photo-rific!

day 55: herbs

2010-02-24T23:47:00.000-08:00

day 55: lately poor Herbie has not gotten nearly as much blog love as he used to pre-babies. He also is quite stressed these days... I think being chased by crazy toddlers is making him loco. He also looks tired. Probably because I woke him up by taking pictures of him. Oops.

day 54: almost done-ish

2010-02-23T22:58:00.000-08:00

day 54: we moved into our new place how long ago? Almost 6 months? And we still had boxes that hadn't been unpacked? Yep. We did. We got 99.99% of the unpacking done within the first 2 weeks of moving in - just in time for our family portrait session. And then whatever we didn't unpack at that point just remained in its box until today. How very sad. The saddest part is that two of the boxes were just on the floor of our bedroom - staring me down every time I walked by them. Not anymore. I realize our room still needs help (like a headboard, maybe some curtains? a coat of paint?) but at least for now it's not swimming with boxes. And that is a major improvement. Pardon the crummy light

day 53: another monday

2010-02-23T22:57:00.001-08:00

day 53: another packed day with a boring late at night photo - sorry. Why do I always feel like I need a vacation after the weekends?

day 52: the beantown

2010-02-21T21:58:00.000-08:00

day 52: and the little man

day 51: moberries

2010-02-21T21:55:00.000-08:00

day 51: a cute picture of the lovely lady

day 50: lookie what I made

2010-02-19T23:34:00.000-08:00

day 50: I've been in a bit of a creative rut - looking at and wanting to do a lot of cool projects I've found online, but not having a space to do them in and getting frustrated. Our place definitely doesn't have a "craft room" and I hate to leave a huge mess on the dining room table (which Paul can now easily reach up and grab things off of). So my solution for today was a super quick mini-project. Sorry for the terrible pictures. I'll take a better one tomorrow. In around an hour I made a shirt I really didn't like (and was going to throw away) into one I that I like much much better. I'm quite pleased.

day 49: camera monster

2010-02-18T23:10:00.000-08:00

day 49: I sometimes wonder what I look like to my kids when I'm coming towards them to take a picture. Apparently the answer is a big scary camera monster.

day 48: big book readin' boy

2010-02-17T21:38:00.001-08:00

day 48: most of the time I spend with the kids is reading them books. We actually put all of the downstairs books where they couldn't reach them so that they would play with some other toys because if it was up to them that is all they would do. Today we were home for a long time in the afternoon so I pulled out the downstairs books. And we spent a LOT of time reading them. Paul was very perturbed that I wanted to take a picture of him reading instead of helping him read - "but MOM... read me the BOOK". So I put down the camera after this picture.

day 47: new shoes

2010-02-16T22:39:00.000-08:00

day 47: since it's been so hot I thought it would be appropriate to go on a quest for new summery sandals (seriously... what is up with the roasting weather?) This is what I came up with. Kind of ridiculous but I like them... a metallic garden party on my feet. I think I'll wear them with dresses this spring. Or now. Whichever.

day 46: february summer

2010-02-15T19:37:00.000-08:00

day 46: apparently summer starts in February in southern California. I had thought that the reason it was so warm this weekend was that we were in Palm Springs. But I was mistaken. It was 80 degrees here today as well. Time to break out the shorts and t-shirts, although most of them are much too small. We also got the kids their first pair of big kid sandals... they look huge to me wearing those shoes. And as a special "you've been good shopping" treat they got to have some fruit smoothie with dinner. Paul looks disgruntled because they had to take turns drinking the smoothie. "MOM... when is it going to be MY turn to drink the smoothie?!"

day 45: desert zoo

2010-02-15T13:39:00.000-08:00

day 45: on Sunday we attempted to go to the Living Desert - which seems pretty awesome if you can either a) go in the morning while it's still cool or b) withstand ridiculous heat. The babies were wilted and unimpressed (even though they normally love the zoo, it was just too hot) so we left after only around an hour. Maybe I have a weird sense of humor but this is my favorite shot. All of the spectators checking out the giraffes.

day 44: roasted babies

2010-02-15T12:40:00.000-08:00

day 44: we spent the weekend in Palm Springs and even though it was only 85 degrees it was a bit much for our little mild climate babies. They were getting such a kick out of running around in the back yard (oh the luxury... a YARD!) and turned beet red and sweaty.. I guess it's partly my fault for misreading the weather forecast and not realizing they should have been wearing shorts. I love this picture because you can see Amelia's crazy low rider pants (too big, oops) and Herbie in the front demonstrating how hot out it was.

day 43: daddy pile

2010-02-13T01:25:00.000-08:00

day 43: what better way to be greeted upon returning home from work than in a big pile of squealing excited babies? Ones that are yelling "dada!" and grinning ear to ear. Sounds pretty great to me.

day 42: macaroni faux hawk

2010-02-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

day 42: what's better than eating macaroni and cheese for dinner? Wearing it, of course. At least that's what Paul thinks. I went in the kitchen to cut up some grapes and came back to this... a pile of macaroni on his head and a cheese sauce faux hawk. Nice.

day 41: hearts

2010-02-11T21:49:00.000-08:00

day 41: on Wednesday I made a lot of hearts. A LOT of hearts. For a super top secret project that Ben doesn't think should be revealed on blogs until the weekend. So you just get to see this one

day 40: more rain

2010-02-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

day 40: we got more rain today. A lot more rain. ENOUGH ALREADY. I don't have anything against the rain in theory. I love the noise on the roof and it's fun to watch through the window. It does, however, pose a problem for me getting my kids out of the house since we are without a garage. How am I supposed to carry two children and a diaper bag out to a car that is parked on the street and get everyone in and settled and ready to go WITHOUT GETTING SOAKED? It's not possible. So I think I'll take a rain-check on the rain. Haha.

day 39: monday

2010-02-09T22:26:00.000-08:00

day 39: yesterday was a Monday. That about sums it up. It was not a great one.

day 38: Sunset Sunday

2010-02-07T22:36:00.000-08:00

day 38: I love this picture. The light. The time of day. I love the mom in the back pushing the kid on the swings. I love sunset and Sundays. It makes me happy.

day 37: more fish

2010-02-06T23:19:00.001-08:00

day 37: today was another rainy day so we decided it was a good day for an indoor activity. Ben hadn't been to the aquarium yet and we have a membership so it made the decision pretty simple - more fish for the Mofish! Just an FYI (and maybe this goes without saying, but just in case) the aquarium is much more pleasant and less crowded during the week. It was kind of a zoo (no pun intended) today.

day 36: they brush and brush and brush their teeth

2010-02-05T23:03:00.000-08:00

day 36: each day after bath time we each take one baby and help them brush their teeth while wearing their hooded towels before they get their jammies on. It is one of the cutest times of day. My favorite part of this picture is the blurry ear of Paul's towel in the upper left hand corner of the frame.

day 35: I'm not sad, promise

2010-02-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

day 35: Ben thought that the last picture I posted of myself looked really sad. I'm not sad. I was just tired. In any case I thought maybe since it's late and I don't have anything better to take a picture of I should just take another (less sad) picture of myself. I also never showed off my new fab haircut that I got this weekend. I love having short hair!

day 34: a visit from grandpa

2010-02-03T22:26:00.000-08:00

day 34: what a week for the babies, first a visit from grandma and then a visit from grandpa in the same week?! Fabulous :) We all went out to a nice lunch in Marina del Rey where the babies enjoyed (very much so) the view of the marina and of course the dogs walking by. Amelia was showing something very important to grandpa I'm sure!

day 33: lost

2010-02-02T23:25:00.000-08:00

day 33: we just finished watching the season premiere of Lost. It was very long. Now it's late. And I'm tired. So I'm going to go to bed. Oh, yeah, and I'm also confused.

day 32: aquarium

2010-02-01T21:58:00.000-08:00

day 32: today my mom came to visit and she wanted to take the babies somewhere fun. I've been meaning to take them to the aquarium so that's what we decided to do. I have this debate with myself every day about whether or not the photo of the day is going to be the most technically perfect and impressive to photography enthusiasts OR if it's going to be the one that most completely shows what I DID that day. What I always come back to is that this is sort of a daily journal, and at the end of the year when I make it into a book I'm really going to want to look at it to remember what that year of my life was like, not which were the best pictures I took... SO... without further ado... here is a slightly underexposed picture of Amelia looking at some fish. I love the expression on her face

day 31: deja vu

2010-01-31T20:50:00.000-08:00

day 31: today I experienced a bit of deja vu... remember this post about a Korean first birthday party? well that little lady is the big sister to this little guy. And today was his first birthday. And since that old post was from 2007 that would make the little lady in that photo 3 years old! Can you believe it?! Man, oh man, time does fly! The little man's party was just as lively and wonderful as his sister's. And of course he was just as cute!

day 30: muffin hound

2010-01-30T22:26:00.000-08:00

day 30: this morning I went and donated blood. I brought my camera with me to take a picture of something (I don't really know what I was going to take a picture of... certainly not the bag of blood... maybe the outside of the building?) but it turned into such a debacle (two hours!) that I forgot and just went home afterward (slightly grumpy but at least I was successful). Luckily for me, when we went out in the afternoon for our daily sortie Amelia decided to be extra cute and volunteered to show off just how much she LOVES muffins for my camera and all of my photo-rific viewers :)

day 29: happy to report

2010-01-29T23:29:00.000-08:00

day 29: I am happy to report that today was indeed a much better day. There was no pooping in the house (unless you count the babies, but that was only in their diapers and to be expected). We went out near the end of the day to get some of the extra links taken out of my watch and the afternoon sunlight was just gorgeous. Amelia was really enjoying it. Paul was too, but he was too busy studying the cars in the parking lot to smile for a photo.

day 28: this picture is bad

2010-01-28T22:41:00.000-08:00

day 28: this picture is bad and I know it. So rest easy, you don't have to sit there wondering if my judgment is getting iffy. It's just been a rough day. It's nearing 11pm and I am really honestly just too tired to come up with something better. I really hope that my dog does not decide that he needs to poop in the house (twice in one day) two days in a row. I have no idea where he got the idea that it was ok. If he does it again I'll be sure to direct you all to the craigslist ad where I post our dog for sale. He is pretty cute and you might want to buy him.

day 27: happy 16 months!

2010-01-27T22:17:00.000-08:00

day 26: yesterday my sweet lovely babies turned 16 months old. We have a tradition of taking one a photo of them on their birthday each and every month in this same chair. The are getting so big! (sniff, sniff)

day 26: hooray! it's here!

2010-01-26T21:01:00.000-08:00

day 26: I got a beautiful watch from Ben for Christmas. He really wanted to get it engraved but didn't have time to do it before he gave it to me. It was actually a little too big as well and we figured that as long as we were taking it in to get some links taken out we should get it engraved at the same time. Which would have been a good idea, except for some reason the engraving seriously discolored the face of the watch that we had engraved (big time boo to that). Luckily the store took the watch back so I could get a new one. We had to order it since they don't sell it in the store anymore and my new one came today. Almost the same as the original... just a little sparklier :) I love it!

day 25: hooray for grandma

2010-01-25T21:48:00.000-08:00

day 25: today we got a visit from my mom. It was a real treat for the babies since they haven't seen her in two weeks. Amelia squealed for joy when she saw her walk in the door, which I'm pretty sure made my mom's day. I somehow always forget to take out the camera when my parents are around, or maybe it's just that we're having too much fun. Who knows. This is one of only three pictures I got of my mom and Amelia today, and I didn't get any of her with Paul. Next time, I suppose.

day 24: what a day

2010-01-24T23:11:00.000-08:00

day 24: my computer has not been cooperating today. I think it needs a good healthy dose of maintenance, some hard drive cleaning and maybe while I'm at it a kick in the pants. Seriously frustrating how long it took me to get the wedding I was finishing up editing today done. I should not be waiting on my computer. I listened to a lot of This American Life while working.

day 23: access medical

2010-01-24T23:06:00.000-08:00

day 23: on Saturday I did a photo shoot with the fine folks at Access Medical in Carlsbad. They wanted some images of their employees to fancy up the website. We had a lot of fun and they are such a great group of people! Here's one of the whole group. A handsome bunch, wouldn't you say?

day 22: this is what I have lying around

2010-01-22T21:55:00.000-08:00

day 22: today I was trying to help explain to some friends the difference between different focal lengths and lenses, and what effect crop vs. full frame sensor has on the final images that your camera produces. I just quickly picked up whatever was closest to use as a subject for a bunch of pictures... and this was it. So this is my life... the most abundant inanimate objects in my home are toys. And highchairs :) At least Mr. Potato Head was cooperative.

day 21: crazy bean

2010-01-21T22:28:00.001-08:00

day 21: This week has been quite an adventure. First there's been the whole taking care of kids while sick bit (not fun). Add to that the five days straight of rain (come on people, I live in southern California... who has ever heard of five days straight of rain here?!) AND the cherry on top? For some reason I decided that this of all weeks would be a good one to transition the kids from two naps to one. Which means they've been nuts all week. Cranky, crazy, and generally miserable. Yesterday I decided that maybe just because they occasionally skip one of their naps doesn't mean they're ready to drop it every day. So today we went back to two naps and they actually slept well at both naps. Everyone was much happier (me included) and I'm convinced that we made the right decision in going back to our old schedule. The final proof for me was when Ben came home from work and both kids were in ridiculously good moods instead of being overtired and worn out. Paul was running around like the crazy little bean he is. How can you not love this face? Especially if it's a well rested one!

day 20: I made a dress!

2010-01-20T21:46:00.000-08:00

day 20: I have been compiling a list of "must do" craft projects in my head for months... since probably this summer... and one of the top of the list items was to make a "refashioned" dress for Amelia. Basically take some item of clothing and remake it into something for her. I get a lot of the ideas for things like this from blogs, I particularly like this one, but I wanted to sort of just try my own ideas for this project so I didn't use a tutorial. I used a shirt that I got at Old Navy the other day for a whopping $1.50 so I knew if I screwed up it wasn't with major consequences. I didn't follow any pattern for this dress, I just kind of copied the shape and style of one she got for Christmas. It's not quite perfect (it kind of gives her football player shoulders) BUT it took less than an hour and I know where I'd do things differently next time so for a first attempt I'm pleased :)

day 19: I'm going to be sick FOREVER

2010-01-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

day 19: so I was NOT better yesterday. Far from it. I was so much worse, in fact, that Ben had to take the day off of work and watch the kids while I spent the day feeling miserable in bed. Not cool. Very not cool.

day 18: score!

2010-01-18T22:12:00.000-08:00

day 18: today I ventured out to brave the hoards of bargain hunters at Old Navy for their amazing 50% off clearance sale. Since everything that WAS on clearance (for like $3-10) was 50% off of that price today it basically meant that the whole clearance section could be had for between $1.50 and $5. Score! I actually only got two things for myself (a pair of pants and a camisole) but got LOTS of cute stuff for the babies. It's kind of amazing how much clothing for little tiny people can cost, so getting it at $1.50 a piece is a refreshing change. All of this was only $30 AND there were also two pieces of jewelry for myself in that price that aren't in the picture. I came home feeling very thrifty.

day 17: birthday party!

2010-01-18T22:09:00.000-08:00

day 17: yesterday we headed to my grandma's to celebrate my cousin Amanda's 6th birthday party. She was very excited that we came, super thrilled with her gifts AND extremely pleased to be photographed. As you can clearly see :)

day 16: still sick

2010-01-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

day 16: I'm still not feeling well (what a way to spend a weekend, eh?) luckily for me Ben took over all baby duties and let me take several long naps today. I really hope I'm feeling significantly better tomorrow. We're supposed to go somewhere and I don't want to miss it. I am also really sick of being sick and taking crummy pictures in the house.

day 15: it's official....

2010-01-15T21:59:00.001-08:00

day 15: it's official, I have the world's best husband. He not only came home a little early from work today so that he could feed the babies dinner (I am sick and WIPED out) but he also took care of getting our dinner AND when I said I really wanted sugar cookies for dessert, he made some. He's the best. And looking sheepish in this picture either because he just ate about 5 of them (man, they're good) OR because he just dropped one on the floor for Herbie. I'm not sure which.

day 14: I almost...

2010-01-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

day 14: today was a day of almosts... I almost baked something (but I didn't). I almost cleaned the whole house (but I didn't clean our room). I almost exercised (but I cleaned instead). I almost brought my camera with me when I went out (but I didn't). So instead I'm taking a lame reflection in a mixing bowl self portrait. Because I really should be doing one self portrait a week on this blog... but I feel very blah today. Let's hope I can get it a little bit more together for tomorrow.

day 13: balloons!!!

2010-01-13T22:23:00.000-08:00

day 13: this evening a very nice employee of Trader Joe's saw Amelia and thought she might like a balloon. Boy was she ever right. Not only did Amelia like her balloon, she LOVED her balloon. She squealed with delight at her balloon. She played with it the entire time we were in the store, the entire ride home in the car (maybe the first time ever there was not a single peep of protest upon entering the car) and even took it with her into her high chair for dinner. Paul thought the balloons were pretty great too. He was just more low key about it :)

day 12: a sliver of sky

2010-01-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

day 12: I have realized that trying to do a photo-a-day blog without it being a photo-of-the-kids-a-day blog is a really tricky thing to do when you are with them all day every day during the daylight hours. It sort of seems like my two options are either to take a picture of them or take a picture after they go to sleep. And once they go to sleep it's dark so I end up just taking a picture of something inanimate in the house which is kind of lame. I suppose I could take a picture while I'm out with them as long as they were strapped in the stroller, but I generally already have enough things to wrangle when leaving the house with the kids. Adding my camera to the mix is literally adding the straw that broke the camel's (or mommy's) back. Even just the two kids together is close to 50 pounds so I definitely don't need another 10 pounds of camera gear. But I digress. Today's solution to that problem was to step onto our patio for a quick snap of the sunset. I can't wait for the day we have an actual YARD to step into in the evenings.

day 11: teething is the pits

2010-01-11T22:06:00.001-08:00

day 11: My mom always talks about a shirt that my brother had as a baby that said "teething is the pits". Well now I know why they make that shirt. I thought that teething was rough when the babies were getting their front teeth. But that was nothing compared to what is going on now with Paul getting his first molars. He has two coming in at once and he has been the saddest man on the planet. Take a look at this poor little guy's face. Complete with a single tear. He was sad for almost the entire day, although he did perk up at a trip to Costco. I am really hoping that he starts feeling better once his teeth are all in.

day 10:

2010-01-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

day 10: this evening I attended another wedding, only this time I was going as a guest. One of my good friends from junior high got married today and my mom and sister came up to watch the kids while we went out. I didn't want to bring a camera since I was "off duty" so I didn't take a single picture (can you believe it?) Instead I took this crummy one when I got home. And now I'm going to bed.

day 9: a gorgeous day for a wedding!

2010-01-09T23:20:00.001-08:00

day 9: today was my first wedding of 2010, and what a GORGEOUS wedding it was! A beautiful day out in Malibu and an unbelievably sincere and beautiful couple. It was absolutely perfect, I couldn't ask for a better start to the year! One of my favorites -

day 8: you weren't worried, were you?

2010-01-09T23:09:00.000-08:00

day 8: so I didn't get my day 7 photo put online yesterday. Well if there is one thing I learned by the end of my last successful 365 project it's that you have to cut yourself a little slack. And if once in a while your picture doesn't make it onto the blog on the very same day it was taken, that's ok. I'll still do my best to get them up in a timely manner, but it's not always possible. So without further ado, here's my photo from yesterday. Mr. Paul getting a kick out of his trucks. He loves absolutely ANYTHING with wheels.

day 7: my baby's baby

2010-01-07T22:40:00.001-08:00

day 7: Amelia got a baby doll for Christmas and she LOVES it and she LOVES to feed her baby a bottle. I melt every time!

day 6: oops

2010-01-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

day 6: all of my least favorite images from the first year of photo-rific are ones where I forgot to take a picture during the day and just took a picture right before bed of something on my desk. And here I go again doing the same thing. Oops. Tomorrow I'll make sure to bring my camera when I go out. It's tougher these days when I'm also carrying 47 pounds of baby around. Quite a workout!

day 5: in a box

2010-01-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

day 5: today was MUCH more fun and relaxing than yesterday (thank goodness). I think the kids have finally re-adjusted to being back at home after our long vacation. What better way to wind down your day than playing in a toy box? *disclaimer* I did NOT put the babies into the box. They climbed in themselves. No babies (or toys, or boxes, or dogs for that matter) were harmed in the making of this photograph.

day 4: blah

2010-01-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

day 4: today was a VERY long day. and this is a VERY boring picture. but at least I'm posting one. I'm not giving up yet :) and oh, yeah, yay for us we actually managed to get our Christmas decorations taken down in a timely fashion. so at least I didn't have an entirely pointless day.

day 3: farmer's market

2010-01-03T22:28:00.000-08:00

day 3: this morning we took Amelia and Paul to a farmer's market. After watching Food Inc. we've been convinced that buying not only organic but also local is an important thing to try to do. We picked up some oranges (seriously people... how do you eat only in season produce?! It seemed like the ONLY thing that was in season was citrus) that the babies LOVED. They ate two of them in about 30 seconds. Hopefully we'll be able to make a trip to the farmer's market a weekly outing.

day 2: playdate

2010-01-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

day 2: This afternoon the peanuts (Paul and Amelia) had a playdate with their BFF (ok so maybe they're not best friends yet but they will be!) Olive and Paul's biggest fan Isaac. I love this one of Amelia... I think she's looking up at Isaac. They're always marveling at the big kids :)

day 1: a new year, a new start

2010-01-02T11:09:00.000-08:00

day 1 - Yeah, yeah, yeah... this is the third attempt (since the first successful year, might I remind you) to restart photo-rific. But I figure that there's no better time than at the beginning of a year. I suppose it's kind of a sad start to the year to post the first entry a day late, but better late than never. I did in fact take this one yesterday... so... without further ado - day 1. This is one of my favorites from a super fun family session I did yesterday for my friend Jackie Wonders. She and her little girl are TOO cute.

Amelia & Paul made the top 10!! VOTE PLEASE!

2009-05-06T10:10:00.001-07:00

Amelia & Paul's super cute towel photo made the top 10 in the cutest multiples contest! Thanks so much to everyone who voted! Now it's time to vote again (one last time!) Voting ends May 11th so vote quick and tell your friends! We're lagging behind in the polls :)

http://multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/2009/05/cutest-multiples-photo-contest-top-ten.html

Voting is in the left hand sidebar column for those of you who had trouble finding it last time. The peanuts say thanks :)

day 76 : guest photographer

2009-05-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

day 76: This one is courtesy of Ben... I was busy videotaping the babies with the screen pointing at them (which they found absolutely fascinating) Once again just kinda felt like going crazy with photoshop... not sure why. I think I'm bored :)

day 75 : grandma ann

2009-05-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

day 75: Sunday afternoon Grandma Ann hopped back on a plane but not without me getting a couple of shots of her with the babies... this one is my favorite because it shows how feisty and fidgety Amelia's gotten lately. She really doesn't sit still for a second and she looks like she's making a break for it :) I also just felt like going crazy on the photoshop so here's your funky antiquey black and white for the day...

day 74 : 3 generations

2009-05-02T21:35:00.000-07:00

day 74: This afternoon we took the babies on a walk around the grove and farmer's market in LA. It's our new favorite weekend afternoon activity to each put a baby in our ergos and walk them around a people watching place... they love being carried, the ergos are super comfortable, and they love people watching so we can walk around for hours... it's great! Here's Ben with his mom and Mr. P... 3 generations! Sorry Amelia, you don't get to be in the picture (because I was wearing you in a pouch)... next time you can be in the photo :)

ps have you voted yet? the peanuts aren't in the top 10 so far and we need more votes!! http://multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/ voting is in the left hand side column... click on the one for Amelia & Paul :)

day 73 : granpa & grandma come to town... but not as a set :)

2009-05-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

day 73: On Friday afternoon the peanuts got visitors from two grandparents... but not a set. Grandpa Mark (aka dad to me) showed up after a business meeting and helped out with their 3 o'clock feeding and played with the babies for a while and then Grandma Ann (aka Ben's mom) showed up all the way from Kansas for the weekend. We went on a nice long walk in the afternoon before putting down the babies for bed. I didn't get pictures of any of the aforementioned grandparents with the peanuts (oops) so here's one of just Amelia being quite cute.

day 72 : craigslist

2009-05-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

day 72: After the apartment hunting fiasco we're pretty sure we're going to stay in our current place for at least another 6 months. But as long as we're going to stay we're going to get rid of a lot of unused stuff and try to make it as uncluttered and baby friendly as possible. Which means I'm listing a lot of junk on craigslist. Like the laptop desk I used while on bedrest. Anyone want it? :)

VOTE please?! The peanuts say thanks!

2009-05-01T10:20:00.001-07:00

The peanuts are finalists in another cutest multiples contest (I promise I'm not getting addicted, this is the last one... for now... haha) Please go an vote! Voting is on the left hand column sidebar thing... #8 Amelia & Paul (as if you didn't know)

http://multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/

Thanks!!

day 71 : the moral of the story

2009-04-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

day 71: it's that time of year again... renew the lease on our current house or move? We've been here 3 years and it's been the same thing every year. We are kind of sort of ok with our current place. It has things that we like (we're ridiculously close to Ben's office, we're VERY settled in, it's cute(ish) ) and things we don't like (iffy plumbing, not so great dryer vent, settling foundation, broken front railing, scary floor heater, ok... a lot of things we don't like). So this afternoon we set out on an apartment hunting quest. We saw 3 different places all advertised to be around 1000 square feet. We were always under the impression (from the ad we saw when we rented our house originally) that our house was also 1000 square feet. Well stepping into each of these places you could tell IMMEDIATELY that they were not as big as our house. So much so that we couldn't imagine moving in without selling a lot of our furniture and maybe herbie (just kidding herbie, we wouldn't sell you). So when we got home we measured our own place (roughly) and decided that it is probably more like 1250 square feet. Moral of the story? 250 square feet make a very big difference. In case you don't feel like doing the math yourself that's the equivalent of a 25'x10' room... which is probably the size of our bedroom plus the babies' room put together, or our living room plus dining room, or our kitchen plus my office... you get the idea. Also, there are not many places in LA for rent at the price we pay for the size we have. So should we stay put? It's still up for debate. One thing is for sure. We are all exhausted. And we're not moving to any of the places we saw today.

day 70 : pj does pushups

2009-04-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

day 70: Mo may be the rolling fanatic but Paul is practicing his pushups. He pretty much always straightens his arms out and lifts his head way off the ground when he's on his belly these days (probably because he can roll back to belly but then gets stuck so he has lots of time to practice). He's also drooling like a madman. Today was a pretty typical in the house kind of a day with just a walk to the store as our outing. Not exciting but a pretty nice way to spend an afternoon :)

day 69 : my new best friends

2009-04-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

day 69: there are a lot of things wrong with the title of this post. First off these are not new shoes. They are almost 2 years old. Also they are not really my best friends. I have a lot of best friends... Ben, the babies, my siblings, my parents, my friends... ok you get it. But these shoes and I have been spending a lot of time together lately. I'm still carrying around 20 extra pounds (thanks Amelia & Paul) and I'm trying to get rid of it before Allison's wedding this summer so I've been working out every day (yay for me, I'm pretty proud). Today I not only did my daily exercise video but I went to yoga as well. Feeling pretty fit if I do say so myself :)

day 68 : 7 months old!

2009-04-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

day 68: Today the peanuts turned 7 months old! I can't believe how big they're getting. Every day while I'm giving them a bath and toweling them off I think about how cute they are in their hooded towels and how they're going to get too big to put in them and then too big to want to be toweled off by us and well I just get sad that they're going to get big and I worry I'll forget what it was like right now.... so I decided to put them in the towels and take a few photos. This might be one of my all time favorites. Happy 7 months babies!

day 67 : daddy matchin' shirt

2009-04-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

day 67: A while back I went shopping at a store that was going out of business and buying some clothes for the babies... I was getting stuff that was a little too big for them since we really only got small baby stuff as gifts and they're outgrowing all their clothes. When I saw this one I just absolutely had to buy it because it reminded me of a ringer tee that Ben wears all the time... and matching daddy = super cute (note to friends of Ben... no making fun of the matching shirt. It's cute. Deal with it. Also, he got a haircut Sunday just in case you were worried about that) Paul actually managed to drool this much on it in the first 5 minutes or so that we put it on but it's still cute. He's such a little man these days.

PS... on a more "what I did today" note.. since that's the other purpose of the blog.. Saturday I had a fabulous spa day thanks to Ben and his Christmas gift to me... I would post a photo but I didn't bring my camera. I just lounged and sipped tea and enjoyed a massage and felt fabulous. Thanks Ben :)

day 66 : another doctor day

2009-04-26T21:25:00.001-07:00

day 66: The peanuts have what I've decided is an overly cautious pediatrician... which I think is better than a pediatrician that doesn't care... but they end up seeing a lot of specialists just to check out things that she is kind of sort of worried about maybe being a problem. On Friday I took Paul (and Amelia but she was just along for the ride) to the pediatric urologist. As we suspected everything is fine... but it was a long and stressful outing. Good thing Paul loves doctors. He gave him some of his finest grins :)

day 65 : more toy stealin'

2009-04-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

day 65: I told you it was a crazy week... well I didn't do much in the way of picture taking. Thursday I actually walked with the babies to the grocery store in the afternoon but between the stroller, diaper bag, blankets and anticipated groceries for the way home I didn't think it was wise to try to bring the camera too... so I only took this one shot (well it was actually a series but anyhow) all day. More proof of Amelia's toy hogging :)

day 64 : date night!!

2009-04-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

day 64: on Wednesday night Ben and I got to go out to dinner thanks to the help of two fabulous ladies... my mom (who stayed at home with the sleeping babies, thanks mom) and Kate (who provided us with a gift certificate to the tastiest restaurant on the planet... real food daily). We had a fantastic meal complete with vegan nachos, faux salisbury steak (I swear it's unbelievably tasty) some delicious beer, and finished off with a lemon poppy seed cake. I didn't bring my camera but did have my picture phone. Sorry for the bad snapshot.

day 63 : bumbo babies

2009-04-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

day 63: The peanuts have not been the best nappers in the last week (another reason I've been wiped out) Instead of fighting to get them back to sleep after their morning nap on Tuesday I decided to do a baby photo shoot instead. Amelia just tried to steal all of Paul's toys. More on that subject (and more toy-hog photos) on the baby blog :)

day 62 : wow i'm behind

2009-04-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

day 62: Wow I can't believe I'm almost a whole week behind on the blog... sorry!! This week has been a crazy doctor-full one and it's been hard to catch a second to blog. Monday we were supposed to have a woman come out to evaluate the babies to see if they are on track developmentally. It's apparently a free state sponsored thing for premature babies. Well I cleaned the house and got all ready and she never showed. Great. It's rescheduled for next week. I was wiped out at the end of the day so only took this one picture..

we interrupt this blog...

2009-04-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

to bring you a special message. Please vote for the peanuts and help us win an awesome stroller. You can vote once per day per computer :)

http://www.babygizmo.com/vote/index.php

day 61 : auntie & uncle... awww :)

2009-04-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

day 61: Before Kate & Jon left this afternoon we took a few super ridiculously quick pictures of them with the peanuts... this is just how they'll look a few months from now with their own family. Except there will only be one baby. And it will be smaller... but you get the idea :) Did I mention I'm ridiculously excited for the babies to have a cousin?!

day 60 : wedding! wedding!

2009-04-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

day 60: For some reason I seem to have gotten in the habit of always posting a photo of the bride when I go shoot a wedding... oh well. I really like this one. It was quite a rockin' fiesta which went late into the night (well late for me) so I was exhausted when I got home... but look how fab the bride looked!

day 59 : kate & jon come to town!

2009-04-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

day 59: On Friday Kate & Jon got in from Kansas City and we got to hang out with them all afternoon and evening once the babies went to bed. We had some tasty burritos and of course Kate being pregnant was a great excuse to get banana shakes as well.... mmmm. I drank quite a few of those in my pregnant days! Check out the belly... sooo cute! I can't wait to meet the new baby cousin for the peanuts!

day 58 : another baby picture

2009-04-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

day 58: Sorry this week is a little heavy on the baby pictures. Day 1 of Amelia crib nap transition turned into day 1 of really bad night sleeping for the babies so I was pretty wiped out on Thursday and didn't actually leave the house all day (first time in a long time actually). PJ didn't mind :)

day 57 : mo loves grandma

2009-04-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

day 57: Wednesday was day 1 of Amelia's crib nap transition. She used to nap in her swing but is getting a little big and old for that so we started making her nap in her crib. She woke up early and wouldn't go back to sleep so she got to play with grandma instead. Lucky lady :)

day 56 : we are not chickens

2009-04-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

day 56: The babies LOVE their chicken rattle (the one featured in the chicken chuckin' Mo shot) but unfortunately they also like to throw it. Paul actually threw one half of one of them overboard while riding in the stroller and I didn't notice. So now it's gone. Today I took them to Ikea in the afternoon (secretly the best place EVER to buy baby things) and got some more rattles. The same as the chicken rattle... two pieces.... but not chickens. Meet the new rattles.

day 55 : flashback time

2009-04-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

day 55: These pictures are kind of cheating. I didn't take them... and they certainly aren't from today. But I just got them today so I'm going to use them anyways. It's my blog so I get to make the rules :) I got emailed a few days (weeks?) ago by someone who found some old photos of us from our wedding and decided we might want to have them (um, yes please!) and we just got the disc in the mail today. I really like this first one of dad making his toast and us watching

And I think this is probably the only photo I've ever seen that's a) us at our after party (we only went very briefly) and b) a picture of me not smiling in my wedding dress. I smiled all day. I'm pretty sure I was just dead tired by this point. And that's a water I'm drinking in case you're wondering :) I think the most I had to drink all day was our champagne toast.

day 54 : happy easter!

2009-04-12T22:20:00.000-07:00

day 54: Today was Easter. We spent the day with family in Encinitas and of course I took a couple of photos of the babies in their ridiculously cute get ups... here's one of my favorites :)

day 53 : date night!!

2009-04-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

day 53: On Saturday night Ben and I cashed in our Christmas present from Chris Tara Allison and Mark, which was a date night where they were babysitters and we got the whole evening free. It was the first ever night that someone other than us put the babies down for bed (we left about 45 minutes before they went to sleep) and it was a pretty huge step for us! We had dinner, saw a movie (a big deal for us since the last movie we saw was LAST SUMMER!!) and got ice cream. Yum! I didn't bring my camera so here are a few ridiculously low quality camera phone snaps :) Thanks for the date night guys (and thanks mom for helping with the babysitting!)

day 52 : a weekend at home

2009-04-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

day 52: On Friday we drove down to Encinitas to spend Easter weekend with family. Friday night after the babies went to bed we all played some wii fit. My wii fit age is something ridiculous like 45. Yes. I am out of shape. I promise I'm working on it... anyways here's a picture... Tara was quite good at the zen game :)

day 51 : big paul comes to town

2009-04-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

day 51: On Wednesday evening "big Paul" aka Ben's old high school friend and the original PJ came to visit and stayed with us at our place. It was really fun to hang out and catch up... and we even spent Thursday evening playing scrabble which was very olden days of us (we used to play games together a lot). I was doing ok at the beginning but ended up coming in last place. Which is probably why I don't like scrabble. It's too bad that boggle is not a baby sleep friendly game :(

day 50 : paul hates avocado

2009-04-08T22:58:00.000-07:00

day 50: We thought that Paul liked avocado. It was one of his first foods and he gobbled it up when we fed it to him a few months ago. Today however we tried to feed it to him again and he hated it. He made a horrified and disgusted face every time it hit his tongue. We decided to feed him sweet potato instead. How a son of mine ended up hating avocado I'll never know. Maybe it wasn't ripe. We'll have to try again sometime soon.

day 49 : so fit

2009-04-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

day 49: Allison and Mark have a wii fit... I played it this weekend and really wanted one. I just happened to have lots of gift certificates so we got one FREE...woohoo! Unfortunately the wii fit thinks I'm overweight. But we're working on it :)

day 48 : all caught up (phew)

2009-04-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

day 48: I stayed in Encinitas one extra day (Ben went back to LA) so that I could have breakfast on Monday morning with some of my favorite girls. Bridget was in town from New Zealand for her sister's wedding and it's not often that we're all in town at once so we thought we'd better take advantage of the situation :) It was an extra happy get together since Valena and John found out that Olive is supposed to be coming home on Wednesday. Hooray!

day 47 : cute babies

2009-04-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

day 47: Some super cute baby-tures. I took the first one (he's wearing the bib because he's about to eat lunch) and Ben took the second. How cute is it?!

day 46 : oh so fabulous

2009-04-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

day 46: Erin & Darrin's wedding was fabulous! More pictures on my other blog. You will love them. I promise.

day 45 : more album goodness

2009-04-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

day 45: Friday Ben took a half day and we finished packing up and headed out of town for the weekend. Even in the baby packing madness I managed to take a few more photos of my sample albums for the blog.

day 44 : yipes... so behind!

2009-04-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

day 44: Sorry for the slow-down. I didn't realize it'd been so long since I posted. I have been keeping up with the photo taking but behind on the blogging. I was in San Diego for the weekend for Erin's wedding and I guess I forgot to post :) Thursday night was super stress packing night trying to make sure I didn't forget anything... we also had some deeee-lish pizza since our house is totally without food in the pantry these days. Note to self: go to grocery store!

day 43 : how cute is this mo?

2009-04-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

day 43: Today was actually pretty action-packed. My mom came to visit and we took Herbie to get his nails cut (yes, dog manicure, go ahead and laugh) and went to Target to get the peanuts some new jammies since they outgrew all of their old ones. I did throw my camera in the car hoping to be able to take some pictures while we were out but between wrangling the stroller, diaper bag AND Herbie it just wasn't in the cards. Lucky for me Amelia was looking extra cute when we got home AND hamming it up for the camera. Maybe she figured out what it was for after all.

day 42 : so you ARE reading?

2009-04-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

day 42: After such a ridiculously long time of not posting I was pretty sure that no one was reading this blog anymore and I was just kind of writing it for myself. One post of Ben carrying a Starbucks cup and pushing a stroller and all the sudden I have comments :) I should post those pictures more often. This one isn't very interesting. Except for the fact that seeing it made me realize why the babies don't smile for my camera. It covers my entire face. They probably think their mom was eaten by a big black monster. Hmn. I need to work on a solution for that problem.

day 41 : the monitor

2009-03-31T09:39:00.000-07:00

day 41 : Yesterday was Ben's birthday, but it wasn't very much fun. Paul is still sick and at his morning doctor's appointment she decided he needed a bunch of tests done so we spent the whole afternoon shuttling him to different lab/doctor places. When it was time to put them to bed Paul didn't want to sleep. When we finally did get them down I was sitting and staring at the monitor and realizing that I have a love/hate relationship with it. I like that I can leave the room and bring it and know that the babies are safe and I will be able to help them if they are hurt or scared. But I hate that we can't even have a birthday dinner without the constant wooshing sound of their white noise machine filtering through the speaker. We never really get to stop and sit back and enjoy the evening because the monitor is that constant nagging reminder in the background... the babies might wake up. I will be very happy when they are old enough that we don't need it anymore.

day 40 : stroller pushin' dad

2009-03-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

day 40: Sunday was a pretty laid back day. We did our usual thing around the house and I got a bit of work done... in the afternoon we went on a long long walk with the babies in the BOB. Until Paul decided he was done with the walk and insisted (by crying) that he be carried the rest of the way home. We traded off but still ended up with sore arms and backs. That baby is getting big!

day 39 : happy early birthday!

2009-03-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

day 39: Monday is Ben's birthday and we were invited to a potluck (unrelated to the birthday) today so I decided that as our contribution to the meal I'd bake a cake. It's been a VERY long time since I baked a cake and it was fun to revisit my old hobby. It was even more delicious than I remember although I'm glad it was... because it took me pretty much the entire day to make it :) The poorly piped lemon on top is to show that it was a lemon cake. Mmmm lemon buttercream :)

day 38 : babies love their veggies

2009-03-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

day 38: These were too cute to pass up... even though I just posted a baby photo. The babies each decided to spend the afternoon chewing on stuffed baby toy vegetables. Yum.

day 37 : 6 months old

2009-03-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

day 37: my two favorite babies turned 6 months old today. I may have a slight bias but I'm pretty sure they have the cutest faces I've ever seen. Happy half birthday peanuts!

day 36 : dryer scare

2009-03-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

day 36: We've always had problems with our dryer. It is very very poorly vented (from where it connects to the house to the outside) and it's not our fault... it's an old house and it probably needs to be redone. We had our landlord try to get the vent cleared out a few weeks ago because our laundry was taking AGES to dry. Well it seemed to be better but this morning I threw in a load to the dryer and noticed a funny smell. I turned off the dryer and unplugged it and tried to air out the room. We had a repair guy come out today and there was BURNT LINT in the inside of the dryer. There was so much stuff stuck in there that it started burning. YIKES!! Talk about scary! So we paid him to clear it all out and he recommended that we talk to our landlord again so we can get it actually taken care of. Um... yes. Will do. Immediately. Good thing I noticed the funky smell... and thank goodness for same day dryer repair people. We wouldn't survive a single day without being able to do baby laundry :)

day 35 : chicken chuckin' mo

2009-03-24T20:50:00.001-07:00

day 35: Today was sort of like most days. Lots of being in the house. A little more fussiness than usual thanks to what might be Paul being sick (he's running a temperature but with little else in the way of symptoms) and a few new tricks from the babies. Today's new trick from Amelia? Throwing toys. Check out baby-rific for the whole story