stuff white people like

letting people know they eat organic food? (actually large scale organic farms can cause just as much damage as regular farms. it's just a box from THE CO-OP. i guess white poeple like belonging to co-ops too.)

things i am tired of

1. people telling me not to bend over
2. people telling me not to pick up the babies too much while i'm pregnant
3. people telling me to make sure to bundle my kids up
4. people telling me they know someone who got pregnant as soon as they adopted
5. my landlords
6. packing
7. constantly being hungry
8. winter
9. winter
10. packing in the winter

when your life gets spun in a certain direction, and you end up pregnant with two babies, you don't have the option of, say, not bending over, or not picking up your baby who just woke up from their nap. and then when your landlords essentially force you out because they don't like the sound of your kid crying, and you have to pack your house while you're pregnant and caring for two babies, you get a little grumpy. especially when it's the end of march and 39 degrees outside.

in lieu of the easter bunny, i give you easter hound

more from richmond

happy to be barefoot



with their great meme

i'm trying to figure out how to install a swing in my living room. they both just loved it.


both their faces are just priceless.

richmond

many of you are aware that i married into a circus sideshow, but for those of you who are hearing this for the first time, let me introduce you to the cast of characters... the following photos are from what should have been a simple lunch at amanda's (ben's sister) who was kind enough to allow us to take over her house.

here she is with hilina during the five minute break when it wasn't raining. we threw jackets on all the kids and ran for our lives - it's so much quieter when kids yell outside
this is amanda's husband matt - he loves cake and children

this is my mushy nephew aiden - like father, like son.
here's ms. ivy mae - she looks like she wants out!


here's ben, hiding outside with saida - she looks shocked that there are people louder than her...

here i am with ben's mom's girls lily and lucy. shortly after this photo was taken lily had the great idea of actually licking any missed icing off her plate. i'm not proud to say that my hormones got the best of me and i actually joined her.

here's mama d. with probably the only sane members of the sideshow - lucy and hilina.
and finally, this is the poor kitchen after our "let's-just-keep-it-simple-and-do-sandwiches" brainstorm.

i accept no responsibility for the plate of orange danishes.

happy birthday grandma emmy!

i have over 200 pictures from last week in richmond i'm still going through so until i sort through them all, i thought i would post these few.

"what's that you said?"


"oh, i know!"


hilina swinging it up

predictions anyone?

hopefully today we find out whether we're going to have a boy or girl pancake to add to our short stack. i really have no feeling either way - ben thinks girl, though most of his family thinks boy along with my sister who also thinks boy because of a dream she had. anyone wanna take a guess? these are funny answers i've had to give in relation to gender prediction: 1. no, my nose hasn't spread 2. i've craved salty, spicy, and sweet all the same 3. my pillow faces north when i sleep 4. my maternal grandmother's hair is grey. i just hope we can get a clear shot!

UPDATE: we definitely got the clear shot i was hoping for, and it's definitely a boy. we are both surprisingly convinced saida will bully him and hilina will tell him stories about rainbows solving math problems.

guest blogger, also known as, husband

as some of you may know, i've been home alone with hound dog spending the last two evenings oscillating between staring at him during our long conversations about the democratic primaries (tell me hound, tell me, will it be hillary or barack?) and repainting the nursery because my landlord's wife is a PITA. look at me already adept at kid language. well, come to find out my wife is having the time of her life with my sister in virginia. i just got off the phone with them and neither one of them could put a real sentence together. in fact, all i could really make out between machine gun laughter and occasional snorts was that they were bracing themselves for the tornado scheduled to hit them at 9pm tonight. between the two of them with husbands out of town, four kids just bathed and put to sleep, and their mutual love for the weather channel, i'm thinking i got the sweet end of this deal.

which reminds me of the last time they went crazy. here they are looking so pleasant last vacation before a charades meltdown.



although anna lost her marbles again way more recently.



i'll let you know how they are when i see them this weekend. meanwhile, all is cool in brooklyn. rest assured - hound is still clinically depressed.

pop pop and gaga take brooklyn(!)

ben's dad and gaga came up from richmond to spend a few days with us and rescue the girls and I from the cold. it's been a wonderful few days, the girls have been so great which might be because neither of them have a tooth coming in but is probably because pop pop and gaga brought great beach music to play. of course they just jumped right in helping with feedings (the babies and ben and i, too -- gaga filled our whole freezer with delicious food) and snuggling, and making animal noises. the girls are just crazy about them.

today we went to the botanic gardens with the snow falling and the sun shining and then ben and i got to go run errands BY OURSELVES! The best part of all of this (beside the fact that gaga cleaned my kitchen cabinets) is that I get to go back with them for a whole week tomorrow and the girls get to meet their aunt nanner and matt and aiden and ivy and their great meme!! the only part i am nervous about is the fact that they have only ever been in a car seat for 20 minutes during the ride from JFK to our house. so if you think about it, toss up a little prayer that they like it...

at the botanic gardens


baby love


sleep is good


baby love #2


gaga had the magic touch, the girls went crazy for her just laughing and giggling every time they saw her


the bens with the pancakes