Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Swimming with the sharks and other adventures
My sister and her husband came to town and we rocked the big apple! Ahem, well, perhaps it's more accurate to say we rocked bay ridge and coney island, but we really ROCKED! I have pics from the first half of their visit but sat on my camera early in the day on the 4th of July. Until other participants of our weekend adventure email me with some photographic files we'll have to make due with the scraps salvaged from my now-dead camera.
I'm happy to report that I voluntarily, and with minimal mama meltdowns, broke the girls' schedule two days in a row. HA! Take that control issues!
With Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Tim as backup, the girls were able to tour every park in the neighborhood and explore every dangerous nook and cranny on offer. They are truly little monkeys, climbing anything they can with improving, yet still dubious, "get down" skills.
We also took them for a day in coney island to tour the aquarium, dip our toes in the water at the beach, and wash it all down with hotdogs and beer at Nathan's (home to the famous fourth of july hotdog eating contest).
zz swimming with the sharks
mimi with the sea anemones
mimi fish watching
mimi at nathan's (zz was sleeping)
beer and babies on the boardwalk
Sand is an issue for the girls, in different ways. ZZ does not like to touch it and mimi will not stop eating it.
If you put zz on a beach blanket she will not move beyond its boundaries for a good long while. She will come to the very edge, extend a toe and immediately back step to safety. We watched this struggle for a while until her curiosity about others frolicking beyond the blanket got the better of her and slowly, slowly she came out on the sand to play.
Mimi, as it turns out, likes to eat sand. All of the adults gasped as she took her first fistful. Not mama bear, no sir, not me. I nonchalantly said, "oh let her do it, she'll think it's gross and stop." Seriously, she did not stop, she liked it, she said "mmmmmmmm" until I couldn't take it anymore and forcibly removed the shovel from her hand.
zz regaining her trust in mama after an unwated dip in the surf
zz eyeing the sand with suspicion
zz made it to the other side
mimi eating sand with gusto
On the 4th of July the girls stayed up way past their bedtime to go to the park and watch fireworks. The 4th is a special holiday for us because on this day, two years ago, I not only found out that I was pregnant, but pregnant with twins! I think fireworks are an appropriate metaphor for what I felt then and what I continue to feel, amazing beautiful scary chaos.
I'm happy to report that I voluntarily, and with minimal mama meltdowns, broke the girls' schedule two days in a row. HA! Take that control issues!
With Aunt Lindsay and Uncle Tim as backup, the girls were able to tour every park in the neighborhood and explore every dangerous nook and cranny on offer. They are truly little monkeys, climbing anything they can with improving, yet still dubious, "get down" skills.
We also took them for a day in coney island to tour the aquarium, dip our toes in the water at the beach, and wash it all down with hotdogs and beer at Nathan's (home to the famous fourth of july hotdog eating contest).
zz swimming with the sharks
mimi with the sea anemones
mimi fish watching
mimi at nathan's (zz was sleeping)
beer and babies on the boardwalk
Sand is an issue for the girls, in different ways. ZZ does not like to touch it and mimi will not stop eating it.
If you put zz on a beach blanket she will not move beyond its boundaries for a good long while. She will come to the very edge, extend a toe and immediately back step to safety. We watched this struggle for a while until her curiosity about others frolicking beyond the blanket got the better of her and slowly, slowly she came out on the sand to play.
Mimi, as it turns out, likes to eat sand. All of the adults gasped as she took her first fistful. Not mama bear, no sir, not me. I nonchalantly said, "oh let her do it, she'll think it's gross and stop." Seriously, she did not stop, she liked it, she said "mmmmmmmm" until I couldn't take it anymore and forcibly removed the shovel from her hand.
zz regaining her trust in mama after an unwated dip in the surf
zz eyeing the sand with suspicion
zz made it to the other side
mimi eating sand with gusto
On the 4th of July the girls stayed up way past their bedtime to go to the park and watch fireworks. The 4th is a special holiday for us because on this day, two years ago, I not only found out that I was pregnant, but pregnant with twins! I think fireworks are an appropriate metaphor for what I felt then and what I continue to feel, amazing beautiful scary chaos.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Bon Commute!
It's 8am and my good neighbor photographed me pushing my laundry down the block, suited up for a Board meeting at the office, with coffee in hand. It was a typical start to a typical day. Wake up, kiss babies, change diapers, try to sneak away for a shower, babies whimper, bribe them with cheerios, try to sneak away again. If I'm lucky I will have accomplished one household task (recycling, taking out the trash, dishes, or, as depicted here, bagging laundry) and be fully groomed (if not dressed) by the time our babysitter arrives in the morning. Hectic, right? You may ask yourself, why the big smile after such a hectic morning? Ummmmmmm....cause I'm about to get to the second most favorite part of my day (the first being the morning love-in with my daughters). It's 8am and I'm on my way to being blessedly alone, sitting in the train with my book and coffee for the hour it takes me to get to work. Commuting never tasted so good.
Monday, June 15, 2009
One Exciting Week
I'm recovering from a week of high-octane activity. One of my dearest, oldest friends in the whole wide world (and i can be that sappy since we grew up together) came from my home state of Missouri to visit Brooklyn and brought her rambunctious boy Alex for one serious playdate. Alex is a little dynamo who is already talking in two languages. It seems my girls have a bit of their mother's competitive nature (curse or blessing?). Before playing with Alex my girls were satisfied to point, grunt and whimper. After playing with Alex: hi, bye bye, mama, baba, circle, bucket, ball, up and open (i kid you not, 9 words overnight).
here is a pic of the whole crew (L to R: alex, mimi, yours truly, zz and sufi)
This week was auntie heaven for my girls. Auntie Ghada visited from Chicago and Auntie Maha (my brooklyn-based life line) took some time off work to play with her visiting sister and spend even more time than usual with her two super excited neices. I took advantage of the extra help to take the girls out of our hood. We went to downtown brooklyn to stroll around in a middle-eastern style street fair and then met up with friends in to play in ft. greene park. To top off an active summer day the girls ate out at a restaurant for the first time ever! Manhandling toddlers around brooklyn was no task for the faint of heart and i reached my boiling point on several occasions (despite also being the biggest advocate for a day away from the g*d damned neighborhood that i'm always stuck in). But with back-up, the heat was quickly turned down (read: serious auntie maha intervention--she's a super star) and actually became exceedingly enjoyable with a little cold sake at the end of it all to help defuse mama fury and bring on mama bliss.
zz and mimi feeling groovy at the street fair
the girls with auntie ghada on the stoop
zz and auntie maha with pal zamir in ft. greene park
mimi eating brown rice
zz eating tempura
Both girls tried to impress their auntie ghada by promising to follow in her PhD footsteps and become college professors. Though blurry, this photo of zahrah on the run wearing ghada's spectacles is hilariously cute. She spent most of the week trying to wrestle ghada's glasses away from her and she finally succeeded. Tasnim, always the verbal one, stood up on a podium-like structure in the park and proceeded to give a lecture replete with dramatic arm gestures.
professor zz
professor mimi
To top off this week of uber activity I had planned to go to a friend's birthday on the beach. But I had a staredown with reality and i was the first to blink. Going to the beach would have required 1) getting a car rental from a distant neighborhood; 2) installing two new car seats which we had never used before; 3) no nap time for the girls; 4) packing an insanely long list of food and gear; and 5) making myself presentable for public display. Fortunately, George was also exhausted and it tipped the boat toward the sanest decision I've made in a while, just staying home. the girls took a fantastically long nap and then we went out for ice cream and played for a long time in the sunny park. It was the most relaxed i've been in a long, long while and i had a great lazy sunday afternoon with my beauties.
here is a pic of the whole crew (L to R: alex, mimi, yours truly, zz and sufi)
This week was auntie heaven for my girls. Auntie Ghada visited from Chicago and Auntie Maha (my brooklyn-based life line) took some time off work to play with her visiting sister and spend even more time than usual with her two super excited neices. I took advantage of the extra help to take the girls out of our hood. We went to downtown brooklyn to stroll around in a middle-eastern style street fair and then met up with friends in to play in ft. greene park. To top off an active summer day the girls ate out at a restaurant for the first time ever! Manhandling toddlers around brooklyn was no task for the faint of heart and i reached my boiling point on several occasions (despite also being the biggest advocate for a day away from the g*d damned neighborhood that i'm always stuck in). But with back-up, the heat was quickly turned down (read: serious auntie maha intervention--she's a super star) and actually became exceedingly enjoyable with a little cold sake at the end of it all to help defuse mama fury and bring on mama bliss.
zz and mimi feeling groovy at the street fair
the girls with auntie ghada on the stoop
zz and auntie maha with pal zamir in ft. greene park
mimi eating brown rice
zz eating tempura
Both girls tried to impress their auntie ghada by promising to follow in her PhD footsteps and become college professors. Though blurry, this photo of zahrah on the run wearing ghada's spectacles is hilariously cute. She spent most of the week trying to wrestle ghada's glasses away from her and she finally succeeded. Tasnim, always the verbal one, stood up on a podium-like structure in the park and proceeded to give a lecture replete with dramatic arm gestures.
professor zz
professor mimi
To top off this week of uber activity I had planned to go to a friend's birthday on the beach. But I had a staredown with reality and i was the first to blink. Going to the beach would have required 1) getting a car rental from a distant neighborhood; 2) installing two new car seats which we had never used before; 3) no nap time for the girls; 4) packing an insanely long list of food and gear; and 5) making myself presentable for public display. Fortunately, George was also exhausted and it tipped the boat toward the sanest decision I've made in a while, just staying home. the girls took a fantastically long nap and then we went out for ice cream and played for a long time in the sunny park. It was the most relaxed i've been in a long, long while and i had a great lazy sunday afternoon with my beauties.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Memorial Day Weekend
Despite ominous forecasts of bad weather the weekend turned out to be beautiful. I had spent the previous week brewing myself into a foul mood. I was anticipating a stormy long weekend of being trapped alone (husband had to work) in a small brooklyn apartment with two extraordinarily active girls who had recently been defying my nap regime. But then the sun came out and mama and babies were free to play!
On saturday the other dynamic twin duo of bay ridge, lil and liv, came over for an impromptu playdate. There are no pictures because the other mama and myself were giddily sucking down a bottle of chilled white wine while four toddlers ripped my house apart in ten seconds flat. It was bliss! Four toddlers happily playing without any adult intervention for close to an hour, plus I got my late afternoon buzz on! Brilliant!
Sunday and Monday were park days with friends and family.
Zahrah
Tasnim
This is a picture of last year's memorial day. George and I were just beginning to emerge from the fog of taking care of two newborns--the girls were so tiny and they were happy just to lay there, cute little bald baby blobs.
However, this year, they have me in a nearly constant state of panic with their new climbing skills. They climbed up on this park bench on their own. (Notice the dangerous lean forward, toddlers are notoriously top heavy.) I'm proud of their new skill but they haven't developed the corresponding skill of getting down from their lofty heights. ZZ is getting there but it's a wobbly descent at best. Mimi just walks off into thin air with a grin on her face until she tumbles and crumples into tears.
I'm also happy to report that I pushed the girls' naptime to 1pm and they are back to giving me a two hour break in the middle of the day (insert big sigh of relief).
On saturday the other dynamic twin duo of bay ridge, lil and liv, came over for an impromptu playdate. There are no pictures because the other mama and myself were giddily sucking down a bottle of chilled white wine while four toddlers ripped my house apart in ten seconds flat. It was bliss! Four toddlers happily playing without any adult intervention for close to an hour, plus I got my late afternoon buzz on! Brilliant!
Sunday and Monday were park days with friends and family.
Zahrah
Tasnim
This is a picture of last year's memorial day. George and I were just beginning to emerge from the fog of taking care of two newborns--the girls were so tiny and they were happy just to lay there, cute little bald baby blobs.
However, this year, they have me in a nearly constant state of panic with their new climbing skills. They climbed up on this park bench on their own. (Notice the dangerous lean forward, toddlers are notoriously top heavy.) I'm proud of their new skill but they haven't developed the corresponding skill of getting down from their lofty heights. ZZ is getting there but it's a wobbly descent at best. Mimi just walks off into thin air with a grin on her face until she tumbles and crumples into tears.
I'm also happy to report that I pushed the girls' naptime to 1pm and they are back to giving me a two hour break in the middle of the day (insert big sigh of relief).
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Late to work
This is why i am perpetually late in the morning, not because there is too much to do, but because my little ladies are so juicy that I am paralyzed by my love for them. I am unable to move out of their sweetly sleeping orbit. I watch them softly breathe and snort and stir to wakefulness to give me the first smile of the day and then hold their arms up to be held.
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