Action Adventure

 

One of our favorite activities on the weekend is going to LACMA to make art with the twins.  They’ve got activities for all ages, we can visit every Sunday for 3 hours for free, and our highly mobile (and fast) toddlers love it.

Oh No We Didn’t…

Okay, so the original idea was to get one of those funny mall photo sessions for Mother’s/Father’s day pics for the Grandparents. We entered the studio with the firm agreement that we would only get the picture of Dominik and Scarlett with a traditional background and that was it.

But the folks at the studio really have their shtick down and said, “Of course you can just get the traditional set up but we can photograph up to 5 set ups for you in the session you booked. And you only buy the photographs you like…” Then out come of the costumes with quick velcro tabs and wacky backdrops and next thing you know you’re wading through enough cute photos that if Cute Overload were about babies they would have weeks of posts.

We left the studio with definite sticker shock but once we picked up our prints we knew it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.

I mean, how freakin’ adorable are these little butts?

And these kids were born in L.A. how could we not get this one? Right?

Bath Time

Having twins is labor intensive. In an effort to make bed and bath time a one woman (or man) show, I’ve started changing up our nightly routine. Instead of waiting until dad gets home to give the twins a bath, I’ve built up enough courage to do it all on my own. At first, I was terrified one kid was going to drown while I was drying the other one off, or one would slip and poke out an eye on a bath toy while I was washing the other’s hair, but what I’ve found is that babies are resilient far beyond what I imagined. Dominik (aka Michael Phelps) loves to get on his stomach and “swim” in the tub and often gulps water and gets soap in his eye. None of this seems to bother him. Also, after months of doing my best to slowly pour water over their heads with a special cup from One Step Ahead that is supposed to keep all the water and shampoo off their faces, I realized they like it when I pour the entire cup of water directly on top of their head so that the water goes all over their face and the (tear free) soap gets in their eyes. It cracks ‘em up.

The best part of our new bath routine is after the bath. It took me almost 11 months of parenthood to learn that babies love to be naked. Who knew?  I found out accidentally. In order to prevent one baby from cracking the noggin’ on the porcelain while I got the other baby out of the tub, I spread out all the towels on the floor, got them out of the tub one at a time and they immediately began giggling, kissing each other, and putting fingers in each other’s mouth. (And luckily, neither of them has contracted E. Coli from crawling naked on the bathroom floor.)

Post-bath naked play time is now a 20 – 30 minute activity which mostly consists of crawling around the perimeter of the room at high speeds,  standing, jumping, clapping, kissing, doing the “noodle” (this is when Scarlett head-butts me or MJ or Dom, then throws herself on one of us (similar to a pro-wrestler) and drapes herself over who/whatever she has landed on), smiling, laughing, and playing peek-a-boo.  

Dominik vs. Camera 2: The Wrath Of Scarlett

Kissing

Today when I got home from work, Dominik seemed fascinated by himself in the mirror.

Upon closer inspection, I realized he was practicing his kissing techniques (did you hear that, Sarah Ann?).

Dominik has never been shy about showing affection.

Too bad for him that he’s not allowed to date for 19 more years.

Scarlett Laughing

When’s the last time you laughed so hard you drooled?

Army Crawl

While Scarlett is scooting and crawling and chasing the cats around the house, Dominik hasn’t yet mastered these skills.

Although he gets himself into position,

and he’s got perfect form,

for now he seems to prefer staying on his belly as he pulls himself forward with his arms and pushes with his little feet.

We call it the Army Crawl.

Spring Break #2

The week following my Spring Break Grandpa and Grandma came for a visit. I was a bit worried because Scarlett developed what the baby books call “stranger anxiety.”  She basically screams her head off if anyone but me or MJ holds her. Luckily, this didn’t happen.

Scarlett and my dad became fast friends.

And Annette and Dominik got along swimmingly.

The twins’ week was packed full of activities including long walks in the stroller, eating in restaurants, shopping for cute outfits, and their favorite: the bucket swings!

It was so nice having family in town – we look forward to the next visit!

Crab Crawl

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.  First, our good friends Ryan and Sally had their baby girl!  Check her out on their blog. The biggest news in our lives is that Scarlett is crawling.  Unfortunately, she’s so fast we haven’t been able to capture more than a blur on camera.  Here are some photos from a Twinkle Time concert we went to last weekend with our friend Ryley and a play date we had with Kalvin.

We also did some recession shopping.  New shoes two sizes too big for upcoming walkers: $9.00!

Last Saturday we also drove to Malibu to visit our friends Sarah and Steve in their beautiful waterfront home.  We took a long walk on the beach and fed the gulls.