Happy New Year!

Girls,

You really LOVED Christmas. The music, the lights, Santa... Whenever we would get in the car, you usually wanted to listen to Christmas music. Lucy, you always asked, "What's dis one about?" And Jane, you usually answered her, "It's CHWISSMASY music!" You're obsessed with Nativity sets, especially baby Jesus. Incidentally, you have one real baby Jesus (from an actual nativity set) and one fake baby Jesus (he's dressed all in pink and is actually the baby that belongs to the dollhouse set). But you don't discriminate.



As we were waiting in line for Santa at the luminary walk early December, we explained that when we got to Santa, you were supposed to tell him what you wanted for Christmas. When it was our turn, you both stood just within his hearing range and shouted, "I wanna Barbie!". Then, as we were leaving, his elf gave you each a packet of fruit snacks. You're thoroughly confused now because your understanding of fruit snacks is that they're Halloween treats. (YES, we're still trick or treating at our house. Pretty much daily, you decide you're ready for a fruit snack pack, so you get your Halloween bags, go to the kitchen door, gently knock and tell me "twick o tweat").



You loved decorating our tree, taking the time to play with all the ornaments. What's dat one? is a favorite question. You were particularly interested in the wicked witch on her bicycle, the kittens in the basket, sylvester the cat, and winnie the pooh. Tinkerbell's wings didn't fare too well this Christmas. Once there were presents under the tree, you reached a whole new level of interest, and Jane, you picked up one box at least daily to ask me about it. But you were both so good about not trying to unwrap anything and knowing that you needed to wait for Santa to bring your presents Christmas morning. Now that Christmas decorations have come down, you're definitely missing them. Lucy, you just recently asked in a bewildered tone where dat Santa went and I told you he got packed up with the other decorations. You looked so forlorn when you told me, "dat makes me berry sad".



We've been living with Nana and Pops since mid-December (Saturday, December 10th in case you're wondering) because we sold our house and don't close on the new one until the end of January. You girls have handled the transition so well. Luce, you cried several times, saying that you wanted to go home. Broke my heart. We had been telling you for several weeks that someone else was going to live in our house, we were moving in with Nana, then we're getting a new house. Your beautiful minds seem to have grasped these concepts, but I still cried a little the last time I took you through our almost empty house - the home you lived in these first two years of your lives, the home we brought you to when you finally got to check out of the NICU, the home where you've played and laughed and learned and become little girls. We'll miss Leo and runs around the block, and you'll probably miss hearing so many helicoptors. We walked through the house and you both said goodbye to your bedroom, your bathtub (so much splashing went on there!), the backyard... We took you to go through the new house recently, and you seemed to love exploring. Can hardly wait until the end of January when we actually get to live in it.




Funny things you've said and done recently:

Wead me 'bout da crackernut. (Nutcracker) - Jane
Any time I call you by a term of endearment or a nickname (such as meatball, monkey, sweetpea...), Lucy, you tell me, "I'm Hilda or Lucy Sessner". If I call Jane those same names, you tell me, "It's Hilda or Janey Sessner". I love that you think everyone's first name is Hilda.
I also love that you think everything is spelled L-U-C-Y. You know that's how to spell your name, and I overheard you reading the stockings, pointing to each letter. L-U-C-Y "Janey!"; L-U-C-Y "Mommy!"; L-U-C-Y "Daddy!"



I love you more than I can understand. Happy 2012!

Mama

We love Fall!

Jane and Lucy,

So much has happened! You're two years old. Holy cow. I have two-year-olds. It seems like you get smarter and funnier and more amazing every day. Sometimes every hour. You've both been announcing, "I have a burfday comin' up" to anyone who will listen.

We went to San Diego. You visited the Ocean. Every morning Jane, you got up and said, "I needuh go-to-duh OCEAN!" Seagulls stole your snacks. You saw Shamu, and Lucy, you fell in love with a shark.

You love to jump in bouncy houses.

You went to the pumpkin patch. Twice. We have about 700 pumpkins now on our front porch. And under the bed. And in the backyard. And the drawer in the kitchen...

You are enamored with your ballerina outfits. "I wear my TUTU now!"

You love to brush your teeth. Especially with Daddy's toothbrush.

You run around the block. Sometimes multiple times. It still terrifies me.


You are pretty sure you're faster than Maximus the horse and like to race around the house to show me. Sometimes, well, most times, you two have a head-on collision.

You both love to sing. I adore hearing you belting out the ABCs - "next time won't you sing wiff MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE", the eensy weensy spider, twinkle, twinkle, let's go fly a kite...

You like your new responsibilities of feeding the fish and the cats. So do the fish and the cats since you're pretty liberal with portion sizes.

Luce, you phrase what you want as suggestions. "Maybe I go to Nana's", "Maybe I have some raisins"...

You both are sweet, sweet sisters. When your sis is crying, you always quickly head over to crouch down, give her a hug, and ask, "Are you okay?"

You love taking trips to Costco. I'm really not sure what this is about since you've only had samples there once. "I go to Costco, now!"

Having Daddy working closer to home is great - you ladies now get to enjoy mornings with him. I love watching you run to the door to wave goodbye as he drives away.

You love your gymnastics class. I don't know how we're going to break it to you when this month-long intro class that we bought for a steal is over. You have amazed us with the change from your first class to your third class (fourth and final class is still coming up). You listen to instructions and are willing to try everything. Your body control has improved and you especially love to bounce down the bounce track (aka long trampoline). You practice all your moves at home and make me laugh all the time.

You are both so amazing. You're beautiful and funny and so very smart. I'm having the time of my life watching you grow.


All my love,
Mama

Lucy Stroessner! You are hilarious. Recently I got a wild hare and decided you two should try some beets. Well, being the less-than-adventurous-eater you are, I wasn't sure how well that would go over. So I put your dinner plate in front of you and watched. You stabbed a beet with your fork, popped it in your mouth and chewed for about half a second before spitting it out and getting a disgusted look on your face. You said, "LUCY! Don't taste that!"

Your vocabularies are exploding and I am amazed, amused, and always impressed by your words and even sentences. You both know your last name, so when we ask, what's your name, you each reply: Jane Sesser. Lucy Sesser. You like to call your daddy by his first name, but you know that something isn't quite right about that, so you get a mischevious look on your face when you say, Jeff... Jane, you've been running around the house half saying, half singing, "Mother knows best" because you girls LOVE the movie Tangled, and maybe also because I love to sing to you that mother knows best... Luce, a few of your favorite sentences right now are: "I can do it!" and "That's a hard one" whenever something you're trying to do is difficult.

You love to play hide and seek, love being outside (even when it's 100 + degrees), and love eating pizza. Especially if said pizza is covered in black olives.

We took a long weekend to go to Chicago and you got to meet some new friends. We stayed with Grace, and we had told you in advance that Grace has a dog named Starly. When we got in late Thursday night and went into the bedroom, Lucy, you clasped your hands together and got a great big grin on your face when you saw a stuffed animal puppy. "STARLY!", you giggled, and then hugged her for a good two minutes. You loved Katy's cat, Zorak, crawling all over Katy's bed and loving Zorak a little too much. You both still refer to him as tiny Zorak, even though, well, he's definitely not tiny. You got to meet and play with Madelyn, Abigail, and Amelia, my college roommate Deb's four-year-old triplets. And we went to Navy Pier, Garfield Observatory, and Shedd Aquarium. Oh, and you had your first oatmeal shakes from Irazu. Yum!

You girls are the best. Even when you insist on drinking your cereal.

Love,
Mama

No way, Jose!

I love summer. Heat, long days, fresh produce, and chlorine-soaked toddlers. I think you girls love it, too. The other night we went to the Fairway pool. It was your first visit to the public pool and my first visit in about a hundred years. And it was great fun. You were both in your swim diapers and little rashguard swimsuits. We started out in the toddler pool and you were both a little nervous. Didn't even want to walk around on your own at first. You were more comfortable when we moved to the big pool and you swam with us. It's fun to watch you kick those little legs. And Luce, you insisted that you wanted to go down the slide the entire time. Or, at least until we distracted you with drinking out of the water fountain. Don't worry - we did not let you go down the slide. Janey, you put your face in the water several times, and although you'd always look surprised when you came back up, you didn't fuss at all.

We've been having people over for dinner occasionally the past couple of weeks. It has been nice to be sociable and normal, but I've also been inviting people because I want it to be normal for you ladies for us to have company. After warming up, you've enjoyed playing with everyone so far. You like to run around in the backyard and take flowers to our guests, and if they're lucky, you show them the broccoli. Ah, you love that broccoli. You've been watching it grow for weeks, and now, when we're playing outside and you decide you need a little snack, you go over and pick off a piece and pop it in your mouth. I'm not even making this up. You girls love to eat fresh, raw broccoli grown in our very own backyard. What more could a mama ask?



Luce, apparently I've taught you to say "No way, Jose!" And now you say it ALL THE TIME. In response to everything. Before it was just a simple No. Now it's NO WAY, JOSE! Your other favorite thing to say right now is "Move it!". To me, to your sister, to the cat... You also like to request very specific foods that you'd like to eat. Pizza! Roll-up! Mac 'n cheese! Ganola! When I tell you that you already had a fruit roll up today, would you like something else, you say, Something else!



Jane, your favorite thing to talk about right now is TALL PUPPET MAN. That's right. We took you ladies to a kid's film Friday or something like that (we only made it through the concert and puppet time - the movie didn't start until after 9:00, and if I know anything about my ladies, it's that you like to be in bed well before 9). Anywho, there were lots of puppet-like things on long sticks that kids were playing with, and at first you were both absolutely terrified of TALL PUPPET MAN. In hindsight, it was probably a bit much for me to think we could just walk up to something over 6 feet tall with a billowing dress, all these kids dancing around it while it bobbed around. But after burying your face in my neck and recovering, you were curious, and eventually we made it over to TALL PUPPET MAN, and you started waving at him and even touched his tall puppet man hand. Now it's all you want to talk about. TALL PUPPET MAN this and TALL PUPPET MAN that.

I can hardly believe how grown you two seem at only 20 months. I love you two meatballs so much.

Mama

Melting my heart

Ladies. Last night after I put you in bed, a helicopter flew over the house and since your window was open, you both came undone (neither of you are loving loud noises right now and you both startle pretty easily). By the time I made it back up the stairs, you were both standing in your cribs sobbing. So I picked you up (yes, that's right - both of you) and sat down with you in the rocker. You each had a shoulder and nestled your sweet little sweaty bodies into me, facing each other. We rocked and sang for a bit, and then you both reached out and started holding hands and then began to softly giggle. I had to quit singing because of the lump in my throat. I love you little meatballs. I love watching you enjoy each other and become friends. And I love your sweaty little sleepy toddler bodies. I am so fortunate to be your mama.

Meatballs,

You girls crack me up. The phrases and words you say, and even more, the way you say them. Lucy, you say "come on" with an emphasis on the "on", and you always say it very forcefully. Like, get a move on, already! Also, you pretend to be a southerner and give it about two and a half syllables. "Come aowwwn". You call grasshoppers "hoppers", love saying "honeybee", and instead of hamburger, you say, "hangabur".

Janey, you are a climbing machine. Your favorite thing to climb right now is your highchair, which is pulled directly up to the kitchen table. No more trays, no more booster seats. I think you both feel like big kids when you sit at the table. Now, if only I could convince you that it's not fun to dump your milk, orange juice, and water all over the tablecloth... You love to sing and carry your baby around everywhere you go. Sometimes she sits on your lap while you sit on the toilet.

You girls had your first camping trip. Loved sleeping in our big tent. The rest of the weekend required me to drink a bottle of ready made margaritas. You ladies love to explore, which I adore and totally understand - I mean, you're one and a half. You want to check out the world. This meant that your daddy and I spent the weekend chasing you around trying to keep you out of the poison ivy, road, firepit, stream, and fish feeding pond things. I'll tell you right now that I would have had a full-blown nervous breakdown if not for your Uncle Todd and Aunt Emily who took over Saturday afternoon for ice cream, walks to feed the fish, and a nice long nap. I wouldn't change having the two of you for a bazillion dollars, but sometimes I'm envious of the relaxing that takes place with people who just have one kiddo.

You girls have moved into a different classroom at daycare, and you have taken the change must better than I anticipated. Your new room has cubbies for each of the kids with an 8 x 11 photo of you taped to the inside of it. Well, Lucy, Ms. Hattie noticed that you had your head inside your sister's cubbie and went over to investigate. You were kissing Jane's picture. You scream and yell and forcefully tell Jane to "move it" when she's touching you, on top of you, or even generally in your space. But apparently you do love your sister...

Jane, you love to jump all over the house. Both feet come off the ground now :) Last night, you also spent a good deal of time spinning in circles until you'd get dizzy, then you'd fall hard on your bum and laugh and laugh. Repeat. And both of you have a special monster walk that's pretty funny. You bend way over or squat down and lumber around while making faces.

You love to chase squirrels at the park. I never thought I'd get such a kick out of something that seems so... you know, hillbilly. Luce, you see one off in the distance, scream "get it", then both you and Jane take off running. You squeal the whole way, and neither of you give up until you're actually under the tree, looking up, squinting with your whole faces, as you watch that squirrel scramble for his life.











It's such a joy to get to watch the two of you love life. Thanks for making me smile, cry, laugh, and want to get up early in the morning to use our juicer so you can have fresh oj.


All my love,
Mama

Mother's Day #2

Girls! Happy Mother's Day to you, the little ladies who have made me a mama. It was a gorgeous Sunday. We went for coffee and bagels (Jane, you like cinnamon raisin but are not interested in blueberry; Lucy, you like them both) and a trip to the park. We got there early enough that the playground was empty and that suited the two of you just fine. Jane, you were so giddy that you ran laps screaming, while you Luce, ran straight for the slide. You rode in your wagon, picked some flowers, saw some geese, and met a poodle. Jeff, thank you for the lovely Mother's Day. And thank you for your role in making me a mama :) Can you even believe we have daughters? We went to Nana and Pops' house for lunch and you guys got to run and play some more. AND, you almost sat still long enough for some pictures with me, your Nana and your Mimi. Four generations, Ladies.

So, Mother's Day is past, but while I'm writing there are a few things that I want to mention. Lucy, you woke up the other morning when I was already in your room. Truth be told, I had gone in there wanting to wake you both up as gently as possible, which means I open the curtains and make a little noise. It's less that I make noise and more that I don't try to be quiet. Anyway, you suddenly sat straight up in your bed, wild-eyed, wild-haired, and shouted, "Hippos!". I think you must have been dreaming about them. They were the most memorable part of your trip to the zoo with your dad the week before. When I asked if you dreamt of hippos, you announced, "Hippos. Drinking".




Jane, you are a reminder to me that I must say "Oh my" a lot around you girls. Because you say it a lot. And it's so contextually appropriate that it makes me laugh. The other day you got into a cabinet that I don't normally let you in, and you had a little time to explore and discover before I realized what you were doing. But I could hear you saying, "Oh. Oh my. Oh". It was the funniest thing. Also, you hum yourself to sleep in the car. You'll be jabbering and singing and then as soon as you start to hum, I know you're about to fall asleep, annnnnnnd, you're out.



You ladies love trains, airplanes, and helicopters - both the kind that fly in the sky, and the ones that come off of trees. Jane, when we walk, you like to collect things - most recently sticks. Lucy, you like to collect flowers. And you like the flowers so much that you often have a pollen mustache. It makes me want to gobble you up.

All my love,
Mama