Father's Day Top 10

This year for Father's Day, we're doing a repeat of last year's Father's Day gift.

I just love this idea so much, we may well do it as long as I can coax the girls into making handprints...which I think surely I can do until they're at least 20, right?

On the center card: "The Top 10 Reasons We Think You're the Best Daddy in the World", on which I listed some of the fun things the girls love to do with their daddy...

1. You help us build the best “structures” with our blocks, and the tallest towers.

2. You are an expert tambourine-roller.

3. You never tire of sampling our tea and lemonade, and all our culinary creations.

4. You show us how to be super sweet to our furry sister Sasha.

5. You sing “Found a Peanut” every night, even though we know it’s not your favorite song, and you make up all sorts of silly lyrics to “Baa-Baa Black Sheep” at our requests.

6. Two words…tickle time!!!

7. We love to “do jedan”…and we know you do, too. [count in Serbian]

8. You give us nose kisses the first thing when you come home from work, and you talk to us through the window in the backyard when you cut the grass.

9. You’re an expert snuggler.

10. You’re ours.

I love how this list contrasts to last year's, which included things like "you give the best shoulder rides" and "you know the perfect temperature for our bathwater". And of course I love seeing how the girls' hands have grown in the last 12 months.

Happy Father's Day to my girls' sweet daddy! (And to my sweet dad, the girls' granddaddy, too!)

Visiting Australia, Then and Now

…well, not really Australia (as the thought of crossing state lines with the girls can send me into quite a frenzy)…but the Australian wildlife reserve that’s about 30 miles from our house (and I can handle 30 miles)…

We took the girls on our first “field trip” of the summer this week, to a very neat Australian zoopark. We took the girls last year in June, as well. Actually more incredible than being up close and personal with a kangaroo was seeing how much the girls have grown in 12 months’ time!

Last year we left after the girls’ morning nap and lunch, which put us there in the heat of the day. This year we were able to head out first thing in the morning, which meant there was a lot less “glistening” in most of the pictures.

We still chose to push the girls in their stroller. The girls could have walked the park, but there’s quite a hike to get from the parking lot to the wooded park area that they wouldn’t have been able to handle…and I didn’t want to tote a baby and a ginormous bag containing a potty seat.

2010

2011

Last year the girls loved seeing the huge exhibit with all the different types of birds. They did this year, as well, although Baby B seemed pretty alarmed with how LOUD some of the birds were.

Last year, the girls were just as taken with seeing a dog (from the sheep herding exhibit) as they were any of the more exotic animals. This year they still loved the dog, a cow, and the sheep, but the swan – who we saw “taking a bath” (as the girls say) – probably topped their list.

Last year, we held the girls close to the kangaroos, but there was no touching. This year, Baby B would have liked to have hidden in my pocket when we got close to the kangaroos, but Baby A would have ridden one, I think, if she could have! She LOVED petting them, along with an emu.

This year we got to see a new exhibit, Cecil the tortoise. Baby B was terrified (in fairness, he was about their size!), but Baby A was pretty interested. Both girls continue to talk about Cecil…and remark that they saw Cecil the Turtle, NOT Grandpa Cecil (HA!).

But the biggest change this year versus last is that the girls are TALKING!!! Last year, I have pictures of them signing some of the different animals. This year we were having full-fledged conversations…and they’ve recounted much of those conversations over the past couple of days.

2010: Baby A, signing "hat"

2010: Baby B, signing "bird"

2011: The girls were ready to GO!

(One of the cuter exchanges was seeing a dingo exhibit, which looked much like dogs. I was telling the girls about the dingoes, and they immediately started singing “B-I-N-G-O”, one of their favorite songs. I kept trying to stress “Dingo”, but I’m not sure that concept took!)

Before we left, I helped the girls each choose a postcard, and I told them they could start a scrapbook of our field trips. I’ve gotta get on that this weekend, as they’re very excited about it!

And lastly, on the way home, it was dangerously close to lunchtime, and we’d skipped the girls’ mid-morning snack. This park is in the middle of nowhere, so our options were limited, but I had spotted a Pizza Hut on the drive in.

We treated the girls to their first buffet experience. Kids under three eat free, and our girls really got our money’s worth. I lost count of how much pizza they ate – as they were eating it as fast as I could cut it -- but at least it was veggie pizza! :)

In addition to the talking, and the walking, and the petting, it was so neat to see the girls sitting in real chairs, eating pizza, and drinking water from real cups.

In so, SO many ways…what a difference a year makes!!!

Fab 5 Friday...and ME!!!

I’m loving this fabulous summer with my girlies!!! We’ve had a couple of “field trips”, some great fun outside, and lots of family time together.

1) My family came up for a short visit on Friday, and it was so great to see the girls having such a blast with them. Friends and neighbors are wonderful, but family is priceless.

2) The girls have started referring to themselves occasionally as “Mommy’s baby girls,” as in, “What are Mommy’s baby girls gonna have for supper?” I just can’t get over the cuteness factor!

3) The girls have continued to be very into pretend play this week. A big focus seems to have been taking care of their baby dolls. They’ve always fed them, and taken them to run errands, but this week they’ve been very focused on personal grooming…cutting their babies’ nails (holding a butter knife from their kitchen – yikes!)…giving their babies baths in the kitchen sink…and drying their babies’ hair (with a ring-stacker toy as a hairdryer…even though their babies are bald!).

One day they kept talking about putting their babies’ swimsuits on. I moved a pillow in the midst of their play, and Baby A almost charged at me. “Abby’s swimsuit!!!” she cried. She pretended to grab something from where I’d put the pillow, and went running off to outfit her doll. HA!

4) One evening before bed, I saw the girls snuggled up together, and B was stroking A’s face. “I see your eyebrows,” she said. Then A said, “Beep your nose!” and touched her sister on the nose. It didn’t last long, but it was so sweet!

5) The girls’ language and reasoning continues to amaze me. Baby A saw my coffee one day and said, “I see some steam. That means it’s hot.” And B came downstairs one morning and looked out the window. “It rained overnight,” she said. WOW!

And what did I do for ME this week???

I took advantage of having the hubby home and ventured out during the girls’ naptime on Monday. I needed to run to the craft store, and I took my time, milling around. Milling! I looked at things I didn’t even need!

And then I still had time to run by the bead store, which – although I don’t know anything about jewelry design – it always makes me feel crafty just to be there. More milling!

I topped it off by picking up an enormously large Diet Coke on the way home.

I was only gone about an hour, but that “milling” was time well spent!

Thanks - as always! - to the Great dollimama for hosting my favorite link-up of the week! And check out the plans for the first week of July...an awesome link-up GIVEAWAY! It's gonna be lots of fun...you should join us!!!

Things Two-Year Olds Say...

There’s no doubt that the girls crack me up on an hourly basis in some form or fashion.

They clown around, and they play the funniest pretend games. Some of the best times are listening to the “stories” they tell and their oft-altered lyrics to songs.

It’s amazing how just hearing them over the monitor for a few minutes in the mornings tells such a story. I try to write down some of their antics every few weeks, as it’s a great gauge as to how their little minds are growing every single day.

Making headlines (or at least journal entries) this week…

On Sunday morning, the girls were up [a little too] bright and early. I went into their room, and Baby A gave me a huge hug, and Baby B greeted me with the biggest smile. “Daddy’s on vacation!” she exclaimed. “We’re doing to have a fun day!”

And then I felt a little guilty for rolling my eyes at the time on the clock downstairs. How sweet that the girls were so excited to start their day.

I tried to get B to recount to Daddy what she’d said to me. “Daddy’s on…” and she correctly filled in “…vacation!” “We’re going to have a…” and she filled in “…family breakfast!” There she was, warming my heart again.

As I was fixing our family breakfast, B was playing and talking to herself. “Daddy’s on vacation! We’re going to have a fun day!” And then she said, “Mommy’s not on vacation.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

***

My aunt and uncle gave the girls some adorable pink-and-white striped overalls last week as a belated birthday gift. I let them try the overalls on and run around the den for a few minutes (while I tried to snap pictures, of course).

The girls both kept saying, “We’re wearing our wedding dresses!”

My husband and I got a big kick out of that. I know we’re from the south, and all…but, when the time comes, I think we can probably do a little better than pink overalls!

Another day, another hundred laughs!

Early Productions

I blogged yesterday how every single action seemed to be such a production when the girls were first born…

...tandem feeding, baths, even a journey downstairs took some planning!

Per doctor’s orders, the girls didn’t leave the house until they were three months old. And then, once they got the all-clear, it took me a while to muster the courage to get them out-and-about on my own.

Still quite scared of the germ field outside the walls of our abode, I finally concocted what I thought would be a good first outing…a mid-day visit to Starbucks. I reasoned that there would be few people there if I timed it right, and – once I paid for my coffee – I could make a hasty exit if needed.

I psyched myself up for the adventure, working through the logistics of each step in my mind, and I got the girls dressed after their “lunch”.

I’m so thankful I paused to take a picture before we left…it’s one of my all-time favorites!

(And those were the days where I could just “prop” the girls and take a bunch of shots…without having to worry with them running off in different directions, trying to grab my camera to take pictures of each other, or insisting on having their pictures made with all their dollies!)

The girls and I made it safely to Starbucks. By the time we got there, they were asleep in their car seat carriers. I carefully loaded the carriers into their stroller, and strolled in to enjoy a very peaceful cup of coffee.

It was bliss! And I was so proud of myself!

And I can’t help but laugh at remembering the look on my husband’s face when he came home that afternoon and I told him I’d taken the girls to Starbucks. (The look suggested he thought I’d actually given them coffee…HA!)

While each new adventure – still – can seem like a production, the more “mommy milestones” I get under my belt, the more confident I become.

Fast-forward two years from our first girl-time at the coffee shop, and my goal this summer is to take the girls out by myself, for at least a snack, without their stroller.

Cue a bit of anxiety on my part…but I hope they’ll let me take their picture before we go…and I’m sure I’ll be able to look back this time next year and marvel – as always – at how far we’ve all come.

Life, Interrupted

When I was pregnant, several people shared some sentiment about “changing your life to fit the baby, versus making the baby fit into your life.” The implication was that – if you managed things correctly – you’d carry right on with the world, your go-with-the-flow baby in tow.

In theory, that made great sense to me. I was very happy with who I was, and I was eager to share that with my children.

But maybe that theory is part of why I was so completely shell-shocked when the girls were born. And I couldn’t help but think that all the people who said that to me never had multiples!

I went from working 60-hour weeks, my off time spent eating out and watching TV and napping and shopping and cooking leisurely…to feeding babies ‘round the clock, my off time spent doing laundry and washing dishes and occasionally trying to sleep.

Of course I knew my life would change drastically when the girls were born, but I couldn’t have anticipated the full magnitude of that change.

And even more, I never would have imagined how much of a “production” it seemed like every action was.

Particularly because I was such a schedule hound, there was very little go-with-the-flow when it came to feedings…and what else do you do with infants?

I was deathly afraid of two things…one, that our girls would somehow become out of sync with each other’s schedules…and two, that our girls would somehow mix up their days and their nights. That fear kept me on the straight and narrow, for sure.

And then, when the girls weren’t being fed, I really had to muster my stamina to do anything else.

The example I always cite is needing to buy some stamps. With one baby, I envision that you’d swing the carrier over your arm and zip into the post office. Sure, it wouldn’t be as quick as if you were alone, but it would still be relatively easy, right?

With two babies, there would most certainly be a stroller involved, and I’d have to be able to negotiate any bumps in the sidewalk and non-automatic doors. It’s still doable…but I probably wouldn’t go to the hassle just for a book of stamps!

Between the near-constant demands and the failed expectation that the babies should just fit into our lives, I started to feel smothered, and far over-burdened.

But then one day, I tried to think of that adage in a larger context.

Sure, I had made major, MAJOR changes to almost every aspect of my life…but I was still “me”, wasn’t I?

When I remembered to try to define my life and myself less by my leisure, and more by what makes me happy, things started to click a little better. In addition to my girls – which are undeniably the center of my world…and I’m OK with that – I found new ways to realize these joys.

And as the girls have gotten older, I’ve been able to file a few more “old world” pleasures in now and again, which I appreciate in their infrequency far more than I ever did when manicures were a dime a dozen.

Couple this with things starting to actually get easier – at least in terms of “schedules” and “major motion picture productions” (think impromptu dinner out last week!) – and I feel like “my” world and “our” world are starting to become one.

My experience over the past two and a half years wouldn’t lead me to completely dismiss the idea of “incorporating” your children into your life, but maybe underscore the idea of “to everything there is a season”.

…linking up with the Parenting Myths Question of the Week at Multiples & More!

What I Learned on a Saturday

We had a jam-packed day today, but it sure was a fun one. From sun up to sun down, we were running and going and doing, and I learned at least a little bit at each and every stop.

1) Older folks, in particular, seem to get quite a kick out of the girls’ passion for vegetables.

As in the grocery store, the girls love to point out [loudly] the fruits and veggies they see. At the farmers' market this morning: “Zucchini!!! I LOVE zucchini!” “Potatoes!!! I LOVE potatoes!” “Onion!!! I LOVE onion!” Most folks couldn't help but laugh.

2) My little babies have a real ability to act like big girls when they want to.

We went to Panera when we left the farmers’ market. Daddy and I enjoyed a late breakfast, and the girls had half a bagel and a glass of milk as their mid-morning snack.

I had our highchair covers with us, but we decided to try the girls sitting in regular chairs. They did great!

They waited patiently for me to get our food, and then for me to cut their bagel and pour their milk. And then they ate like champs. As soon as they were finished, Baby A popped up and said, “I’m ready to get down!” but we got a good 20 minutes of calmness out of them!

3) The girls know our habits better than I do sometimes.

We left Panera and decided to run by Sam’s to scout out some more fresh fruit (as the selection was limited at the market). We picked out our produce and started walking towards the front of the store. Baby B began to pull me towards the right, though. I tried to correct her, and she said, “We need milk!”

Sure enough, we almost always buy milk when we’re there…and I had forgotten we had space for another gallon in the ‘fridge.

4) Not all kiddos are totally enthralled with the lawn sprinkler.

This afternoon we surprised the girls by setting up the sprinkler in the backyard, for what would be their first such experience. They were so excited to get on their swimsuits and new water shoes, and they were pretty patient while I applied their sunscreen. Finally it was time to let them loose.

They ran, giggling, towards the sprinkler…but when the first drops of water crossed their path, they were done! I tried coaxing them back to that section of the yard, running through myself (which was pretty darn fun!), but they were far more interested in picking clover, chasing bubbles, and kicking the soccer ball.

We’ll try again, though…I hope the girlies will eventually learn to appreciate this rite of childhood passage!

5) Swim diapers really don’t hold any urine. And Baby B may not be as close to potty-training as I’d thought.

I was putting the finishing coat of sunscreen on B’s legs (outside, thank goodness!), when I felt a very warm sensation on my lap. “Are you making tee-tee?” I asked her. “No!” she declared, as my legs became totally soaked. So now I know.

6) Lots of summertime running really builds up a kiddo’s appetite AND wears her out.

Both girls scarfed down their chicken cacciatore over pasta tonight, complete with bread and a big bowl of strawberries and blackberries. We then shared a piece of Grecian orange cake. And THEN they both asked for more supper!

And after supper, it wasn’t long until both girlies were yawning. We went to bed at their usual time (7:15), but I’m pretty sure they haven’t even rolled over from the position I laid them in their cribs!

All in a [great] day’s work!