It's The Little Things....

that sometimes make a big difference. I have wanted to have pictures of the kids, (well really Sophie before we had kids, plural) hanging in our stairwell for a long time now. When Sophie was an infant, I did the baby picture thing, and had her photo taken at 3,6,9 and 12 ms. A year ago I found a frame at Target that would accomodate four 5 x 7 photos. By now we had the twins, so I did purchase 3. Last week I finally got around to getting Sophie's baby pictures out, deciding which should go in the frame, and put it together. Terry was much quicker than I was. Once he saw it in the frame, he was ready to hang it. That got me moving on Michael and Emily's, and yesterday, we hung all three in the stairwell. Granted, Sophie's is the only one that is full, and Mike and Em's will have 6, 12,18 mth and a 2 year old picture instead of the first year, but I do feel satisfied. By no means do we have a perfectly decorated home. I take pride in the fact that our home is clean (for the most part!) comfortable, and kid friendly; that is the stage of life we are in right now. So for me, this is a huge decorating accomplishment!

Brotherly Love

It was bound to happen, sooner or later. I guess when you spend all your time with someone, they begin to get on your nerves.

But really Michael, did you have to bite her to get your point across? I think a simple "Excuse me Emily, but you are in my way, " would have sufficed.



Lucky for you, Emily knows you are getting your molars and just wanted to chew on something, anything, even your cute baby sister.

The Frown and The Fever

When Sophie was a toddler, she made "the frown" on command. We thought it was hilarious, because right after the frown, she would break out into a huge smile. It was a fun game for quite awhile. Here she is at 15 ms, in Jan '03:

And here is Emily, almost 15 months old, with her own twist on "the frown." God help me when they are teenagers!!


Emily did have something to frown about Thursday when I took this photo. She and Michael both had a fever, hers got so high (102.9) I called the pediatrician. I was told to watch it and as long as it went down with Motrin, she was ok. It did go down, but she was up till 2:30 am just fussy and restless. The next morning it was back up. I took them both in, and they did a CBC on Emily. It came back normal, and our pediatrician advised me to be on the lookout for either Roseola or Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. Emily slept great last night, and was much better today. Michael on the other hand, was up 3 times last night, and this morning his temp was 103.4. I have to say, seeing the thermometer reading shoot up that high threw me. I spoke with the pediatrician and after she quizzed me on his behavior (lethargic, but still playful at times) any new symptoms (just a clear runny nose) we agreed it was better not to drag him in again today. He probably has what Emily had yesterday. After Motrin his fever is down as well.

I wasn't going to bathe either one of them tonight, but after seeing Sophie in the tub, they both wanted to get in. So, rub a dub dub, here are our 3 kids in the tub:

We are hoping for a more restful night tonight, long live Motrin!

Mother really does know best

I received a digital camera for Christmas, had fun taking pictures, then spent about 2 hours trying to figure out how to download them. Even though I did everything the owner's manual suggested, I was unsuccessful. Yesterday my parents came over to celebrate Terry's birthday. My mother, who has used a digital camera for a while now, decided to have a go. After showing her everything I had tried, she agreed the software was not working correctly. I ran downstairs to rescue dinner while she continued to fiddle with it. A few minutes later, she was victorious. Apparently, the USB cord does not go in the receptacle marked as such, but in another spot on the tower. Who knew? So, better late than never, here are some photos from Dad's 80th birthday.

Dad has always decorated the birthday cakes in our family, and his own birthday was no exception.

Turning 80 gets you a greeting from the prez.....As Sophie said, "Look Mommy, there's Grandma's favorite president!"

Sophie and Grandma, getting ready to dive into the orange cake.

Here's Michael with some cake on his mouth, plus a nice close up of his first shiner. Actually, by the next day, it had totally faded. But for Grandpa's party, he looked like a real thug!

All in a Morning's Work

Have I mentioned lately how active Michael and Emily are becoming? Let me assure you, it bears repeating! They are walking, crawling and climbing into whatever they can. No longer are they content to stay gated in the family room, or "Babyland" as my sister in law Pat called it on her last visit. Here is the photographic evidence:

Playing with a paper grocery bag, it makes a great toy.

I had turned my back for a second to speak to Sophie and when I turned back, there was Michael, removing the last sippy cup from the dishwasher...what a good little helper!

Emily decides that climbing looks like fun, and since the dishwasher has now been closed, decides to test out her skills on Sophie's chair. She climbs it with ease.

This is the drawer that contains stuff for them to pull out and play with, however, Michael has decided he needs to get in and inspect it further. This is a theme for him....


So, at almost 15 months old, they are curious, active toddlers. Lucikly my camera is always at hand to document the chaos!

Thanks Aunt Mary

Sophie's aunt and Godmother, my sister Mary, sent her a Build A Bear gift certificate for her birthday. We had a fun time redeeming it. Noah came with us, and of course, Sophie had to pick the same animal he last chose, the frog which he had named Boing. The name of Sophie's frog, take a wild guess: Boing. Kathleen says Noah is into functional names, his koala bear's name is Climb. I think he's pretty clever, myself.

Here are the Boings getting a bath. Posing for Aunt Mary with Boings. And, all tired out after playing in the play area and visiting Santa.

New Year, New Look

I have to say, I was impressed by Annie's template change, and it inspired me to make my own. First I had to update to the new and improved Blogger, then make the template changes. I like it better, I think it has a cleaner look. I couldn't get the sidebar text the font and size I wanted, but other than that, it was easy to do. Any comments are appreciated.

The last from Christmas, I promise

I wanted to add a few more photos to that last post, but Blogger wouldn't allow it. Does any blogger out there know if there is a limit? Also, has anyone switched to the Beta version? If so, do you like it? Everytime I start a post, it prompts me to switch, but I am hesitant. Any advice would be appreciated.....



Here's the kids dressed and ready for their grandparents. I really didn't know how badly Michael was drooling until I saw these photos.



And here's Emily telling Sophie she has had enough of her grip, she's outta there.


Here's some photos of what I call the payoff of having twins. Michael and Emily play so well on their own. Mostly parallel play, which is typical for their age, but they are able to play for almost an hour on their own, without wanting either of us to intervene. It is so nice. Lately we have started all going down to the basement together, they wander about while Terry and I play pool. Sophie is our "mascot" as she calls it. This means she pulls her chair up as close to the table as she can manage, and cheers us on: Oh Mommy, I just KNOW this time you're going to make one...Now just keep your eye on the ball, that's what Daddy does" Thanks, Soph.

More Christmas and other stuff

Well, I have some great pics of Dad's birthday dinner at our house, but they are in my digital camera, and even after spending a solid hour trying to download them today, no luck. I know I will figure it out, but at the moment, the software doesn't seem to be working. But here are some more photos from Christmas and other stuff.....

This first one is of Emily's new trick, when she drops something, especially from her high chair, she makes the "uh oh" face. Seems to me that this little people character must have wandered away from her.

Sophie and I on Christmas morning, no shower, still in pj's. We really had a lot of fun opening gifts. After about 20 minutes Michael and Emily decided they had had enough, and wanted to wander. To keep them contained and happy, we brought in their high chairs, and they had breakfast while we finished opening our gifts.
They didn't mind the bows in their hair....too much.
Sophie really wanted to take a photo of Terry and me, so here is her attempt.
















This gingerbread house was one of those rainy day projects that we would finish off before Christmas, when school was out and we were looking for something to do. It ended up being Terry and Sophie's Christmas morning project...while the babies were napping and I was trying to get ready for our family dinner. It came out really nice and was a great centerpiece. Sophie's favorite part, the icing and sprinkles.