Two years.....

Its been two years of the best time of my life....I could not have asked for more..stayed tuned for pics from the birthday party.....

Nap time....

Don't think I have any words for this....

The Food Battle

Lately, the twins have been VERY picky about what they will eat. We will put a plate in front of them at dinner and they just push it away. We started taking away their Dora (TV program) in the evening, which we didn't like, because almost every night we felt like we were punishing them, which lead to a very negative feeling. So we decided that if they didn't want to eat, that was fine, no punishment, but they would be served the same food at every meal (except breakfast) until they ate the meal. This way we don't waste food and it gives them the message that "you get what you get" and that we are not running a restaurant here.

So we started this last night. I made a nice dinner of talapia with vegetables. Of course, it was pushed away right away...barely even tried. So we let them down from the table. I am assuming they went to bed a little hungry, but as our pediatrician said,"they will eat if they are hungry" Today at lunch the same exact plates were given to them. Liliana saw it and wouldn't even sit down at the table and instead asked to go straight to bed for her nap. Lucas sat down, ate one bean and that was it. So off they went to their nap hardly eating a thing.

Tonight at dinner, again the same plates were offered. Again, they were refused. I was beginning to think that this was a bad idea...they need to eat. But sure enough, around 7pm, their stomachs must have started to rumble and they both willingly sat down (albeit at their little table) and ate almost every bite of fish and vegetables. This parenting business is tough!

They even seem a little happy....hmmm.

Haircut time!

Lucas' hair was getting a bit unruly, so we cut it just in time for the birthday celebrations this weekend. I did it myself at home this time, and it wasn't so drastic like the last time I tried on my own. He wouldn't quite stand still for a pic, but it almost worked out better. This way, you can see it from different angles.

My time has flown!

We recently sold one of our twin strollers to a mother from our twins club. We rarely use either stroller these days, so we definitely do not need two.

I brought it in from the garage the morning the mom was coming over to buy it...and the kids, of course, climbed in.

Check out where they were two years ago taking their first stroller ride....time flies!

So long stroller, you have served us well.

A rare pic

Since I am slightly obessesed with posting here, I am usually the one taking pictures. So rarely am I ever in one. But our computer has a built in cam, and the kids love posing for it. So "cheese!" This one came out best out of all of them.

Storage

I bought these storage ottomans from Target to put all the twins' toys in. They actually add some extra seating room as you can sit on them as well, and now more than one person can rest with their feet up.

Of course, the twins will get into any storage space made available to them.

A gift from Nana

Look what Nana sent us! These are an early birthday gift. They arrived early this week, and we decided to let the twins see them. They are extremely sturdy and have puzzle pieces for their names...

Any type of puzzle is a big hit in our house!

Tonight we moved them up to the bathroom. Slowly, this bathroom is turning more into their bathroom and less into mine. It made the kids much more excited about brushing their teeth!

Thanks Nana!

Maintenance...

It's come down to this....the ice and the water and the rain and everything else is accumulating on our roof. The town is warning residents that ice melting from the heat of the house can melt and become trapped between more elevated levels of ice and the roof and start to leak into the house, causing considerable damage inside the house and to the roof. So Felix took action today and in the cold pouring rain, started the process of removing the snow and some of the ice. The only real problem is outside the master bedroom....a whole ice colony is forming there it seems.

Meanwhile, inside, nice and warm, the twins enjoyed a delicious pasta/meatball/vegetable soup/stew that Christina made...yum!

Look at me!

"Look at me!" is a frequent exclamation of Lucas' these days. He is particularly proud of his Elmo pjs these days....

Break out!

The twins have been sick for quite some time and we are finally on the mend. Felix is away with friends until Sunday, so I decided that we would go out and get some fresh air since it was not too cold today.

Our house is covered in ice....the driveway is clear and dry but these icicles keep forming and crashing to the ground, making the walkway outside our door a little treacherous.

We went to music hour at the library and then to the museum. It was almost lunch, so most of the crazy crowds had died down. When I am with them by myself, I take them to the education room, only because it is enclosed and I can easily watch both of them. Otherwise, especially on the weekend, it can get crazy and I can easily lose one.

Liliana trying on Mr. Potato Head's glasses

Taking Liliana's blood pressure...

Then of course we had to take the dinosaur's blood pressure.

Then Lucas needed to model the glasses..

To end the morning, we visited the media gallery. They have an educational video playing on a huge full screen that is almost as big as the whole wall. But on the floor, a projector displays different visuals...and they are interactive. This one had frogs...so everytime you stepped on the projection, the frogs in the picture would hop away from you...it's pretty cool.

Both kids barely made it through lunch before we all went down for a two hour nap....lovely.

We did it!

I think we are particularly deserving of this video today. As you could probably tell by my lack of posts...we have been out of comission lately. Lucas was quite sick, back to his wheezing, and strep throat to top it off. Liliana chipped her front tooth, and then started wheezing herself (we now have two kids on the nebulizer) Liliana continued to fare for the worst, and after a long night with quite the fever, both kids seem to be on the mend this evening. So yeah! We did it! This is the reoccuring theme in the show "Dora the Explorer" that the kids watch every night before they go to bed. Yeah!

Good thing we have two dollies in the house.....

Look what I can do!!!

Some images from the storm...

While the blizzard is old news by now..these pics are not...

L and L watching Papi try and dig a path for us out of the driveway...

Some treacherous terrain....

On top of the snow heap....

Happy New Year!!!!

For New Years we had Felix's mom and sister(and family) over for the night festivities....the twins loved the New Years hats!

Cousins...

Some good traditional Cuban food..thanks Hugo for cooking!

The next morning, it was beautiful outside..almost 50....so we spent about two hours out on the driveway playing and hanging out with the neighbors (see dog below)

The twins came in for a nice warm lunch and passed out for a long 3 hour nap!!! Glorious.

Little Gym

The Westport Library had a free Little Gym workshop (think music and movement) during the holiday week. While they were a little young compared to the other kids (most were 3-5), they had a great time..

Then we went upstairs to the children's room to play with the trains....

And read books (this is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them)