Christmas Day

Do I regret not getting pictures of Sophie and Michael opening presents on their first Christmas morning?  Nope, not really.  I'm glad I was in the moment with them, helping them rip the paper and discover their gifts, and I will treasure the looks of surprise on their faces.  Despite being so little, they did get excited by a couple of their new toys.

Mike and I bought the babies a couple gifts together, and then we both spent $25 each on presents the other didn't see until Christmas morning.  This idea of Mike's was pretty fun, especially since we didn't buy gifts for each other this year (...or so I thought.  Mike surprised me with a gift card for my mom--our part time child chare provider--and me to share for manicures and/or pedicures). 

After some coffee and cinnamon rolls (intended mainly to get the house smelling yummy) we headed back to Mike's parents' house.  For nearly a decade I've been waking up there with Mike, his brother Nick and sister-in-law Molly, and his parents.  Mike and Nick would run out to pick up their grandparents if it was particularly snowy out, and we all would eat breakfast souffle, drink mimosas, and open gifts.   This year we hardly missed a beat showing up with the babies just before the souffle came out of the oven.

 Sophie with Uncle Nick and Aunt Molly

At around noon we packed up and headed to my parents house for dinner and presents with my mom, dad, and brother.

Michael with Uncle Joe

I was nervous about all of the driving around while balancing naps and feedings to ensure happy holiday babies, but it all worked out fantastically.  It was a joy-filled first Christmas for all of us.

Christmas Eve

The holidays left a lot to be chronicled.  Stay tuned for more...

Mike's parents are the hosts of an annual Christmas Eve party for friends and family, and we all looked forward to sharing this tradition with Michael and Sophie for the first time.

To best fit with the babies' nap and feeding schedules, Mike and I planned to be on the road for their morning and late afternoon naps which are both about an hour long (like the drive). That got us there around 11 a.m. with some time to visit with the family and for me to nurse Sophie and Michael before guests arrived.

A tradition at the party is for Gail to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to the kids. Needless to say, it was a touching moment to see her share that with her grandbabies this year as well.

Then Sophie and Micheal "settled in for a long winter's nap" of about an hour. We woke them for presents. Hey, it's the holidays!

There are a ton of photos of friends and family from that day, but below is one of my favorites: Michael and Sophie with their great-grandpa and great-grandma.

We got our money's worth out of their Christmas pajamas, having used them for the Christmas card photos as well as their travel and sleeping attire for Christmas Eve...with a little accessorizing.

Mike and I hit the road with the babies at around 4:30 p.m. and spent some time together at home as a family, resting up for the big morning!

Socks and pacifiers: the Silly Bandz of the infant crowd

Mike went shooting this morning (sporting clays) and then out to help set up his grandpa's new computer this afternoon, so I had the babies to myself today.  I mentioned to Mike that I kind of enjoy these pseudo-stay-at-home-mom days.  It has me looking forward to the summer...which is only one semester and one week away, but who's counting?

Here are a couple moments I enjoyed.

Michael woke up before Sophie from their morning (and afternoon) nap and led the way in when she called for us.

It's amazing how quickly he can crawl, even in his sleep sack.

Sophie, for the record, is pretty much crawling as well.  She only takes a few "steps" at a time and then seems satisfied to sit and play, but she has the basic idea.

And here's a typical sock situation around here these days.  Sophie--zero.  Michael--four.  Sometimes Sophie has one on her foot and one in her mouth.  Sometimes they both only have one on and the other two are who knows where.  They'll hold onto socks through feedings, crawling, and while playing with other toys.  They just love those things.

Similar transactions take place with pacifiers.  For example, I might look in at two babies in a crib during a diaper changing to find the "boy" paci in Sophie's mouth and a "girl" one in Michael's hand, not sure whether it was a trade, revenge, or part of some game I'm just not young enough to understand.

9 Months Old!

As my father-in-law put it, they've been out as long as they were in.

Although, as any woman in her 36-40th week of pregnancy will point out, pregnancy is really ten months. :)

Note for the 10-month picture: Babies discovered ability to shift weight and make chair rock. Fun moment for them, terrifying for mom and dad. Stabalize before next photo!

Cuddle buddies

I just thought I'd share a few pics that have been piling up in my phone. All of these are from the fantastic holiday break that Mike and I had off with the babies.

The blankets were gifts from our baby shower (unbelievably about a year ago already), and having set them aside while they were tiny, it occurred to me that Sophie and Michael were probably ready to play with them. And I was ready to see how cute my little cuddle buddies could be!

I took a bunch of pictures for our Christmas card this year. Here are some of my favorites!

The bottom three were on the card.

Happy holidays from Mike, Carrie, Sophie, and Michael!

Why, yes, I am a domestic goddess.

That's the thought that was going through my head as I started taking pictures like this one today:

It all began when Mike woke up not feeling well enough to hit the gym before work. Being the remarkable guy he is, he got our grocery shopping done at 6:00 a.m. instead. Knocking that out in the morning rather than after work made it possible for me to bake a double batch of marbled biscotti today (needed a few ingredients).

Mike headed to work, and I gave Michael and Sophie a couple of toys to play with in their high chairs after breakfast to buy myself some time to mix the dough. Melted chocolate, orange zest, toasted hazelnuts--no scented candles needed today!

Once Michael and Sophie were down for their morning nap, I assembled the biscotti loaves and did the first round of baking and clean-up.

When the babies woke up, I found that Sophie had a fever again (it keeps coming back--teething ?). I gave her some Tylenol, and we all played in the living room and playroom.

When it was time to cut the loaves into cookies and lightly bake them again, I was nervous about how it would go between Sophie not feeling well and Michael's desire to put his crawling skills to use at every moment. I was pleasantly surprised when they sat happily in their Bumbos in the entryway by the kitchen entertained by rattles. I sang and danced for them as well while I worked and couldn't help but think how their giggles have trained some reasonably cool adults to behave in very uncool ways. Michael and Sophie will surely regret this in their tween years.

We played some more once I got the cookies back in the oven, and when the timer went off to take the cookies out, I put Sophie in the Exersaucer and made sure that Michael was engrossed in sucking on and banging blocks together. I grabbed my camera and headed to the kitchen.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself for juggling mommy duties and not completely screwing up my baking project as I took a few pictures of the final product.

Then I peeked out into the living room to check on my little buddies and saw this:

Never a dull moment!

I was thinking that "Double Batch" might be cute name for this blog...if only I had more time to bake!

Christmas, here we come!

With a lost voice and snow on the roads, I felt it was time to take a day off on the Friday one week before the holiday break. I captured this little video knowing it was how my weekend and my upcoming time off was likely to look for the most part.

That Sunday we woke up to major snowstorm. It was Michael and Sophie's first glimpse of a significant snowfall, so Mike and I bundled them up in their snow suits. For obvious reasons, our time outdoors didn't last long.

Poor Soph! I love how Michael is looking at her.

I was thrilled to cap that weekend off with an official snowday on Monday. Four days home with Sophie and Michael was glorious...and a major teaser!

After a few days back to business as usual, the babies' child care center had a Christmas party on Friday evening. Sophie and Michael sat with Santa for the first time, and the center gave us a photo in a keychain (not their best picture, but no tears either!). The center also gave us two children's books, a healthy dinner, and their caregivers--I mean, Sophie and Michael-- gave us adorable framed pictures of the babies in angel wings. Mike's parents joined us for the whole occasion and back at home for the babies' dinner and some play time. The evening was a nice start to our real break!

Ahhhhh, this is good stuff....the thought of these two weeks got me through the last 20! I'm not getting much wrapping or baking done so far, but such is life. And life really is good.

8 Months Old!

Every month I mistakenly think these pictures are going to get easier to take, but it's quite the opposite! Oh, well. Here's the best I could do!

Where's Sophie?

Michael and Sophie have been enjoying blanket time lately. We all play under one like a tent, and they giggle the whole time. Just bringing a blanket out to play with makes them smile with anticipation.

After playing like that a couple of days ago, I noticed Sophie lifting the blanket up covering her face as if she was trying to build our little fort by herself. After repeating "Where's Sophie?" a few times and saying "Peek-a-boo!" every time she showed her face again, we had a new game. Maybe I'm a little biased, but this struck me as pretty smart and independent of her!

She and Michael both tend to freeze up when they spot the camera, so I had to sneak up on her to catch this on video.

Michael has been a milestone maniac lately, scooting on his belly, getting into a sitting position from laying down, pulling himself up on furniture to standing, and now crawling! I haven't caught these tricks on video yet. I have to work on my sneakiness!