We Survived Camping!

Well, we're back from our first camping trip of the season and I can happily report that all the children and all the adults survived! It was not what one would call a relaxing getaway, but it was lots of fun, and we spent some quality time with our friends Matt, Melissa and BLL (Bud Light Lime) so what more can you ask?!

We tackled the problem of mobile twins by erecting a small tent with a mostly mesh roof as soon as we arrived at our site, tossing a rubbermaid full of baby toys into it and then planting the babies in there. It sort of worked. Heidi doesn't like it when Harrison touches her so there was a decent amount of fussing, but that is still better than chasing her from trying to crawl under the truck (which is what happened in the 2 and half minutes between when we took down the tent and left at the end of the weekend). She is very, very mobile. Next time we may have to set up two tents.

We got to go to the beach (also tricky, thank goodness Brendan had Peyton (age 4) to play with and build roads since we were all hands on deck trying to keep two babies from eating sand, rocks and everything else they could find in the shallows), go on two hikes (one pushing the twins in the bike trailer, stroller style and one with each of us carrying one in a front carrier) and go to the nature centre where I had to try to explain the concept of taxidermy to Peyton and Brendan. All in all a great weekend. It took 5 full days of packing to prepare, but I'd do it again!

Saturday, Harrison continued his epic week of milestones.

After 10 and a half long months... ladies and gentlemen... we have a tooth!!!

One might think that after this long (they've been clearly teething since 4 months old) that the twins would wake up one morning with a full mouth of teeth, but no, Saturday morning, while I was literally in the middle of telling Melissa that they still had no teeth, I looked, and lo and behold there was the tiny jagged top of a bottom tooth. Talk about making Mom look like an idiot (although, if that's all it takes, I will go on record that they don't sleep through the night and hope they do their best to prove me wrong tonight(: ).

Day 4 crawling

Day 4 crawling and already the gates need to go up. Yesterday Heidi could crawl 5 to 10 feet. Today we put her down in the living room and she crawled into the dining room, then kitchen then to the top of the stairs. Oi!

Holy Milestones, Batman!!

Wow, I don't know what Rob's been putting in the twins cereal this week, but today is another day of milestones. Apparently learning to crawl is not enough for one week.

At 4 am, Harrison woke up with a blood curdling scream, even louder than his usual "I've just woken up a bit peckish, mother" scream. I ran in and discovered him in his crib sitting up, looking particularly disoriented. I don't think he knew how he got there, or how to lie down. Rob says he's done it several times again this morning. I'm not surprised he learned to sit up first; he's been working on his ab crunches for months and months. He's also very good at holding his head up when he falls backwards, so now he's really got some mobility and freedom!

Heidi, not to be outdone by Harrison fitting two firsts into one week, started this morning to make driving noises when she drives her little yellow car and Brendan's new car carrier truck. I thought she was just blowing raspberries (this she's been practicing at each meal time for a few weeks), but it sounds slightly different and she only does it when she pushes the vehicle and stops when she drops it. It seems she's been watching her brother!

She's also watching Blaze with adoration and fascination. She's been babbling dada and mama for ages but not at us specifically (she also seems to say blah blah blah a lot when I'm around, but I tell myself I'm imagining that). But I think her first word is going to be dog (or some babyfied version thereof). She is absolutely transfixed when he walks into the room and tries very hard to say something when she sees him, but nothing is coming out consistantly yet. First word watch is on...

They've also started to pay much more attention to each other the last few weeks. As I write Harrison is chewing on the bow on the back of Heidi's dress. They crawl towards each other, they watch each other a lot and making one laugh makes them both laugh. That's my favourite twin thing so far (: They do a maddeningly large amount of handing food back and forth at meal time, we're going to have to start seperating them. I should qualify that, since you're probably thinking "why seperate them, that's so cute!!". The problem is that Heidi hands everything to Harrison and then cries when he takes it, and that Harrison throws everything he is handed very purposefully over the side of the tray. The only one who wins is Blaze, who now gets called in after every meal for "clean up". His aged canine eyesight struggles a little to find all the cheerios on our new kitchen floor, whose colour we specifically chose to hide dirt. Oops. Sorry, Blaze!

Happy birthday Brendan

A wonderful birthday for Brendan. The kids had a great time (but hot) at their bike ride, bouncy castle, t shirt decorating station and hot dog lunch. After it was all done I asked Brendan what his favorite part was - "the presents"! Sigh.

The twins worked hard on a special present and both finally figured out how to... crawl!! On the same day! Very weird. It's been a tiring day chasing Harrison off of electrical cords ( his new favorite toy) and listening to the sound of machine gun fire from Brendans new favourite toy (an army tank).

A Photo Post, in honour of 10 months

Well, I may have been a little overeager in saying Heidi is crawling. She seems to have stalled at the rock on all 4s, or pivot her feet in a circle around her stationary head and hands. She has stopped snowplowing forward with her head, likely because it hurts when you snowplow forward with your head. On the upside, this has given Harrison the chance to catch up and he is now, mobility wise, at exactly the same stage. We thought he had made a big jump forward in mobility this morning when Brendan called out "look, Harrison is under the couch!". It turned out Brendan was under there with him and with further intensive quesioning we eventually discovered that Brendan had rolled him there himself. Big brothers can be hazardous to your health!

Heidi and Harrison passed their 10 month birthday milestone while we were in Port Stanley, so the obligatory Paddington Bear photo is a few days overdue.

As I write Brendan is out in the driveway practicing "tricks" on his bike to show his friends at his brithday tomorrow. He just did a fairly impressive skidding stop and was measuring how long a skid he'd left in the gravel. Like father, like son!





10 month photo





A triumphant return to Autocross after almost 2 years away - I won my class! Rob says I was the only one in it. Picky, picky. We made a few adjustments to our autocross events this year however, hauling up the camper trailer as a play/feeding/changing/napping venue. The other racers nicknamed it our "baby containment unit".





Heidi helped Dad make Brendan's birthday cake yesterday. She looks like a willing participant! (By the way, you'll notice these are out of chronological order, sorry about that!)





Two babies in a bathtub, does it get any better than that? It's actually a vast improvement from bathing the babies individually, since Heidi always used to cry through the bath. With Harrison splashing wildly, she's too amused to remember she hates being wet!





Brendan's first school friend birthday party was a great success, and it made him look so grown up playing with a group of other kids.





Heidi, all dressed up for the birthday party, came along too.





Being this cute is terribly exhausting





Heidi all dressed up (yes, that's sort of a theme in her life) for our next door neighbour Kristin's baby shower. The twins will have a new playmate sometime in the next month!!





Harrison all dressed up (ha, you see, I'm not being gender specific with my dressing kids up) in his most macho outfit!





Ok, back to Heidi, all dressed up, in her favourite fur collared outfit. Harrison just can not compete with this wardrobe...





Alright, I promise this is the last fashion shot, and then we can get back to more exciting comings and goings. It's worth mentioning at this point that one of my New Years resolutions was to take fewer pictures. It's worth mentioning I'm doing horribly at that.





Brendan had Brianna (the birthday girl previously mentioned, a fellow kindergartner who turns out to live just 3 doors down and by all accounts his best school friend) over for his first school friend "play date". It's a match made in heaven, because Brianna is absolutely crazy about trains too, and for the full hour they played in this exact position beside the track!























Harrison up on all fours, trying to race Heidi to the next milestone...





The kids all dressed up for Dad's big night, the Firefighter Graduation.





Our brave firefighter, looking very official. Also, our little goofball trying to get in the background, looking less official.


I have pictures from our first birthday weekend, but the twins are waking up from their nap, so I'll have to include them with pictures from Brendan's party on Saturday. Till then, stay calm and carry on... Nancy

Memorable moments

Heidi and Harrison seem a little irritable lately at their lack of mobility. We dug out the baby piano to appease them and they seem to love it.

Brendan had an epic start to his birthday with a weekend at mom and dads that was stuffed with fun! Brendan got to drive and ride on a miniature steam engine, we went to the fair, and we went to an adventure park with pedal karts  and a zipline. Turning 5 rocks! Brendans birthday party is this Saturday and he's hosting a road rally on bicycles for all his friends from our house down to the schoolhouse in lonsdale. Should be cute!

Finally, it was a very memorable night for the whole family tonight. Rob dressed up in his dress blues and was sworn into the tyendinaga township fire department. He was absolutely dashing! As they called Robs name to stand and say his oath, Heidi and Harrison, who had been quietly discussing how close bedtime might be with each other, both suddenly lost their mind and began wailing unconsolably. Brendan tells me Rob received his helmet, we were hiding in the parking lot by then. Memorable moments!

A Day in the Life

Just some slice of life pictures of the twins hanging out in their room.

Dirty Harry is covered with garbanzo bean casserole - my latest recipe!

Heidi Crawling!

A big week! Heidi started crawling on Sunday! It's a little unconventional, and she does drag her face on the floor a lot, but she can cover ground and is very proud!

Harrison has now mastered crawling backwards so he won't be far behind! He's very steady on his feet and has been practicing standing at the playpen edge.

We tried moving to the backpack instead of the front carrier position.  Harrison seemed quite happy. I can't believe how much gear they're suddenly growing out of this month. Kijiji here I come!!

Twin tip number two - when the playpen in the garage is inaccessible, a bike trailer doubles well. Mostly because it's full of fabulous straps to chew on...