A Week of Firsts

Every day my twins amaze me yet this week has been amazement beyond belief.  This week Vivienne was taking a turn 'riding' the truck when Laith came over and sat behind her. We took a couple laps around the kitchen then a few pictures. Vivienne fell off during the photos. I set her back on behind her brother and stepped back to see two huge grins plastered on two small faces

This week we also pulled out the crayons and the first of many masterpieces adorns our fridge. Laith took long arching sweeps with his crayons. Vivienne gave pointed little jabs with hers. A scene was made when the crayons were put away but the pride on those two faces when I attached their picture to the fridge quickly washed away their tears.

Tonight, while I finished changing Vivienne for the night, Laith grabbed his dirty diaper and held it expectantly. When I stood to clean up dirty day clothes and Vivienne's diaper, he was already to the diaper genie waiting expectantly again, holding his diaper over the pail. His grin of satisfaction after chucking his own dirty diaper into the pail melted my heart. My thank yous weren't loud enough and my smothering of kisses didn't do the job well done justice.

We also started a new bedtime routine of straight to bed when bedtime milk is finished. This is especially hard for me. I sit on the couch with tears in my own eyes as I listen to my babies wail the depths of despair to the world. It's difficult to stay on the couch but somehow I do it. Once the tears are done and the room has gone quiet, I tiptoe in and adjust your blankets and give one last good night kiss. You'll never know this part...not until you're older and one day decide to maybe read Mommy's blog journal...you both are loved more than any two parents could love their twins.

The Fourth, the Box and the Street Vacation

Fourth of July was celebrated with outfits and a mini barbeque. The twins aren't interested in fireworks, don't much like anything freezing cold which includes homemade ice cream, and find the grass to be scary to walk on so badminton was out too. Next year, I'm sure they'll eat too much homemade ice cream, which will wind them up for hours to keep them interested in the pretty booming colors late into the night, and the itchy scariness of grass will have long been forgotten.

 

 

Boxes are interesting for only small windows of time. Until recently, they were great for rubbing your hand along and creating a screeching skin scraping sound. This box has lived a much longer life. Daddy had the great idea of setting Laith inside and pushing him around the couch in fast circles. Vivienne then had her turn. The box became a hat today, great for playing hide-n-seek.

 

With a bad bout of cabin fever, we started hunting for new places to discover and decided on Olympia. We've been here before yet haven't truly checked it out. Plus everything else cool within an hour and a half radius from our home we've done. Our original destination was Priest Point Park. I must've misread the information, as I thought the parking lot went right to the water and the beaches had boardwalk trails we could easily walk along. We braved the dirt trails with the stroller and found the beach to be littered with broken shells. We found the best spot we could, laid down some blankets and had a quick ham & cheese lunch for the twins. You can see the top of the Capitol's cupola here yet the air is thick and causes a lot of 'picture pollution'. Bryan didn't take any pictures on the beach. He was trying to be nice to me, since I was stressing about the broken shelled beach and late lunch.  I was trying to be nice to him, and kept telling him to go ahead and take pictures. We compromised and took no pictures and left the beach. We searched for burger joints for our lunch and decided to try Herfy's. We had sweet potato fries and deep fried battered mushrooms, along with our hamburgers. Next, I knew it was finally time to try and change a couple diapers. The hunt was on for a good location. First we tried the Japanese gardens which did not look inviting whatsoever as it shared the parking lot with the justice center. Next we tried the park across from a really neat building, to find the park now filled with hippys waiting for the next Greyhound bus. By this point, the twins were asleep. We drove around downtown Olympia, found a hidden state park drive, and started searching for a spot to take a picture of a bridge that crosses the freeway. On our search, we came upon Deschutes Way, which is a beautiful drive along Capitol lake and has a beautiful view of the Capitol. We stopped on this road and Bryan set up for pictures while I changed diapers. Next we drove around the Capitol grounds, and found yet another beautiful view of Puget Sound for Bryan to capture. Last, we tried to find what we thought was the Schmidt house, to realize this was a different locale that wasn't labeled on Google maps. On our way home, I noticed a park under the freeway that would allow us to take pictures of the bridge. Woulda, shoulda, coulda turned around, but we'll get that on the next cabin feverish weekend. We also went into the local Cabela's for a looksie, which entailed an argument over how the roundabouts worked and neither one of us was right; at least according to the other person. Inside Cabela's, we were shocked how many liberal thinkers were inside, whining about the stuffed animals on display. Why in the world were they inside Cabela's? Another family commented how they didn't like hunters but were checking out all the hunting gear in the Bargain Cave. Huh?! Our trip home was filled with adventure too. When we joined the I-5 to head back to Vancouver, we saw a unique vehicle. Curiosity got the better of us and Bryan zoomed up for me to read Tesla on the back. Teslas are electric only cars. There is no fuel back up in case you drain your battery. We tandemed the entire way back to Vancouver, the Tesla leading for the first half hour or so, then letting us pass and following us the rest of the way. Just past Kalama, Bryan had enough of the traffic, and suddenly jumped to the far right and zoomed away. The next thing we knew, the Tesla was weaving through traffic to catch up. It's rare to find another driver that shares your same love of vehicles and the road. We parted at the I5-I205 branch and as Bryan lifted his hand to 'sign off', the Tesla zoomed past waving. It was a wonderful way to wind up our street vacation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a Few of My Favorite Things

For many years into the future, when I've forgotten all about these moments, I'll read back through our blog journal and say "That's right, you did do that!"


At birthday time, Laith loved playing with the rings you use to attach toys to baby carriers.  He'd carry them everywhere and used them to place inside the puzzle tray and the singing basket.  He graduated to playing with the old VCR remote and would slide this toy in-n-out of the singing basket, on top of the puzzle tray, under blankets, over the couch, and so on.  During our family vacation, I bought him a sand grabbing toy and his love for sliding the remote changed to the red Cars grabber.

Vivienne isn't attached to a toy...at least not yet.  Her favorite current pastime is to grab one of each and then walk around the house making up sing-songy jabber.  She'll grab one blue lego and one yellow lego, or Laith's blanky and her blanky, or one purple ring and one blue ring, or a red block and a yellow triangle.  It really doesn't matter what, as long as it has a 'pair'.

Whenever I'm using the guest restroom, whether for brushing my hair, applying mascara, cleaning or using the facility, I will hear Laith's feet come boom-boom-boom over, where he stops mid-race in the middle of the hall and gives me a ginormous grin.

Laith loves to mm-mmm while he eats and gets really into it when it's something he absolutely loves, like watermelon.

If the fridge is opened, Laith rushes over to grab out the dressing kept in the bottom shelf.  This is quite a feat, as we have a French door fridge right now.  Vivienne tries but isn't quite tall enough yet.  She loves to push the dishwasher shut every time I open it.  She's OCD about it...to the point I've started rinsing all the dishes and then corral her away from the washer while I load it.

Laith is a stupendous helper.  He helps lift the garbage every time he comes upon a garbage can.  He tries to lift the bag of dirty diapers when I empty the diaper genie.  He will touch the vacuum as I push it around and will carry the broom to me if I set it against a wall.  Last week, while I was dusting, he picked up a plastic teaspoon and walked behind me touching the walls with it.

After an outing, Daddy helped Vivienne out of the car and was walking beside her up the driveway.  She paused to check out the G8's front bumper and as Daddy went to grab her hand to encourage her along, she whipped out the other hand and grabbed a bug off the bumper and promptly stuck it in her mouth.  Ick!!

The quiet mesmerized looks both of you have when the Indian-style song comes on for the number 19 on Sesame Street.

Laith recently learned how to walk backwards.  One time, Daddy started beeping while he did this and now, on occasion, when we "Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep" in high-pitched voices, Laith will back up on command.

How concerned you both are about the other when s/he is crying

Vivienne started shaking her head quite a while back, loving the feel of her hair against her neck.  Daddy started singing "No Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" and shaking his head when she'd do this.  Now when he says those words, she'll smile and shake her head.

All time favorite shows: Sesame Street, A Bug's Life and most recently added to the list, Monsters Inc.  I'm glad we're finally branching out.

Vivienne usually lets out a generous burp after finishing her bedtime milk and one night after a nice big one, Laith let out a giggle.

Shoes are happiness in our home.  I don't have to fight either one of you to get shoes on.  You joyously come over, plop your bum in my lap and lift up your left foot ready to put on shoe number one.

Laith loves to have books read to him.  He'll bring one over to me when I'm working and smiles sweetly as I read it to him.  Then he'll grab it from me about halfway through and walk off.  If I'm not working, he'll sit in my lap and let me tell him a little more of the story to just grab the book, stand up and walk off.  Vivienne also loves to be read to.  She prefers to sit to my side so she can look at the book and turn her head to look at me as I read it.  It's cute watching the wheels in her head turn as she puts my reading the words out of the book together.  My most favorite part of story time is when one twin is in my lap and then the other comes over and smooshes their bum right on top of the other twin.


Vivienne loves to play peek-a-boo in the car.  When I'm sitting shot gun, I'll turn in my chair to look at her and she'll bust out in giggles, eyes alight with laughter.  Laith gets in on the action too, just not quite as exuberant.  He prefers playing peek-a-boo at home.  I'll drape a blanket over him, as though he's a ghost, and say "Where's Laith?  Where did Laith go?"  He'll pull the blanket over his head and give me a huge grin as I shout "There he is!!"  He's even started to wait longer in anticipation of how much more excited I am when he finally reappears.

My most favorite thing?  Vivienne loves to give hugs.  Most times I pick her up, she lays her head on my right shoulder and snugs right in.  I rub her back and tell her how much I love my precious Vivienne.  And Laith will give me kisses when I ask.  He'll pucker up, lips open wide and let me give him a big mwah!

Spring Trickled into Summer

 

These two pictures I took before Laith got his haircut, so timeline-wise, this is before his birthday but after the rain stopped. We were waiting in the car for Dad to bring out the Chinese that would be our dinner and Laith lost it with a complete meltdown.  I let him out of his car seat and climb into the driver's seat.  He immediately pulled himself up to the steering wheel and started looking around with his little hands gripping the wheel tight.  Maybe he'll be a race car driver one day...at least I know Dad would really enjoy that.

Right around the twins' birthday, the sun came out for a long spell in the spring.  We enjoyed the small window of spring sunshine with a tea party.  Since that time, it rained nonstop for three weeks and then we left on vacation for Utah.  One week later it was still raining.  It finally stopped about a week ago.  Now that the rain has stopped, the temps have hit the low-mid 90s.  Not really hot, but the humidity makes it yucky.

We tried to take some family pictures again for a project Bryan's sister was trying to work on but we failed miserably.  The twins absolutely didn't want their picture taken.  Here are the best of the shots.  The rest that I didn't include show flailing arms and blurs.

We also went on a family vacation to Utah in June.  The only pictures we took were a couple on the way there and a couple on the way back.  Oops...we need to get better at remembering to take pictures as my memory bank is getting foggy quickly.

This is the Bridge of the Gods.  On a whim, we decided to cross the river here, instead of the normal I-205 bridge. We've been across this bridge a few times now yet it always gives me the creeps.  It has metal grates that you can see right through to the river below.  I'm always afraid the guard rails will disappear and we'll slide right off.  The Washington side of the river is prettier but a much slower drive as it's just a one lane highway.  We also stopped and got some pictures at Bonneville Dam. Later we learned our whim was a great choice as the interstate was plugged with rush hour traffic which was worsened by road work.

Then last weekend I decided we should finally stain our brick.  We kept the twins in a pack-n-play since we were out front. While staining the last block of brick we heard a large ker-fluffle and then an ear-piercing scream followed by crocodile tears.  We rushed over the 5 steps away we were from the twins to find Laith crying his heart out while Vivienne looked on with innocence.  On Laith's arms were teeth indentations.  Yes, our children had a fight of epic proportions and in the flay, our sweet little Vivienne pulled out the big guns.  Yesterday, Laith gave Vivienne's arm a giant bite.  I guess revenge is sweet even at just a year old.

 

These last couple shots are projects I've been working on.  The first is the back to my jean blanket.  I've finished the entire back but I took a picture of one square and text it to Bryan to make sure what I did had his stamp of approval too.  My points didn't turn out perfect even though I spent eons of time pressing and pinning and measuring.  I'm glad I did though, as without all that effort, the points wouldn't have matched even close.  My first attempt at quilt piecing didn't turn out too horrible.

  

I also decided I needed to be a little more festive and made a patriotic door display. My original goal was to include 'firework bursts' with the pinwheels.  I had repinned a pinterest find from a friend on how to make the firework burst, but I had no luck.  I couldn't get the suckers to stay taped shut as I pulled them around to make a complete circle.  They'd pop apart every time.  After several attempts and massive frustration I completely gave up on the bursts.  But to tell the truth, I actually really like the display with just the pinwheels.