hi mama!

stuck in the basket

all smiles

concentrating on getting that dog into his mouth


making the bed

please read me this book? how can you resist this face?

i'm not really sure what's going on here, but it's pretty funny.

tree trimming and yummy food.

we had a great time putting up the tree. thanksgiving was pretty hard for us, being away from our families. we went down to our landlord's for thanksgiving dinner (which was so yummy) in the evening. but before that, i'll admit, i was pretty sad. ben sent me out to go to a movie by myself so i could have a break and on the train i decided i would go get our tree instead. so i got off, bought a push cart, a 7 foot tree, and hoped for the best getting on the bus. i wasn't sure the driver would let me on, and was prepared to walk the few miles home. but he was feeling the christmas spirit and i was home in no time flat to surprise everyone. ben was most surprised (the girls were kinda scared, actually) and i think pretty grateful that he didn't have to go get it.
our great friends, the aplins came over the following day with their little girl susannah for snacks and tasty beverages. i love the tree. it's my favorite part of christmas. my grandmother, helen, was an amazing needle-pointer and hand-made most of the ornaments on our tree. handy, since they aren't breakable. although, the girls haven't paid too much attention to the tree thankfully. we blocked it off anyway. and then saturday i made thanksgiving dinner for the five of us. i got ben good. we went around saying what we were thankful for (for the girls we suggested what they might be grateful for - books, each other, raf raf, judah, etc). and then when it was my turn i announced that i am especially thankful for the baby i have in my tummy. his upper lip started sweating - it was awesome. (i'm not, by the way).

putting the lights on

tangled up in lights

tree trimming with the aplins

hanging an ornament

i do love our tree

our first thanksgiving - just the 5 of us

dinner in front of the tree

and the stockings were hung

judah giggles and coos

i was trying to add this to the last post but it wouldn't work. so here it is.

judah laughs from Anna Thomas on Vimeo.

hilina walks

i'm sorry i haven't been posting too much. our computer has been on the fritz thanks to hilina dropping it off the couch. but it's feeling better and so i hope to be able to update more. the last few months have been amazing. i can't believe how quickly everything seems to be changing. the girls are getting so big and learning so much. i think most parents hope their kids will love to read. i know i had visions of my little ones toddling over to my lap, book in hand, and i promised myself no matter how busy i got i would read to them for at least 20 minutes every day. i just never imagined they would do it 15 thousand times a day. especially saida. every time i sit down and sometimes when i'm changing a diaper or whatever, i look down and there she is with hop on pop or goodnight gorilla or brown bear and phew. hilina's occupational therapist is jamaican and it never fails that when she's working, saida drops a book in her lap. she says, "now miss saidie i'm not going to read you no more brown bear, brown bear going to have to take a rest now miss sadie". if you can picture that being said in a booming accent with andrea laughing and saida then making fun of andrea laughing, you'll think it's funnier. anyway, it's awesome how much they love to "read" to themselves now too, and it's helping them learn more words and doesn't involve going outside so i'm happy as a clam. saida now can say with meaning "mama, dada, dog, night night, mouth, nose, no, judah, hi, bye, cheese, milk, dog, pop pop, and raf raf (her stuffed animal's name). she's started saying hina but doesn't use it you know what i mean? she is loving dancing and has started running and has cut 5 teeth in the last few weeks which was freaking horrible.
hilina is turning into a total spaz. now that she's more mobile (she can crawl as fast as saida walks now), she's into everything. surprisingly, she's the trouble make of the two. she's a dancing fool. she gets her arms up in this chicken move and shakes them back and forth making the weirdest intense face like she's concentrating so hard and then she yells "wooooooooooa" likes she's really been breaking it down. i've tried to get it on video but you know how that goes. she's also learned a lot of words in the last few months: mama, dada, da (for saida), ju (for judah), woof woof (for hound dog), NO! which she uses all the time, it's awesome, hi, bye, etc. she's also got some made up words like bia bia which, trust me, you don't want to be on the receiving end of one of her bia bia outbursts - it means she's really mad. whenever i get a few minutes alone with her she wants to talk. and boy does she say what's on her mind. she tells entire stories if you just keep asking her questions she will go on and on. it's made me really excited about them getting older and anxiously awaiting when they speak in sentences so i can find out what's really going on inside their minds. she's really doing great in therapy as you can see here:

i'll be out of the city for 2 weeks with lots of extra hands on deck and sammy has said to just walk with her all over the place. so hopefully she will really get it in the next month. the first steps she took were beautiful (not the ones on video) and i cried like a little baby i was so happy.
judah just had his 4 month check up and the boy is 17 lbs already. that's how big saida was when we brought her home. crazy for me to think about. he's brought so much joy to our family. he's started rolling over and smiling at just about everything. his favorite pastimes currently include: chewing on his fingers, eating, sleeping, looking at himself in the mirror, watching his sisters, being sung to, and practicing standing.