Twins Update: Memorial Day (5/31/10)

Today was their first swim in Bubbie Marlene & PopPop’s new pool (or any pool, for that matter). First 5-10 minutes were pretty tear-filled, but they eventually started to dig it and stayed in the water for almost an hour. Very cool little inflatable floats with little movable “roofs” to protect against the sun. Their first attempts at kicking and splashing were stellar.

Skillz Updates:

Alex appears to be left-handed. Not 100% sure. And there was a double Alex Learning for Daddy the other day. Her favorite color may be yellow, since that’s the only kind of ball (from the girls’ big Chuck E. Cheese-style “ball pit” — thanks Uncle Shawn, Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Steph) that she wouldn’t reject Hakeem Olajuwon-style. AND, she can throw. Not just shake her arm and drop the ball. I’m talking very close to a full-on windup and throw. (SWEAR: I have NOT pushed this and NOT made her watch hours of baseball, nor have I attempted to teach this in any way. She’s just a natural.)

Norah is not just sitting up and standing on her own (while holding on to something). She is now testing the proverbial waters and occasionally letting go of the gate or crib side and doing some Olympic-level standing on her own. Holy crap, y’all. She’s like weeks from walking. Until then, she is pretty much the fastest crawler I have ever seen. (And I attended the 1997 Crawling Championships, coincidentally located in Harleysville, PA.)

Twins Update: 5/18/10

May 9th, Bottle Time.

It has been way way way way way (did I say way?) too long since I blogged about my incredible amazing fantastic children.

Norah was 1st to hold her own bottle, but Alex was the 1st to master picking up Cheerios and putting them in her mouth.

(Each girl does both with ease now.)

Norah eats everything. Alex scrunches her face when given food she doesn’t like, which is more often that we’d like. (Finickiness does run in the family on both sides, though.)

Norah is able to stand up, and even did a little bit of “walking” while holding on to the gate of our “Fun Zone” in the living room.

Alex is lazy like Daddy, but has recently started doing the “get on all fours and try pushups” phase — which was the precursor for Norah’s standing up.

Norah is now having full-on babble conversations with herself (or with imaginary friends?).

Alex is all about “Da Da,” but I’m 65% sure that she hasn’t quite attributed that title to me specifically. She does throw in a few “Mamas,” as does Norah.

Norah’s hair is coming in fast now — dark and straight.

Alex has had a mass of curls for a while, and it’s kinda “dirty brown” but still pretty light.

Norah enjoys splashing in the tub.

Alex enjoys fighting me when I try to get her in the tub seat. I have to basically hold her above it and wait for her to stop kicking or swinging her legs around. Eventually she gets tired and goes into the seat.

When she’s not standing in the Fun Zone, Norah crawls like a Navy Seal.

Alex has picked up the pace, although she uses her elbows and forearms more than her hands when crawling.

They just turned 13 months two days ago.

And being a parent is the most incredible experience of our lives.

So you’ll have to excuse me as a lazy blogger. I’m also a devoted Daddy.

Open Mother’s Day Letter to My Wife

Dear Shannon:

Seven years ago, if you told me that I’d be a husband and father living in Texas, I’d have laughed my a$$ off and asked where I could get the same drugs you were taking.

And here I am, an hour or so into Mother’s Day 2010…trying to put into words how awesome the mother of my children is.

Shannon, you’re my world. And the two amazing gifts you’ve given me — our beautiful daughters — will never be matched.

Even before they were born, you were an incredible and caring mother. During your pregnancy, you cut out caffeine, alcohol, and anything else that could be remotely bad for the babies. You did everything possible to give them a good home, like a good mom does.

And when they came early with all their health issues, you kept it together as we bounced from NICU to NICU every night for three weeks. You went into full-on Mommy Mode, soaking in every word the NICU nurses said and committing it all to memory. So when we brought the girls home, you were on top of everything.

In the 12.5 months since then, you have become SuperMom. Back surgeries don’t slow you down. Full workweeks ain’t nothin’.

I got lucky to find you, because you’re the perfect wife/partner/best friend. And I got even luckier when you turned out to be the perfect mom.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Love,

Harley