Are you kidding me.....

I left the girls and Royce upstairs for about a half an hour while I got some things ready for a shoot I have in the morning. I heard a lot of slamming and banging (what's new) but it was drowned out by the girls music CD on full blast and Rasa yelling "dance! dance! dance!" It's all sort of a blur now but I think at one point I remember Royce hollering down the hall for Adia to get out of the bathroom followed by a slam and crash. Or maybe it was a crash and then a slam. We normally let them explore in there because they like opening the cabinet doors and climbing in and out of the tub.

I go back up stairs and get the girls ready for bed. I decided to use the bathroom quickly before we put them to bed and you can imagine my surprise when I lift the lid and there in the toilet bowl is a massive college text book crammed half in the water, half out and completely water logged.

This screams Adia.

Random Cuteness.

Last night I was pushing Adia and her baby doll in the swing outside. She put her baby over her shoulder and in the softest and sweetest voice says, "good girl, baby".

Just before lunch was ready yesterday I gave the girls high chair trays a good scrub down. I grabbed each girl, put her in her chair and then put the damp trays over their laps. Rasa looks at the few water drops on her tray and says "It's raining!"

Come as you are.

This is how Adia rolls. I especially love that she rests her tiny feet on the table and the threatening look she's giving me while clutching her fork ever so tightly (as I quickly back away with my camera).

Royce and I are come as you are type of people. You are welcome to be who you are because you are never anyone else better than you are yourself. The girls are unique and different people and they have likes and dislikes like every other person to grace this earth. Rasa has a thing for hats and sunglasses right now. It's ok that they ruin a perfectly adorable outfit (deep breaths). Adia is still fixated with "pretty's" and each day has demands for not only what she will wear but where she wants it put on her body.

I absolutely LOVE that toddlers could care less what other people think they look like. In many ways I wish we never lost that (According to my Sister I never did...I think I dress cute!). It's all expression right now be it as silly, cute, obnoxious as it may be, it feels good! It gives them control and it makes them happy. FREEDOM TO BE in it's purest form.

People have said to me "wait until they want to wear it out in public". They do and it will never bother me because I love them the way they are and the way they want to be today.

Words on top of words!

Rasa said her first four word sentence today:

"I kiss the baby"

:)

Wordless Wednesday 25 - My Heart & Soul

x

I hate being sick.

I'm watching the girls play outside through the window in my bedroom that has tiny fingerprints all over it. It's hot but they don't mind. If I was out there I'd hand them the hose that they love to spray each other with and fill up the kiddie pool or water table. I've been away from them a lot more than usual working lately and they notice. I was hoping to spend all of today with them since I worked yesterday morning but yesterday afternoon I got nailed with a bug that's keeping me hurting and in bed.

I leave the door to my room open and they grace me with their presence every few minutes leaving me toys next to my head. It's not the same, I want to pick them up and throw them in the air and sing and dance with them. No one does those things better than Mamma. Even though Royce is managing just fine I can't resist hollering out suggestions on what he should do to keep them happy. I'm sure he loves that.

I hate feeling like I'm missing out on them, even just a couple days.

Wordless Wednesday 24 - Little Ra

Pretty?

The girls, Adia in particular, have been voicing their likes and dislikes when it comes to clothes and shoes. Rasa had a thing all winter where she refused to wear a pair of purple shoes (that she picked out in the store!) but hasn't had issues with anything else since. Adia is a girly girl at this point and will scream and jump when she's given new clothes and shoes that are PINK or super girly. She loves sandals and dresses and calls everything like that "pretty". Rasa likes to be naked and wiggles so much when I try and dress her that I've been very tempted the past few weeks to give up and bring her out in the buff. If only I wasn't so paranoid that everyone in public is a creepy perv. Probably better that way.

I went shopping for the girls fall/winter clothes last week and it was different than before. Clothes looked like Adia or they looked like Rasa. They really have defined themselves right now...already. It could change and probably will but I thought it was fun to pick things that they would like, not necessarily things that I loved. When I got home Rasa was uninterested but Adia was dancing around almost overwhelmed by her pink shoes and all of the girly clothes.

In the girls closet there are about a half a dozen grocery bags filled with clothes from the past year that are too small or out of season. They like to rummage through and bring things to me to put on them. I humor them and usually put whatever it is on over the top of whatever they're wearing until they pick something else they have to have on and we switch it up. Yesterday Adia brings me this pair of blue winter footsie pajamas that she wore last winter and is a bit too tall to wear them again this year. I had just gotten her dressed to leave for music class and she cries "Prettttty! Pretttty!!!" as she held up these winter pj's. Huh? Pretty? I should add it's 92 degrees outside and muggy like the deep south. Fine. I put the pajama's on her, she's happy and we're late for class because it takes me ten minutes to convince her to wear something a bit lighter. She's settles on a t-shirt and a pink skirt, go figure. Maybe the heat caused a temporary lapse in her pretty judgement?

Adia delights in her "pretty":







Rasa pouting because she brought me a pair of pants that I put on her legs when she wanted them on her head and I really should have known better:

Sisters

I SO wish I would have had one of my cameras nearby to capture this moment but nooooo just my cell phone. Adia just walked over to Rasa and sat in her lap! All snuggled up just how they like things the best.

Wordless Wednesday 23 - Adia's new kicks

"I poop mama"

Rasa has a very good vocabulary and for a few months now right after she would poop in her diaper she would come up to me and say "I poop Mama"and grab her diaper. The past few weeks she's been telling me during and sometimes BEFORE she poops. I have zero expectations of potty training early - to be honest I'm just not up for it anytime soon and realistically from anything I've read it sounds like 3 is the magic age to expect potty training anyhow. Adia will start to take her diaper off after she poops but I don't believe she's all that aware before it happens.

At 19 months is it even worth getting a potty for them, specifically Rasa since she's aware before she has to go that she's going to? I'd love to hear from my friends with potty trained kids what you think.

A girl with a curl

There once was a girl, who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her head
When she was good, she was very very good
When she was bad, she was horrid

"Happy"

Yesterday I hung up the girls swing that's been sitting in the garage forgotten about all summer long. Adia spotted it first so I gave her a turn and she was delighted; giggling, kicking her feet wanting me to swing her higher and higher. Rasa paced back and forth pointing and whining a little but easily quieted with my reassurance that it was her turn next.

After about ten minutes Adia wanted out and Rasa's squealed and held her arms up for me to lift her into the swing for her turn. She felt the ropes and the tray with her hands, looked at me with a huge toothy smile and said "HAPPY".

Me too baby girl!

Wordless Wednesday 22 - THE CABIN!

Click here for album.

The what haps

The girls are really enjoying the summer! They spend every night terrorizing the neighborhood, running free and visiting everyone in a two block radius of our house. Our next door neighbor has adopted them as her only grandchildren (cookies and gifts included!) and they love her so much they run over there first every night. Last night Adia sat patiently waiting on her front step and when Skip came out Adia grabbed her hand and walked her over to our place to show her the pool - lol!

Last week one of my best friends lost her Dad. She lives up in Grand Marais about 45 minutes from my parents cabin. My Mom (BLESS HER HEART!) and I brought the girls up and decided to make a week of it. We stayed the first night in Duluth to break up the 5.5 hour drive. My Mom (aka Nanna) booked us a fabulous suite at a brand new hotel in Canal Park. The girls HAD A BLAST on the balcony watching the horse drawn carriages, the seagulls, people and pets on the board walk. I have never seen them so excited about anything in their lives! When we first arrived at the hotel we let them explore and they tore around every square inch of that place; the dinning area, lounge, 1st floor, 2nd floor, 3rd floor etc! After three hours in the car they deserved it.

Day 2 was hard because Adia wouldn't nap in the car so therefore she didn't nap. Mix that with eye teeth popping through and you have a crying screaming combination. All in all she did really well and Rasa was an angel, yep I said Rasa was an angel! Their personalities have flipped yet again. We made it up to the cabin around 2 and the girls were overjoyed to watch the excavating my parents are having done on their property. They saw a bulldozer and a crane type thing in action. It kept them busy for an hour easily. My Dad babysat for the night while my Mom and I attended the Memorial Service. My other best friend was there so it was nice for the three of us to be together.

Day 3 we had my two best friends, Jess and Amy, Derek and Weston (Jess' kids) and Myron (Amy's dog) up to the cabin for a day at the beach and a pontoon ride. It was lovely and all had fun. Adia was cracking me up because Amy's dog is a Great Dane and she kept pointing at him and saying "Neeeeh". In her defense he is as big as a horse! Day 4 and 5 were filled with cabin fun, hanging in the sun, great food and Papa's cupcakes, on the boats, at the beach and finally at Jess' for lunch on our way out. What a beautiful trip and even though it's so hard to see a friend in pain over such a great loss it's special to be there so they know how very much they are loved.

Thank you Nanna for such a beautiful trip and your help and energy!

Other than that I've taking on a small business venture that's just sort of taken off under my feet. I decided to take my passion for photography and run with it and since my little sweethearts and this blog were my inspiration I've named it Doubledutch Photography. I've been busy every week and having a lot of fun being creative! It's exciting and busy and time consuming and all of that in one but I'll manage! My priority will always be with the girls FIRST and foremost. Normally my sessions only take me away for a couple hours at a time, most of my work is done on my laptop at home but I had my first full day away from them a few weeks ago when I was asked to assist another beautiful and talented photographer in shooting a wedding. We had a blast but at the end of the day my heart hurt and I actually cried driving home I missed my babies so much! I've got a couple more weddings I'm assisting over the next couple weeks so I'm sure it will get easier and after all, they are at home with SuperDad having a ton of fun and not missing me lol! My goal is to just stick with two sessions a week, that alone is enough work for the entire week with editing and then I won't feel like I'm having to sacrifice my time or quality of time with my precious little girls. Wish me luck!

Gymnastics is over now and we had a lot of fun but probably won't continue until maybe winter or even next year. The girls are still in their weekly music class and we signed up for Fall session! They're also doing a baby book club each week and "school" starts again mid September! The summer will be over before we know it!