I wonder if anyone still reads this...

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