Fall fun, continued

Weirdly enough, the sun continues to make appearances here in Cleveland. It's been a lovely fall and we're doing our best to take advantage of it.





Since I've begun to suspect that Child Services come and take your children away if you don't photograph them in front of large gourds, here is the obligatory pumpkin patch photo op:

That's Ivy, Nat and Amanda's girl, in front. It wasn't until we picked them all up that we realized the mat was quite wet and all three girls spent the afternoon with damp bottoms. They didn't seem to mind.

Here we are, the happy apple picking family. And Jack, the photo-bombing imp, in the background.

The girls seem to quite like riding in the backpacks. They get to pull hair (well, on me, at least) and stick their fingers in our ears. I think they like getting a grown-up view of things, for a change.

...

I got a rather spectacular view of things when Papa took me up in the plane last weekend. It was a glorious fall day and we flew over giant corn mazes and pumpkin fields and picturesque farms. The plane ride was hardly terrifying at all, except for when he let me drive. I couldn't really handle that. Sadly, car seats won't fit in the plane, so the girls have to wait a bit before launching.

Modeling our Top Gun look:


...

Naomi and Lillian continue to charm everyone and everything around. The new game this week is for them to purse their lips, scruch their noses and sniff in.out.in.out.in.out. Since it gets quite a reaction, they do it a lot. One girl will start and then I'll imitate and then the other girl has to join in. We're a laugh riot over here, I tell you.

Here are the girls, charming people even in their sleep. I had them at the Parent Center last week for the toy selling business. Since it was nap time, I got them snuggled into some bean bags and off to La-La land they went. Once they were out, they got tucked neatly away under the table. And there they stayed.

Sweet Dreams!

Forward Progress!

As of today, Naomi is officially moving intentionally forward.

God help us all.

Please Send Help.

Seriously. I cannot handle the cuteness level on my own.


Look at this!



I absolutely adore the look on Naomi's face in that picture. She appears to be thinking, "Oh, there she goes again. She needs to get ahold of herself. And the drool. It's just shameful."

In addition, they are wearing the cutest hats in the universe, thanks to our friend Tiffany. I made the girls eat breakfast wearing them the other day because they are just that wonderful. Lillian now does this thing where she grips the tray of her highchair and shakes her head back and forth. It makes her happy. And then we do it in return and that makes her happy, too. Now imagine the whole affair with tassles.

I mean, really. Help me.

...

Our butterflies are growing!

Claire came to visit last weekend and we all tromped out in the cold to Stan Hywet for the Ohio Mart craft fair. It's all about the gingerbread, really, though. We did find this adorable bench on which to pose the cold babies. They sit well enough now that we can back off enough to take a picture. Here they are again with Nana and Claire.

Naomi continues to be quite mobile, in untraditional ways. What you see here is a serious disadvantage of crawling backwards.

She is now getting herself into and out of a sitting position regularly. She prefers to stand, if you'll balance her. I figure any day now, I'll find her running across the room.

Lillian is starting to scootch backwards, too. Sometimes, she gets really excited while she's sitting and starts bouncing forward on her butt. (Send help immediately.)

We went to a 'Rock-a-Bye-Babies" class this morning, which the girls seemed to really enjoy. It definately highlighted the differences between them. Naomi couldn't stop looking at all the stuff in the room, trying to grab it all and chew on it at once. Lillian couldn't stop staring at the teacher. She is very people focused.

...

Oh, and they're eleven months old today.

(HELP!)

Fall Fun

Cool days, crisp nights. Trying (and mostly failing) to keep socks on little baby feet. This is how we are making the transition into the fall season. Except for two days ago, when it was 90 degrees and breaking records. Then we took the Rubbermaid bins onto the patio, filled them with water and splashed around in their makeshift pools. That was good, too. And noone got beaned by a falling acorn.

Here are lots of pictures of our recent days.

The girls at 'RIPE' festival at the Botanical Gardens. They were so fascinated by the grass that this is one of the few shots of them both looking up. Nana and I (and a host of friendly strangers) did a lot of hooting and whistling and clapping to get this.


Naomi's typical response to a camera:



This is how Lillian looks at us often, through her forehead. Naomi doesn't usually look this evil. Upon seeing this, William began reciting Lizzie Borden rhymes.

Lillian, displaying our current favorite toy. This mixing bowl, paired with a half dozen bottle tops to shake and dump, are always reached for and stolen when the other baby gets distracted. Not sure how well this bodes for my new business of selling toys. (Interested? Message me!! Shameless self promotion!!!)
.

Lillian, enjoying a little pre-dinner reading:

Both girls with Grandma Rand:

The Paparazzi

While walking at the Legacy Village last weekend, we ran into some young photographers who were out perfecting their craft on a beautiful evening. They asked if it would be okay to take some pictures of the girls. Of course we agreed! And in return, this was posted to one of their blogs this afternoon (credit to Byron Wolfram).

Nice to see that others do recognize how gorgeous these babies are!

Race for the Cure

On Saturday, I packed up the girls and met Nana and a bunch of ladies downtown and we participated in the Race for the Cure. It was a wild scene, thousands and thousands of people milling about ahead of time, picking up their free swag. (The pink lanyards worked well as pacifier lassos.) People were decked out head to toe in pink, lots of them wearing the names of those people they were celebrating or remembering. Once we got walking, cheerleaders and bands were stationed along the route to keep us motivated. There were lots of other families with strollers, all negotiating the streets of downtown. We couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day to enjoy the view, the company and inspiration of this gathering. I couldn't help thinking--what if these girls grew up not having to worry about breast cancer? This definitely won't be our last year in this race.

Here are the girls, wearing their pink for the cause. Naomi, who has the cutest little ears on her hoodie:

Lillian. All this walking is hard work:

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.

...

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

...

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