Swingin' Sisters

Sandy here:

Bad Bunny

Sandy here:

We put the girls to bed about half an hour ago. They are really starting to "talk" to each other and there was about 20 minutes of chatting, then Tava fell asleep (she usually falls asleep first and wakes up second), so now Analee has been talking to herself, as well as trying to move the crib and use the wall as a drum. She's not upset, just being really funny. Anyway. . .

Today we went to the mall to get the girls' picture taken with the Easter Bunny. They did well at Christmastime with Santa. Apparently big guy with white beard okay, big white bunny not....



Tava had a complete meltdown, and Analee was fine until we tried to get a photo of her alone:





Then we tested out our new backpacks--it has been a long winter--Doug and I couldn't wait to do something springlike. The girls had a great time--they got to see several dogs (they call them "da" and wave at them). I had Tava and Doug had Analee:





Analee--lulled to sleep by Daddy's gait:



Tava--awake and excited about seeing all the "das":



Recently I acquired a special "twin" set of camp chairs. I finally brought them in and the girls love them. They can kill lots of time getting into the chair, getting out of the chair, getting into the chair, getting out of the chair....







(note the cupholders--they will be perfect this summer for kickin' back in the yard and enjoying a cold one)

Analee can also whittle away hours now that she has discovered books. This is one of her favorite positions:



She goes and gets a book, comes over, climbs into my lap, helps me read it by turning the pages, goes to get another book...We can do this for a long time. In fact, on Friday I kept track of the books I read in this manner (we only had a few available in the front room where this was happening--most of the books are kept in their room):

Maisy Drives -- 10 times
Global Babies -- 8 times
But Not the Hippopotamus-- 7 times
Counting Kisses-- 3 times

Tava isn't as into the books, although sometimes she will listen while I read them to her sister, and she does like the touch n feel ones. What she is into these days is ANYTHING Analee has (with the exception of books). Thank goodness she has a sister around to point out how cool all the toys are. If I could get inside their heads, this is what I think Tava would be thinking:

What should I play with? We don't really have anything fun or cool, or, hey--why is Analee playing with the beep-beep? That's MY beep-beep! Get off of that!

This is usually followed by a lunge at her sister, fangs bared, in an attempt to get what Tava perceives as rightfully hers.

I spend a lot of time regulating these days.

And finally, a nod to Doug's team who is alive to fight another day:

Just a Regular Day

Sandy here:

This past weekend we were hanging out on Saturday morning. We decided to shoot some video--the following three videos are in order and are just a small taste of "hangin' with the twinkies". They were shot within about 15 minutes of each other. Tava was recovering from a cold, so she's not in prime movie form.

Analee thought Miliya dancing was one of the funniest things she had seen:



Even though Analee is the focus of this next one, you get a good sense of some of the chaos in our house:



Tava working with single minded determination. If you pay careful attention to the end, you can just see Doug's foot stopping Analee from running into Tava with the beep-beep:



Phew! I'm tired just watching those!

Future Careers, Scary Version

Sandy here:

Lately the girls have exhibited a new ability. One they love and are quite good at, although to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure this is the career I want our girls to aspire to:

The Bear

Sandy here:

I know I have to post Christmas and Birthday pictures, but in the meantime, here's a video of the girls with one of their favorite toys. They have had this toy since they were only a few months old.


I can't wait to reciprocate to the bear giver...

Skiing

Doug:

Did you notice all of my posts involve things that I already like to do that I involve the girls in? That's how I view parenthood, I'm raising a support crew. But for now, I have to push or pull them everywhere.

Saturday's experiment was cross-country skiing. We have a very nice golf course here in Durango that grooms a cross country course/track once the snow flies. It's a good way to stave off cabin fever during the long winter here; in a good year we can get 3 months of skiing in and I can do a good workout at lunch. So when we were looking at buying a jogging stroller/bike trailer, I wanted to get one that could also serve as a cross country ski sled. This way we can ski at the golf course with the girls and even take them on some mellow backcountry or hut trips. So this fall we bought the ski attachment for the Chariot and turned me into a draft animal.

Here are the photos. The girls seemed to have a great time. It was about 25 degrees and cloudy, but no sign they got cold. I don't know how they could have gotten cold wearing everything they were wearing. Tava actually fell asleep and was sleeping so deeply it scared Sandy; she had to check her to make sure she was really breathing.


"Let's do another lap!!!"


Momma didn't have to pull


Parenthood in Durango.


It's a one-Doug open sleigh.

Sandy took some video that we'll try and get up later.

Winter girls

Hi, Doug here:

Okay, long time readers will remember this picture from last winter when the girls were like 3 weeks old:



However, now that they're a bit older, we can really enjoy the winter and begin the process of training them for the 2034 and 2038 Winter Olympic Games. They have to get used to being bundled up, of course, so we took them out for a jog in the Chariot last weekend in their fleecy hats and Patagucci jackets. The temp was about 25 degrees and overcast, but they seemed to handle it well:



And then on Tuesday we got about 30 feet of snow in Durango (okay, it was 18 inches) and Sandy and the girls got to enjoy a snow day from work. Sandy bundled them up in their "climbing Mount Everest" outfits (complete with goggles for that harsh glare off the snow) and took them out to hang out in the snow. They were kind of like the kid from A Christmas Story that couldn't put his arms down, but they had a good time sitting and checking it all out:









The plan now is to take them cross country skiing in the jogging stroller this weekend. The ski track has been laid at the golf course and we're jonesing to get out on the snow. Look for a follow-up next week.

Look at them go!

Sandy here:

This morning was so fun with the girls, I had to capture some of it on video. They get so proud of themselves when they accomplish something:



I see even more chasing in my near future.

Inside Outside

Sandy here:

The other day I was home playing with the girls. Most of the time when they actually play "together" it's about stealing toys or parallel play. In this video though they seem to actually be playing with each other.



They're so mobile that sometimes it's about containment. This was Tava's turn in Pack 'n' Play jail.

Fast Forward

Sandy here:

I keep intending to write a blog post and upload videos, then a couple days pass, and I realize that what I was going to write no longer applies. Initially, it seemed like someone had hit the "pause" button--our life consisted of feeding babies, changing babies' diapers, swaddling babies, putting babies to sleep, and trying to stop babies' crying. That seemed like it went on forever--we were in a holding pattern. Then one day someone hit the "play" button--maybe right around 3 months. Here we were, merrily going along--recording firsts times two--first smile, first laugh, first rollover, all with plenty of time in between. Then in the last month or so, someone hit the "fast forward" button. Almost every day something new happens. We went from struggling to crawl around Labor Day to zooming around the house, and now both babies are all about the standing up. Analee will use anything to stand up--the couch, exersaucer, crib, sliding glass door, dryer, cabinet. . . Tava had the flu and then a double ear infection (ouch!) so she had a couple weeks where she didn't want to do much of anything but be held. She's making up for lost time though and is not too far behind her sister in her standing prowess. Analee has started "cruising" a bit and I'm sure Tava will soon. They are still an easy audience and think everything we do is hilarious (don't worry, we'll remind them of this when they're 12 and think we're embarrassing and incredibly unfunny). The other big arena where they are turning into little people is with food. We have gone from the strained baby food to self-feeding. In fact, the girls will only tolerate so much food being fed to them before they start to get annoyed and want to feed themselves. They love yogurt, cheese, avocado, carrots, broccoli, chocolate, beer (kidding kidding). But seriously. . . every day I'm not sure what fun and funny thing they are going to do next.

Grandma and Grandpa just came for a visit (again--they were here in September) and the girls love getting bites of Grandpa's banana--pretty impressive that he can wrangle 2 babies, a banana and a spoon (Tava left, Analee right):


Sporting their Brother's Bar t-shirts. Start 'em young!(Analee left, Tava right)


Happy Halloween! With their friend Cypress, the ladybug (this picture was taken right before Analee--on the left--attempted to grab onto one of Cypress's antennae)


There's always lots of rasslin' going on in our house:




Good oral hygiene is very important: (Tava left, Analee right)


Tava says "mmm...avocado"


But would Analee use her powers for good? Or evil?


My new favorite thing they do--both stand up in the crib (Analee left, Tava right)


Will our blog still count as a family-friendly blog now that this picture is posted? (Tava left, Analee right)

Here Piggy Piggy

Sandy here:

So, Doug and I had great plans to update the blog this weekend. The girls have been doing so many fun and new things in such rapid succession, it's been hard to keep up with them! Well, the best laid plans of mice and men. . .

We're pretty sure Doug has the flu. It came on in the middle of the night last night. And not just the seasonal variety, no we're pretty convinced that he has full blown swine flu. So, needless to say, our fun blog will have to wait. Cross fingers that the girls stay well or have a mild bout.

Perfect Fall Day

Sandy here:

Today was one of those crisp clear Colorado days where you know that summer is gone and winter is coming, but for the moment, you're just so happy for it to be fall. We took the girls to a local park and had some good clean twin fun:



If their career as swimmers doesn't pan out, they can always swing for money.

Future Careers

Sandy here:

The girls are in daycare these days, so for 3 days a week someone else gets to watch their antics, and we only get reports. Today I picked them up (Doug does the drop off, I do the pick up) and their caregiver told me that both Tava and Analee learned a new trick--albeit different ones.

Analee has learned how to unscrew the tops of her bottles and pour out her milk (my milk!).

Tava has learned to squeeze the liners of her bottles (we use these kind) and make the milk squirt out of the nipple creating a fountain effect.

Needless to say, the girls came home in their back-up outfits and I was handed a plastic bag full of wet clothes.

I think we have a scientist and an engineer on our hands.

Where Did You Go?

Sandy here:

So, I could give all sorts of excuses about not writing in oh, like, forever, but the biggest one is this--I no longer have stationary babies! You might think the title of this blogpost refers to my lack of blogging, but in actuality it refers to the fact that the girls are no longer where I place them. Gone are the days of cute little chatty houseplants--I now have roamers. They are both crawling (although with different styles)! Video to follow soon (we have filled up the stick that stores our pictures, and getting a new one implies errands, so needless to say that hasn't happened yet), but here are a couple recent pics:

Tava says "Mom, bibs are for babies":

We just woke up from our nap

Look! Babies in the zoo!

Analee, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake:

The Power of the Belly

Sandy here:

Our girls are rolling over, and the funny part is that Analee is better at the tummy to back rolling, but guess who LOVES to sleep on her tummy? Yep, Tava. And guess who wakes up freaked out that she somehow ended up on her tummy and completely can't remember how to get off it? Yep, Tava. So right now several times a night I have to go in and roll her back (and usually feed her because she's gotten so upset).

We are all looking forward to her learning how to roll onto her back without thinking about it.