our two are three (w/ photo overload)

today is my favorite day by a long shot. abel and oskar turned 3! celebrating with them has been more fun than i could have ever imagined.

phase one: we woke up to oskar saying, "mommy, i am three today?!" we had their birthday banner hung and presents waiting underneath. they ripped through them with gusto. upon opening their presents from lee-lee and papa, which were cool alligator papier-mache banks wrapped in protective bubbles, oskar pronounced, "ooooohhhhh! mommy, i got bubble wrap!" it's all in the little things! they were equally psyched about their retro snoopy electric toothbrushes, which i also sported when i was around their age. and they were serious team players, working together to open their joint chutes and ladders gift.







but by a long shot, their morning highlight was getting to eat the candles off their giant chocolate birthday lollipops from lee-lee and papa. i mean, is there really any better way to usher in your birthday?!



the boys burned off some of that sugar by jumping on their bubble wrap for a solid 20 minutes.



phase two of operation birthday included festivities at school. the boys were greeted with abundant "happy birthdays" and hugs by all their teachers and friends. i dropped off my camera with the teachers and asked if they could capture a few shots of the celebration. i had no idea we would get an amazing glimpse into the wonderful day the boys had with their school community.

abel got the coveted position of holding the flag during the pledge of allegiance.



the boys with their beloved teacher, ms. leti. she is truly an amazing woman and the boys love her dearly.





and here is a shot of the sugar and spice class.



phase three included a trip to nana's house where the boys were showered with new thomas trackmaster trains and tracks. the boys were BONKERS excited about their new engines!





we then finished off the night with dinner at the boys' favorite tex-mex restaurant - chuys. they ordered their own dinners - queso and chips, mac and cheese and ice cream sundaes.











what a day! we still have another celebration with friends and family on sunday for their official birthday party. but i will never forget the joy of their third birthday. we are truly blessed to have the lights of abel and oskar shining in our lives. we love you boys with all our hearts!!!

Our two are THREE!

Happy Birthday, Abel!

Happy Birthday, Oskar!

You are the lights of our lives and we love you so much.

(many pictures to follow soon)

heading for splitsville?

we're in deep contemplation, friends, and need some advice. the boys have been in a great montessori program for exactly one year now. they love their teachers, they are happy and thriving. problem is, it's about a 40 minute round trip commute, and on my days off work, that pretty much sucks. i'm also less than thrilled with the next two classes the boys will advance into. the vibe i get just passing by the rooms leaves much to be desired.

enter the montessori school one minute from our house. less than one minute, really. my curiosity finally got the better of me and i scheduled a visit before the holidays. i was seriously impressed. great facility, wonderful teachers (although one seemed a little too "in control" of everything), and did i mention it's less than ONE MINUTE from our house?!? seriously, i could walk the boys to school.

it all sounds too good to by true, no? well, the catch is they require all twins, even siblings, to be in separate classes. their logic makes sense. spliting them up fosters their individuality and autonomy without the dynamic of their twin around. unintended side effects: home life is easier because they are not in each other's faces every day. the ole' "absense makes the heart grow fonder," i guess? i totally get it and even believe it to a certain extent. i'm first in line when it comes to the philosophy of fostering individuality and sense of self. but at age three? not so convinced. i'm even less convinced of this philosophy being policy. and i think it's downright cruel to expect our kids to transition to a brand new school and, while we're at it, split them up so they don't even have each other for support.

i'm torn (no pun intended). i love so much about the school and the convenience aspect just can't be beat. it just seems like a no-brainer. i've even talked to another mom with three-year old twins at the school and she assured me her boys are thriving (although she did say they are learning totally differently and she can't figure out if it's a factor of their nature or their classroom/teacher). maybe i'm having so much trouble with it because i hate being pushed into something? i'm thinking of calling them and seeing if they can be in the same class for a transition period and then make the move after their comfortable in the new school. or is that like slowly pulling the bandaid off when it would be better just the rip it off in one felt swoop?

i've read that when it comes to splitting up twins, the only right decision is what will be best for your kids. if only i felt that intuitive at this moment. any idea, advice, experiences?

one tough cookie

it's amazing how resilient and tough these little men can be, really. so much can happen in their lives and they weather it like nothing's happening.

abel's been "sick" the past few days. i say it like that because he's had a low-grade fever and congestion and complained on and off about a sore throat and being tired, but really he's just been his normal happy-go-lucky-goofy self. so now that we are on his third day of minimal fever and with their best friends' (another set of twins) birthday in the afternoon, we decide to take abel to the doctor just to make sure we don't unleash terrible germs on an unsuspecting crowd of kids (and parents!). turns out the poor boy has strep! the doctor couldn't get over how happy he was in spite of being really sick. i had strep once. i was twenty years old and i'll never forget how miserable i was. definitely in my top three most sick moments ever.

abel has also demonstrated his masterful resiliency as we've methodically transitioned him away from his baby-comforts. on a whim one random day in november, we switched them to big beds with no preparation other than them watching jordan convert their cribs to day beds after nap. they were completely non-phased, both of them, and they've never looked back.

and then the time came for the binky. this one was a bit trickier and we were starting to think strategy - maybe a new years resolution. but the stars aligned and just before christmas the binky broke. it was a tiny tear, but enough to render it non-functional. instead of pulling out one of the other three we had as backups, i used my sinister mom-thinking and told abel it was broken and he couldn't put it in his mouth anymore. he could hold it if he wanted, but it was too broken to suck on. that ushered in two weeks of abel having the binky in his bed but not putting it in his mouth. step two involved a binky fairy (thanks to dawn!) taking the broken binky and leaving in its place a new "going engine" with tracks (aka trackmaster thomas). she would then fix the broken binky and deliver it to a new baby. it was that simple and abel has been binky-free since the first week of january.

in actuality, i think all these changes have affected me more than him. the crib and the binky were the last vestiges of "baby" around here. and to add insult to injury, abel insists we call him "abel" instead of his babyish nickname "abie." now that these things are gone, we're left with the stark reality that we have two boys in this house, and they are growing up awfully fast. as of this wednesday, i'll have two THREE year olds. i love this and i hate this. i adore this age and how much fun we have, how much we can communicate, how hilarious and easy they are, how their relationship has blossomed into a crazy friendship. jordan and i have been in so many moments over the past month and thought, "this is better than how we dreamed it would be." i hate it because, well, it only keeps going faster from here.


later days, binky!

01/01/2010

i really just wanted an excuse to write out the date today - the number combination is so cool!

happy new years to you all. wishing you a healthy, happy 2010!

and from abel and ozzy, "live every minute to its fullest; rest when you need to; and don't forget to look down sometimes!"

merry christmas!

may your day be filled with joy and light!

love,

oskar and abel (and tracey and jordan!)

Virtual Greeting

happy hanukkah y'all!

if the first night of hanukkah was any indication of what this
holiday season will be like, i think my heart may burst by the end of
it! and the kidkraft wooden hanukkah set may be the boys' all time
favorite toy...ever. if you're jewish or not, this one is a serious
winner!

all by myself

there are certain things i didn't dare do by myself a year ago with the boys. i remember when the boys were a few months shy of 2, it was a big deal for me to take them out to lunch by myself (turned out to be no big deal, after all). the thought of taking them to the doctor alone sent shivers of terror down my spine. would i have done it in a pinch - of course! but it never came to that. i always managed to find a partner - either jordan or my mother-in-law, etc. heck, even putting the boys to bed by myself at that age wasn't a pleasant experience. sure, i did it (as did my husband) when necessary, but i didn't like it. and taking a shower if alone with the boys? sure, during nap time. i think i only tried it once while they were awake. craziness!

it's amazing to me how in a mere year, even less in some cases, we have entered a whole new world. taking the boys out for any meal by myself is just pure pleasure now. it's a treat for all of us, especially our saturday burger lunch at mighty fine! this morning they watched dinosaur train and i didn't think twice about going upstairs, showering and getting ready for work. both jordan and i have weekly evening commitments where there is just one of us putting the boys to bed and it is such a joy. for some bizarre reason, bedtime seems to go smoother when there is only one of us manning the fort. and when i scheduled a last minute doctors appointment for abel this afternoon, it didn't even cross my mind that i'd be on my own. doctors appointments can quickly turn disastrous, but i swear, they both sat on my lap and let the doc poke and prod, opened and said "aahhhh," and even answered the doctor's questions directly! i know it won't always be like that, but even the doctor was stunned at what great little patients she had. (abel is fine, btw, but has the beginnings of a sinus infection) and the practice i got by taking them to get their H1N1 vaccines a few weeks ago by myself - well - a doctor's visit with no shots just seemed like cake walk.

amidst some of the gunk that comes with almost 3 year olds, it's nice for me to have such a clear reminder of how far we've come!

higher education

a while back, i wrote about my foray into the world of pole dancing. it was a bachelorette party of all things, but it really sparked something in me. having been a gymnast for (still) the majority of my life, i think my body craves being upside down and moving in space - flipping, twisting and expressing in motion.

being the mother of twins empowers you in so many ways, however rediscovering the acrobat in me has not been one of them. the physical tolls of pregnancy (i know, it's been nearly 3 years now), the umbilical hernia i still carry around, the insane balance between parenting, work, partnership and dare i mention "me time," had created a whirlwind of "no's" and "can't do its" in my brain. i honestly began to question my physical ability; not so much to exercise, but to do something strenuous and that pushed the bounds.

but then i saw the ad to come see a performance from austin's aerial dance company. i didn't even know what to expect, but the idea of witnessing dance outside, downtown on a balmy summer night, where artists suspended from cloth and harness scaled buildings and flew through the air - it was too much to resist. the performance did not disappoint. i was mesmerized. and every cell in my body was saying i HAD to do it.

i started classes in august. twice a week for 1.5 hours each time. lots of really hard core work. stretching. and then learning the technique of the cloth. the first few weeks i could barely move i was so sore. every class is challenging, even though i'm getting better and better. i really love that about it.

last night we had an informal showing for our family and friends. this is the culmination of my twelve weeks and two classes of aerial dancing. i know i've got a long ways to go, but there's no timeline, not competitions, no standard that i have to live up to. it's just me, the cloth and some really great people doing it along side me. and the exhilaration of flying in the air again, twisting and flipping and being in motion.

p.s. this is a long (6 minute) video and moves a little slow at times, but i promise the end is worth it.

talk to me

the boys are such a riot these days, especially with what comes out of their mouths. i really want to do a better job documenting some of the funny phrases and conversations they have with one another. maybe i'll keep a pad of paper laying around in every room so i can quickly jot down what i hear.

on another note, the boys have made SERIOUS strides when it comes to manners. over the past two weeks, they have fully integrated please, thank you, excuse me and sorry. and when i say fully integrated, i really mean it. here's an example: abel was sick yesterday morning and started throwing up. i ran him into the bathroom and he puked in the sink. as he was getting ready to puke again, he loudly said, "TOWEL, PLEASE!" (the few times the boys have been puke-sick, we've always had them throw up in a towel, for convenience sake. i guess the sink just wasn't good enough.) for real, my child said please as he was getting ready to vomit. unbelievable! abel also says, "okay, mommy" more times than not when i ask him to do something. melts my heart every. single. time.

here are some of my recent favs, sans vomit:

ozzy: "i need a bandaid. and i'm not kidding around." (side note, these boys take their bandaids very seriously. ozzy typically needs a new bandaid before going to bed every night.)

abel: "i have one foot on the scooter and one foot on the ground!" (a master observer)

ozzy: "mommy, tell me an orange juice story." (??? when taking story requests at bedtime)

abel: "ozzy, go sit on your tushie!"

abel: "abie and ozzy are CUTE, mommy!"

hopefully you'll never realize how cute you really are!



post-queso bliss at the boys favorite tex-mex place, chuy's

comfort objects

soccer balls, helmets, a loader and bandaids on their legs. it's all
two little 2.5 year old boys could ever want.

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!