flattery

today, as i was unbuckling ozzy from his car seat, he patted my breast and sweetly asked, "mommy, baby in there?"

phone photo friday

courtesy of oskar, the neighborhood tunnel monster.

it was just my imagination

it's totally amazing to witness brain development, at any level, happening in your children. we've recently witnessed the birth of abel's and oskar's imaginations. i'm sure the bud appeared a while ago, but it's really starting to bloom. the boys still love to jump in their personal trampolines, i mean cribs, and until a few days ago their favorite activity consisted of jumping in unison and singing every song they knew. rousing rounds of "a, b, c" "twinkle, twinkle" "ring around the rosey" and then of course the improvised "airplane song," and "dinosaur train song" were among their greatest hits. but this past week there's a new sheriff in crib jumping land and his name is alligator. "go away alligator! go away!" they shout off the side of their crib as they frantically jump, then scream at the top of their lungs (as the alligator makes its attack), then jump to their butts and wave saying, "see you later, alligator!" and roll to their backs almost completing a somersault. only to be repeated another 1,000 times until they are sweating and out of breath and chugging water like they just finished a biggest loser workout. jordan and i thought we would join the fun a few nights ago. i pretended to be the alligator and then jordan announced, "watch out for the dinosaur!" (sometimes they substitute dinosaur as the aggressor). big mistake. they both totally freaked out and were so scared they jumped out of their cribs and huddled in our arms until we assured them there was no alligator or dinosaur coming to get them.

i guess their imaginations got the best of them.

the great pumpkin(s)

>

iphone back to life

i don't normally do this sort of thing, but when i stumble upon a great product or service, i just have to share. i know the iphone revolution is a very real phenomenon, and unfortunately as i learned last week, so is a really bum battery. i was out and about with a fully charged phone when i suddenly realized i had no battery left. charge upon charge left me juiced up for less than a few hours. i told jordan and he said his dad recently had the same problem and had to just chuck his phone and pony up for a new one. given that i have a 2G, no upcoming upgrades and not about to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new phone, i started to look for options.

j actually found this company Milliamp LTD that replaces iPhone batteries in 2G and 3G phones (for very reasonable). i thought it was too good to be true, but i bit the bullet, ordered the service and shipped my phone to them the next day. j kept asking me if i thought it was a sham, but their communication was amazing from the get-go. they emailed me when they received my phone, when it was through their repair process and on it's way back to me - which took all of 3 days total.

i got my iphone back not even a week after i shipped it off to them and the battery is working perfectly again. they also sent me a complimentary back up battery, which is huge in my book, because it seems i'm always caught on the go with my phone at 20% and no charger. their customer service and communication have been some of the finest i've ever experienced.

apparently, this battery snafu is a major problem with iphones, so if you find yourself with a phone that won't hold its charge, don't fret that you'll have to buy another phone. just ship it off to these fantastic people (who are in san antonio, btw!). they also do full on iPhone and iPod repairs, too!

for all the truck obsessed boys out there...

we had ten yards of decomposed granite dumped on our backyard today. we're all soon to enjoy nice pathways through our woodsy land! anyways, it was quite thrilling, even from a non-male perspective.

has it been that long?

i have to apologize for the gross neglect of this blog. and for leaving these gross pictures of me as the first thing you see when you come to the site. i must admit that this update is prompted more by getting my ugly mug off the first post than by motivation to share things about our lives. tisk, tisk! but there is so much to share.

in the past month we've had birthdays, family-style projectile vomiting, family visits, major landscape improvements, lots of rain postponing major landscape improvements, major haircuts, refreshingly cold weather, minor surgery, our couches steam cleaned and scotch-guarded (!!!), aerial dancing, a new mustang for jordan, many attempts at making homemade yogurt, and non-stop antics and hilarity from the boys know as abie and ozzy.

whew!

some milestones to note:

1) the boys are now sleeping with blankets. like the big kind that keep you warm at night. we all took the SIDS warnings pretty seriously, i guess. the boys have never slept with a blanket or sleep sack for that matter. not even last winter. and when they got old enough to express an opinion about it, they strongly affirmed their desire to NOT sleep with a big blanket. but given the impending colder weather in austin, i went ahead and ordered them two spirited crib quilts from etsy. it was love at first sight, times two. and now they ask to be tucked in at bedtime and it's just the cutest thing ever. except when they wake up uncovered in the middle of the night and scream to be covered again. (thank god that only happens about once a week) they still sleep in full-on cribs, and while we're thinking off converting them into daybeds soon, the boys have so much fun using them as their personal trampolines, and there's no greater joy than watching ozzy use his crib as a jungle gym, we just don't have the heart to do it yet. heck, if it's not broke...

here's bobo (ozzy) and tigie (abie) enjoying the solace with the boys' new quilts

2) the boys are now professional scissor cutters. we boldly let them use a pair of scissors while we were cutting their hair a few months back and there was no turning back. it's a total obsession and a day is not complete without them cutting paper into smithereens. abel is especially adept and is starting to cut out shapes, etc. the pride they feel in their work as toddler scissor experts is palpable.

abel down, ozzy to go, and both addicted to scissors

3) i forgot to mention that the boys moved into the next class at school. this happened, uh, back in august! we were all a bit surprised since we thought they'd be in ms. corazon's class until they were 3. since they potty-trained early, the teachers felt they were ready. they are now in ms. leti's class and she is one of the warmest, enthusiastic, wonderful teachers i've ever met. the boys adore her! and abel has an extra special relationship with her. he won't leave class until he gives her a bear hug and the affection they share just melts my heart. several of their friends from the last class transitioned with them, so they are in a wonderful community of children. and they are with another set of older identical twin brothers - two sets of identical twins in one class! here's their last report card from ms. corazon's class and a snapshot on their last day:

4) abel has shown a major aptitude and delight in taking pictures. when lee-lee was here, we let the boys play with our old point and shoot digital camera, and abel used it like a master. his pictures were amazing! ozzy, not so much. and he could take it or leave it. but abel just waltzed around documenting everything he could. here are some of his best shots:

lee-lee with an upside down ozzy

5) growth spurt! i have no idea how much they've technically grown, but their pants are all floods now and the boys continue to eat like starved horses. we're talking three bagels with cream cheese in one sitting. four clementines for an after-dinner snack. an adult portion of mac and cheese with a basket of chips and a bowl of queso. no kidding. it floors us how much these kids can eat. and their requests become more and more hilarious. coffee and prune juice make abel "feel better." they both regularly ask for coffee with breakfast so i indulge them with a splash mixed in with ample milk. you'd think i was giving them the nectar of gods.

ozzy having some bagel with his cream cheese

abel cultivating his coffee habits at the ripe old age of 2.5

there's so much more to say, but i'll leave it at that for now. hope you all are having a wonderful fall!