Hair

 Let's address the elephant in the room...

Lila's hair.

When we were choosing a name for our yet-to-be-born daughter, 

I immediately fell in love with the name Lila.  I remember visiting

 California when I was about 8 weeks pregnant chatting about baby names with my 6 week pregnant sister.

I came across Lila, and I just knew that if I had daughter, that would be her name.

The first meaning I read for the name Lila was dark-haired beauty.

I thought that was ever-so-sweet.

And it became ever-so-fitting.

9 months later, out came this sweet duo.

The week before I delivered the twins, an ultrasound tech said that Baby A (Lila) had a tiny bit of hair.  

And out Lila came with a head full of the blackest hair I ever done did see.  

So dang much.

And it grew and Grew and GREW!

Quickly.

Just after her 1st Bday...

And at 2...

And now at 3.

She's had 3 haircuts.  

The first was when she was about 10 months old.  

We cut the wings she was growing behind each ear.  

And then after her 3rd birthday, we cut several inches off.  

Mostly because it was getting stuck in her pants.

And then this summer we cut another couple of inches.

Kelsey had/has this head of hair.  

I was jealous of it my whole dang life! 

It is my dream hair. 

I, on the other hand, had the stringy/baby fine/ doesn't-want-to-grow-past-my-shoulders hair.

I would have never dreamed my daughter would have these locks.

Lucky little lady.

However, it has always made her look older than she is.

And I have always disliked that.

She just loves it long, but I do wonder when she'll want it all gone.  

It's heavy.  

And hot in the summer. 

And it takes forever to dry.

But nonetheless, I do love it so.

On another note, what happened to my roly-poly little girl?!  

She is longer and leaner than ever.

Ugh!

Watching them grow up is mostly exhilarating.

And a little bit heartbreaking.

FREEZE

I realize I haven't blogged forever.  These 3 year olds sure do keep me busy.  I have avoided blogging because where do I start when I've been gone so long???  My thoughts...ignore the absence and start with what's now.

I want time to stop.

For real.

I know I've said it, blogged about it and said it some more.  It's old news.  And yet it's on my mind always.  

Life is just sweet.  And I love sharing my (exhausting) days with the most precious turds there ever were.  

Please, for the love, don't think it's perfect.  It's so not perfect.  

It's perfectly imperfect.

It might be perfect however if I thrived under the most whiniest conditions.  

If you like the sound of whiny children, come on over.  

I'll let you enjoy it for a while.  

For the record, whiny-ness doesn't fly with me.   Or Brian.  

Not. At. All. 

 But they continue to try.  

Boy oh boy do they try.  

Also it might be a perfect little life if I enjoyed the occasional 3 year-old melt down.  

Today....well, it's still a little too fresh to discuss but here are a few details--  

Screaming.  I mean SCREAMING.  Kicking, thrashing, yelling, shouting--you get my drift.  

At the grocery store.  

During the entire check out and loading process.  

Can you imagine how many people were looking at me?  Let me just say...A LOT!  

It was absolutely not okay. 

 And there were certainly repercussions for this behavior.  

Can I just say discipline is so not fun?!  

Necessary for sure, but one of the hardest parts of the job.

But the precious moments, well, they are mighty perfect.  

And Brian + I  would have 10 more Lincoln + Lilas.  

Maybe more. 

They just rule that much.

Last summer.  Look how much they've grown!

Last weekend...

My silly lady. Looking 8 years old.

Ferrying to Seattle.

Ferry riding with my crew back home.

Da' Beds

When we decided a couple of months ago that it was the time for the twins to get big beds, Brian told me he wanted to build them.  

Brian has never, ever built a piece of furniture.

But he is a researcher.  And a perfectionist.  And a hard-worker.  

I wasn't worried for a second about him doing a good job.  I was more concerned about the time it would take to finish the project.  Because as most of you people with young families know, there is certainly not a surplus of time in our days.  

But he did it!  

And he did it exceptionally. 

And I am so proud.

 We had to say goodbye to the baby cribs.  (Which I promptly sold on Craigslist.)  

Kinda bittersweet.

But also exciting.  

Because our children are supposed to grow up after all.  

And thrive!

 Brian did such a great job.  And we will bunk these beds when we feel they are ready.  

 The twins did great in their big beds.  They think they are big stuff for sure.

 I sure do think these 2 hang the moon.

And Brian... 

Well that guy continues to amaze me.

Snapshots

This afternoon The nosey Pearl found my camera that I had accidently left out. And she wanted to learn to snap some photos. So I showed her what to do.

A diamond in the rough I do declare and an absolute natural if I do say so myself.

And of course, we gave Lincoln a go as well.

Peace Out Paci

So long Mr + Ms Paci. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Two weeks ago, we bid farewell to the pacis. Shortly after Lila + Lincoln turned 1, we limited their pacifiers to naptime and bedtime only. And that worked great. And we have never had a problem getting our turds to bed. They always looked forward to making out with their pacis for a bit and fell asleep happily.

But now they are 2 1/2. And my sweet little Pearl was starting to throw her paci out in the morning and scream the most horrid screams you've ever heard until we retrieved it for her. And then Lincoln thought it would be fun to try it sometimes too. And it was not a pleasant way for the big guy or I to start our day.

So when we heard Kelsey got brave and took her Lucca-lay-lee's away, we decided to give it a go. We told the kids how BIG Lucca was now AND all the special things she got to do because she was so big and brave. So, of course, the twins wanted to do it too. [We love and owe that Coco big time!]

The first night when we put Lila + Lincoln in their beds, they cried and said they didn't want to be big. They didn't want a new special buddy to sleep with and they certainly didn't want to get Fro-Yo, (with sprinkles), to celebrate. 'I wannnnnntttt my paciiiiiiii!'

So Brian played the guitar for about 10 minutes and they were out. The next day at nap time, Lila cried so very hard. We did force her to break-up with her first love after all. It was certainly tragic. She loved that thing so. B played his guitar and with in about 2 minutes she was out. Lincoln cried that night for a bit, but put himself to sleep.

And that's all it took. No more crying and they haven't asked for it once. They are so big. So dang big. I have to admit this was not hard at all. I was prepared for it to be much worse. Especially for our girl.

I can't complain about the pacifiers though. They saved my booty on numerous occasions when they were teeny-tiny and I was alone. They were many times, too many to count, that my newborn babies were soothed by their paci's while waiting their turn to nurse.

R.I.P Pacifiers.

Pearly Whites

Taking your twins to the dentist today for the 1st time = Goodbye, mama-guilt.

I've been intending to take the kids to the dentist for months. Months and months actually. And today was the day. I took them to a pediatric dentist in town and had the most fabulous experience.

I had the kids all pumped up about how cool it was going be, and how wide they had to open their mouths, and how big they were now to visit the dentist, etc. (Clearly I am a good liar storyteller, because I am actually terrified of the dentist.)

And they were rock stars. Happy, cooperative, curious and polite.

The hygienist complimented them on numerous occasions. She assured me that is was certainly not like this every time children came to the dentist.

So, of course, I didn't mention the gigantic tantrum Lincoln had before we arrived. All because I made him wear a long sleeve shirt. For the love.

They were able to do a full cleaning and take x-rays of their front and back teeth. Which apparently does not happen on first visits very often.

But seriously, what is up with recommending flossing? For your 2 year olds. For real? Kinda ridiculous.

They had perfect teeth, and told me that we were doing a great job. And it always feels great when you get a little positive feedback. Am I right other mamas?!?


They might have said something about Lincoln having an overbite. What the freak? Where ever would get that from?

Ahem.

(Keep your mouth shut Kelsey.)

Moving on, the dentist gave them a Popsicle.

I want a Popsicle after I go to the dentist.

A Popsicle and a hug.

Autumn

Autumn is definitely here in the NW. And by the way, Brian + I decided that we are going to start calling Fall...AUTUMN. And teach it that way to the kids. Just because we like the way it sounds. (We have had nothing but time on our hands this past week people!)

Moving on--

Well the biggest news in our house over the past week is Brian's knee surgery...

You're welcome for this lovely photo. And for those of you who know Brian, YES!, there is skin under all that hair. Who knew?

The reason for the surgery...

...the giant (non-cancerous) tumor that was causing so much pain for him over the past year. (That would be the gigantic black hole on the left side of the picture.)

So as he hobbles around and tries to recover, I've decided that I never, ever, ever want to have knee surgery. Or any other kind of surgery. Thankyouverymuch.

So as we have been laying low this week, tending to the patient, we are going a little stir crazy. So I bought some games. Candyland + Memory. So this is a pretty hysterical experiment playing games with 2 year olds

I also take them on 'Fall Autumn walks' just about every day. And we collect beautiful leaves. (And then I try to throw them away when they are not looking.) On this day, their Halloween package from Grammie arrived. That was definitely a very fun surprise.

Oh yeah, that corn was from my garden. So the kids thought is was super-fun to cut it down and decorate with it. I love gardening.

I also tried growing pumpkins this year. But, SURPRISE!, there wasn't enough sun. But 2 of these lovelies were from our garden. Can you guess which ones???

Speaking of no sun, Lila + Lincoln tell me almost everyday how much they like the sun. 'I can't like rain Mama, I like the sun.'

You hear that Brian? Just checking. *wink*

A little surprise I found tonight....

...now I didn't see who did this, but I would bet top dollar that Miss Sneakypants was responsible. Lock up your medicine cabinets when the Swishers roll into town. This girl will check it out. For reals.

My mom sent me these gigantic pine cones. And I immediately thought glitter. Because glitter, I can't quit you. Chocolate, burnt orange and golden yellow were the colors I chose. And they look gorgeous. If I do say so myself.

Lila loves to color. And she is getting pretty good at smiley faces. But this past weekend she drew me. And then I died...because she drew me people.

Check it--

You guys, I'm so beautiful. 2 eyes, a nose, a kinda-smile, gorgeous hair WITH a crown, ears and 2 skinny legs. At a castle.

She's 2.

That's right 2.

Excuse me, I'm going out to buy a frame.

:)