Buckle Up!

I better buckle up because I feel as though the girls have entered a new phase.... investigation. The weather really hasn't warmed up and we are still stuck inside our house for the majority of the day (partially because venturing outside with a gang of girls is a lot of work when it's not something we have to do!). Both the twins are quite steady on their feet and they've tired of their toys, even though I rotate them all the time. Because of that, they are entertaining themselves in other ways.

So, here are some new things Hadley and Cecilia have taught themselves:

1. Hadley can undress herself. It's not a problem if we are changing out of pajamas into our clothes but it's a problem if she chooses to do this during naptime or night time. But on the bright side, maybe she will be interested in dressing herself when she's older!

Hadley 15 months

2. Cecilia likes to climb. When I say she's likes to climb, I mean she loves to climb. Elise never went through a climbing stage so this is totally new for us and a bit scary. A helmet would relieve some of our worries!

At first Ceci would climb up on stools.

And then Ceci taught her sister to climb up the fireplace hearth.They know they shouldn't stand up but most of the times they throw us a smile and then proudly stand.... as if to say 'What are you going to do now?!'.

Luckily, climbing the glass coffee table was short lived and wasn't as exciting as she thought it would be.

Then Ceci discovered if she put the window seat cushions on the floor, she could use them to climb up.

But, Hadley was upset because she couldn't do it....

Not to worry, because she figured it out and I had to raise up the blinds.

I won't even mention the time that Ceci brought a box up on the window seat

and attempted to use it as a stool to scale the shelves...

3. Naptimes sometimes mean naptime. Naptimes can also mean party time... as in let's throw everything out of our cribs, scale the curtains and babble up a storm! 'Hey mom, we need some music in here!'

4. 'Gates? You can't contain us!'

We have the largest gate known to mankind between our kitchen and family room area. It's annoying to jump over the gate a zillion times for each meal but it saved us from actually having to baby proof every kitchen cabinet. It (so far) works like a dream but I won't be sad when the day comes when we can take it down! Ok, so there was that one time when Ceci did get her arm stuck..... but I digress.

At the door between the family room and dining room, we had a small gate. One day when I was doing dishes, I heard little babies running up and down the hallway behind me. Had I left the gate open?! I rounded them up and went back to the dishes. Seconds later, it was the same thing! Ceci was now playing in the dog water bowl and Hadley was making a break for the living room. Again, I rounded them up and was ready for what happened next....

Now the gate is zip tied close.

But it's not always crazy at our house (ok, that's just what I tell myself for a pep talk from time to time). Our little monkeys are actually sweet, funny and entertaining. Really, who needs to run to the grocery store, or make dinner, or go to the bathroom when you get to have a show 24/7 ?!?

Hadley has turned into a face of expressions. She's so animated and is quite the hugger. She's always saying 'Ah Oooh' with her little lips in a big 'O'. My favorite is when she tries to act like she accidentally drops something from her high chair by saying 'Ah Oooh' before she drops a green bean to the dog.

Hadley loves to play chase, has the biggest laugh and loves pretty sparkly things. She thinks that Elise is so cool and loves to snuggle with the dogs, especially Demi.

Hadley and Demi

Cecilia is the quieter of the two but she isn't a pushover! She's been known to steal a pacifier right out of Hadley's mouth a run away like she didn't even do it. But when she speaks, it's sweet and quiet. She loves to say 'Mom'. Actually it probably sounds more like 'Mom?'.... like it's a question. She loves when I look at her and say, 'Yes?'. She has an infectious smile.

Cecilia is usually our sleeper and eater. She isn't afraid to take a break from the action to lay down and rest and is usually up for a nap. When I sit on the floor, she's the first to back into my lap with a book as if to say 'Time to read! Glad you are here!'. 

But our Elise has grown the most. It's been a hard road with sharing the spotlight with 2 little twins but she is rising to the occasion!

Elise loves to feed the little girls. She's even sharing some of her prized possessions all on her own. It's not uncommon nowadays for her to bring out her fairies to share. The other day she came out of her room with 3 capes. One for each girl. It was funny to see them playing in their capes.. as if it was something we always do!

Our little Elise has come so far from a year ago. It's funny to say that she doesn't even remember a time without the twins.

'Our family'... plus Elise's favorite babysitter  Sarah.

Funny how life has changed from a few years ago... a time when I had room in my cart for groceries...

... A time when we didn't have to share the couch

... A time when I didn't drive an awesome, cool minivan

But look what we had been missing.....

We were missing the other piece of our hearts.

Panty Raider

I enjoy a good laugh... even at my own expense. This story is too funny not to share even if it means that the whole world knows about yesterday!

As you can imagine, I do a ton of laundry. Due to the fact that the babies need to be watched ALL the time (more on that during my next post!), I tend to fold laundry in the family room. It's a group event. I fold a few things. The babies unfold a few things. I fold some more things and put them up higher, out of reach. Etc. Yesterday was no different except Elise was helping and trying on our clothes as she was going along. A few minutes later, it was time to get ready for school so we abandoned the project to change diapers, put on socks and shoes and what felt like a zillion jackets. Just a regular dance of leaving the house.

After school, Elise put her shoes away and threw her jacket on the ground like any other day (Boy, I need some system for coats with little kids hooks!). Then she announced that she forgot to take off my underwear before school. With that, she hiked up her red sweater dress to reveal a pair of my old black cotton underwear. She had worn them all afternoon at school! Elise claims that she didn't show anyone but I can imagine what kind of show she had given her teacher during circle time! Nevermind the fact that she said they kept falling down during gym time! Oh boy!!!

Demi Turns 10!

Demi turned 10 this past weekend. I know it's a bit cheesy to celebrate your dog's birthday but Demi deserves some celebration! She and Gladys got to have some doggie ice cream while we munched on cupcakes. We love our sweet Demi. I don't know many dogs who are as patient and loving as she is. Happy Birthday old girl.

Icebergs and Flooding

We woke up the other day to find that our frozen river had turned into an ice jam and flooding. How did we sleep through such an event? It seems that all the ice breaking up and bumping into each other would have been noisy. And now we have water up to the boathouse which until recently was a good 50 feet from the river. Crazy!

Luckily our house is up a huge hill from all this water so we will be safe when the river waters warm and the ice melts. Unfortunately, we don't know what the fate of the boathouse will be. I have a feeling that Demi and Gladys will be excited with all the river wood debris. 'So many sticks, so little time'. And now Elise can earn some more money helping us clean things up. Maybe a treasure chest or diamond necklace is under all that ice. Who knows?!

Wrapping up Winter... I Hope!

A rare day that Elise went to school this winter.
Gladys and Elise are waiting for the bus.

Wow. This winter has been one for the history books. As I type this, we are a mere 0.5 inch away from the snowiest winter on record and there have been countless days with sub zero temperatures. I have even given up counting how many days Elise has been off from school. I dread the phone ringing at 6am.... a call from the schools saying to stay home. We have gone crazy with cabin fever and I have done the best I can entertaining the girls. So how does one fill day after day in the house? Well, here are some of our ways to pass the long days.....

Of course mealtimes are always happy times. Afterall, who doesn't like food? Plus the babies take a good 45 minutes to eat so between throwing food on their highchairs, I can quickly run the vacuum! I always like a clean house and the girls are happy to have full bellies.

Hadley 13 months

Cecilia 13 months

Hadley

And if I'm not feeding the girls, they find other things to snack on like Demi's name tag on her collar.

Of course naptime is a happy time too. Let's just say that the dogs have gotten extra lazy from lack of daily walks.

We also have spent a lot of time playing in boxes... or shall I say boats?

Cecilia with Captain Elise

Did I already mention mealtimes?!  I've tried spicing up mealtimes with new foods, such as cottage cheese. I think the next time I would spoon feed the girls rather than letting them pick it up!

Hadley and cottage cheese

Cecilia- Yikes! Looks like I'm cleaning this one up.

One morning I pulled out our tent which had been packed away for a good year or two. It had been gone for so long that it had Garth hair inside-- which Cecilia promptly tried to eat.

We filled the tent with pillows and blankets and all the girls enjoyed lounging and relaxing. 

And of course we got a few big snow storms. It was fun trucking through the snow in the front yard. We actually had so much snow that it was too deep to sled. But the snow plows left massive mountains of snow to climb on along the street. It was an adventure to climb up. It reminded me of the book The Snowy Day.

We officially wrapped up winter with Perrysburg's Winterfest. It was a warm enough day for the whole family to venture out with the stroller. Elise's favorite part was the hot chocolate. I just enjoyed getting out of the house and the babies were happy to be freed as well. 

Now that I've mentally said goodbye to winter, hopefully the weather will follow suit. It's probably wishful thinking since it's just the end of February and we live in Ohio. However, I believe in the power of positive thinking. Come on Spring!!!!!

Hadley's Roseola

Sick Hadley with Cecilia scaling the fireplace hearth in the background.

Yep. We've had another round of illness in our house last week. And once again, Hadley was the lucky one to get sick.... sorry girl.

Hadley had been irritable and clingy for a few days. Then, one morning during a diaper change, I noticed her whole trunk and neck had a rash. It didn't seem to itch but it was obvious that she wasn't feeling well. Since it was the weekend, we did the one thing all doctors hate their patients to do... we self diagnosed on the internet! Our diagnosis: Roseola.

Roseola definitely had to be what Hadley had as the symptoms fit her perfectly. The symptoms were a recent fever (which I blamed on teething), a spotty rosy-pink rash, mild diarrhea, poor appetite, tiredness, red eyes, and swollen eyelids. I had planned to call the doctor on Monday but by then, the rash had almost disappeared and she was feeling better.  And being a virus (contagious mostly to kids under 3), we waited for Cecilia to come down with the same symptoms. Except for some diarrhea and clingy behavior, she never came down with a rash like her sister. So, mark off another illness for the Kaiser household this winter!

'Deer Party'

With the river frozen, the deer having been crossing it every morning and every evening from the island. We like to say they are having a 'Deer Party'. Around 5:30 every evening they come out of the woods in groups of 2 or 3 and meet up to form a long line as they cross the ice. The other evening they brought the party to our yard.... 15 in all. They crossed the back yard and went up the hill (probably to munch on our bushes) between our house and the neighbors. Twenty minutes later they emerged back down the hill and back across our backyard. Then eventually the 'Deer Party' crossed back to the island. If I will miss anything about this winter, it will be the evening deer crossing.