Aunt Nee Nee's Visit - Day 1

Yesterday was Aunt Nee Nee's first full day in Chicago with us. We kept the girls busy all day, ran a couple errands in the morning, lunch and then walked to our favorite park. Then daddy came home from work and grilled us all chicken fajitas. And Mama Diane & Papa Bede stopped by for a short visit on their way out of town too. Fun stuff!

O still in her pj's

Aunt NeeNee brought us a bubble machine!!!

C


O


Liv is in the yellow & brown and Caroline is in the pink and flowers

Smooches for Aunt Nee Nee!

Miss Caroline throwing a temper tantrum in the grass

Awwe, sweet sister moment.

And the other sisters!

Girls will be Girls

We have some budding fashionistas on our hands. These girls certainly love accessories! The first thing they want in the morning when I get them out of their cribs is to pick out some shoes to put on, and dig out their hats for the day. They love playing dress-up with all sorts of stuff they find, and especially love getting into mommy's jewelry armoire. They'll bring me necklaces and bracelets to try on and prance around the house like such big girls.

C

O

Talky talk talk

I think we are on the cusp of a word explosion here. The girls will have whole conversations in their "twin speak", but you can tell they are really trying so hard to get their point across. They will attempt pretty much any word you ask them to say now, which usually comes out like gibberish... but they're trying!

Here's a list of words they are both saying

without being prompted these days:

mama

dada

dog-dog or Char-Char (dog / Charlie)

"shah-shee" (Shautze - grandma's dog)

hi

bye

oh's (cheerios)

"key-cah" (kitty cat)

"toh-toh" (turtle)

"ah-po" (hippo)

"mook" (milk)

doh (door)

sissy

"Wih-bee" (Livi)

"Aye-ine" (Caroline)

Nee Nee (Aunt Vanessa)

"kadee" (cousin Katie)

"uv-ooh" (love you)

"dooos" (juice)

baby

"nigh-nigh" (bedtime/goodnight)

foooooooooo (food/"I'm hungry, mom!)

"nack" (snack)

cheese

"a-to" (potatoe)

"ah-pew" (apple)

"aunch" (orange)

pear

"ah-pee" (open)

"ahh-gawwn" (all gone)

"peeeeesh" (please)

"tanks" (thanks)

"owe-siye" (outside)

bubbles

And I'm probably forgetting a few others too.

A few videos from yesterday afternoon.

Caroline



Olivia

Weekend Fun!

We spent practically the whole weekend out and about. We're finding there's pretty much no way around that as two toddlers get bored easily, which quickly turns into whiney & fussy. Busy Girls = Happy Girls = Happy Mommy & Daddy.

Here are some photos and videos from our adventures

at our local park yesterday.

Look at Liv's buddha belly.

Fearless Olivia loves the slides

Caroline was a bit more timid.

Videos of them sliding:

Then we stopped off to get some ice cream.

Videos:

The girls doing the Ice Cream Happy Dance:



Back at the ranch.

Mother's Day

I hope all the mommy's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day.

My sweet Caroline & Olivia,

I used to dream about what it would be like to be a mother, what my children would look like, what it would feel like to rock my baby to sleep. And when I was pregnant with you, I would wonder what kind of parent I'd be, if you would know who I was after you were born, if I could manage taking care of both of you. So many questions and uncertanties I had. But the day I became your mommy, I felt a kind of joy and certainty that I had never known before. It was as if everything was just as it should be. I was meant to be your mommy and meant to have this, albeit challenging, yet incredibly miraculous double blessing in my life...and the rest we are figuring out together. I couldn't have imagined anything more perfect than you both when I look at your sweet faces.

I love you and am proud to be your mommy.

We spent Mother's Day in the burbs with Mama Diane & Papa Bede.

Notice Liv stealing my chocolate the second I get my gift open! Everything a mother has is communal property. *sigh*

Silly Daddy

Livi Lou-Lou


Ice Cream!!!!

C

O

A cute video:

Spaghetti Night

And a messy one at that.

Hee hee. Twirps.

C
O

Weekend Catch-Up

Just now getting around to posting some pictures from the weekend. We spent the night at Papa Bede & Mama Diane's house this past Saturday. Rob and I always love getting the girls out to their house because of the big, beautiful yard & house to play in, all the wide open space, clean parks, etc. We lovingly refer to it as "Suburban Bliss" - quite different from our surroundings here in the city. Here are a few pictures of us all hanging out in the yard. (Oh, what I would give to have a yard - our kids idea of playing outside is in the tiny parking lot behind our building. Poor kiddos.)

Caroline in the butterfly shirt, Olivia in the flower shirt.

"Here, Mama Diane - for you!"

Cousin Katie-kins

Papa Bede & Katie

Mommy & her girls

Mama Diane blowing bubbles with Liv & Cousin Katie