Happy Birthday, Tessa and Annie!

Annie (left) and Tessa (right)

Where did this year go??!!

Since I've barely found the time to make this post about the babies turning one, I'll be brief in describing these little girls' personalities.

Annie is

• smaller --- 19 pounds, 7 ounces
• the first to try new things...first to sit, crawl, take steps, and try new foods. Tessa often looks to Annie to see if she's eating something new before she dives in herself
• very curious
• more independent
• an angry cryer - it's very easy now to tell who's crying when one of them wakes up from a nap. Annie gets mad when we don't respond withing a few seconds to her demands.
• saying a couple of words : Mama, dada, "all done" in sign language. Mama is said over and over again until I notice, and she usually wiggles around in my arms until her face is right in front of mine to get my attention, and says "Mama?? Mama??"

Tessa is

• bigger -- 20 pounds, 4 ounces
• by far our best cuddler so far! She wraps her arms around our shoulders (like you want a baby to but they usually don't), and she is so happy when being held! This isn't the greatest when I'm trying to do anything with two hands, but I'm sure I'll miss these days!
• a great smiler and laugher! Her laugh is contagious. It wouldn't surprise me if she becomes our most clowny kid. She loves to do little physical stunts already for a laugh, and it's mostly her laughing :)
• saying the same words as Annie: Mama and Dada (Dada being her favorite!). We repositoned our living room furniture a little and now our couch is up against our front window. The babies both love standing on the couch, looking out the window and squealing "Dada" even if he's not out there ;)
  

It's hard to believe it's been a year since this picture was taken. Time flies!!

The Princess and the Peas

The Princess...

and the Peas

We had a Princess and the Peas themed party to celebrate Megan's 4th birthday and the babies' 1st birthday. The Princess and the Pea happens to be Megan's favorite story currently, and this may be part of the reason she was so agreeable to sharing her big day with her baby sisters. Megan and Bridget re-enact this story at least once a day, and take turns being the prince, the princess, the king and the queen.

A Princess and the Peas party is not complete without a guest appearance from a true princess, so my friend Stacey magically transformed into Princess Anastasia. We had some wide-eyed, open-mouthed little girls when Princess Anastasia entered the room!

The babies, on the other hand, weren't so sure about Princess Anastasia!

Some more shots from the day:

I think this is our first twins holding twins picture. Sara's holding Tessa on the left and I'm holding Annie on the right.

Tessa (left) and Annie (right)

Tessa

a rare shot of me and the babies

all of our girls getting ready for cake -- Bridget's little head is poking out from behind Annie's high chair

Tessa and Annie sharing a special moment before their first cupcakes :)

Megan blowing out all four candles on her amazing Princess Belle cake (no, I did not make that!)

Annie, post-cake

Tessa, post-cake

and Bridget, already planning her birthday party in July

Two For The Road

Tessa in hearts

Somehow I don't think sharing a vehicle and taking turns driving said vehicle will always be so fun for these two!

And, some more fun at the inside park: (Annie's doing the pushing)

A New Playground Coming To Town

It's official - we're getting KaBOOM!--ized!

Much to my delight, and "delight" doesn't begin to describe just how excited I am, our little neighborhood park is beng made over by KaBOOM! KaBOOM! is a national non-profit who makes it their mission to create and better playgrounds across the U.S. They're installing our new playground on May 4th, all in one day, and I've volunteered to help out in what little way I can. Keeping the babies away from power tools will be the first priority :) Actually, I'll be helping a little with getting donations for food for all of the volunteers that day. There will be nearly 300 people working on the playground for us!!

This is just so exciting for us! I mean, how often do things like this actully happen when you need them and will use them? This park is about a 5 minute walk from our house, just at the edge of our little neighborhood. I won't have to load the girls into the van to get there, and I won't have to go to San Francisco for the kids to play in a decent park. Don't get me wrong - I love exploring all of the different parks in San Francisco, but it will be so nice to not worry about anyone falling asleep in the car during the 20 minute drive home in traffic. A great playground in our neighborhood will be so....normal! Almost suburban. (I said almost!)

The current park has not been updated since the 80's, and has the solitary slide boarded up right now. It's so bad that I have been known to call it the "ghetto park." We walk right by it to go to our "inside park," and I have secretly wanted to spearhead a movement to rebuild it since Megan was born. Someone at KaBOOM! read my mind.

KaBOOM! is also very concerned about what's going on in some other little minds, specifically the future swingers and sliders in our neighborhood. We had an informational meeting a few nights ago, and they had every kid there draw their ideal playground, and then present it to the room. Meanwhile, the KaBOOM! project manager diligently took notes on every little thing each kid wanted at the park, from massage chairs for the parents (!) to ducks and chickens :) Our playground will be designed with the kids' suggestions taken into account. So cool.

Megan's requests were simple: four seesaws, one big slide, one curly slide, and some swings. Not too much to ask, right? Here she is making her presentation (I wish my camera skills were better while juggling two babies on my lap, and that I had brought my actual camera and not had to rely on my phone, oh well!):


And, here she is with her new sticker proclaiming that she's now a playground designer:

I need to take some "before" pictures of our "ghetto park" before it's demolished. I can't wait for the "after" pictures of the girls playing in their new playground!!

Oh, and does anyone want to donate food for this fabulous event?? ;)

Our Little Megan is 4

So much for four under four!

Megan is four, and I can't believe how these last four years have flown by! Where did our little baby Megan go??!!

In honor of her big day, I dug up a picture of Megan's first day:

and some birthday shots from the last three years:

One - more interested in Daddy's watch than her cupcake

Two - not sure what to make of the whole candle/song business

Three - celebrating at Grandma and Grandpa's! She's got the birthday thing down now!

Happy 4th Birthday, sweet Megan!

Oh, and before I forget a sweet Megan moment...

As she was stalling in settling down for her nap a few days ago, she looked down at Tessa crawling around, seemed to ponder a little, and said, "Mommy, I really wonder what Tessa's voice sounds like. She doesn't know her words yet, so I don't know." Not the most exciting story ever, but she says things like this all the time. She's just so caring and sweet with her sisters. She was meant to be our first-born, that's for sure!

(No) Lucky Shot

Our latest installment in our neverending mystery:

"Why Can't We Get Four Smiles in One Picture?"

You'd think we might have some luck considering our little Irish girls are all decked out in green (and one in a Notre Dame t-shirt that's just as Irish!), but each one of them had their own agenda and chose different moments to turn it on for the camera.

Enjoy these outtakes of our attempt to capture our four Irish blessings :)

Worth Fighting For

The twin fighting has begun. I wasn't so naive to think that it wouldn't happen, but I really didn't think it would happen so soon. One of the culprits?

This little object has been the cause of many a baby brawl over the last few days. That's right - a very small toy McDonald's drink cup. It's about 3 inches tall, and apparently lovely to chew on. If one twin has it, the other will knock her down, pull hair and screech to get it. Crazy!!

I guess we can expect about 18 more years of fights like this. The last real fight I remember with Sara was over a pair of jeans when we were rooming together as freshmen at Davis. Let me clarify... I had painstakingly and lovingly sewed some cute patches on these jeans, and the very next day, after I left for class, Sara raided my (side of the) closet and wore the jeans to school. She waltzed back into our dorm room at the end of the day, and I was so mad I kicked her really hard right in the shin. A low twin moment. Let's hope Tessa and Annie don't fight over clothes - haha!!


Incidentally, I weighed the babies a few days ago for their 11 month baby book stats. Their fighting weights?

Tessa: 20 pounds 4 ounces
Annie: 19 pounds 7 ounces

Let's just say the braunier one doesn't necessarily win every time!

Can Babies Use Purell?

It was going to happen eventually --- the babies had to be exposed to public spaces at some point. I'll admit I've been keeping them in their car seats and stroller a lot and whenever possible. It's pretty rare that they get turned loose at the park or even the library, mostly because, as crawlers, they get cooties all over themselves :) Also, two out of 4 kids strapped in somewhere makes things easier for me. So, when I recently said a little prayer and plopped them down on the petri dish that is the "inside park" floor, they almost didn't know what to do with themselves.


My inner germ phobe shudders at these pictures. (Annie is in the stripes, and Tessa is in brown)

I know I'll regret, and even deny saying this once it happens, but I really can't wait for them to start walking!

Contained

We had another sunny day, and the big girls decided to play out in the backyard. Of course, the babies were awake, so this presented a new dilemma. The thought of bringing the babies outside and setting them loose in wet grass was not at all appealing. So, we set up the Pack n' Play and I'm happy to say that the babies loved it!! Megan and Bridget grabbed some toys for them, but they were more entertained by the driving, swinging and sliding going on beyond the mesh of their cage. I didn't hear one peep or complaint the entire time the girls were playing. I'm seriously thinking about bringing that to Matt's baseball games so I can have some free hands!

Maybe the beach...the possibilites are endless!