Bye bye Auntie Trish!

Well, this morning Steve drove Trish to the airport so she could hop on a plane back to Canada. Molly cried as the truck left the driveway, and I got teary myself. It was so nice to spend some quality time with my big sister. AND she was a huge help doing everything from making cupcakes, to doing our laundry (twice), to getting down on the floor and playing with Molly. I hate thinking that it's probably going to be a year until I see her again and it makes me sad being so far from my family. BUT, the good news is that my mom and dad will be here in 8 days, so that gives us something to look forward to. Anyway, here's a few more pictures from her photo shoot. Love you Trish!

A girls day out...

For Mother's Day, the only thing I wanted was a day completely free of parenting. I decided to save it for when my sister came, and we had a fabulous day! We started off with a photo shoot because I love taking pictures and she's the perfect photogenic subject! We took pictures in Old Sacramento, and when it started getting too hot (it hit 106F/41C) we moved to the inside of the capitol building. Then we had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Then shopping. Then home for photo editing and freshening up, before heading out for sushi for dinner and a movie with friends. It was the perfect day. I feel recharged and ready to parent once again. Thank you Steve for a day off, and thanks Trish for taking me out! Here's some of the pictures of my beautiful sister!

Molly's 3rd Birthday Party!

Well, today we celebrated Molly's 3rd birthday. I knew I would need extra help executing this party, so we purposely scheduled it for when my sister was visiting. And she went above and beyond the call of duty. Check out her fancy decorations in the kitchen!


We also worked together on making these fancy cupcakes from an idea I found online here. They were tri-colored cupcakes in white, pink and blue to match the Cinderella decor. The recipe basically "doctors" a cake mix with sour cream. Mmmmmm...


We also made Cinderella themed chocolate lollipops for the guests. They were definitely a hit!


The birthday girl got a special princess bathing suit to wear to enjoy the water activities set up in the back yard by Daddy. It's a good thing that we planned water activities because it was stinking hot today (103F/39C).


Daddy did an awesome job setting up the backyard for the party. The kids LOVED the water activities and even Molly got into it, despite her broken thumb. Here's a photo of her going down the slide into one of the pools. You'll notice her holding her thumb up high in the air to avoid getting it wet!


We also got Molly a special chocolate cake to supplement the cupcakes and both were a hit to her and her little friends. To be honest with you, it seemed like she preferred hanging out with her friends and family over eating and we noticed that she licked the frosting off her cupcake and left the rest of it. Molly has NEVER left a cupcake uneaten, and it was special to see that playing with her friends was more important to her.


We were also thankful that so many family members were able to be there to celebrate with us. From my sister Tricia to Steve's cousins, aunt and uncle!


What a fabulous day! I'm so thankful that Molly finished the day feeling loved and cherished for the special person that she is! Thank you to everyone for the wonderful gifts and for celebrating with us! And special thanks to Auntie Paige for helping with the food.

California Academy of Sciences

Well, today we went to San Francisco to check out the relatively new California Academy of Sciences. Generally the day went fairly well, despite the crowds and the occasional crying baby. The award of the day goes to Paige who seemed to be so thrilled to be out of the house and seeing something new, whereas Garrett seemed to be wishing he was just home in bed. Molly on the other hand was in her element. Some of her favorite exhibits were the dinosaur skeleton, the fish, the albino alligator and the penguins.

We did bring a baby carrier with us and we all took turns hauling the chunky monkeys so they could enjoy the sights. Even Auntie Trish volunteered to help!

We also found this great play area for kids under the age of five, and Molly absolutely enjoyed herself. And I got this totally cute photo of her playing in the treehouse.

And on the way home we introduced Trish to a Californian classic - In 'n' Out Burgers! Yum yum! All in all, a tiring but fun day!

A visit from Auntie Trish

Well, my sister Trish arrived late last night for a week of fun with the kids. Our day was SO much fun that I'm totally looking forward to our week together. Of course we had to start the day off dressing the kids in cute matching outfits. Here's the twins in their "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" shirts from Dr. Suess.


We got out of the house for a little shopping, and Trish bought Molly her birthday present. And what did Molly ask for? A Cinderella dress of course. And the day was made even better when we spent the afternoon making chocolate lollipop favors for Molly's birthday party. Molly made sure to sample the melted chocolate for quality control.


One of the most interesting things to me was how much Paige ADORED Trish. Paige typically is extremely shy (read: screaming) with new people. And she was definitely a little shy in the beginning. But in just a couple of hours Trish had completely won her over to the point that Paige preferred being with her than Mommy. I have seriously never seen Paige smile, coo and laugh as much as she did today. I'm actually convinced she loves Auntie Trish more than Mommy! But all that playing definitely wore her out and by the end of the day she literally fell asleep at the dinner table. Too cute!


Tomorrow we're off to San Francisco! Whoo whoo! I'm sure we'll have some great pictures from that trip!

First major injury...

Well, today we endured Molly's first major injury. And it was a doozy. This morning when saying goodbye to Daddy she promptly slammed the front door or her thumb. She turned around and looked at me in shock and then started screaming. It wasn't until I picked her up that I saw the blood. It was pouring out of her hand all over me and all over her. So I ran and stopped Steve from leaving for work. After cleaning everything up and getting her calmed down, we made the decision to go see her pediatrician this afternoon instead of taking an already frightened Molly to the E.R. We thought that would be less traumatic.

The verdict after seeing her doctor? Well, the laceration on her thumb was pretty much through the nailbed and the nail was pretty much falling off. They decided not to give her stitches because it might damage the nail bed and they felt pretty confident that a new nail would grow back just fine after the old one fell off. But there was a LOT of swelling and an X-ray showed that she did indeed break the end of her thumb. So she's in a splint now.

I was never so proud of Molly as I was today. She was so scared to go to the doctor because she didn't want it to hurt. She kept telling me and her Auntie Paige (who came to help with the babies) that she was going to run away from the doctor. But they took X-rays and not a tear. And when they cleaned it out and examined it, she was extremely upset but she just sat there and let them poke at her. AND she even choked out her "thank you's" when they put the new dressing on. I am so proud of my brave, brave girl!

Happy Father's Day!

Well, today is Father's Day. And the kids definitely made Steve work for the title of "Father". The picture above kinda says it all... grumpy babies. I did everything I could to shield Daddy from the misery, especially on this special day, but he went beyond the call of duty and helped out. When I asked Molly why Daddy is the best daddy ever she gave two responses...
1. Because he lets me ride on his shoulders.
2. Because he plays in the pool with me.

Happy Father's Day Steve. There isn't a husband more committed to his family. There isn't a father more in love with his children. We love you and want you to know we appreciate all the ways you love and care for us! You're the best!

Footnote: Did you notice the kids coordinating outfits in the picture?

Happy giant babies...

Garrett and Paige had their four month check-up this week and furthered our hypothesis that we make giant babies. Paige was 17 lbs 12 oz (99%) and 24.75 inches long (64%) and Garrett was 19 lbs 3 oz (98%) and 26 inches long (81%). The doctor kept saying, "they're just really cute babies!" and I like to think she doesn't say that about everyone's kids!

As they are growing and getting older we are finding out that they are as different as two siblings can be, which is interesting considering they shared a womb and receive identical parenting. Garrett cries if you don't put him to sleep when he's tired, and he loves his bed. He sleeps like a champ and currently loves playing with his feet. He enjoys playing by himself on his play mat. He doesn't cry a lot, but once he gets started he's very hard to console. He babbles up a storm, laughs readily and will smile at strangers.


Paige on the other hand, is completely different. Paige cries if you try to put her to sleep because she doesn't want to miss anything. She sleeps lightly and prefers to be sitting up and watching what's going on. She hates the play mat because she wants to be up to see what everyone is doing. She's quick to cry, but quick to get over it as well and easy to console. She says very little and prefers to stay close to Mommy. And if a stranger tries to chat with her, her bottom lip will come out and the ear piercing screams will begin.

Always a princess...

Well, many of you know that Molly has become a "Princess lover", as have many of her little 3 and 4-year old friends. And playing princess dress-up is definitely a daily favorite around here. So you can imagine how excited she was to go to a princess birthday party at Fairytale Town for her friend Keilani. She got all dressed up before we left and kept saying, "Thank you Momma! Thank you Momma!" because she was so excited to be able to wear her princess gear out of the house.


And it was pretty darn sweet to see all the kids decked up in their dress-up gear for the occasion. Even the boys got into it! (pictures stolen from Keilani's blog)


And after the party the kids spent a few hours burning off all the sugar they consumed by running around Fairytale Town. Here's three of our little princesses pumping water at Jack & Jill's Hill. Notice Abby trying to get a drink! (picture also stolen off of Keilani's blog)

The latest on Molly...

Molly is doing great! We sure enjoy the fact that she's able to communicate with us better and better all the time. Although in our eternal parental worries, we did get her checked out by a speech therapist this week. The good news is that although she is definitely speaking at the lower end of the normal spectrum for her age, she's still in the normal range and would not qualify for speech therapy. So they gave us some exercises to do with her at home and they're going to re-evaluate her in August. Even we see little improvements every week!

She also told us last week that she doesn't want to be a big sister anymore. As the conversation progressed it seems that she wants to keep Garrett and Paige, but doesn't want to share Mommy anymore. So last weekend, Mommy spent some quality time with Molly one on one, which I haven't been able to do much since the twins arrived. I loved having that special time with her and she is such a light to be around! Love that kid!

4 months old!

Well, today Garrett and Paige turned four months old. Molly sang them "Happy Birthday" and wrapped up a couple of toys in burp rags and presented her gifts to them. It was pretty cute! Anyway, they're growing leaps and bounds and I'm looking forward to their doctor's appointment next week to get their latest stats. Here's their monthly comparison shots. First off, here's Garrett:

And here's Paige:

And here's Molly at 4 months old:

A difficult task...

Well, as I continue in my quest to get the perfect picture of my kids, I'm quickly learning that this is a much harder task then I thought. It is very difficult to get three kids under the age of 3 to all look at the camera and have pleasant expressions. This is particularly compounded by the fact that Molly is enjoying a new "phase" which includes sticking her tongue out at the camera (hence no photo of her today). Sigh...

Another milestone for Paige...

Well, today marks another milestone for Miss Paige. She has really started getting her head up and off the ground during her tummy time. This feat could take Garrett a little longer because his noggin is a little weighty. Anyway... as the child of a photographer, this is an exciting milestone because it makes for great photo opportunities! Whoo whoo!

The Bumbo Solution...

Hi everyone! Life here is perking along. I've decided that I'm a rockstar mother after taking all three kids yesterday and successfully completing a grocery shopping! One baby in the shopping cart, one in the Baby Bjorn and Molly walking! I've also discovered a key to Paige's happiness. The last few weeks it seemed that the only thing that would make her happy was if she was being held. Considering I have two babies to deal with, this is a difficult option. But I finally figured out that it wasn't ME she wanted... she just wanted to sit upright. Sitting on a recline just wouldn't do. Thank God for the Bumbo! I think God created this handy chair for kids just like her!


In an attempt to have equality to all children, I tried to get some cute pictures of Paige yesterday to put on the blog since I've posted more photos of Garrett lately. I only got a couple of shots off before Molly decided that she had to get in the game. She grabbed our point and shoot camera (with my permission) and started shooting.


And here's one of her shots. She may have inherited a photographer's eye!


And here's the picture that I took. Molly's may actually be cuter!


On the Garrett front, he's definitely my talkative baby. All you have to do is glance at him and he'll start smiling and cooing away. He's such a happy boy! Check out this cute video of him telling me all about his day...