We Even Drink Alike

I thought it was funny that Lillie and Elliott were both laying on the rug in the same way to drink their bottles for lunch.

I mopped the floors this morning so every toy that was on the hardwoods was moved to the rug.

(That explains the mess... we'll... it at least gives me an excuse this time for the mess)

We're One!

Happy Birthday Lillie and Elliott!

We can't believe it's time to celebrate 1 year!

What an amazing year it had been!

We love you two so much!

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Elliott didn't seem too impressed with his cake.

Lillie ate almost the whole cake!

You can tell what their personalities are like just by looking at this picture.

What a difference a year can make. God has been so good to our family.

We're sure proud of our 1 year olds!

This Time Last Year

I had no idea a year ago today when I packed my hospital bag at 7:00 p.m. that I would need it that exact night at midnight.

A Dinosaur Loose In Harlem!

Jack requested a visit to the play ground this morning, so we went. He also requested to wear his dinosaur costume. I thought about it, trying to decide if I should let him or not... why not? It was just the play ground! We've figured out when a preschool class of kids around his age go to the play ground and they were there this morning. He was very excited to see them. Who knows what was going through their minds when they saw him. I love that he is who he is and does not care what anyone might think or say.

The kids playing in the leaves and putting them in the trash cans.

They were all in their school uniforms. Jack in his Halloween costume.

Makes me laugh thinking about it.

Mr. Carlos, one of the teachers, said "I need my preschool friends to come have a seat and find their buddy." They were getting ready to go. Jack sat right down with them.

Then we went to the grocery store. Jack was holding the adds. It was nice for him to be walking. I was able to use his seat for my basket. Thankfully the store was not as crowded today as it was last time. Then Jack wanted to ride standing on the stroller on our way home, till we got to the hill. He walks up the hill.

This is walking down Broadway between 136th St. and 135th St. We live on 135th St. At the end of this video you can kind of see the long, steep hill we have to climb to get to our apartment. When we got to the top Jack started jumping up and down saying "I did it Mommy. I walked up the hill. I did it for you. It makes you proud!"

When Jack had his surgery the anesthesiologist asked him where he lived he said "New York City." The man said, "New York City is a big place, where in New York City do you live." Jack said, "Up that hill." He was right!

Hairbows and Oreos

Lillie wore her first hair bow today. She still doesn't have quite enough hair for it to be properly placed or for it to stay in place, but at least she hasn't pulled it out! Elliott on the other had goes after it with a vengeance!

Jack laid his Oreo cookie down yesterday and Elliott got to it. He ate the whole thing!

(notice he has half in one hand, half in the other)

When I told Jack to smile he put his blanket over his head. I just wanted a sweet picture of him to post today with Lillie and Elliott. This will have to do. It pretty much sums up what we experience when trying to get a quick picture of him.

One Of Those Days

Do you ever have one of those days? You can't really pin point why (or maybe you can) its a hard day, it just is. Everything seems to take a lot more effort. It took us way longer to get ready to run an errand today than the errand itself. However, was nice to get out and breath some fresh air. Lillie ate a crayon, we'll didn't eat it, but chewed on it long enough. I realized it when I put her in the stroller. There was purple all over her mouth, her hands, and her new outfit that she had been wearing for 15 minutes. She went out looking like that. If Lillie or Jack do anything to Elliott that he doesn't like (take a toy, get in his way, etc...) he screams really loud. Jack doesn't understand that Lillie and Elliott don't know how to "play" and he gets frustrated with them knocking things down or taking his puzzle pieces. Can anyone relate? It's just been one of those days. It started early, earlier than I'd like and now its 2:30 and the kids are just falling asleep because this is what's been going on in their room...

Jack didn't want to go to sleep because Lillie and Elliott were laughing at him... at least that's what he said.

The apartment is a mess and it smells like poop (I have a nice candle burning trying to get rid of the smell, we have company coming over for dinner, I don't want the smell of poop to welcome them tonight!). Lillie and Elliott have had poop every diaper change today. Speaking of poop, while I was trying to get Lillie and Elliott ready for their nap Jack came out of the bathroom and said "Mommy you gotta come see this!" Not sure what to expect, I got up and went in the bathroom. Jack, holding out toilet paper announced "Look! I wiped my butt all by myself!" Some days you have to celebrate the little things. We are making progress!

I'm thankful days like today are rare. I'm also thankful that God's mercies are new every morning. I'm going to get busy around here. It's really not too much to clean up when the kids are in bed and not pulling out new things as I clean up. I can do it pretty fast. I think I'll put on a pot of coffee... might need it this afternoon!

Halloween

Although this was our 2nd Halloween in Manhattan it was our first Trick or Treating. Kids and families are EVERYWHERE! We went down to 69th St. where 2 blocks of that street are blocked off and the neighborhood goes all out decorating for Halloween and passing out candy. There are other avenues for Trick or Treating. A few of the parks have Halloween events and The American Museum of Natural History is open for kids to come in their costume and go to different exhibits for treats, that's just to name a few. The most interesting thing to me is that almost every store gives out candy. So where the suburban kid goes trick or treating in a neighborhood, the city kids go to store fronts. We went in a doggy salon, Banana Republic, Lancome, restaurants, etc. They all participate. As with every first time adventure in this city you learn what you would do and would not do again, but we had a good time.

After trick or treating we went and at dinner at a Mexican restaurant. A couple in there asked Jack what kind of dinosaur he was and he said "a green one."

The lady bug and puppy. I bet 7 people took their pictures last night... Jacks too.

i sat on the curb out side of the Lancome store to feed Lillie and Elliott dinner while Jack and Freddy T. went through the second half of 69th St.

This was at the puppy hair salon. Jack went crazy when he saw the poodles getting a trim. I think he was more into them than the candy.

This is a small shot of 69th St.