Wednesday

We're having a sleep over tonight. A bunch of girls from church are crashed here for the night. What have I gotten myself into?? is what is running on a loop through my brain over and over again. A party was my idea. I miss the Young Women from the Ward. Can you believe it? I suggested we have a movie night here at the house so I could see the girls and they could better meet my new girls. I wasn't sure any of them would take me up on it. But they did! I just didn't get the party details memo until Ruth Ann called and asked if I had really, really planned a sleep over. A what?! A sleepover??! Ummmmm, no. Not a sleepover. It's a movie night. Well, a sleepover could be fun. Even Cesar assumed it was a sleepover! I guess he has gotten so used to me torturing him with YW sleepovers in the past that it only seemed natural. I'm glad that the idea of a sleepover came natural to the girls also. A pretty nice compliment when I think about it. I can't even begin to explain how excited Hugo was. A party with the big girls!

Blogoversary #2!

It's here and today is the day! My blogoversary. There are no giveaways this year. Honestly, I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't yet finished Sarah's shawl from my first blogoversary a year ago, oops. I'm terrible! Sarah, I will finish your shawl, I promise I will.

I've found it more difficult to keep up with the blog this past year. I didn't write much early on due to my pregnancy and not wanting to reveal the news until the time was right. What else was there to possibly write about??? So much has changed here in our house. There are 5 of us now and we have a nursery once more. We are all still making adjustments to the babes being in residence, like not playing Rockband during the girls nap time, especially the drums... We traded in my sedan for a mini van, Cesar's parked truck was struck by a semi while he was in it, Hugo started preschool, Bella died, Rodrigo has about three teeth left in his head, I joined facebook, Maggie started a blog-erased her blog-started a blog-erased her blog-started her blog-made the blog private, we finished the pantry and installed three new doors with arched windows, my mother-in-law Carolina's car spontaneously burst into flames and burnt to a crisp, Cesar became a runner and has fallen in love with the sauna, Popeye introduced Hugo to toy soldiers, cowboys and Indians, Sheri married and moved away, the Cook and Murdock families moved west, Tia Piques's family moved to Canada, Aunt Lizzie's family moved back to Idaho, Cousin Adam was born, I happened upon two great bread recipes and finally had my lesson from Shaka on how to make caramels and I didn't knit nearly enough this year.

It has been a happy year. A most full and happy year! Thank you to all who read our happenings and share in our life story.

Hugo

A few things Hugoish...

The other night Hugo and I cuddled on the couch together watching The Backyardigans, exciting times let me tell you. Out of the blue, Hugo pressed the back of my hand to his cheek, then kissed it and said, "Momma, I'm going to marry you." Sigh.

Hugo received the above Big Brother sticker from my friend Penelope. He hasn't wanted to take it off since.

A few Sundays ago, we were late for church. Really late. Cesar tempted me with donuts and just as we were about to pull into the Church parking lot, I caved. Church was aborted for a new destination of Dunkin' Donuts. We didn't plan to skip out on all of church, just a few minutes more! Hugo about fainted in the back seat. What were we doing??! He did not want a donut. Did not care how many sprinkles we promised would be on top of his donut. Why were we not going to church??! Hugo did eat his donut. Licked his fingers clean he did. Then he couldn't hurry us along to church fast enough!

I nursed the girls in bed this morning with my eyes shut tight, hoping for a few more minutes of sleep. Hugo sat beside us talking away, a mile a minute about one thing and the next. Then he asked, "Remember Momma, when we went on the boat and we saw the elephants and hippos and tigers and lions? Remember Momma? Papa wasn't there. Do you remember that Momma?" My eyes popped open as my brain raced backwards... I did remember that boat trip. We really did see elephants and hippos, tigers and lions while we sat on a boat floating along on a river in Disneyland... a YEAR ago! Our son has been displaying quite the memory powers of late.

Momma Love

How much longer will they both fit on my lap?

How long until they call me Momma for the first time?

How long will I love them?

That's easy.  Forever and Ever.

Tummy Time

Happiness

Hugo could not wait to get out of bed today, we had a playdate scheduled with his favorite Miss Thing 3. He was not interested in preschool. Did not want to go. Wanted me to drive him straight to Thing 3's house. Like now. Somehow or other, I convinced him to leave the house with Ms Ruth Ann and go to school. The girls and I tidied up the house, packed lunch items, dressed, nursed, got tucked into car seats and out the door we went to retrieve Master Hugo from school. Have I mentioned that I carry the two girls, in their car seats, up the stairs into the church where preschool is held, and then down the stairs to where the classrooms are, to fetch the dear little one? I was the last mom to pick up today so I took advantage of free time with Mrs Newton to ask how Hugo has been doing. She exhaled a deep sigh, then described him as a little ant. Into everything at all the wrong times. Sounded about right. I thanked her for her time and we headed back up the stairs and down the stairs to our awaiting van and playdate rendezvous.

We need a trampoline. That's all I'm saying.

Thing 3 finally convinced Hugo to come indoors and watch a dinosaur movie with her. Hugo loves all things dinosaur, so not much convincing was needed. He would not look at me while the movie played. Fine, I was busy anyway learning how to make caramels. I was also busy juggling girls who were supposed to be sleeping but were not. Shaka helped by holding and bouncing one wiggly girl or the other. We traded off whoever was the crabbiest. Finally they passed out and we were able to eat our lunch and finish up the caramels.

When it was time to leave, meltdown city occurred. Shaka offered to keep Hugo a few hours more. I was temped, but not sure... Then we spied Thing #4 climbing into Hugo's car seat in the back of our van and realized the situation had been decided for us. We swapped kids for the late afternoon/dinner hour and it was fun! It felt like old times when Hugo was small and wanted to never leave the Thing's van. Good times. When Hugo returned home tonight, I was upstairs preparing the girls for bed. Cheyenne opened the door for him and as Hugo crossed the threshold he hollered, "Hey MoOOOooommm! I'm hoooome!" I loved it.

Shooshas

Here is big brother Hugo helping Momma with his sisters.  Thank heavens he is excited about helping because I sure need him at times.  For the most part, he still jumps at my requests for missing shooshas and Kleenex to mop up spit-up and he will hold a sister, or two, at a moments notice.  Look how long in length he is compared to his sisters.  Almost 4 he is.  My big boy. 

The girls are becoming less enchanted with their shooshas with each passing day.  They still serve their purpose somewhat but, less and less.  Sabine has truly found her fingers.  I had hoped she'd stick with the shoosha, but no.  I then hoped she'd find her thumb, I was a thumb sucker myself, but no.  Sabine discovered her middle two fingers and contentedly sucks away on them whenever she pleases.  Marlo.  Oh Marlo.  Marlo needs the shoosha to help her pass out,  to chill, to be happy, unless she chooses to cry herself to sleep that is.  Once she falls asleep at night she doesn't need it any longer.  I wake her at 11:30 pm to nurse one last time before morning, when I lay her down in the crib again, she wont take the shoosha.  She cracks me up cause she clamps her lips shut tight like a little vise!  Hugo always wanted his shoosha.  Loved them.  And for the record, I don't like these green shooshas at all.  They're size newborn but the girls refuse to take the next size up.  These green shooshas bounce and roll when dropped, I've gotta search and search for them sometimes.  I bribe Hugo to win marbles or with candy to help me find missing shooshas on the floor, in the van, buried in the couch cushions, underneath the crib and more than likely, behind the girls ears.  Our boy is a pretty good shoosha detective. 

The above photos were taken on an especially cranky afternoon for Marlo.  She finally passed out and was deposited in the chair.  There was no way I was going to disturb the beast.  At the same time, Sabine was peacefully sleeping in the swing as it swung from side to side while sucking her fingers, hence the blurry but cool image.

Peek-A-Boo

Peek-a-boo!  I see you!

The girls still aren't sure about bath time.  Their reactions are like a box of chocolates.  Bathing two infants one right after the other is very... interesting.  Tricky.

I feel bad that I have so many more photos of Marlo than Sabine, the reason being that she, Miss Marlo, leads all our routines.  We do something, I take a picture, everything seems fine and then she balls her head off.  Sweet Sabine just goes with the flow annnddd sorta gets swept under the carpet at this early stage of the game.  I can hear all my middle siblings yelling at me to make sure Sabine gets her fair share of screen time.  I promise to try harder Miss Sabine.  Just know here and now that your Momma loves you very much, no matter how many more photos we may own of your older sister!  Your Papa thinks she is going to be an actress, wanting all the attention for herself as she does.

King Shamrock

Hugo made this shamrock crown at school yesterday.  I thought he looked so cute that I couldn't wait to take his picture.  He was game, but wanted to have his robot in every - single - shot.  I put my foot down after attempt #47 at having no robots in front of his face.

Photo A - He had a fit.  

Photo B - Checking to see if I'm paying him any attention.  

Photo C - Over it.

You need to know that this is currently the FAVORITE shirt of all time in Hugo Land.  Why?  Because it glows in the dark!  We ran into the pantry and closed the door behind us to take this last shot.  Hugo was in skeleton heaven!

Open House

I went to Hugo's Preschool Open House tonight.  It was an evening to meet parents and kids from your child's class and to check out their room.  The teachers also hoped that we'd register for next fall.

I loved walking around Hugo's classroom seeing his name here and there.  They had check off lists with all the kids names for things like who was the class leader for the day and who held the flag for the pledge of allegiance that day.  I had no idea that Hugo knew the pledge of allegiance.  I went right home and asked him all about it!  I said, "Hugo, you know how to say the pledge of allegiance?!"  He replied with a big smile on his face, "Yeaaahh!" in a voice that sounded like - duh Mom.  I thought it was totally cool that our young son knew how to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Its been so long since I said the words myself, that I really had to think about them.  Oops!

Yesterday

Marlo and Sabine were delightful in the morning.

We began our tummy time with smiles and sweet coos.
We practiced rolling back and forth.

Then the crying began. I tried to stuff her in the Bumbo to see if a different point of view might be interesting enough to sidetrack the crying. She was not thrilled or motivated in the slightest to stop crying.

Sabine was in a fine mood today.
She smiled and talked all day long.
She just wouldn't smile for my camera.

Here she is all excited to talk.
I left a message for the Early Intervention people today.
They have a free evaluation clinic on the 30th.

p.s. Marlo rolled over for Cesar on Monday!

56 Degrees

It was a balmy 56 degrees outside today and felt super wonderful to this house arrest body. I loaded the girls into their car seats and stroller for their very first short ride over to the neighbors. Surprise, surprise on me. They were in the middle of getting all dolled up to attend the SPCA Fur Ball. Huh... a fur ball. Interesting.

Home again, home again we strolled on down the road.

Lost In Her Hat

People go crazy about these sweet fruit hats on the girls.

We heard a playgroup was meeting at the Rec today so I dressed the girls and packed a lunch for Hugo and I. As I stood up from tucking the girls into their car seats and looked at them from this new advantage point, my heart smiled. They looked so cute! I ran for the camera and realized that I didn't need to adjust Marlo's hat. This girl is always - lost in her hat. Since she came home from the hospital, we've been rescuing her from being lost in her hat. Grandma Kris coined the term and boy, did she peg this girl! When we're out and about, people stop me all the time, "Her hat is covering her eyes." or "The hat is over your baby's face." Sometimes, when we're out with bright lights overhead, I don't mind her being a little lost in her hat. I think it has protected her preemie eyes, it's amazing to me how very much she has grown and changed so quickly. Sometimes, I don't even mind her being lost in her hat here at home. The hat is like a sleep shade. A nap signal. A silencer. Sometimes, I even tug down her hat over her pretty blue eyes at nap time.

I went through all the photos I have of the girls so far, looking for Marlo being lost in her hat and found surprisingly few of them. Kinda sad really that I didn't think to document this silly baby behavior before now. Here are the few I've got... and by the way, Marlo and Sabine have the same head measurement, but Sabine is rarely ever lost in her hat.

Full face mode.

...20 minutes later, half face exposure, her best look.

One more time. Full face mode of being lost in her hat.

Half face exposure. Yes, she was awake, hence the kicking foot.

Sabine. Miss Sabine has just started to take her hat off her head and eats it. I haven't actually watched her remove her own hat, I've only stumbled upon her munching away at it.

I will add photos to this post as I remember to run and grab the camera before rescuing Miss Marlo from being lost in her hat!