Thursday, November 24, 2011

Firsts: Tea Party and The Varsity

I have free time on my hands because I'm in Mississippi and no one plays with Allie and Harper better than their Mississippi family.  I hardly have to lift a finger when I am here because family comes out of the woodwork to play, feed, diaper, and spoil my babies.  It is awesome!  So I thought I would make a quick post about two fun firsts for Allie and Harper in November:

1. Their first Tea Party! They loved it and actually acted like they knew what a tea party was.  I see many tea parties in our future:


2. The Varsity.  Our friends Tiffany and Julia had never been to the Varsity, so we had to go.  I am actually a little sentimental about the Varsity because my family is obsessed with it.  A Woodward/Huffaker is not allowed to drive through Atlanta without stopping at the Varsity for some onion rings at the very least.  It's weird because this is the kind of place generally grosses me out because it's greasy and there is hardly a healthy choice on the menu.  But, that's the point of the Varisty and I've come to love it.  Just don't go when there is a Braves game. 




Also, this is not a first but we got to hang out with our friend Polly from Birmingham last week too and wear our Turkey shirts. Allie looks at this shirt and say "Ogob Ogob" (translation: Gobble, Gobble).


Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, November 21, 2011

One Year Update (over a month late)

Allie
The Al E. Gator is a bird.  That is the best way to put it.  This little lady keeps us laughing and in amazement.  She is tough as nails. She will fall face first off a chair and bang her head on a door jamb, leaving a purple bruise the next day, and she will not make a peep, just rub the spot that hurts and keep on truckin'.  She is walking everywhere. Crawling is for babies, including Harper.  Allie's waddle is adorable and pretty fast.  She is babbling and repeating after me.  Her clear words are: "Wasat?" (What's that?-it's hilarious, cause she asks it all the time, very inquisitive), ball, dog, bye bye, night night, hi, uh-oh, mama, and dada.  She mimics "thank you" with "koong koong."  She is a great eater, though we are dealing with some food throwing.  Every morning, she downs her sippy cup of milk in 3 minutes flat and is sad when it is finished. She entertains herself and explores on her own for almost all the time we are at home.  She enjoys making music by beating on instruments or really any object.  She has just started to dance and gets her whole self into it.  Her smile will turn your bad day into a happy one. Her favorite book is Pat the Bunny, especially the part when she plays peekaboo with Paul. Our copy is in tatters.

Allie does not want to miss out on the day by sleeping! But her mother needs a break or two and her sister is still loving two naps a day, so (sadly) she probably spends an average of an hour a day (between two naps) in her crib playing/fussing before she finally falls asleep.  At Parents' Morning Out, she goes to sleep with no fuss in a baby swing; thus, I reassembled the baby swing and for the last week Allie has happily napped while swinging.  Baby books would tell you this sleep prop is bad.  This sleep prop gives me some much needed Kakhi time/clean the house time.  Allie is happy almost always, but try to take an object away from her and her happy world falls apart.  She enjoys seeing what new items have been added to the recycling bin.  Beer and wine bottles are the jackpot and she will carry them all over the house. Again, do not try to take them away.  Maybe I shouldn't announce this, but she has a very weird affinity for eating fuzz off the carpet and her stuffed animals.  Gross, I know.  She is a bird.

Her stats at her one month visit:
Height: 29.5 inches (59th percentile)
Weight: 20 pounds 12 ounces (41st percentile)

My little lamb.

First trip to the Varsity!

Harper

Harpernator is a delicious little chunk of huggableness.  Her laugh should be recorded for Gerber commercials.  She covers her eyes and plays peekaboo. She's very ticklish.  She loves to playfully grab Allie by the collar and drag her down.  Allie doesn't mind, but doesn't think it's funny either.  Lately, she had become even more attached to her paci than before.  It is a very nice tool in the toolkit for fussy moments. She exuberantly performs her animal noise when she is comfortable with everyone in the room.  A loud Bah! is her favorite, but also does bear, elephant, dog, and snake noises.  Yesterday, she heard a dog in the hall and started going crazy because she wanted to see it.  We went out in the hall and it was actually inside our neighbors apartment, so she was very frustrated.  Dogs are her favorite animal.  The geese in Piedmont Park are also highly admired.

Harper is almost ready to walk.  She is very cautious though -- Allie learned through many failed attempts and falls, but Harper does not want to try unless she has something safe to hold on to.  She has started standing in place on her own, and will happily walk all over the place if you give her a finger for balance.  She practices walking by pushing her shopping cart, and she gets very sad when she reaches the end of the room and hits a wall.  She looks at you and whines until you turn it around for her.  But recently she seems to be figuring out how to turn it on her own, so maybe she's moving past that.

She hasn't been a great eater recently, and she is starting to be noticeably skinnier than Allie.  I'm assuming this is just their different growth spurts (they are two very different people!).  Harper is also more of a food-thrower than Allie, and she likes to look you in the eyes while she picks food off of her tray and drops it over the side.  She is showing her defiant little personality even at 1 year. 

What Harper is good at is sleep.  She is a champ -- put her in her crib and she's out in two minutes.  Sometimes she tells us she wants her crib by pointing at her blanket or leaning into the crib while we are holding her.

Her bye-byes are so sweet.  Both she and Allie say bye-bye about twenty times when we leave somewhere or someone leaves us.  Her other words are ball, hi, mama, uh-oh, dada, and oosh for shoe. 

Her stats at her one year pediatrician visit:
Height: 29.25 inches (50th %ile)
Weight: 19 pounds 4oz (18th %ile)

Harper Hula Hooping

Harper in her cowboy boots that CeCe brought her from Texas.

The best moment of my day with them is when they start playing peekaboo with each other.   They shriek with joy as they pop from behind furniture and scare each other.  They also love playing tug of war with a blanket and patting each other on the back and sometimes even hugging.  It is such a joy when they interact.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Allie's Walking! and October updates

We are blessed to have parents who are capable of chasing twins around and willing to keep them for a few nights.  Last week, Michael and I went to NYC for five days while both set of grandparents rotated staying with A&H.  Michael had a conference Wednesday through Friday, so I had 3 days to wander the city, shop, and DO WHATEVER I WANTED.  I felt like my old self and back then I never knew to be thankful that I could mostly determine my own schedule all day.  I got to see three friends who live in the city and we ate so well.

Rooftop patio at the Met.
Lego Indiana Jones at FAO Schwartz

Between the time our plane landed and us getting home to our babies, Allie took her very first steps! Yes, we missed them by 30 mintues.  Serves us right, doesn't it? Leave your babies for five days and that was Allie's payback.  She also gave me the cold shoulder for about 10 minutes after we got home. She let me know it that it was not nice that she didn't get to go to NYC.  She showed me the back of her head every time I talked to her or tried to hold her.  Or maybe she knew the grandparents were leaving and wanted us to go on back to where we came from. Anyways, it is so entertaining to watch Allie toddle around.



In one week, she went from 4 quick steps a couple of times a day to trying to walk almost everywhere she goes.  These past two days, she is taking about 10 steps, falling down, and getting right back up again.  At this rate, she won't be crawling at all by this time next week.  It is amazing how quickly she has gained stability.  We're trying to encourage Harper along by making a big deal out of Allie walking.  She is just excited for Allie too.  I believe the main reason Allie is walking and Harper isn't is sheer guts.  Allie is fearless and not afraid to get a few bruises learning.  Harper is going to hold onto a hand or furniture for dear life until she has a no-fall guarantee.  Here is a video of Allie early last week:


A few weeks ago, Allie and I went on our first special trip together.  She was very squirmy but also very happy on the plane.  She got to meet her Texas friends:
Clark Christian

Twin boyfriends, Luke and William Evans.

Caroline Rowling and brother Tres not pictured :(

Harper had a blast shopping with Lovey at Scott's antique market on Friday and then loved the special attention from Dad all weekend long.  It took her two or three days of adjusting after getting so much personal attention.

In October, we also:

Celebrated Halloween by trick-or-treating with a chicken...

Playing with Pumpkins

Wearing these hilarious outfits their Aunt Lauren gave them.

Riding the Pink Pig at Lenox Mall.

Hanging out with Uncle Bob (doesn't Allie look like him?)

Breaking out the winter coats


Whew! The blog is almost up to speed!