Love Me Some Fridays!

Excited to go to Aunt Lisa's

Great day -- Scott is home now and the boys and I went to Woodstock to see my sister, Lisa, and her little cuties, who are built-in friends for Tyler and Austin as they are not only family, but so close in age. Austin and Ashlyn were by chance both wearing tan, so they looked even cuter together, and I got a kick out of their little infant interactions, which involved a lot of drooling, chewing, rolling, grabbing and "slapping" of toys and sometimes, accidentally, each other. Ashlyn is changing fast and is super sweet, looking so serious at one moment and then breaking out into a full open-mouthed laugh in another.

I'm so lucky, because my playdate with Lisa was also a very casual photo session, as she works to build her professional portfolio. Tyler resists the camera and I am always struggling to capture him, but Lisa's past work as a teacher and nanny definitely gives her an advantage in getting the best out of kids. After trying a few other tricks, she discovered if she pretended to cry, he would run toward her (finally looking at the camera), give her a happy hug and say "I love you." And he does love her -- they had some great moments as she took Tyler on her own and chased him around the neighborhood pond with the camera. Meanwhile, Aunt Manka (which Lisa named me as a toddler), got to be in charge of all 3 of the remaining kids! 

Now, granted they were sleeping some of the time, and adorable Dominic is self-entertaining, but I did get to experience what it would be like to have a 5 month old and 6 month old at the same time, and boy, I was sweating! They are both in the Age of Frustration right now, so I felt like a cartoon character trying to keep them happy and I found myself making sounds, noises and songs I didn't even know I could do!

Mothers of twins, I salute you, because when they both insisted on being held at the same time, my head really started to spin and it took some manuevering to get one in each arm -- but of course once I did, they both started squirming so I had to then figure out how to put them down and make them happy again... I was pretty entertained by the experience, and it took a stop at Starbucks for a very big latte to make the drive home without nodding off. 

Yet the exciting visit only made Austin and Ashlyn even more awake it seems, because neither would take their normal naps that afternoon -- and Lisa and I took turns exchanging frustrated text messages. I think we'll all be sleeping well tonight, though (we better be because we have a busy weekend ahead!).