Elzi's first joke

We celebrated Christmas with the Harris & Chambers families this past weekend. We were all seated for Christmas dinner when my dad came in and said to my mom, "Are we going to light the candles?" My mom replied, "They are already lit." From across the table Elzi says with a giggle, "Dadpa, you need glasses, haha."

Cute Elzi quote

A few days ago while the girls were sitting at their table eating breakfast, Elzi studied her Eggo waffle and said, "Hey Mommy, these circles look like squares." Even in our early morning haze, Ben and I had to laugh.

Halloween in Wonderland

State Fair 2011

Morganton Festival

The girls had their first independent ride on Thomas the train a few weeks ago. They had a blast...until the very end.

Flashback to Summer

Happy Labor Day!

We had a great Labor Day weekend. Yesterday was the first day (I think) that the girls have stayed dry all day. We even went out to the grocery store in training pants (not pull-ups). Speaking of pull-ups, both girls also woke up from nap with dry pull-ups. We came very close to staying dry on Saturday, as well. Our only accident was when Elzi told us she had to go to the potty just as we were getting out of the car to go into the museum. Of course, by the time we made it inside, she had wet her shorts. Who could blame her?

Our trip to the grocery store was our most tolerable yet. I only had to tell the girls to sit down in the last few minutes of the trip. All it took was the promise of a ride on Harry the dragon (at Harris Teeter) to get the girls to stay seated. They were so excited to ride Harry. Lillian went first and stayed on for about 3 seconds before requesting to get off. Elzi lasted about the same length of time when it was her turn. Regardless, they were very excited about having rode Harry and told Daddy about it when we got home.

Today we had our first movie theater experience. We took the girls to the $1.50 theater in Raleigh to see "Winnie the Pooh." Elzi stayed in her seat and Lillian on my lap enjoying their popcorn for most of the movie. It was not until about 55 minutes into the 1 hour movie that the girls started to get antsy. I can't believe we actually made it to the credits! Besides Elzi's ridiculous new laugh which she used frequently, albeit appropriately, they were remarkably quiet and well behaved. I was so proud. What a great weekend of firsts!

Six Months of Facebooking About My Girls

January 1 at 2:12pm: got Elzi and Lillian both to eat pork and sauerkraut. It's a good thing too, because I made way too much for two people.

January 2 at 6:08pm: does not want to go back to work tomorrow. I was just starting getting into a good routine at home. I think I would be pretty good house wife/SAHM. Oh, well...

January 10 at 3:16pm: how can the museum close 2 hours early when there has not been a flake yet? Crying 2 year-olds do not understand :(

January 21 at 11:45pm: You can never tell someone how their life will change when they become a parent. It is something they have to experience for themselves.

January 22 at 9:12pm: Lillian has been in and out of her crib/bedroom for an hour now. The last time I went in she was laying on the floor with her pillow and silky. It may be time for toddler beds :(

January 24 at 6:18pm: loves that my daughter can now open the door to let the dog in. I can't wait until she can dust and mop!

January 25 at 12:07am: Night 1 transition to toddler beds: girls go to sleep in the same bed.

January 25 at 7:19am: can't believe my girls are still asleep after taking it upon themselves to go to sleep in the same bed last night. This is the longest they have slept in for weeks. Maybe they really like sharing a bed.

January 25 at 9:04pm: Night 2 in toddler beds: or should I say BED. Time til sleep down from 45 to 30 minutes. :)

January 26 at 9:30pm: has no cute pictures for night 3. They are actually sleeping in their own beds tonight.

January 30 at 6:43pm: being able to take the girls outside today made me really look forward to spring.

February 1 at 7:09pm: Thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone! The best was when I came home today and my daughters each said, "Happy Birthday, Momma." So sweet!

February 3 at 7:29am: When I went into the girls' room this morning wearing Ben's clothes for gender-bender day one of the girls called me momma and the other said, "Daddy!"

February 19 at 2:07pm: hired a babysitter for the first time to go to the Hurricane's game tonight!

March 24 at 8:27pm: You know your face is broken out when your kids are counting the "boo-boos" on your chin in spanish. It turns out I have tres :/

March 29 at 8:39pm: I keep hearing, "Acorn, flower, acorn, flower..." through the monitor. It must have been today's Umi-Zoomi pattern.

April 20 at 12:11pm: Some kids sleep with a teddy bear, some with their blankie. My daughter is napping with her Dora potty seat. If only she would use it for its intended purpose...

April 21 at 1:08pm: And we're off. Kid-free for 3 days!

May 10 at 7:33pm: Enjoying a kid-free evening with dinner out and an impromptu ticket to Hair.

June 22 at 10:28pm: I need potty training advice: They will pee pretty much every time they are put on the potty. How do I get them to go to the potty instead of peeing in their pants?

June 29 at 2:14pm: I'm pretending my children are not awake from their nap.

July 21 at 8:30pm: Elzi seems to be practicing her "model" look

July 27 at 10:44am: Sesame Street just did a parody of True Blood called "True Mud," complete with theme song. Pretty sure I enjoyed it more than the girls.

July 27 at 2:14pm: My children have successfully spent 2 sleepless hours in their bedroom, and since I now hear, "Yee-Haw!" coming from their room I think it is time to give up on the nap for today.

July 28 at 12:58pm: came home from the museum to dog diarrhea on the floor. Lillian says, "Elzi, look at all da poop!"- Humor can make a disgusting situation a bit more tolerable.

July 30 at 12:24pm: Fell asleep mid-action - arm propped on magna doodle and leg crossed

Potty Training

Long time, no post...

I feel we are at a very significant milestone, and I'm trying to get better about keeping up with life events. Therefore, I would like to announce that we are currently in the middle of potty training. We started about a week ago, and are now peeing in the potty over half of the time. Although it is terribly frustrating, tedious, and messy, we are happy to be making progress. We spend much time each day sitting on the potty, reading potty books, and watching potty videos or any combination of the three. Here is a photo of the girls watching an Elmo potty video. Now that's what I call TRAINING!

Turning 2.5

We decided to have a summer birthday party this year since we were out of town for the girls' second birthday. Having a half birthday party during the summer seemed like a good idea since I am out of work, we can have it outside, and more people are likely to come since it is not so close to Christmas. Then there is the heat of summer...boy, was it hot! December parties are now looking pretty good.

Lillian playing with her new bubble machine

Umi-car Cakes!

Yay!

Hugs!

Crocogator

I believe that Elzi has coined a new word - "Crocogator."

For the past few weeks, anytime she sees a toy, cartoon, etc. depicting an alligator or crocodile, she has been saying "crocogator." I think it is fairly genius myself. I mean, who can really tell them apart anyway?

Feel free to use "crocogator" whenever you see fit. I hope that one day Elzi will be able to take credit for coining the word.

Happy Homecoming Day, Elzi!

Dear Elzi,

I can't believe my tiny little girl is two. You have developed so much this year, you amaze me on a daily basis. I have seen your personality change tremendously this year.

You used to be incredibly active, and of course, you still are. However, you have developed quite another side since being the mobile fetus that the nurses could never find on the monitors. One of your favorite things to do is color. You will often sit for up to half and hour at a time coloring in coloring books or drawing on blank paper. You are still working on learning your colors, but blue and green are your usual requests.

You are still as independent as you have always been. You rarely give a thought to what anyone else is doing. You do what you want when you want. Taking your shoes and socks off in the car has become a frequent occurrence, which often leads to Lillian following suit. I can tell that you are going to be a leader.

One of the things that surprised us this year was that although still very active, you have become more cautious. For a few months one of your favorite words was "scared." We are still not sure if you understood what it meant, but you used it a lot. You also surprised us when you climbed to the top of the bouncy slide but refused to slide down. Although we were surprised by this measure of caution, we are also a bit relieved and hope that you continue to be careful in the future.

Life with our family of four just seems to get better every day. My favorite parts of this year were being able to share holidays like Halloween and Christmas with my children. I think I love holidays more now than even when I was a kid. It has been such a wonderful year of growth, development, and love. I would not trade it for the world.

I love you bunches!

Love,

Mommy

Happy Homecoming Day, Lillian!

Lillian,

I have learned so much about you this year. You have gone from being my little baby to a little person. When I look at pictures of you from the hospital, I just can't believe how tiny you were. This year you finally made the growth chart and, other than pants, you are wearing 24 months or 2T in all your clothes! Much of this is probably due to the fact that you normally finish all of your food and often finish Elzi's left-overs, too.

Your speech has improved so much this year. Now you are consistently using two-syllable words and even sentences! One of your favorite words is Elzi. You like it, and use it, so much that you think it is your name, as well.

You are such a wonderful sister. You are always concerned with where Elzi is and what she is doing. You will not only get your water bottle when you are thirsty, but you will take Elzi's to her, as well. One of your favorite things to do is to "hop on" each other's backs. Elzi often sits behind you in the tub, hugs you, and you wrap her legs around you and you slide forward taking her for a ride.

You are so active and brave. You love to climb to the top of the slides at bouncy places and slide down all on your own. We were so surprised the first time you did it as you had previously been the more cautious one. Fortunately, your courage has only resulted in one unintended mishap. When you tripped going up the brick steps, you only cried for a few seconds after chipping your front tooth. We are hoping that you will become more cautious by the time your permanent teeth come in :)

It is so hard to believe that you have been a daily part of our lives for two years, yet I cannot remember what it felt like to live without you. I know that you are going to develop even more this year, and I look forward to seeing what the third year has to bring.

I love you so much!

Love,

Mommy

Diaper Houdini

Something told me to check on the girls before I went to sleep tonight. Both of them seemed to be sleeping soundly, so I was simply going to put their blankets back over them and quietly exit. First, I covered Lilly up. She was laying on her silky. Then I covered Elzi up. I reached to the right side of her crib to grab what I thought to be her silky only to grasp a discarded wet diaper. I looked at Elzi all suited up in her fleece, footy pajamas and wondered, "how could this be?" When I turned her over I discovered that she had unzipped her PJ's just far enough to take off her diaper and slip it out the opening. She's a pretty clever little girl. It looks like it's time to start safety-pinning the zippers closed!