Friday, October 10, 2014

September 2014 - 20 months old

9-1-14 The girls are getting really good at walking up and down stairs by just holding on to the vertical railings! It's nice that I don't have to take two trips carrying them very often!

9-2-14 Violet is definitely teething, but I can't tell which teeth are coming in. She's been chewing on her fingers, has had a small appetite, and a fever. Lily might be teething too; she's a little crankier than usual. Poor things! It must really hurt!
On our nightly walk up and down the street, Lily has been stopping, turning around, and walking backwards! It's so funny! She'll go a few feet and then turn around and go forward. Now she says, walk!

9-3-14 Lily says “I la la!" for I love you!
I just found out our girls are sororal twins! "Sororal Twins" is another and more accurate term for fraternal girl twins. Sororal stemming from the Latin word “soror”, meaning “sister”, where fraternal stems from “frat”, meaning “boy” in Latin. I think it sounds nicer too!

9-5-14 Opa! We went to the Greek festival tonight! The girls ate really well! They ate chicken souvlaki right off the stick! They loved watching the dancing and would dance right along with the music. After we ate, we walked around a little and Lily wanted to help push the stroller. Suddenly, it feels different and I looked down to see Lily hanging on to the stroller, but being dragged! Luckily it was just a few steps. She wasn't crying at all! It's a good thing she didn't let go!
The girls have been saying things are "hot" and they don't want to eat them. Now we say, "Blow on it!" and they do then eat it right up! I'm glad that works!

9-10-14 They love chasing each other around the column by the living room and the front door. They giggle and smile! I love hearing them play together and laugh together!

9-12-14 Violet was talking to Lily today. I can only understand a few words, but Lily must really understand her because she kept saying, “ya."

9-15-14 Daddy was playing with the girls and Lily said, “Silly Daddy!"
We usually wash the girls together in the tub, but tonight Ryan washed Lily first. While they were upstairs, Violet was cooking me all sorts of stuff in her kitchen! She was talking up a storm and bringing me mushrooms, cabbage, apples, and a drink. It's so cute to see her walk over to the little cabinet and squat down to find her play food. Then she tries to balance it on a plate and laughs when it falls off. She bends over and grunts while she's reaching for it. When it was Violet's turn for a bath, I gave Lily two books to read in her crib. When I came back 5 minutes later, she had the Olivia book open and she had her head resting on it with The Going to Bed Book under her arm! She stood up and I read her The Going to Bed Book. It has a nice rhythm and she was rocking back and forth. Then she read her Olivia book again before she went to sleep.
They loooove books! In the car! On daddy's lap! After work with mama! At bedtime! Books! Books! Books!

9-18-14 The Happy song by Pharrel Williams came on and the girls loved it! They were dancing and singing Happyyyy. Lily kept singing happyyyy the rest of the day! (and weeks later!)

9-20-14 Violet has been saying “Ya" a lot like Lily does! Lily says “I want more!" all the time! It sounds like “ahwah more!"

9-24-14 Lily is quite the character! She can now pull a chair out and sit up at the table. She wanted her water and said wawa. Ryan said it's on the table (their little table), and she sighed ah. She got down, pushed in the big chair, got her water and took a drink, put it back on the table, back to pull out the big chair again, and then sat on it at the dining room table!
In the mornings she'll get her clothes when daddy says it's time to get dressed and then sit down in front of him and flops back! Ryan has to catch her! When it's Violet's turn, Lily kisses her head! If I'm standing in the kitchen she'll come up to me and kiss each of my legs!
Violet gets so hyper at night! It's hard to describe, but she goes a little crazy! She jabbers and climbs up her slide, and giggles like crazy!
Stairs.....oh my, they're getting fast! Up and down. If they want to go really fast, they'll snake down backwards on their t

9-25-14 My mom watched the girls again today. They had so much fun! She brought jewelry for dress up that they loved! This afternoon BOTH girls started saying “mine!" Uh-oh. Yia-yia said she didn't teach them that! Lily started saying “why" and daddy admits to teaching her that one! Violet says “book" all the time because she loves reading!!!

9-27-14 I was sitting on the couch crocheting when Violet came over to sit with me. She was happy sitting on my lap watching me work and then she grabbed my hook and dropped it between the couch cushions. I said, "Shit Violet!" and I hear it again from Lily across the room! Uh-oh, we now have a parrot on our hands. We better watch what we say! 
It was a rainy Saturday so we went to the big library downtown for some new books. I was happy because I was one of the winners for the summer reading program and won a gift card to the Natural History Museum. We went downstairs to the children's section and Violet was super excited! She started squealing in excitement to see all of those books!! It was so sweet! We read and then checked out a sack full of board books to take home. We often go to the library near us, but it was such a different experience going to the big one and riding the glass elevators. What a perfect rainy day outing!

9-28-14 We went swimming today at the rec center! The girls had a great time! They've got a nice kiddie area that's shallow and fun for the girls to play around in. There were only about 5 other people there other than the water aerobics people. Sunday morning is a great time to go to the pool! Violet loved playing in the bubble/water jet things and Lily loved being chased by Daddy and going down the hippo slide! 
Violet started saying no today! Ahhh!!! The girls were making the funniest faces at dinner tonight! I love it when they're being silly girls! Even though I thought they were teething earlier in the month, no new teeth have come in. I think I can see some getting close though. I hope when they do come in, they come in quickly. I'm sure that really hurts!

 Violet at Red Butte Garden

 Lily at Red Butte Garden

 Greek Festival!

 Yummy Souvlaki!

 Mama and her girls!

 Sharing apples

 Silly Violet!

 Cheese! What a ham!

 Sweethearts


Yia-Yia brought dress up stuff! My princesses!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Great sadness

My sweet cousin, Abi, has been battling brain cancer for over a year. Things were looking better, but then an MRI showed that the tumor was growing and spreading to other parts of her brain and her spine. After many chemo and radiation treatments, ups, downs, hopes and fears, Abi earned her angel wings this past Saturday morning. She will be greatly missed. It's hard to understand why this happens to a young girl, but I'm glad she no longer has to suffer and be in pain. That's just too much for a ten year old to bear. From Abi's diagnosis until now, I try not to, but can't help thinking of my own precious girls. I know I can't think about the "what ifs" and I need to focus on the fact that they are healthy and happy and growing. My heart aches for Abi's parents, grandmother (my great aunt), and her little sister. Even though I'm not religious, I strongly believe we will be with our loved ones after we die. As my friend said to me, "There's either nothing or there's something. If there's nothing, we won't know. If there's something, it's got to be good." I hope it's more than good for you, Abi. We miss you and love you.