blog when she went on hospital bedrest. Though we weren't supposed to deliver at similar times, her sweet babies arrived much earlier than expected, on July 8, 2007 (Happy Belated Birthday, James, Ella and Cameron!). I've felt like I've met some really great friends through a message board and through blogs, and so it was really incredible to finally meet, in person, a friend like Rachael. Her 4 children are even more adorable in person, if that's even possible, and it's just heartwarming to see such beautiful, thriving, healthy triplets who had such an early entry into the world and now are happily exploring the world and behaving just like any other 1-year olds. Thanks for meeting up with us, Schirano family!

My heartfelt thanks to the Leniski fam for showering the girls with presents, for spoiling us by having us there, and for giving us quite the break by holding the girls and giving them so much attention and love. Anna and Margaret are SO blessed to have 2 sets of grandparents who love them this much. We love you guys so much and already miss you tremendously.

Cereal, anyone?

2008-07-09T16:39:00.003-05:00

Growth Spurt!

2008-07-03T12:07:00.002-05:00

Anna and Margaret visited the pediatrician today for their 12-month appointment - otherwise known as the "it's all fun and games at the doctor's office until the needles come out." They received an excellent report of perfect health, and they're right on track with their milestones - although we did get a mini-lecture on how to put a stop to all those night wakings that we still (STILL!) are experiencing every - single - night. My little non-sleepers - trying to prove to the world every day that they can survive on 6 hours of sleep per night. Dr. Long gave us some good tips - so once the Fourth of July holiday is over, it's Ferber method from here on out!

To my great amazement, the girls gained THREE inches from their 9-month appointment, which means that they're either sneaking fruits, vegetables, and growth hormones behind my back, or perhaps there was an incorrect measurement at some point. Here are the stats:

Anna
Height: 30 inches / 73%
Weight: 20 lbs 9 oz / 38%
Head Circumference: 46 cm / 76%

Margaret
Height: 30 inches / 73%
Weight: 19 lbs 5 oz / 19%
Head Circumference: 46 cm / 76%

So, let's see, I have small(ish), tall(ish) girls. Though many say the girls look exactly like me, those kinds of dimensions definitely don't come from my side of the family, so perhaps Joey's family's DNA is at work and the girls may be taller after all! Of course, Dr. Long indicated that kids often have growth spurts, and then level off, so I imagine they'll even out in the end and grow up to be somewhere near my 5'4" stature. I'm sorry, girls. I'll root for your Daddy's genetics in this case. What definitely comes from my side of the family are those huge noggins. Check out the head size on my kiddos! I have a huge head, as does my father - I'd like to say we need more cranium to fit our enormous brains. Right.

There was a funny little mix-up at the doctor's office when the nurse weighed Anna and declared her to be "29 lbs," a weight which was promptly entered into the computer, assessed by Dr. Long, and raised some red flags as to how Anna gained 12 lbs in 4 months (well, she did eat a lot of birthday cake). After a few seconds of confusion, a once-over of Anna by Dr. Long, and a re-weigh, they discovered their mix-up - obviously the nurse meant 20.9 lbs.

Have a wonderful Fourth of July, everyone! I can't even remember last year's 4th - I was so delirious at that time last year from day 6 of caring for newborn twins. So I'm so excited to be among the land of the living this year, and enjoying it with family and our adorable one year olds. Have a great holiday!

Birthday Party Recap

2008-07-01T07:32:00.007-05:00

I've finally recovered from the whirlwind tour and birthday party extravaganza to post a few pictures from our incredible day. The girls' first birthday party in St. Louis was absolutely wonderful, and I could never thank my family enough for going above and beyond to celebrate Anna and Margaret's special day in such an amazing way. We feel so spoiled and so lucky.

I didn't take any photos during the party, but my Dad took a bunch. I haven't gotten them from him yet, so I'm shamelessly stealing my friend Anne's photos to post here - thank you, Anne!

The beautiful party table that my mom decorated - she's truly got a designer's touch! Do you like the pink and purple overload? Pre-children, the idea of a princess-themed party would make me a little nauseous. Somehow it's a little more palatable when you've got 2 pretty little girls who look great in pink.

My completely amazing and overwhelmingly generous friend Anne, whose has furnished half of the girls' wardrobe over the past year, had these M&Ms custom printed with the girls' faces and names on them - pretty cool, huh? She had 5 lbs (!) of M&Ms printed, and now they are all sitting in our kitchen in a canister, and I think I alone have eaten 1 1/2 lbs of them. Darn you, Anne!

Joey holding Anna as the festivities were kicking off. I think Anna was a little bit overwhelmed by all the activity - particularly since she woke up from her afternoon nap to 8 new people staring at her. She clung to Joey for the first 30 minutes from waking up - quite the Daddy's girl.

Finally warming up to everyone and allowing Aunt Aggie to hold her - particularly since she's got a cool bracelet to play with!

Our little family. Why do I always have some kind of stain on my shirt (check out the drool stain on my shoulder)?

These cute little party hats lasted approximately 15 seconds on their heads

Singing happy birthday!

Margaret's reaction to the cake in front of her. Just its very presence seemed to bother here. Don't worry, Margie, you will soon learn to love desserts, particularly in this family. While she didn't touch the cake, she ate her weight in blueberries over the course of the past week. Where does this love for healthy food come from? She's reassuringly a fan of Macaroni and Cheese.

Margaret says, "I said, No Cake!" Don't you like her pout face?

In completely opposite fashion, Anna dug right in.

That's my girl!

Trying to shake the cake crumbs off their dresses outside - and realizing our attempts were futile. So the dresses came off.

Opening some very cool presents. Nana and Grandpa gave them the Little People school bus and SUV, which they totally love. And the SUV looks exactly like (and is about the same size as) my Honda CR-V, which Joey oh so affectionately refers to as the "grocery grabber." I guess I should have been a better steward to the environment and searched for a hybrid car instead - or perhaps a Fisher Price bicycle.

In the end, though, the present bows and ribbons were far more entertaining than the actual gifts.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, Mom, Dad, Amy, Anne, Linda, Pat, Grandma, Mary and Aggie for hosting and throwing such a fun party for the girls -they were truly treated like princesses.

We're headed up to Mishawaka to visit Joey's family this coming weekend and can't wait to spend the Fourth of July with them - and celebrate the Twinski's first birthday, round 2!

They're ONE!

2008-06-29T00:32:00.000-05:00

Happy First Birthday, baby girls!! I can't believe this day has arrived. Technically, I'm writing approximately 14 hours before their official birth times of 2:31 and 2:32 p.m. At this time last year, I was laying in my bed, wide awake, nervous and excited, and extraordinarily uncomfortable from the weight of almost 13 lbs of baby in my belly. And I didn't sleep a wink on the night of June 28, 2007 - while Joey soundly slept next to me - so I figured it would only be fitting to not be sleeping a year later.

And though a severe lack of sleep may appropriately describe the past 365 days of our lives - it can be better be described as the most joyous, amazing, beautiful year of our lives - filled also with heartache, worry, and doubt, as every first parent feels - but overwhelmingly full of happiness. I'll take every good and bad thing about being a new parent and do it a thousand times over to experience being a mother to Anna and Margaret. Little girls, you have made my life.

We have an exciting day ahead of us - a princess themed party with family, complete with adorable little birthday cakes with pink and white icing, party balloons and streamers, presents galore, and pink birthday hats with pink pom poms on top for the ladies of honor. And although the girls are sure to melt down from the exhaustion and pressure of being the center of attention long before the presents are even touched - I'm positively giddy with excitement. Isn't that the best thing about being a parent? Getting the opportunity to relive the happy parts of childhood all over again, like the nervous anticipation of a birthday party - but through their eyes.

I have pictures and stories from this past week of being in St. Louis - from a mini birthday celebration for Anna and Margaret hosted by my own two best childhood friends, with whom I used to play Barbie dolls and hide and seek (and now all 3 of us are each parents of 2 girls!), to the girls' first carousel ride in the park and a giddy exploration of a jungle gym. But I haven't uploaded any of those photos to my computer. And so, for now, I leave you with this.

June 29, 2007

Summer 2008

My how you have grown, Anna and Margaret! You are beautiful both inside and out, and you make me so very proud. Your Dad and I are so blessed to call you our daughters. I cannot wait for this next year - we're going to have so much fun together. All our love, hugs and kisses to our birthday princesses, from a very proud Mom and Dad.

How to make us laugh - Anna edition

2008-06-25T09:46:00.002-05:00

Walk around the kitchen with a plastic colander on your head and covering your face, bump into the wall head first, and then laugh hysterically. You're a goofy one, my girl.

** sorry about a lack of pics so far this week - I forgot to bring my camera to St. Louis. Doh! I'll borrow my parent's camera and get some pictures posted soon. **

It's just a matter of time before something gets broken

2008-06-24T10:01:00.003-05:00

We've been at my parents' house in St. Louis for just under 12 hours - and in that time, Anna and Margaret have managed to do the following:

- Called 3 people on my parents' call list on their phone and probably left some interesting "breather" voice mails. What is it with the fascination with the phone? Of course, minimal interest has been shown to the Fisher Price play cell phone that we purchased for them.

- Broke a piece off of the vacuum

- Made several loops around the kitchen island while pushing the step stool

- Attempted to swipe 3 breakable items off the table

- Made a very valiant effort at climbing on top of the fireplace and throwing themselves headfirst into the fireplace screen

- Climbed up and down the stairs about 9 times (Nana and I are getting a workout following them)

- Roped my father into the "let's see how many times you pick up my sippy cup after I throw it off this highchair" game. He lasted about 11 pick-ups - what a patient grandpa.

- Nearly successfully knocked down 2 end tables

- Placed fingerprints all over Nana's bathroom mirrors

- Banged the remote control repeatedly on the glass top coffee table

All of the toys that Nana bought for them? Untouched. My parents' belongings are going to be stacked up vertically to the ceiling by the time we're out of here.

I can forgive them for all of this, though, after sleeping soundly for 5 hours straight as we drove here last night, without as much as a peep. That, and the cute thing they did yesterday while watching "Clifford the Big Red Dog" (they both stuck their tongue out simultaneously as they watched Clifford lapping up a big bowl of water) gives me enough energy for Round 2 of house destruction when they get up from their morning nap in the next half hour. Off to get a shower and take advantage of the quiet time!

Your cuteness saves you, my dears

A few photos from the weekend

2008-06-23T08:35:00.008-05:00

Just a few snapshots from this past weekend. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed a lot of time outdoors!

Mom and her little ladies at the park

Dad and Margaret

Anna checks out the playground

Funky hairstyles in the bath

An unsurprising revelation: kids totally love popsicles. Check out the purple lips on Margaret!

If only I could freeze these moments

2008-06-20T14:08:00.004-05:00

For the past year, I've kept a document saved on my computer with little notes about Anna and Margaret - funny little things they'd do, milestones they hit and when they hit them, little mannerisms and expressions that were unique to each girl, and just little things they did that made me laugh. I've never done anything with those notes - and their baby books remain sadly incomplete - but I some day (hopefully soon) plan to put those notes in writing and document the unique things about each of them that have made me smile over the past year. I think it's important to do - not only because I won't remember these things years from now, and probably won't have time to do much with those notes - but also as a reminder that even though they're identical twins, they're two unique people with oftentimes completely different behavior. It's so easy with twins to just lump them together so closely that they're almost one child. They've always been "the girls" to me - they've never spent more than an hour apart from each other, and they're entire lives have been choreographed in synchrony, eating together, sleeping at the same time, dressing almost exactly alike, same pediatrician appointment times, etc. I have to imagine that as they get older, that will be hard for them, and we'll have to make an extra effort to treat them as individuals with different needs, wants, and desires. They certainly have already shown us that they have very different personalities!

Even though I haven't put those notes together about the girls' unique traits, there are some things that Anna and Margaret have been doing over the past few weeks that I wanted to share. Lately, when Anna wants to get our attention (and that seems to be often...she's a little bit of the attention hog), she does this funny little thing. She cocks her head to the side and gets as close to your face as possible, and then flashes this huge grin. It's so completely adorable and makes me laugh every time. She's done that to me numerous times while I've been holding her in one arm while surfing the web - it's like she's saying, "hey! Look at me! You're not paying attention!!" The other night, Joey was playing with the girls in their bedroom, and he was laying on his stomach on the floor. He was playing "peekaboo" and had put his head down on the floor (or maybe he was just playing "Daddy needs a nap"). Anna came over to him, took her little fingers and put them under his chin, pulled his head up off the ground, and gave the head cocked/big smile look. I love it.

Margaret has this completely funny way of showing excitement, which she displays daily as her Daddy carrys her down the stairs in the morning. She swings her hands around wildly in this Kung Fu chopping motion, almost like she's intending to clap but the excitement is so great that she misses her hands and just keeps going. While she's swinging her hands around, she sucks air in through her mouth and makes this funny gasping/squealing sound. It's so Margaret - always showing such pure joy and excitement for life.

I was telling my friend the other day that I finally feel like I've gotten the hang of maintaining this blog, and though I'm not a very good or entertaining writer, I'm still glad I'm doing this. And she pointed out that some day, I'll love looking back and reading about what the girls were doing at a certain point in time. I hope that I'll look back and read about these little funny things they did and laugh - because I know these moments don't last very long. Have a great week! Countdown to the Twinskis' First Birthday: 7 days!

My beautiful girls, as photographed by a dear friend

2008-06-20T11:32:00.005-05:00

My friend and a very talented professional photographer, Kim, came to our house bright and early this past week at 7:30 a.m. to take photographs of the girls to mark their first birthday. I am so grateful for Kim's patience and willingness to be there that early. As always, she was fantastic with the girls and captured some absolutely beautiful photos, a few of which she posted on her website. I'm truly in awe that she managed to get these photos in the first place - between all the crawling, walking (and falling), picking up dirt and grass and God knows what else they found on the ground (and attempting to eat all of the above) - there were very few opportunities for "Kodak moments."

Perhaps it is because I'm feeling a little emotional about their upcoming birthday - perhaps I've just become a very sentimental person - or just because Kim has such an amazing way of capturing beautiful moments - but when I look at the photos, I get a little teary eyed. Not only out of pride and adoration for what Anna and Margaret have become - two lovely, little girls (Girls!) who make me smile and laugh every day - but for missing, in a way, what is now behind us, their infancy. Then I remember that the girls are sleeping 12 hours per night, with relatively few interruptions, and then I feel okay about moving on. Ha. I'm looking forward to this next year of their lives - I think it's going to be fun. All of you parents who have dealt with whining, tantrum-throwing toddlers can now laugh at my naivete and bright-eyed optimism.

Kim and her wonderful and very smart husband, Anthony, are moving to New Jersey at the end of July because Anthony is attending Princeton University for his PhD. I'm incredibly sad to see them go. Kim has such a kind, fun-loving nature, and I will truly miss her. Thank you, Kim, first and foremost for your friendship, and also for sharing your immense talent with us.

Random Thoughts

2008-06-18T09:32:00.003-05:00

I can barely remember what Anna and Margaret were like as newborns. Those first few sleep-deprived months are a total blur to me. I wonder if God intentionally programmed us to have total memory loss of the early days of taking care of a baby, so that we forget just how tiring those days were. When our niece, Claire, was born in December, I held her just hours after her birth, all tiny and swaddled in a hospital blanket, and felt terrified and clueless, like I had never held something so little and helpless before. I can't believe I was responsible at one time for taking care of two tiny little newborns.

There is, however, one thing about Anna and Margaret's early infancy that I vividly recall, and that is the endless demands of nursing 2 newborns. It's hard not to forget how challenging it was to breastfeed 2 infants every 3 hours around the clock, especially when each of those nursing sessions took an hour. It took me weeks to figure out tandem nursing (photo of that here), and so when you add that up - 2 infants, 1 hour session each - that left me exactly 1 hour to regroup before the cycle restarted. I lived by the clock and our strict schedule of feed, nap, feed, nap, repeat. Though we had a parade of visitors and non-stop family help for the first 10 weeks of our girls' lives, I feel like I spent much more time on my bed in my room, remote control in hand, nursing a baby and flipping through useless daytime television. Speaking of which, Tyra Banks is completely bizarre, and watching America's Next Top Model is like watching a train wreck. Horrible, but you can't turn away.

When the girls were about 4 weeks old and I had reached what felt like a rock bottom of exhaustion, I recall (sort of) jokingly telling Joey that I wish the girls could just go into the kitchen and find themselves a snack to eat when they were hungry, instead of relying on me for their only nutrition. Well, good things come to those who wait, right? The other day, I was playing with Anna in the living room while Margaret was, presumably, doing her daily emptying of the Tupperware cabinet. I heard a soft crunching noise, peered around the corner of the cabinet, and noticed that she had gone into the snack cabinet, pulled out a bag of cheerios, somehow managed to pry the chip clip off of it, and was helping herself to a huge handful of cheerios.

They're helping themselves to snacks, drinking whole milk out of cups, and walking to where they need to go. And while I revel in their independence, my heart still says - stop, slow down. Don't grow up yet.

The recipe for warming our hearts =

2008-06-17T08:28:00.002-05:00

Saying "bye bye, Da-Da" while waving your tiny little hands goodbye as your father walks out the door for work in the morning. Keep that up, girls, and he'll buy you anything your little hearts desire.

Goofy

2008-06-16T07:55:00.005-05:00

Happy Monday! To brighten your start to the work week, here are our goofy little gals. Our living room is a Fisher Price wonderland, filled with toys that sing! and squeak!! and flash!!! (and don't turn off when you want them to), but yet they decided this power adaptor cord was far more entertaining. My funny, weird girls.

Oh, and as you can see from the video, Margaret is quite mobile now as well! Their new little walk is pretty funny - they both hold their hands either out to the side or in front of them to balance themselves. We call it the "Frankenstein walk." A drunk Frankenstein, more appropriately.

So, they're walking, and babbling more, and tearing apart our drawers and cabinets faster than I can keep up with them, and the newest lovely behavior is throwing themselves on the floor and screaming/kicking their feet when I take away something they want. Like the bottle of floor cleaner that I confiscated from Anna's hands this morning, after she so quickly swiped it from the under sink cabinet (time to put on cabinet locks, dumb parents!). Seriously, tantrums already? Hello toddlerhood, here we come - yikes!

With all our love

2008-06-15T00:56:00.003-05:00

Happy Father's Day, Joey! We love you so incredibly much for all that you are and all that you do.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

With love,
Kate, Anna and Margaret

Someone always manages to get hurt

2008-06-10T14:56:00.005-05:00

When I was pregnant (and we had time on our hands to think about these things), Joey and I took a look around the house and realized that certain pieces of furniture were going to have to be moved once the babies got mobile to avoid any serious injuries. One of those items was our coffee table - a rather heavy wooden table with a glass table top with very sharp corners. So we invested in a not so pretty but very cushy leather coffee table instead. That table seems to have quickly become Anna and Margaret's favorite thing to stand next to, walk around, pull magazines and remote controls off of (and a full cup of coffee one morning - quite a scary moment), etc. The space in between the couch and the coffee table also seems to be a frequent location for wrestling matches - which start off with giggles and always seem to end with someone in tears. I therefore spend most of my day acting as a referee. Here's how I found the girls one day:

On an unrelated note - Anna is walking! Well, walking in the sense that she's taking about 6-8 very clumsy steps forward before flying face first into the carpet - not the most graceful move. She seems incredibly proud of herself as she walks around with this goofy little grin on her face (I have yet to get a video of it, but I'm trying!), and she remains undeterred in her progress, even after dive bombing the floor several times. I'm particularly proud of her since she was the one who crawled a good 2-3 weeks after Margaret. Talk about evening the playing field!

Now with video!

2008-06-10T09:27:00.000-05:00

I finally figured out what I was doing wrong with trying to upload a video - and I can't say it took pure genius to figure out my error. I think being a stay at home mom is turning me into a technology dinosaur. Next thing you know, I'll be asking Joey how to turn on our television.

I had this co-worker in my last job who had an irrational fear and hatred of computers. It never failed - at least twice a week, while trying to upload photos to his computer - I'd hear him screaming in his office, "Where's that darn UBS cord?!!! What do I do with a UBS cord anyway?!!" And I'd sit in my office, clench my fists, and mumble, "USB, you idiot." He also - and I swear I'm not lying - asked me how to highlight a word to change its font.

I think I'm becoming that idiot.

Anyway, I digress. Here are just a few videos from last month. Two of the three involve the girls only in diapers. I swear to you all, we haven't turned into total rednecks while living in Tennessee, and our children do wear clothing - 75% of the time, at least.

While we were at my parents' home, the girls developed a strange obsession for pushing around this little stepstool.

Nana teaching the girls how to go down the stairs (or attempting to change their tendency to propel themselves down the stairs head first)

My ladies on the swings at the park (featuring a bonus "Look Ma, no hands!" move by Anna)

True Determination

2008-06-08T21:38:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess I have to give them credit for their perseverance. Earlier this week, we joined a group of about 6 moms and their kiddos, all about the same age as our girls, for a playdate in the park. While the other babies played happily under the shade on a blanket filled with toys...

Anna and Margaret spent the majority of the time pushing their jogging stroller up a small hill. Go Team Twinski! I need to start using that energy for my own benefit - perhaps I can teach them to do the laundry?

Team Twinski hard at work in the 90+ degree heat

Margaret really putting some muscle into it

Margaret, taking a break from her mission for a photo opportunity.

Her new nickname is "Rosy"

2008-06-08T21:02:00.000-05:00

Poor Margaret has had a rough couple of days, with 2 trips to the pediatrician's office for a recurring ear infection and a 4-day fever. We thought we were only dealing with said ear infection, and treating accordingly with antibiotics until she woke up this morning from her morning nap, covered in red and white spots. Another trip to the pediatrician (thank goodness for Sunday hours) gave us a diagnosis of roseola - from which, apparently, cousin Natalie recently recovered, and so I hear it's quite common. Though her new hue of red and white polka dots was a little alarming, the break in the fever and the return of our sweet, fun-loving Margaret is really a welcome change from her mood over the past few days. We've felt so sorry for her - she's been lethargic, exhausted, has had no appetite, and most of all, wants nothing to do with her quite energetic sister Anna - perhaps the biggest sign that something was wrong. Margaret rarely sits still - so to see her lay down in the middle of the floor with her face on the carpet for minutes at a time was both sad and worrisome.

Thankfully, the fever broke yesterday afternoon, just in time for a quick dip in the new whale-shaped baby pool in the backyard. I've never wanted to jump into a baby pool so bad as I have the past few days - it's been incredibly hot here in Nashville, with a high of 95 degrees today. What's with the hot weather so early in the summer? Anna and Margaret acted as if they'd won the lottery as soon as they saw Dad inflating this thing - and went completely bananas as we were filling it up. All intentions were to get them back into the house and in their bathing suits before letting them take a plunge - but they were so excited to try it out (i.e. attempting to throw themselves in headfirst from the sides of the pool) that we just let them go straight in, fully clothed.

Good friend Tony was in town from Louisville and the girls loved the extra attention from him. Here he entertains:

Margaret expressing her sheer joy

It was a bright day!

Anna had another opportunity to splash around today, while Margaret took a marathon 3 hour afternoon nap (I guess roseola is an energy drainer!). I thought she'd enjoy the individual attention - but she seemed to miss her sister. We loaded up the pool with various toys, and her best buddy Dad even jumped into the frigid water with her - but guess what she was, by far, the most enamored with? The garden hose, of course.

We had such a great weekend - hope you all did as well!

I wonder if anyone still reads this...

2008-06-03T09:14:00.000-05:00

I'm amazed by the bloggers out there who successfully pay their bills based off advertising from writing their blog. Clearly they are dedicated to continually updating and maintaining their site, and capturing a large audience of readers in the process - a skill at which I'm clearly quite deplorable. I apologize for letting almost 2 months go by without updating this site with some pictures and videos of the twinskis! The days seem to disappear and weeks melt away while chasing after these little gals. Excuses, excuses, excuses, huh?

So what have we been up to lately? Well, we spent a week at Nana and Grandpa's house (my parents) and loved the time in St. Louis, catching up with family and friends. Having help and companionship all day was a dream - although chasing after 2 quite mobile 11 (!) month olds around a very beautiful, very breakable, and very non-babyproofed home was a full-time job. Thanks to Nana for never losing her patience or smile while Anna and Margaret bulldozed through their home, tipping over tables, placing their fingerprints on every glass surface, and opening every drawer and cabinet in the kitchen. There was also a peeing on the carpet incident - done by a certain 11-month old girl whose name I will not mention.

The girls are changing every day. Some new things they can now do (which never, ever can be captured on demand, of course):

Waving goodbye (and we even caught Margaret saying "bye bye")

Clapping hands

Sticking their tongue out (perhaps we shouldn't have encouraged that one)

Taking a few steps at a time

Standing unassisted

Putting up quite the fight for a sought after toy that of course, they both want at the same time

Opening up cabinets and drawers

As for talking, the major two words in their repetoire are "Da-Da" (repeated over, and over, and over, 90% of the day) and "Ma-Ma" (only muttered while crying and whining). Then there is a lot of nonsensical babbling that comprises the rest of the day, and from the looks on their faces, they know exactly what they are saying, so I think that given some time, that jibberish will turn into real words. I never really believed the whole "twin talk" phenomenon - the idea that twins have their own language. But judging from just how much babbling the two girls do to each other all day, it often appears that their independence from their parents is growing - once again proving that Anna and Margaret have successfully shoved their parents out of their world. It's never more apparent to me that they hold each other as number 1 friend as when I come to retrieve them from a nap and they look at me - boring old mom - with minimal interest - but, when they see each other, their faces light up and they start giggling and babbling like it had been days since they last saw each other. It's pretty darn cute.

I have a few videos from the past few weeks - but I'm currently having a hard time posting them. So - in the mean time - here are a few photos that I took yesterday while we played on the front lawn. We are truly loving summertime.

Giddy Margaret

Goofy Anna

Can't keep her away from dirt

Making Mom very nervous by insisting on climbing up and down the concrete steps

Anna wielding the broom as her weapon

A fuzzy shot of the 2 of them sitting on the rocking chair

Anna really dug the chair

How could this possibly be comfortable?

2008-04-08T21:54:00.001-05:00

Like Nailing Jello to a Tree

2008-04-05T12:57:00.000-05:00

I think back to those hazy memories of the first few months of the girls' lives, and recall how tedious and monotonous those days were. The "eat, sleep, poop" routine (lather, rinse, repeat) stretched on for what felt like months, and the girls required 24 hour attention. As sweet as it was to have 2 beautiful newborn babies who would curl up on your chest and sleep for hours upon end, I don't long for those days again, and I certainly am grateful to have a break from being the 24 hour "dairy barn," as we used to joke about the demands of nursing twins. I don't think I ever would have survived those days without Joey, and the non-stop help, attention, and companionship of our family - Mom, Dad, Amy, Kathy, Joe, Karolyn, and Millie - I don't think I could ever thank you enough for carrying us through those days by being here for us in Nashville. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We are so blessed.

Things are just so different these days with Anna and Margaret. They're crawling, climbing, and getting into everything. Despite the babyproofing precautions we've taken in our home, we can't leave them alone in a room for a second - but I can honestly say I've never had so much fun. They're pretty physical babies - I've joked with Joey that we're raising 2 bullies, as they seem to always be the most active babies in the room at playdates with kiddos their same age, and seem to assume that other babies don't mind being pulled, clawed, pushed, and robbed of precious security objects like blankies and pacifiers. I try to capture a few photos every day of the funny things they get into. Currently, they have an obsession with our appliances - if they hear the dishwasher opening from another room, they come scrambling into the kitchen in the hopes that mom may just let them climb up onto the open door (kind of like having Labrador retrievers in your home, huh?). Bathtime, as my father as pointed out, also can be compared to bathing to full sized dogs - while the girls end up clean and comfy, Joey and I are drenched in bath water and exhausted. I thought I'd post a few pictures here for your amusement.
Love you all,
Joey, Kate, and the rambunctious twinskis

Margaret presses her face to the window to watch Daddy doing yard work. Oink oink!

Attempting to climb into the refridgerator

Here, sis, I'll give you a hand

Success!

Margaret got stuck with her legs in the air while attempting to wedge her head into the bumbo seat (I know, I don't get it either)

I made the mistake of leaving my box of recipes on the ground

And this is what happened

Another new favorite: unrolling the toilet paper

High fives on the window

Anna attempting to climb into the washing machine (i'm still working on trying to teach her how to do laundry)

Margaret just being, well, herself (I put her hospital hat on just to see how big her head has grown since then)

Bath time has never been so fun

2008-04-03T23:25:00.000-05:00

The girls truly enjoy bath time. I can't exactly say the same for myself- most of my energy is spent on insisting that they sit down before they slip in the tub, and I'm quite relieved to get them out of there once we're finished. But when Dad makes it home in time to help out, bathtime truly is the best part of our day.

Here are our little "Hershey Kisses:"

And here we torture them with hooded towels:

Missing in Action

2008-03-14T15:37:00.000-05:00

So it's been a while since we've updated this blog, huh? Our 2 very rambunctious little ladies, now 8 1/2 months old (WOW!), are keeping us busy with crawling all over the house, standing up on every vertical surface they can find, and getting into every non-babyproofed corner of our home. Current likes include tearing apart the tupperware cabinet, attempting to crawl into the dishwasher, inspecting the fridge door items when mom gets something out of the refridgerator, feeding themselves Cheerios, and the perennial favorite, stealing the remote controls. But I think their #1 obsession is each other, and it's pretty fun to watch them interact. They are always thrilled to see each other first thing in the morning, and they get into frequent giggle sessions...which often turn into wrestling matches. We caught one of those a few weeks ago - enjoy!

!

Proof that everyone should have a kid

2007-11-07T14:12:00.000-06:00

Joey treated Katie to lunch together at home today, and the girls tried their hardest to charm Daddy with their smiles and squeals. We're amazed by how vocal they have become - they make us laugh all the time. Hope you enjoy the video.

A few more recent photos

2007-11-07T13:49:00.000-06:00

It's finally chilly weather here in Nashville. Anna, Margaret and I are enjoying the fall weather, and spend our days taking walks around the neighborhood, the park, and the Richland greenway; going to the grocery store; and playing around the house. It's hard to believe the girls turned 4 months on October 29. We can barely keep track of all the new little developments we see every day. They're giggling, cooing, starting to babble, grab for toys (and of course stick them in their mouths), rolling over from back to front, and generally being adorable in every way. This is truly a fun age and it just keeps getting better.

Our Little Pumpkins

2007-11-07T13:43:00.000-06:00

It's late to be posting this, but I thought I'd show give you a glimpse of our scary jack o'lanterns, wearing their warm and fuzzy costumes (wonderful gifts from my good friend Anne).

Happy (late) Halloween!!

Wittle Bitty Babies

2007-10-31T21:00:00.001-05:00

Well, not so little anymore. Katie and Gramma Leniski took them for some studio shots the other day. I'd say they are just about the cutest children in the world. Then again, I am not entirely objective.

Can you tell who is who??

Baby Rivalry -- ND wins!

2007-10-04T09:55:00.001-05:00

These were gifts from one of Kate's best friends, who is dating a USC grad.

As you can see, when Margaret donned the ND onesie, she gained superhuman strength. When we put the USC onesie on Anna, she promptly puked on it.

We took it as a sign from God.

Margaret and her best friends

2007-09-26T13:43:00.000-05:00

Margaret's favorite toy is, by far, the "Itsy Bitsy Bouncer." It's a highlight of our mornings to hear her little laughs and squeals.

Smiles and Frowns

2007-09-26T13:07:00.000-05:00

For identical twins, Anna and Margaret oftentimes display completely opposite behavior. :)

Anna Squeaks at the Fish in her Crib

2007-09-25T22:11:00.000-05:00

MASSIVE Video Update

2007-09-16T22:42:00.001-05:00

Finally, I am going to put up these videos that I told everyone were coming. Sorry, some of these are fairly old.

We hope to take more videos soon and get those up as well. The girls are doing great, smiling like crazy at both Mom and Dad, and just loving life. They have developed a nasty "witching" hour starting at 3pm and going until about 7pm, but other than that they are perfect little angels. They are going to St. Louis this week with Mommy and Nana (Kate's mom), while Daddy goes out of town on a couple work trips.

And now--enjoy the videos!

Phases of Anna

2007-07-17T09:50:00.001-05:00

YouTwin Update: Belly GRUNTS

2007-07-14T11:35:00.002-05:00

YouTwin Update: Belly Time!

2007-07-14T11:35:00.001-05:00

YouTwin Update: Margaret's Turn

2007-07-14T11:34:00.000-05:00

YouTwin Update: Spa Treatment

2007-07-14T10:47:00.001-05:00

YouTwin Update: Bath Time!

2007-07-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

YouTwin Update: Car Seat Face Time

2007-07-09T16:50:00.001-05:00

YouTwin Update: Anna and Daddy on Saturday Night

2007-07-07T21:40:00.001-05:00

YouTwin Video: Girls visit Kate for the first time

2007-07-07T11:45:00.000-05:00

YouTwin Video: Margaret Katherine

2007-07-07T09:02:00.001-05:00

YouTwin Video: Anna Sophia

2007-07-07T08:51:00.000-05:00

YouTwin Video: Family visit the girls in the nursery

2007-07-07T08:44:00.001-05:00

YouTwin Video: New mommy recovers after delivery

2007-07-07T08:16:00.001-05:00

YouTwin Video: Kate before delivery

2007-07-07T08:02:00.000-05:00

Welcome Friends and Family

2007-07-02T20:42:00.000-05:00

Joey, Katie, Anna Sophia and Margaret Katherine cordially invite you to view our "vlog" of the first weekend of our babies' lives. I hope you all enjoy the footage as much as we've enjoyed living this experience since last Friday.