Not quite Siamese...

Happy day after Halloween! We had a great time yesterday with our little kitties. They marched in the parade at school (a few laps around the parking lot - thank goodness for sunny warm weather!)




Then we went over to trick-or-treat with "Ama", Ahkoh", "Ah Jee", "Ohnco", "Kay" and Owie". (For those of you who don't speak 19 month old, that's Ama, Akung, Aunt Jean, Uncle Aaron, Clay, and Owen.) The girls totally got it after the first few houses. They happily walked up the steps, opened their bags, and said "tankoo." Then it was off to the next house in the wagon. They discovered that taking candy out of their bags is a LOT of fun, because that's what candy is for, right? To crinkle and put in and out? That's Daddy story and he's sticking to it. ;)






Then back at Aunt Jean's, Alex decided to do a tribute to the drawings of my buddy Dan Zettwoch.

Chicago Bound

It's been too long since I posted, and I apologize for the silence. We've been battling more sickness around here - flu, ear infections, colds, you name it. But hopefully with some good new antibiotics, we'll be back to sleeping at night and having fun all day. We did actually have fun up at Grandma and Opa's house a few weeks ago, so here are a bunch of shots from our visit. The girls loved Grandma's toys this time - they played in the daycare space for hours and expanded their ride-on toy expertise to include motorcycles (Uncle Mikey would have been proud!).

munch munch crunch

We've been in a bit of a time crunch the last few weeks, between my trip to Philadelphia (working on my children's book with Chrissa) and the girls' recent double ear infection. So here's a quick video of them CRUNCHing on carrots for the first time.

We are family

We've been having lots of fun and I've snapped plenty of good pics that I need to upload here, but for now, since I have a deadline to meet on tuesday (Yikes! I haven't had one of THOSE in a while!) this new family shot will have to suffice. We braved a professional photo place again a few weeks ago and it's probably the last time. Not because they aren't good photographers, but the girls have some hang up with being there and burst into tears the minute we walk into the studio. So I'm back to taking my own pictures, which is a good challenge.
I'll post some cute shots of the girls "driving" when I get back from my big trip to Philly! Yeeha - Chrissa, here I come! Let's go to Monk's for a beer!!

Becoming...

Today was a very productive and fun day for me. The girls were enjoying their weekly visit with Ama, so I spent all day battling (and conquering) the weeds in my vegetable garden and then mulching to keep myself from having to do this again for awhile. While some may say, "That doesn't sound like much fun to me...", I know that Sarah and Tina will understand the simple joys I felt today while getting dusty, sweaty, and sunburnt, since they are what you might call "gardeners" while I am what you might call "a hack". I realized that when one has to weed an entire bed with a full size spade rather than a trowel, it's probably a sign that one is not the best gardener... But I had fun! And I got to do a lot of thinking while doing all that digging. Things always fly by while I'm taking care of the girls and it doesn't leave much time for really enjoying them at each stage. The baby manual I'm currently reading (Your One-Year-Old by Ames & Ilg - I highly recommend it Shan!) says this about kids their age:

"There is hardly anything in the world more exciting than something which is on the verge of becoming. When this something is a human being, a human personality on the verge of declaring itself, the excitement doubles...we as parents and grandparents see, or imagine that we see, the person emerging more clearly at about Eighteen months than at any succeeding age. Later on the child will have become. Right now he or she is becoming. When he is no longer a baby but is not yet a preschooler, his very in-betweeness on good days can be a delight to behold."

I invite the authors to see what my eldest daughter was "becoming" at Trader Joe's yesterday when she didn't want to give up the kid-sized cart... ;) But seriously, this really is an amazing time in their lives, and I keep trying to soak in as much of it as I can. Between doing endless dishes and changing diapers and picking up hundreds of small (and getting smaller) toys and wiping crayon off walls, I peek at them and wonder what their interests will be when they are my age... how will they choose to spend their lives? Who will accompany them in their adulthood? Current trends indicate that they will have each other to lean on, at the very least. They are both good at looking out for each other, bringing one another toys and giving hugs when one is crying. And we suspect Alex will enjoy something that requires movement and agility and a little bit of fearlessness, maybe dance or downhill skiing or synchronized swimming... And Dani loves to stir pots and pans with spoons, spatulas, whisks, sticks and she cracks herself up while going around pretending to feed people, so maybe she'll be a world-famous chef, or a kind-hearted nurse, or a scientist (perhaps the mad variety!). To my delight, they both love to read books and draw. :) So we'll see what our pumpkins become. For now, I've made a little compilation with mosaic maker... maybe these are clues as to what they'll become!



Let's hope Alex actually doesn't become the Hulk... (thank goodness for washable crayola finger paint!)

On a side note, it's been brought to my attention at a recent wedding (Thanks Allicia! Congrats on a great day!) that we have a few international friends who are following our little Indy life. I love that my goal of reaching out to my loved ones has become even lower maintenance than I ever dreamed! Being a lazy, bad friend doesn't always kick you in the butt, I guess. Yeeha! Visit again soon, dearies!

i THOUGHT it was awfully quiet down there...

Those 5 minutes I was upstairs yesterday morning were very productive for some little people...

I'm expanding...in the blogosphere that is

Ha ha, no - no new family members to announce. (unlike Shananalagins. Hooray Shannon and Brent! We're so happy for you! And TWINS - welcome to the club!!! See the links column for their blog) But I do have a new creative "baby" - an illustration blog. I figure that I've made my family a priority and lots of great things have happened, so now I'm going to make my drawing more of a priority too and see what happens. You can check out my first posted sketch here:

http://wei2draw.blogspot.com/

Check back often to keep me in line! (comments are much appreciated)

Row Row Row Your Sister

Another recent video for you. Video is really my favorite thing right now, even though I love to take pictures - you can't beat seeing them in action to show how darn cute they are.

Sorry - this is pretty dark.



I swear, it didn't take much to teach them that song - one "dance" together in the livingroom and they took it from there. They just love playing together. And clapping. :)

It's a sliding swinging splashing singing summer

Thought I'd post a few recent videos, which is really the only way to understand how ACTIVE our girls are at 15 months. It often feels like they're in constant motion and now that they are starting to "talk", there's a constant hum in the house as well.

Here's a (somewhat long) view of our playroom and some funny antics on the slide. Funny to themselves, most of all - I love how much they crack each other up.



We finally went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum for the first time and they had so much fun! I had to drag them away after almost 2 hours of running, stacking, pushing the lawnmower, watching other kids, and generally keeping Mom on her toes. As I pushed them in the stroller to the car, I realized that they had so much energy they just couldn't keep it bottled up as they sat...



And last but not least, here's a peek into Dani's new favorite word, "Upah." (Sorry Opa, it's not about you yet.)



And of course, to keep things in perspective, here's a video from exactly a year ago - to the day - to compare with Dani's favorite word video - here's June 5, 2006:



Oh, how deluded we are in those early days... how could we have thought that was nearly as exciting as what we have today!

Alex loves to accessorize

Alex loves to put on bracelets and turns toys into necklaces, tiaras, etc. But last week she went even more exotic and gave herself a banana bindi at breakfast.

My girls are so cosmopolitan. Just wait - fruit accessories will be all over the runway this fall...

When the cat is away...

Jack and I have a really nice reciprocal agreement on the weekends. One morning I get to sleep in while he gets up with the kiddos, and the other morning is vice versa. This past Saturday while I slept, he may have looked away for a little too long...

Alex undressed herself for the first time,


And Dani just got herself stuck in an embarassing pose.


You gotta love 'em!

Life is always a little zooey around here

To appease Kamila, this post contains a picture of me with the girls (there aren't too many of these in existence!). We took our first trip to the zoo a few weeks ago. It was a lovely day and the animals were kind enough to let us watch and even pet them occaisionally. The whole family had fun. Until Alex vomitted on the way home. Then a few members of the family spent hours cleaning the car and carseat, and Alex got an early bath. A note to all parents or future parents - the only way to get smelliness out of velcro is with a TOOTHBRUSH. So save those old ones, folks. Everyone is fine now - the girls have had a hacky cold for the last few weeks, but otherwise, there was no permanent scarring. ;)

(It just goes to show you how life has changed when we go to the zoo but I only took 1 or 2 pictures of animals... at least the ones that aren't related to me.)

We Heart Being Outside

The girls are completely addicted to being outside. They get visibly bummed when Plato gets to go out in the morning but they don't.
Alex:


Dani:



Even during that cold snap a few weeks ago, we got bundled up and headed out. They walked around really well in their big bulky coats and seemed to like their mittens (still probably a novelty. Next season is a different story...).




And I love going outside, because they sleep really really well at nap and night time!

School Days, School Days...

The girls had their first week of school (oh, who am I kidding - it's daycare) last week. They are going on Wednesdays and Thursdays, which has made it a bit hard for them to transition. Alex is especially upset when I leave, while Dani does ok after a few minutes. It's been hard to leave with them crying; it breaks my heart! But they have good teachers and cute little ones to play with them, so hopefully they'll get used to it. Next week they are going full time to see if it helps. I'm not going to know what to do with myself with all that freetime. My illustration jobs will get so much attention!

Here's Alex sitting near her friends Abby and Kyle on the first day of school



And here's Dani, looking a little suspicious



Hopefully someday they'll have as much fun at school as they do with their buddies Michael and Logan! We had a recent playdate and the kids were all wrestling with each other and fighting over toys, just like at home. :)

Our Little Cinderellas

What can I say? My kids are clean freaks...



:) They'll definitely be going to the ball tonight.

...hoppin' down the bunny trail...

Happy Easter, everyone!

The Two are One

Yeeha, the girls turned one! (Well, ok, it was weeks ago, but let's celebrate anyway!) I've been meaning to post pics! We had a nice little party with Gramma and Opa from Chicago, Ama and Akung, Aunt Jean, Uncle Aaron, Clay, and Owen. The girls are always so excited to see their cousins! Akung brought photos from when Aunt Jean and Daddy turned one:


Everyone agrees that Dani looks a lot like Aunt Jean at this age (with less hair of course!).
Ama brought over the traditional sticky rice and red colored eggs, and the girls liked the rice a lot. They also enjoyed their first cake.
Dani:



Alex:



Later in the week, they got all dressed up and I took some portraits.



Our little girls aren't babies anymore... snif.

Spotlight on: Dani!

I'm finally making time to tell you all about Dani after weeks of craziness around here, including but not limited to: playdates, mastering walking, eating new table food every day, family-wide stomach flu during a visit to Gramma and Opa in Chicago, multiple birthday parties (On March 12, Dani and Alex turned ONE YEAR OLD! Yikes! Where did the time go??!?), and Aunt Chrissa visiting from Philly (who got to enjoy the stomach flu as well. Sorry C!) In the time in which I've been thinking about this post, Dani has actually changed quite a bit, so maybe my inability to multitask has actually helped keep this blog accurate. (Or maybe I'm just a lame-o.)

Personality: Dani USED to be our reserved, somewhat serious girl, but now she has found her smile and flashes it at everyone (except the pediatrician). She is quick to learn new things and very observant of the world around her. She loves making "jokes", especially putting her bottle in her mouth then removing her hands and shaking her head, or putting fabric on her head and walking around (sometimes bumping into things when she's covered her eyes), or making one her many silly faces. Here she is making a face that we've enjoyed since she was only 5 months old.

And here she's saying "ta da!" after playing peek-a-boo. She's our pink Mother Teresa.

Dani is very observant to the people and action around her. She always seems to be figuring out how something works; we often say that she's her daddy's girl.

Favorite food: Carbs. She started her addiction off with cheerios and now is far more willing to try something new if it is brown, breaded, or toastish. Which is why we weren't surprised that she loved her birthday cake(s). (Alex had chocolate cake for her candle and Dani had carrot. But they got a small slice of each for their dessert. Both were nearly in the clean plate club.) Here she's puffing out her belly to say to Daddy, "See how silly I am - I have cake on my tummy!"


Quirks: She will ask for more and more green beans to eat, but she is really chewing them and storing them, hamster style, in her cheeks until she spits out a big wad of green bean mush. She can even drink water and not swallow the beans! Besides her current aversion to green foods, she seems more open to eating non-carb foods when all the food on her tray is the same color. She's willing to try mango when we're eating mac 'n cheese, but not with grilled cheese. She's also afraid of the vacuum cleaner (hmmm... maybe I don't bring it out often enough...)

Favorite toy: Just like Alex, she always gets a kick out of playing with her sister. She loves to share, bringing Alex the extra cell phone or putting cheerios on her tray. And ever since Aunt Jean and Uncle Aaron gave us a playhut for the girls' birthday, Alex and Dani have been wrestling, surprising, and giggling with each other in the "house" or the tunnel. Their other fort is the toybox - Dani loves to climb inside and her sister usually follows. Hugs and kisses (sometimes a little roughly delivered, but with good intentions) always abound between those two. And if she's not playing with her sister, she's at least stealing her toy away (and then the tug of war and squeals begin...).






Skills: Dani learned to walk first, and she's now running whenever something (usually someONE, especially her cousins) gets her excited.




She's an excellent bear-hugger and has started giving them out wherever she goes, especially to other kids. Her motorskills are excellent. She is able to stack plastic pegs on top of each other (Gramma claims her 2 year olds can't do that), used a spoon to eat her birthday cake (her own idea) and loves to stir a spoon inside a cup while walking around and around the house (she spent at least an hour today playing that game, and even "fed" Mommy, Aunt Chrissa, and her doll). But I think we'd all agree that her hugging skills are our favorite.