Lillian

The baby of the family.

She's awfully adorable. Here she is with Nana on the Towpath Trail.

Lillian is the studier. We're going to have to get her DNA tested to see if they can make an anti-ADD medication from her genetic material. She gets the most intense look of concentration on her face and it just stays that way. Here she is, on the swings, captivated by her own shadow.

It turned out she did actually enjoy the swings quite a bit, once it got moving.

Lillian is not as quick to smile as her sister, earning the nickname Queen Elizabeth. The look of intense concentration can easily be mistaken for a bit of contempt and judgement. When she does flash her million-watt smile, though, it's totally worth it. Both of her bottom teeth are now fully through, making it that much cuter. She has an adorable squeaky laugh that usually needs to be tickled out of her. And, if you get her to smile or smirk just the right way, a dimple/divot appears on the left side of her mouth, right where Marilyn's mole was. Here's one of Lillian's winningest smiles.

Some of Lillian's favorite things include:

Washcloths.

Mom's hair.

Tags of various toys and blankets.

These are all good for grabbing and chewing on. One of her favorite games right now is to have someone flutter a blanket down over her. Before you can even say peekaboo!, though, she's grabbed the blanket off her face and is peering at you over the hem of it, grinning like a goof.

When she gets excited about things, she flaps her arms up and down and bangs her hands on her knees. She also (this might be my favorite thing ever) talks herself down after sneezes. Like a humming sigh.

Poor girl might be tone-deaf, though as she really appears to like my singing. A favorite is "When I'm 64." She is also totally enthralled by whistling as it produces both noise and a breeze!

Here is my new favorite picture of my youngest. Feel free to add your own caption.

Naomi

I figure we ought to let these girls have the spotlight to themselves every now and then.

Naomi's been so much fun recently. She's frighteningly mobile, even though she's not crawling yet. She pushes her arms to do a half-push-up (don't worry, honey, momma can't do the full plank ones either.) Then kicks her feet and lifts her butt in the air.When she really gets going, it looks like she's doing the worm. She rolls fast. She also spends a fair amount of time on her back, playing with and eating her toes.

Naomi favors several toys, including the stacking ball thing you see here:

Other winners are board books to chew on, and the playmats on the floor that are good for scratching at, catlike.

In an earlier blog comment, Kate noticed that Naomi might actually be a cannibal. She might be right. She likes few things better than chewing on her sister's head. Other than that, she's still pretty much a stinker about eating. Except when she does this:

"I'll take this here Puff. Thank you."

Moments later, this sticky, half-melted Puff was pasted to the side of her face, but nevermind.

She's earned the nickname Beavis, for her ridiculous giggle. Butthead just seemed wrong. Still, on occassion, she likes to shout out "Ha HA!" and crack us up. She also gives us the goofy grin you see in the picture below.
We also call her SnuggleBunny or VelcroMonkey because she really latches onto you when you hold her. She buries her face in the side of your neck and nuzzles. Of course, that might be more of the cannibal thing. At least she's a friendly cannibal.

She's also kind of a motion junkie and loves to be tossed around by Daddy. This, in turn, totally tweaks out the dog. Who Naomi still adores more than any other family member. Strangely, she does not try to eat the dog.

Here's a picture from earlier that sums her up quite well:

We'll do a Lillian post soon. (Okay, soon being a relative term, I guess.)

9 months

It's been a while. Sorry!

Lots of excitement has kept us busy. Lots of humidity has kept us sweaty.

The girls have passed their 9 month marker. A smooth, shot-free doctor's appointment reveals that Naomi is now 17lbs8oz, and her giant sister Lillian is now 20lb12oz. Just as a reference, Naomi is now in the 50th percentile and Lillian in the 80th! Not for other babies born in January, near their due date, but for other babies born full term in November!

The 3 pound difference is stunning. Lifting Naomi is like tossing a pillowcase in the air. Lillian? Not so much. She is solid. Apparently she feels it, too, as she is much less mobile than her sister. We can't really leave Naomi in a room alone like we once could. We were packing the car last week and both girls were hanging out on the floor in the middle of the living room. When we returned, Naomi was like 8 feet away, hanging out with the oscillating fan. She's rolling and pivoting and trying so hard to scootch her way around. I think she'll be crawling soon.

Our packing was for good purpose, as we headed off to Columbus to visit Kate, Shane and adorable puppy Olive. We stopped first at the State Fair and the girls were treated to the sights, sounds and smells of the fairgrounds. They slept through part of it, of course. That's how they show us they really like something. While we were there. the girls considered some career options.

Naomi as culinary master:

.

Lillian as Happy Equestrian:

Playtime is just getting better and better. The girls continue to be fascinated by eachother as much as their toys. My new favorite thing is when we sit them on opposite sides of the play gym you see in the background of this photo. They shake and rattle the toys for a minute and then...Lillian realizes that Naomi is right there and she ducks her head, peeking under the toys and smiles. Then they just giggle at eachother for a bit.

The girls (and we) survived our first overnight apart. Nana and Papa hosted the ladies so William and I could get away for a night. We talked about going somewhere but we were so thrilled to do dinner and a movie and sleep in that it would have been a waste. The girls were taken on guided garden tours and enjoyed pool time at Nana and Papa's Bed and Breakfast. A good time was had by all, apparently, as the grandparents have even volunteered to do it again sometime.

Lots of stuff!

HI!

Do you see what I see??

If you look very carefully, you'll see that Lillian has not one, but two little teeth! We've been seeing the first one for a week or so now, and just noticed the second this morning. She hasn't been particularly fussy, so we count ourselves lucky on that front. These teeth, more than most things, have been so hard. It's such a concrete sign of their growing up. All the other things have come relatively slowly, building day by day, until suddenly you realize that they are holding their head up, or sitting up. But with teeth--they're there, where they weren't yesterday. Naomi doesn't have anything breaking through yet, but she's chewing on anything she can and drooling up a storm, so I won't be surprised to see something soon.

But, she does have feet! And she loves them.


We've been madly busy as of late. We painted the kitchen. Here's William, hard at work, a mere two days before we threw a party at our house. Lots of people came over to help use celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. Our consensus is that it's been a damn good five years. (Kitchen madness notwithstanding.)




We took the girls to a picnic at the Potter's Field--a place William discovered a few years ago. It's the county land where they bury unknown or indigent people. It's an idyllic little park that we can always count on having to ourselves. We let the dog run and pack a lunch and lay around, enjoying the quiet. The girls seemed to really enjoy it. You can see from the pictures that the girls are sitting up on their own now. They still wobble a bit, especially if something interesting happens over their heads.

Lillian's in yellow, Naomi in blue.

Roxy really wanted to be in the picture. Um, excuse me, dog.


Group portait:
Mass chaos:

We're enjoying our mass chaos.

Technical Diffuculties

Sorry for the long break. Our one remaining computer gave up the ghost last week. Now that we've fretted for a bit and said lots of nice things about it, it has miraculously come back to life. I don't know how long this reincarnation will last, so I'll get an entry up now. If we disappear from the ether again, blame it on the computer malfunction, not my scatterbrained nature.

When we last left off, we were still in Massachusetts, enjoying the time with family and friends. In all, we couldn't have asked for the trip to go better. The girls mostly slept when we wanted and were very agreeable. They tolerated the car rides very well, too. We got to dip their feet in the Atlantic Ocean, albeit for a very short time, as a storm was kicking up. They ate peas from Pat's garden (and didn't like them at all) and spent time in a dualing doorway jumper rig that Richard set up on the swingset in the backyard. The met the wonderful twin girls that live next door--we now hope that our girls grow up to be that courteous and engaging! We stopped in New York again on the way home, welcomed by the Morehouse clan, and enjoyed an evening along Cayuga Lake. Beautiful as always.

Now home, we are returning to our routines and discoveries. We immediately set up a pool in that backyard, after seeing how much they enjoyed the one in Duxbury.

(Here's a picture that didn't get posted before. That's Brad's foot between the girls. This is how Naomi approaches virtually everything now--nose scrunched, mouth open and claw hands. )

The girls have been trying new foods and getting somewhat better at it. Two nights ago, Naomi (who's usually quite a bit less interested in eating--unless it's Brad's foot.) repeatedly leaned toward the spoon and opened her mouth, like she'd been practicing! I really think she's going to be the "I can do it myself!!" girl, and once they are feeding themselves, she'll be much more into the idea.

We took the girls to West Side Market yesterday, letting them revel in the sights, sounds and smells. They got to lick a mango.

...

They have been paying so much attention to each other recently. It's grand amusement For William and I together with a girl on each lap and just watch them go. For the last two days, it's been a constant conversation:

Lillian: Aaaiieiiieiaa?

Naomi: Hissssssss.

Lillian: AAAiiiAAAA??

Naomi: Hisssssss.

William has accurately described Naomi's hiss as, "Please adjust my radio dial" kind of static. I refer to her as my tiny Komodo Dragon.

A few nights ago, we were sitting in just this arrangement, watching the girls do their thing when Naomi tossed her head back and went, "ha HAA!". It was one of those moments that makes me regret that we do not have a TV studio set up 24/7.

...

For your picture fix, here are the girls in their formal portrait poses that Richard snapped in Duxbury.

Cherubs, anyone?:

Lillian:

Naomi:

Dining Out

We're still here, enjoying the luxury of Duxbury. Lillian and Naomi are signing more members into their fan club every day.

Tonight, we went out to dinner with Pat, Richard, Luke, and cousin Nancy, who's in from Pennsylvania to meet the ladies. We all trucked out to a delightful place called the Sun Tavern, housed in a building from 1741. (Should you ever find yourself on the South Shore of Massachusetts, try it; it's delightful.) Apparently, there's a ghost in the upstairs bathroom. Our waitress, Charlene, was fantastic. We (okay, I) were a little nervous about having the girls out in a relatively nice place. William and I usually do Chipotle. But, I couldn't have imagined it going better. The waitress (on her own, with pervasive wisdom) brought us a little dish of plain mashed potatoes, which Lillian took to like we would all expect. Richard was holding Naomi, who normally treats solid foods like an annoyance. But, he tried giving her a little taste, and wouldn't you know it--she grabbed hold of the spoon, and ate it up. She scooped potatoes off the spoon with her fingers and ate them that way. She smeared it in her eyebrows and ears and seemed to like it that way, too. Pat dished up a giant spoonful (a regular size grown-up spoon, no baby utensils here.) and Naomi ate it right down. I couldn't believe it.

Nancy showed us an amazing trick that may allow us to eat in restaurants for the next year or so. Apparently, if you turn the wooden high chairs upside down, you can cradle a car seat right in there. I know all you experienced parents are out there rolling your eyes and saying, "well, duh!", but this was a revelation. (Waitress Charlene also recommends frozen bagels for teething. A wealth of information here, people.)

We kept the girls out well past their bedtime but, they were personable and happy all through. Naomi giggled and giggled as Pat sang her the "Meh-na-meh-na" song from the Muppets. Lillian jangled her toy keys and ate her bib and smiled at everyone.

Duxbury has given us the joy of the 4th of July Parade as well. We stayed inside for the opening, which is just a slow moving display of the fire engines and their (very loud) sirens. So, we hid inside with the dog, but then stationed ourselves in front of Pat and Richard's wall and watched it all go by. The picture below is Nana and Pat (sisters) holding the girls. They were very much enjoying waving and eating the little flags that parading politicians handed to them. (Lillian and Naomi, not my mom and aunt.) There were lots of other folks around to enjoy the parade and party, too. In the background of this photo is Winnie, who, at 105, has been enjoying this parade since 1926.


We have a few more days to enjoy here, so I'll tear myself away from Scrabble and kiddie pool to make at least one more post. It's been amazing so far.

Pool Day!

The girls dove into their first swimming experience with no hesitation. That is, after a nap. We stuffed them into their swimsuits and Lillian promptly fell asleep in Nana's arms. Once they were all refreshed, off to the pool they went. They were hysterical. Naomi was just as relaxed as could be, lounging in her floating frog thing and chatting with everyone as she bounced from once side of the pool to the other. Lillian alternated betweensplashing frenzy and intense studying of her flotation device. The were in there for close to an hour, entertaining us all!

Lillin, in observation mode:



Naomi, waiting on a bottle with an umbrella in it: