La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's World

Thanks Ashley & Graham!

Our Little Duck

Revenge

Looks like someone got her back.

(Those are bite marks, by the way.)

About a week ago...

... Miss Vivian figured out how to take off her diaper. Great.

I talked to a few friends and Googled (I'm a bit obsessed with Googling things) in search of an answer. A lot of people said "duct tape works best." I thought to myself, "I'm not duct taping her diaper every time I change her!" Then, I heard a more reasonable suggestion, "Just put her in underwear or even better, in pants." It's too hot for pants, so I've been putting little panties on her every day. Today, I came into the playroom (aka, our living room). She had undone her diaper underneath her panties. WTF.

I guess I'm going to have to move her to always wearing shorts and see how that works out.

7 Days

There are only 7 days left until we pack up the moving truck and move to Virginia! And there's still a LONG list of things that need to be done before we go. Wish us luck!

She's Silly

Everyone Loves Gaga

Thanks Mom...

... I love it!

Stop That!

Lately, we've found ourselves telling Vivi and Gavin to stop doing whatever it is that they're doing. Specifically, we've been saying things like:

Vivian stop...

• clawing me
• changing the channel
• banging your head on the wall/mirror/box/couch/me
• biting me/your brother/that book/the crib/your toys
• going up the steps

Gavin stop...

• running/walking/climbing/crawling without looking
• standing up on the fireplace/walker/couch/table
• taking everything from Vivi
• hitting/chasing the dog
• trying to squeeze into/through things where you obviously cannot fit

My Birthday Celebration

For the last week or so, people kept asking me, "What are you going to do for your birthday?" To which I responded, "Go to Monkey's Joe's!" Many of you then said, "Isn't it YOUR birthday? Why would you go there?" Well, I know it may sound weird to some, but I actually really love watching my kids have fun. And for my birthday, I wanted to do something that Gav & Viv had never done before. There's something amazing about watching a person (young or old) see something for the very first time. And with children, it's really easy to find these new and interesting things. So we went to Monkey Joe's.

But first, we went to CiCi's Pizza (which is right next door to Monkey Joe's). In my opinion, Cici's is the perfect place to take kiddos. It's loud, there's a lot going on, and maybe most importantly, you don't have to wait for your food.

They had a lot of fun watching everyone, eating rice cakes, and trying pizza for the first time!

Then it was time to head off to Monkey Joe's. When we first got there, both G & V were amazed by all of the colors, sounds, and of course, the other kids. There were only two areas that were for kids 3 and under, so we went there first. Luckily for us, the big 3 and under bouncy had a Sesame Street theme! Their eyes lit up when they saw the huge Elmo, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster. As usual, Gavin squirmed out of my arms to get a closer look. He immediately knew how to get inside the bouncy. He climbed right up and started exploring. Viv came in the bouncy in my arms and was a bit scared by the whole thing. But after about 20 minutes, she came around and started cautiously exploring on her own.

We were probably there for a little over an hour before both G & V started to get sleepy. That place was exhausting- for everyone! That night, the twins easily fell asleep around 7:00pm and didn't wake up until 7:30 am! We will DEFINITELY be going back to Monkey Joe's!

This is why she bites

Poor Viv. Gavin is always following her around and taking whatever she's playing with. On a typical day, Gavin will snatch between 15 and 25 items out of her little hands. It happens so often that Vivi starts to cry long before Gavin even reaches out to her to grab something. She just knows what he's up to.

Belly Belly Belly

In The Zone

She Strikes Again!

The other day, Gavin fell asleep during an afternoon stroller ride. When we came inside, I took him out of the stroller and put him on the living room floor. He was so peaceful and precious.

Upon closer examination, however, I noticed that he had a few marks on his arms. Vivi must have snuck in a few bites when I wasn't looking. Poor little guy. He had one fresh and significant bite mark on each of his chubby little arms.

She's a Milkshake Mama

He's a Busy Bee

Puh- Puh- Puh- PUP!

Vivi said her first word (other than Mama & Dada) a couple of weeks ago. At first, she would point at Chubbs and say "Puh." Then, as time went on, she started to close the word and say "Pup." She still says "Puh," but then we remind her that it's "Pup" and sometimes she will say it again the correct way. Just like anything that Vivi learns though, she WILL NOT initially do it on command. She did this when she started walking too. If you asked her to walk to you, she would scrunch up her face, hiss at you, and then crawl in your direction. She wants to do things on her own time. Don't get me wrong, some things she will do when you ask her. For instance, she loves pups so much that she has begun pointing them out in books and in real life. The other day, we were at Old Navy and she would not stop screaming and pointing at the plastic dog in the front of the store. When I took her up to the dog, she patted it on the head and said "Puh-p."

She still only points things out when she wants to ;-)

Rice Cakes

Gavin and Vivian are OBSESSED with these. And, I've become a bit obsessed with them too. They're DAMN good! Needless to say, we buy a lot of these Quaker 12-packs.

A lot of work...

... for a little spoon.

Commands

Gavin and Vivian may not be talking yet, but they definitely understand a few commands and are fully capable of responding to them (we feel like they understand most of what we say, but they only actually respond to a few things). For instance, they definitely get it when we tell them to "sit down," which happens most often in the tub. We'll say "sit down Gavin" or "sit down Vivian", they'll look at us, and slowly sit down. A few other popular phrases that they respond to include:

• "Put it back", which is usually said after they've pulled 50 wipes out of the wipe container. We tell them to put them back and they shove them all back in.
• "Come here." They've been coming to us for a while now whenever we ask them to. Well, as long as we don't have a diaper or clothes in our hands- they still hate those things.
• "Jump up", which is said whenever they fall down. They usually get right up if they're not hurt too badly.
• "No." Here, they stop whatever it is that they're doing, make a sad or angry face, wait a couple of seconds, and then try again.
• "Where's the pup?" Interestingly, this is the first question they ever responded to. They've been looking at or pointing at the pup every single time we ask them this question for a few months now.
• "Go get the ball." Whenever we say this, Gav and/or Viv will run towards this large green ball we have. And Gavin will usually pick it up and carry it around.

My favorite, however, is "Where's your belly?" (which is a rather recent development). We'll ask them where their bellies are, Gavin will lift up his shirt and pat his belly while Vivi will just pat her belly. It's adorable. We're working on getting them to identify other body parts.

These few commands have become extremely helpful over the last few weeks and months. I wonder what they'll learn next?

Bang Bang

Even though I've been talking about doing this for a while now, I finally grew a pair yesterday and took the plunge. I. Got. BANGS!

Tantrum