Not Even A Nice Day for Ducks

Can you believe it? Yep, this is snow in our backyard. Today we watched as storms rolled up the hill toward our house like sand storms. They came with gusts of very cold air and, for at least 2 minutes, left snow behind. Ordinarily, I don't mind rain - equipt with rainboots and warm sweaters, bad weather can be fun. Not today! Just too miserable!

First Haircut

Now, if this isn't the ultimate in a baby day-spa, I don't know what else you need!

Miss Karen's Place in Lafayette does the whole dog-and-pony show for first haircuts. They get to sit in a yellow car while watching their favorite video (you got it, The Wiggles for these girls) so they sit nice and straight for Miss Karen. The kids left with personalized "First Haircut" certificates with a keepsake baggie of their lovely locks for Mom's memory book, a beautiful hair do with pixie dust and ribbons, a balloon and a sucker.

The perfect place to visit for their first official haircuts and later as we continue to curb Tina's (much less noticeable) mullet.

21 Months Old - Where has the time gone?

Reflecting on 21 months, here's a photo/video montage to account for all that time....

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Who's Watching Who?

A lovely photo from this weekend's trip to the zoo with our friends the Fluegels. You can see a couple other photos by clicking here.

Going to the Zoo

The girls were so excited to see the animals at the zoo. Because of the bad winter weather, we haven't been putting our zoo memberships to good use and the last time we went, the girls were only 16 months old or so. Now, with their vocabulary as well as their curiosity exploding, they get excited each time they make a connection between theory and reality. They've been avidly *studying* animals in theory for some time now - their favorite book right now is a picture dictionary of sorts and they love to play the "find it" game; you tell them the animal, and they will find and point to it. When the animal is live and so close to them, the game takes a whole other dimension.

Take for example the bears:


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This of course makes it really fun for moms. With the weather improving, many more trips to the zoo will certainly be forthcoming.

Flower! Spring is Springing in Winter

So, Grouper won't allow me - now that I've *upgraded* to Blogger-beta - to post individual movies. They haven't figured out how to communicate with the beta version yet. They say they're working on it - great! Anyhow, I wanted to post this little video proving that spring has sprung in our backyard. Daffodils and narcissus are in full bloom and the irises are on the rise.

Like the endearing baby Bambi as he explores the *wild* in springtime, the girls have started to call everything "flower." They are learning to enjoy smelling the flowers and, so far, have been very gentle with the delicate things. Likely, they'll start eating them when I'm not looking...all the more reason to make sure you've got nothing poisonous in the backyard as this time of year arrives.

Little Angels?

Getting ready for Valentine's Day...the obligatory photos for grandparents and god-parents. Bettina was a champ and wore her wings with no problems. Ava, however, say "no" to just about everything. No to people looking at her, no to wings, no to sitting next to her sister, no to the barrette for her hair, no to staying out of the picture. Reverse psychology was what finally worked in getting both the girls in the same frame.. we "ohh-ed" and "awe-d" over Bettina by herself until Ava wriggled out of my arms and in front of the camera again. Geeze! This is changing my mind again about getting them back into modeling. It's been a year since their last photo shoot. I thought Ava would be the better one with her cute little ringlets and head of hair. She looks feminine and not as androgonistic as Bettina with her mullet hair-do. Paul still won't let me cut her hair, but perhaps if we trim it over time she'll look a little more girl-ish without offending Daddy.

Ava's still having a hard time adjusting back to her normal sleep routine after our visit to Grandpa. Still panicky and a bit of a cling-on. She's only slept though the night twice in 3 weeks. Mommy's getting tired and loosing patience with her. I keep thinking that she'll grow out of it - especially if I succumb to her whims for a short while and we share the bed in the spare room. After 2 weeks, though, I get worried about it creating a new routine. I've put a call into my friend Karen Pollak who's a sleep trainer to hear what advice she can give. With Noelle Conchran taking a leave of absence, Karen's been getting a lot of business from San Francisco, so I hope she can fit me in.