Two Babies in a Box

"I am sorry for punching you,Kiki". James will pet Keira on the head and give her a kiss when he is sorry.


Fight!!!


"We love each other and we love playing together in this box"!

James and Keira love playing in this old box. They sit in it and I pull/push/spin them around. Every once in a while a fight will break out....but for the most part it is GOOD TIMES!

Happy Birthday Dada!

There is something about kid's art that I just love (always have). Try as you might, an adult just can't create art that look's like a child did it (fine motor, hand eye, proprioception, tactile sense, etc., just too developed as an adult). So, I had James and Keira do some scribblings for Ben as a birthday gift. Of course, the stamps were done hand over hand (mine over James). Ben loved it!

Tag, you're it!

James and Keira love chasing each other around the coffee table. It is a favorite game of theirs. Check it out.

Did I ever say that Keira is trouble?

"Daddy, if you won't get off the phone and get me my toy, then I will just get it myself". Never underestimate this kid!

Miss Commando

Yes, Keira is crawling- army girl style. She goes everywhere and is getting faster and more skilled everyday. Watch the video- enjoy!

Keira does the Chicken Dance!

Watch the video and enjoy!

Fight!

Ok, so it was Thanksgiving and we were at my parents house. Brea (my sister) has been forbidden to drink soda (she drinks way too much and has little self control). After discovering that Brea drank my half empty can of soda that I hid from her, I decided to teach her a lesson. NEVER drink from an open can of anything- you never know what is in it... So I planted an open can of soda mixed with cooking oil on the kitchen counter. We all had Thanksgiving dinner and after dinner Brea took the open can of soda/oil and drank it! The video you are about to watch is footage taken after Brea and I had already duked it out for like 5-10min. It is sort of the aftermath of our fight that Ben recorded. I was rather tired at this point. I think James enjoyed it!

Keira's new tricks

Keira learned a couple of new tricks yesterday. Watch the videos to enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi, just a quick shout out to all of the friends and family. Have a great Thanksgiving and safe travels to all. We just had our Thanksgiving (Ben and I and the kids). We had a big fat turkey, dressing, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoe casserole, mashed pototoes with smoked gouda, green bean casserole & rolls. Yummy!

Airplane!

Keira is playing airplane. Wee!

Big and Beautiful

So I bought some new dresses for Keira since she has outgrown all of her summer clothes and cold weather is here. My mom, who is a pretty good photographer, snapped this pic of Keira rolling around while I was trying to dress her in the various outfits to see what fits and what needs to be exchanged... There is something about this chubby baby that I just love :)

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

The moment that I saw this picture of James and Keira it made me think about how Ben and I would play in the woods when we were first dating. I am sure we never would have predicted that we would have a duplicate picture with our own children 5 years later!

Fall Leaves

Yesterday, we enjoyed a day at the park playing in all of the leaves. Keira kept eating the leaves and James loved tossing the leaves into the air and running around the park. Love this fall weather :)

Surf and Turf

Keira and Maya celebrating after an evening of trick or treating.

Dancing Baby Video

The babies love music, especially Jack Johnson. James and Keira's favorites include but are not limited to Mozart, Beethoven, Bob Marley & Coldplay's new alblum Viva la Vida. Check it out.

"UH OH"

We Love Disney World!

Stay tuned for more!

Food and Talk

Keira is eating her baby food! She recently enjoyed a full jar of applesauce and a jar of sweet potatoes after refusing to eat solids for 1 month. She just wasn't ready. Yea, she is on a roll now. While Keira's taste for food is just developing, James's tastes are becoming more complex. He is no longer thrilled with a hotdog, diced ham, cubed cheese, etc. He is really starting to want more adult type food. His current favorites are coconut dahl and mushroom risotto. Hmm, just an excuse for me to refine my cooking skills. Now if I only had more time...

On another note, our little James is on a roll with his language development. He tries to copy much of what we say. Keira is really starting to babble away. She says mamama, bababa, yaaaaaa! James will copy her and they will have baby conversations back and forth.

Grants Farm is Haunted!

We went to Grants Farm Halloween tonight and it was so much fun! There were lights, monsters, bonfires, a DJ, dancing and free beer! Kids and adults alike came dressed in costume and everyone was having a blast. James and Keira loved it and were so good. It was so well done, Anheuser- Bush did not skimp at all. WOW! We are going back for sure except next time in costume. The event is Thur, Fri, Sat through Halloween weekend. Enjoy this video of James enjoying the party.

Keira's new hat

I don't know what it is but my kids don't mind wearing hats, which gives me the green light to buy and make lots of hats for them. This is Keira in her newest hat.

Dancing Yoda

I am not sure what James is drinking (just milk, honest) but he loves to wear his Yoda ears and dance! He's such a happy little boy, enjoy! Oh, I like the part of the video where he get mad at the garbage can.

Halloween fun

Enjoy these pics of James, Keira and our friend Maya in their Halloween gear.

Yo -da -man!

I had a little Halloween party at my house this evening. It was fun, we had lots of yummy food and the kids had fun playing. Ben and I filled the playroom with black and orange balloons- it was cool and we all had good times. Marji, I have adopted the phrase "good times" from you, hope you don't mind- I like to say it :)

Help, I can't decide!

I can't decide on a Halloween costume for Keira. I know we will be going to quite a few events, many being outside. You can never predict the weather in St, Louis in October. One week it may be 40 degrees and windy, the next week it could be 95 degrees and miserable. I am thinking I may not use either costume and look for something light that I can do layers underneath if needed. Curse this weather... At least I have these cute pics to share. The doggie is to scratchy and hot and the cow is just too hot. Boo. By the way the cute little skunk is James from last year, I remember he was often too hot.

Cousins play ball!

James and Keira

Here are some pics of the babies enjoying some play time. Keira and James are really starting to interact with each other. So cute :)

Cousins, cousins, cousins...

We miss you guys. Here are some pics of James and Keira's cousins.

Ocean Shores

Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed the little ones for a few days while Ben and I had some fun of our own.

The Garden of "EATen"

Yes, Grandma and Grandpa have an amazing garden in their yard. James loved having free reign in the garden of EATen and eat he did!! James enjoyed picking and eating blueberries and pears. Keira was more drawn to the herbs and flowers.

Paris's new boyfriend

So we made it to Seattle. Here are some pics of James and Keira at the Hilton. More to come soon...

Hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!

My mom tells me that I am a wild one. I really like to watch James play and I have my eyes glued on him all day. When I am on my belly I try to scoot to reach him but he runs, I can't imagine why. Also, I love to grab his toys and put them in my mouth. This has an opposite effect on James- he will come to me (instead of running away) and take the toy- sometimes he will give me a different toy to eat. Hmmm...

James is growing!

James had his 18 month check up this morning. He is healthy and on track for development. He went from 6th percentile in height to 16th percentile. He grew 2 inches in 3 months. His head is getting big also it went from 19th to 42 percentile. Wow, it must hurt to grow like that. His weight is still 3rd percentile, but has been like that since he was 9 months old. He is a skinny little dude. The doc. is not concerned. He passed his autism screen (given to all 18 month olds). It was cute, the doctor asked James questions like where is Keira, and James would go to her and lay his head on her. The neatest thing is that during the screen, Keira was crying and James went over to her, took the pacifier out of his mouth and put it in Keira's mouth! I couldn't believe it. The doc said he has never seen such a display of empathy in his career from a 18 month old. No autism here. Oh, the doc expects that his speech will blossom and around 2 or 3 he may have a serious growth spurt. Yea!

Poop Princess

Keira has been a little poop machine these past couple of days. We are exhausted from changing her diaper like every hour or so. Ben is a bit anal when she poops. He washes her bottom under running water, blows her bottom dry with a blow dryer set on cool, puts ointment on her, and finally the diaper goes on. All of this and she poops like a few minutes after and the routine begins again. Her little bottom is sore and we are trying to get it to heal. Ben has forbidden us from touching the red area on her bottom. The doc. says it is the new foods she is eating, we think it may be a little tummy bug. Who knows. I must admit that it is hard to be upset with this cute little angel.

Olympics

James is happy that he just won the silver in the baby olympics swim competition. Who won the gold? Keira! She lapped James and even had time for a baba before meeting the press. If you couldn't guess, we are having a good time watching the Olympics in the evenings. Oh, when I say "we" I really mean me (mom). The babies are sleeping and Ben is basically awol nowadays... Oh well, still good times.

James-wooly hat

James is reluctant to show off his wooly skull cap that I made him, but here it is. James has 2 new games he loves to play. He will hide behind the curtain and play peek a boo with Keira (she is near the curtain in her bumbo). Also, he is starting to play hide and seek with Ben and I which is very fun...

Keira started eating. She loves her rice cereal and I am hoping to try bananas tonight!

I'm too sexy for this hat

Mom made me a hat, what you think about that. Actually, it is a skull cap which is way cooler than a hat. Oh, by the way, I love to read, a lot. This is a monkey! Oh, I also love the lion chair that I am sitting on, ROAR!! Oh, be prepared for more hat pics, I have a wooly hat that I refuse to model at the moment and mom seems to be knitting Keira something...

"I'm too sexy for my pants"

I'm a big girl!

Keira had her 4 month check up yesterday. Dr. Putt Putt says she is healthy and doing great! I don't think Dr. Putt Putt expected her to be such a rolly polly because everytime he took his hand off of her on the examining table she rolled over and a couple of times she nearly rolled off the table. I was on the other side of the room holding James (he was a bit under the weather)and would scream to Dr. Putt Putt "Grab her"!! It was a bit scary at times. He kept saying "Yikes I forget she rolls so much". Scary. Anyway, she weighed in around 15.5 lbs and 24.5 inches long, making her a pretty big girl. Her is a picture of her at 4 months with Ebee. Ebee has been quite the popular guy/gal lately. Ebee is gender and race neutral-perhaps the perfect little critter in this wild world.

Leaning Tower with Peacock

Yet another work of art by James.

This piece is titled "Leaning Tower with Peacock"

This work started as just "Tower", but James thought the addition of the Peacock complimented the greens, blues and yellows already present in the tower.

Yes, the tower is leaning a bit, simply to demonstrate that balance can be boring and off balance can still be balanced as long as the tower remains upright and in the end is more visually intriguing and not so boring.

Some often wonder, who built the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Was it Gerardo, Galileo, or Palanca? You decide.