10 Months

Ten months. If I were casual about rounding off, these babies are practically a year old. In two short months, that will be so. Two months ago, we were just in Boston. Already, there is a bit in the air here that reminds me to drink more tea. And these babies are ten months old. Inconceivable!

Well, in the past few weeks, we've been very busy. William, sadly, has gone back to work. The winning lottery ticket never came through. The girls and I are back to a routine. This time, though, we're able to work in some fun. That's a major difference from before the summer. When William was working this past winter and spring, it was more like survival mode. Getting laundry done was a serious accomlishment and we just bounced from feeding to sleeping to butt-wiping with little time to breathe. I had a standing appointment to load the dishwasher at 10:30am. Now that I have the basics down and the girls are more independent, we get to enjoy more of this time. I'm sure this will all change again very shortly, as they are threatening mobility.

Okay, Naomi is threatening. She's up on her hands and knees now, rocking back and forth. In fact, this is what she does in her crib now instead of sleeping. Only, she's a ninja and does it in total silence. So, I'm humming around, delivering laundry, or restocking toilet paper, or whatever and I peek in there, and there she is--on all fours, looking at me through the crib bars and obviously very pleased with herself. We used to swaddle both girls to sleep, but they've really outgrown that. Without that constraint, Naomi is everywhere. There is simply no telling where she'll be when we check on them. She also uses her newly free arms to pull her pacifier out of her mouth and rattle it along the crib, like a prisoner with her tin cup.

We've moved Lillian out of the shared crib, since her sister is such a wanderer. Lillian currently sleeps in the twin bed with a barricade of boppies, just in case she randomly decides to start moving. So far, no. She just snuggles with her washcloth.

So, for fun. The girls and I walk to the park a few times a week and have their lunch under a tree. There's a lovely little playground with baby swings--you saw Lillian's pictures in the last entry. I wanted to make sure you got to see this winner of Naomi.

Here are the girls, post lunch, having a lovely dessert of plastic chew toys. And Lillian, just for kicks.

We've done lots of other things, too, where I've been totally remiss in taking pictures. We attended Jack's 3rd birthday party (3 at Last!) where the girls took notes on the cupcakes, in preparation for their own party. They also fell in love with their first balloons. I didn't expect much of a reaction, but Nat tied one in a loop around Lillian's ankle and she grabbed that ribbon and yanked on that balloon over and over and over again, bopping herself in the forehead for what must have been half an hour.

The girls got to experience their first Camp Hamilton over Labor Day, though it was a little cool to go swimming in the pond. Maybe next year. Here are the girls enjoying the view from the dock with Nana and Papa.

Myla, Bryan and Rowen came to visit again. What a change in all the kiddos since they were last here in May!

I took the girls to the zoo today for their first time. It was such a gorgeous fall day that we couldn't pass it up. Naomi and Lillian were far more interested in the other people than the animals, but it was still a good time. Here's a mama and baby koala; he's the same age as the girls!

Here are the girls, relaxing outside the Wallaby Walkabout. Inside, we got to see a baby wallaby peeking out of it's mother's pouch, an angry goose chasing a young couple, and a donkey up close. The girls were pretty unsure what to make of the donkey.

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I almost forgot to tell you--Naomi finally has a tooth!

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I'm off to go hide under a blanket and pretend that time really isn't speeding up.