Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to buy toys for the babies. Most of the things they love are of the non-toy variety…like boxes!!! They love to wear boxes on their heads, sit and stand in boxes, and throw boxes to the ground. What’s even funnier than boxhead you ask? Running around and bumping into things with boxes on your head….it’s a laugh riot!

You got a box on your head, but don’t call you a boxhead!

Dear Daddy,

Everyday we are so grateful to have such a wonderful, funny, loving, and patient Daddy. We know sometimes we really push your buttons, but just know that we do it on purpose. =) We love you to bits, we think you’re pretty cool (even though Mommy calls you a Nerd).

We love you, forever.
Love,
Shenzie Buggle and Heaten Grey

A Year of Daddy

April 2007

April 2007

July 2007

September 2007

November 2007

January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

Happy Father’s Day Sweetbabypie! Thank you for being so wonderful.

Love,
Lesley Ann

Into My Heart Edition:

*Some photos really jump into my heart. They may not be spectacular or anything unusual, just normal everyday photos like these two. That’s one of the reasons I love photography and why I take so many photos. Looking back at these years from now they will still jump into my heart and bring back the feelings of today.

Today (6.11.08) at nap time Heaten grabbed doggy, took hold of my hand, walked me into his room and pointed at his crib.

Both babies can identify and say: Eyes, ears, head, mouth (ahhhh), nose, feet, and hair.

Both babies have been really into the pointing game. They go from one object to the next pointing while I name them. Most of the time Heaten tries to repeat what I say…1/2 of the time Shenzie will try to repeat what I say.

Since the babies started walking I’ve enforced hand holding. Lucky for me they now will only walk down the sidewalk, into the park, and to the car while holding my hand. They will stand still until I say hold and then put their hands up for holding. So so sweet. Occasionally I’ll have a runner who will try to get away, but not too often.

Shenzie started sleeping with a blanket (6.9.08). Heaten cried when I offered him one.

Heaten cries and whines and fusses A LOT…and I really mean A LOT!!! Is this normal? Everyday he will drop to the ground 20+ times and whine or cry. I have been blaming the 4 molars that he is cutting (7 weeks and going strong…all four teeth not yet in). Let me tell you, by the end of the day I am SO OVER hearing him whine and cry.

That is all. I’m sick, I’m tired, and I just want to sleep for 15 hours…anyone want to come babysit? =)

Sometimes it is hard to keep up with the daily stuff let alone all the extra stuff I like to do. I am a big reader so most of my “free” time is spent with a book in hand. And of course you all know my obsession with taking a zillion photographs each day.

The only problem with digital photos is the downloading, uploading, re-uploading and organizing. Back in the days of Polaroid you would take a picture and wham! in 5 seconds it was developed in your hand. Then film came along and you would develop a roll and box up the unwanted ones and put the good ones in an album (if you’re like me anyhow, who still has boxes of old photos). Then digital came along and made life SO much easier and strangely enough, so much harder. Each day I download the pictures from my camera onto my computer. Some days there are only a few and other days there are a few hundred. I look through them and jot down my favorites to upload to my Smugmug account. Where I’m in trouble is the back log of photos I need to weed through to order from Mpix. I have roughly 20,000 photos to go through and upload to Mpix to order and organize in albums. Ummmm. Where do I even start?!?!?! It would be MUCH MUCH easier if I could just order them from Smugmug and be done with it…but the quality difference in Smugmug vs. Mpix is HUGE so I choose to re-upload my favorites of the favorites to Mpix. I’ve been trying to keep up with the current months uploading and then work my way back through the past 18 months, but this is a HUGE chore and frankly I don’t have the time to sit down for hours daily to do it. Add to that this site, video uploads and conversions, scrapbooking (which I’m severely behind on as well), and reading all of your sites and WHAM! all my “free time” is gone, gone, gone and it seems like I didn’t even make a dent in the mile long to-do list.

*** I wrote this post last week and since then have come up with a solution to the backlog problem. I started my Smugmug account years and years ago as a way to share the gazillions of photos I take with my family and friends. The quality of prints didn’t impress me so I switched to Mpix. Since ordering from Smugmug last year they have upgraded their paper and changed printing labs so I decided to give them another try. While the photos are not printed on as good a quality paper as Mpix, the pictures themselves look good so to save many, MANY hours and my sanity I’m going to start ordering all of my candid snapshots through Smugmug. Whew. What a relief. Now I’ll have more “free time” to tackle my ever growing to do list including but not limited to:

¤ Organize my office (including filing a stack of papers 3 feet high - no exaggeration)
¤ Work on the babies scrapbooks…I am currently on month 4. I have A LOT to do
¤ Deep cleaning the house - ceiling fans, baseboards, windows, etc.
¤ Organize all home videos on my computer
¤ Sending in all home video tapes to be converted to DVD
¤ Pick favorite photos for picture frame collage upstairs
¤ Kick my feet up for 5 minutes and relax!!

First attempt at using my new Photoshop Brushes and the Watercolor Filter…

By far the worst part of my day is dinner time (and lately breakfast and lunch as well). Not because I have twins, because I have one VERY PICKY EATER. Shenzie will pretty much eat anything (minus Edamame, broccoli, and asparagas). Heaten on the other hand refuses most foods. The silly thing is one day he’ll love bananas or blueberries or whatever, and the next he won’t even look at them. Many nights now I’ve put them in their highchairs and he’s looked at what’s for dinner and does the all done sign. He won’t even taste it. I really have no room to talk since I’m Mrs. PickyMcPickalot. If something looks bad I won’t taste it, if I don’t like the way it smells I won’t taste it, if it comes from the ocean I won’t taste it. Apparently Heaten got the picky gene from me. If something looks bad he won’t taste it, if it is squishy he won’t taste it, if it is red he won’t eat it. I’ve even tried sneaking him strawberries and blueberries because I know he will like them if he’d just give them a try. He promptly spit them out and then cried bloody murder because I put something in his mouth. Oops!

I’ve tried changing the eating venue, picnic’s outside, no highchair, highchair, coffee table eating, lap eating. You name it and most days it is a fight. He does however LOVE to snack. Goldfish are a favorite around here. Cheerios, Pirate’s Booty, and Organic Animal Crackers, Organic Cinnamon Sticks also get eaten. I’ve tried limiting snacks, but he just cries and fusses because he is hungry but won’t eat real food.

I’ve tried different utinsels, sporks, forks, spoons, big people spoons, plates, no plates, bowls, fingers. The list goes on and on. One thing I CAN count on him always eating is applesauce and yogurt. I also mix the two and make “popsicles” that are a big hit around here.

Last night I tried having ketchup to dip the soy dogs in. He looked at his plate and did the all done sign. Meanwhile Shenzie thought the ketchup was for body painting. Lucky it was bath night!!!

I try not to worry that he’s not eating healthy enough, but I just have to remind myself that this isn’t forever and one day he WILL eat fruits and veggies, just not this day!

The last time I made this I ate the entire pint of strawberries and gave myself a raw, bumpy tongue. It is seriously like a little piece of summer heaven.

Mix room temperature 8 oz.Cream Cheese, Cool Whip, and Jet Puff and viola’! Instant Yummy!!!!

Add fresh, juicy, sweet, strawberries and it is an instant love affair. All fruit is delicious with the dip, but strawberries are my favorite.

So yummy in fact, that my hands got all shaky in anticipation.

Too bad the babies don’t like it….I guess I’ll just have to eat it all!

Grumpy Butt Edition:

Mom, no more pictures!

Get me outta this thing! Now!

Crybaby!

Don’t worry brother, it will be ok.

Dear Shenzie and Heaten,

What a fantastic month. Now that our sleep is finally back to normal and you’re doing the whole one nap thing life is good. Let’s see….there are so many new things it is hard to remember them all. You both had your first real shower with me and seemed to like it. Since then we’ve installed a new shower head thingy in your bathtub that has a long hose to “hose the soap off”. You both still like to bathe and splash in the water. Shenzie, your new thing is pretending to wash your hair. Anywhere there is water you will reach in, get your hands wet and then get your hair wet. You’ve even started “washing” brother’s hair for him. You’re both saying more words and using signs to communicate your needs and wants to me. That alone is amazing. When you were newborns it just felt like you would always be small and cuddly and lumpy. Now you are walking, talking, running, playing, and making your own choices and sometimes it still catches me by surprise.

You are playing so good together these days. You will give each other kisses and hugs at random without me asking. Seeing you love each other is about the best thing I can imagine. Watching you play hide n seek (your version) and chase each other around the house and park makes me so glad that you have each other. You still fight and steal toys and make each other cry but the love and play far outweigh the crazy. You love to go to the park and run around like crazies. You play in the water and swoosh down the slides and run around like crazies. Parks are our friend.

Shenzie Buggle,

I’ll say it again…you are a little Mini Me. Everything you do is fast. You talk fast, run everywhere, eat fast, and go from happy to sad to mad to happy in the span of 20 seconds. You are so happy and lively and fun. Your new thing is running up to me really fast and either grabbing and hugging my leg or grabbing both of my legs and squeezing yourself in the middle. I love it. I love being your Mama. We have so much fun during the day together with brother I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else than home with you. You are very independent and know what you like and don’t like. You pick out what shoes you want to wear, what sippy you want to drink out of, and I’m sure just around the corner will be what outfit you want to wear. Sometimes it is challenging finding exactly what it is you want…what specific sippy you want or whatnot. It goes something like: This one? Wahhhhh. This one? Wahhhhh. This one? Big smiles. Whew.

You entertain yourself very good, but you still love to put on performances for me. You always look at me to make sure I’m watching you do whatever it is you’re doing. Spinny Spinny, Runny Runny, Fally Fally. I’m sure one day you’re going to wonder why in world your mother is crazy and names your games like that, but whatever….the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree or something.

You are getting more curls on your head and while they are simply adorable on you I feel bad for you when you’re older and the only thing you want is straight hair. I feel your pain little munchin. The flat iron will be your best friend too. I love to dress you in sweet little dresses and bloomers, but most days I have to settle for shorts and shirts because the dresses just get in the way. Climbing stairs, crawling through tunnels, and going down slides are all no good in a silly dress! It doesn’t matter what you wear, you are so beautiful and sweet and funny and wonderful that I don’t know how I got so lucky.

I love you little girl,
Love,
Mama

Dear Heaten Bear,

My sweet, cuddly, handsome son. Oh how I love you. You are so fun and wonderful and loving. You love to copy sissy when she runs and screams and yells. It is so cute to see you mimic her actions. Hopefully when she starts doing things she’s not supposed to do you won’t mimic her or you’re both be in BIG trouble!

You started giving more kisses this month. Every once in awhile either you or sissy will just run up and kiss me. Talk about melting my heart. These spontaneous signs of affection are enough to make me want to eat you up! Well, not literally, but they really do melt my heart. You are getting very good at playing on your own too. You love to sit and play with legos building towers as high as you possibly can. Sometimes we’ll be playing outside and you’ll sneak indoors and play with your legos all by yourself. Your other favorite thing is buckles. You love to buckle, buckle, buckle. Only problem is you can’t unbuckle so once you buckle you “eh, eh” until I unbuckle it for you.

You also love to “read” books. You sit with books and flip through the pictures. You love to chase the big kids around at the park and laugh hysterically when you think they are chasing you (which they aren’t, but who cares, you think it is a laugh riot). You love to rough house…especially with Daddy. Nobody does it like Daddy does. He spins you, throws you, tickles you, hangs you upside down, bounces you, rolls you and you love every single second. You laugh and laugh and laugh. You are so happy and smiley. Your smile just lights up your face and in turn lights up mine.

You are STILL trying to get your molars in. All four have popped through and they’re slowly making their way in. You have been getting these same four teeth for 6 weeks now and let me tell you, sometimes they make you VERY crabby and cry baby. I’ll be glad when you finally get all of your teeth. You are a very late and slow teether…only 12 more to go!!!

Little man, I love you to bits and bites. You are perfect, beautiful, wonderful and the apple of my eye.

I love you,
Love,
Mama

Begin Randomness.

I never watched Sex and The City on HBO…in fact I’ve never even seen a complete episode. The girls and I went to dinner at Kona Grill this weekend (yummy), and then went to see SATC. At first I wasn’t going to go, but then I decided that going to see a dumb movie that I didn’t even want to see was better than dealing with crying babies so I decided to see it too. I was very surprised at how funny it was. They do a quick overview at the beginning for those of us who weren’t followers so at least you knew a little of what was going on. It was a fun movie and I’m glad I went….but! There is always a but huh. Seriously!?!?!??!! The theater was packed!!! I mean packed and people were cheering when it started and cheering and clapping throughout the movie. Really? I mean, it was cute and all, but clapping and cheering a movie. Bunch of weirdos!! (Sorry if any of you were the clappers and cheerleaders). =)

My beautiful sisters….from left to right. Me of course, Kristy who is two years younger than me, Ang who is four years younger than me, and Stacey who is six years younger than me. We had a Busy Mama…and I have an older brother and a younger brother. We had a Crazy Mama!!! =) I love you Mom!!

I never get to dress up because who really wants to wear heels while carrying two 24 pound babies? So I wore my new heels and forgot to bring bandaids….OOPS. Blisters here we come. Luckily my sister had a first aid kit in her car and I was able to rescue my toes before too much damage was done.

***********

Hi, my name is Lesley and I am a Pirate’s Booty Holic. I swear, I am seriously addicted to the stuff. I eat it more than the babies. The other day we were running low so I needed to make a trip to stock up. I have never been to Fresh N Easy, but hadn’t heard all that many great things about it. Since they are popping up everywhere I decided to give it a try. I called them first to make sure they had Pirate’s Booty. The lady assured me they did so off we went in search of my booty!!! We get there and what do I find?!?!? Not Pirate’s Booty that’s for sure! Pirates Treasure. Now, don’t get me wrong, There are many, many things that I buy that are generic, but any sort of chips and cereal MUST BE the real deal. And Fresh N Easy kinda sucks monkey balls for those of you who haven’t been. Plus, they are liars AND they don’t have Pirate’s Booty!

**********

We had our first park playdate yesterday. It went well and the babies had lots of fun. The ladies were really nice and normal. Not a Prada, Dada, Doodoo among them. =) We’ll see them again next week. This afternoon my girlfriend Denise is coming over with her two girls and I’m super excited!! Yay D!! She is a photography genius. Monday my friend Erin came over with her 2 1/2 year old daughter Isabella for a playdate. The babies had so much fun. We’re doing storytime together on Thursday. Busy week for the little Barr Babies.

Would you believe I didn’t take even ONE photo when Erin and Izzy were here. Lame! This photo was from a year and a half ago.

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End Randomness.