Adios!

Wiggle worm

Since I am going to be in sunny you-know-where this weekend, I give you an early treat. This post. Underwhelmed? There's a club for that.

My big girl is back to her sweet self, fake laughing fits included. My baby is pulling up to her knees and doing Down Dog, go core strength. Jake is busy doing our taxes and working late while I am carbo loading in preparation for nothing in particular.

The girls came to visit me at work this with their nanny. Not too many moms have a bowling alley at work (unless said mom works at a bowling alley) so after visiting with my colleagues, we bowled. Nori scored a 101 and out of nowhere started trash talking the pins saying things like, "oopsie daisy, bubble gum!" in a you suck kind of way. We followed that up with lunch at Subway in the Student Center, St Paul campus style. Nor & Hen are going to think this is normal day at the office for me.

Nori has a bulletin board hanging over her bed with some family photos on it and she told me that when she feels lonely, she looks at the picture of me and tells herself "mommy always loves me, no matter what!". How sweet is that? I better enjoy it before she breaks out the darts. Some idiot (me) also taught her to say, "too hot to handle, too cold to hold" which comes in handy when holding a fro-yo tube or eating snow. Jake & I just realized that her name is an anagram of our favorite Bobby Brown song, Roni. Also, our favorite pizza topping.

2 days until vacation! Truth is we have a good amount of painful travel time ahead... airports, flights, layovers and customs, all with a wiggling, wanting-to-crawl baby before the fun starts. But once we settled in it is beach, pools, sun, books, guacamole, and cuddles with my little ones for a week straight. Look for me waving to you!

Playing Mr. Fox at swimming lessons

made in MN with child labor

Henley Cate, dream come true!

Who's that girl? Quien es esta nina?

suck it, pins!

CSI: Saint Paul

the crime scene

the perp

innocent bystander

Just call me The Warden as I feel like I am running a jail around here. Our perp is perpetually in Time Out orchestrating one shenanigan after another. I may have informed her the cops were on their way and the only option to avoid going to jail was to clean up her tantrum-y mess ASAP. Nori seems to take out her frustrations on Henley who has had few shoves in the face and gets yelled at for even looking at a toy. Four is the new three. We should be appearing on Super Nanny any day now. Is it too late to leave them both home and go to Mexico with just Jake and my muffin top? (re: my muffin top...it's late to do anything about it, so I will embrace it and nod in agreement when people give me the look like, how could she let herself go? Surely we will be around another mother who is tiny after just birthing triplets last month. I will point to my back and gently moan "ahhh", while hiding the bag of cookies in my beach bag. Next year.).

When the mood was in an upswing, we did have some fun this weekend! We met tiny Chompu, played with her toys, and even opened the fridge to help ourselves to some food. Lots of last minute errands and packing occurred. Grandpa & Grandma are coming along to granny (grandparent nannies), but I sense Steve is afraid I am going to overpack as he keeps mentioning how he is only bringing "two shirts!", "that's it, that's all I need!! ", "just two shirts and some swim trunks!! ". We went to a Going Away Party for our friends that moved to Seattle (yes, moved... the party is a bit delayed) last night. Today we had Papa Bill over for breakfast followed by a field trip to Whole Foods where tried to convert him to paying double the cost for groceries just like we do.

p.s.
If you happen to see the gray battery charger for my old pink camera, let me know!

ETA: I found my charger on top of the fridge!

one for the top teeth and one for the bottom

It's February!?!?

I can sorta talk! I say "Dadda. Momma and Bye Bye" (with a wave)

baby einsteins

Nori 2008

Henley 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!! XOXO

I love Henny!

I love Nori!

Hen did not make me one. Point for Nori.

Brownie cut outs: all middles?

punch! whack! waaa! Best sister photo of the day

heart melter

heart attack

delinquent blogger in B &W

pass the blueberries

I am a delinquent this week, few photos and more boring yet brief updates. Let me first add that Nori thinks everything is "boring", including peas and ice skating.

Lovely little weekend: day off with my girls, YMCA, Girls Night In at Erin's, playdate with Lauren & Greta, cooking, cleaning, pizza with Steve & Liz, brunch at our house with Luther friends, playdate with Iris & Cora, followed by a sun nap and more projects. Also, packing for Mexico, viva la vacation en menos de dos semanas!

I will make up for this lackluster post in my next post where I reveal embarrassing facts about Jake for Valentine's Day.

Nanny Cam: Zoo Day

ice skating (a.k.a. go limp and have Daddy push you around the rink)

Tootie + Grandpa = gummy bears forever

Foose & Grandma

I eat real food now

only photo of girls together this week (notice the leopard print pants?)

easy peasy

best friends

I now am 34! Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! I enjoyed a normal work day and relaxing evening home with my family, plus lots of supplemental celebrating like a Friday night at Masa with my one-armed BFF, Frieda. Jake did lots of research and bought me an awesome D-SLR camera which I do not yet know how to use. I already requested" Digital Cameras for Dummies" from the library so forgive me in advance if try to get artsy on you. It was a great, low-key birthday.

I really enjoyed my girls this week, both were happy and super snugly! Henny loves to be tickled and giggle. She is big enough to ride in the front of the cart at Target now and loves it. She has only been getting up 1x per night and taking longer naps (Dear God, may this trend continue). Nori loves to laugh way too loudly whenever she thinks something is funny. She is really into the movie Dumbo, so I just ignore the parts where the mouse get drunks and crows smoke cigars. She is super excited to meet Chompu, our friends Kyle & Kelly's daughter (just home from Thailand) but Nori is practicing being patient until Chompu is ready for visitors.

We finally hired a new nanny, her name is Marcia, she starts in April just before Nicole has her baby. Jake & I are working on our movie bucket list having recently watched Friends With Benefits, and it's twin, No String Attached, Moneyball, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, Bridesmaids, Crazy, Stupid Love, Man on Wire, and Date Night. Also, Jake is a domestic hunk, cleaning and cooking like a fiend. Yesterday, he spent 3 hours making lasagna from scratch. We invited Casey & Aunt Jemima over to help us eat it all. We also had a visit from Papa Bill on Friday and Grandma & Grandpa today who were in town to take Nori to the Lion King. Tonight we attended a wild Super Bowl Party where not one but two people ended up in nothing but their underwear.

scavenger

snow bunnies

despises peas

requests "parm" on everything

goofballs

No nap Nori

My good napper

her favorite toy

Uncle Bald Eagle is 31!

She writes her name now

Sharing Evil-Lyn from He-Man fame

Date with Grandma!

Baby's 1st flash mob

sister side show

8 months old!

This is what a Lite Brite looks like in 2012

So, what's new? Oh me? Well, my dad is doing great - his CT and blood work are cancer-free and he has his last chemo next Friday. It better stay this way! Guess who joined the Y? Me! I am slowly starting to do some cardio and strength training while I finish up my back rehab and return to the land of the mobile. The scale says I am back to pre-baby weight but the mirror tells another story, one of a haggard midsection loosely flapping in the wind. Gramsie came to town this weekend so that means we had free babysitting and free advice on various medical issues. The advice was always the same: 'I would put Desitin on it". Maladies range from UTI's , itchy hands, and a broken leg. Normally, her advice to to "goob up with Vicks", so I was surprised to hear her new found love of diaper rash cream.

What else? We met up with pals for a playdate at Java Train on Friday and later Jake & I had a date at Fuji-Ya. On Saturday the whole family celebrated Papa Michael's 80th birthday by performing as a rythmless flash mob to "Mickey" and wearing handlebar mustaches. The nanny interviews continue and we are close to making an offer. Once that is squared away, we can set a start date for Nori to go to preschool part-time as well. She has a case of the tantrums so we think she is ready for some outside of the house structure. Baby Henny is battling another yet cold which means she bites when she can't breathe. Every boob for itself! I am implementing the relacation plan now that Lefty has healed but this cold might mess things up.

40 x 2

most of the family minus Fluffy & Randy who were cut off (but really they are the weakest links)