Singin'

Sort of. We discovered that when we sing in monotone, the babies join along. It's hilarious. But don't worry, we are working on their consonants all the time. In fact, we think that Eleanor may be saying "Mom" and "DaDa" to us already.

The three of us are making noise in the video below - until Eleanor excitedly grabs Ian's face. He seemed fine at first, but then I had to intervene.

Singin' and grabbin'

Swingin'

My neighbor Laura showed me how to swing both babies at one time. We all think it's the coolest thing - the babies seem to prefer it to swinging alone!

Eleanor's side



Ian's side

A window into the near future

This afternoon we're going to visit our former neighbor who has 14-month-old twin boys. Each time we visit, it's an eye-opening experience. I remember watching her feed them at the same time as newborns and thinking I'd never be able to pull it off. Then, when they came to our baby shower in Annapolis as five-month-olds, I remember wondering how they made it out the door that morning. And when I last saw them, they were 9-months-old - only a little older than Eleanor and Ian are right now. Both boys were scooting on their bellies to get to their mother and whining to be picked up. At the same time. I remember thinking that it looked a little tricky.

Ian's scooting and whining now (not literally right now - right now he's sleeping peacefully in his crib upstairs). He likes to check out shoes, dog toys, and electronic gadgets. Yesterday morning, in the course of an hour, he made four frightening moves:

1. Crawled over to the outlet in his room where the humidifier is plugged in
2. Crawled onto a bookshelf in the living room (I was freaked out but impressed with this)
3. Crawled over the threshold of the back door, which we leave open for Jorge (this left my little guy dirtier than I've ever seen him - it was his first mid-day clothing change that wasn't the result of a bodily function)
4. Crawled over to explore Jorge's food and water bowls

By the time their morning nap came around, I felt like I'd had an entire day's worth of new experiences.

Thankfully, Eleanor still enjoys sitting and rolling. The scooting she does tends to be backwards, lodging her under furniture. She gets very frustrated, but at least she doesn't get very far.

I don't know what I'll do when they're both moving ... I'll have to watch the other twin mom today for some strategies.

Where we've been

(Where haven't we been???)

We apologize to all of you who have visited Two For Fun only to find the same old post. It has been a very busy six weeks for us, so we beg your pardon for neglecting you. We’re going to attempt to make up for some lost time in this post. Below is a (not-so-brief) photo essay of major Perese-Gallagher events since mid-March.

1) We all went to Pittsburgh for Easter. That Saturday, my mom and I got out for pedicures and a little shopping while Kevin and PopPop took care of the babies. On Easter Sunday, we went to Aunt Mary Pat and Uncle Tony's to visit with the O'Connell clan.

Great Grandma O'Connell and Ian on Easter

Great Grandma O'Connell and Eleanor on Easter

2) The following weekend, Kevin and I went to Chicago for Ayelish and Aziz’s wedding and left the babies with GiGi and PopPop Gallagher. It was such a treat to get away for a long weekend and leave the babies in such capable and loving hands. We had a wonderful, restful time (once we recovered from imbibing at the wedding). GiGi and PopPop had a great time too, but they were exhausted by the time we got back home.

Millennium Park

Ayelish and Aziz at their wedding reception

PopPop and GiGi with Eleanor and Ian

PopPop with the kids on the porch

3) The week we got back, both babies started sitting up on their own...

Ian and Eleanor munching away on pieces of their play mat - a favorite past time

4) Then Ian started crawling...

In this video, he's crawling to the tune of Kevin's guitar and my cackle (you'll have to cock you head to the left to watch!)

5) And Eleanor cut two bottom teeth. (We have no decent pictures of them, but they sure are cute and sharp!)

4) In mid-April, we celebrated Uncle Joe Perese’s birthday in Philadelphia. (Again, we have no pictures of the event but we had a great time seeing the Perese clan!)

5) During the following work week, our old friends and housemates Dylan and Gina came through town. Dylan came over with our old friend Ruben after a job interview in DC. It was awesome to see both of them and we're excited at the prospect of Dylan possibly returning to DC. Only a few days later, Gina and Daniel and their two-year-old daughter Zoe came and stayed with us. Zoe is adorable.

Zoe and Ian

5) In the last weekend of April, Kevin and I went to Connecticut for Beth and Patrick’s wedding and left the babies with Aunt Karen and Nannie Perese. On the way back, we met Kara and Dylan’s new baby Ashland and visited with Mannie, Elisa, and Gabriel in Brooklyn. (Unfortunately, we lack documentation of Ashland, Aunt Karen, and Nannie Perese.)

Beth and I at her wedding reception

Gabriel napping on his dad's chest

7) And finally, this past weekend, we went car camping with friends at Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania. It was fun to hang out with the old Penn State crowd and their offspring. We slept in an embarassingly large tent with enough space to accommodate two adults and a pack-n-play. It was a challenge to take care of the basic business of camping (setting up and taking down the tent, cooking, eating) while wearing a baby, but folks were quite generous in their willingness to hold Eleanor and Ian, so we managed to pull it off. And it's a minor miracle that all of our gear fit into the Camry. Who needs a minivan when you've got a Camry?

SuperDad!

The Boys

The Girls

Baby Zoe, Ian, and Eleanor

(Dirty) Family Portrait