What *kind* of books?

Paige just told us that she's going to the library to get some new books.

We're Okay With Rain

It was really rainy this week, and one of the things we decided to do was decorate the corner where we usually keep the babies' rockers during the day. We got to spend the afternoon using scissors, colored paper, and tape, and now the babies have something besides white walls to look at.

We also did another little photo shoot, since it's been a month and these kids grow like weeds.

Bah! They're so cute!! Anna's on the left, Emma's on the right.

C'mon, Mom. Even I know this is cheesy.

Ninja pose!

T is for...

I mean J is for...

High five! Well, almost.

Umm, time to wrap up, I guess. Paige, can you help?

Nevermind. Stinker.

On a side note, this one is going to be a thumb-sucker, I fear.

Paige in Real Life

Most of the time, there are enough adults here and relatively free enough to take on the babies man-to-man. But every once in a while, someone will have to run an errand, and another will be busy. In case you were wondering, this is what those times generally look like:

Paige tries to help and be affectionate with the babies when she can. Sometimes are more successful than others.

I love to watch her during the times when everyone else is busy and she has to entertain herself. She comes up with some great stuff. She likes to play hairdresser with her ponies.

Play super-hero with my ruler.

Or play Mommy and Daddy. I always laugh when I see these peaking out from underneath her shorts or shirt. She won't let me take them off; "No, Mommy! They're my underwear! I have to wear them so I can go to the temple and get married!"

Rainy Day Musings

Paige and I explored a new grocery store this week and when we got there, we discovered that it was a very Jewish store. All the women wore long skirts, and long sleeves with their long hair in shawls. All the men wore their kippahs and prayer strings. Paige and I--strangely enough--both happened to be wearing maxi dresses that day, but I felt keenly aware of my short sleeves, short (uncovered) hair, and sandaled feet. I'm not a very good Jew.

During our trip to the library this week, we saw a man there with his kids. His kippah and prayer strings marked him as obviously Jewish, but his pants were kinda baggy and he wore a t-shirt with a stick figure playing a video game and the phrase "Not now, I'm busy" across the front. It was a funny combination.

Anna's in the clown ruffles, bombing Emma's couch time and photo session.

We have a little dress that I put Anna in for the first time this week. It has strawberries and flowers, and says, "organically grown" all over. It's a sweet little dress, but I couldn't help but feeling all day like it was false advertising; with the fetal surgery and all the medical intervention that's gone on, I don't think that she could be considered organic.  

The girlies are getting to a stage where they are much more awake and aware. Anna especially wants to be up and seeing everything and does not like to be left in her rocker if she is awake. The word 'restless' is an apt description of them, but every time someone says the babies are restless, I can't help but hear, "the natives are restless." Hopefully it will be a while before I'm being chased by these angry savages, since I know I'm the white woman that's going to end up being sacrificed. For now, I think everyone around here is pretty restless.

Fair to Middlin'

The twins will be one month old tomorrow! Time flies when you're sleep-deprived. Highlights from the last week or two include, but are not limited to:

• Paige decided to be potty-trained! She's been daytime dry for over a week now, in spite of having diarrhea for two days! Here's the latest picture of her, when she came out from her nap the other day: 
  
  She was really proud of herself. Those are pipe-cleaners, by the way

• She drew this with her bathtub crayons. I think it looks like a peacock. I'm so impressed with her drawing skills
  
  

•  I donated my hair to Locks of Love! It's been on my bucket-list for a while, and now I don't have to worry about getting spit-up in my hair. Here's the unflattering before/afters:
  
  
  

  

  Blow-dried with whatever the stylist used

  

  Just plain air-dried, because I can't even remember the last time I blow-dried my hair.

  I look really tired. I should probably wear make-up again someday. Some sleep might be helpful too.

Two Weeks

We've been having a lot of rain here lately, so my 3-year-old assistant and I decided to take advantage of a little break in the clouds by dragging a bedsheet over to the window for an impromptu photo shoot.

For the record, Emma has the pink binky and blanket, while Anna has the purple binky and polka dot blanket.

Most of the time we tell them apart with color-coded anklets.

I'm pretty sure this is Anna, though without the binky, it's pretty hard to tell for sure.

Unfortunately, they'd both just eaten a big breakfast, so we didn't get many shots of them being awake.

 Haha! Baby photo-bomb. I love these girls.

Three and a Bit

This little girl is awesome. She's being super helpful and sweet with the babies, fetching diapers, giving kisses, and softly chatting with her 'little ones.'

This is how she was dressed on Friday morning. She insisted on going outside and taking pictures immediately.

I always seem to find myself under-prepared for special occasions. Having an established home takes so much fore-thought. When we went to light the candles on Paige's cupcake, we realized that we had absolutely no source of open flame. Our stove is electric, and we've never had a need for matches or lighters before. So...we improvised and found an app that lets you blow out a digital candle. She didn't seem to mind the difference.

Since it was Grandpa's last Sunday in Maryland, we blessed the babies on Sunday as well. It was a good day.