January Photodump

As promised, here are some recent photos...


Here is the play kitchen that Piper and Fletch got for Christmas. They love it! They spent the first few weeks with it just chewing on the pieces, but now they've gotten into putting their play food into and out of the fridge, putting the pots on the burners, stirring food in the colander, etc.

Piper has also started a love affair with the spoons from the kitchen and insists on sleeping with them some nights. I expect her to be on Top Chef in a few years.

And here are some pics from December, when they were still recovering from chicken pox, so you can see some of the rash still on Piper's face.

In addition, Fletch took a tumble at the playground and scratched up his nose. He tripped over a railroad tie and went facedown on the pavement, making an audible smacking noise as his head hit. Thankfully, the only damage was a few small cuts to his nose, which you can see if this picture if you look closely.

And here is one of the few photos of them on their favorite chair where they aren't wrestling each other.

Last weekend, Piper and Fletch watched a few minutes of the Patriots game, while wearing their Pats jerseys. I'm continuing their education in proper New England sports. We can't wait for the big game in a few weeks.

Those are our most recent pics. Not much else new to report. On Friday, we go to have their hearing checked, just to make sure everything is okay and there are no issues contributing to their lack of speech. I'm 99.9% sure they are fine, but it's good to rule that out. (Also, I think Piper is actually saying a few words...she's definitely saying NO NO NO when she doesn't like something. Not sure if we'll consider that her first official word because if it is, Lord help me when she's a teenager.) 

Knock, knock...Is this thing still on?

Sorry it's been so long since I've updated and that we don't have any new pics in this post. We've been busy busy since the New Year. First, we all got colds that seemed to linger for weeks. Then, we had a few good days before Eric and I were struck with stomach flu.  On top of that, work has been busy and we're just been trying to survive. But, I wanted to let friends and family know we're still alive.

I'll definitely try to post some new photos soon. Piper and Fletch are doing new things everyday (and getting into all new types of trouble). Their new obsession is reading. As soon as we come in the door, one or both of them is running to grab a book to give to Eric or me to read. It doesn't matter if our hands are full, if we've just come home from a busy day, or whatever, they want to be read to right NOW. Trying to put a book off is futile and will turn into a full blown tantrum. And, don't even think about skipping pages or just looking at pictures. Piper and Fletch are smart and know if they're missing something. While I'm so glad they are little bookworms, a girl can only read Moo, Baa, Laa and Hello Animals so many times a day!

Not much else to report. We're working on getting Piper and Fletch some help with talking because they've been a little behind. I'm sure this time next year, they'll be talking my ear off. We also started swim lessons last week, which were thankfully cancelled today because of the snow. I had no desire to wear a bathing suit this morning. I also am now nervous about the warning they gave us at our first lesson: if your child poops or throws up in the pool, they have to end the lessons, get everyone out of the pool, and shut it down for several hours. No pressure or anything to make sure your toddler, who has no control over any impulses or bodily functions, doesn't ruin the fun for all the other kids. No, no pressure at all....

Anyway, I know what folks like to see most is photos, so I'll end this post here and promise more pictures soon.

Port Discovery

Happy New Year! I'm a bit behind in my blogging, so I'm not sure if I'll get around to a 2011 retrospective, but we'll see how this week goes as we continue to recover from our colds. In the meantime, I wanted to share pics from our trip to Port Discovery--the children's museum in Baltimore. 


Eric and I had last Friday off, so we packed up the babies right before their morning nap, and headed out. Thankfully, they slept the entire ride there, so they were ready to go when we arrived. The museum is located near the Inner Harbor, and we found easy parking.

As soon as we got to the museum, the babies were ready to explore. We parked our BOB in the stroller parking lot and just let Piper and Fletch roam free except for a few places where they needed to be carried to avoid being trampled.

The museum has several rooms with areas appropriate for the under 2 crowd, but Piper and Fletch particularly loved the Tot Trails space, that had lots of mirrors, story time, and space to explore.

They also loved The Oasis, where they could play with all sorts of classic toys and read books. Piper found her favorite blocks here.

And Fletch found one of his faves too--a toy clock just like the ones he loves to play with during the week with Eric's mom.

After that, it was off to The Diner--a fake diner set up for the kids. Here is a picture of Fletch with the steak that he picked out. I'd like to title this one, "A Man and his Meat." By this point in our trip, Fletch's little legs were starting to tire. It was probably the farthest either of them had ever walked before. So, he just sort of sat down in the middle of The Diner. 

Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of Piper in The Diner because she was too busy having fun to slow down for a photo. But, rest assured, she was there with Fletch too and had a blast. She was holding her own with all the big kids, taking food from them, offering food to them, making noise and trying to get them to understand her Piper language, etc.

After about 90 minutes of playing, we ate the lunch we brought in the museum's lunch room after thankfully scoring the only two high chairs in the place.

The weather that day was unusually warm, so after lunch, we walked around the Inner Harbor. 

Friday was such a fun day. It was another one of those moments when I thought that this is what we've been waiting for. And, we can't wait to go back. Baltimore has a ton of fun stuff to do for kids--Port Discovery, the National Aquarium, the Science Museum--so I'm sure we'll make the trip up 95 again in the next few months.