American Gothic toddlers...
Lately the girls have been asking me to take pictures of them, then flip the camera around so they can look at it. This sounds great, but these are examples of the faces I get when I do it. It looks like I'm forcing them. 
Time together
I think my favorite thing about having two girls is watching them together. Yes, some days I feel like we don't go for more than two minutes without me being called on to referee. But it's not always like that. They play together a lot, more all the time, and it's so great.
Happy (early) birthday to me. :)
Today my best birthday present ever came in the mail. I don't say that lightly, because I've gotten some great birthday presents. But today I got a new camera. A very nice, digital SLR camera. I've been coveting one for a few years now, but they're not cheap, so it's been put off. But no more! :)I didn't get much of a chance to play with it today, but here are a few tries. I LOVE this camera.
A peaceful moment
There are so few quiet, peaceful minutes in the day with toddlers. But this was a sweet one. Seeing them getting along always makes me smile.
Chris's birthday
Yesterday was Chris's birthday, and the girls had fun helping me make a cake with sprinkles. They pretend to put sprinkles on almost everything, and get really excited when they really get to use some. They also really enjoyed helping Daddy eat the cake after dinner at Charlie's.
On our shopping trip the day before yesterday, both girls chose cards for Daddy. (Rowan chose one with two turtles, Saoirse chose a race car) While we stood in line to pay they talked to the woman behind us, telling her, "Daddy's birthday tomorrow!" For a minute, I wondered if it had been a bad idea to let them in on it, wondering if they would tell Chris when he got home about the cards they decorated, the cake we were making, the homemade breakfast scones. It's the first time they could have done that. Just recently they've started telling you what they did that day. They didn't tell, though, so we managed to surprise him.
My favorite part? They kids went to bed pretty early (and easily) and let Mom and Dad spend some time alone together for his birthday. Sweet.
now that's what I'm talking about...
Tonight after dinner I let the girls have one cookie each for dessert, and told them they could eat in on the back patio. They sat in the couch out there and ate while I watched them from the window. No fighting, and when Saoirse moved to their little picnic table she said, "Rowan, join me!" And Rowan did. Super cute. Then they finished, I let them in, and they took off running for the stairs yelling "Bath time!"
Chris said, "Yeah, now this is the kind of parenting that I've been looking forward to. Maybe if we just stay here they'll give themselves a bath."
Rainy day
I looked at the weather, and there are five days of rain forecast. That's roughly one hundred years of rain in my world. So far this morning, the house is even more trashed than usual, there have been approximately 50 time-outs for pushing, scratching, smacking a sister. The requests for lunch started at 10:30 am. We're all still alive, but barely.
However, they're still cute. At least there's still that. 
Independence Lake
The girls and I met Sarah, the babies, and her mom, and headed to the lake for a bit this afternoon. It's mid-80's and not raining, and this might be the last lake day this year. They've been few and far between, really.
Saoirse was pretty happy with herself for sitting in the water, in the waves, all by herself. She kept telling me she was "scooching" as she filled her diaper with sand.
While we had snacks, I was handing out grapes when I found a long blonde hair in the bowl. I pulled it out and just for a second wondered where in the heck we picked up a blonde hair before I realized that it came from one of my two blonde daughters. (!!??) During all the years of daydreaming and waiting for babies of my own, I did not picture them like this. Look at that hair!
Playdate at Sarah's
Rowan and Saoirse had fun again today playing with William and Katherine. Here they are in the "little house." Between the playhouse and the 3 kitties, I don't think they really ever want to come home.
Today was a bit cloudy, and it sprinkled in the morning while we were talking about going out. (You can see it made an impression on the girls, they chose their own footwear). It also meant that all day long they sang variations on "It's raining, it's pouring! The old man is snoring!" As we drove over, I listened to Saoirse sing this, "Pouring..pouring...go to sleep...close your eyes...no wake up 'til morning."
We've been working on manners a bit lately, and today I got a little illustration of what they're grasping of it. While playing with a water table, Saoirse grabbed a measuring cup out of Rowan's hands.
Rowan: (whining dramatically) Please no take it! Sha-sha give it back to me!
Saoirse: (holding it out of Rowan's reach) Say please!
Rowan: I did say please.
The wee hours.
This whole waking up at night thing is something I really underestimated before having kids. Obviously I knew that babies woke up at night, especially at the beginning. They need to eat every few hours. But I hadn't given it a lot of thought. And looking back, I seem to have just thought that after a few months (like 4) it just happened. They got bigger, and they slept. And that's that. I had images of putting them in their little cribs, tucking a blanket over them, one last kiss, then tiptoeing out the door. Then there's be time to eat, watch TV, talk over a glass of wine with my husband. And no more baby until morning.
Instead, no one slept through the night until 10 months old, and then it was just one of them. Saoirse insisted for more than 18 months on only sleeping in bed with us. And sleep deprivation was so constant, I was willing to sleep with an army of people in bed if it meant a few hours without getting up.
But even now, it's still an issue. Last night Saoirse woke up around 3 am. One minute I was in the middle of a dream, the next minute I'm stumbling down the hall to stop her screaming before she wakes up her sister. (another aspect of sleep that I never considered before having kids) She was screaming, "No leave me!! I go with you!" so I brought her back to bed rather than fight an all-out battle at that hour. For the next 3 hours, she wiggled around in our bed without falling asleep. She rolled, she kicked. She snuggled up to each of us until we got annoyed, then she'd switch parents. When I would tell her to stop moving around and kicking me, or else, she'd cry. Around 6 am, as the sun was coming up, she finally lay still long enough to fall asleep. Around a half hour later, Chris's alarm went off.
Now, I know I could have put her back in her room, screaming be damned. Of course, then there would have been two girls awake and crying. And Saoirse has proven in the past that she can keep up the screaming for longer than most would guess. But either way, it was clear that there was going to be no sleeping. And this is not a rare thing with her.
If someone had told me before having them that there would be, on average, one night a week with 3-4 hours of sleep...when they were TWO?!...I would have been horrified. Thank god I didn't know.
Do we order out too much?
Playing this morning:
Saoirse: Backpack on! Going to work.
Me: You're going to work? Where do you work?
Saoirse: Chinese.
Me: What?
Saoirse: Chinese. Here, eat this. (handing me pretend food)
Toddler beds
Guess whose beds got converted this weekend? No more cribs, since Daddy caught Saoirse with her leg over the railing. 
Uncle Evan's home from Jamaica!!
Yeah, Saoirse's shirt says Jamaica, too. But she doesn't want you to see it.
Playdates with Reema
This actually happened a couple of weeks ago, but I left my camera at Reem's for a while, so I couldn't post it. We had a fun time listening to some music, sharing lunch, and playing with our friends. For ten years I've been waiting for these days, to see Reem's and my kids playing together. Life is good. 
Getting ready for Sareena's wedding
A couple of weeks ago, while I took a shower after my morning run, the girls were entertaining themselves in our bedroom/bathroom. Apparently while I was in there, they found a brown pen/marker that I use for journaling. Rowan drew all over both girls, and a book I left by the bed. I was impressed that they kept it so neat, to be honest, since they were sitting on my bed while they drew and there are only a couple tiny marks on the pillowcase. Taking their pictures before I scrubbed it off them, I was reminded of these old photos of Reema and me.
Apparently the girls are really excited for Sareena's big day. In about 20 years. Or maybe they're planning on an Indian wedding themselves? Milin and Rohin, I'm looking at you, don't try anything...;)
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