Just in time for New Years: Christmas!

Christmas was fun at our house! There was a ton of snow outside and presents on the ground. When one baby would open a present they both wanted it right away. We would have to lure one away with a new gift to open. It was a lot of fun, and everyone enjoyed the homemade cinnamon rolls. Hurray for holidays!

Christmas Eve's Eve

After being stuck at home for a few days in a row, I had to get us out. I walked the boys over to Brittanie & Nate's house a few blocks away. Because we were sled-less I had to carry them both. My arms were so tired by the time we got there!

We ended up sledding down their hill on a garbage can lid. The boys really weren't sure about it at first, but then they asked for more! Nate pulled out their wagon and we tried to get a good picture of everyone. I'll bet Brittanie has a photo of everyone smiling.






Cody is three weeks older than Henry and Elliot.



Jake's telling Elliot, "Is okay, baby. Okay."


Cody was not sure about being in the cold.



Here's a video of Nate sacrificing himself for smiles. The boys were ready to head inside where it was warm!

(Lila) Faith, Hope, and Luck of the Draw

Earlier in the week I read of a baby who was born very prematurely. He is facing an uphill road, but one that is passable. I follow the blog of micropremie twins , who were born shortly after their parents found out they were having twins. 24 weeks! Can you imagine finding out you're getting two babies late in the game and then giving birth very shortly thereafter?!? The girls are happy little people, but it broke my heart to hear about this new little baby.

Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, I found out a little newborn baby had been born, two days prior, with a heart defect, but was fighting. Last night I learned she died. The parents didn't find out about the defect until a few weeks ago; they thought everything was progressing fine.

These little babies have been on my mind all week. I had the best pregnancy, the best twin pregnancy in the books. And despite a scare or two, my guys were always fine and thriving. 38 weeks and they wouldn't leave! Birthed the way I wanted and breastfed from hour one. I'm feeling so thankful that life for me and these boys has been good. I can't say blessed because that doesn't fit...but we're lucky. Though we lost two little ones along the way, they were so little our lives hadn't been formed around them. There is no "meant to be" or "given what we can handle", there is only a healthy today and hope for a healthy tomorrow.

In addition to the ill babies, a women was in a car accident and is currently in a coma. Brittanie's mom was in an accident two Halloweens ago and I've tried to be the best friend I can be to Britt over the last year. I've learned so much about the brain and comas and recovery and how one decision or press of the gas pedal can change so many lives. I hope and pray that the boys (all three of them) and I have the most pedestrian, safe lives. And I try to ignore that it's just how things go sometimes.

I was telling Mike about the first baby the other day, and he asked me why I would want to risk having another. And maybe he's right; it's not worth the chance. I'm not sold on a third, but wasn't ready to give it up yet. But now, well, maybe my ducks have hatched and I need to thank my lucky stars for the life we have.

Guess who got extra squeezes last night?

Come back Friday afternoon for a fun post about sledding and all four boys (Brittanie's and mine). All of whom are healthy and happy.

Part Two!

And then the snow came:










Watching dada shovel the walk.


And then we were trapped at home. I whined.

Real Snow - Part One: The Whining

I was whining to myself that we don't get real snow in Portland. Everyone else in town was excited about an inch of powder, while we were stuck inside due to wind. Our house is surprisingly close to the Columbia River and it's like we live in a wind tunnel when the Easterly blows.

My friends and sister in Seattle posted pictures of sledding and covered roads. My dad send photos of his buried house.

We got this:

Not our bathroom window.







And on Friday, things like this were still pretty amusing:


My friend Alison came over and amused us, and in turn Henry amused her. For some reason he would smile, quickly tense up and quiver. It was the first time I'd ever noticed him do it, and he seemed to do it on purpose. Ah, the wonders of cabin fever.

Cookie Day

Here are two photos Debbie took when we were at her house two weeks ago. Auntie Shannon and I went out there for Cookie Day. We made pumpkin, chai snickerdoodle, and ginger cookies. Debbie added in some caramel meltaways, which were delicious!

Henry's working on perfecting his sneer.




Elliot turns on the charm.



Today I made raspberry thumbprint cookies. Too bad Elliot's the only person around here who will eat cookies with me!

Snow Day Video

They were pretty confused by the whole thing.
Can you let me know if it's really grainy?

Snow Day!

We got a thick dusting of snow today, so the boys got to play in it on the way to the car. When it first snowed the other day, Henry was afraid to move and just looked at the ground whining. Now he's a pro, and calls the snow "no". Cute!

"Hey, what's going on in there?"

Goo Goo... Ga Ga... Blah Blah... Sense!

It's taken Henry and Elliot a bit of time to catch onto the whole talking-in-English thing. They've been adding a few honest word here and there, so I sat down and wrote them out today. They're a bit behind their peers, but not too far!

Elliot and Henry's Words at 17 Months, in order of appearance:
- quack like a duck instead of saying the word
- Fish (First word the boys would reliably repeat, in addition to identifying the fish when asked.)
- Apple (Henry's first "real" word. That is, a word that he didn't parrot back and say at our prompting. One day I opened up the refrigerator, he pointed to a peach and said "apple". Out of nowhere! I was so excited! Elliot picked it up soon after, so also his first real word.)
- Balloon
- dada
- papa (Mike gets two names and I get none.)
- baby (both picked this up in a few hours after I gave them baby dolls. I was surprised.)
- bye bye
- airplane
- banana
- mama (rarely and never on command)
- up (first word I felt like I've *taught* them.)
- all done (Kind of a word. Kind of mama-can-understand.)
- empty (Random. I didn't know we said "empty" a lot, but we must.)

Signs:
- dog (dropped)
- light (dropped) Dog and light were the first hints that they could communicate!
- elephant
- bird (so cute! They do it wrong, but they try to chirp!)

Henry Only:
- flower. Sounds kind of like "wawa"
- more. pronounced "ma"
- will moo occasionally and always roar when asked what a cow and lion say

Elliot Only:
- ball. "do"
Signs:
- more
- please
- all done

Notable Milestones

All met in month 17:

First crib escape: Henry
First big boy bed refusal: Elliot
First drinking out of the dog bowl, on hands and knees with face in bowl: Elliot
First turning a book around so it's right-side-up: Henry

Notes: Henry is doing great sleeping in his crib-turned-into-toddler-bed, Elliot promptly fell out and stood crying at the door. He's now sleeping in a pack-n-play wedged between the cribs. He'll take some naps in the bed, but seems to prefer the comfort of sides. The first night I was trying to comfort Elliot and was sitting on his bed holding him. Henry woke up, stumbled over in the dark, laid his head on my feet and fell asleep. It was so sweet.

I would post pictures, but I've misplaced the uploading cord. So if anyone who frequents my house happens to know where it is, please let me know!

Henry James

Henry, originally uploaded by crankyisgood.

My poor sister got saddled with my kids and someone else's kids when she was down visiting last weekend.

Someone else's kids who I said I'd watch, but then forgot I said I'd watch said kids. So she have my babes, one extra 16 month old and a wild three year old. A wild three year old who Elliot loves to copy.

Luckily Henry took a long nap and only woke up at the end of her sitting duty.

Sorry, sister!

Things I love about Elliot

* How when he was born I said, "That's a big baby!" as they whisked him across the room 6lbs, 2oz is not particularly big; I think I was more shocked that he was a real, honest human.
* I used to love his whirl of hair at the back of his head. It was so perfectly round. It still is, but now that he's got a decent head of hair I can't see it.
* I do love his curls, even though people say he has a mullet. (Written before Haircut 2008, of course).
* I love that Mike complains about Elliot's long hair every time I mention cutting it he objects. Strongly.
* I love his huge eyes. They were open from the first second of life and in his travel across the hospital room I could see how big and dark they where.
*I love that he pulls me all over the place by holding onto my finger. He can almost run, but it's so important to him that I see what he sees, that I help him with what he needs. Yes, it gets old, but it is sweet.
* I love that he chatters. His words are generally not in English, but he knows what he is talking about.
* I love his laugh.
* I love love love him in striped pajamas. I don't have any pictures but I will take some because he is amazingly adorable.
* I love that he is friendly. He is rarely shy or slow to get involved in activities.
* I (kind of) love that he figured out how to climb the slide today (it's all about not using the knees).

Things I love about Henry

* I love his sturdy little body. He's always been solid, even at six-nine.
* I love his dimples, so deep and so sweet.
* I love how big his mouth is. It's huge! He'll throw his head back and laugh; I think you can see all the way to China.
* I love when he says, "no, no, no". Even though it's coming back at me!
* I love how he's an easy teether. He just pops teeth out.
* I love that when he wakes up he likes to throw himself down in his crib and play peek-a-boo. Over and over!
* I love his soft hair. I love how dark it is.
* I love his husky voice. I hope it never changes.
* I love catching him in conversation with himself. He'll go on and on in Henryese. Then he'll look at me and keep on talking, as if I can understand him. Sometimes he speaks under his breath, lately he's been getting louder.
* I love how reserved he is. He'll stare at you until he decided you're okay. He did this to me when I first saw him after our Atlanta trip. He's cautious. He is safe in his actions.

One Last Chicken and Lion Picture!

Here's the professional picture from Halloween.

More Silly Babies

Elliot, Elliot, What Do You See?

Elliot is surprised to see a friend from home!

"Woah, I know that guy!!!"

More Halloween!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Gavin!!!

This afternoon my friend Alison helped me take the boys to a fancy-pants photo studio in town. The event was much different than I had imagined. For some reason I thought it would be a casual affair with pictures snapped while the toddlers toddled. In actuality it was much more formal sit-in-a-studio quick photo session.

I paid $10 for a digital print, but it was pretty cool in that they took about 20 photos and I'm sure one of them will have turned out well. Thank god Alison was with us because it took FOREVER and it could have turned ugly. Here are some snapshots I took while we waited for our turn. For reference, we were the fifth in line and we were out of there after almost an hour!

These pictures look better in a larger size. Click on them, if you'd like.

Henry's mad: "Why'd you get the light costume? This weighs a ton!"



Elliot checks Henry out and admits that he got lucky.



"You called, mama?"




Sometimes it's easy to ignore the fact that they're twins; they're very different in looks and personality. I'll take a series of pictures, however, and they're totally in sync. What great babies!

Sneak Peek of Halloween 2008

Baby E's First Haircut

I cut Elliot's hair this morning, and I think I'm going to outsource the job from now on.

First I combed it out so it looked horrible to insure that I would actually cut it.



A side view of the rat's nest.



Of course I had to wet it for cutting and you can see all the curls trying to spring back to life. I knew I had to cut now while I had the good scissors out; if I chickened out I would come after him with the dull kitchen shears one morning after an oatmeal smearing.



"Oh no, mama! I look so preppy in this polo shirt and country club regulation hair cut. And where did these ears come from???"






"Lady, how am I going to show my face at Story Time when you did this to the back of my head?" Poor boy, it looks worse in person.



This delightful curl used to be on my baby's head.



But so did this:



Probably a good thing we cut it.

Notes from almost 16 months

Babies love sweet potato fries
Henry now chews up a whole mouth of food and then slowly spits is all out
Henry managed to get into the bathroom and stick the hairbrush into the toilet. yuck.
They LOVE to climb. It's going to be the death of me. Or of them. Who knows?

Here's a video from last month.

Babies at Debbie's

A boat load of photos from Debbie!

Henry likes to crawl under tables. He often stands up while under them.





Sharing!






Maybe Elliot should be the tin man for Halloween.



Delicious, and surprisingly clean.