Time With Daddy

Yesterday my MIL who normally watches the girls on Tuesday's was sick. So between the hubby and I he still gets paid if he calls in sick. I on the other hand do not. Sooo... daddy day care it is. Not that this is something new for my girls, time alone with dear old dad, he usually is home from work before me and they have their special father/daughter bonding.
When I got home last night I was excited as ever to squeeze, hug, kiss and fawn all over the girls. But to my dismay they wanted nothing to do with mommy. I was crushed. Daddy got to hold both girls while I sat there and watched. Nothing I did changed their minds. Granted this behavior does happen every so often because daddy is the 'fun' parent. He tosses them high in the air and runs around with them on his shoulders while I sit holding my breath. They scream "more, more" over and over till he can barely lift his arms he is so tired. I love that they share this rough an tumble activity. Lord knows I am not tossing them 10 feet in the air and swinging them over my back catching them just before they hit the ground. Mommy's just don't do this. But my girls LOVE it. I guess a day full of this activity rocketed dad to the top of the favorite parent charts.

It's a day like this that makes me want to be a stay at home mom. Most days they rush into my arms with the sweet sounds of "Mommy!" filling the air. I'm sure the girls have done this exact thing to my sweet hubby but I don't remember it because it wasn't my feelings that were crushed, laying on the floor covered in cheerios.

Wordless Wednesday

Pay It Forward

So, i'm participating in Pay It Forward, which i got from Jenni Anne. Sometime in the next 365 days, she will be sending me something handmade. So to hold up my end of the bargain, I must do the same for the first THREE people who comment on this post, telling me they want to participate. The rules? You will get something handmade from me, maybe not anytime soon, but sometime within the next 365 days. If you decide to participate, you must do the same on your blog, and make something for the first three people who comment to your Pay It Forward post.

pretty fun, huh?! so, if you want something handmade from me, (which you KNOW you do.) comment away!!

Pockets

Houston we have pockets. And we couldn't be more pleased with our discovery.

All Aboard...

for an exciting trip to the LA Zoo. I love the zoo. Once you get past the fact that the animals are kept in captivity (insert sigh) it really is a wonderful adventure for children of all ages. This is our second trip to the zoo with our girls. We took them at the end of last summer and they had so much fun. I could not wait for the weather to get warm enough to take them again this year. Last year we didn't venture into the petting zoo. This year that was our first stop. The girls had SO much fun. They were somewhat reluctant at first but were soon won over by the sweetness of all the animals. The LA Zoo provides brushes to groom the animals with and my girls were big fans of this.

Scoping out the scene. Not too sure if these animals were going to attack or not. Thankfully the girls decided the animals were friend and not foe.

The black billy goat got most of the brushing love from our girls. He seemed to be enjoying himself very much as he dozed in and out.

Addison made friends with a fellow billy goat whom she was quite curious with when he decided to go pee pee.

When we got to the mini horses Charlotte was very excited. I wondered why he had eye coverings and the billy goats did not. I was soon left with my answer as my Charlotte proceeded to poke the mini horse in his eye...thank goodness for his covering.

They also have a great park/play area for the kids to play. The girls had a blast sliding, climbing and swinging.

They even enjoyed riding the tram. It didn't help that there were two adorable little girls sitting behind us that were just smitten with our girls.

I couldn't resist having the girls pile onto the camel's back for a paparazzi moment for mom & dad.

They were even tired out enough to pose for a picture with mommy in front of the water fountain.
All in all it was a wonderful day had by everyone.

Wordless Wednesday

(I wouldn't even have the words to describe this if I tried.)

Happy Valentines Day

Two little Valentines' wishing you a Happy Day!

Wordless Wednesday

She must be worried about getting lost.

Insert The Potty Dance Here

Four times yesterday Addison peed on the potty!

Charlotte peed once. They were so excited. They danced around and kept smiling, pointing to their potty's. It was so funny.
I had no plan of trying to potty train any time soon. Addison started doing this all on her own. We bought the potty's a while back so they could used to seeing them and get comfortable with them. I guess it's working.
Yea Charlotte!

Yea Addison!

And yes this is the actual pee pee. One proud mommy here!

Awards!

I received a great award from a great friend over at The View From Our House. Thank you Laura! I will pass this on to two other moms I think deserve it.
Jenni over at The Beautiful World of Twins always makes me smile. I love reading about her girls as they are so close to my girls in age and she puts GREAT pictures up of their adorable faces.
Kellan over at On The Upside always makes me laugh with her hilarious stories about mommy-hood. She has such a way with words.

Thanks again Laura!

2 Years Ago Today...

I started my 49 day adventure in patient to save the lives of my monoamniotic twins. I spent the entire first day on a gurney in triage thinking what have I gotten myself into. I cried A LOT. I prayed A LOT. And I watched the minutes tick by on the clock. My husband kept trying to pack my bags and take me home. I think that is why God grants the gift of life to women & not to men. Imagine how horrible it would be to take care of a pregnant man. :) Looking back now it seems like a blur. Did I really spend 49 days in the same room on 24 hour monitoring leaving only twice to go for U/S's.? If it would have made a difference I would have spent every day of my pregnancy in the hospital if it meant I could take my girls home with me.

I REALLY loved being pregnant.
I loved the idea of creating two little people that would enter this world so perfect and pure. I loved watching four arms and four legs wiggle across my belly as if aliens had invaded my being. I didn't even mind gaining the 60 pounds...that may be a little white lie. Actually I think I secretly liked the process of gaining the weight as long as it included root beer floats.

I really wished I would have taken more pictures once I was in patient to document my pregnancy. I took tons before I went in but none really after. At the time I didn't think I would want to remember being there. Looking back I wish I could have pictures to go with my memories. I cannot believe in 50 days (it's leap year) my girls are going to be two years old! I thought those 49 days went fast.

This picture was taken halfway through my stay. My amazing mom is sitting in the background. She drove the 2 hour round trip trek at least 4 times a week to keep me company. I never had one day that I did not have at least one visitor. Tracy Lawrence and Tim McGraw said it best "You find out who your friends are".

Grocery Shopping

Before we had the girls, I'll be honest, if I made it to the grocery store every 2 weeks that made for a happy refridgerator. Now it's a least once a week and my grocery bill is outrageous. How can two little peanuts eat SO much food? I thought formula was expensive...boy would I love to go back to those days. Ha! I know it has a lot to do with the fact that I try to feed them healthy. Why does healthy have to be so pricey? I wish I had the discipline of Debra from thecryercrew and could save money using coupons. I have tried. I cut out coupons
from the Sunday paper and then I go to the store and forget to bring the coupons or forget to use them. I know I have issues. It's not that hard. But I hate grocery shopping late at night after the girls go to bed. I am just too tired, so that leaves shopping with the girls which is a chore in itself. If they aren't throwing the groceries out on the floor, they are eating through the boxes to get to the food. They make me look like I don't feed them. The other day the grocery clerk picked up a box of cereal and she had this horrified look on her face. She whispers
to me "I think a rat maybe tried to get into this box. I will have someone bring you another box." I starting laughing and had to tell her it wasn't rats who ate through the box. It was the sweet, adorable, underfed, animals disguised as my children. She did not look amused.

If only it were this easy.

Wordless Wednesday (A Day Late)-Watch Out For That Kick

Baby Strollers

The girls got baby strollers for Christmas from Santa which they love. The only problem we have found is Addison does not like sister's stroller to get in the way of her stroller. If Charlotte's stroller crashes into hers it's cry baby city in the Leite house. So Charlotte has found a new way of entertaining herself...at Addison's expense.

I'm guessing you don't need me to identify who is who :)

The Luckiest Girl

Tony & I went away this weekend for our anniversary. We stayed in a wonderful little B&B in Lake Arrowhead. We left first thing Saturday morning
and came home Sunday afternoon. We had such a great time. We saw two movies, ate delicious food, drank wine by the fire place, and shopped. We even woke up Sunday morning to find the world blanketed with beautiful white snow. What more could a girl ask for?

We needed a get away. Life around our house can be crazy at times, imagine that? The first thing that ends up getting lost in the shuffle is our relationship. We have been together 10 years now and married for 4. Which now a days is something to be proud of. I am so grateful for having him in my life. He is an amazing husband and an even more amazing dad. Both the girls and I are just smitten with him. I can still get butterflies from his kisses. I love the example he is setting for my girls. We are on this ride for the long haul. I'm so lucky to have him in the front seat with me...Specially when we upgrade from the minivan to the 2 seater convertable.

Of course I have almost no documentation of our get away because my camera battery died after the first 3 pictures. I thought I was so on top of it by remembering the camera in the first place. I guess in the end its the memories that matter anyways.

If I've Told You Once...

Every Thursday night grandma & grandpa watch the girls for a few hours before I get home from work, since Tony teaches on Thursday nights. They love having the girls over. However, my parents house is VERY unchildproofed. They pretty much play with any and all household devices. I keep telling my mom to put stuff up but she just chases after them. Way too much work for me :) Anyways my dad just bought a new 50 in flat screen plasma TV. He is VERY proud of it. My mom said he didn't come to bed the first week he installed in. He slept downstairs on the couch in front of the TV. I'm sure you thinking the worst right now...but thankfully they didn't find a way to physically break the TV. They did however manage to push an unknown button on the remote control that took away all picture & sound. From what my mom tells me my dad tried to fix it for over an hour. Calling everyone he could think of to help him with no luck. By the time I walked in the door I could see the steam coming out of my dads ears. I jokingly reminded them I have told them a thousand times to put up the remotes as they are one of the girls favorite things to play with. This was not taken well at all by my dad. I don't remember him not having patience with us when we were kids but he sure didn't have any here. We had made plans to meet my brother & his girlfriend for dinner but my dad refused to go till his TV was fixed. So an hour later after sharing some very interesting conversations with the cable guy I got my dad's TV back up and running. I felt like a little girl again in trouble with her parents, frantically trying to fix it. It was awful. Hopefully next time they will pick up their remote controls and put them outta the girls reach.