Sabine and Lourdes are Five Months Old and a Visit From Grandma

It is hard to believe, but it has been FIVE WHOLE MONTHS since the tweenies entered the world. They are getting so big! Both of them are very close to rolling from back to tummy and they are getting a bit better each day at trying to sit up on their own. They can also scoot themselves around on the floor to get in the perfect position to grab the other one's ear or kick her in the head. They are also giggling and cooing up a storm. They just get cuter and cuter each day. Grandma is be able to attest to this as she spent five days in Chicago last week hanging with the kiddies. It was fortuitous timing as Joe had a signing at work he was negotiating and thus never got home before 11 pm the whole time Grandma was here. So the kids got a lot of good Grandma time and mommy thankfully was spared a nervous breakdown! The fun began on Wednesday when we took Finny to see his first movie in the theater, Gnomeo and Juliet. It was cute, but I didn't realize it was in 3D. Since Finny refused to wear his glasses his experience was a bit blurry, but it didn't seem to bother him. Thursday we went to Explore and Much More, an indoor play area where Finn's birthday party will be held. And on Friday we took all the kids to Little Beans Cafe. It's a great little place where adults can drink lattes and snack on hummus and pita and sandwiches while the kids run around a huge play area equipped with a fire station, grocery store and car repair shop. As Aunt Vicki described it, it's like a yuppy McDonald's play land. And then Saturday before Grandma left, she got to see the girls enjoying their weekly Gymboree class. I think they know it is the only forty-five minutes a week that is devoted solely to them, because they just smile the whole class.

I didn't realize until after my first couple of pictures, that I had written the wrong year on Sabine's sign. I guess this is what sleep deprivation will do to you.

All fixed...

The girls relaxing after a rousing Gymboree class.

Grandma and her 20th, 21st and 22nd grandkids.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was a big day for the kiddies. It started out with all of them getting dressed up in their Valentine's Day duds for a trip to Finnegan's tots class. Finnegan was class leader that day, which meant he got to bring in the snack, his favorite books and his sisters to share with the rest of the class. Finn has been jazzed about this day for at least a month. He knew EXACTLY which two books he wanted to bring in - There's A Bird On Your Head and Leonardo the Terrible Monster. He was so excited about it that the week before when Miss Sheri told the class that next week was Valentine's Day, Finnegan blurted out "there's a bird on your head." Miss Sheri was a bit taken aback, so I had to explain to her that Finnegan associated Valentine's Day with the day he got to bring in his favorite book. Too funny. And since it was Valentine's Day he also got to pick out Toy Story valentines to give to his friends. Finnegan could care less about his sisters tagging along, but Miss Sheri has been asking me to bring them in for a couple of months so I thought this would be a fun time to do it. It was a great day and the girls were such angels. The only time either of them cried was at the most perfect moment possible. We were all singing The Wheels On The Bus and we had just gotten to the part about the babies on the bus go whaa whaa whaa and Lourdes busted out crying. All the adults cracked up. It was classic. Then after Daddy got home from work, the kids got to open their presents. They all got some new books to read. Add that to the fact that on Saturday, Dad and I got to sneak away for a couple of hours and go to a wine bar and I think this might have been one of my best Valentine's Days ever!

My little loves!

New books, including some more elephant and piggie books and phonics comics. Awesome!

Sabine and Lourdes' First Trip to the Shedd!

I'm a HUGE fan of the Shedd aquarium. I just think there isn't a better way to spend a cold or rainy day than at the Shedd checking out the fish, dolphins, whales and anaconda. We've been taking Finny since he was just a few months old. While getting out and about is a bit harder now with the twins, we decided this weekend that we'd suck it up and take them all to the aquarium for a few hours. Since it has been about seven months since our last visit, Finn was really into it and let out a few excited squeals when a couple of big sharks passed right by us. And the girls seemed to enjoy checking out the fishies swimming in their tanks too.

Finn enjoying the camping exhibit and Penguin Play Area.

The three kids watching the workers clean the penguin tank.

Naked Babies!

My favorite time of day is bath time, when all the kids get naked. Finn loves playing in the bath. And even though nighttime is typically when the girls get a bit cranky, I can always get another good half hour out of them if I strip them down to their diapers. They love to kick around on the bathmat and hold hands. So without further adieu, here are my cutie naked babies!

More Milestones

Over the long MLK weekend, Joe and I decided to bite the bullet and have Finn go cold turkey on diapers. Well the first four days were rough. We basically stayed inside and put him on the potty every hour, but there were still multiple accidents. The real turning point was when we bought a jar of animal crackers that we told Finn were "cookies" and that he could get one every time he went potty. After that he pee'd on the potty no problem. A week or so later though, we were having trouble getting him to sit on the potty long enough to go #2. After 4 days of accidents, I told him that he would only be allowed to do his Be Smart Kids homework on the computer when he went poo on the potty. Thankfully he LOVES doing his "homework" and we haven't had another accident. Yeah for bribes! So here is a picture of our big boy in his Thomas underwear. The bottom picture is another milestone, Finn's first school picture. It is from October, but we only got a scanner in January for me to be able to post it.

Let Them Eat Rice Cereal

Up until recently, Lourdes and Sabine have been GREAT bedtime sleepers. They would sleep straight for 6 to 9 hours before getting up to be fed. That all changed a couple of weeks ago. First, Sabine started getting up after 4 or so hours. Now Lou wakes up every 3 hours like clock work. This unwelcome change pushed Joe and I into introducing cereal a few weeks before we had planned to, hoping this would curb their hunger and keep them sleeping longer. Can't say it went over too well, but we are hoping the twins soon warm up to cereal and get back to their old sleeping routine.

Snowpocalypse 2011

A blizzard of historic proportions hit Chicago last night. When all was said and done, Chicago got more snow than has ever been recorded, approximately 18 to 20 inches. It was an interesting night to witness. It all started around 2:30 in the afternoon when the wind started blowing about forty or fifty miles per house. This wind shook the entire house and tore off an approximately 4 feet by 4 feet section of our roof. Not to worry, the insurance company has already gotten a call. Then around 9 pm the thundersnow hit. It was completely surreal to watch the lightening bolts brighten the sky while it was simultaneously snowing about 3 inches an hour. We were fine since we stayed inside, drank some wine and watched tv, but a bus spun out on Lakeshore Drive around 7 pm making it impassable for the other drivers who were then stuck for up to 7 hours before help could reach them! This morning almost everything was closed, including Jenner & Block, and people stayed home to dig themselves out. Joe and Finn were out there with their shovels clearing our sidewalk. It took Joe over an hour to clear a walkway. Finn lasted about 15 minutes, but did some good work. Refreshment was then needed, so Joe found an open Starbucks about 1/4 mile away and trudged through the snow to get our drinks. After I was nice and toasty from my latte, Finn and I ventured back into the snow to make a snowman. Turns out it wasn't great packing snow, but we managed to do a decent job by stacking some big blocks of snow on top of each other. Finn absolutely LOVES his Frosty. Sabine and Lourdes were completely oblivious to the brouhaha and spent their day as they usually do: eating; sleeping; playing and getting cuddles. Here are some of the highlights from our snow day.