our house will never be quiet again

What happened to the quiet?  It is long gone.  Isla's been "talking" for a while now and I wondered if it frustrated Alice that she wasn't talking quite yet.  Well now that she is, she is making up for lost time and has tons to say.  Oh the quiet days are a thing of the past.  Our days are now filled with lots of dad dad dad dad, bah bah bah bah and mam mam mam mam.

their twin relationship has just reached a whole new level.

i love it.

chilling

It's what we do...

we lounge... on the floor... with the cat...

the floor provides hours of entertainment

and so does the cat

she is such a great sport

weekend chilling is even sweeter because dad dad dad dad is around

and we love dad dad dad dad

and this type of chilling... just makes me melt.

happy tuesday!

things are changing

I kind of feel like I have one tip toe out in the real world and the rest of me is in a hamster wheel.  I love my wheel, it is entrenched in routine, it gets going at 6 am and peters off at 7 pm, stopping altogether around 10 pm but of course makes appearances somewhere between 1 am and 5 am.   It is somewhere I feel comfortable, somewhere that is full of giggles, a place where I actually sing out loud and a place that is becoming increasingly entertaining everyday as the girls find their voices and start to speak... or that's what I like to call it.  So yeah, I am in it, and it is pretty much all consuming.  I know people preach about balance, about having a social life, about taking time for yourself... I try.... and I know it is important.... but damn it is hard to get anything more than a tip toe out there.

and mostly I am okay with it, actually thrilled with it.  Sometimes I worry a bit about losing myself.. but then I remind myself that I feel like I have never felt more like myself than I have these past almost 9 months.  The girls are nearing 9 months old.... yes the not so eagerly anticipated official date when they have actually been out in the real world longer than they were growing in me.  Someone told me a few months ago that I must not mourn the end of each stage... so I really try not to do that... but of course that is so hard.... and I mostly fail.... but it's something to aspire to.  The other thing that 9 months means... it is that much closer to the big change that is coming.  Operation Day Care... actually starting.  The last few weeks we have been baby-proofing, shopping, gearing up, decorating and planning for this new career of mine....

a little preview of the playroom... more to come soon...

Staying at home and starting a day care means that I will have a chance at doing something that I think I will love, and of course getting to stay with my girls, in my wheel each and everyday.

Not going back to my former career will mean a big financial adjustment... or change of ways... and sometimes when we are out at ... oh a mall... and I see things that I would like to have, I think for a second about how going back to work could mean that I could buy such things... but then that second passes and I feel relief when I realize that yeah, I will not have all of the things that I might think I want, but I will be with my girls.... and I remember that I have never gone to bed wanting a top, new pair of jeans, heels... you get the picture... but I have gone to bed agonizing over wanting someone tiny to hold and love... and now I have two.

change can be so good.

happy monday.

an afternoon with the cows

Yesterday we took a little trek to a local farm to introduce Isla and Alice to some farm animals.

I hadn't been to this farm for oh about twenty years...

it was smaller than I remember... of course

but was such a nice way to spend an afternoon..

the girls seemed to have a good time... especially on the see saw

pretty sure that was my favourite part too

of course we'll have to return when they can walk the farm...

not that I am in any rush for that to happen!

how was your weekend?

chaotic recap... easter edition

The girls were a hit at easter... of course.  How could they not be... all fussed up in dresses and headbands.

Easter take one occurred at our place in the form of Saturday brunch.  I have to emphasize how great brunch is when you have babies. Dinner requires messing up their bedtime routine which would more or less shatter my sanity.  Dinner is out, brunch is in.

The grandpas were all about the babies... as usual...

We spent the afternoon with my Mom as we gave Andrew some quality man time... which sounds odd as I type it but it was just that... watching sports without babies and wife.

Sunday was Easter take two... brunch take two to be precise... but this time it was at Grandma and Grandpa G's house...

but first the girls opened their Easter gifts from the Easter Bunny (I met him once you know)....

Alice: tissue paper... my favourite!

Alice: what is this?

Alice: who cares what it is, it is striped... and I love it.

Isla: tissue paper, my favourite...

Isla: bunny, bunny, the bunny brought me the bunny... that I saw at the bookstore and melted over.
Isla: you are mine... bunny

Then off to Grandma's we went...

rocking the headbands of course

I have to admit... they were pretty awesome

Isla... always sizing up her surroundings... which I love

Grandpa G had her giggling pretty quickly though.

Alice enjoying her new fluffy friend with Grandma and Uncle Steve

chilling... with Uncle Steve

That afternoon was spent with Nan once again as it was man time take two.  We went for a nice long walk and then gave the girls a chance to just be alone playing together.

Alice: what was all of that brunching about anyways?

It was a great first Easter as a family of four.

Hope yours was great too!

Happy weekend!

absence makes the heart grow fonder? and an admission

I kind of hate, wait scratch that (hate feels harsh)... don't love.... when I read a blog post about why a blogger hasn't been around... why? because that person is off living and I take it more as a treat when they do post not a failure when they don't.

so I won't write that kind of post.  and just hope you share my feelings and all...

and if you don't that's fine too.

....

I have to admit something.  Something that I am none too proud of.  Something that I would have judged endlessly if it had been someone else doing it.  The swing.  We've been taking advantage of it... for way too long.  I think when Alice's feet were way past dangling off the edge I finally admitted that something must be done.  You see, Isla has been sleeping 7pm to 7am (+ a dream feed at 10pm) for months now and Alice, well she has not.  So a good long while back we came up with a great idea to put Alice in the swing after she woke up for her middle of the night feed.  It worked.  Too well.

So Alice has been sleeping for several hours every night in that swing.  And well that worked so well that all of her naps have taken place in that swing for a good long while too.  She was napping for two hour stretches.  Why question it (was my rationale).

Well the guilt caught up with us and Monday was day one of break Alice (and well us) of the swing habit.
Today is day three.
I am exhausted.
but... progress... yes yes progress.
She is now napping in the co-sleeper (used as a full bassinet) for her naps and in the middle of the night when she does not want to go back to sleep in her crib she is going to sleep (with some help from us) in the bassinet as well.
short term pain, long term gain?  I know so.
It will all be worth it and for now I feel completely justified in frequenting Starbucks a little more regularly for some much needed late therapy.

so judge away (I would if i were you) but know that it feels damn good to admit this... suddenly I feel a bit more human again.

via

chaotic recap... eleventh edition

Yes it's Monday... I know.  But Thursday night I was busy mulling over what went down during Vampire Diaries and what else needs to be bought for the playroom.

Last week was different.  It was crafty!  I can't even believe I just wrote that... crafty I mean.  But it was fun... good old back in art class fun... minus the awkwardness of high school... thank god.

Isla started chatting.  Her specialties include dadadadadada and yaya gogo.

We love it.

The girls are growing... as usual... nothing new there... but I just can't get over how long they are!

We discovered the fool proof way of eliciting crazy happy baby types of reactions...

it works... every single time...

her name is Red and she comes from Fraggle Rock... thank you Auntie Stephanie!

in case you missed it here is that thing we made with crayons this week featured over on Heather's blog Interior Groupie.  Heather is based in Toronto and she and her Husband have done a ton of great renos in their place.  Go check them out.

we did a lot of this... as usual...

Little One has been quite absent from the blog since the girls made their debut.  It's not that we're ignoring her... it's more that she's ignoring us... unless we are upstairs in our room which is now her permanent domain it seems.

The girls are now eating tons of different fruits and vegetables, they eat meat in the form of sweet potatoes + chicken mush and they tried yogurt yesterday for the very first time.

We have another crafty thing cooking up... clue... it involves a lot of cutting and then some gluing and finally some hanging.

My Mom has been following this diet.  She is dropping the pounds and I am benefiting from some of the recipes.  Specifically this easy lunch one.

Sweet potatoes done in the microwave (you pierce them one million times first so they don't explode) then nuke them for seven minutes.  Add some shredded cheese, chick peas (or black beans as the recipe actually calls for), salsa and greek yogurt (or non fat sour cream as the recipe calls for).

It's delicious.


Happy Monday!