Bedtime

Bedtime was one of the things that I used to feel very anxious about right after James was born. How would it all work? It has turned into one of my favorite times.

James takes a bath and I lotion him up. As he takes his last feeding, he grabs for my glasses and touches my face. He has not learned that it is impolite to stare and he gazes into my eyes. He can bring me to tears. Stella and Thomas are taking showers now. They pop in and out of the nursery singing and kissing James. I hear them squealing with joy when Tony tries to 'get them'. James rests his head on my shoulder and rubs his eyes.

Night night Jo Jo

The curtains are drawn, nightlight on and he usually is asleep before I shut the door. The twins are getting their pjs on and cuddling with me and Tony.

Play rough Daddy

He tickles them at commercials during an iCarly episode. Off to bed. Thomas won't kiss on the mouth anymore. He puts his head down and lets me kiss his forehead. I hug him hard.

Stella wants her radio on and I know as soon as we are downstairs she will color or 'read' for awhile. Sometimes I find all of her dresses on her stuffed animals; she loves her time at night!

I go down to finish the kitchen and watch a show. Before I go to bed, I go to all of their rooms and they are fast asleep. My children...my babies. I am acutely aware that this is what I will miss. When we are old and grey and everyone has left our house, I will think back to the years of chaos and ache for it.

So for now, I enjoy it!

Summer Lovin

Our summer is over but today we had a day that felt like our summer days. We did not have any plans. Tony was able to garage sale and we managed to get everything we needed to accomplish done. Nothing was a struggle; we just flowed through our day. It really was one of those days:-)

After James got up from his afternoon nap, Tony wanted to try out his new edger (his WONDERFUL garage sale find....have I ever mentioned what a garage saler my husband is?? Like his Eddie Bauer double jogging stroller with THE TAGS STILL ON for only five dollars!!! Amazing!) Anyway...the lawn was green and freshly cut when the sprinklers went on. Tony and I could see it in Stella's eyes...she REALLY wanted to run through them.

Go ahead Bunny...

And off she went...Thomas soon followed.

First some dragonfly chasing:







James did not know what to think about it all.



My water babies!







My joyful family!!

One Week Down...

Well, the twins made it through one week of school. I think they really like it. We have heard all about math lab, PE class, music and of course...the lunches:-)





James misses his brother and sister so much when they are gone:-(

Second Day

Stella was up and ready to go this morning!


She wanted a 'princess braid' in her hair.




Thomas, on the other hand, is already exhausted.




It is going to take him longer to adjust.


They both want James to come to their classroom for the day!




But he is busy staring at this beautiful wind chime Thomas made at Grandma Stella's.



He is also teething (I think??).








I will say the second day was easier than the first but this is still a big transition!

2007:


2008:


2009:

And They Are Off....

Decisions, Decisions

It still amazes me how different Thomas and Stella can be. Being twins, I sometimes group them together and forget what individuals they are. Tonight we went to pick out new backpacks for kindergarten.

Thomas scans all of them and then goes back and looks carefully at each. He always asks for input.

Which one do you like Daddy?

He steps back and thinks about his decision. Then he makes it. Once his decision is made, there is no going back. Swiftly he picked a GI Joe backpack and a Transformer lunch box. It can take him awhile to make a decision, but once he does, he moves on.

Stella walks up to her selections and run down the aisle touching all of them. She is dancing around and asking unrelated questions.

How about this one Bunny?

No Mama, I want a cool one.

She runs behind all the backpacks and talks to another little girl in the aisle.

Ok, we need to get going. Lets make a decision.

This one!

No, this one.

No, no...wait! This one!

As we are heading to the checkout:

Wait....I changed my mind again. I want this one!!

So tonight we ended up with a Hannah Montana messenger bag...we will see how long she likes it:-)

Meet The Teacher

2007:


2008:


2009:


We had "Meet the Teacher" today for kindergarten....one of the twins was so excited and one was not. Can you tell who was who in the picture above? Haha. I like the teacher and the twins definitely liked her. They met some other kids in their class and I think it will go smoothly on Monday....for them...I am going to be a wreck.

Happy!

Five Months Old

It was a big night for Daddy's show so James celebrated his 20 week mark by hanging in the studio.





How does one go from this:



to this in five months??



James has changed so much in the past four weeks. He is so much more alert and very busy! He tries to take off my glasses whenever he can and can no longer sit still. I know crawling will come next and then the fun will really begin!

Singing Boys

The other morning, Thomas was singing to James (again!!) and James started to 'sing' back. They did this for about 20 minutes...take a look:

Guess What Stage We Are In?

Yep, everything in the mouth....

Wild Child

We practiced walking to school today. The school is two blocks away and the walk was beautiful. However, I could not stop thinking about the first day of kindergarten.



How is my free spirited little bunny going to sit in school all day long? I have written about my Stella before and I had a reminder today of how I can still struggle parenting her.



I hope her teacher 'gets her'.

I hope she makes friends.

I hope she can open her lunch without me.

I hope...



...she is always happy.

Rare Performance

Thomas is usually not the one singing to James but here he is in a rare performance:-)

Messy Boy

James is loving his cereal and I can not get it in to his mouth fast enough. Now he is getting his hands in it and making quite the mess (while still looking so cute!)





Then he is happy and makes the sweetest little coos...

Put Your Arms Around Each Other and Say Cheese!!