pumpkin patch

we trekked to marble falls on sunday for the boys' first visit to a pumpkin patch. we had an amazing time, despite oz losing one of his shoes in the first 5 minutes of our arrival, and my dead SLR battery. the boys really love pumpkins and scarecrows, and we all had our first bite of the most fabulous homemade pumpkin ice cream.

thank god for cell phones with cameras!

10-12-08_1533

things that i love today

- how when the boys are happy, they run to each other for a big hug and kiss
- how they hate getting their hair wet in the bath, but love being in the rain and splashing in the puddles
- my new robe, which is as light and soft as spring air (thanks mama!)
- how the boys' eyes light up when they see their nana (promptly followed by a high-pitched scream!)
- costco's shrimp salad
- my husband's newly shaven face
- getting caught in the rain...twice!
- how the boys signal a toy/book exchange with the sweetest "hi!" (i think they may be saying "here" but i'm not sure...either way it's awesome)
- how instead of hitting or biting his brother, oskar now gives him a hug when he gets frustrated or angry (don't ask me how this developed)
- how oz calls abie "baby" and how abie calls oskar "cracker"- makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
- being able to squeeze in two posts during the boys' nap

more games

i know, i know. this is the second video of the boys playing games with each other in the past week. but i just can't help it. it just never ceases to amaze and delight me when i see my boys playing with each other, especially games like chase, hide and go seek, peek a boo, etc. things i've noticed about our twins and their game playing: they love to switch roles mid-game; they are totally into imitation (a game within a game?); they crack each other up to no end; and they are really good sports and show their appreciation with a great big hug at the end. it never fails.

i was able to sneak the camera on and capture this about 5 minutes into the game. i was just crossing my fingers they would keep it going, and they did not disappoint. sorry about it being so dark, but it was at 7 in the morning!

brave new world

i'm all about taking the kiddos everywhere. since they were 3 weeks old, i said screw it, i'm not going to be one of those folks who are paralyzed by the daunting nature of going out with two infants. i threw myself into it (or rather, out of it) and never looked back.

i know lots of other twin moms who are like this too. one of my fav quotes from a fellow twin blogger is "the shortest road to crazy is staying in the house."

here, here.

at 2 months, we joined a mama/baby group. loved it, especially because the teacher held one of the boys the entire time. this at a time when neither of them would sleep unless held was particularly useful. at 3 months i brought them for their first swim in a public pool, deep eddy, by myself. i was a wreck leading up to it, thinking of all the logistics and preparing, but it ended up being a breeze. and so it has gone. packing, loading them up, unloading, etc. is like second nature to us all.

that's why, when i met up with my neighbor with a 1 year old on the sidewalk yesterday, i was shaken to the core when she said, "isn't it crazy when you realize it's 5pm and you haven't been out of the house all day?" i couldn't disguise the look of utter flabbergastation on my face. she picked up on it immediately and said, "do you leave the house with your guys often?" every day, honey. and many days, multiple times.

going out with my boys is just part and parcel of our daily existence. they come with me to the dry cleaner, the grocery store, starbucks, and to just about any and every errand i ever have to do. and then of course, we do deliberately fun things as well, like play at gymboree, the playground, the children's museum (and adult-type museums for that matter), etc. granted, i've never taken them to get my nails done. but i hardly ever take myself there, these days.

the one thing i've never done with them alone is gone out for a meal, however. i've read about krissy taking her kiddos out alone, and i've admired her big time for it. i don't know why i've never done it. the boys are good eaters, they don't chuck food around, they mind themselves really well in public. so what was stopping me?

today, we entered new territory, and it was a massive success. i took the boys to the children's museum, which was mind-blowing amazing for them because they just put up all new exhibits on transportation. buses, trains, light rail, cars. what could be better! i timed it just right so we'd get to our favorite lunch spot just as they'd be starting to get hungry, but not so hungry that we'd be in cranky mode. the boys ran into galaxy cafe, we placed our order at the counter and got all settled in at the table. i honestly have never seen the boys eat like they did. they were perfect. let me repeat that. P-E-R-F-E-C-T. mac and cheese was forked perfectly into their mouths. sweet potato fries were munched on. fruit devoured. as i was cleaning up at the end, i noticed there was nary a crumb on the floor for me to pick up. amazing!

we left the restaurant and i had a renewed sense of accomplishment. we did it. we enjoyed a lovely lunch together, just the three of us. and i felt the warm sensation in my heart knowing that out of everyone at the restaurant, i had the cutest, smartest, most loving and fun dining companions you could ever ask for.

jabber mouths

i've written before about my concerns regarding the boys language development. as they approached 18 months, i grew more and more unsure if they were delayed. to say the boys are verbal is an understatement. verbal in english? now that's another matter. i even went so far as to call early childhood intervention for an assessment, in which they told me the boys were doing just fine (these folks were amazing, btw, and if you are ever concerned about a delay in your child under 3, they will come and do free assessments for you. they are in every county of every state!)

well, i'm happy to report that the language explosion i've been enviously hearing about has definitely happened in our house. over the course of the past month, the boys vocab has skyrocketed! at 20 months, they have mastered well over 50 words (i tried to count the other day, and i just gave up), and are constantly repeating what we say, no matter how complex.

some of my favorites so far...

ozzy: jiu jitsu (says it perfect!), teenager (hardly recognizable, but it's clear he is saying it), please (peese!), abie (baaaybee), lawn mower (mmmmmm-aaaaw), gross (gro)

abie: acorn (acka), oskar (ocka), brother (brada - kickin' it bronx style!), coal car (says perfect, because the kid is totally OCD about thomas the train)

the boys still use A LOT of signs every day and surprise me all the time by busting out new ones we practiced a long time ago. we started gymboree a few weeks ago and the boys are all about getting their hands, feet and belly ink-stamped at the end of class. they sit in a line in front of the teacher and wait their turn (to die for cute, btw). last week, after oz got his stamps, the teacher turned to me and said, "do you know the sign for your welcome?" i said, "no, why?" and she looked at me like the dumb-ass that i was and said, "well, oskar just signed thank you to me, and i'd like to sign your welcome!" they now sign thank you for everything, and it's gotten me on a whole new manners kick.

coinciding with their new-found words, is my new-found ability to decipher what they are saying. things are starting to sound really clear to me, as well as my ability to understand the nuances of their words. for instance, i am mama, and lots of time just ma. moa is more, which sounds a lot like ma, but is infinitely different. mmmmmmm-aaaaaw is lawn mower. which also sounds a lot like ma and more, but is infinitely-squared different. they use all three of these words about five thousand times every day, so you can imagine how relieved i am that i am able to finally comprehend.

here are our jabber mouths at 20 months old:

oz
abie

nanas in the HOUSE!

this past week has been two good to be true. both of the boys' nanas have been here, one (leelee) to visit, and one (nana) to stay! that's right folks, the boys' nana officially lives in austin, and we can walk to her house in less than 15 minutes. i keep pinching myself, because it just seems too good to be true.

leelee left yesterday much to everyone's dismay. it's really amazing to witness how much these guys love their grandmas. every other word out of there mouth is "nana" or "weewee." they completely light up when they see these ladies' faces.

there are lots more pictures and stories to share, but amidst the business of getting nana settled, there hasn't been much time. i'll be writing soon on the boys' language explosion (brother, acorn, please, etc. - so amazing!), fun at gymboree, and our obsession with feeding the ducks and turtles.

hope y'all have a great weekend!

just another reason why having twins ROCKS!

yes, i feed my kids raw eggs

so we're on our way out of the grocery store this afternoon after, yet again, a napless day. the boys were DELIRIOUSLY tired, and i was just thankful we made it out of the store without the boys causing some major catastrophe, when my cell phone rings. it's the evil nurse from our pediatrician's office, and she sounds awfully frantic. she says oskar's stool sample results just came back (from tuesday, no less!) and he has...SALMONELLA! WHAT!!!!????!!!!

she starts grilling me on where we've been, what we've been doing, what he's been eating. i'm like, "i assure you lady, i haven't been giving them raw eggs. i barely can even get them to eat a cracker half the time." she says she is calling in a prescription pronto and he needs to start taking it immediately. yikes!

after some research, i realize he could have gotten salmonella from anything. maybe food (although i doubt it, because he eats less a variety than abel, and abel is unfazed). maybe from the playground and another kid (me thinks this is the reason, since we were at a very huge public playground the day before he got sick). maybe from the turtles and ducks we feed frequently at our local pond (although we never get very close to the turtles and certainly never touch them). and while i appreciate the nurse's concern, she made it sound like oskar might die without getting these antibiotics, and she made it out like his salmonella was a public health crisis (she even said the state of texas would be calling and grilling me as well). let's just chalk it up to me not liking this nurse to much.

so there you have it. at least we know why oz has been sick. poor, poor lil' guy having to deal with this and the ear infections. he's one serious trooper, i tell you. sure, he's had his moments this week, but he's been pretty normal most of the time. i also have to give major chops to abel, who has really stepped up while his bro has been under the weather. normally my little cling-on, abel has been mr. independent this week, keeping himself busy, always up for the tasks that i request of him, and just being a delightful boy. oh, and the hugs and kisses! he's been the one this week to keep a smile on our faces and keep us all laughing. his empathy and understanding just blows me away.

here's our oz on the up and up...


and mr. cuddles gives ally some lovin'...

day is done

we've had a bit of a rough patch over here for the past few days. my b-day was on saturday, and it was a great one at that. perfect, i dare say. the morning was lovely ritual; our walk around the block (us all walking), our walk around the neighborhood (in stroller), breakfast at central market and then our weekend grocery shopping. after the boys nap we headed to zilker park, played at a HUGE playground and then we all rode the zilker zephyr, the cutest lil' train west of the mississippi. it was all just bliss and i couldn't imagine celebrating any other way. that night after the boys went to bed, we gorged ourselves on our favorite indian food (thanks mark and laura!) and i ate probably a 1/2 dozen of anne's famous birthday cocunut cupcakes (an annual tradition that i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!).

sunday, after a great morning, i noticed oz looking mighty miserable all of a sudden. i gave him a kiss and hugged him and WOAH, he was burning up to 103. so the past three days have been a big mess of fever, puking, diarrhea (my LEAST favorite aspect of parenting, hands down), little sleep and general ugliness. our trip to the doc yesterday yielded a double ear infection and bacterial intestinal diagnosis and a big ol' shot of antibiotic in ozzy's right thigh. thank god, because the kid was instantly better after that shot. miracle, i tell you!

so we were all REALLY looking forward to a nice big sleep last night. 1am diarrhea call, but right back to sleep. murmurings at 6am but right back to sleep. ahhhh....and then CRASH and screaming! it's 6:20 and j and i run to the boys room, thinking we'd find one if not both splayed on the floor after they managed to catapult themselves over their cribs. we entered their room to find the big shelf that holds their computer and humidifier ripped from the wall and everything on it all over the room, including all the water from the humidifier. lovely! i just thank god that it happened while they were safe in their cribs. then j goes into the kitchen to get breakfast ready and a watermelon we had on the counter decided to explode all over. ?!?!?!?!?

whatever was going to go wrong today did. thank god it's almost over.

p.s. i'm not even going to talk about abel. all i'll say is everyone who reads this, cross your fingers. hard.

p.p.s. the shot cleared up one of oz's ear, so he got a second one today which should do the job. no oral antibiotics to deal with. love it!

p.p.p.s. abel got some serious one-on-one time on sunday and yesterday afternoon when oz went to the doctor with dad. he was one psyched lil' man to have the hose all to himself. it's escalated to total obsession.

bye bye ichat...hello nana!

we get a lot of use out of our ichat program. with family all over the place, it's so wonderful for the boys' to get instant gratification when they ask to talk to nana (in chicago) or papa (in san francisco). "ask" is an understatement, really. on any given day, multiple times a day, the boys will pass by the computer and start screaming, "nana, nana, nana!"

well, we will be ichatting no more with nana. the boys will get to see their nana live, in person, from here on out starting this sunday. nana is moving to austin THIS SUNDAY!!! and if that weren't enough, she will be living just around the corner from us - not more than a 15 minute leisurely walk. i can picture weekend breakfasts already.

we are all beyond excited for this. for so many reasons. nana is very busy this week getting last minute things done and packing, and we are wishing we could be there to help (or rather, wishing she were here already!). lee-lee is going to drive down with nana ala thelma and louise this weekend. let's just hope there's no canyon jumping in their plans and they make it austin safe and sound. we can't wait!

so for posterity, here's oz and nana virtual chatting:

trip redux

i had every intention of posting more details about our trip to san francisco soon after we arrived home. now it's two weeks later and, i guess, better late than never! lots of fantastic pics of the boys with their papa and uncle parker are still probably on papa's nikon, so i'll have to wait to get those up.

we really did have an amazing trip filled with lots of laughter, squealing and celebration. jordan's little brother parker was bar mitzvah'ed, and he did an amazing job. even though i only caught bits and pieces of the service, i was seriously impressed by his performance. go parker! words can not describe how much the boys love their uncle parker. i'm talking about total adoration here. we have never seen the boys so smitten by someone, and they would pull out all the stops to get his attention and play with him. i can't wait to get papa's pics to show y'all their antics. the boys were also quite taken with their aunt paige, who lavished sweet attention on them. and paige's darling friends had them constantly entertained!

abie lovin' his aunt paigey

the girls give the boys high fives

this was the first time the boys got to meet their grandma vicki and their great grandma nan! nan had all sorts of tricks up her sleeve, including making little popcorn holders out of mini cereal boxes. the boys thought this was the greatest thing, and let's just say i learned a thing or two about ingenuity.

oz with g-ma vicki and abie with g-g-ma nan

the boys had a blast living in papa's house for a week. oz squealed with delight every time he got to lay on the fuzzy pillow, and he showed everyone his tennis chops with parker's racket. let's just say, everyone's pushing for the boys to become the hot doubles team in 2025.

amidst all the celebrating, we were able to sneak away as a family and spend the day in the city. we hung out at the aquarium for a while, watched the boats in the bay, oogled the street cars and double decker buses, and even managed to capture a picture of us all at the golden gate (oz would emphatically ask for "more, more, more!" every time we crossed over!).

i have to say, as worried i was about the actual traveling, it was an absolute breeze. we were seriously lucky. on the way had both rows to ourselves, and on the way home, we only had to share one seat of an entire row with someone else. we were able to set up the boys car seats even though we didn't buy seats for them (whew!), which made a huge difference. the boys loved the portable dvd player and backyardigan dvds (which the actual dvds and covers made for excellent toys as well), their travel doodles and books. they were more content traveling then they are at home on any given afternoon!

i did learn a thing or two on this trip, so here's my top five:

5) portable dvd players rock! as do go-go-kidz travel mates. if you're traveling with toddlers, they are both worth the investment!
4) never, ever let your child eat more than two boxes of raisins ESPECIALLY two hours before your flight. we narrowly escaped disaster here. it was way too close for comfort.
3) try and keep your toddler kiddos on roughly the same schedule as you do at home. it really helped to keep some version of the same routine, as far as sleep times, eating times, etc. we even kept the boys on central time, or rather, THEY kept themselves on central time.
2) with lesson no. 3 in check, throw out all the rules. the boys got to watch lots of tv. they ate endless bowls of popcorn an hour before dinner. we were all better for it.
1) take advantage of un-advantageous situations (i.e. see the bright side, silver lining, etc). the boys were up at 4am every morning. we got to see spectacular sunsets of the bay every morning. i was sleep deprived, but i loved every second of it.

18 month sleep regression = seventh circle of hell

we are in a bad place, dear friends.

i've come to believe that the sleep angst we experienced in california was not because we were in california. sure, the strange location may have served to enhance it all. but it was not the reason.

we're going on our third day of no naps and our fifth day of bizarro nighttime sleep. the nighttime deal is mainly an issue when we put them to bed. lots of resistance when we leave the room. lots of blanket throwing. lots of taking a long time to fall asleep. we've only had a few occasional wakings in the night, although those were so not pretty.

but oh the naps. the thorn in my side. the albatross around my neck. our achilles heel. i wish i didn't stress out so much about the naps, but i do. naps keep me balanced. it's the one time during the day i can do what i need to do. or want to do. it's my respite. and now that the boys are down to one nap a day, i've only got this one shot to make it happen.

yesterday the boys actually went down easily for their nap. after 20 minutes one of them woke up hysterical (abel), which woke up oskar (calm). once they're up, there's no going back, so i decided we'd run an errand to keep us all distracted. 3 minutes into our trip, abel was passed out. i didn't want to wake him, so i decided to go for a little drive, thinking he'd sleep maybe 20-30 minutes. 2 hours later, both of them passed out, i finally called an end to my little jog down infant-memory lane. towards the end of my wandering, i actually went through my car's trip calculator and realized that nap had cost me $10 in gas!

today the nap just wouldn't happen, and i wasn't about to blow another 10 bones and CO2 emissions just for them to sleep. so i tried every trick i knew. i brought them into bed with me (HA!), i restarted our nap routine (ya right), i rubbed their bellies and shooshed them at the same time as they resisted in their cribs, i even tried just laying down on the floor in front of their cribs (total hysterics - never doing again). no nap. all i can say is thank god for lupe, our nanny, who was scheduled to come at 2pm. by that time, i don't think the boys wanted anything more to do with me. trust me, the feeling was mutual.

i think it's safe to say that we're deep in the 18 mo. sleep regression and it's driving me nuts. i know i've been through worse. but it still totally stinks.


greetings from the seventh circle of hell

bawk like a...seagull???

the boys have a love of chickens, thanks to me taking them to our neighborhood petting zoo at least once a week. i guess they were a little confused one morning on the bay, as they started bawking and flapping their arms when they saw the seagulls. chalk it up to sleep deprivation.

abel nails the chicken impersonation

ozzy's version

sleepless in san francisco

we recently returned from a fantastic trip to the bay area. the occasion was parker's bar mitzvah (jordan's half-brother), and, based on our last trip, to say we were a little gun shy of traveling was an understatement. but everything turned out great. the boys traveled like the awesome adventurers that they are. they LOVED being on the plane. they LOVED exploring all the new sites and people. they LOVED getting to break all the rules (except for ones that involved personal injury). they HATED sleeping.

so i start my photographic sharing of our trip with the story of our morning sunrise routine in downtown tiburon. not a bad place to be at 5:45am. a brisk chill to the air; pelicans and seagulls flying; fog horns blowing; the sun just starting to peek up; water lapping against the rocks and a lone sail boat gracing the waves. oh, and two little maniacs running down the walkway, yelping at the birds and boats, and pushing their strollers like drunk little sailors.

it was awesome.

potty training basics

it's all in the truck books. works like a charm.

leavin' on a jet plane

in preparation for our upcoming trip to san fransisco, we decided to give the guys a sneak peek into how they're going to roll around the airport. little did we know what a hit these gogokidz travelmates would be. as soon as we put them together, the boys wanted to go for "rides" in their new wheels. after twice around the block and heavy convincing to get out, they realized it was even more fun to push them around themselves. if only these car seats were big enough for j and i to fit in, we'd have this traveling thing down in a lick!

Sweet Mati

Check out my new post about Matilda over at How Do You Do It!

stats stat

i know this is going to sound strange, but we had an awesome well check today. the boys seemed to really enjoy the whole experience. well, up until they got three vaccines, but 45 seconds later they were back to enjoying themselves again. they dug everything about the dr's office, especially the running train in the waiting room. can we just say, "happy feet!!!" abel had to announce to the world that there was a train...for like 10 minutes straight.

the guys were pronounced healthy and just doing fantastic with all the things that 18 month old (going on 19 in two days!) toddlers are supposed to be doing (including the head banging). doc hudson was particularly impressed with how muscular oskar's quads are (?????), and said he had little mallets for feet. let's just say that jordan is still beaming with pride. so not to make you think we have beefy knuckleheads for children, the doc was also impressed with how they look and interact with books, put puzzles together, etc.

the four of us left the office with smiles on our faces, especially the boys who got two new superballs from the doctor. this place knows how to do it right!

i'll leave you with their weights and measures:

abel
32 inches tall (36%)
25lb 2oz (36%)
19 inches (61%)

ozzy
32 inches tall
25lb 6oz
19 inches

and their secret revealed for such strong quads (it's all about the pillow position):

the crying game

we celebrated four years of marriage yesterday. just like my time with the boys, jordan's and my life together feels like forever and newly minted at the same time. time warps when you're with people you love more than anything. but i digress.

jordan has issues when it comes to presents. he just can't keep a secret. he get's so uber-excited to give the gift, that he ends up giving me clues that i can easily guess. i think i've guessed his presents for 95 percent of our celebrations together, ruining any "surprise" factor for both of us. oh, and i love surprises. there just isn't much better than being totally blown away.

i thought i had jordan's anniversary gift for me pegged this time. in fact, i had the idea of getting him a meyer lemon tree (the theme is fruit/flowers this year), which i thought was so brilliant, but then after some of his clues i thought for sure he was getting me the tree. so much so that i came up with a different gift.

yesterday morning arrived, and in typical gift giving fashion in our house, we made the exchange first thing (because j just can't wait!). i opened two beautifully framed pictures of oskar and abel, so wonderful because our home is sorely lacking images of our boys on the walls. and then i hear, "oh wait! i almost forgot about this other present!" and he comes from the guest room with a big box. i didn't see it coming.

i opened the box and, bewildered, pulled out a behemoth of a book, bound in brown suede and weighing, easily, twenty pounds. what the heck! i started flipping through the pages, seeing images and moments captured that made my heart race, melt and sing. our wedding! and the tears started flowing as i realized what my husband had done.

we had a very budget-conscious wedding in a very wallet-unfriendly city. a true city wedding in chicago is just astronomical and there's no easy way to get around it. we somehow managed to do it by getting very creative and enlisting every friend and family member who could help us accomplish elements of our day. judith did all our flowers and all we had to pay was the wholesale cost ($600 for $5k worth of beautiful arrangements!); dana made our gorgeous cake as our present (best. cake. ever.); geno designed our invitations; the burns' family donated beer from their microbrewery; our friends who owned our neighborhood wine shop got us all our wine at cost; my mom sewed the chuppah. it really was an amazing display of all our loved one's talents and made our day more special and meaningful then we could have imagined. and they made our wedding possible for the budget we were working with.

of course, we also made some sacrifices, and a wedding album was one of them. it was an easy $2k to scratch off the budget. i envisioned myself creating an album, something i could really love and cherish because my energy and inspiration would have crafted it. well, after four years, it's fallen way down my to-do list. i think about it all the time, though. our box of proofs sits right next to the computer after all. but nary a negative has been scanned (our wedding was our photographer's last event shot in film!).

our photographer, who is also a friend, had an album made from our wedding photos to show as an example to potential customers. it's gorgeous. and totally deluxe. and we've known about it's existence for nearly four years. our mom's even inquired about buying it from him a few years back, but to no avail. it's a $2,500 album after all; i wouldn't give it up either!

somehow, the timing was right this year. kevin sent it off to jordan and all he requested was for him to cover the shipping costs. he said the album needed to be with us now. it's where it belonged. i finally have a wedding album, and it's absolutely stunning.

so jordan's goal was to really get me with this present, so much so that i might shed a tear. well, you did it honey. you are the best. thank you so very much.

just because

the dog bed is the coolest new reading nook.

or place to have a literary snack...

abel looks like he just got off the cruise ship after being crowned shuffle board champ!

and proving that being carried like a baby is cooler than ozzy's new reading nook.

the games people play

we have a few signature games that we play with the boys that never cease to entertain and send them into hysterics. of course, it never ceases to amaze me the weird things we will do to provoke their hysterics. i know this is a long montage, but i figure it makes up for the lack of video and posts lately!