Before and After Pictures

Making chocolate matza (before)

Eating chocolate matza (after)
With sweaters - handmade by Phyllis Greenberg (before)
No sweaters (after)

Passover 2009

Samuel was the star of the show at both our Seders. Not only did he sing MaNishtana (which he calls "HaLayla"), but he continued to sing and turned it into a medley including Dayenu and what he calls "levanika" but most people would know as "Kol HaOlam Kulo". He sang beautifully, siting up tall with full composure, he clearly knew he was signing by himself in front of a large group (14+) including strangers but wasn't shy or self-conscious or silly as many kids are. The main theme of the Seder is to "tell your child on that day", well my child blew me away, made me so proud and left me speechless.

Nine Months In, Nine Months Out

April 1st marked Matthew and Renee's 9 month birthday - they have lived in the outside world longer than their time in-utero.

Today, April 4, marked two big milestones for each of them - Renee crawled for the first time and Matthew pulled himself up. Renee is independent as ever, she sits and observes her surroundings, and you can tell her brain never takes a break. She moves by turning and shuffling her body around. Her hands are always busy with purposeful handling of whatever object is within her reach. Matthew is a total mama's boy, he watches all my comings and goings and his moods reflect whether I am in the room. He's big and round.

I hope to be able to write more soon, but truth be told I am exhausted. Between their discovery of object permanence, movement, illness and the never ending teething process Matthew and Renee are waking up 2-3 times per night, meaning I'm up 4-6 times. Samuel has been waking up too so make that 5-7 times. I am exhausted.

Wordless Wednesday

8 months

ago, almost to the minute (if I finish this in one sitting), Matthew and Renee were born.

Dear Matthew and Renee,

Your eighth month has been filled with new experiences and milestones.

Matthew - let's start with today and go backwards. You were able to sustain your own weight after Daddy stood you up on the outside of your soon-to-be-cleaned excersaucer. You held on with your hands and stood for a few minutes. Earlier today you almost pulled yourself up using the crib railing, but instead your legs slid between the side rails of the crib. Yesterday while sitting on the ground you dove forward to get a block and then wiggled backwards quite deliberately. Renee - you almost pulled yourself into a seated position from lying down on your back tonight. You clap frequently and can sometimes feed yourself with a spoon. You talk all the time, and it's not babbling it's deliberate single syllable sounds and you respond to people when they talk back to you.

Other firsts included visits to the after hours clinic for both of you - Renee you only had a cold, but Matthew you got pink eye and an ear infection. You also went to High Tea at the Windsor Arms Hotel to celebrate your great grandmother's 89th birthday. You've been at daycare a full month and have adjusted really well - everyone loves you.

You've started taking toys from each other on a regular basis, and usually the one who had the toy taken away starts to cry. It's pretty even though - there isn't one consistent taker.


You could watch Samuel for hours and laugh with him when he dances. Before you know it you'll be joining him in his dance!

XO

Mami



PS - sorry we have almost no pictures for the month - we "lost" the camera in the basket of bibs on the table.

Canada Winter

We had a little reprieve from winter weather recently, with temperature above freezing and snow banks going away. But alas, "Canada Winter", as Samuel called it today, is back. Yesterday he looked out the window and said "Nuves (clouds) take the snow back. I don't want snow on my minivan". If only wishing made it so!

Tales from Daycare

We've had a couple eventful weeks with Matthew and Renee starting daycare and my starting a new job.

Daycare is going well, and not to brag but I think my kids are favourites and the teachers have fallen in love. And who wouldn't? The kids and teachers are all smiles at drop off and pick up and when I've been able to visit at lunch.

But, we've already had a few "issues". Renee was sent home one day after 3 runny diapers which is standard practice. I had an important meeting, so Marc took the day off to be with Renee who, of course, was perfectly healthy all day. The big first here was that Matthew and Renee spent a day apart for the first time ever. Both seemed to do well.

We also had our first incident report. One child at the daycare, we'll call her "Renee", was so excited with the rattle in her hand that she got carried away and hit Matthew in the eye. Matthew received treatment of an ice pack and lots of TLC (direct quote from the incident report), but he still had a little red welt above his eye. At this age, we think it was accidental, but I'm sure it's only a sign of things to come.

Samuel is terrific. He's started getting mad at Marc and me for indignities like bedtime, nap time, clean-up, not throwing blocks etc. His favourite response to us when we ask him to do something he doesn't want to do is to firmly say "Daddy/Mommy, you're not my friend". Thankfully, he's fickle and we tend to get back into the friendship book pretty quickly. He loves pretending that we're on planes, trains and boats. Today he made a tower of blocks, together with Plop Plop and Ding Dong, that was taller than him.

The kids have reached an age where we can all sit down together and play, and it's lovely.

As for me, I'm enjoying being back at work, but still trying to figure out how all the parts of my life will fit together. It's only been two weeks though so I'm sure it will come together, and fall apart again, soon.

7 Months!

Dear Matthew and Renee,

You are 7 months old! And Renee you celebrated by tasting your first chocolate (that's what happens when you turn your back on a generous and three year old with a chocolate popsicle and a seven month old who puts everything in her mouth!)

Renee, sitting has changed your world. You can sit forever (OK, about 45 minutes) as long as you have a few objects to handle. You have fantastic fine motor skills and have even started to clap. You are a determined and independent little girl. At mealtime, you insist on holing your own spoon and let out irate cries if you don't get your way. When you stayed with Daddy on Saturday, you insisted on trying to hold your bottle yourself and showed great distaste for Daddy's hand when it had the nerve of trying to help you hold the bottle, despite the fact you you couldn't hold on to the bottle by yourself. You remain constantly active and observant of everything around you. You've started smiling more frequently and for longer periods. You love stroking my face and grabbing my glasses. You hate taking medicine, not sure if it's the taste or indignation that someone else is putting something in your mouth and that I don't let you handle the bottle and spoon/syringe.

Matthew, you continue to be your happy, smiley self. You love looking out the window and at plants. You also love being held at a higher altitude, e.g. standing vs, sitting, or sitting on a counter or dresser (with an adult right there, of course). You have your first tooth. You've discovered that you can get to an object that's out of reach while you're seated by tipping forward and pushing your legs behind you. You love, love, love eating. You can't get enough food be it from a spoon or from me. You dive for my breast all the time and have given me hickeys on my arms, face, chest, etc.

You reached another very significant miles stone today by starting day care full-time. You both got rave reviews from your care givers, and seemed quite happy when I dropped you off, visited you at lunch and picked you up.

The interaction between you continues to fascinate me - you talk to each other and laugh together all the time. The other night I was giving you raspberries and you found it equally hilarious to receive the raspberry and to watch your sibling get one.

I love having both of you together! it really is great fun to have twins.

XOXO

Mami

Bath Time
(another great way to see their different personalities)

Renee can't stop moving - she started the bath facing sideways!

And Matthew just sits back and chills

Post bath with Tocayo and Regi

Observation

Dear Samuel,

Last Thursday, you (and your school) invited your Daddy and me to come observe you work in your classroom. What a treat it was!

You began by showing us how you work with tracing a trapezoid with different colour pencils and them you moved on the a triangle. You carefully arranged your paper and materials. You showed us how we should trace two lines of the triangle and took notice when Daddy traced all three lines. While you were working one of the other boys in your class showed you his bandaid covered finger and you appropriately responded with empathy, telling him "it's ok". One of the older girls in your class approached your table while you were tracing and pointed out that you were not using the tile under your tracing correctly, you simply smiled at her and kept doing what you were doing before. I was so proud!

You then moved onto the Practical Life section of your classroom and started working on grinding coffee beans with a mortar and pestle (a skill we hope to put to use on the weekends!). You started by grinding one bean at a time, showing great care. After a few beans though, you poured all the beans into the mortar and tried to grind them all. The same girl who corrected your work earlier told you that you were only supposed to grind three beans, since you're three years old, but you kept going anyway with a little smirk telling us that you knew you were doing something you shouldn't have been going but you kept right on going.

We spent about an hour with you and you impressed me so much. you show such dedication and concentration on the task at hand, you work diligently, carefully and creatively showing empathy and marching to the beat of your own drummer.

You also had a big first this weekend, attending your first concert (aside from the jazz concerts at the sculpture garden). Tocayo and Regi invited you and Eduardo to Strike, Rattle and Roll at Roy Thompson Hall. The percussion focused concert for children was right up your alley and you loved it, until you fell asleep on my lap at the end (it was during your nap time after all). You tapped your hands, pretended to play the clarinet, looked for the "marimbas" and cymbals, and danced to the music. Your excitement was palpable, and once again you made me so proud.

You talk non-stop. Tonight as a delay tactic for bed time you asked Daddy a myriad of questions - "where does orange juice come from?", "what's the sun?", "where does light come from", etc. You want to go to Vancouver, Floria and California, and the beach. My favourite recent conversation with you started with love and ended with trains and planes:
Samuel: Mom, I love you.
Me: Samuel, yo te adoro (I adore you). Sabes to que es "adore" (do you know what adore means)
Samuel: Yes Mom, a door you open, you close it, the train has a door, the plane has a door. Let's go on th train, and the taxi and the airplane.

Samuel, I adoor (or adore) you!

XO

Mami

Its been a while since I posted an entry, and I'll lay blame with Renee who'd rather not sleep between 9 pm and midnight, Matthew who has been sick and teething, myself for having lots of job interviews and the reality of life. So here are my favourite anecdotes from recent weeks.
___________

As Jews, we formally remember our loved ones who died by lighting a candle and saying a prayer on the anniversary of their death - it's called a Yartzeit. My mom's parents, Renee and Dick died in 1982 and 1990, but 4 days apart in the Hebrew calendar so their Yartzeits come very close together. This year, at my nephew's request we light both candles on the same night. We all had dinner at my parent's, lights the candles and stood together while my mom said Kaddish for them. We ended the night with a rendition of a children's song and dance that we used to do with Dick and Renee as kids - A La Rueda de San Miguel. My mom holding Renee (who is named after her mom of course), my Dad holding Matthew and all of us singing and dancing in a circle in the front hall way. It was the perfect way of honoring their memory and making them come alive for the new generation. Cuqui, Mateo, Ricardo y familia - lo menciono especialmente para ustedes - que bella manera de celebrar a Dick y Renee, no?)
___________

Samuel choses his clothes in the morning and on Tursday, Inaguration Day, he chose his "Future President of the United States" t-shirt. How he knew that Tuesday was the day to honour his American citizenship, I don't know. Despite the freezing weather, he wore it all day. I'll post a picture when I have a minute.
___________

Matthew has a tooth. My dad was the first to spot it, or more accurately, feel it. He also has a sore throat and hoarse voice. Poor guy. He's still super smiley and happy though.

___________

Renee's had her first illness requiring antibiotics. She got a fever of 104 last Saturday so my mom and I made the trip to the ER while Marc stayed with the boys. After ruling out all the usual suspects (strep, ear infection, etc) the doctor thought she might have a urinary track infection. It's a good thing my mom came with me because they needed to insert a catheter to get a urine sample, and had to do it twice. The first time didn't work, then she wet herself, then they did a second catheter and got a few drops of urine, enough to test. Poor girl. She hates her antibiotic too.
__________

As for me, I have a job. I start Feb 2. It's a good job with a good company, and it's 5 minutes from home. We'll be introducing Matthew and Renee to daycare, which is 2 minutes from my office, on Monday. Here's hoping for a smooth transition.

Dinner Time

Now that Matthew and Renee are eating solid food we've been having dinner together as a family. It's not exactly a relaxed experience, but it is a lot of fun. Tonight we introduced avocado. Renee insists on taking the spoon and trying to put it into her mouth - by the look of it she liked avocado. Matthew was a bit more tentative and let us feed him.

Those three lines of avocado make her look like a Klingon

(where the spoons end up - we used 5 with Renee, 1 with Matthew;
also note the avocado on the table and chair)

Samuel loved his cucumber and tomatoes, as well as his quesadilla and guacamole. He is still talking about our trip on the train (subway) this weekend and he'd like to go again but with "my Matthew and my Renee". He also told us he doesn't want to go to school anymore and instead he'd like to take the train to go to the office with Marc (I think it's just a post-holiday adjustment).

At bedtime, I went into Samuel's room to say goodnight, and he greeted at me with a very serious and almost angry look and said "where are my Matthew and my Renee?", so I went to get them to have a proper goodnight between everyone. Samuel kissed both his younger siblings, saying "he's my friend I love Matthew"and "he's my friend I love Renee". Matthew and Renee love the attention from their older brother - Samuel is a sure way to get them to laugh.

Samuel Speak and Helping with Renee's Bath

Samuel has been off school for the last two weeks so we've been able to spend lots of time together. Today was the icing on the cake though - we left Matthew and Renee with my parents and took Samuel to ride the subway and out for lunch. He could hardly stop smiling the whole morning.

His vocabulary is amazing. He has a few phrases he repeats all the time. He loves saying "I forgot" and uses it for both real situations and for play, sometimes with a smile and look on his face that seems to say "how silly of me to forget". When asked a question, he often replies by saying "Oh yes" very formally, almost with an accent. He also says "I love you" although it almost sounds like "I Lob you" with a hard B sound. And, the other day Marc put a puzzle piece in the right spot and Samuel responded by saying "obviously".

His imaginary friend Plop Plop has been up to all sorts of activities, including getting hte blame for things Samuel has done, like taking a bunch of wipes out of the box and leaving them on the floor. He has also been joined by a new imaginary friend Ding Dong. We've also had a lot of people over the last week or so, and Samuel has taken to calling them all "peoples" - "peoples come here, sit on my train" (a corner of the room), etc.

And two firsts from tonight - Renee sitting up in the bath and Samuel helping to bathe her!

SIX MONTHS!!

Dear Matthew and Renee,

Today, as we welcome 2009 you reach your own milestone - your six month birthday!

You are so interactive, love sitting as best and long as you can and are enjoying your first solid foods. By far you are most interested in watching people, especially each other. You spend time each day looking at each other, laughing, smiling and talking away. When you were younger you used to hold hands while you nursed and you still do that sometimes, but you can also reach each other's heads, sometimes to stroke, sometimes to grab.

Matthew, you remain fascinated by the human hand and clam down almost instantly with the "Tengo Manita" song. Your eyes have started to change color away from blue towards what may be green or hazel. Your face, and the rest of you, is very round. You don't roll over very often but you love rotating around when you're on your tummy. You've just started to sit for longer periods but you still topple over.

Renee, your are most entertained by your own hands - touching different textures, passing objects from hand to hand, reaching. You grab the spoon when I feed you and love the whole eating experience - from sitting in your chair, to the spoon, to the actual consumption of food. You even laughed tonight while I cleaned your face! You have lots of very, very blond hair and you have about 3 extra long hairs, about 4"long, on the side of your head. Your favorite activity by far is sitting, especially in your highchair where you've sat happily for more than 30 minutes.

I love seeing your faces light up when you see your family around you, and equally love seeing everyone's faces light up when they see you. Thank you for blessing me with your smiles and for reaching out to me, showing me that you now who I am! I adore you both!!

Plop Plop and Interactive Play

Rice Cereal

Laundry

Plop Plop

Samuel has an imaginary friend whose name is Plop Plop. Plop Plop is a baby, small enough to fit in Marc's shirt pocket and he/she (we're unclear as to the gender) comes with us everywhere. We've had a couple "You're sitting on Plot Plop" moments, but for the most part we've integrated him/her into our day to day.

Samuel has adjusted to winter (far more than I can say for me - I curse the weather at least once a day). He loves "snow crunching" and cleaning snow from the car and shoveling the walkway and driveway. One day this week he refused to go inside because he still had a lot of snow cleaning work to do. Today it rained and he insisted on cleaning the rain off the van with a snow brush.



Interactive Play

Matthew and Renee reached a new milestone today. For the first time, I saw them really interact purposefully with each other. This afternoon, they spent about 5 minutes smiling and laughing at each other this afternoon - no toys in sight, I was out of the way, it was just the two of them and it was fantastic to see. Tonight, they took the interaction a few steps further - before their massage, Renee pinched Matthew and he cried (I have since cut her finger nails), after the massage, he pulled her hair and she cried. A preview of things to come.

Samuel Speak

A few precious quotes from the last week:

Samuel got a bingo game from his Grandpa Paul and grandma Heather. He loves playing it, and insists that we say a blessing before we play "Baruch Ata . . . ". He often calls Bingo "Pingo: which is a Spanish word that describes him perfectly - it doesn't have a translation it's sort of like a combination of curious and naughty / mischievous but without any negative intent

He also tells us to "Sit and listen please" almost every night. We assume he's quoting his teacher.

This morning he looked at me very seriously and said "Mami, I need two pants for school, and two socks, and two underwear" holding 3 or 4 fingers out with his hands.

He's had a ot to say about the snow including "I don't like to eat it, it's not dinner", "Let's clean it up" and when Marc was shoveling he was quick to pint out "Daddy you're not finished yet"

Here is is at the school's Hanuka show. When he saw me in the audience, instead of waving, he blew kisses in my direction!


__________________

Matthew and Renee are doing great. We've been putting Renee is her high chair during the day and she loves it. She's so proud to sit in her high chair and observe the world. She also loves touching my face, and sometimes will catch my glasses. Matthew laughs when you imitate the sounds he's making and is super smiley.


Matthew got a little hungry during a massage:
And, the much requested picture of me with both babies in their slings. This was our last Salsa Baby class.

Solid Food and Sibling Rivalry

We introduced Matthew and Renee to rice cereal yesterday to rave reviews. They couldn't get enough of my mom's homemade rice mush (mmm, mmmm, mmm). I can't believe that they've reached this milestone already, but they were so ready for it.
____________________

One day this week, or was it last week?, Samuel, Matthew and Renee demonstrated first bits of sibling rivalry, and even some cousin rivalry between Samuel and Eduardo.

The day started with Samuel saying "shshsh" to Matthew in an annoyed tone while Matthew was talking during a Curious George video. During the day, Matthew and Renee "fought" over the same toy. Both wanted to hold it, lunging for it, grabbing it, until they found their faviourite toy of all - each other's hands. At the end of the day, Eduardo and Samuel fought over the same chair at he table and the last banana in the house.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling X 2

Matthew rolled over tonight, during the bedtime massage he grabbed his feet, a favorite pastime, looked at Renee who was by his side and rolled over.

And a Samuel anecdote - his school has a fountain in the front hall area. It's one of those fountains that's a vertical pane with water that cascades over it like a thin waterfall. My mom turned around for a minute yesterday which have him enough time to grab handfuls of toilet paper to clean up the water! He's the only kids at the school who has ever thought of doing that.

Five Months

Dear Matthew and Renee,

Today you are five months old. And what five months it has been!

Matthew, you have a most expressive face - when you smile, your whole face lights up, and when you're upset your entire face can quiver. You rarely get upset, but you've been quite fussy last few days. Today you started making new sounds. In addition to the typical baby sounds, you started making sounds like a cat - purring and almost mewing. You love playing with my face and reach out to grab it whenever I'm close enough. You sleep really well at night and I thank-you for that.

Renee, you are so observant, you look around a room and seem to take everything in. You are a determined little one and try to move and reposition yourself as best you can. You like moving objects from one hand to hand. You have a honing sense when it comes to me, especially at night and you often cry when I leave the room.

You are so interested in each other, you talk to each other, you reach for each other. I'm fascinated by watching you grow as individuals and also to see how your relationship is evolving. You both do sympathy crying and calm down when the other baby calms down. I think you know who the other baby is and recognize that it's not just another baby. And you absolutely know Samuel and love it when he comes to play or read with you.

You are brining so much joy to everyone around you.

Con todo mi carino,

Mami

NaBloPoMo - This Too Shall Pass

One of the big mantras of parenthood has to be "this too shall pass". It goes brilliantly with the hard and frustrating tantrums and sleepless nights, but I find that I say it to myself about the good stuff too, although with an entirely different connotation. "This too shall pass" applies to me being the mom of newborns, to seeing first smiles and hearing first laughs. It gives me perspective that each day has its trials and its precious moments. When people ask "how do you do it with three", I generally ignore the question (given that it's strangers who ask), but in my mind I say "because I know what I'm living today will be different tomorrow".

This also applies to NaBloPoMo - it too has passed. And while at times it was hard and I struggled to have something relevant to say and to find time to read the other Milk Moms' blogs, I loved participating. It made me feel a little closer to the bloggers and their kids and it brought my kids closer to many people I love dearly and wish were closer geographically.

Thanks to all for reading along and posting comments. Therese - thanks for the invitation to participate. Vickie, Susan, Ellen, Laurie, Luchy, Laurence, Marya, Elaine, Fiona - thanks for sharing your daily lives and thoughts. I can't tell you how much I miss you and am thankful everyday that we have blogs and email to keep in touch. Cuqui - mil gracias for the daily comments and I hope we get to have breakfast together soon.

XO

Silent Saturday

Shabbat Shalom

We hosted our first Shabbat dinner tonight. We had all of three guests - my aunt Suzie, my Mom and her friend Katherine. We ordered pizza and ate off paper plates. But I did make a salad, with Samuel's help, and we did all the blessings, and we had a good time, and I say that's what counts.

Gone are the days of hosting 10 for a wine tasting dinner and making all the food and dessert from scratch, but I know they'll come back. Before I know it, I'll be cooking up a storm with 3 sous chefs. The kitchen will be a mess but there will be lots of us to cleanup too.

Sleep (cont'd)

Basically, I was going to say what my aunt Cuqui said in her comment.


Here's the difference in sleep pictorially. Matthew and Renee at 8 am this morning:


VBas

Sleep

No this is not about sleep deprivation, although that's what most people would expect. Instead I want to write about my observations on how babies sleep.

I find it really interesting that Matthew and Renee sleep completely differently. They both have the same bedtime routine, are fed the same during the day, have the same sleep environment, are swaddled, all the things that the "experts" and books say contribute to a baby sleeping well. But here's the reality - Matthew sleeps very well and Renee doesn't. Matthew falls asleep easily at nights sometime around 9 and usually sleeps until 5 or 6 am in his crib (please, I hope I'm, not jinxing myself by writting it down). We did nothing to encourage or train him - it just happened. Renee has a very hard time falling asleep and wakes up at the slightest noise all night, she wakes up so often we started co-sleeping so I could get some rest. We like co-sleeping and did it with Samuel, and I'd do it with Mathew too but I can't figure out how and really, I don't want to disturb what he had going right now.

Naps are a whole other thing - Renee falls asleep easily in the car seat, or the swing. Matthew doesn't and will often cry a horrible cry before falling asleep.

This makes me think that temperament really does have a huge influence on sleep. It also makes me wonder, if I only had one baby (vs two to have a comparison) and I wanted to change their sleep pattern, how much of an uphill battle would I face given their temperament? Could Matthew be a better napper, and what would that do to his nighttime sleep? Could Renee "learn" how to sleep through the night?

As parents, we each make decisions on what we think is best for our kids. But, I often wonder whether "expert" helps or hinders us as parents. Does it set unrealistic expectations? If I co-slept with Matthew would he sleep as well? Or, at the other end of the spectrum, if we let Renee cry it out, would that work for her? Lots of questions, and I have lots of thoughs, but Renee is awake and crying and needs me so I'm off.

TBC tomorrow

Watch Out for Juice Boxes

Beware of possible problems (leaks, bacteria, other gross stuff) with juice boxes as explained in this article. I've stopped buying them just in case.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/11/19/iunit-drinkboxes.html

To my US friends and family - not sure if this is a Canadian issue, but Dole is a US based company.


I'll post about the kids tomorrow, hopefully without one attached as is the case now.

Random Things

Samuel came across a set of markers today, somewhere between the after school program and my mom's office. Here are the results:



He also really likes the number three in Hebrew and says "shalosh" all the time. And while we were looking at pictures of Georgetown online, he announced that he wanted to go visit Washington DC. He said it just like that "I'd like to visit Washington DC, want to come with me?"

Matthew skipped his morning nap all together, but we all made up for it in the afternoon when Matthew, Renee and I all fell asleep on the rocking chair. Matthew was in the sling and Renee in my arms. I woke up 1 1/2 hours after I sat down.

Our phone stopped working, but I re-set the box in the garage and now it works. The garage is finally free of moving boxes, just in time for winter and snow. Unfourtunately, our van barely fits in the garage. If you flip the side mirrors closed you can drive the van in, but you can barely get out and certainly can't get car seat out.

Also, I can now put each baby in their own sling and carry two slings, one over each shoulder. It won't work for long walks, but it works well around the house and maybe even for a quick grocery shop.

Aaah Weekends

I'm not sure what it is, but weekends are exhausting. Monday to Friday we manage to keep the house relatively tidy, kitchen clean, dishwasher dirty or emptied (I don't mention laundry purposely - it's a loosing battle to attempt to keep up - Renee can go through 4-5 outfits per day, at least one crib sheet and one outfit for me, and I only change things that are really gross, smelly and wet). Saturday and Sunday all hell breaks loose and we just can't keep up. Marc thinks it's in part because it's hard for us to keep Samuel entertained at home all weekend. For his whole life we've been going out on weekends - in Georgetown we just walked out the door and in Takoma Park we had lots of play dates - and he always wants to go out walking, not in the car. Our first month here the weather made it easy to go to one of the parks or playgrounds near by. Now, it's below freezing and Samuel doesn't like the cold, nor do we. And Samuel's schedule and Matthew and Renee's schedules don't make it easy to go out together. The saving grace is the help we get from my family, with sleepovers and visits here to hang out with the kids, unload the dishwasher, fold the laundry. So now we need to work on our weekend groove. We'll aim for more play dates and for museum trips, and hope to acclimatize to the weather (pun intended).

Here's a picture from the best part of our bedtime routine - the massage. I do both of them at the same time, one with each hand. As soon as the music starts and I undress them, Matthew and Renee start smiling, and tonight they even laughed!!

Age Differential

Tonight, after coming home from dinner with Daddy, Samuel came home with two scoops of ice cream to find me playing with Matthew and Renee. He looked surveyed the situation and said "I want my two ice creams (holding out 4 fingers) with Mami, Daddy you stay with the kids". I guess at the ripe old age of three, four and a half month olds are kids.

Getting Into Our Groove

Matthew, Renee and I are getting into our regular groove. They're eating well every 3 1/2 hours during the day with 3-4 oz of formula per feed, they're sleeping well and that allows for some semblance of a routine. We never had a schedule or routine with Samuel, but I really need one now not only because they're two babies but also because we have Samuel and because I rely so much on my parents' and Andy's help. I've also found things to do during the days - Tuesdays and Wednesdays we have Baby / Mommy fitness classes, Thursdays is Baby Salsa, Friday is sing-a-long at a friend's and Tuesday we have Hebrew sing-a-long too. My days with Samuel revolved round the Breastfeeding Center, between all the classes we took and all the friends we made. Matthew and Renee's days are musical and physical activity based (the later is inspiration from a fellow Milk Mom). I hope that I'll be able to meet new friends through these classes like I did before.

A few kids updates:
- Samuel is hilarious. He talked non-stop in both languages. His English words are very clear and are all real words. In Spanish though he uses so many prefixes and suffixes that he makes up new words. One day this week he came home with a small cut on this hand and explained that he "melocortemelo asi bam bam con un martillo" ("I cut it myself to myself by myself like this bam bam with a hammer"). He's not sure what he wants to do these days though, he's desperate to go outside yet hates the cold.
- Renee is rolling over constantly and still not a big fan of sleeping during the night, but sleeps great during the day. She loves having her feet massaged and stops crying almost immediately when I massage her feet.
- Matthew has started laughing. His whole face lights up when he smiles and he laughs with a deep, guttural sound

Publish Post

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Snow and Oscardo

There's not doubting it now, we live in much colder climate with "real" winter, not to dis DC winter, but really they don't count - what we woke up to this morning would have closed the schools in DC. Note that Samuel is wearing his snow pants over his pajamas - we were trying on the only pair of snow pants we could find this morning. He was a bit hesitant at first, but he did go out into the snow and even touched it. A vast improvement over last winter's trip to Ottawa when he refused to step foot outside. Samuel also went to a play date after school with a friend from his class - the hugged first thing this morning and held hands through out the day. Best of all, he came home fed and in a great mood yet tired enough to go to bed quickly and easily.

While Samuel ventured out to the snow, Matthew, Renee and I went to our first Baby Salsa class (Renee slept while Matthew and I danced away) and to Oscardo, the Lulka family business. The bibs in this and many other pictures are Oscardo products. Oscardo is a supplier of beautiful souvenirs, everything from silk scarves to lunch bags for kids. The business has really evolved over the years and I'm really proud of my dad and what he has been able to accomplish. http://www.oscardo.com/