a whole slew of pictures.

snuggling on the couch

hilina looking pensive


we took the girls into the city the other day so we could run some errands (ok, you got me, i needed a jamba juice, so what?). you can tell that hilina was just beside herself with excitement.

saida in union square


here is ben giving them some sweet potatoes. saida LOVES them and gets so impatient when it's hilina's turn.

adoption and getting social security #s

this post is mostly for the families in brooklyn who are adopting and read our blog. when it comes time to get the dreaded SSN for your taxes which you must have to submit, remember this post.
you will think, oh, but when we came through immigration we checked the box that said "yes, please issue a social security number." well, that only applies to people over 18. so then you will dig out the folder your agency gave you about how to get a SSN and it won't make any sense. so here's what you do.

go down to the social security office on fulton and flatbush ext. if you live in brooklyn, you must go to this office not a manhattan office. take with you all your adoption paperwork that they gave you in ethiopia and your own ID. take water and any other reinforcements to eat in line because you will be in line 3-4 hours. all they will ask for is their passports. the visa your child was issued is the key. i would have all your adoption paperwork anyway, but all they asked for were their visas that are plastered in their passports. i was worried because hilina's greencard hasn't arrived yet. but, again, all they asked for were the passports so don't forget them! they should arrive in 2 weeks.

also, once you re-adopt, you have to go back down and change their paperwork from perm. resident to US citizen. the number won't change, just their status. and if you are planning on changing their name, you will have to go down there for that too.

good luck!

snowy day

we spent the better part of the morning watching the snow fall out the window - they were mesmerized by it.



hilina, of course, couldn't stop smiling

you could see the wheels in saida's brain turning, trying to figure out what it is and where exactly it's coming from

we heart grandmas

sorry i haven't been posting much - i was sick sick sick and then went to philly for a wedding and then had to recover from going to philly for a wedding because i was up almost 24 hours which is about 20 hours longer than i like to be awake in any given day. the pancakes have been doing this super obnoxious thing the last few days where they wake up at 4 am for awhile, but then today they felt sorry for me and so slept in until 8:30! so after ben made me a 4 course breakfast, gave the dog a much needed bath, and rubbed my feet - i decided i finally feel restored enough to do a blog post...uh oh, someone is poops, you'll have to wait.
ok, back. today is grandma donna's birthday! she and mama were here about 2 weeks ago and it was so great. i was looking through my pictures and i realized i have about 2 photos from when they were here because every time they walked in the room i handed them each a baby and passed out cold - i almost never reached for the camera which is sad but i guess expected. topping my list of reasons new york city sucks is that none of my family lives here. mom and donna were so great and so much help that we even got to go on a real honest to god date! AND they let us sleep in the next morning until way after 7:00!
here is mama meeting saida for the first time

and here is mama snuggling hilina on the couch

you should have seen these grandmas all over these babies- it was enough to break your heart how much they wanted to just eat them up! they showed up with 2 suitcases full of clothes and toys and just really took great care of us. and mom even cleaned out all the crumbs in my silverware drawer - now that is true love and devotion. although ben says they can't come visit for awhile since the girls and i all cried for 3 days when they left.
and i know this next picture isn't great, but it's actually the only picture we've gotten where they are both smiling...

home a month today

this picture is pretty indicative of their personalities thus far. saida is WIDE OPEN. she seems to feel and get everything so intensely which fortunately for us includes her good moods. she's gotten 3 new teeth in the last few weeks. she likes blowing spit bubbles, stealing toys from her sister, drooling, and sweet potatoes. hilina is such a mushball - she just wants to be snuggled and tickled and read to (actually they both love that). she likes staring at her hand, grabbing her foot, looking out the window, and when we dance. her first tooth is about to break through in the next days.


hilina bobina


saida schmaida


the bumbos


hound is figuring out they are not leaving. he's super happy about it. (notice his tongue is sticking out)


new rainbow tights


a. i can't believe it's only been a month.
b. we've already been home a month?
c. i can't believe it's only been a month.

ticklish much?

when ben gets home from work he runs for the girls (and i run for the door - just kidding, sort of :). He is the only one who can get Hilina to laugh like this, I think it's too funny.

i've been tagged

i was tagged by a bloggy friend and as a result need to share 7 strange facts about myself. my mom and donna are here visiting and to be honest, we had a hard time narrowing it down to just 7. but here they are in no specific order.

1. i really like to take my temperature. i mean really, not to like chart it or anything, just to know what it is.

2. i don't use my pinkies when i type. i keep them up in the air like some british person drinking tea.

3. i went to 11 schools in 12 years.

4. at our rehearsal dinner, every person that made a toast started out with "when we lived together..." so they made me add it all up and it turned out i had 56 roommates in seven years. p.s. i'm still on good terms with all of them...except john, because he has bad hair.

5. growing up i had a cat named ben thomas (thomas was his middle name) and i married a ben thomas. i loved loved loved that cat; he lived a long sweet life. sometimes i think it's funny i knew the cat longer than i have known my husband.

6. i lived in a tent on a farm for while until i got pneumonia. it sucked.

7. well, the most obvious is that we wil go from not having any kids (save hound) to having 3 kids by the end of the summer. 0-3 in under 6 months. oh, and they will all be under the age of 14 months.

i'm not sure i'm doing this right, but i want mary and amanda to answer these questions - you've been tagged?

now, what you really came for:

this is part of our morning routine. they have some time in the swings and practice sharing a blanket.