Waffle

Someone taught Kyle & Emily to count in Spanish!! Sadly, I don't know if it was their babysitter who is from Argentina and speaks fluently and is just amazing or if they got it from a toy that also counts in Spanish or if it is from Dora. Nonetheless, we love it! I had no idea they knew it until about 3 weeks ago when Kyle was taking pieces of cheese and salami from his plate and putting them on the counter and counting - "uno, dos, fres, waffle, cinco!" I was putting away dishes but heard this and spied as he did this. I asked him to repeat because it was so amazing! He did and proudly counted again in Spanish! Now loving that "cuatro" is "waffle" I called in Jeff so he could hear it! Now when we ask him to count, he knows we just want to hear him say waffle, but he amuses us and loves showing off his Spanish counting skills. And Emily, too, knows how to count in Spanish, but she actually says "cuatro" and is very proud of her counting.

Craziness!

So as you can imagine, life with two 2-year olds can be quite crazy sometimes! Let's just say this past week was quite a memorable one for the craziness!! Emily got the flu. Kyle got the flu. We (Kyle) used our first barf bag on the airplane - and successfully I might add! Emily fell down the steps (4+) and banged up her face - mostly rug burn near her eye that has healed nicely. Kyle fell down the steps (just 2) and ate the ground and has bruised gums and a fat lip. So crazy all at once!

Boston

We are having a great time in Boston. Kyle & Emily are loving playing with Jadon. The weather has been amazing! It's November and it's in the 60s here! It is supposed to get colder, but we are really enjoying the nice warm weather for sure! And the kids are loving the fall colors and leaves.

Merry Maids

Kyle & Jadon had a great time playing with Jadon's birthday present.

Halloween

We are spending Halloween in Boston with Kyle & Emily's cousin, Jadon. We went to Beacon Hill to trick or treat and it was a great time. The kids LOVED it!! Emily was Princess Aurora. Jadon was a duckie. Kyle was supposed to be a knight, but he wanted nothing to do with his costume so we went as himself and carried a guitar.

3 little monkeys...

climbing in a tree... So we're in Boston with Kyle & Emily's cousin Jadon and we're all having a great time. This morning, Jeff & Eric took the kids for a picnic in the park. It was nearly 60 degrees out! In Boston! In November!! Woohoo!! (That also meant a great run for me and Stephanie!) Here is a great picture of the kids climbing in a tree.

Uh oh Kyle pants!

So we were running from my room to the kids to get Emily when Kyle exclaims " uh oh Kyle pants!" and I turn around to see this!

boys and girls

Seeing the differences between Kyle & Emily are pretty striking sometimes! This morning I was just amazed at how "boy" Kyle is and how "girl" Emily is. I know there is the nature v. nurture debate, but they have been so boy and so girl from the beginning. So this morning as I was doing the dishes, Emily comes excitedly running over to me with a pink purse she found asking if she can bring it with her to music class. Meanwhile, Kyle was sitting in the corner near the blocks using it as an obstacle course for his car to drive over, going bump, bump, bump!

Hiding!

Kyle did this a while back and proclaimed "hiding!" It was hysterical!! We tried not to laugh and were bummed we didn't get it on camera. Needless to say we weren't going to ask him to do it again so we could take a picture. Well this morning at breakfast, Emily started doing this and exclaimed "Emily taking boogers out!" and Kyle quickly mimicked her. With my trusty phone camera nearby I took quick snapshots of both of them to capture this moment!

a running theme...

So there is a common theme here... I am slacking on this blog... we've just been having too much fun to stop and write and post pictures, but I will do my best to give some highlights of the past few weeks / months!

So first, the kids are loving having Spike and Shasta around. During the day, Shasta is a good source of amusement for the kids. They like using Shasta as a driving course for Kyle's green tractor and Emily's Dora bus. Furthermore, they play doctor with Shasta. They gave her surgery the other day to remove her belly button, like they do with one another or us. With scissors of course! Shasta doesn't seem to mind one bit!

Disneyland!

So I have been seriously slacking on the blog front. We just spent the last 2 weeks in Chicago with family and we all had a great time. Prior to that though, it was my birthday and then Jeff's. To celebrate, we went to Disneyland!! It was amazing! The kids absolutely LOVED it! In fact, today, Emily asked if we could go to Disneyland again. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto and princesses. Emily also dressed up as a princess. She picked out a pink Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) dress and wore that for a day in Disneyland. And don't forget the pink tiara!! And when we met Mickey Mouse, she was in awe! Neither her nor Kyle freaked out at him, which we were quite (pleasantly) surprised by! Emily even danced with Mickey! The whole Disneyland experience was just magical and really is the happiest place on earth!

personalities emerging

Today or yesterday is their should-have-been 2nd birthday! But hey, we got to meet them sooner than expected and they are doing great! So the kids personalities are really emerging. So a little about each:

Kyle is really into cars, choo-choos and airplanes. He found a few train cars and figured out that they go together magnetically and put a 3 car train together all on his own. His favorite food is still probably lentil soup, beans and pretty much anything you put in the little traveling cereal bowl. He loves Puff the Magic Dragon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar books. And he still loves playing guitar - or tigar as he calls it. His favorite song is La Bamba as sung by Hullabaloo. He's excited to see them play for his Stroller Strides group. His favorite shape - doesn't everyone have a favorite shape?- is an octagon, closely followed by diamonds. The other day as we were walking through the neighborhood, he pointed to his left and excitedly said "yellow diamond!" There was a yellow diamond sign that said "bump" off to his left! Amazing! And then on the way home, he saw the back of a STOP sign and even though it was the back and silver, he said "red octagon!" Pretty cool!!

Emily is really into princesses. She recently got a Cinderella princess boo-boo ball and is always saying she has an owie so that she can look at Cinderella. She has diversified from Dora! And she really loves books, asking to read stories all day long. Among her favorites are Puff & Caterpillar, but she also loves the Dora books, ABC, 123, shapes and duckie books. She too is a big fan of La Bamba. Her favorite food is still cheese, but she loves fruit twists and lollipops (vitamin C lollipops we got when we were all sick). Jeff took the kids to the zoo the other week and they had a blast. The zoo conveniently situates their gift shop right by the exit and the kids suckered Daddy into getting them giant stuffed animals. Kyle chose a giraffe and Emily chose a Cheetah. When we asked her what her cheetahs name is, she replied "Shasta mommy!" How cute! Soon though, she will learn that cheetahs are cats and Shasta is a golden lab dog, but for the meantime, she things this giant cheetah is Shasta's mommy! Speaking of names, Emily has learned her full name - Emily Beth. And Kyle knows his - Kyle Thomas. When we pointed out that Kyle's middle name is Thomas, Emily started saying his name as Kyle Choo-Choo, just like Thomas the Choo-Choo. And since Kyle gets to have his middle name share the name of a train, she insited that her middle name was Dora - Emily Dora! How funny!!

Kyle & Miko play ti-gar

This was just too cute of a picture not to share!

Shassssa

So the kids have some new friends living with us! Spike and Shasta! This is the first time the kids have met Shasta. She came to visit 2 years ago while we were on bedrest, but the kids didn't get to meet Shasta then (thankfully they stayed in a little bit longer!). They have played with Spike many times since then, but not Shasta until now. We were unsure how the kids would respond to a big doggie living with them because anytime they have looked eye to eye with a dog, they have been a bit freaked out. They don't mind little dogs so much - Bailey, Mozart & Delle - but they are much smaller doggies. Anyhow, the kids have been doing great! The first day, Shasta gave Kyle big licks on the face and instead of losing it, Kyle smiled and laughed and said, "Shasssa kissies!" And he even gives her nice touches. Emily just loves Shasta too. She has been a little more fearless with other doggies and has responded beautifully to "Shassssa". We took Shasta to the park the other day and the kids both wanted to throw Shasta's kong toy to her. They thought it was the funniest thing when she'd chase after the toy and bring it back to run after it again! And Emily wanted to walk Shasta on her leash. Needless to say, they are loving their new friend Shasta. And of course they are loving Spike ("Docter Fike") a ton as usual!

Emily's 2 year anniversary of coming home!

So today is Emily's 2 year anniversary of coming home from the hospital!! For those of you keeping score, yes, that was nearly 5 weeks after she was born - 33 days to be exact. She was born on a Sunday and came home on a Friday one month and 2 days after her birthday, after a long time in the NICU working out many health issues. She had to have a ventilator, CPAP and oxygen to help her breathe. She had profusion difficulties likely caused by her PDA - no not a Palm or Blackberry, but a hole in her heart. On top of all this, she had a lot of bruising likely because her cord was around her neck twice so couldn't open her eyes for a few days. And then she had to learn how to coordinate her sucking, swallowing, and breathing while eating. The things that just seem automatic have to be developed / learned in a preemie! Poor little girl! But she fought well and conquered all these difficulties quickly, all the while growing bigger, taller and stronger!

And look at her now! She started off at 18.25 inches and 4 pounds 7 ounces! And now she is 34 inches and 23 pounds - what a long what she has come! She is running, jumping and talking a ton! She loves her woobie (blankie for those of you who haven't seen Mr. Mom), Mika (her monkey) and Mee-Meow (her kitty cat) - not to mention Mommy, Daddy & Kyle. Kyle & Emily are really best friends. They feed off one another all the time. They always want to be doing what the other is doing which is sometimes good and sometimes not so good!

Their first night home, they were totally checking each other out. Of course, they got a few visits together in the same incubator and crib during their NICU stay, but for the most part they were in their own beds. I remember bringing Emily home - Jeff's Mom & Dad got here that morning and stayed with Kyle - his first babysitter - while we went and picked up Emily. We came home and all just chilled and relaxed all afternoon. Before bed (whatever bedtime is considered with 2 newborns!), they were just looking at each other, wondering what was going on. Now they are always asking where the other one is should they be separated for one second! How nice it must be to have a best friend from birth!!

chug-a-chug-a-poo-poo

Today Kyle did his first poop on the potty! In case you all wanted to know! Sorry no pictures! He has a book called "The Potty Train" that he reads while on the potty. Pretty funny book. The title of this post is from a line in the book. Clever... And Kyle has learned how to jump. He no longer does the ho-down when you ask him to jump! He is very proud of this feat! And he has learned that playing basketball you can do more than slam dunk. He now throws the ball to the hoop to make 3 pointers which he is very good at!

And last night, Emily fell asleep in about 2 seconds. I said goodnight, went downstairs to get Mika (her monkey), brought it back upstairs and she was already asleep. Amazingly tired! And now (it's the afternoon naptime) and she's been ratsing around for a little bit as I can hear on the monitor. I just heard her say "Kyle wake up!" I don't know why, but that is really funny to me! She's so silly! And Emily has learned the joys of hot chocolate over the weekend when we went to Walker Brothers for lunch. She drank it like such a little lady!

And yesterday Jeff, Dr. Spike and I went to mommy happy hour over at the W. They use their upstairs "Beach" - really it's like a giant beach / sandbox that the kids play in and parents can have lunch and happy hour at noon! What a concept! The kids had a good time and so did we.

Bowling!

So the kids got a dose of Irish culture over the weekend. Well today they got a taste of American culture. First we had a snack of ice cream bonbons. I was feeling guilty for going to work this morning and Kyle was upset when I left. So what do I do, I give them a bonbon for a snack... Emily LOVED it!! Kyle wasn't so sure about it. I told him it was ice cream with a cookie inside, but he just played with it and ultimately gave it to Emily. He was very proud that he shared. Emily was super excited Kyle shared this!!

After our snack we headed over to the Science museum and played for a little bit. Then we went to the bowling alley downtown for the kids first bowling experience!! They were excited going in, but once they started hearing the balls hit the floor and the pins, they got a little hesitant. But they warmed up pretty quickly. And they didn't have any milk there so the kids had 3 cups of cranberry juice!! That's more juice than they get in a week! But they were happy and well behaved so what can you do?!

Anyhow, they did some great bowling. We had bumper gutters and a little ramp to roll the 6 pound ball down. Kyle & Emily both rolled several spares. And Emily even had a strike! Some of the rolls (no mommy or daddy extra oomph on it) were straight out of Uncle Buck where the little girl goes bowling and the ball stops and rests against the lead pin. Ultimately, all of the balls made it. They were both excited watching the ball roll down the lane as slow as it sometimes went! Emily would proclaim "hit pins" as the ball went rolling! The kids had a great time with this slice of Americana!