Happy Birthday, Little Princesses

Francesca and Milena,

Its hard for me to imagine that you'll grow up and have no recollection of anything that happened over the last year.  Everything that happened this past year will be among the most vivid memories of my life.  Every day, I watch you grow and learn, and I watch you leave "baby" behind to become little girls. 

For your first birthday, our plan was to have a small family celebration on your actual birthday, and then to have a bigger, joint birthday party with Emmett a little later in the summer after we move.  Our small family celebration ended up not being so small, though, and as it turns out you are just having two birthday parties.  What can I say?  Everyone wanted to come celebrate. 

As much as our friends and family love you, its nothing compared to the love your daddy and I feel for you both.  We both have many hopes and goals for you as you grow into children and then adults.  However, the ONE thing, the very most important thing, that I hope you carry with you always, is the knowledge that we love you more than anything and that you will always be home when you are with us.  I hope I have started to instill that this past year. 

Francesca Juliet:  Every morning when you first wake up, you are a little bit grumpy and a little bit shy.  My favorite thing to do is lay you on the changing table and rub my nose on yours while I tickle your belly.  This never fails to make you start laughing.  When your chubby little face splits into a grin, my heart sings.   Over the last several months you've become more of a snuggler, which I love.  You've remained an all-in kind of a baby though.  You are the one that puts all the food on her tray in her mouth (at once), goes face first into the birthday cake, talks to strangers, wholeheartedly gives high-fives, bangs all the keys during piano lessons with your grandmother.  You are perfect and I hope you never change.

Milena Isabel:  You start dancing whenever music comes on, which I find to be absolutely enchanting.  If one could say that a baby is thoughtful, I would say that you are.  You dine at a leisurely pace, investigate cautiously, touch gingerly.  You watch people.  But, anyone who thinks you are the quiet and shy twin would be wrong, because baby, you are wild!  I used to tell people that your sister would be at the race track with your dad while you stayed home making cookies with me.  Well, I'm starting to think I was wrong about that.  We may all be at the race track - ha!  Your grandmother got you a push tricycle for your birthday and we got you a scoot car.  You love these toys and you love to go FAST on them.  You love to play mimic games where you copy my clapping or mouth sounds.  Sometimes, just to make you laugh, I make a silly noise or face during a meal.  You always get the joke.  You are perfect and I hope you never change. 


Happy birthday, little princesses.

Love,

Mom

Baby Steps

I think the new blogger format is messing up my blog background.  Annoying!

Summer is about to kick into full gear around here.  We've got family travel, Bill has travel, we have a first birthday to celebrate TOMORROW and, of course, the looming move.  I'm trying to resist the urge to get stressed by all that must be accomplished.  Taking everything slowly, and in baby steps will be key to surviving the pace of the next month.  That and making lists.  I won't be the only one baby stepping my way through the days - we've officially got two tiny walkers in the house! 

I happened to catch Milena's very first steps on video:

I know walking and hitting the 12 month mark mean big changes are afoot (afoot - ha ha).  Everyone says things get harder, but frankly, I'm glad.  I need a little mix up to keep things interesting and keep me on my toes.

Last weekend we took a family trip to Houston for my mom's wedding.  I can safely say that I will not be taking any more weekend trips with the babies that involve airplanes.  The girls did not sleep much and had very little interest in sitting still on our laps or playing quietly at our feet.  From now on, if we are doing airplanes, we are going and staying for awhile.  Having said that, we had a great time in Houston.  The girls got to see grandparents, their great-grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins.  They also got to visit with Finley Milligan for the very first time.  Bill and I enjoyed some free babysitting and the chance to catch up with friends that we don't see very often.  And of course, the wedding was lovely.

Francesca and Finley.  Finley was very excited to get to play with the "big kids."

Francesca going in for a smooch.  There has been a lot of smooching going on lately.  Poor Finley isn't quite as quick as the girls so she had to submit to lots of loves. 

Getting ready for our big night  - the wedding!

All dressed up and looking so sweet. 

Annnndddd those cute clips lasted about one minute before they were forcibly removed.  The girls are getting to be a little bit rough!

There was a professional photographer so I didn't take many pictures at the wedding, but here is a shot of the girls playing with their cousin IV. 

We've been enjoying beautiful spring weather in Portland.  Yesterday the twins accompanied me and their Auntie Erin to do a little shopping at Bridgeport Village.  We made a stop at the playground, which they enjoyed. 

A Very Sunny Weekend

The girls turned 11 months last week.  Every month I say to myself, "this is my favorite age!"  But really, 11 months is the best.  They just woke up one day doing all this really fun stuff!

They are still cute and sweet babies, but they clearly understand what I'm saying and are starting to interact with me like kids.  For the last several months I've been working with the girls on sign language.  We only do a few signs:  eat, more, milk, all done.  Several friends of mine suggested I do this because they will start signing before they start talking, making it easier to know what they want, meet their needs and have a happy household.  After several months of showing them the same signs over and over, Francesca finally started signing "more."  Its so unbelievably cute.  She doesn't quite get the nuances of the meaning of "more," and uses it more as in "I want."  Still, the fact that this baby can formulate a specific want and then communicate it to me absolutely astonishes me.

They also play peek-a-boo, give loves, and are getting sooooo close to walking.  Milena is especially well-balanced.  She can stand without holding on pretty well and can even withstand a tummy tickle without falling over.  She is trying to take that first step but isn't there quite yet. 

In other news, we have a new house!  Almost.  We are in the inspection period and will close in the beginning of June.  After we close I'll post some pictures.  I'm really excited about it.  Its in a nice, quiet neighborhood with good schools and a big yard.  We've rented and owned several homes in Portland and I think this is finally one we will be happy in for a long time.  I'm really looking forward to hanging some family pictures and settling in.

We had our first glimpse of summer weather this past weekend and it was wonderful.  The girls got size one soccer balls and we went to the soccer field at Chapman Elementary to play.  Francesca on left, Milena on right. 

Taking steps:  Milena practicing with Bill. 

Francesca giving her sister a love.

We are learning to use spoons.  Its messy. 

Our First Easter

Once again, most of this post is just going to be pictures.  We have been busy, busy, busy as our house hunt continues.  Last week we wrote an offer on a home that we did not ultimately get.  I was a little sad at first, but now it is onward to other homes.  I'm very excited about some of the selections out there.  I think we are going to write another offer today.  Hopefully next week I will have good news to report!

My mom and her fiance, Mike, came in to visit for Easter weekend.  I feel like we spent most of the weekend eating.  Nobody seemed to mind much :).  We had a great visit and a very busy Easter.

Milena's new trick is "giving loves."  So sweet!!!  It will be even sweeter if/when her nose stops running. 

We had GREAT weather for Easter.  This is a picture from Saturday when we took the girls to the park to swing. 

Mom and Milena. 

Francesca and I.

Easter morning!  This is us getting ready to head to breakfast.  I am holding Francesca and mom has Milena. 

We had good behavior at breakfast... mostly.  Actually, the girls are typically really good in restaurants and we go out for breakfast frequently on the weekends.  Here we are at Besaws, a Portland tradition. 

Another bonus of going to breakfast is that it makes the girls very, very sleepy.  Look at Milena's tired eyes. 

Francesca!

Mom and Milena.

After we had a morning nap we couldn't stay inside because it was too sunny and perfect.  We took the girls to walk around the NW neighborhood.  We checked out the park at Chapman Elementary and then hit Northwest Public House for some Easter mac and cheese. 

After our afternoon in the sun we had another nap and then went to Bill and Joy's house for dinner.  I don't have any pictures from that but maybe someone (hint hint) will email some to me and I will update the blog in a few days.  The girls even got to have a little scoop of ice cream after dinner.  To say they were fans would be an understatement.  There was much screaming and whining when we were all done.  Needless to say, after such a big day we all collapsed when we got home. 

Yesterday I tried to keep things calm around the house so that they could recover from Easter weekend.  They're still so exhausted, though.  Last night they were too tired to drink their bedtime bottle.  When I put them in their crib with their milk they just started crying.  Within seconds they were both fast asleep.  My poor little buddies!  Its hard to have schedule consistency when we have to be out looking at houses every day.  They've been troopers though; everyone is impressed with how well they behave. 

Aunt Kinsey's Visit

My sister is in town and we've been quite busy.  I'm just going to let the pictures tell the story, but I will share our big news... our house is now in contract!  Hooray!  I have a good feeling about this deal and I think its all going to work out perfectly.  We have to be out by June 15, so in the coming weeks we are going to be doing a lot of house shopping.  House shopping is one of my favorite things in the world so I don't mind too much.

In the last couple of weeks...

We got a big box of dresses in the mail from our grandma...

We invited Emmett over to play and gave him lots of attention...

We spent a lot of time driving around while people looked at our house...

We went for a hike with Aunt Kinsey...

We worked on learning to be a little neater with our snacks...

We found a lot of cool stuff in our kitchen drawers...

We had lots of fun in the bath (Milena)...

Lots of fun (Francesca)...

Even more fun (Francesca)...

We went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry) when Grandma and Grandpa came down to visit for the day...

We had a great time playing with all the toys in the baby room...

ALL the toys...

And finally, we discovered the joy of chewing wood.  Mom had to get pretty creative about gopher proofing our cribs.

A couple videos from OMSI:

Four Week Update

My New Year's Resolution to write a blog post every week didn't last very long.  So it goes.  We have been busy!

The girls are just on the verge of turning 10 months old. They pull up to standing with ease, and recently brave little Francesca has started letting go of whatever she is holding onto for a moment.  They will take a few steps behind their push cart when encouraged.  They stay up later now, until 7 or 730 pm, and for the most part sleep until 7am.  This has opened up a whole new world of dining out for Bill and I.  The girls love to go to restaurants to try different foods and look at all the people and the big kids running around.  They love music class and they LOVE each other.  They're turning into great mimics.  They copy us saying "ba ba" and "da da" and "eh eh."  They love to play a game of spit (we all make spitting sounds) or bang your hands on the table. 

Three weeks ago we put our house back on the market.  It was for sale around the time the girls were born.  We actually got an offer the day they came home from the hospital but decided not to sell.  I thought I would be able to handle a move at that time but when it came down to it I just couldn't face it.  I haven't regretted being in this house and especially in this neighborhood for the last 10 months for a minute.  But now its time to figure out our next step. 

Right after we listed the house I, anxious to avoid the initial rush of showings,  took the girls and went to Seattle to visit Dad and Kathy for a few days.  The morning I left I had a hunch they weren't feeling great but decided to make the trip anyway.  I won't say it was a mistake because being home would have been worse, but it was pretty rough.  We made it to within 10 minutes of our destination and the vomiting started.  Eggs. So.  Gross. 

There was vomiting.  There was fever.  There was congestion.  And then there was diarrhea.  Wow.  I had an inkling that sick babies would be sad and irritable, but I had no idea how messy they would be.  I'm talking multiple baths a day, at all hours of the day and night.  And the laundry!  After a couple sleepless nights in Seattle I had to get home.  I threw the stuff and the babies in the car and drove as fast as I could to Portland.  This time we made it to the house.  In front of my house, I turned off my car and sat for just a moment to exhale and relax and be glad to be home.  And that was one moment in the car too long - poo juice everywhere!  Poor little Milena bug. 

Bill was supposed to go away that weekend and thankfully he cancelled his trip.  Having two sick babies really requires at least two adults.  It is a lot of work.

We survived our first stomach virus, though, and have been having a great time in the couple weeks since.  We've been quite busy with house stuff - showing ours and looking at others - but have squeezed in some fun activities too.  Last week we went to the children's museum for the first time.  We've enjoyed some nice weather outdoors and found a new favorite restaurant for Saturday breakfast. 

A video of the girls at their Grandpa's house.  They were sick, but not too sick to play a little guitar:

Francesca enjoying the baby room at the Children's Museum

Milena sharing her toys with Emmett (yeah right)

"Who is this pretty girl in the mirror?!?"

Bath time! Francesca loves this green cup. 

Baby butt... quite possibly the cutest thing in the world.