Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
Sunday, February 22, 2009

Random Thoughts from the Weekend

This weekend was pretty uneventful, but I did have a smattering of funny/questionable ideas/events to share:

1. Riley has started making a new noise. It is like a really forced laugh where she sounds like she is out of breath. It is much better than her yunting, but sometimes she pulls out a mashup of the two. It is shown in the first video. While we say we dont like the yunting, there is nothing funnier than a nice yunt at the quietest moment of mass. We learned that today.


2. Our babies like the dogs, especially Riley. She likes to pet him and grab him and lick him (we try to minimize that). Usually, a playful Frankie can bring even the most intense tanrum to an end. As opposed to Owen, he is good for something occasionally.


3. We stumbled upon Yo Gabba Gabba for the first time. We had been introduced to its glory by Brett a while back. I was surprised how intensely the girls watched this very odd show. If this is the only thing that can keep them content for an extended period of time, Ill take it, but this is some weird stuff. Check out this link. I wish it was the real video, but it is from someone videotaping their tv while watching it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1YoohYVKh4. you may have to copy and paste into your browser.


4. While taking a trip to Costco on a Saturday afternoon (not recommended for those who fear crowds and lines), I formulated a theory. We had the girls with us in their double stroller. Many people commented on their supreme cuteness, but mostly people either without kids or with older kids. We crossed paths with many people shopping with infants (capable of fitting in a carseat). They didnt throw a glance our way. I have two potential explanations for this: the first is that they have their own baby(s), so someone else's infant isnt that exciting for them. The second theory is that if they look and see a baby that is cuter that theirs, it would make them sad. Laurin still contests that parents have no ability to see their children as anything but the cutest babies ever, so it wouldnt matter if they saw another cute baby. I disagree, mostly because I have been able to objectively assess our girl's cuteness from the start. My fun addition to this theory is that people size up the parents before deciding if they want to look. Everyone with kids likes to laugh at the goofy looking infants that make up a large portion of the infant population. I think it would be fun if this theory became well known/acknowledged fact, I would look at everyone's babies just to mess with their heads, making them think that i thought we were more attractive than them.


5. People who design diapers are sadists. I dont think they are really trying to design diapers that will contain massive amounts of urine and/or liquid poo. Today, Laurin picked up Sanna to see if she pooped and somehow the poop shot out the back out the diaper and landed on her sock. I sadly did not take a picture. She was not as amused.

6. I have often wondered (as I trek up and down our many sets of stairs) if my first instinct would be to protect the baby or myself if I were to fall. I would hope I could do both, but if not I would hope I would protect the baby. In questioning my own parents about this I learned that my dad once fell down the stairs while carrying my sister. He admitted to first bracing himself, but he was able to grab her before she fell. With those faulty genes inside me I can no longer trust myself carrying the kids up and down the stairs. I have give those duties to Laurin until I hear of equal or greater negligence from her family.

If you couldnt tell, my writing style is what I call stream of conciousness. I must also state that Laurin has not part in writing any of these posts. Please dont blame her for my often questionable attempts at humor.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Good Babies = Fun Times

After days of odd behavior and bad interactions between our two little ladies, we were a bit concerned about the future of our sanity and our children's friendship. With a giant knock on wood, I present this video and a report that today was pretty good. Very minimal yunting, and no antagonistic behavior by Riley, or unnecessary crying by Sanna. The following video depicts what we hope will be the future of our ladies relationship. I am also including a few pics taken earlier in the day of the ladies hangin out in a calm, friendly manner . I must also note that one of our friends was suprised to hear we photograph our ladies every day. Are we odd for doing so? When you sit in the same room all day with multiple cameras in reach, photos happen. Maybe someday we will get bored with their new expressions and interactions, but until then, its 10-40 pics a day. Many videos too. Until Flickr/Blogger tell us they can no longer support our habit, we will go full speed ahead. Enjoy.







A Vision of the Future

So, in the last few days, our girls have begun to show their true colors. Apparently Sanna is a crybaby and Riley is an antagonistic bully. I feel this video accurately portrays our last few days. I wish I could have gotten a video of this interaction from the beginning, but you will have to understand that it normally starts with the two of them 'playing' on the blanket in the sitting position. Something frustrates Riley, so she lets out a yunt. Sanna starts to cry, so Riley turns to her and starts to feed the fire. We are in for a world for trouble I think.
Friday, February 13, 2009

Is This Normal?

Today, Riley has started making these awful grunting/yelling noises. It is so bad it makes Sanna cry. If you hold her, she doesnt make the noises. But, the last 2 or 3 times we put her in the sitting position, she yunts (yell/grunt) crazily. I forgot to add my other new word, horearms (arm equivalent of cankles, hand/forearm). Laurin is worried demons have taken over our daughter. Does she have mental problems? I hope not.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

And So It Begins.....

For the first time, the girls really interacted and played back and forth. Riley is a fan of her rings and one somehow got stuck on Sanna's foot. Riley can sit up forever now, which is fun. Sanna somehow rolled over in front of her and the fun began. We are in for some interesting times I think... There is also a projectile puke in here somewhere and some yappin. Sorry for Sanna's partial nudity. Suprisingly, she had a blowout and was not given new clothes prior to bedtime.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Weekend Video Fun







Thursday, February 5, 2009

New Poll

There is a raging debate in the Smith household. I wont tell you who represents each side, but we are debating which of the two pictures of the ladies in their swimsuits is cuter. We need as many votes as possible to make it a representative sample. And for all of you who dont like to vote against one baby or another, fear not. They are both in each picture.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The First (Acually Second) Meal

Here I present a very long video (6 min) of our ladies eatin solids for the second time today. The first meal wasnt nearly as funny as the second meal. For those of you who dont want to devote 6 minutes to watching our ladies eat rice cereal, I broke the video into two chunks. The second chunk is funnier in my humble opinion.





Sunday, February 1, 2009

Father Figure Needed



So, this weekend we enacted a crazy scheme to jam a house full of high school friends and their infants/toddlers into the Hendrickson's South Haven condo. There were 3 infants, two toddlers 8 parents, and Carey. All of us gathered to share some good times. The chaos was minimal. As expected, our girls were perfect angels. We were a little bit worried as Sanna has turned into a bit of a diva around 'strangers', which as of now is anyone besides Laurin and I. She took a little while to warm up to Carey, which isnt much of a suprise, but after that she was fine with everyone else. Out girls bounced, sat, and played contently all day long. There was lots of fist bumping from Owen and whining by Finnegan. Apparently Dan and Denise put some magic crystals in his diaper that magically migrated into his man parts to wreak havoc on our evening. We all took turns viewing/diagnosing/offering ideas to fix his business. Apparently Vicks' Vapo Rub is a bad idea. We were looking for vasoline and it certainly appeared to be vasoline based at a minimum. Laurin whipped out some bactimicin ointiment that we had for our ladies' diaper rash and it seemed to help. Finnegan also got a bath, which he seemed to like. He took one last hit from the Edmund mobile diner and fell asleep in Denise's arms. That finally allowed us to play "Battle of the Sexes" which I had bought at Walmart that morning because the cable and internet had been turned off by Laurin's evil, massicistic parents, who are in Florida for two months. Battle of the Sexes is a game that is supposed to ask the men questions that women would normally know and vice versa. The winner of the game is supposed to be the 'better' sex. It turns out that knowing a lot of answers to the questions that you are asked in this game means you are more a woman than a man, and that you should be embarrased. Can I help it that I am subjected to the eighteen iterations of 'The Hills', entertainment tonight, project runway, and Oprah on a daily/weekly basis. I am a man with a diverse knowledge base. Is it so wrong to know names of fashion designers and the Spice Girls? While we laughed at Dan for guess that the answer to the question "how did women in the 70s straighten their hair" was either with a curling iron, a beehive, or crimper, the end result was that his manliness was not questioned. No suprise, Dan and I won both times we played. If anybody asks, men are the better sex until someone tells me that their woman team somehow won that game. I would then challenge you to a playoff. The next morning my parents stopped by to shower us with gifts and get their monthly fix of baby face time. We got home in record time and the girls slept the whole way. Good times concluding a fun weekend.