Pop-Pop Video: You Are My Sunshine

Since the first was so very popular, I present to you this week's Pop-Pop video. Our theme this week is weather, so here we have Pop-Pop (with a special solo by Grandma) performing "You Are My Sunshine." Enjoy :)

Y and Z Week

This week Charlie and Lily learned about the letters Y and Z. I can't believe we're through the entire alphabet! I'm not sure what I'll do next. Colors? Numbers? Go through the alphabet again? Any other suggestions are more than welcome! But anyway, this week was Y and Z. We read Good Night Gorilla, and as you can see from the previous post, our song for the week was Zippedy Doo Da (and, as you can see, I spell it different every time I write it and am too lazy too look up the correct spelling). Crackers bought Charlie and Lily the Fisher Price Little People zoo for Easter, but gave it to the them early so they could enjoy it during Z week. They love all the animal sounds that the zoo makes, and there are lots of cool animals like a giraffe and zebra for them to play with. For art we made zebra striped Zs. Hmmm...Y kind of got the shaft this week. I still may make yogurt pops though, so that will make up for it.

We were lucky to have a few nice days this week (weather in NJ is so unpredictable this time of year - 38 degrees one day, 65 the next). Whenever it's nice enough we get outside (or as Charlie says, "owwssiiii!") and play at the playground or in the yard. After a long day of tackling the slide and swings, Charlie and Lily enjoy relaxing with Daddy and an episode of Bubble Guppies.

On Friday mornings I clean the downstairs. It's not my favorite thing to do, but luckily I have two helpers who really lighten my work load.

Look at Lily! She finally has enough hair for a little ponytail! (And ignore the scratch on her nose. She fell into the wall before nap the other day. She loses all coordination when she's tired.)

And I just like this picture! Charlie is very cooperative with my self-portraits.

Pop-Pop videos!

Every week or so, Pop-Pop Fred sends Charlie and Lily a little video of himself singing to them. They love to get their Pop-Pop videos, and Pop-Pop tries to tie his songs into our weekly theme. This week we're working on the letters Y and Z, so here's Pop-Pop performing "Zippa Dee Doo Dah" with a little help from Grandmom.

Spring Week

I really need to consult the weather forecast before I plan my season-themed weeks. I never get it right! Autumn week was like 90 degrees, Winter week brought rain and this week's Spring week came with temperatures in the low 30s. But we soldier on! To celebrate Spring, we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Five Little Ladybugs, and sang "Mr. Golden Sun." For art Charlie and Lily made hand print butterflies and decorated them with their fingerprints. When they were all said and done they didn't really look much like butterflies - Joe thinks they resemble crabs. But we tried! We're going to bring them to Annaleigh at the cemetery, and we know she'll appreciate the effort by her brother and sister. For a special snack we made dirt pudding. Charlie and Lily helped me mix up a batch of chocolate pudding, then we topped it with crushed Oreos. Mmmm!

Chocolaty! (And look at Lily's hair! Finally long enough for a barrette! Yay!)

Now THIS is the life. Someone to feed you your pudding while you sit and watch Bubble Guppies.

The other morning, when it was raining/snowing on our Spring week, I decided to combat cabin fever with a little cushion climbing. I pulled all the cushions and pillows from the couches and let Charlie and Lily climb all over them. They really enjoyed this activity at first, but then they started falling off and bumping their heads, so the cushions went back where they belong!

Once a week or so Joe leaves for work a few minutes early and runs to Dunkin Donuts to bring back coffee for me and munchkins for Charlie and Lily. Needless to say, munchkin mornings are a BIG hit around here!

How far we've come....

Looking at the two happy toddlers that Charlie and Lily have become sometimes makes it easy to forget how they began their lives. Today they are healthy and energetic, smart and active. But less than two years ago, both were figthing for their lives in the NICU. Weighing less than 2 lbs each they needed help to breathe, eat and just survive.

Those days are never far from my or Joe's mind. Which is why we're once again supporting the March of Dimes at the 2011 March for Babies. Team Three Cheers for Babies is marching on April 30. Already many friends and family members have signed up to join us - thank you! If you live nearby and would like to join our team, please SIGN UP HERE. If you can't march but would like to MAKE A DONATION, we would greatly appreciate it. We fight, so babies don't have to.

Lily, a few hours after birth. Charlie at a few days old. Our beautiful Annaleigh, June 27, 2009 - August 22, 2009.

21 months!

Happy 21 months, Charlie and Lily! I am simply amazed at how much they've been growing and learning recently. They know a ton of animal sounds, are saying so many new words, are doing so many new things...they impress me every single day. :) On a side note, I just got back yesterday from a trip to Savannah, GA. I went for a national get-together of an amazing group of mothers of multiples who I know from an online community. These women have been such an incredible support system for me for the past two years and it was wonderful to finally meet so many of them in person. Plus, I had a fantastic, relaxing vacation. Joe did the best job at home with Charlie and Lily - I don't think they even realized I was gone! So thank you to my great husband for giving me the chance to get away, and thank you to Crackers for your baby-sitting help and John for getting me to the airport. I can't wait to do it again next year!

Just a few of the great ladies I spent the trip with - all moms of twins or triplets!

Savannah was so beautiful! And warm - around 80 degrees while I was there! A nice change from the 30 degree temps we're having in NJ.

W and X Week

This week Charlie and Lily learned about the letters W and X. I'll admit that I had a hard time coming up with lesson plans for these letters. Luckily, the week fell at the same time as St. Patrick's Day so I sort of added that to the mix to bulk things up a bit. We read a book called Wally the Whale and made watermelon W's. I had plans for us to make an X art project, but we had two amazing days of warm sunny weather this week and spent all our free time outside at the playground, which Charlie and Lily love.For St. Patrick's Day we read a poem called Five Little Shamrocks and used our little paper shamrocks as visual aids. On Thursday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with some Irish soda bread. Yum! Lily loved it immediately and didn't even realize that she was eating raisins.
Charlie was a little suspicious of the bread at first, but as soon as he tasted it he was cramming the entire slice in his mouth.

Crackers came over and led Charlie and Lily in their own little St. Patrick's Day parade.Joe invented a game that he calls "choo choo," in which Charlie and Lily sit on his legs and he bounces them up and down. Charlie and Lily LOVE this game, and it is definitely helping Joe build up his leg muscles.

I have no lessons planned for this upcoming week, because I'm going away! I'm heading to Savannah, GA with some amazing fellow moms of multiples for a few days. Joe is going to be in charge at home while I'm gone, but I have no worries. I think they'll be just fine :)