Do you ever forget?

If you know the answer please let us know. . .

Will we ever forget the first time we went to the overture center with Cousin O, Aunt and Uncle'O, and Grandpa'OGI? It was the first time we got the stroller out, and wouldn't you know, Orson even wanted a ride. That same day we met Great Grandpa Jackson and Aunt Jean for the first time. It was a full day of car rides and visitors but you never wanted to go "nigh night". Will we forget the people in Culvers that you were watching, or how they laughed and pointed at "those cute little twins"? I will remember how Orson wanted to not wear his boots, or when he did they might be on the wrong feet. I'll remember today, like many others, where the three little grandkids played joyously with wide-eyed wonder of each other. Orson loves to point and say, "Izzy" and "Gabby" in a question/answer sort-of-way. It's precious.

Will we ever forget the first time we met Crystal and Zion? Their visit was, although unexpected for Ma'GI, never-the-less heavenly. I'll remember walking in and seeing Zion focused on his cottage cheese, avocado, and humus mix. . . then to have a similar wide-eyed wonder as he got to know Izzy, and then Gabby. It was a wonderful evening of learning to share, photo exhibition, and seeing three of the most beautiful 16 and 17 month old kids. We were introduced to the best bubbles (Crystal brought Gymboree bubbles. Who knew there is a difference, but there definitely is), a purple bouncing horse (which was fun for all), and to a sacred duck. You'll be happy to know, Zion even inspired Suzanne to want a baby boy - just like Zion. . . We'll see what happens. :)

Will we ever forget your first Easter when the candy didn't matter, the eggs were more a distraction (trying to figure out how to take the out of the basket and how many you could hold in your tiny arms) than a source of excitement. . . when you ate more hard-boiled eggs than should have been babyily possible (almost a dozen!). Will you forget how you played with the legos as the Badgers were beat by some small school (Davidson). I wish we could forget that. How long will we remember how you climbed in the "tent" set up in the living room, or getting "caught" when we put the "tubes" so you looked like a sausage in-a-can? Will we remember that at the BCOTH is where you discovered gram crackers? So much to remember, so many memories to sort out for a lifetime. . .

Will we ever forget the first plane ride to Columbus with the girls - can you say, Skybus? We will never forget that. They loved meeting all of the Otterbien staff and tennis families, JP, Easton shopping, and all the security at the Columbus airport. They may not of looked his way, but we saw Bart Starr in the Milwaukee airport. . . Will we ever forget how Gabby was Grandma's favorite, the look on her face when she tried a slice of lemon, or Izzy's blue lips after the blue whipped cream on her first ice cream bar sundae at Max & Ermas? Will we remember how generous grandma's and grandpas are giving baths, feeding dinners, babysitting so we Pa and Ma'GI could have a break, and so much more. . . ?

Do you forget the time your child is old enough to eat a grape and then pucker at the sour taste? Or will we forget that gram crackers are still as good as they were when we were kids? Does it fade in the memory how one of your children (Izzy) has horrible attachment anxiety when you try to leave her at the nursery at church or anywhere new? Will we forget how they learned to climb those stairs so long ago (December), and now they climb up and slide down with ease? Will we forget the days you didn't watch TV, or your attention span was as long as a page in a book? When you're old enough to brush your own teeth, will we forget the routine of lying with your arms out wide and under my legs, as you look up and shake your head "no" when you think it's time to quit the brushing. . . only for me to shake my head yes, it's not time yet.

Isabelle and Gabrielle are just amazing! We're so happy with their development - how they throw things like their sippy cup or any object when they're not getting their way. . . Their dancing is already better than mine. . . their little legs can kick and squirm when trying to get on a diaper or a pair of pants. . . their development is so good. Their weight is no 20 and 20.2 lbs, and their the same heights. . . They still have healthy lungs at the doctors, especially when they see "The nurse" with a needle. They are beginning to repeat words. One day I was trying to get ready and on my way up the stairs and just before I turn in our room, "HIIIIIII" echos out from Isabelle's crib. Ya gotta laugh. Gabby jumped up from a prone position, "Hiiiiiiii" not to be outdone. They stamp their little feet in their cribs with excitement, knowing that it's only moments before I'll rescue them - out of their cribs & out of plump full diapers.

Can't wait to create more memories we'll never forget. . .

Live'n Juicy - it's hard to imagine what it was like before Nov. 13th. . .

Pa and Ma'GI

March Maddness

It's the most wonderful time of the year. . . my sisters and grandpa all celebrate another year older. . . basketball conference tournaments, 1st and 2nd rounds of the NCAA Championships. . . the Master's is just around the corner for you Tiger fans (I'd say golf, but if you're a golf fan, you've got to be a Tiger fan). . .

The girls are loving this time of year, too. The snow is melting (only 3 feet of snow left), the days are sometimes warmer, we can begin to see the grass again, they don't have to wear their "Badger snow suits" (from grandpa), and they're letting their hair down a bit. There's quite a bit more of now, too. We can't wait to get them out in the wagons, strollers, backpacks, etc.! They've thought the moon roof on the car was fun - they giggled and goggled the whole way home from daycare with it open. Wait until we really start the outdoor adventures (canoes, bikes, hikes, parks. . .). Bill and I took his boys and the girls to the Children's Museum in Appleton yesterday. Their eyese were pretty wide-eyed as they explored the "apple slide", "giant vegatable room", and Izzy even pet (not voluntarily, but with dada's guidance) a few snakes - GIANT snakes. Well, some were small enough I let them crawl on me, and the Python was probably 100 lbs heavier than I could handle with Isabelle. :) Some 6 feet +, it was quite the day of exploring!

In the morning now, when we open the door up Isabelle usually jumps (literally) to her feet and says "HIIIIIII". Gabrielle is usually already standing (she's the earlier riser) and slapping her hand to her mouth like she's trying to blow kisses while saying, "Baaa MAAA, DDAAAA, BAAA". That's her favorite thing to say. Well, that and the both LOVE to say "BYYYYEEEE". Yesterday I took them for pancakes at McDonald's and we were at a table eating. Well, they were eating and doing more people watching. They LOVE to do that, too. Well, mid-bite, they both start yelling "BYYYYYYYEEEE BYYYYEEEEE" and waved their hands above their heads (a priceless sight). The women at the counter turned, not knowing she was saying good bye not only to the cashier, but to the two little girls at the table by the door. Needless to say, it was quite the sight.

More soon. . . need to upload the photos! Oh, and if any of you have advice on how we can get them to smile when we're taking pictures - cause they are so darn cute when they're smiling all day long. . . we could use some help. :) We did get some pictures from a photographer at day care and they were both smiling. . . so maybe I just need to act a little more cheesy when trying to get a picture.

Live'n Juicy,

Pa'GI

Time flies when you're having fun

Our apologies for such a long gap in entries. There's a lot of excuses (I've been traveling for work, we've all been sick with some sort of the flu, yada yada), but none of them are good. We'll try to do better going forward.

The girls - are GREAT! When you hear their little giggles, or see them in a 'struggle' over who's going to get the toy, book, cookie, etc., or if you lie on the ground and feel them crawl from one side over your belly and back. . . you will be living juicy!

As noted earlier, they did have their first five-alarm runny noses. This is something we haven't had to deal with, but I'm sure there will be many more opportunities in the years to come. It was like a faucet of goo from both nostrils. If the goo was Coca-cola we would have had a few cases of soda. Oh, and if we were a minute late in wiping, then we needed an SOS pad to scrap it off their lip, nose, cheeks, and hands. Fun stuff!! That was just the precursor to Suzanne and my flu's. NyQuil anyone?

A lot has happened in a month:

Highlights - Aunt Mandy and Mia came to visit! The girls love their aunts and uncles! They reached out for all of them almost immediately - when there were times that stranger anxiety has crept in other "new people". Grandma/pa J and Wendy came up for a few days, too. . . and then Auntie Wendy and their cousin Orson came up in a snowstorm to watch the girls so that I could go out of town for work. . . and snowstorm is saying it lightly. I'm not sure what the technical qualifications of a blizzard are, but it was pretty much a blizzard! Thanks WJ!

The girls have started day-care on at the beginning of Feb. After the first 4 days of crying when I dropped them off (they told me they cried for 5 mins., but then are fine). . . now it's just part of their routine. They can't wait to get their coats off, see Ms. Judy, and play in their "Imagination" room. It was the only day-care that wasn't depressing - the teachers are very engaged, the facilities are nice, and we know they are getting a lot of TLC! It's funny meeting parents during drop off/pick up - they say, oh, my boy or girl love playing with those two twins. They are social butterflies at 16 months no doubt.

They are still cutting some teeth - currently their molars - but their teeth have really whitened over the last month. They were lacking some calcium when they had their first teeth come in (they almost looked grey), but now they have some pearly white smiles.

Well - more next time! And we'll try to not wait so long. . .

The Honeymoon continues

The girls are teething and Living Juicy!

No one told us how painful teething is - it makes me cringe seeing their little gums splitting with the clear/white teeth coming through. It's hard not to OD them on Orajel, as that's what I'd want on my teeth. "Pea-size" dosage doesn't seem like enough, but don't worry - even the slightly larger pea-size dose we give them still doesn't seem to do anything in soothing them. :) Poor little angels.

The good news - outside of those teething times, we live in our honeymoon of a new family. Some of our funnest observations are as follows:

A) The girls have striking personalities - and they are sisters through and through. It's entertaining to see them "work out" who gets the toy (that could be just a piece of paper, or their favorite toy seems to be the phone - they hold it up to their ear and babble "dada?, yayayay," which is probably the Good Lords evil way of foreshadowing my future. . . ). They battle it out with a few pushes, some "BAAAAHHHHHSS" or in most cases with a nice YANK soon followed by running and holding it above their head with one hand as the other chases while crying (as our neighbor keenly observed, "All noise, no water").

B) Today my future hopes came true: I hoped that when the girls get older they will police each other - cause I know Suzanne and I won't always be there when they are misbehaving or are tempted to do the forbidden. . . although we'll be there to "handle" the situation when we find out. :) But hopefully by them policing each other we won't have to "handle" as much as my parents had to. . . Well, as some of you may know we're trying to ween the girls from sucking their thumbs. It was cute and a necessity to make it home - but being the hard-nosed/cold turkey believer, that time is over. As our dentist guided us in our first visit (Dec. 10), it's better to stop early because if we wait it may delay potty training or other developmental habits - because we shouldn't focus on changing more than 1 major change at a time. Well - today Isabelle saw me "take" Gabby's thumb out. . . much to Gabby's displeasure. Later in the day I saw Isabelle look at Gabrielle and give her this look that said, "OOOOOO, you're not suppose to do that. . ." Needless to say, when I looked at Gabrielle she had her thumb in her mouth and before I could "handle" the situation, Isabelle helped her sister take her thumb out - aka Thumb-sucking police. PERFECT! After laughing and admiring my dream come true - I did have to stop Gabby from slapping Isabelle. :) Ahhh, we can only hope this is the first of many "policings".

C) Thank goodness their "Izzy slaps" (Isabelle was the first to coin this behavior), or as their Aunt Wendy described little Orson's "forearm shivers", have subsided into just shaking their head "No" with a "stiff arm" to confirm they don't want to eat something. This new "stiff arm" has saved many peas, beans, bananas, carrots, etc. from flying on the floor and all over the kitchen. The honeymoon continues. . .

Live'n Juicy,

Pa/Ma'GI

New Year Resolution. . .

As Suzanne says on our voicemail. . . BACK by popular demand. . . Izzy and Gabby's blog! I've been thinking about continuing the blog after getting some voicemails, emails, and conversations with some of our friends. Although it wasn't our initial intention to continue the blog after we got back, it seems like a good way to keep people up-to-date. So - let's try weekly, although it may be bi-weekly if we're out of town, updates. We'll try to add pictures and video as that's what people really want to see, right?

It occurred to me the other day that we're probably living the honeymoon of parenting. The girls are truly great - they sleep 12 hrs. a night, take two naps on schedule, eat pretty much anything (especially any sweets that they see Suzanne or Grandpa eating), and live more juicy than most 14.5 month old adoptees. Here have been some of the highlights since the last entry:

1) Meeting aunts, uncles, cousins, Grandma/pa, and many many friends. At first there were stranger anxiety, but that has been down-graded to "stranger amazement". One phenomenon has been how kids immediately adapt to other kids. They love meeting other kids, playing with them, and communicating in "kid" language (the "ba's, da's, laughter at what appears to be nothing, or high-pitched yells of glee. . . it's a language like no other). Our plan is to start them in day-care in February, so hopefully this phenomenon will continue there, too. :)

2) First steps - Gabrielle took her first step on December 7th. It is easy to remember because we were in the doctors office when she decided she wanted a toy I was holding on the other side of the room. Five steps later she had it in hand and Suzanne and I just looked at each other in amazement. Isabelle lived up to Grandpa's prediction - she'd walk by Christmas. December 20th she stumbled her first four steps and now she's stride for stride with Gabby. It's quite the treat just watching them explore wherever we are, now being able to stop, bend over and pick an object, and then raise it above their head with glee. Their grins as they waive their prize are priceless. Their health and development are of "no worry" of our peditrician, although they weighed out in the 1% of US kids, and 75% height. Long and light. After a month of the best organic whole milk and all the other new foods, we're confident they've put on at least 3 or 4 pounds. :)

3) Bonding with Grandpa. . . then Grandma straight from Rwanda. We've been fortunate enough to have this adoption hit "winter break" in Otterbien's trimester. That means my parents are both have been "off" until after the new year. Grandpa was able to bond with the girls for the first two weeks at home then had to take a short break to take care of his dad, and Grandma made it back just in time to do her bonding. They also helped Suzanne and I get back to work and most importantly helped support us as we adjusted to this Parenting thing. We've already put our votes in for them to be mom & dad/grandma & grandpa of the year. We're confident they'll run away with the award. FYI - grandpa has nicknamed Gabby = the National Geographic Explorer (she's quite curious and ventures wherever there's something new or interesting), Izzy = the Mystery Women because you're never quite sure what you're going to get with her - she may scream at the top of her lungs one minute and be laughing endlessly the next.

4) First Christmas and New Year's Eve at home: Both were pretty low key. Well, if you call 7 kids ages 14 months - 7 years old running around our house "low key". Grandma (Great Grandma to the kids) Powell even made the trek to the land of the Frozen Tundra. The girls were more "present-struck" so they didn't rip open any presents this year. . . but Grandma sure had a good time! New Years came in with a wet diaper right on schedule - 11:59 just in time that we could all welcome in the New Year together. Thankfully that hasn't become a trend.

5) Finally, today was picture day. . . I'm sure every parents dream. Well, for twins, the margin of error was double. Thankfully, Gabby was like a supermodel and we were able to squeeze off a couple (yes, more than one), nice pictures even though the drama queen was in full effect - tears and all! Well, in between constant tears and wailing that brought a crowd to make sure everything was OK - 3 adults and 2 kids can mean nothing but trouble. . . sheez. . . the photographer showed her talents by capturing some cute pictures. In the next blog, if I remember (knock on wood), we'll post the link so you can see the goods.

Well, Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you all in very soon!

Live'n Juicy in 2008!
Pa and Ma'GI