New Year's Eve craziness in the play area!

Stay tuned for more videos! Happy New Year to all!

Attack of the twins! Graham and Julia LOVE this toy....and here they are crawling around and using it...as you can tell, Graham Bear has it all under control! ; ) He's serious about his play time!

I promise a better one later...and one with Graham in it too!.....but in the meantime, here is Julia! Doing her own thing, plotting how to escape her play area...and a little dance at the end!

The (almost) great escapes

It seems we have a little rebellion on our hands...

First, Graham's binkies started disappearing. We had to keep washing the same 2 or 3 over and over...and, with the way that Julia just reaches over from Her Crib into His, as both are standing up playing 'over the fence' so to speak...and she just pulls a binkie out of Graham's mouth and, depending on the mood, makes him laugh or cry...oy. It was work to keep him in the binkies.

So, as it turns out? The little one had a stash. He was planning a breakout, for sure! Next to his crib, piled, literally, one top of one another, were SEVEN...7 binkies!!! When was he leaving? Where would he go? Or, like his daddy, would he have gone to ... EBAY!!!! Sold his binkies???

Then, there is our little peanut, Julia (ha. Peanut compared to her brother, Gulliver)...she keeps trying to get out of her gated community...

Here are some photos from out home to yours...the Gated Community ... with our outdoor tree (plus 2 little ones for the babies) all lit up... and Daddy holding his wee ones...Merry Christmas!

Misc. Photos...Happy Holidays

Here Comes Santa Claus

Ok, he came and went but what a wonderful time he gave us all!

I'll post pictures of the babies' first Santa visit...it was a hit. Julia wore her girly girly dress, and Graham, well, he wore a Santa suit! Looking cute as ever. (Thank you, Aunt Annie.)

The babies are crawling, pulling themselves up (and falling over)...and they are almost inconsolable at night or naptime unless they are assured their twin is in the crib next to them...which means lots of standing up, talking, gabbing, Julia grabbing Graham's binky (which normally brings smiles)...and not a lot of sleeping. SO, we must 'stagger' when the babies are put to sleep...but still, we'll often find Julia crying as she looks at her sleeping brother. She just doesn't understand why he won't get up and play!

It's odd, now that they are standing in their cribs...and How unusual it is to walk into their nursery in the morning and find Julia and Graham standing up 'talking' to one another and looking at the door to smile at Terence or me.

Where are my babies?

Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus

Standing in cribs, giggling...oh my

So, last night it was the 30 minute giggle fest before bed with Graham and Julia ...
Their cribs are head to head, so Graham decided to kneel and look over at Julia, then she did the same, and they talked and giggled and giggled so hard I thought they'd tip over.
They didn't.
InSTEAD, big brother Graham stood up...and Julia followed.

Oh no...time to lower the cribs and possibly tent them in? horrors.
I put pillows around the cribs just in case..

Graham is fighting sleep these days...at least for the first 20 minutes (Julia doesn't like napping any more, at all!)...he seems confused by his abilities to sit up, pull himself to a standing position...and resists the urge to sleep by doing the above...but he's so tired he inevitably falls over and hits his head on the side of the crib.
more tears.
Then finally, sleep.
Ouch ... what a way to learn ;)
Julia, as ever, is graceful and knows when to stop 'pushing' her limits!

Photos to come...

Oh, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!!!

Wow.

When Daddy Terence walks into the house at night, you'd think Julia and Graham were 16 & at a Rock Concert for their favorite band....

Julia? She just laughs and laughs and laughs, and then breathes her "lion breath" (seething little lion) and then giggles ... ... If she's in her bouncer, forget it...she bounces so fast that the noise scares the mice away (oh, did we mention? We have a new family...after getting rid of 4... I suppose they really, REALLY like our home!).

He's the Rock Star Daddy...

Graham is equally enthralled, but just smiles because, well, he knows the routine: Upside down Graham, Flying Graham, Rolling over Graham...
Enough to give mom a heart attack...she leaves the room ...
And just hears massive giggles...

Sigh. So much for caution!

The visitor's center at the Capitol, G&J

It was 68 degrees in DC today...amazing...
So, Graham and Julia and I walked to the new Visitor's center at the Capitol.
Wow...it's nice to be that close to the Capitol again. It's been closed for 'renovations' for 5? or something years...we could get close to the steps on the East side, which is amazing..

We sat in front of the Capitol, I held Julia, then Graham...Graham looked STUNNED at all of the lights, the building, etc (Julia, as ever, was a tad 'cooler' and just smiled and smiled)...
The Supreme Court is across from the Capitol...So Graham and Julia got lessons on where they'd end up if they were to become Senators, Representatives, or Supreme Court Justices.

Ha. They just grinned...silly mommy! We've got eyes on the White House ...

So we checked out the fabulous buildings, as well as the Capitol Police...Mame met us there, and we both carried a baby home...all 20 pounds of each one!

Graham, Graham the King of Siam

We arrived home last Sunday--Terence and I--to this scene on our couch: Graham getting the adoration of 3 very pretty young au pairs, Yves, Amonrat, and Nice. Lucky Boy! He can not seem to get enough of these young ladies...

Graham is such a heartbreaker...xxoo

Julia here...sorry for the lack of updates...Mame and Mommy are trying to figure out how to put in videos and photos (in that order) and, well, there you have it.

I, Julia, am doing well, or 'Miss Perfect' as everyone calls me...
I am patient with my loud, flirtatious brother, Graham...I crawl in a way that gets me from A to Z...I zone out when my brother is blah blah blahing during dinner (leaving mommy to pull her hair out, as it means I don't eat but focus on a point on the wall until I decide my brother has received enOUGH attention!)...

Anyhow, I promise photos soon...because I am SO CUTE in the photos and videos!
Aunt Annie bought a gorgeous outfit for me...red velvet dress with lace and flashy stars on it (she IS from LA you know...I hear she knows Cinderella! Snow White! All the rest -- of course I won't be allowed to Go To Disneyland unless it's in Paris)....
sigh
Love
Julia

The Fashionista

Julia gets so excited by this outfit that I put it in front of her whenever I think she is feeling down...no doubt, she giggles and grabs the lady on the shirt and kisses her...kind of like Lola, the pink poodle...

8 Months and they are off and ...

crawling for Graham! Wow...in the past 24 hours, since turning 8 months, these babies have blossomed...

Tonight, the big news: Graham REALLY crawled...On all 4s, he put one tiny hand out in front of him, whimpered, waved the hand in the air, planted it ahead of himself ... and moved his knees. He did the same on the other side. And again...whimpering each time he held his hand up, as if waving hello...

I have one of the crawls on video...Terence came home and Graham also crawled to him...amazing...

Ha. Julia? She's busy fighting the purple polka dotted elephants, striped donkeys, and blue giraffes in her mobile...and Graham's. First order: Tearing them down...I heard a clink clink noise from the nursery, and sure enough, Julia had ripped the funky animals off of their posts and was playing with them.

I put her in Graham's crib, and she did the same to his...

But, not to be outdone by Graham's crawling, Julia has 4--mark that, 4--TOP TEETH! And 2 on the bottom..Graham, finally, seems to be sprouting 2 on top...even the pediatrician nodded to Graham's budding teeth yesterday.

8 months old today!

Julia and Graham are 8 months old today. It's so hard to believe...they are so fun.
Sitting up, Julia crawling (dragging a bit, but 'getting there') and Graham, as Ever, having giggle fits whenever possible.

Graham:
19 lbs, 11 oz
29.5 inches long

Julia:
19 lbs
27.5 inches long

So much to be Thankful for!!!

So much has happened this week!

Aunt Annie came in from LA to help us celebrate Thanksgiving...and Graham and Julia entertained her (or was it the other way around?) with their attempts to crawl--Julia almost has it with a scooch, Graham rocks on all fours then flops on his belly (aw, later mom!).

They especially liked taking Aunt Annie's glasses off...Julia got quite good at it and did it with two hands...
On Thanksgiving, we all took a long 2 hour walk down to the Capitol and toward the Mall...and saw where the Inauguration podium and stands are being built in front of the Capitol. It was sunny and in the 50s.

Amonrat celebrated her birthday by cooking a wonderfully delicious dinner for us on Friday, with her friend Yves! Thank you Amonrat and Yves!

OK...photos to come. I must go eat leftover turkey with Terence. The babies are in bed....