Today I Learned to Climb

I need to stroll.



I think I've seen Mommy do this.



If I can just get there.



I want to get to the stroller. I just have to get over this wall.



Let's see . . .



Oh No!



Mission Accomplished!

I am thinking deep thoughts. 

Let's Stroll! 

Double Trouble 

We've moved. Well, sort of.

We've moved. Well, sort of.

The movers packed Thursday and moved our stuff to our new house Friday. I arrived at our old place Saturday morning fully expecting to find it empty and go on a cleaning frenzy, but instead found the place strewn with items Scott says he thought I might need to complete my cleaning chores. You know, useful items such as an 8 x 10 area rug, wooden fish, various plants, hot pink sticky notes, and the like.

Nonetheless, the old place is mostly clean now and the new place is stacked full of boxes which I will begin unpacking today. So, blogging will be delayed a bit longer. Soon, I hope to get back into the habit of blogging once a week.

Kaia is Walking!!

With great joy, Kaia has begun walking. Two steps at a time, it's like a party on the march. She stands, waives her arms in the air over her head, smiles and launches forward. She's thrilled. She's so happy with her new discovery.

 

Hello! 

Can you believe it? A duck and a lamb! 

Can you believe it? It's a DUCK! 

Zoe is Walking!

Zoe walked for the first time today. Standing at one side of the play yard, she struck out on her own and walked two or three steps toward her musical fish hanging on the other side before she plopped down onto Mommy.

The 10 Month Update - Ta Da!

Crawl, walk, run! We're almost there. Both girls are crawling, standing and walking while holding the play yard wall, even with one hand.

Zoe stands on her own without holding on and has even taken a step toward Mommy.

Kaia began crawling the day of her nine-month checkup. I told the doctor I was concerned she wasn't crawling yet. She crawled that afternoon, as if to say, "See Mommy, no problem." Even though she hasn't been crawling as long as Zoe. She has almost completely caught up to her.

Mama, Daddeee, Papa, baba, DUCK!, daier (translates to "diaper"), mmmmmmm, hi and DO have all become part of the regular vocabulary.

Kaia sometimes seems to be so deep in thought and then surpises us with some complex word like "button." Last week she sat contently in the play yard, completely wrapped in her own thoughts, turning and feeling the pink heart-shaped button on her little yellow dress, and softly and perfectly pronounced "Button." She said it just once and hasn't said it since. It's as if she satisfied herself she knows the word and hasn't had call to use it again. Nevermind that Mommy and Daddy both now point goofily at random buttons and yammer away, "Button, button, button, button." Even more amazing to me than the fact that they are learning words, is the fact that they are learning how to apply them appropriately. Kaia has learned the power of the word "Mama." It is becoming her hallmark cry. But there's nothing quite like when she looks at me, smiles and says Mama. I just can't describe it.

Zoe loves to say DUCK! It's just like that. Always in capital letters and always with an exclamation mark. Sometimes she will burst out with DO, when she's particularly excited and wants you to do something. The current favorite word, though, is quite possibly diaer (translated = diaper). She was completely thrilled this week when she realized she was actually communicating with Mommy, telling her what this thing was. Smiling and holding her diaper, she must have walked around for 10 minutes straight saying diaer and looking back at me to confirm. She was elated. When it's wet or dirty, she will sometimes even grab it as if she's trying to pull it off and say diaer. Potty training will be coming soon.

They are growing up so quickly. They have their own ideas, their own likes and dislikes. They love to help Mommy pick out their outfits in the morning. They hate to put on bed clothes at night. They both love and hate the bedtime story. It seems wonderful and terrible all at the same time. "Mommy, I love it when you read to me, but doesn't bedtime come after this? That stinks."

Tantrums have reared their ugly heads, and let me tell you, they can throw 'em. Take away a toy, or something they think is a toy, that they really really want and you're likely to get a show. Kaia might even lie down and kick and scream and cry. Zoe may scream at you, shake her arms, cry, and turn red in the face. I couldn't help but smile at the reckless abandon with which Kaia threw a tantrum a couple of days ago over a singing sea star toy. Kaia was so surprised at my reaction, she actually stopped the fit.

Bedtime is really getting interesting. They've never really slept through the night, but we had at least developed a routine that seemed effective to help them go to sleep initially. It seems to be losing it's power. The hard part is that they don't sleep at the same time. And they're both getting up three and four times a night again. We've taken suggestions. We've read books. We've immitated Super Nanny. We've tried it all, but nothing seems especially effective. Alas, it seems we're doomed to a life of sleeplessness. I'm sure it will get better. Right?

Well, I'm sure there's more to tell, but I need to go help Kaia back to sleep.

Signing off until next time . . .

10 Month Update Coming Soon - Stay Tuned!

Zoe and Kaia turned 10 months old this week. Our babies are not infants anymore. We can hardly believe it. Imagine my surprise when I wondered into the clothing section at Babies R Us and found that nothing was big enough. They're toddlers now. It's a whole new world.

Perhaps this is why Mommy is just too tired to write the 10 Month Update tonight. Teething, tantrums, and resistance to bed time have all set in full force. And they still don't sleep through the night. I'm beginning to think that whole sleeping through the night think was just a pretty lie concocted to convince young women to have babies. I'm told that it eventually does happen, but I'm not so sure.

So, we'll try for a more detailed update no later than this weekend. There is much to tell: crawling, standing, walking, playing, hiding. Stay tuned . . .

Wrapping up construction! Our house will be done soon. Oh, the joys of moving. We are getting estimates from movers this weekend. We will soon know whether we are packing or they are. Scott and I are both voting for someone else doing the packing, but we will see. 

Oh what fun! 

Daily Schedule -- Mealtime and Bathtime

In case you've ever wondered, the photos below provide further documentary evidence that mealtime should always be close to bathtime.

Apologies to Our Loyal Viewers for Extended Absence

Apologies for my extended absence from the blogosphere. I am now recovered from a three-week illness which my doctor titled the "Bug D'Jour." I ran a fever for five days before we reached the conclusion that the girls and I would need to travel to my mother's home in Albuquerque for some much-needed relief help.

It was the girls' first major road trip and what a trip! Zoe, prone to screaming tantrums at times of excessive tiredness or frustration, found the trip especially unsettling. Their schedule was entirely thrown off and both were majorly teething as evidenced by the brand new tiny teeth the sprang forth on our trip home.

Papa, my grandfather, was able to visit and meet the girls for the first time while we were in Albuquerque -- an unexpected treat. Pictures will be posted soon. Despite his elder status, he seemed to be the healthiest of the group, resisting infection by whatever sickness I had picked up.

I seemed to be the Typhoid Mary of the family, passing the Bug D'Jour to almost everyone around me, except Papa. Zoe, Kaia, Scott, my mother and even my nephew ended up getting sick with apparently the same nasty bug.

We are all healthy and glad to be home, though Zoe and Kaia are still hard at work on even more toothy grins.

Kaia -- Ready for Spring

Our little cherry blossom models the ladybug hat that is a big palytime hit. The girls love to see each other in this hat, swipe it from one another and waggle it as if to flaunt the spoils of the day.

Me and My Sister

Such good sisters. On Valentines Day, Zoe made my day with another first. She entertained herself for much of the afternoon by repeatedly crawling up to Kaia and giving her big hugs and kisses on the cheek and forehead. It seems she may already be taking on the role of big sister even though she is only one minute older.

Zoe On the Move

Kaia Smiles

Flashing that darling smile, Kaia enjoys a "push-up" workout here as she laughs at Mommy's goofy antics. She pushes up on arms and elbows more each day and even pushed up on her knees a bit today. Soon she and sister will be both be crawling and chasing one another, challenging Mommy to keep up.

Seven Months Old

Our babies turned seven months old Thursday. How they are changing!

Zoe started sitting up this week and has made great advances in crawling. She crawls and falls, but can easily work her way from one side of a quilt to another in only moments.

Kaia is pushing up on both hands and straightening her elbows. She'll be pushing up on hands and knees soon. She loves to laugh and spent much of our trip to the mall yesterday laughing at random passers-by.

Peek-a-boo is a big hit with both girls as they love to entertain one another. Kaia will lay on her back and waive her big Whinnie the Pooh in front of her, then whisk him away to see Zoe and laugh, laugh, laugh. Zoe sits up, holds a blanket with both hands, waggles it over her head and then flops it down with a mischievous look of anticipation waiting for Kaia to laugh.

Late at night they giggle, coo and scream in delight at each other, carrying on as if having their own little baby slumber party.

It seems they are changing every day. It amazes me how quickly they learn. They will be big girls all too soon. Kaia just had a bottle and fell asleep on my lap as I finished writing this. What could be better than a cuddly baby asleep in your arms?

Kaia still loves to swing in her Nature Sounds Baby Papasan swing, so we're squeezing the last bit of usefulness out of it. She loves to watch the bird, butterfly and dragonfly turning above her and listen to the babbling brook sounds as she swings. Soon she'll have to graduate to a bigger swing. She can already almost reach the big leaves on the mobile above her. 

Zoe Reaching for the Phone

Zoe started sitting up all on her own this week. This picture is of the first time she sat up. She is now sitting with no support from her hands. She especially loves this as it allows her to entertain her sister by waiving blankets over her head with both hands, playing peek-a-boo. 

Adventures in Babyland -- Babies Stage Riot at 2:00 AM, Take Over House

Click above for sound clip

Two nearly seven month old babies, Zoe and Kaia, staged a full-force riot this morning at 2:00 a.m. Zoe began the riot with a shrill cry and demands for a bottle, which were quickly met. Soon thereafter, her sister and cohort, joined in with a refrain of "Ehhhhhhhh. Ehhhhhh. Ehh." Which roughly translated means, "I think want to get up. Come get me. I want to get up."

Foolishly ascribing to the theory that it is good for babies to soothe themselves back to sleep if not too upset, the mommy (that's me) let this go on just long enough that Kaia's growing refrain awakened Zoe who had been satisfied that her demands for a bottle had been quickly met with top-shelf formula and a good snuggle. But now, yes now, it was on.

Not to be outdone, just as the mommy reached to pick up rioter #2, rioter #1 chimed in again with "AAAaaaaaahhhhh. eh. Aeeaah." Which roughly translated means, "How could you pick her up and hold her and lay me down here all by myself? You're supposed to be MY mommy."

And so, this back and forth went on, for nearly three hours, with bottles, diaper changes, lullabies, rocking and even attempts to convince the babies/rioters they were sleepy by telling them they were sleepy (Perhaps a reflection upon the mommy's powers of logic and concentration at 4:30 in the morning.).

At 4:40 a.m. all hope appeared to be lost as Kaia rolled over onto her tummy in her crib, waived all four limbs in the air above her, made raspberry sounds at her sister and laughed hysterically. Finally, at 5:00 a.m., the mommy gave in, sat down, with Kaia in her crib and Zoe on her lap, and had a Diet Coke and an organic cranberry orange scone, and the babies/rioters went to sleep. Who knows what it was that soothed them. The fizzie sounds of the Diet Coke? The sweet smell of the cranberry orange scone? Some strange stress-relief hormone that is released when mommies eat sweet carb-laden foods in the wee hours of the morning?

Who knows. But all is well that ends in babies going back to sleep. Even if it takes three hours to get there. Bless their little souls. They really are sweet, even at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. They are so worth every bit of effort.

Sleep well my babies. Mommy is going back to bed to prepare for tonight's adventure.

We Love Grandma Sue

Kaia -- "I'm Ready for My Closeup"

The Great Escape

Some may argue she's just teething, but I suspect Zoe's staging her escape.

We've Got Grandma on Speed Dial

Kaia -- Resisting Zoe's Early Morning Wake Up Call

Please be quiet Sister. Just a little more sleep.

Zoe -- Sweet Potato Dreams

Our little sweet potato fast asleep in her highchair. Eating is hard work after all.