The Spaghetti Twins

Can you tell they're sisters?  I frequently will download a photo of Dani and notice how similar it looks to a photo of Michaela at the same age.  Here's my Spaghetti Twins.  Blonde little Michaela at 19 months and red-headed Dani at 16 months.

Memory

My computer and I had been having an argument for the past few months.  I wanted it to work, and it wanted to have more working memory.  I know this because every time I did anything on my computer it warned me I was almost out, or just plain out, of working memory.

Not helpful when I needed to download images to create blog posts.  Also not helpful when I needed to save documents or download new software.

With this being said, can I just tell you how excited I was to finally get an external hard-drive for my computer and have access to some more memory?!? 1.5 TB of new memory has allowed me to back up all my files, download photos again, and my computer just plain runs faster now!  WOO! HOO!

I'm also proud to say I did all the updates and set up by myself (it was super duper easy, but still).

So, be warned.  I may be really regular with my blog posts for a while now.  I've got so many images and stories to share and can finally get my computer to cooperate!

I Love You! ... You though, you I will tease.

Dani has been really growing in her vocabulary skills and we are frequently amazed at the new words she has learned and sentences she is stringing together (of the 3 word variety).  It's also amusing to watch her sense of humor developing at the same time.  She understands when something is funny will often laugh at the antics of big sis Michaela or tease the grown ups.

Here's proof of both.

"I love you, Daddy." "I love you, Michaela." and "Thwppppp!" The continuing translation for "I love you, Momma."

I've now just taken to replying to her blowing raspberries at me like that with an "I love you too Dani." :)

It's never a good thing...

When you make a trip to the hospital ER and the person working the information desk greets you with comment to the effect of "Hi again! You're back?" Never a good sign.

Yeah.  Fun times here.

Let me preface this story by letting you know that Chris had surgery on his leg last Tuesday to fix an ongoing foot issue that he'd had with plantar fasciitis.  This had been a problem for almost a year and a half and we are thankful that the gastrocnemius recession surgery to fix the plantar fasciitis seems to have worked REALLY well as the foot pain disappeared right with the surgery.  Chris is is still recuperating from the actual surgery on his calf muscle & after his two weeks wearing a walking cast (or "das boot" as we call it), he will continue to finish recovery throughout the summer.

Okay. Now you know the back story, back to the ER. We took two trips to the ER this week to make sure Chris didn't have any blood clots as a result of his surgery.

To make a really long story short here's the condensed version: I made Chris go to the hospital on Thursday & again on Saturday to get checked out when he was showing signs of pain associated with blood clots.  Both times the doctors did their tests on him and he was given a clean bill of health (one day via CT scan and the other by ultrasound).

On Thursday he worked part of the day & on Saturday I had left him alone with the girls while I went and worked at the garage sale we were having with some friends (who had all been SUPER accommodating about the fact that I wasn't able to help out at all until Saturday while taking care of post-op Chris). We think it both days were cases of "too much, too soon."

Needless to say we haven't been having any uneventful days around here and I'm very excited for things to get back to normal, including having time to actually catch up on all my "computer things."

What a difference a year makes...

This is a quick trip down memory lane.  I was just thinking today again how much my girls have grown in the past year.  Here's a little photo proof that I found for comparison when I went on my own little trip down memory lane...

 

Michaela Rose

Dani Ruth

I can hardly believe how much bigger they've gotten!

Cracker > Mom

Won't say mom, mama, mommy, momma, or even plain ol' ma. But two syllable words for foods she loves? No problem.

cra-ker = Dani's favorite food to say. Closely followed by bagel (ba-geel) and yogurt (YO-gur).

Oh, and one of Michaela's new favorite things to tell me (and everyone else) right now? "She (Dani) says everything else, but she WON'T say 'Momma'!"

Michaela's First Dentist Visit

We had Michaela's first trip to the dentist a couple weeks back.  Well actually, it was her second trip there, but her very first appointment for herself.

The week before when I had my 6 month check up I brought Michaela along to the dentist to familiarize her with what happens at a dentist appointment.  By the time we left my check up she had ridden in the dentist's chair, watched them "tickle" mommy's teeth, and learned all about wearing special sunglasses so that the dentist's bright light didn't hurt your eyes.  Oh, and they let her pick out a special prize for being so good while she was there with me.

Needless to say the dentist became pretty popular with Michaela. :)

We went back a week later for her very own appointment and there was EXTREME excitement to go to the dentist.  Here's a little video of her laughing at them "tickling" (brushing) her teeth.  She keeps saying "ha, ha, ha!"

Michaela's First Real Haircut

Last week I took Michaela with me to get a hair cut.  She's had two other hair cuts before, but both were for only 1/2 - 1 1/2 inches just to even her ends out as her hair has grown.

This time we went for the BIG hair cut.  3-4 inches to help even it out all the way across.  Her hair is just too crazy to cut any more off and attempt something shorter. 

Super cheeeesey smile as we get started. :D

When you're too short for the chair you need a boost.  Yes, that is a box of clay pigeons.

Now we're getting somewhere...

 Showing off Hilary's super fab hair cutting skillz!

And there is the Michaela we all know and love!

A Day That Will Live In Infamy

Our day so far...

7:30 AM - both girls up and ready to GO! GO! GO!

9:30 AM - I've already lost count of how many times Dani has needed to be pulled down from climbing on chairs, their table, the high chair, overturned storage containers, the back of the couch, shelves, the entertainment center, and anything else she can get a toehold on.

10:45 AM - Michaela uses an entire (brand new last night) roll of toilet paper and tries to flush all at once.  Luckily I stop her from overflowing that mess and flooding the bathroom...

10:50 AM - Girls' bathroom is closed up until I can go upstairs to get the plunger.

11:15 AM - During a phone call with my sister Dani says another new word.  "Gigi" is very excited to have her name added to the list of "Things Dani Says."  No variation of "Mama" is on that list.

11:20 AM - Thing 1 tackles Thing 2 to the ground while trying to give her a hug.  Crying ensues and I hang up on my sister.

1:30 PM - Attempt to put Dani down for a nap.  She's not having it and cries until rescued.  Why don't these kids like sleep?

2:10 PM - My children are whirling dervishes of destruction.  This morning you could see the floor in our living room.  Now it looks like this...

2:45 PM - Why are they so quiet???  Look towards kitchen to find that Dani had gotten a half full bottle down from the counter to empty on her pants.  It's a NO PANTS PARTY!

3:45 PM - FINALLY get Dani to go take a nap.

3:55 PM - Michaela went to the bathroom while I was putting Dani down for her nap.  Wiping herself is a skill we're still working on.  Thankfully there were clean underwear in the laundry room. 

5:10 PM - Nap time is done.  Um, that went waaaay too fast.

5:15 PM - Chris is home and lets me run upstairs for a quick shower before he leaves to go to the hockey game tonight.

6:00 PM - Unclog the toilet from this morning.  FYI: it takes about 20 flushes to get an entire roll of toilet paper down.  Thankfully neither one of them tried to touch the plunger.

6:30 PM - Time to go get some dinner.  While both girls have eaten regularly today the last meal I had was about 10 hours ago.  Chef Panera Bread is cooking dinner today.

I'm soooo looking forward to bedtime and wine tonight!

It's a good thing they're just this cute. :)

Gymnastiks Birthday Party!

Dani finished up all her birthday celebrations with a party at Gymnastiks Unlimited.  This is where Michaela has her weekly gymnastic class and each week Dani is constantly trying to take off to join the big kids (classes start @ 18 mo.).

Because she is so active, and because I didn't want to make her party into a big hassle that we couldn't enjoy (okay, that I couldn't enjoy) I decided to do a gymnastics party for Dani's first birthday.  A bit unorthodox for a 1 year old, I know, but the perfect party for our 1 year old. :)

I unfortunately didn't get pictures of all our friends that day, I had to put my camera down so I wouldn't hit Dani in the head every time I picked her up while we made our way around the gym.  Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate!!!

Dani's First Birthday

Well, we are officially done with all Dani's birthday celebrations.  Even though she didn't understand any of it she really had a great time enjoying her actual birthday with Chris, Michaela and I, followed by a Super Bowl party with friends.  Here's a recap of her very special day!

Birthday Girls get a special birthday breakfast complete with their first candle of the day!

Followed quickly by their first bath of the day to wash all the extra pink cream cheese out of their hair.   Of course, big sister needed to get clean too...

 Then some quick playtime for these clean girls in their matching outfits. "We're MATCHERS MOM!!!"

Before a bottle and a snooze on dad. :)

 After a nap we had a very late lunch of delicious heart shaped ravioli for the kids (left) and mom & dad (right).

Mmmmmm... ravioli!!!

 With some tasty vanilla cupcakes from Little Pearl Cupcake for us 'big kids'

 And a special smash cupcake for Miss Dani!

 Who only took a couple tastes of the cupcake...

before she lived up to the "smash" part! (She had sooo much fun squishing it in her fingers!)

After another bath (with big sis again) her celebrations were topped off with a visit from Grandma before we went to enjoy the night with some awesome friends watching the Super Bowl!

Happy First Birthday Dani!

Potty Training Already?

DISCLAIMER: Quite frankly, I'm a mom who has spent the past 3 1/2 years wiping butts.  Like the book says "Everybody Poops" but if you think toilet training is TMI, you should just stop reading now.

Dani has recently decided that she likes to poop on the toilet.  She'll start trying to go in her diaper, and if I catch her I'll ask if she wants to use the potty.  She usually does and so I'll let her go on the little training toilet we had from Michaela.  It cracks me up, but I don't have to wipe smashed poop off her butt so...

Anyway, tonight when I was changing Dani's diaper for bed I was having a running conversation with her (she's one, so that means that I was talking and she was listening).  I had her all wiped off and was reaching for her diaper when I asked her, "Do you want to put your diaper on now?"

She immediately shook her head "no."  Laughing I then asked, "No?  Do you need to go poopy?"

She shook her head "no" again.  Still laughing I then asked, "Do you need to go on the potty chair?"

"Yeah," she replies.  Okay, that got my attention.

"Do you need to go potty on the potty chair?" I asked not really believing she would answer.

"Yeah."

"Ummm, okay."

So I pick up the naked baby and go get out the little training potty chair for her to sit on.  SHE WENT PEE ON THE POTTY!!!  I couldn't believe it.  I was speechless.  What 12 month old recognizes that they need to go pee and then actually tells you and holds it until they're on the potty?

Has anyone out there trained, or attempted to train, their kids while their kids were really young like this?

Happy 1st Birthday Dani!

One year ago our littlest blessing made her way into the world.  It's hard to believe how quickly this year has gone by and just how big she is getting already!!! 

We are amazed to see how her personality is developing.  Every day with Dani gives us another reason to laugh!


She is our cuddly little lover and has even been known to find strangers to snuggle with. (no joke!)

She still refuses to eat any baby foods, but even with only 2 teeth there isn't much big people food she isn't able to devour. 

Sometimes when things get too quiet and I'm unsure where Dani is, I can just go find Big Sister Michaela because 90% of the time they are quietly playing together.

The other 10% Dani is finding some way to get into mischief all on her own... Like when she finds food on Michaela's table that was never intended to be eaten by the baby.

 




Happy Birthday Dani Ruth!!!  We love you so much and are so glad to have been blessed with such a joyful little girl! :)




And here's a mommy confession... I've been saying she weighted 9 lb. 4 oz. at birth.  Here's a photo to show that I was wrong (how could I get that screwed up?) and that Dani weighted in at 9 lb. 5 oz.

Michaela Turns 3!

Who can believe that Michaela is already 3 years old?  Some days it's hard for me be believe that she is a three year old little girl, other days I have no doubt (all you other moms who have ever had a three year old understand).

Anyway, now that she's three Michaela is getting more and more into learning.  She enjoys singing the phonetics song for all her letters (with her LeapFrog magnetic toy) and having a new letter of the day to learn words for.  We are introducing writing and tracing and she loves to do her workbooks.

Michaela has become the biggest helper around the house.  Most mornings she is the first one in to see Dani when she starts fussing and this week she has started making our bed when I'm not looking (yep, we're pretty lucky).  Every time Dani is walking around holding my hands Michaela wants to help.  It is pretty cute to see the girls walking along with Michaela helping Dani to balance as she goes.

We also just started gymnastic classes for her.  It has been fun watching Michaela learn to follow directions and use up some energy.  Last night she spent a good ten minutes showing Chris and I her new tumbling skills.

Here's some pictures from the party with her friends and with our family.  She had such a great time celebrating with everyone!

Michaela and Lili were taking turns tickling each other in their 'fort'. Silly girls!

This is the face of a little girl who has put her finger in every frosting balloon on her cake...

Pretty much sums up our life...

 

Can you believe this was before they had any sugar?  An impromptu dance party in the living room was tons of fun for the big kids!

You can see 9 out of 12 kids in this shot... crazy!!!

So excited to turn 3!

Michaela was so proud of her birthday cake, she helped mix the icing and decorate it.  There wasn't even any spit when she blew out the candles!

Aunt Gigi and Michaela were sharing their cake and ice cream.  Lots of giggles from these two. :)

Dylan was playing peek-a-boo with Dani between my legs.  He's going to be such a good big brother!

Happy 3rd Birthday Michaela!

Wow - Michaela is 3 today!  I can't believe that the time has gone by so fast! Last night I looked through some pictures of her on my phone starting when she was born through her first birthday and I admit, I got teary eyed. :)  Here's some of those pictures to help everyone else have leaky eye syndrome too...

 Brand new

First birthday destroying her cupcake

Visiting the farm about 1 week after she turned 2

 Oh, all that sass... two days ago not wanting her picture taken. :)

Dani - 8 months

I can't even believe that she's already 8 months old... where did those 8 months go already?  Here is some updates on our littlest blessing...

First Tooth! Dani is diligently working on her very first tooth.  It popped through yesterday, only to pop back down (or maybe her gums are just swollen from it all).  She does NOT like teething and I'm hoping that this first one is the worst one since she was also getting over a cold.

Mobile: she has officially progressed to crawling on her hands an knees like a big kid.  She also likes to pull herself up on anything she can, the furniture, people, walls (and she even learned how to gracefully sit herself back down without falling).  If she is feeling brave she will even walk along the furniture and sometimes will transfer between one handhold to another.  We know it won't be long before she is really able to chase her big sister everywhere.

 Food: I finally came to the conclusion that Dani doesn't dislike flavors in her food, she just HATES baby food.  Really, really hates it.  I've tried sweet peas, green beans, pears and applesauce even.  She wouldn't take more than one bite of any of them before closing her mouth down like Fort Knox, however, she will eat regular bananas (served up in one of those mesh teethers), gummy omega 3s (mesh teether again), teether biscuits and puffs.  I've also let her lick pretzels and grapes from my hand and she tries her very hardest to steal them away.  Every time she watches me eat 'big people food' she chomps her mouth and tries to snatch it from my plate or hand... I guess she will be enjoying regular meals with the family sooner than expected. :)

 I'm quite sure it will be a long time before Dani gets to have a bath by herself again now that she can sit unsupported in the tub.  As you can see, Michaela LOVES to entertain her baby sister in the bathtub and Dani just eats it up!