Weekend Snapshots

So much has happened this week. None of it is super special, just a bunch of memories I have, as snapshots in my mind.

Gracie and Luke have had a much better week in day care. Their anxiety over Daddy and over my being sick seems to have dissipated. They are happier, giving hugs and love to all the special people in their lives. Their vocabulary has exploded. I've heard phrases this week: "My cracka." "My Mommy." "Side? Side?" (outside) They have lots of Spanish words and phrases too. They keep surprising their care givers at day care.

This weekend was Gracie and Lukie and Mommy weekend. We were lazy in the early morning. I say lazy, but we were still up very early. Lukie came out to sleep with me at 5 am and Gracie was out with him not much later. We watched Barney, Sesame Street, ate tons of graham crackers, and played outside. They managed to make the apartment look even messier (I did not know that was possible). At one point, the apartment was so messy that you could not walk on the carpet without stepping over 2 feet or more of stuff!

Lukie showed me that he is obsessed with cleaning. He picked up "Uckies" all over the apartment and he got down on his hands and knees to sweep. He managed to do a great job of cleaning under the table and carefully picked up every piece of ceral his sister threw while "eating" breakfast. He is so funny to watch. He can't stand any kind of trash on the floor and has to clean everything up, whether it is actually trash or not.

Gracie was obsessed with buttons this weekend. She kept snagging the remote control from me and managed to find some watchable programs on her own! She was also excited about my alarm clock. I have to remember to check and make sure she did not change the alarm time.

Gracie was also super excited about shoes. I think we changed shoes about 15 times a day over the past 2 days. She was especially excited about any shoes that were not her own. "Oh, shoosh!"

We took drives so that Gracie and Luke would nap. I think they were just too excited that we were together all day to sleep! Saturday, they only took a 30 minute nap. All Day. Today, I drove them all over the Valley and ended up driving through the Santa Monica Mountains. We found ourselves in Malibu, driving along the coast. Gracie loved the ocean and watching the waves crash on the beach. I heard a lot of "agua!"

We played at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Tio Martin was home this weekend and he loves to play with Gracie and Luke. They took walks, ran around the backyard, climbed on Daddy, and never took a single nap while they were there. I visited Grandma to get my hair cut and she surprised me by taking me with her to a have Chinese foot massage. For an hour, an amazing masseuse massaged my head, my shoulders, my feet, and legs. He used reflexology to do something fantastic. By the time we left, Grandma and I felt like Jello! The best part is that the massage only cost us $20 for an hour. We felt so wonderful that we've decided to cut out little things in our budgets so that we can go back. We've decided to go twice a month.

Today, Gracie and Luke spent the afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa so that Daddy and I could go to Lowe's to research windows, new refrigerators, and stove tops. Yes, you read that right, Daddy went with me to Lowe's! It was long and frustrating, but we have our research completed and have a rough estimate of how much it will take to upgrade parts of our house not covered by the insurance.

When we got back, Gracie and Luke were in swim diapers romping around the backyard. They poured water on Mikey and Melodia (Grandma's chihuahuas) and used Grandpa's fly swatter and "hit" they yucky flies that buzzed around. We barbecued and had a great time. In fact, Gracie and Luke had such a great time (we will ignore Lukie's wasp sting) that they fell asleep before I had driven a 1/2 mile from Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Tonight, the apartment is quiet, but I'm wondering: since Lukie woke up at 5 am the last 2 days, what are my chances of taking my shower in the morning? Sigh. I guess, I'm off to take it now. Mobile Twinsies aren't as much fun as one might have thought!