Saturday 28 July 2012
Happy Olympics!
In honour of the 30th Olympiad, the twins went to bed last night dressed in their most appropriate Olympic PJs (thanks Aunti Ali, we hope you're surviving the traffic over there!). They were clearly inspirational. Heidi started the Olympics off with a bang, sprouting her top two teeth yesterday! How's that for higher, faster, stronger?! 
Wednesday 25 July 2012
Home, for a little while...
We made it home from our week following Alison around on Sunday night. Sadly, she was supposed to fly home late, but her flight was cancelled and rerouted through Glasgow. We got a message from her on Monday morning saying she was hoping to get on a flight to London soon. Argh, the joys of air travel. Speaking of air travel; we've booked our first family vacation; we'll be going to DisneyWorld in Florida in late October/early November. I've been in planning heaven for months now, and will be up until the moment we leave I'm sure. It's just the kind of place that lends itself to that! I couldn't help myself (I'm a bit of a Disney geek) yesterday morning; Brendan was looking quizically at my Figment hologram cup in the bathroom and finally asked "how does it keep changing?". I'm usually a little obsessive with giving him factual, scientific answers, but this time I said "It's from DisneyWorld; it's magic".
The twins and Brendan all seemed happy enough to be home. Small changes have happened since we were home last though. Harrison is tall enough now to be able to reach almost everything on our black coffee table and the couch. This has created quite a problem for Brendan, as this was the final refuge for his toys in the living room. We've now had to put up a baby gate across the end of the hall so he can play with his toys in the hall outside the bedrooms while the babies wander around in the living room. The only problem with this set up is that he needs a stool on either side to step over. Heidi keeps stealing the stool on the living room side and wandering off with it (she pushes it along the hardwood like a walker), thus stranding Brendan in the hall. Poor guy. He really has been very patient with these little siblings of his.
Heidi and Harrison are holding strong at two teeth each, although they are each literally leaving a trail of drool wherever they go, so they may sprout the top ones soon. Harrison has switched from commando crawling to crawling on all fours, and is much quicker now. I didn't think "quicker" was possible with these two, and yet, they keep surprising me!
We tried to have a lovely family moment in the backyard yesterday. I felt gearing up all the kids to drive to the playground was too much work, so I set up our littlesplash pool in the back yard instead. This was not as quick a task as I had imagined. Instead of just running the hose for a few minutes there were a few obstacles; the pool had to be cleaned out of the sand that had been deposited in it (blame the 5 year old whos sand box is beside it (: ), splash had to be played with the water obsessed Border Collie, 3 buckets of warm water had to be brought out once I remembered the daughter is sensitive to cold water etc. Then we were ready. We changed 3 children into bathing suits, lathered 3 children in sunblock, carried Heidi and Harrison outside, placed them in the pool with a pile of toys, cracked a cold beer and commenced relaxing... Within 3 minutes Harrison was splashing so much that both Brendan and Heidi had had enough and bailed. A rearrangement of twins (so that Harrison's feet were facing away from Heidi) solved the problem for a full 6 minutes. It was a lovely 6 minutes. Then Heidi and Harrison both turned and crawled out of the pool (I didn't know they could do that?!). In opposite directions. Heidi headed straight for the garage. While I was retrieving her, Harrison headed for the sand box and ate a leaf. While I was attempting to extract it, Heidi succeeded in making it into the garage and we called the whole thing off.
I had an epiphany though. I had begun to feel crazy for camping/cottaging/visiting so much. What I realized though, is that life on the road is chaos, yes, but it's the same chaos as it is at home, only with prettier scenery. (:
On that note, we head off next Tuesday for a 10 day camping trip to Temagami and Timmins (Northern Ontario). Should be fun!! Hahaha. We'll be arriving home on the twins first birthday (the 9th) and I should have some stories to fill out their first year!
The twins and Brendan all seemed happy enough to be home. Small changes have happened since we were home last though. Harrison is tall enough now to be able to reach almost everything on our black coffee table and the couch. This has created quite a problem for Brendan, as this was the final refuge for his toys in the living room. We've now had to put up a baby gate across the end of the hall so he can play with his toys in the hall outside the bedrooms while the babies wander around in the living room. The only problem with this set up is that he needs a stool on either side to step over. Heidi keeps stealing the stool on the living room side and wandering off with it (she pushes it along the hardwood like a walker), thus stranding Brendan in the hall. Poor guy. He really has been very patient with these little siblings of his.
Heidi and Harrison are holding strong at two teeth each, although they are each literally leaving a trail of drool wherever they go, so they may sprout the top ones soon. Harrison has switched from commando crawling to crawling on all fours, and is much quicker now. I didn't think "quicker" was possible with these two, and yet, they keep surprising me!
We tried to have a lovely family moment in the backyard yesterday. I felt gearing up all the kids to drive to the playground was too much work, so I set up our littlesplash pool in the back yard instead. This was not as quick a task as I had imagined. Instead of just running the hose for a few minutes there were a few obstacles; the pool had to be cleaned out of the sand that had been deposited in it (blame the 5 year old whos sand box is beside it (: ), splash had to be played with the water obsessed Border Collie, 3 buckets of warm water had to be brought out once I remembered the daughter is sensitive to cold water etc. Then we were ready. We changed 3 children into bathing suits, lathered 3 children in sunblock, carried Heidi and Harrison outside, placed them in the pool with a pile of toys, cracked a cold beer and commenced relaxing... Within 3 minutes Harrison was splashing so much that both Brendan and Heidi had had enough and bailed. A rearrangement of twins (so that Harrison's feet were facing away from Heidi) solved the problem for a full 6 minutes. It was a lovely 6 minutes. Then Heidi and Harrison both turned and crawled out of the pool (I didn't know they could do that?!). In opposite directions. Heidi headed straight for the garage. While I was retrieving her, Harrison headed for the sand box and ate a leaf. While I was attempting to extract it, Heidi succeeded in making it into the garage and we called the whole thing off.
I had an epiphany though. I had begun to feel crazy for camping/cottaging/visiting so much. What I realized though, is that life on the road is chaos, yes, but it's the same chaos as it is at home, only with prettier scenery. (:
On that note, we head off next Tuesday for a 10 day camping trip to Temagami and Timmins (Northern Ontario). Should be fun!! Hahaha. We'll be arriving home on the twins first birthday (the 9th) and I should have some stories to fill out their first year!
Thursday 19 July 2012
A quick update...
Just taking advantage of a quiet moment in Ripley to update things.
Shockingly we have had no major milestones this week. In fact, Harrison has apparently decided that trying to stand without holding on was a little risky, even for him and has generally stopped. He bumped his head a few hundred times (it seemed) in that first week that he was trying to let go, so he may have decided to master standing holding on before moving on to the next stage. Practical boy.
Heidi did sprout a second tooth, so she and her brother now each have their two bottom chompers. She has had a ball at Mimi and Papa's place pacing from one end of the house to the other. At their much larger house this takes considerably longer than the circuit at home in Lonsdale and is therefore much more interesting. There are also lots more people to stop and grin at, which also makes it much more interesting.
We were a little overwhelmed at the prospect of babyproofing Mimi and Papa's substantial sized house initially (closing interior doors is not an option when its 150 degrees Celsius outside) what with all the new "fun" cords, outlets, treasured momentos and fine silverware within reach. As it turns out, the twins have actually been very good, and tend to leave everything alone (choosing instead just to wander around in the vast acreage) with one small exception. Well, one large, heavy exception, technically. I'm a little fuzzy on the details since I was still upstairs sleeping but supposedly Harrison got into a bit of a donnybrook with the coffee table; words were exchanged, things got physical and the coffeetable jumped on top of Harrison and gave him a bloody nose! Harrison shook it off bravely and the coffee table has been placed on probation in the hall ever since. Otherwise, everything's gone well.
We're having a lovely visit with Alison, who came home to meet the twins and our niece Ellie and introduce us to her boyfriend Adam. We're all very starstruck, since he's a specialist cameraman for our favourite TV show Top Gear and regularly tells casual stories about Tom Cruise and filming in the Amazon and the like. He's actually a very nice, very low key guy and has fit in beautifully with the whole family. And when I say the whole family, I mean it. They spent a few days in Lonsdale/Kingston meeting everyone Ali's ever known there, then spent 3 days at the cottage sharing living quarters with 6 other adults, 3 babies and two dogs. Talk about getting up close and personal. We had a great time celebrating Tara's 25th birthday with fancy champagne from the UK and a custom made "Queen Tara" crown cake. Then it was on to Ripley for 4 days to meet most of the aunts, uncles, cousins and friends here. They're off now for 2 very well deserved days of relaxation in Niagara on the Lake. We've spent the entire week in the water; either at the pool, at the dock or at the beach and are feeling very, very summery.
We're due home on Sunday sometime, and we'll have a whole week at home (gasp!) to catch up on laundry and messages, download photos and meet our newest neighbour. Our next door neighbours Pat and Kristin had a baby boy a few days ago, so Heidi and Harrison will have a new playmate!! Lots of fun!
Shockingly we have had no major milestones this week. In fact, Harrison has apparently decided that trying to stand without holding on was a little risky, even for him and has generally stopped. He bumped his head a few hundred times (it seemed) in that first week that he was trying to let go, so he may have decided to master standing holding on before moving on to the next stage. Practical boy.
Heidi did sprout a second tooth, so she and her brother now each have their two bottom chompers. She has had a ball at Mimi and Papa's place pacing from one end of the house to the other. At their much larger house this takes considerably longer than the circuit at home in Lonsdale and is therefore much more interesting. There are also lots more people to stop and grin at, which also makes it much more interesting.
We were a little overwhelmed at the prospect of babyproofing Mimi and Papa's substantial sized house initially (closing interior doors is not an option when its 150 degrees Celsius outside) what with all the new "fun" cords, outlets, treasured momentos and fine silverware within reach. As it turns out, the twins have actually been very good, and tend to leave everything alone (choosing instead just to wander around in the vast acreage) with one small exception. Well, one large, heavy exception, technically. I'm a little fuzzy on the details since I was still upstairs sleeping but supposedly Harrison got into a bit of a donnybrook with the coffee table; words were exchanged, things got physical and the coffeetable jumped on top of Harrison and gave him a bloody nose! Harrison shook it off bravely and the coffee table has been placed on probation in the hall ever since. Otherwise, everything's gone well.
We're having a lovely visit with Alison, who came home to meet the twins and our niece Ellie and introduce us to her boyfriend Adam. We're all very starstruck, since he's a specialist cameraman for our favourite TV show Top Gear and regularly tells casual stories about Tom Cruise and filming in the Amazon and the like. He's actually a very nice, very low key guy and has fit in beautifully with the whole family. And when I say the whole family, I mean it. They spent a few days in Lonsdale/Kingston meeting everyone Ali's ever known there, then spent 3 days at the cottage sharing living quarters with 6 other adults, 3 babies and two dogs. Talk about getting up close and personal. We had a great time celebrating Tara's 25th birthday with fancy champagne from the UK and a custom made "Queen Tara" crown cake. Then it was on to Ripley for 4 days to meet most of the aunts, uncles, cousins and friends here. They're off now for 2 very well deserved days of relaxation in Niagara on the Lake. We've spent the entire week in the water; either at the pool, at the dock or at the beach and are feeling very, very summery.
We're due home on Sunday sometime, and we'll have a whole week at home (gasp!) to catch up on laundry and messages, download photos and meet our newest neighbour. Our next door neighbours Pat and Kristin had a baby boy a few days ago, so Heidi and Harrison will have a new playmate!! Lots of fun!
Tuesday 10 July 2012
11 Month Photo
As promised this morning here is the babies 11 month photo.
Another change we have noticed is that suddenly the twins have begun to play together. Heidi no longer cries the moment Harrison comes close, in fact, she tolerates him leaning on her fairly stoically lately! It's lovely to see them play together!
Home From The Cottage
Well, we are home from a beautiful week at the cottage with another pile of milestones to report on. Now that each of the twins have discovered this "moving" thing, they've really just been going crazy trying to master new things. Early in the week Heidi figured out how to sit up on her own. This was huge, as it meant that she could now go from crawling around the house to sitting still. This meant she didn't have to just continue to crawl, fussing quietly if she got tired. Which is not to say it was a relaxing first few days at the cottage. Oh no. Baby proofing the cottage was something we had completely forgotten about and our twins found every nook and cranny of trouble they could. Heidi figured out how to bust through the screen door by bashing her head against it repeatedly, Harrison found the power cords behind the TV, Heidi figured out how to wedge herself under tables, between the fridge and cupboards, Harrison found every sharp corner he could to bang his head on. It was a gong show.
Harrison spent the week mastering pull to stand. He now stands almost all the time. He will attempt to pull up on anything, including his sister, and has now switched places with Heidi as the fussypants in the family if he can't find somewhere to stand up. Once he could stand he immediately has started to work on cruising along in standing. He can still only manage a couple of steps along the couch, but it won't be long...
Oh wait. In further news, on Sunday Harrison learned to stand without holding on. His personal best is still only a few seconds, but he spends his every waking moment practicing, so first steps are not far away. Rob's sister comes home from England to meet the twins this week so maybe he will save them for her visit!
Not to be outdone, Heidi has also been trying to pull to stand. She is much less steady, but I did get her caught on film yesterday as we were trying to unpack the car. She is obsessed with barriers. In a bad way. She has the run of the upstairs except for two closed doors (our bedroom and the bathroom - she wedged behind the toilet once, which with an aim-challenged 5 year old boy in the house is just gross) and a gate at the top of the stairs. So she spends most of her time reaching through the gate, trying desperately to get to the other side, or banging her little hand on the closed doors. Nobody says No to this girl, she figures.
In other milestone news (see I told you it's a pile of milestones), Heidi got her first tooth this weekend, and Harrison sprouted his second!
Thank goodness for this blog (which I've been told, and I am counting heavily on, that you can turn easily into a book) because it's the only way I can keep up with recording all these big moments.
In terms of our actual week at the cottage, the weather was mostly beautiful with only a few little bits of rain. The lake is 80 degrees, and Brendan lived in it. He really is a daredevil and a stunt man. He has a great time making up "tricks", and his favourite one this week was "watch me pretend to walk off the dock" (where he literally pretends to be chatting and looking the other way while he walks off the end of the dock - with his floatie on and then swims back around to the ladder and starts again). Rob pulled the surfboard out and it was resting up on a stump at the beach. At one point I was sitting with the babies, who were splashing in the shallows and I suddenly noticed that Brendan had pulled the surfboard out by himself, paddled it out a little, hopped up, knelt on top (excellent surfing form - where has he seen this??) and was paddling off down the lake. Ahhh! Now I know where grey hair comes from!
On Thursday our gang of high school friends arrived and we had a fabulous weekend full of kids, laughs and a few cold beverages. It was pefect. It takes really, really good friends to enjoy 6 adults and 6 kids together in one tiny cottage but we had a ball and even managed to fit in a few quiet moments on the dock. Mmmm.
The twins turned 11 months yesterday, and I will get their Paddington picture taken and posted as soon as I can. Heidi is napping and Harrison is out getting groceries with Dad. We tend to divide and conquer for all errands, although it always seems strange to be out with one baby. Who knew we'd get to a time when it would be strange to only tote one infant around?! I'm pretty sure the rest of the world thinks that's normal behaviour. Ah well, I've never been very good at normal behaviour... (:
Monday 2 July 2012
Summer Vacation
Well, it's on! Summer vacation! Brendan finished school with much fanfare from us, but relatively little from him. We thought "Oh good, he must just really like school" but it turned out the idea of "school's out" is just a bit early for a kindergartener since we woke up bright and early after the last day of school, and asked "is this a school day?". He and Dad had a very cute celebration after the last night of school sleeping out in a tent in the back yard. I think it was the best night's sleep Rob has had in a while. He's campaigning to do it again soon!
The twins have not dissapointed this week in their rapid progression of milestones. Harrison has learned how to pull to stand (!) and Bob and Gail (who were down babysitting this weekend while we went 4 wheeling for Canada Day) said Heidi even pulled to stand once. Harrison is pulling to stand on a few select items, not everything yet. The couch seems to be just the right size, as is the 18 inch high piece of plywood that we had put across Brendan's door. It's amazing how different babyproofing is this time around now that there is a slightly possessive 5 year old and his plethora of toys to consider. Brendan and I face off regularly in what I like to call the "Lego Wars". Lego is currently banned from the main floor, but mysteriously keeps appearing in his room anyways. The final item that is just the right size for Harrison to pull to stand on is, unfortunately, his sister. She doesn't like this. At all.
Keeping up with these twins moving in oppposite directions is every bit the nightmare I had imagined. I have no doubt that we will survive, but I also have no doubt my gray hair is accumulating at record speed. The other day we found Harrison stuck halfway across the plywood barrier, dangling, after he had pulled to stand on it, leaned forward in his desperate desire to get in at all those fun new toys and pitched over it like a too short teeter totter. I don't think I'm doing the mental image justice. Rob also found Heidi recently wedged behind the toilet, so now the bathroom door has to stay closed at all costs. Sigh.
No teeth yet for Heidi, still just the one for Harrison, but man is it sharp!
The milestone I would very much like Heidi to master is sitting up on her own. We finally discovered the reason she has been crawling from room to room to room quietly fussing for the last two weeks is that she doesn't know how to stop crawling and sit to rest. She can roll onto her back but that's not the position she would most like. So now she crawls for a while, but when she starts to fuss we sit her up and she's happy as a clam. We're just happy to have figured that mystery out!
So, we're in summer vacation mode now, and heading up to the cottage for a week of R & R. Well, sort of. We're taking the kids. So it probably won't involve much R or R... But it will be lovely scenery! Ha ha, we'll check in when we get back, Happy Canada Day everyone!
Nancy
The twins have not dissapointed this week in their rapid progression of milestones. Harrison has learned how to pull to stand (!) and Bob and Gail (who were down babysitting this weekend while we went 4 wheeling for Canada Day) said Heidi even pulled to stand once. Harrison is pulling to stand on a few select items, not everything yet. The couch seems to be just the right size, as is the 18 inch high piece of plywood that we had put across Brendan's door. It's amazing how different babyproofing is this time around now that there is a slightly possessive 5 year old and his plethora of toys to consider. Brendan and I face off regularly in what I like to call the "Lego Wars". Lego is currently banned from the main floor, but mysteriously keeps appearing in his room anyways. The final item that is just the right size for Harrison to pull to stand on is, unfortunately, his sister. She doesn't like this. At all.
Keeping up with these twins moving in oppposite directions is every bit the nightmare I had imagined. I have no doubt that we will survive, but I also have no doubt my gray hair is accumulating at record speed. The other day we found Harrison stuck halfway across the plywood barrier, dangling, after he had pulled to stand on it, leaned forward in his desperate desire to get in at all those fun new toys and pitched over it like a too short teeter totter. I don't think I'm doing the mental image justice. Rob also found Heidi recently wedged behind the toilet, so now the bathroom door has to stay closed at all costs. Sigh.
No teeth yet for Heidi, still just the one for Harrison, but man is it sharp!
The milestone I would very much like Heidi to master is sitting up on her own. We finally discovered the reason she has been crawling from room to room to room quietly fussing for the last two weeks is that she doesn't know how to stop crawling and sit to rest. She can roll onto her back but that's not the position she would most like. So now she crawls for a while, but when she starts to fuss we sit her up and she's happy as a clam. We're just happy to have figured that mystery out!
So, we're in summer vacation mode now, and heading up to the cottage for a week of R & R. Well, sort of. We're taking the kids. So it probably won't involve much R or R... But it will be lovely scenery! Ha ha, we'll check in when we get back, Happy Canada Day everyone!
Nancy
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