Christmas Morning

We had a lovely Christmas morning with the girls. Chris' parents and sister, Ginny, were with us. Sam arrived from his dad's later in the day. (Someday I will get a photo of Sam when he isn't expecting it!). Edie and Gemma enjoyed opening their presents, and playing with their toys together. Santa left the girls a really fun play cottage, and his note told them that he wanted to give them a gift they could play with together, since as sisters they know how important it is to share. They have taken his message to heart and played happily in their new house together since Christmas Day.

Edie is reading her note from Santa. If this photo looks dark, it's because it is barely 7am in the morning and it was very dark outside!


Here is Gemma playing with the new play cottage.


And Edie is modeling her beautiful new bathrobe.


Gemma hugs a new bear.


The girls pose with Mimi and Grandpa in their Christmas finest.

Christmas Eve

"I love my stocking, Edie. Let's go play house with them!"


"What? I don't want to hang it up there. No, it's mine."


"You mean we get it back tomorrow with presents??"


"There you go, Santa, fill 'er up."


Later that night.... the girls leave milk and cookies for Santa (Candy Cane Joe Joe's from Trader Joes, of course!), and carrots for his reindeer.


And Edie makes one last request "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"



Merry Christmas to all!!

Christmas Day - Trying Out Some Video

Chris got me a Flip video for Christmas and I am trying out some video. We quickly found that it is impossible to take a video of Gemma. As soon as she sees the camera she starts shouting "I see, I see, I see" until I let her watch herself on a previously recorded clip. We will work on this....



Here is one more. I need to find someone who knows how to use the editing features on these cameras - anyone out there with experience??

Our Littlest One

Last Christmas, we were still adjusting to life as a family of five. Sleepless nights, and lots of frustrating moments for Gemma - who couldn't walk, couldn't communicate much to us, and was certainly overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the holidays. This year is SO different. Gemma is walking, talking, and such a happy little girl. She likes to be right smack in the middle of everything, including our living room where she is always busying herself with the Christmas decorations. Chris and I can barely keep our eyes off her - she is such a delight and we feel very complete as a family this holiday season.

It's a Winter Wonderland

What could be better than a huge snowstorm right before Christmas? I am sure the retailers can think of a lot of things, but for us it was magical. We got over a foot of light, powdery snow - on a Saturday night. Perfect! No missed school, Chris here to help shovel, lots of food in the house and most of the Christmas shopping done. The girls were both thrilled to help outside (where was Sam??). Gemma loved shoveling and eating snow - how fun! There was a lovely deep pink sunset sunset that afternoon - I wish I had gotten my camera back out for that - and we loved seeing all of the holiday lights twinkling through the freshly fallen snow.

Saying Goodbye to Someone Special

Gemma completed her last visit with her physical therapist. K. first visited with us for an evaluation in December 2008, and Gemma qualified for weekly, then bi-weekly, physical therapy services over the past year. K. helped us work with Gemma to strengthen the muscles she needed to start standing and then to finally begin walking back in early June. Gemma has come so far with her gross motor skills, and I really appreciated the help and words of support from K. Gemma loves K. and has asked me every day to look at these photos from our last visit. It's sad to think we won't see her any more, and hear all the silly songs she sang with Gemma as she bounced her on this ball.

Brrr... A Cold Day for Christmas Tree Shopping

It was very chilly and windy yesterday - which made our Christmas tree selection a quick decision. Every year for the past 5 or 6 years, we have purchased our tree at a nice country store/nursery called Idylwilde Farms in Acton. They have lovely trees and greenery, but also a large and incredibly well-stocked selection of fresh produce, prepared foods, cheeses, chocolates, fresh baked goods - I think we go there as much for the food as for the tree! I always take a photo of the kids by a little red barn on the property. Sam used to be in the photos, but dropped out many years back. Here are several photos of Gemma and Edie enjoying the fresh air yesterday.





Here they are last year - Gemma has changed a lot!

Edie is Home!

Our Thanksgiving that Almost Wasn't

Edie and Gemma were sick the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Edie had all of the symptoms of the H1N1 virus - but very, very mild. She had been vaccinated on Halloween - so who knows? We didn't want to take any chances, so we skipped the grand gathering at Aunt Kathleen's house on the North Fork, and instead went to Long Island late on Thursday. We stayed in the hotel we had intended to stay in, but arrived at 7pm rather than 11am. Chris' parents brought us Thanksgiving dinner plates and we opened a nice bottle of wine. The girls were beside themselves with post-sickness-and-new-hotel-room excitement. I think they finally feel asleep at 10pm. Edie lost a tooth, and the tooth fairy couldn't come as early as she is used to arriving!


Here is Gemma running roughshod over the hotel room.




On Friday afternoon, we drove to Chris' parent's house in Rockville Centre. We saw friends and celebrated Chris' 40th birthday!

I love this photo of Batman and Gemma. (Batman is actually Liam - the son of one of Chris' closest friends.)


Here is Batman, unmasked, with his sisters, Megan and Mary, and Edie and Gemma.


Chris at his birthday.

From The Trenches

Chris remarked today, "we are in a battle for survival, and the enemy is winning." Oh all right, perhaps he is being a bit dramatic, but I don't entirely disagree.


Our main enemy combatant: the Gemminator. Sure she is funny and charming, loves seeing friends, trying new things, going places, and being the life of the party. She is talking more and enjoying her new means of self-expression. But frankly, we could use a little less of her self-expression, especially her need to be the center of attention 90% of the time, and her sense that yelling louder is the best way to get anything (even though it almost always fails). Gemma torments Edie for sport, and Edie gives it back in more subtle ways. Our "weekends" are punctuated by yells, whines, pushes, and exaggerated crying. And yelling. I said yelling, right? Gemma loves to use her language to report that Edie pushed her or took something, or that she wants another vitamin (about 10x/day), or more gum (maybe 25x/day), or that she wants up, or down, or a lap, or more of something, or none of that, or get out of my way please.


And then there are the nights. "It's a three-ring circus around here," reports Chris, the beleaguered father. Here is a typical night, sadly. Parents go to bed at 10:45pm or 11pm. Gemma wakes at 1am, hopefully just a 10-minute resettle. Edie wakes between 2am and 3am because she needs to sleep in our bed (still recovering from a scary Halloween story - don't even get me started), Sam's alarm blares at 4am so he can wake up to do his homework, Gemma wakes at 4:45am probably once she has recovered from the shock of Sam's alarm, Gemma resettles with great difficulty by 5:15am, but wakes again at 6am for the day, and proceeds to talk loudly enough that Edie will wake up. Look at Chris' eyes - you can see it, can't you?


This will pass, we know it will. But until it does, please wish us strength... and a good night's sleep.

I Love Leaves

This is not the best photo quality (taken by Chris' phone) but she sure is cute!

Milestones

Two important anniversaries this week - separated, almost cosmically, by just one day. On November 9, we marked our five-year anniversary of being a family with Edie, and today, November 10, is our one-year anniversary of meeting little Gemma. These two days are still so vivid to us, taking each little girl into our arms and promising to love them forever. We remember and honor the trauma each of our daughters experienced on those days. While they were joyous days for us, they most certainly were not for Edie and Gemma. I am sure Edie has benefited from experiencing Gemma's transition into our family. Over the past year, Gemma has grown confident in our love for her - she laughs, cries, spreads her kisses and makes her demands like any young toddler. It was not like this a year ago. When Gemma joined our family she couldn't stand, walk or talk, and now she is a force to be reckoned with. She is feisty and funny, extroverted, strong-willed and always in motion. Happy Family Day to our two amazing little girls.

It Was a Warm and Windy Night

The leaves were swirling and the clouds raced across the sky. The moon was full and high, and branches cast strange shadows on the ground. You could almost hear the witches cackling behind dark bushes. Halloween can be scary business. Thank God we were protected on our journey into the night by a giant hot dog. Hold the catsup please.


The neighbors hid in fear as he approached their houses. Check out the woman behind the screen door. She might be shrieking.... or laughing hysterically.


Here is the motley crew:


And the cutest little pink fairy of all, the Gemminator. She trick or treated with the big girls, and didn't skip a house. When Frankenstein popped out at her from under a table, she laughed. When a skeleton attempted to drop on her head, she swatted it away. When a Power Ranger approached her on the sidewalk, she swung her plastic pumpkin in his direction. If a bowl of candy was left in front of her, she kept taking candy until air-lifted (by a giant hot dog) back to the confines of her stroller. Yes, the pink fairy was cute, but next year she will be more dastardly. I am thinking Jaws.

October View

Our neighbor, Paul Rifkin, takes gorgeous photos of life on the Cape. Here is a recent one of our house, looking up from the water.

Gemma After Her Nap

How About Them Apples?

It was supposed to be cold and rainy Saturday, but it turned out to be cold and gloriously sunny instead. We managed to get out of the house by 9am (a minor miracle for us on the weekend, truly!) and drove west. Having missed the exit for our usual apple picking spot, we wandered off the next exit and stumbled upon Phil's Apples. Phil runs a small operation, but he still had lot of different varieties and his orchard is in a lovely location. He also hand presses cider in his shed. The cider was knock-your-socks-off good. I think I saw Sam swoon when he took a sip. Maybe swoon is too strong a word, but he did smile and close his eyes. Is that swooning? We were the only people in the orchard while we were picking - ah, it was blissful!