Dada's Day

Father's Day was awesome. I think. I mean, it wasn't my day or anything, but I think all in all it was a success. Mase & Jake were super sweet this year and got their Dada an irish breakfast...mmm...cholesteral. Two large framed pictures of themselves. A bottle of Jameson's. And a massage. And he only changed one poopy diaper all day.

Here are some festive pics from the morning.


Jacob enjoys Dada's Irish Breakfast. He's clearly English.


Sopping up the sausage in brown sauce. Another sign of a true Englishman.


And now he's onto the whiskey.


Mason read's Dada's card. She's very advanced.


"Look how funny I am", Mason recounts.

My LITTLE GYM Stars

Last Thursday was Mason & Jake's last class at "The Little Gym". It was "show" day were they were supposed to show off all their skills that they've been learning since February. And they have mad skills, lemme tell you. They have both mastered the forward roll. They are really into the backwards roll. And they both can swing from the parallel bars. Mason is also able to walk on the low balance beam. Yay Mase.

They are taking the summer off from gymnastics but will resume again in September. Joy.

Post Match

So the game is over and a 1-1 draw means everyone won. But, I hear you plead with anticipation, which kid cheered for which team. Well the solution we came up with was to dress Mason in an England shirt and Jacob in a U.S. shirt for the first half and then switch them round at half time. Genius, I know. Big shout out to Dave and Jo for hosting 19 adults and 12 kids for the game this afternoon. Here are some pics - get ready for a cute alert!


First-half outfits. Jacob sporting a New England Revolution top and Mason in a little England number.


All change at half time. Mason switches her allegiance to the U.S.


Jacob, in his England shirt, can't believe that it's going to finish in a draw. And there are no more chips left either.


You have to train them young - Jacob's sent out to the cooler to get daddy a beer.


Just to show that, eventhough we may cheer for different teams, we still love each other.

Game Day

The World Cup has started and today the U.S. plays England. So here's the dilemma - who do the twins cheer for? They're half-English and half-American. Of course the easy way out would be to make one of them cheer for England and one for the U.S. but who should cheer for whom? Would this breed a sense of rivalry into our kids? Will Mason throw Jacob's tea into the harbor or will Jacob declare independence from his sister? Maybe, after they've paid for years of therapy in their 20s, it will all lead back to how their parents forced teams upon them in the toddler years. No - there has to be a better way of dealing with this and we think we have a solution. Pics to follow...

Pigtails Part Deux

And the cuteness just keeps on coming.

Yes, the both know their A,B,Cs. And if you're lucky Mason will sing it to you. Jacob will say it very shyly.

Yes, Mason wants to eat chicken nuggets for every meal. And asks for "Chick".

Yes, they both know how to say ketchup.

Yes, Jacob likes to get his hair combed out and products put in.

Yes, they both tell you when they have boo boos now.

And they can recognize letters. It's insane. I had a t-shirt on yesterday that said, "My heart belongs to a chemist." And Mason actually came up to the shirt and pointed out there was an "M" in there for Mason.

The other hilarious thing is that if I manage to get up early and take a shower before I get them out of their cribs and I walk in their bedroom with my hair still wet, Mason always shouts, "Wet hair. Wet hair." It's like the cutest thing ever.

Crazy kids.

Every single day they continue to amaze me. I wonder what they'll do today.

Pigtails in the House!

And no, they're not Jacob's. Let the "awwwww that's so cute" begin.

Dadapalooza Day Two

I survived the night. So did the kids. Although there was a moment when Jacob woke up at 2am and needed a bit of comforting - I think he had a nightmare that mom had gone away for the weekend and left him with dad. The morning started with meeting Burke and James to go to the water park. Please note that this is a park that even the mom's haven't taken the kids to yet but the brave dads (in place of brave, you could substitute stupid) took it on. Actually it was a bit of an anticlimax - Mason just wanted to go on the slides and wasn't interested in the water at all and Jacob was a little concerned by the fountains. He spent most of the time standing at least 10 yards from any water, trying to catch it in a cup. Bless. Finally he ventured to the smallest fountain but ran away everytime it started shooting water (pics below).

After lunch and nap we played the air mattress game again and then dressed up in dad's T-shirts. Finally Burke and James came round and we all ate a tasty dinner. I have to say Jacob and Mason were so well behaved for me - I think they could smell my fear. Ann came back from Atlantic City, fully refreshed and ready to take on the twins for the rest of the summer. I'm going to take the next month off 'cos it's the World Cup.


Jacob builds up the courage to approach the baby fountain


The fountain senses his presence and unleashes its fury


The wrath of the fountain is too much for poor Jacob


Mason, dressed in daddy's Dandy Wahols tour T-shirt, looks like a wizard


4 babies enjoying a civilized meal. Not a single thrown green bean in sight.

Dadapalooza Day One

So Ann's in Atlantic City sitting by the pool, drinking Martinis, whilst I'm at home with the twins. Some would call it role-reversal, some may remark 'metrosexual' but I like to look at it as giving my wife, who looks after the kids far more than me, a well-deserved break. Plus there's gold-coated brownie points at stake here and I intend on banking them and using them at a later date!

Dadapalooza started off great. The kids slept in an extra 15 minutes this morning which gave me time to freshen up with a shower and I got them out of bed at 7:45. After the 'milk ritual' (see below) that relies on Mason getting Jacob's milk and delivering it to him (this boy will have a rude awakening when HE gets married!) we played in the lounge for a bit, had a tasty breakfast, and got dressed in the kind of clothes a dad would choose - Jacob in a Darth Vader T-shirt and Mason in, well anything that didn't look too slutty.

We then headed to the park (sensible dad slathering them in sunblock lotion and taking them before it got too hot). After lunch we invented two new games, took a nap and then went to see Burke and James for more fun and dinner before coming home for a bath and straight to bed (they were very tired after such a fun-filled day).

'Wait a minute,' I hear you say. 'What about the two new games you invented?' The first involved two babies and an air-mattress. It's played by allowing babies to run and jump onto the air-mattress (boo boo factor 2). The second involved two babies, two flashlights (torches for those of us who speak English like the Queen) and a dark room. It's played by placing babies in dark room with a flashlight (TORCH!) each and observing (boo boo factor 1.5). Both were tons of fun and kept all three of us entertained for over an hour. As you can see both are low on the boo boo scale which is a scale that measures the likelihood of baby injury whilst playing. A boo boo of 1 is a minor fall or scratch whereas a boo boo factor of 10 would constitute a loss of limb or worse, such as you might get playing the 'jumping out of window' game.

The day is over. The kids are sleeping. All three of us have had lots of fun for the whole day and no one got hurt. Just to prove it there are some pics below. I can't wait for tomorrow!


Mason chasing Jacob in the park


Fun playing on an air mattress, listening to Jon Spencer Blues Explosion


More fun on a mattress


Boo boo factor increases to 2.5 for somersaults near the edge


Jacob LOVES falling onto the air mattress


Dancing to Laurie Berkner's 'I'm Gonna Catch You' with Burke and James. See how much fun the kids have when the mom's go away?

Pics, Pics and more Pics!!

Some recent pics...including the ones from Memorial Day Weekend in Boston.

Daddy Duty

As I had mentioned, I'm off to Atlantic City this weekend with some of my other twin mom friends. We leave tonight (probably after the babies go down) and come back on Sunday, prob late afternoon. Harv is in charge. So call him. He could use your support.

:)

Dip, Oh-dear-me, Mommy & Footlong Hotdogs

Many many MANY things have been going on the past couple weeks. Sorry I haven't had time to update. Been still doing that working thing. Oy. It just keeps going on. How can I refuse. And when I'm not doing the working thing I'm still doing the mommy thing. Ha. Joke. Not that funny.

Anyway...let see.

Both the kids are becoming very VERY verbal. They are talking up a storm as I have mentioned before. Every day they say more. And more. It's awesome. My favorite things they say are "pictures & mix" - which means they want to me to plug in the camera so they can look at pictures of themselves and listen to the "baby party mix" on my ipod. "Ketchup" and "Dip". Same thing. Mason has started to call ketchup, ketchup. Jacob sometimes does, but mostly calls it dip. "Oh-dear-me!" This is a phrase they learned from Nana Sandra. And they still keep saying it. Mason has started to call me "Mommy". Wicked cute. Oh, and they both say very very clearly, "Jack's Show. Jack's Show." Which is on of their favorite Nick Jr. Shows. They also call each other by name which couldn't be cuter..."Mase", Jacob says. And "Jay-Jay" says Mason.

Last weekend we were in Boston visiting grandma and grandpa and the fam for Memorial Day weekend and the kids had a blast! They went on the swan boats in Boston Common. Hung out at the park with Aunt Jennie, Aunt Lena & Uncle Mat. Went swimming in a blow up pool outside grandma & grandpas house. They went to a BBQ. Very full weekend. Oh yes.

Highlight of the weekend was probably the footlong hotdog Jacob ate at Joe's American Bar and Grill on Newbury St. Yep, he ate the whole thing. It was pretty amazing. No bun. Just the meat. That boy sure does like his hot dogs.

It's also been hot out so we've been sporting our swimsuits. Well, the kids have. Not me. You're welcome.

Two more really cute things that have happened in the past week -- Mason has started a trend of when she gets up in the morning (I have their sippy cups full of milk on the coffee table) she runs out and gets Jacob's milk and brings it to him. She is SO excited to do it. He is SO excited to get it from her.

Yesterday, I took Jacob to gymnastics. (I alternate kids every other week). Anyway, he was less than enthusiastic all class. He seemed so sad. Or tired. At one point he just lay down on the mat while two other boys ran around him. And he didn't wanna do ANYTHING. Just hold my hand and sit there. I thought maybe he was getting sick. Anyway, I took him home from class and Sarah had Mason in the high chair just about to feed her lunch. Jacob bursts through the door and says, "Mase! Mase! Mase!" and starts running around and tickling her feet. It was like a new child had emerged. He missed his sister. He really did. Couldn't have been cuter.

I'll try and post some pics later...if I have time. I'm off to AC. What??