random moments

last night oz pulled his slippers out from the drawer and desperately tried to get them on his feet. mind you, the boys have worn these slippers maybe twice in their lives, a good seven months ago, when they were in chicago for christmas. austin just isn't the place for wearing fleece booties most of the year. so i put the plush cozy shoes on oz and he was in all his glory. it was one of the cuter things i've seen - little boy with pot belly in footed pjs and big slippers running around the house.

life is so much fun with two lil' boys who turn 16 months old today!






p.s. the green liquid in his cup his green machine veggie drink, because i just have to get some kind of veggies in these kids some way. they love it!

spontenaity

we walk with the boys every morning. it's been our ritual since the guys were just a few weeks old. i remember in the very early days walking around our neighborhood pre-dawn. yah, we had some early risers on our hands. these days our walk starts sometime around 8am, after breakfast and getting ready for the day, but before hard core play. with the advent of walking, our walk has evolved. now we have some running around time in the front yard, followed by abel leading us on a little "pre-walk" walk down the side walk, before we fully embark on our 30-45 minute stroller chasse.

this morning we stepped outside to find our neighbors sprinkler in full force. four eyes lit up. two eyes gave them an affirming "go for it." another two eyes looked at the affirming two, rolled, and said without saying, "what are you getting us all in to."

i love spontaneity and i try to give into it whenever i can, especially if the repercussions are within reason and easy to clean up. jordan is more of a carefully planned person, neat and clean. i'm a roll in the mud kind-of gal. so with my positive nod, the boys charged forward for their morning frolic in the water. it ended up being the perfect start to a very hot day in texas.

nanny 911

we finally did it! lupe joined our house this past monday and will be hangin' with the boys in the morning for three days a week. i have to admit it, being a stay-at-home-mom with twins was starting to make me a little batty, and after talking to jordan, we quickly decided to get some help so i could regain a little "me" time. i can't tell you how important this is. because while i love being mom, i love being tracey-who-is-a-mom even more. i plan to use this time for myself each week wisely. i want to regain an old hobby or two (rock climbing will be one of them). and i want to start giving back to my community, which has been sorely lacking. i also want to spend more time with my friends!

lupe is a wonderful nanny who already works two days a week with a fellow family in the neighborhood. she speaks spanish exclusively with the boys, which we are overjoyed about. she is kind and gentle and has an amazing way with oz and abie. they warmed up to her immediately and started putting on a show for her (they do this with guests in our house). by friday, she was on her own with them and i swear, the guys could have cared less that i wasn't there. oh, and get this! she nannied for twin boys for 6 years and was ecstatic to have twins back in her life.

i feel like this is such a great development for all of us. the boys need to be comfortable spending time without me during the day, and they will be with a wonderful caregiver and learning spanish to boot! and i already feel like i have regained a sense of myself in this short time. now if i can just get jordan to stop worrying about our check book...

summertime...

and the livin' is easy.

welcome to pukesville

we had one very good thing and two very bad things happen this past week. the good first. lee-lee came into town last weekend and we got to celebrate her birthday and mother's day with her! the first bad news. we found abel last sunday morning covered in puke and within a few hours he was in the throws of full blown stomach flu. the second bad news. oz got it two days later.

it's been pretty miserable around here lately with projectile everything coming out of our two toddlers. and it's just plain weird when you witness your energetic, happy, playful, running around boys turn into wet noodles without enough strength to even stand up and walk. abel basically slept on me for two straight days and oz slept on lee-lee and dad. and just when we thought they were coming out of it, oz decided to throw in one more day of non-stop puking yesterday, just for good measure. ugh! so far today seems pretty good and he's kept down some frozen waffles and strawberries. cross your fingers...

all i can say is, once again, thank god lee-lee was here all week. this is her second time being our saving grace with sick twins. she got in two great days with the guys before this knocked them out and here are the pictures to prove it!


lee-lee models her new b-day hat

we had a nice celebration for lee-lee on saturday - j made his famous smoked brisket!

lee-lee brought the boys my old synthesizer from when i was seven. i can't believe she kept it all these years! it is a huge hit with the boys.

oz modeling his new chef's hat.

"hey dude, you got a big puffy thing on your head!"

oz fell in love with the hat. he kept bringing it to lee-lee for her to put it on his head. he even wore it during the party! here's oz and the boys' bf kai.

the chair

the boys new thing is to climb into our arm chair, hang out and play with the "texas" pillow. it's a pretty cool pillow and they make them for all 50 states, plus cities, regions and countries! i brought up the boys' fascination with this arm chair to my girlfriend this morning and she astutely said, "well, you know that's where you breastfed them for 13 months." makes sense!


ozzy demonstrating his texas pride - he already loves the longhorn


brotherly stare-down



half the fun of getting up is getting down!


abie is the king of expressions. here he says, "puhleese mom. of course i know what i'm doing."