Wednesday, June 28, 2006

The Latest and the Greatest

Here are some new photos that I just received. I thought they were Blog-worthy.

The first is Sophie and Elizabeth at the dress rehearsal for their recital. Since we weren't allowed to take photos during the actual performance, I took these the night before. Look at that form!!



The next is Sophie helping me cut up veggies for dinner after the recital. She really likes helping in the kitchen. I know what Aunt Mary will say:"Where is that girl's apron??"




James enjoyed pulling up on Emily's saucer, and she got a kick out of it too. Right now the difference between them seems huge, but they are only 6 weeks apart in age.



Michael and Emily both like to roll under the coffee table in the family room, knocking down Sophie's chairs and anything else that stands in their way. They are so funny to watch.







Tuesday, June 27, 2006

8 Months Old

Michael and Emily will be 8 months old tomorrow, I can hardly believe it. Tonight we gave them Cheerios for the first time, and it was hilarious. So much so that I had to break out the video camera...but I have no idea how to post that to the blog. Emily figured out immediately that they were food, and quickly found her mouth with her hand. Opening the hand to release them took a bit of work though. Michael took a little longer, but he got them in there too. I am sure Sophie's demonstration of what to do with them helped: "Look Emmy, it's food, you put it in your mouth like this, see?" "Mommy, Mikey's dropping them on the floor!"

Once they get proficient with Cheerios, we will work on the sippy cup. Michael hasn't taken a full bottle at any feeding in days. I am not sure if his 2nd tooth coming in is bothering him or what, he is just more interested in flipping over in my lap so he can climb up me, than his bottle. But he is going gangbusters on the solids, so I don't think he will starve anytime soon.

Sophie is in "Girly-Girl" camp at the Y this week, and tomorrow they get to dress like princesses. She and Elizabeth will be wearing their dance costumes, you can only imagine how excited she is.

And I got to go back to my Water Sport class at the Y today, it was great to be back. Even though I am the youngest person in this class by at least 15 years, it was still a workout for me. I really enjoy doing the water classes; it gives me a great workout, but is so much easier on my back. And the best part is going in the whirlpool afterward!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Summer Camp and other things

Sophie had day camp at her Preschool last week and loved it. I did too, it was from 9-1 every day. I can drop her off and get back home without the twins falling asleep in the car, so I get to enjoy their morning nap at home, without Sophie. That is always a beautiful thing! The camp itself is great, a handful of the regular preschool teachers staff it and make it so much fun. They do Music, Science (the science teacher rocks, she wants all my baby food jars to use during the school year, so far I have given her two full grocery bags) , Movement and Spanish every day, plus tons of crafts. This coming year will be Sophie's last at Mt Zion, but she will be able to do this camp again next summer, before Kindergarten begins.

Sophie also had swim lessons this week. She goes to Miss Marci's house, a local lady who teaches in her backyard pool. We went to her last year, and she was so good with the kids, we decided to do 4 lessons with Noah (of course) to get ready for our trip to the lake. I missed the first lesson, I didn't have a sitter and a 100 degree heat index was too hot for Michael and Emily. Kathleen took Sophie with her, and said she did great. On Thurs., Terry was able to stay home so I could take her myself. I was amazed, she was doing so much more than last year. Face fully in the water, and "swimming" with both arms and legs. Today she and I went to our neighborhood pool for a couple of hours, and she is completely at home in the water. It also helps that she is finally tall enough to stand in the shallow end. Watching her jump into the shallow end by herself, with me watching from the pool deck really made me realize how quickly she is growing up.

In baby news, Emily has been waking up at night because she is cold. And why would she be cold? That would be due to the fact that she moves her little legs so much, she ends up popping open the snaps on her sleeper. 3 nights in a row she was just inconsolable, and when I checked on her, she had both legs out of her pajamas. So, I bought a Sleep Sack yesterday, and it worked like a charm. Cousin James uses one, and I know Mike and Kat really like it. Sophie wanted to know if they made one in her size, she said "It's like a baby sleeping bag, Mommy!"

I have also been busy (at night when kiddos are all asleep) compiling photo albums, I have to admit I am pretty obsessive about that, and it really was getting to me that I had pictures from last August till now that hadn't been organized. They are now all organized, and I have started using the better shots to fill the albums. I am amazed at how small Emily and Michael were!! Thank goodness for photos, that whole first 6 months is really a blur, and looking back on the photos, I remember why!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Pearly Whites

Michael wins the race for the first tooth! You can just see his left bottom tooth poking up, but you can certainly feel it with your finger. If my fingers are anywhere near his face, he will try and guide them into his mouth, it is pretty funny. If he can't get a finger in there, a cloth diaper, high chair strap, or a fist full of Sophie's hair will work well too. Emily is not far behind, and at the rate she has her entire hand in her mouth (all day) I am sure we will see a tooth soon.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Random Photos

In May we took the kids to the aquarium, here is a photo of them acting like fish in front of the big tank. From the left are Katie, Elizabeth, Sophie and Noah. Ebi is behind Noah. Yes, the matching shirts might look queer, but they sure stood out among the crowd, and we left with everyone intact.
Here is Emily on the new Caterpillar swing. It is designed to hold two infants/toddlers, the max weight limit is 60 lbs. Emily can sit up much better than Michael right now, so for now she is swinging solo. I have tried him in it, but he just pitches forward, poor guy. But Emily has enjoyed it.
And another one of Emily, you can see how she SO wants to crawl. This was taken about 3 weeks ago. Currently, she is up on all fours, just rocking back and forth. Michael is trying his best too, he is holding himself up much better, but no leg action yet. Guess we will have to break out the baby gates before too long.
In other news, I drove up to Lake Lanier today with my parents to check out some houses for summer rental. Unfortunately, the lake is about 3 feet down already, due to the Army Corp of Engineers letting out water to protect 3 endagered species downstream. We saw three houses that my sister Mary had found online, and all three were keepers. My family, Mary's family, and my brother Tom and his family are going to rent houses the last week in July. This vacation option is quite attractive to me; we have been going to Seacrest Beach in FL every year. Although we love the beach, there is no way we are interested in making that drive this summer. Maybe when the babies are potty trained, don't need high chairs, pack and plays, etc. Going just an hour away sounds so much more relaxing. All of the houses are on the water, and have docks that you can swim from. It should be a fun getaway.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

My Other Set of Twins

I got a lot of startled, then sympathetic, glances today. Sophie's buddy Noah spent the day with us. He has been out of town for about 10 days visiting family, so this made the day even more of a treat, they were so happy to see each other. We went to the barber to get Sophie's hair cut, then to "Old Mc Donalds" for lunch. When I walked in with the twins in their stroller, and Sophie and Noah holding hands, people were startled. Some even asked, "You have two sets of twins?" I know it does happen, but thankfully, not to me!

Having Noah spend the day was a treat for both Sophie and me. Kathleen dropped him off at 9:30, and they first played outside on the swingset for about 30 minutes, while I fed the babies in the kitchen so I could watch them out the window. When they realized they were getting hot, they came inside and asked to play in the basement. They spent the next 90 minutes down there, playing Hullabaloo and other games. I only went down once to check on them, I could hear their conversation from upstairs and there was no bickering at all. Sophie was SOOO agreeable today, it was amazing the difference in her when Noah is around. Since she is totally occupied, it never occurs to her to throw a tantrum to get attention from me. What a nice break!

After the haircut and Mc Donalds they had some quiet time with a Wiggles video. It turned out to be not so quiet time, as they danced along. Then Noah came up and asked if he could draw. They spent the rest of the day practicing their "writing" Noah is very good at copying his letters, and Sophie got frustrated, since she is not as far along. I outlined the letters she wanted, then she traced them in. I could tell that Noah noticed Sophie's angst, and he was quick to compliment her. When Kathleen arrived at 4 to pick him up, they both started whining about how neither wanted him to leave. I didn't want him to either!

Monday, June 05, 2006

Zippety Do Da


Yesterday was Sophie's recital, and it was so cute, and at the same time, hilarious. I think my father in law summed it up when he said, "You couldn't have staged it to be any funnier than it was." Most of the girls in her class were able to follow their teacher (Miss Melodie) who was hidden from the audience on the side of the stage directing them. Sophie and her partner Elizabeth hit all their cues, thanks to Elizabeth's lead. At one point it was Katie's turn to run and leap, but Sophie decided to beat her to it, that was pretty funny. Some of the youngest girls performing were just 3 years old. They basically came out on stage, saw the lights and audience and froze. From the audience we could see Miss Melodie's frantic hand movements behind the curtain, trying to encourage them to move. Miss Melodie is a wonderful teacher, very patient and encouraging. Thanks to Pam for the photo from yesterday's festivities, and to Mrs Martin, our neighbor, for coming to watch Sophie and getting her the beautiful rose.

Friday, June 02, 2006

A New Day

As you can tell from my last post, Sophie and I have been having a few "issues" lately. I think it is because all of sudden there is no school, no schedule, and too much time spent in the house with baby brother and sister.

It came to a head yesterday, we had her last dance class in the morning and went out to lunch as usual with the dance girls and their mothers. Sophie had a meltdown because her quesidilla tasted funny, and she refused to eat it. I told her that was fine, but not to expect lunch when we got home, because this was her lunch. She threw a fit, and started mouthing off: arms crossed, scowl on her face: You are a mean mother, I don't like this lunch and I am NOT going to eat it! I imediately thought of Nellie Olsen from Little House on the Prarie (or as my brothers called it: Little Disaster on the Prarie). Very calmly, I removed her from the table, and she spent some time by herself at a nearby booth. She did come back to our table, but was not much better. After another outburst, I told her she had lost her bedtime story and song. That seemed to make an impact.

Once we got home, she was fine for about an hour or so, then started up again. I don't remember what specifically I asked her to do, but she said no and stuck her tongue out at me. That was it, I told her she was in her room for the rest of the day. It was 4 pm by this point, so there wasn't much day left. This was pretty traumatic for her though, I only let her come down for dinner at 5pm, and she was back up by 5:30. At 5:45 I went up to get her bathed, and she was asleep. She did however, wake up at 6:30 and come down to find me. I got her into her pjs and she went right back to bed, no story, no song.

This did seem to make a difference because we had a much better day today. I could really see her struggling with her replies to me today, she would start to give a whiny excuse, then look at me and instantly change her tune. Whenever this happened I told her how nice it was to hear her "kind" voice. She had her first dentist appnt. this morning and it went really well. This afternoon we had dress rehearsal for the dance recital on Sunday. It was very cute, and I had tears in my eyes watching her. I am glad I got to see it once before Sunday, so maybe I can keep it together then!

Tonight when she was going up to get ready for bed, she said to me, "Mommy, I didn't lose my story or my song today, aren't you glad?" And I have to say that yes, I was glad. It makes for a much more pleasant day for all of us!