Busy, Busy

I am really behind on blogging so I'll just dive right in to the current happenings and hope to update soon on what we have been up to.

The word "busy" describes these girls perfectly and I have a feeling that it going to last for quite a while. Lots of fun, too! They are tuckered out every night and go to sleep very quickly. Play hard, sleep hard. We are enjoying this long Memorial Day weekend with some family time and looking forward to all the extended family that is visiting next weekend for some birthday festivities.

 

Busy Girls from Natalie Shirzad on Vimeo.

11 Months

I cannot believe my babies will be toddlers in a few short weeks. Craziness. Oh, but they are giving us glimpses of what's coming. They climb on everything these days. We are trying our best to let them explore and learn with some semblance of caution.

• Both girls are still great eaters. They eat almost anything we give them and stopped eating baby food purees around 10 months old. Their favorite foods are cheese, strawberries, avocado and flavorful meats like pork tenderloin and roast lamb. They are down to two bottles each day - one when they wake up in the morning and a second one before bedtime. We plan to switch them to the sippy cups for those last two bottles in the next few weeks so wish us luck for a smooth transition! They are drinking about 12 - 16 oz of formula now. 
• Five teeth each (3 on the top, 2 on the bottom). 
• They are expert crawlers and also spend a lot of time cruising on furniture, windows, walls and anything else they can find. Both are standing for a few seconds on their own and will walk if we hold their hand, but still seem to be working on the balance for walking.
• The girls babble and squeal constantly. They are learning to verbalize if they want to get our attention and they say a few words, but not really with purpose yet. Of course they say "dada" all the time, but just crack up whenever I try to get them to say "mama". I guess they just think I'm hilarious. 
• Lexi is very social and knows how to wave and will hold her arms above her head when we ask, "how big is Lexi?" Zara enjoys watching, but doesn't play those games yet. Both girls love a good game of high-five or chase. 
• Pulling all the books off their bookshelf and playing with them is their favorite activity. They also spend a lot of time clinking blocks together. It is fun to watch them play together with them each holding a block and working together to hit the other's block. 
• Zara is a big lover of music. She has some great dance moves and shimmies in her high chair when we play music during dinner. As soon as the bass starts, she gives us this serious look and moves to the beat. I need to get it on video. 
• We get asked a lot if they have different personalities. Yes, they definitely do, but they are so close and really seem to be best friends already. Fights are pretty rare and I'm not sure if that will keep up. So far they seem to be very in-sync with each other.
• Both are still excellent sleepers - we feel so lucky that we can count on 12 hours without interruption every night and 2 solid naps each day. It really makes being their parents seem easy most days because we play and eat and then they go to sleep and we relax. They are definitely not perfect and it is still unnerving when they are both screaming at the same time, but it doesn't happen too often and we know at that point that they are hungry or tired (or both). 
• Our unofficial home weigh-in this week put them each at 21 pounds. They are wearing size 12-18 month clothes.

We have had very few warm days so far, but we did sneak outside last week to play (eat dirt). This has been a very cold, wet spring this year. It is taking a lot of patience, but we are hopeful that warm weather and long summer days are just around the corner. Our nanny, Lindsay spends two days each week with the girls. She is so great with them and helps with many chores around the house too. They usually go on walks to the park and she took them to the library for the first time last week. They loved it!

Mother's Day

It was my first official Mother's Day and like most days, we had a fun day as a family. We didn't do anything too exciting, but I did get to go to Starbucks and the grocery store by myself in the morning. Like I said, pretty exciting. We played with some friends, then I went for a run in the pouring rain and after the babes were in bed, Marcus made a feast of lobster and steak.

Zara in pink, Lexi in purple

We hope all the moms in our life had a great days with their kids too!

Climber

Zara spent the last couple days figuring out how to climb up the slide. They both can also climb the steps to the top of the slide. The problem: they have no understanding of the dangers of falling.


Untitled from Natalie Shirzad on Vimeo.

This play structure sits in their playroom right now. They have free reign of the room and really the whole upstairs so we are not watching them in this room every second. I think we are going to move this out of the room for safety reasons until they are a little older. Or should I just try to teach them now about getting down safely?

Adults Only

Well it took almost 11 months, but we did it! We spent two nights in Kirkland (eastside of Seattle) by ourselves, while the girls spent the weekend with their grandparents in Yakima. We had a fabulous time exploring Kirkland, eating at "adult" restaurants, going to the movies, hiking, shopping and relaxing. Our hotel (The Heathman) gave us free tickets for a boat cruise of Lake Washington. It ended up being a lifestyles of the rich and famous tour because apparently all the billionaires (Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, etc) live on the lake. Lexi and Zara also seemed to have a great time in Yakima so we are looking forward to doing it again soon!