Halloween Pictures

Lily (L) and Elsa (R) had a very fun Halloween.


They had a two-day celebration. Yesterday, we went to Boo at the Zoo. Today we explored the neighborhood. Lily (L), Elsa (R) The girls were a big hit in their bunny outfits.


Here is Lily munching on a carrot.


And Elsa with a big grin. The girls both loved their costumes. But, Elsa REALLY loved her costume. She kept the whole thing on for several hours, even the ears. She cried when it was time to take it off and go to sleep.


Mommy and her baby bunnies. Elsa (L) and Lily (R)


Somebunny (Lily) has BOTH carrots. Uh, oh.


Two tired little bunnies, Lily (L) and Elsa (R), curl up on Daddy.

Little Pumpkins

Lily (L) and Elsa (R) enjoying the pumpkin patch. One afternoon last week, I bravely decided to take them to the pumpkin lot all by myself. It was the first time I've had them by myself untethered. Usually, they stay in the stroller or I wear them in a baby-carrier. For this event, I parked the stroller and sat the girls down for pictures. (yes, mommy has a picture obsession).

The girls went nuts. The pumpkins must have really excited them. There were babies and hay everywhere. They started dashing around corners, chewing on straw and trying to stand up on wobbly pumpkins. We attracted quite an audience while I was trying to take some pictures. I'm sure we looked quite comical as I was chasing them around the pumpkin patch. Now that the twins are mobile, they NEVER stay put. They move like lightening.


Here is Elsa giving her evil genius grin. This is her special smile for when she is up to something. (notice the pumpkin behind her back?)

As for the bare-feet, the girls refuse to wear shoes. Socks are ok in moderation. I have decided not to fight this battle, as they aren't walking yet. Bare-feet are better for learning anyway. But, this might be a problem if we move anywhere outside of California.


Here is Lily challenging Mama to a sword fight.

Man, these girls are fun!


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Finally just want to share a snippet proving yet another reason why Mark is such a good dad.

So for background, people are constantly coming up to us saying weird things about having twins. Usually, people mean well and are just excited. Like the waiter at Juans who pat Mark on the back and said "Home run, Buddy!" Other times, people feel sorry for us and say things like "how do you manage?" or "you poor things!" That drives me nuts because our girls are a blessing not a burden.

The other day, a lady at the pediatrician's waiting room gave us the "duplicate baby" comment. It is another one that drives me nuts because it implies that our daughters are interchangeable or something. I never know what to say. But, Mark handled it quite well.

Lady: Are those twins?
Mark: Yep.
Lady (looking down at her own kid): Gah, I can't imagine having two of you.
Mark (smiling): I can't imagine having just one of them!

Box Cars

Lily and Elsa had fun riding in their box car all weekend. Vroom. Vroom.


Elsa got to drive since she's the oldest. (by 1 minute)


Lily was content to lean back and enjoy the ride.


Drag race!


Elsa's been pushing the box as a "walker" up and down the hall. Sometimes, she's my little old lady. Elsa's showing much interest in walking. She's been trying to go places. Lily seems more interested in standing in place, usually in the middle of the action trying to see everything.

If cardboard boxes are this fun, who needs toys? Lily and Elsa are very good at making up games to play together. Their other new game is the "pillow" game. They invented it themselves. They put a bunch of pillows on the floor and crash-land on them. It makes them giggle and laugh. Then, they wrestle each other.

They also think it is really funny to feed mommy and daddy. They like to give us pieces of their finger foods.

A visit with Flat Haley

This weekend we visited with Flat Haley. Flat Haley is the two dimensional representative of our six year old niece Real Haley. This is a project for her first grade class. Flat Haley is busy traveling around the world visiting friends and family. We took some pictures for Flat Haley's travel journal.


Here's Flat Haley babysitting her cousins. Lily's on the left and Elsa's on the right. Elsa is about two seconds from eating sand, her favorite snack. It makes her hair curly.



Uncle Mark showing Haley the seismograph in the lab.



Mommy and the girls wave hello. Elsa is waving her hand. Lily is waving her feet.



Flat Haley climbed a redwood tree on campus.


This is a picture from the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin festival. Flat Haley was there, but there was not time to set her up for a picture. That's one big pumpkin! We sat in traffic a combined total of 5 hours to sit on a giant pumpkin. The babies were not impressed! Next year we are getting pumpkins at Safeway.

In other news, Lily and Elsa are brilliant and active as usual. They are truly amazing. Elsa can point to her nose and her bellybutton. She has also learned her version of the word "no." It sounds like ni ni ni (rhymes with eye). When we were stuck in the never-ending car ride to Halfmoon Bay. Elsa kept yelling ni ni ni! Lily is busy working on climbing. A couple of days ago, I found Lily using Elsa as a step stool. She was standing on Elsa's back trying to get to the second shelf of our bookcase. Lily has also decided that she needs to be able to see her mommy at all times. She'll often stand at the kitchen gate yelling mama MaMa MAMA! Elsa is usually more content to concentrate on her puzzles, stacking and books. Their unique personalities are becoming more obvious. The interesting thing is that while Elsa plays more independently, she also has more stranger anxiety. She wants to be held when people come to visit.

They had their 13 month doctor's visit last week. They are still little pixies. Elsa was 18lbs 2 oz, Lily was 17lbs 11 oz. They are both 27 inches long. There hasn't been more than half a pound's difference between them since their birth. They are in the 5th percentile for height and weight. Their heads are 50th percentile. The doctor says they must have big brains. :)

Awwww

Look, its Lily's first drawing! Our first toddler scribble. In a matter of minutes, my sweet Lily managed to climb into the book-basket and reached up on the high table. She knocked over a "glass" glass, grabbed a pencil and started drawing. Thankfully, nobody was injured. But, nerdly mother that I am, I was just convinced that the girls were ready for art projects. (everyone knows how much I love art projects!) So, I ran to my stash of goodies and handed the girls both a crayon and a piece of paper.

Well, they started to eat the crayons! Oh, well.


I think that the girls are really becoming toddlers. More often than not, they are standing. Plus, they've been crusing along the furniture. Lily stood all by herself earlier this week. Mark saw her standing in her crib and clapping. She was able to hold the pose for at least 10 seconds, so I think it counts.

They also have a few words, Mama, Dada and Kitty. They know their family.

They also have a few "tricks" that we've practiced. They can clap, wave, put their hands on their head, stick out their tongues and show how old they are by holding up "one" finger. I'm working on a little video of these for the website. Its pretty cool because they recognize the words.



Doesn't Elsa look like a grownup. She's had a major case of the giggles this week. She keeps laughing and laughing for no apparent reason. It is really cute.


Here are the girls hanging out before bedtime. (Now, you can see what our livingroom looks like at the end of the day). Lily's the one standing in the trademark yellow pjs. Yellow is Lily's special color. Elsa's is blue. That's Elsa's "concentrating" face. She's busy reprogramming the tape recorder in her toy. Somehow, she's figured out how to work the recorder. Genius. I can't even figure it out.


Mommy and Elsa take a silly self-portrait.


My girls having a good time. They've been playing with each other a lot the last couple weeks. Every morning they are standing up at the ends of their cribs "talking." The biting situation is improving. Thank goodness!

They've started sharing toys and even pass toys to each other. They like to wrestle and go on exploring expeditions around the house. This week, they've been into going "under" things. They figured out how to hide under their cribs. They've also figured out how doors work. They'll sit on either side of the door opening and closing. One will push the door open, the other will pull it closed. It is so interesting to see them invent new games to play. Having a twin must be so fun!

Inside the broccoli wars

Elsa: Pssst, Lily. What's with this green stuff? Yuck!


Lily: I think its called broccoli, but I'm not going to eat it. Maybe, if I hold really still, Mommy, will forget about me.



Elsa: I'd rather lick the table than eat this broccoli stuff.


Lily: Mommy says we have to try at least one bite.


Elsa: Aaagh! This is SO gross!


Elsa: Gag me!


Lily: I think I'm gonna be sick.


Lily: All gone. Look, I'm done. *whispers* Mommy doesn't know that we dropped it all on the floor while she was taking all these silly pictures. Twins triumph again!