developmental milestones....

Whitney learning to knit. The most important part of this picture is that there is sunlight. Glorious direct sunlight.
The top of the lantern shows how much snow we got.

Whitney crawled in and out of the laundry basket herself while helping fold laundry.

Ode to dad.
Enjoying the bitter cold beach
Tucker intent on the button with his one finger.

Watching the snow fall.
Playing with Mommy
The babies with their uncles at the locks


So Jim asked me this week if Tucker learning to put his finger in his nose is a developmental milestone that he should be completing. I didn't respond to that one. I was telling my dad about that and he laughed. Then, after the Thanksgiving meal, I asked my dad if it was worth the 16 hour drive up one way for three days up here. He said "Yes. It is the first Thanksgiving with grandkids. It's a developmental milestone." I had a good laugh about that.

This week was awesome!! I've really been missing Utah of all things (laugh away Aut), but lucky me, it snowed. And then it stuck. Apparently it is not something that happens around here much, the sticking part. The trash service skipped this week altogether. It was good timing for lots of kids, I would imagine. School was cancelled Tuesday and Wednesday. Just in time for a longer thanksgiving break with lots of snow to play in. The part about Utah I was missing was the stillness and brightness that comes with snow. Snow seems to muffle everything and it also reflects sunlight and moonlight so nicely. I enjoyed how much it seemed to light up the house. But I also didn't go anywhere for three days. It rained before it snowed and no one came to put sand on the road until way later. We live on a steep hill and not many people around me know how to drive in the stuff, so I decided not to get in an accident with the babies and stayed home. Which made Thanksgiving so much more enjoyable. People!!!

Thanksgiving felt like such a vacation but at home. I left the house every day. Three days in a row. I often don't leave the day after I go out because of the effort involved, but with lots of helping hands I could do it!! And with someone to keep me company every time. It was awesome. I was also able to leave the house without the babies three days in a row. Once to go running, once to watch a movie and then again to go running. Wow!! Exercise for my body. Another wonderful thing.

Having four men in the house was also pleasant. They ate almost all the turkey and leftovers in three days. Perfect. I get sick of any leftovers after three days, so it was taken care of without wasting and I didn't have to meal plan.

Anyway. enough with the writing. The videos and pics will say more than we could. Enjoy!!

The first video is Rocky being peppy. A rarity, hence the video. Apparently he loves snow.

The next video is the babies playing one of their favorite games on the stairs. Shouting while dancing.

The last video is Whitney when her nose is stuffy. The face she makes makes us laugh.

boy repertoire increased dramatically

Tucky passes out during dinner. Must be all those late nights.
Daddy is a pro at putting tucky to sleep
The babies playing one of their favorite games. Shouting while dancing at the stairwell.
Tucker helping mommy weed. That lasted 10 minutes. Too cold.
Whitney helping mommy weed. yep. too cold

Whitney takes over the dog beds. Good thing I waited to put on church clothes.

Tucky has been feeling better. The antibiotics have helped, although Tucky exceeded the diaper several times. I've never seen so much poop. He might test product limits when he gets older. He also downed 16 ounce bottles every night this week. He has been up every night because of the messy pants and I think hunger from the food going through him so much from those pesky and good antibiotics. I don't think my stomach can handle 16 ounces of milk at once. One morning he woke up with an exploded diaper from all that fluid. There were diaper beads everywhere. He also figured out how to unroll toilet paper and flick grape pieces across his high chair tray with one finger.

Whitney is working on other team skills. Like learning to flush the toilet, and she has been banging on the toilet lids. Not much longer before she opens them. Whitney also knows how to climb stairs, but reverse is always much more difficult. They both figured out how to hold their bottles while sitting up in the high chair. What a blessedly wonderful skill. now I can eat while they eat.

Whitney is cruising a ton. Walking by christmas may be her achievable goal. Whitney also loves new flavors but textures cannot be mixed. Bananas and oatmeal don't go together apparently. She spits is right out. She went with Daddy to the grocery store this week. Apparently she told him to get gouda cheese. She loves it. She also loves corn tortilla quesidillas. She doesn't like meat sticks too much, though.

Tucker thinks getting his socks pulled off or falling objects is hysterical. This week when I pulled off his socks fast, he laughed so hard, he fell over. One of their favorite games is pulling to stand on the stair banister and shouting. Whitney likes to dance really hard while this is all happening.

Due to Tucky's better moods, I've been able to do more. I put up some pics, hung out with a friend on Monday and Friday, spray painted my ugly light fixtures silver and got a leave/pine needle blower to help me fight the war on pine needles. My hair dryer broke last night. Jim asked me why I didn't use the blow dryer that I got this week. You know, the one out in the garage......

I haven't messed with two stroke machines much. I hate weed whackers with a passion. Leaf blowers are the same, except I was motivated to use the leaf blower. It is WAY better than sweeping moist pine needles, the only things we have around here. We can't have dry pine needles. No, that would be too easy. So I went to the store one night to buy it. They are on sale now. Awesome. The next day I went to put it together during one baby break. Then the next baby break was to figure out how to mix 50 parts fuel to one part oil. Then the next break was mixing the fuels. Then the next was learning to start it cold. Then when it finally started, the parts fell off, so I had to turn it off and click the tubes in place. Duh. By then it was dark and I was out of baby breaks. So Jim did the leaf blowing. Sure. By then, all he had to do was pick it up and turn it on. Whatever. At least he got up on the roof to blow them off so then don't keep falling in front of my door and getting tracked in the house.

One of the friends I met with has twins 2.5 months younger than Tucker and Whitney. They are going to terrorize the nursery at church in a few months together. They got along great.

Today it snowed. It is so weird to me that it can snow at such a low elevation. It doesn't stick though. Perfect. Whitney tried to catch them, but got mad at the flakes for not staying still.

Overall this week was tiring but rewarding and frustrating all at the same time. (one day the lack of sleep really got to me and I was wondering if I was a good mom or not> Good thing Jim was around to remind me that the babies are happy, so it works ok and they are taken care of. Good hubby).

Oh yeah. I almost forgot. We had our neighbor over for dinner and tucker threw up all over in the middle. She stopped eating, but I was so hungry, I kept eating after everything was cleaned up. She was awesome. She stayed after to clean the kitchen up a bit.

Anyway we got a new phone number because Jim got a church calling that having a local number will make it a lot easier on people, so email me if you don't get it in two weeks or so.

Happy thanksgiving!!

rocky fights back

Tucker somewhat mad about being stuck under the table.
Apparently doing dishes is very relaxing and kick-back.


I think the funniest thing that happened this week was Rocky and his relationship with Whitney. A few of you may remember the video of Whitney ripping Rocky's face off. Well, Rocky is now very aware of his need to defend his floor space and to run when Whitney gets too close. This was made very apparent to me this week. Rocky was chewing on his chew toy peacefully when Whitney whacked at it (the end was sticking way out) with her hand. You know how babies have that phase of hitting everything. Well, Rocky doesn't know much about that phase. As soon as she whacked his toy, he growled and relocated. But not very far. She didn't think much of it and pretty much ignored him while she went on playing ( no worries. I moved her and told her no, too) with her toys in the same room. Well, as happens with toys, they roll and one rolled near Rocky. Near means within a foot. She crawled over and was within his peripheral vision when he started growling and yelping like Whitney was hitting him. Hmmmm. Sounds like something I did with my siblings once in a while to get them in trouble. He did it several times. Then he took his chew toy and went in the other room. Finally. But what really makes this story funny is the next part. A few minutes later Sammy started barking at something in the living room, probably a squirrel outside or something. Rocky came running down the hall, trying to bark, but not too successfully because he had his chew toy in his mouth. Can't let Whitney get it.

The other cute thing this week was that Tucker learned how to stand up in the crib. I went in after naptime and they were both standing in their cribs, chortelling at each other. Whitney likes to laugh really hard and rock back and forth while standing holding on to rails. Tucker is pretty impressed he can do it too. This means he can also pull to stand on chairs. He was practicing under the kitchen table, but since he's an inch taller, he got stuck. His head was hitting the bottom of the table ledge and he couldn't get out. That made him mad and he cried a ton until I got him out. Since he is taller, he can reach the top of the table. Sigh. And everything goes up another level.

I asked Jim what we should blog about, what cute thing they did this week, and he said, what. Besides being sick and not sleeping through the night? So that brings up something else. We haven't slept this week, or the week before, or the week before that. Now I totally get it when parents say "well, my kid was sick this week, so not much else happened". yeah. Between lost sleep and thirty thousand loads of laundry and diaper changes, I get it. So Tucker went to the doctor since it had been three weeks he's been off, and he has a double ear infection. The doctor said it is mild, but since it's been so long and he hasn't been sleeping, then it would be wise to bust out the meds. Dang it. I was hoping to avoid amoxicillen. I remember I went through a lot of that stuff when I was a kid. Same stuff. Cleans 'em out in more ways than one. So I get it now when parents say their kid was sick. Throw up and poop at night seems 50x bigger and more stainable.

Whitney hasn't been sick. She eats her vegetables. She has been a very good and patient baby while tucker has been so fussy. She discovered ice this week. While I was putting away groceries, an ice cube fell out on the floor where she was playing. She held it for a good 20 seconds. I was surprised because of how cold it was. It fell out of her hands because it melted enough to be slippery. She was very intrigued!

the awesome kindness of strangers and family

Tucky loves the fish. Future Scuba buddy.
Whitney doing baby snorkling at the aquarium
Whitney getting comfuy on the way home.

Eating with Haly
babies at the park
Tucky eating with taylor

a most ideal picnic
What is that?!
I don't know. Grandma says its an osage orange
Enjoying the last of fall color
whitney is so cute!
tucky in the tub
tucky and eddie
whitney "cooking"
whitney loooking out the airplane window
Whitney making international friends
Tucky getting energy for the upcoming adventure.



We did it! We made it to Illinois and back. With lots of help. Hence the title of this blog. I had this crazy idea in September to visit my aunt in Illinois. I've really been wanting to visit ever since my parents went to Illinois when I was about 23 and not taking me with them. I was very bummed. But didn't want to be a bum by not having a job. So I stayed home. And then went later when it would be easier. Like traveling with two small children. When I booked the flight, I was thinking, well, I'll do it then because my mom is coming up and it would be nice to have another set of hands and who would say no to visiting Auntie Jill. Now I know. It would have been impossible to go without my mom. My arms are sore and I'm used to hefting Tucky around.

We left our house at 9 and got to Auntie Jill's around 8. There was a 35 minute lay over, which I thought would be ideal as it would minimize the amount of travel. We thought we gave ourselves plenty of time to get through security at Seattle, but found it was the perfect timing. Just as we pulled up to the gate, they were calling for us to board. Whoops. Didn't have time to buy water after security for the baby bottles. Help number one. Oh yeah. I guess it is help number 2. The guy behind us retrived the stroller tray that popped off when I was trying to make the stroller skiny enough to fit through the conveyor belt. I didn't know that was sent through security. I also didn't know that the front tray came off until it was on the other side of the security belt. We got a little delayed at security because the lady in front of us had a rock in her bag. She had gone for a walk on the beach and picked it up. She didn't take it out of her bag because she didn't know it was bomb material. silly her. I think she might have been very close to missing her flight over that rock. TSA wouldn't allow her to leave her bomb and run to catch the plane for some reason. Anyway, that caused us to not have enough time to buy water for the babies after security.

We then sat on a full flight for four hours. That was an adventure. The babies needed to eat twice during that time and were very curious about their surrounding environment. Especially Whitney. No nap for her. Life is too short to sleep. The people sitting next to me were awesome. The lady next to me didn't speak a lick of English. I believe she was from Hong Kong. It didn't matter. She sang and played with Whitney all the same and Whitney smiled and played back just like she does with me. Either she speaks better Chinese than English, or that's about as much sense as my English means to her brain. The lady sitting next to the window let Whitney look out the window. Whoa. THAT was fascinating. Whitney had a blast. This same lady also asked the flight attendent about our connecting flight to Bloomington. This resulted in the flight attendent moving us up several rows on the plane. Our flight would be arriving late. In fact, the plane would be landing the same time as we were supposed to be boarding. I guess the 35 min layover wouldn't happen.

Once we moved up a few rows, we met more awesome people. The ladies sitting next to my Mom took over. They carried Mom's luggage (Tucker was fast asleep in her arms this entire time. 2 hours or so to be exact. My mom's arms hurt still), got the cart driving people to drive us to the elevator, found the flight screen to help us find our next gate, and were generally wonderful. The ladies sitting next to me played with Whitney and helped me get a move on also. One of them was returning from Hong Kong after a college recruiting business trip. Which is why I think the people next to me are Chinese.

We ran. From one gate to the other, we ran. Part of it was uphill and lots of it was supposed to be up and down stairs/escalators. That was my workout for the day. Lucky for us they held the plane enough to let us catch it. That was awesome!!! Bloomington airport is small but very functional. And smaller than I thought. After being in Minniapolis and Seattle, it was a noice treat. My aunt saw us through the windows and I didn't even know that she was that close to us. Then we didn't have carseats. I guess the transfer was too close for carseats to make it, so we had loaner ones. So we waited until the Delta guy made something work with the American airline people. On the way back, we met awesome people that talked and played and helped with the babies. One even offered to buy us a sandwich so we could eat on the next flight, since they knew we wouldn't have time to do it going to the next flight. Everyone was more than understanding about those babies.

And the babies were awesome!! They only screamed twice. Once was because I didn't realize they were still hungry, and the other was Tucker on the decent back into seattle because his ears were hurting. They did awesome!

Then we got to my aunt's. She made welcome baskets for us. They had toys, books, blankets and pj's for the babies. Good thing. I ended up needing those a lot. My aunt also found pack and plays and a high chair so we didn't have to bring that stuff. It helped a ton. My aunt also made welcome baskets for my mom and I let us have her room with the babies. It was great!!

We went to Allerton park, a park that is like walking around in the A and E version of Pride and Predjudice. Absolutely beautiful. We went to Lake of the Woods and walked on the swinging bridge. Everyone was nice about Tucker screaming every night and giving up their space. It was so good to visit with my family all day every day and not be by myself. I got to get out of the house everyday, enjoy the sun, eat lots of yummy food, and my aunt did all the cooking and cleaning. She spoiled me rotten. And I ate it up. I hope you enjoy the pics as much as we enjoyed the trip. Daddy was so glad to have them back and took them to the aquarium today. Enjoy like we enojoied the trip!!
our last night in Illinois

Happy Halloween

Whitney loves banging on things, especially things that make noise. This was the first time she "practiced the piano" It was really fun.
This table top toy has a lot of noise making buttons that are fun to hit. The babies love it!

Whitney loves the dishwasher, but I had no idea how much until this day. I was putting away dishes and turned around to get more when I found this. It made me laugh. I'll have to remember how much they love to help with dishes and making the bed when they are teenagers

Whitney in her black ninja costume

Mommy with her loot, including Whitney with her money bag on

Whitney in her too-too, the third costume today. It's been fun

The babies first Halloween went well. No trick or treaters came to the house to wake them up after we put them down, so they are well rested. I don't think anyone snuck any candy to them considering they are the oldest children. Last night we went to the church trick or treat party. Families decorated the doors in the church instead of doing a trunk or treat. Welcome to rainy weather. I was wondering what they would do here. It was really fun. I was a prisoner and the babies were my loot (money bags). I stole the idea from my friend Emily. She did it last year with her family, except her husband was participating in the event and she was a police women and her hubby was the prisoner. I couldn't convince Jim to participate in Halloween. Oh well. Although the fun of dressing up was a little spoiled because it was like me telling a joke or drawing a picture. I had to explain what the babies were and then some people said "Oh, now I get it". A few things about that though. Most of the time we were carrying the babies and so the money sign on the bag was facing our bodies. And my mom made the bags white instead of brown, so it was confusing and hard to tell what they were at a glance. Tucker wasn't too big into dressing up, either. Whitney was fine with it. She got to change clothes three times. It was great.

The baby news for this week is fun. Tucker likes to clap, and per video, figured out how to drop objects and thinks it is hilarious. He is doing better at the mommy time stuff. He actually played on the floor this week without having some part of his body touching some part of my body in order to play. It was mostly due to this. I was cooking and had to put Tucker down, which made him scream. Whitney was crawling in circles around the kitchen, living room and playroom. She especially loves the entryway as she pulls to stand on the stair banister and can look down the stairs. She was in the entry when Tucker was screaming. She starting making some talking noises and I swear she was talking to Tucker, letting him know what cool things she could see and how much fun she was having. He stopped crying and started military crawling around the house with her. Whitney saved my butt again. I've been able to do a lot of stuff this week since they have been playing together since that day. I've been surprised. I thought when they started crawling that they would go in opposite directions, but since Tucker has to have someone near him most of the time, what happens is Whitney crawls somewhere new and Tucker follows her. They especially love to play with the dog dishes. They figured out how to get the rubber ring off of one and were playing tug of war with it and having fun. It's fun to see them interact like that.

Tucker is also feeding himself quite well now finger foods and his bottle. That has also helped a bunch. I can either eat with them or do something in the kitchen, like make dinner, while they eat instead of waiting until baby naptime to get it all done.

Whitney's top tooth broke through today. She also has been practicing standing without holding on to anything for brief moments today. Every time she can keep her balance for a second or so, she laughs hysterically and seems to be immensely impressed with herself. She'll be walking soon, which will give her the edge again to get to toys before Tucker can get them and take them away from her. She discovered how much fun it is to help Mommy put away dishes and she loves to help make the bed (she crawls around while I move the sheets over her). She laughs when she crawls to the edge and looks over the side. Most of the time Sammy is below her, so I'm not sure if she is laughing at him or just because it is fun to look over edges. She likes to look over the edge of the deck too. I think I will have to always watch her because she likes to know exactly where the boundries are and checks them out first. It reminds me of a saying a co-worker of mine used to say. "Kids are like cows. You put them out to pasture and the first thing they check is where the fences are".

I went to Value Village this week looking for my Halloween costume. I guess that is the WA word for Savers. I love Savers. Why buy anything baby first hand when you have stores like that? This one wasn't even picked over. I got three pairs of shoes for me, three long sleeved onsies, three blanket sleepers, my Halloween costume and two waterproof jackets for the next two sizes up for the babies, all for $50. Awesome!! I feel like doing a Whitney. Laughing hysterically because I'm immensely impressed with myself for those finds. And all that stuff looks pretty new.

My goal for next week is to take all the blog address info I have from people and put them on my blog so I can use this more like email and keep up more often because I won't have to type in the blog site each time. I'm very excited. If you don't see yours on there when they are up, send me an email because I probably lost it in my file of info. That's the other goal for the week of the 8th. Get my files together so I can find all that info.

Anyway, I can't wait for this week's adventures. HOpe you enjoy the pics and video

getting settled

Whitney was congested last night, so after I had been up with her for three hours, Jim took over and this is how I found them this morning. So adorable!! Jim said he was dreaming about how he was dreaming about taking care of Whitney. The background is our driveway.
I think Tucker likes music. The only time that he will play by himself on the floor this week for longer than 5 minutes is when I'm playing the piano. Whitney likes to bang on the piano and be up off the floor where Tucker can't crawl over her or take over her mommy.



So. I have absolutely no idea what happened in church today. It's the beginning of the end, I guess. Now that they no longer nap in public places and skipped morning nap, plus they both know how to crawl and want to feed themselves solid food, it was insane keeping them entertained, but not so entertained that they were getting into everyone else's stuff. How do people do it when they have more kids? Or older kids? No idea, but I guess I'll find out.

This week was wonderful. Lots of wonderful things happened. Like the washer got fixed on Thursday and my neighbor let me borrow her vacuum, even though we have dogs and lots of bark in the house from the movers. It was soooo awesome to have a cleaner floor. It was getting pretty bad. At least the babies "swifter" the place on a daily basis, but I was getting so grossed out with the clumps of dog hair all over their bellies whenever I picked them up. Which increased the amount of clothing that was dirty. Couldn't do much about that for awhile, but on Thursday I could finally do all the loads. The washer had a break down, literally, with all that washing, but at least I got all my loads in before it broke. Now I can go another 10 days, no problem. And it will be better. The floor is better and Whitney keeps getting better at crawling on her hands and knees, so she spends less time swiftering the place.

I also have almost everything put away. That was another great thing about this week. I could actually clean because everything was put away. And I wasn't spending every minute working on things to get settled. So we went sunbathing for 1/2 hours every day. The amount of time that the sun shines on our deck where the babies can crawl. This week has also been mostly sunny, which has helped my mood considerably. I can't believe how much missing the month of August of all things, has affected me. I feel like winter set in too soon. I have always hated the month of August because of the intense heat, but since I missed that intense heat, I guess I didn't get all the vitamin D. That's what all the women around here blame their health problems on, is the lack of vitamin D. Good idea. Don't worry. Maybe I will go on that trip down south to visit Sue and Stefanie like I had planned before we knew we were moving.

Anyway. Most of the time the babies were being cute was on the deck, and I can't leave them and go get the camera, so there aren't many new pics. You'll have to review last weeks. Mostly I'm really excited because I feel like a normal routine can return (except for Sundays of course!) and anyone can come visit now!! We'd love to have you and have the space for just about anyone.

We have also gotten to know our next door neighbor who has been awesome!! She absolutely loves the babies and even got them each a toy as a house warming gift!! She is grandma-age, so it is working out really well. I also found out how close the parks, library and shopping all are. It's getting to start to be a little like home. I found the pictures this week and was looking at the past couple of years. I never thought I'd say it, but I found myself missing Utah. We grew a lot as a couple and went through a lot of things, plus have some great friends there. And I will miss having snow at Christmas, but I'm sure it will work out for us this year as we do things to make it feel like home.

For baby news, Whitney loves to pull to stand and Tucker likes to push and pull drawers open. I guess the high chair and dog dishes were a preview. Whitney had her first taste of a pinecone. She made a face, but didn't spit it out, whatever that means. Their doctor visit went well. Tucker is 28.5" and Whitney is 27.5". The nurse says Tucker weighs 21 pounds and Whitney weighs 19 pounds but I didn't believe it. I went home and weighed them again. According to our scale, Whitney weighs 19 pounds and Tucker weighs 23 pounds. That makes way more sense. I feel like my arm is going to break off whenever I carry Tucker (which is a lot lately as they are going through an "I only want mommy" phase). It also makes sense because Tucker just fits his size 4 diapers and 12 month clothes, most of which say 20-24 pounds. So I'm right because moms are always right. The babies had egg the first time this week. Typical reaction. Whitney devoured it as soon as she knew it was food and Tucker made a face and chewed slowly until he decided it was good, then opened his mouth for more and more and more.

I'll try to get more pics this week. It should be easier because Grandma Kim is coming Friday and Halloween is next week!! So fun!

tada!

Whitney first learning obstacles. She is excited about it, but it looks uncomfortable. Aug 2010
Whitney really learning how to crawl. She had this day where chasing a toy on the smooth floor was fun, but it kept getting stuck behind the toilet. Sept 2010
Whitney playing in the morning.
Whitney and Tucker playing in the morning She rules the toys. Sept 2010
Tucker playing in the morning
Tucker learns to pull himself on the toys. Whitney no longer reigns. Sept 2010
Whitney at the Sculpture park. Sept 2010
Tucker learns to stand at the window. Sept 2010. Whitney looks on. big deal. She already knows that trick.
Whitney and Tucker at the park. Sept 2010
Double babies.
Babies in the swing.
hey aunti jill! Recognize these? This was the last night they could fit in these pjs at the same time. Sept 2010
Rocky has been ousted. Aug 2010
Tucker christens kitchen with the first diaper change. 10/11/10
Whitney checking out the new window. This shirt glows in the dark, by the way. 10/11/10
Who's having more fun playing? 10/14/10
Whitney is not so sure about this new weather. Aug 2010
View from the duck tour 8/10
Overlooking Puget sound. The sculpture park. I spent a lot of time there enjoying the view. 8/10

The babies at the Sculpture park with the space needle in the background 8/10
All of us on the duck ride 8/10

Tucker and Whitney playing in the window the first time in Seattle. 8/10
The babies at the Sculpture park 8/10
Our first dinner in Seattle. Jim made awesome seafood, of course. 8/10

Sammy traveling to Seattle 8/10
Rocky traveling to seattle 8/10


Tada! We moved in. I guess I forgot to blog last week. I think I started it, but then my brother called, so that ended that. This week was quite the adventure moving. I would have to say having someone move you definitely is worth it. The advantages for someone moving you outweigh the disadvantages, although other things happen that wouldn't happen if you moved yourself. Like possibly getting someone else's stuff. The truck showed up Tuesday to deliver our stuff. It was supposed to come last Friday, but that was due to an underwriter at the bank that caused that. We closed on Friday morning and it was recorded at the courthouse at 4:30 pm. 30 min before closing time for a three day weekend due to Columbus Day. Perfect. Because we camped in our house on Monday night, something we wouldn't have been able to do until the house was officially ours.

So back to things that happen when someone else moves you. I didn't realize the process, otherwise I would have made Jim stay home from work on Tuesday. As the movers pulled stuff off the truck, you are supposed to check off the numbered item on this list so they know we have it. Then you tell them where to put it. Which is awesome when you are not trying to entertain or feed crying babies that are clingy due to all the changes in the past few days. Most of the time the babies were good or it was during a nap time, but there were some crazy hours to hold two babies and hold them outside. Thank heavens it wasn't raining, a real miracle here. So they started pulling things off the truck, after the guy double checked we were the correct Andersons. A few items into pulling stuff off the truck, several bed items came off that I didn't recognize. They stopped unloading the truck and everything was double checked again, when I suddenly remembered that we had packed Noelle's stuff, including her daybed, which is the stuff I didn't recognize. Opps. The driver said, "Mandy! You scared me!!!" I might have stressed him out. Well, as much as you can stress out an Islander.

Then I discovered the vacuum was present but is missing the top. The part that keeps the dirt in. Rats!! It was the last off the truck, so I think it fell when they opened the truck and didn't find all the parts when they put it together, or it got moved around in the warehouse here. I guess our stuff was in a sort of cubby for 2 months. The dogs tracked in all sorts of bark and pine needles and Whitney is having a grand old time vacuuming without a vacuum. For some reason it is very fascinating to pick up scraps of bark and eat them before Mommy notices.

Then the third party crating guy shows up. He was asking the moving guys (who were at this time unpacking all of my boxes, so there was paper, boxes and loose stuff everywhere on any flat surface) where different things were for the baby cribs, the washer and dryer, and the TV. I think he was irritated. I guess the third party crater on the other end didn't leave instructions on how to put the crib together. The guy here had to guess and ended up putting it together 3 times. Then the washer hose was broken in the move, but he didn't notice it, so there was water all over the place when he went to check that it was in good working order. At least he checked before I did. Then the movers thought at first that they had to put together the tv, so they had started opening the crate a little, so the third party guy was looking for parts, walking around asking the mover guys where a box was and they said it was unpacked... and so on. It was a zoo. All during this time there are 4 other guys plus two babies and me all making lots of noise.

Something else that always happens is that not all the stuff comes off the truck. Parts of shipments often get left in the warehouse. Once the truck was unloaded and all the numbers were checked off, I went through all the items that were not received (about 20), most of which were all Jim's. I thought it was funny, but he didn't. Half of his desk didn't show up. His Ikea TV stand and chair weren't there. His desk bookshelf was there, but not the bookcase it goes to. So all of his office gadgets and books were strewn all over the floor, but nothing to put them in. Like I say, I thought it was funny, but he didn't. Oh yeah. His grill didn't make it the first trip, either. Or his bike. It ended up coming the next day, though. I didn't notice anything missing. Until yesterday. I can't find my piano music. There is one box that I packed (possibly my piano music) and one box they packed of clothes that never got checked off, but then there are a ton of boxes in the garage, so maybe it's there. I really need to find my box of sponges and cleaning rags, too, but I'm not ready to tackle the garage. I have to say, next time someone moves in, I know exactly what helps them unpack. Pulling everything out. Even though it was a huge mess and I had to barricade the babies to a certain part of the house, at least I could see everything and all I had to do was put everything away. It saved a ton of time to not deal with the boxes and paper all over the place.

Anyway, we are really enjoying our new house. I love all the trees I can see and we've been lucky with the weather so far. There has been sunshine during part of the day every day this week.

For baby news, Whitney is getting to be a real speed crawler. She crawls on her hands and knees most of the time, instead of military crawling and is really good at feeding herself. She really loves chasing balls and is having a blast with all of her "new" toys that I pulled out of storage. She pulls to stand on this mini table/toy thing and has a great time banging on it and singing about it, too. And she hates the vacuum cleaner. Every time I tried to make it run (at the apartment last week) she chases it like she wants to kill it. Smart girl.

They often play together, chasing balls, fighting over the frisbee and crawling around following the dogs. Tucker finally grasped the concept of feeding himself small bits of food this week, too, and has long mastered holding the bottle. He is really talking up a storm and smiling at anyone that looks his way. I trimmed up his hairline again, but that's as far as I got. He is a lot more wiggly. This may be a two person job for a little while. He continues to spit and growl lots too. He also hammed it up at the title company and loved sitting in the big chair.

Something I got a big kick out of is when Jim was playing with the babies. They were playing with a toy that sings a song. The song was playing when the babies hit it and stopped the song. Jim said "Oh! I like that song".

Lots of the pictures were of the first part of seattle, since I didn't have this computer to get the pictures off, so enjoy! The videos are of the babies chasing balls, eating, and Tucker likes to push things back and forth. Like the dog dishes. And high chairs.