Too Many MC's Not Enough Mics!

Check it, check it, listen to my bbbbbeats, yo!

Asher is SO proud of his mic skills and I am SO proud of his cuteness.

Asher and Soren discovered the microphone on their dance tower and boy were they quick to show off their skills when I got home tonight! The above video is a bit chaotic (okay, it's super chaotic between my loud narrative, Chon's loud talking, the music from the dancing tower, and of course, Asher's raspy voice belting out sweet somethings in the mic) but it still captures the frenzy and fun of their new toy. Those two are so much fun!

Tub Diver

So, as I was in the bathroom peeling clothes off of Asher for the nightly bath, I noticed that Soren was trying to get into the tub (he was still dressed--the tub was empty). Thinking silly NOTHINGS of Soren's activity, I continued to strip Asher. Well, I then watched Soren thrust himself over the tub wall and land head first in the tub. Oh dear! I was seconds from leaping up to make sure his neck wasn't broken and that he was okay when he just sat up, clearly happy with his new location, and started chatting and happily playing with his new tub toys. Man, boys are fun.

Hours of Looking and Pointing

This image is spread across two pages at the beginning of the Charley Harper ABC book that I got The Deuce for Christmas. It is a splendid collage of beautiful creatures and it is such a tender experience to watch Asher study it and spend baby hours (read: 20 minutes or more) admiring it. Asher will point at an individual animal, give it a name, then point at another one. I love his appreciation for the color and whimsy of these pages.

Little Man Can Climb!

He will throw himself off of your shoulders...so hold on tightly!

Soren is a study in motion...constantly moving, talking, laughing, exploring, and engaging.

Keeping Up...Almost

Chasing Soren!

Pausing to inspect texture and details...

Watch me GO!

I OWN this walking business!

Walk on little man!

I can still catch him...so I do, while I can.

Asher is on the GO! His unsteady yet increasingly confident walk is endearing. Asher's effort coupled with his cuteness makes you just want to halt everything and devour him with affection. It's in the stiffness of his fists and the purpose in his gait that makes you want to be his little cheerleader, encouraging him as he goes!

Christmas with The Deuce

Soren and Asher are modeling their warm slippers from Grandma and Grandpa Weiss--so stinking cute!

Chon, ready for the camera on her first Christmas in the states!


Where have doodle pads been our whole lives?

Books! Asher is happy. I wish there were sounds attached to that happy grin.

Chon opening presents...Soren and Asher lost interest.


Baby band!


The dance tower was a hit!


Temple lights.

Soren, the baby model, pointing at lights and saying, "Wow!"



Christmas 2008 was entertaining and memorable. Jamie and I were so excited to see Asher and Soren's reaction to seeing piles of wrapped packages under the tree--presents they could open and enjoy! We kept thinking that they were going to go NUTS and wonder what in their little world had changed to reveal this new experience!

Obviously the concept of Christmas--Christ's birth, Santa Claus, the exchange of gifts, was beyond them but it was still thrilling to see how much fun they had! We had to encourage and coax them to open presents and ultimately we juts had Chon open the gifts because after about ten minutes they were DONE tearing paper and just wanted to play.

About two gifts into the event Asher and Soren got doodle pads and basically Christmas stopped there. Honestly, I should have known that they would be most satisfied with the simplest and most economical of toys. We struggled to pull the pads away (Soren is tremendously strong-it basically took two of us to wrestle the toy away from him) so that we could resume unwrapping. It was a slow process but also a fun and wonderful one. Our babies on basically their first Christmas! What amused me was how much they reverted to their true loves: the camera and the cell phone. They almost couldn't be bothered for the new stuff because of their love for the old techie stand-bys.

Chon amused us by coming upstairs at 8am fully dressed for the day with loads of make-up--she was ready for photos! Clearly we failed to tell her that Christmas morning was to be celebrated in sleepy, frumpy, and tussled style. Jamie and I sure rocked the tired, p-jay jay look.

We had a full, busy Christmas day. We went to our friends house for Christmas crepes and quiche--now there is a tradition I would love to continue. Crepes? Yum! They got this awesome electric crepe machine that made the whipping out of crepes quite easy. I made a cannoli filling (ala Richmond) for the crepes and it was pretty good.

After crepes, quiche, and nap, we went to our neighbor's house to enact the nativity. Jamie and I were Joseph and Mary and lil Asher man got to be the baby Jesus. It was a fun experience, one I had never done before, and we enjoyed the company of our neighbors. Good food too! Ali's mom made flan and it was divine. Seeing all the babies in their white onesies (the babies were sheep, Asher too, after his gig as the baby Jesus was up) was adorable. I love babies! Sophia, our baby neighbor, got a radio flyer wagon for Christmas and Soren LOVED it. He hogged it most of the time and freaked me out when I was laying my baby in the manger and I looked over to see him standing up in the wagon--oh dear. Fortunately, one of the wise men steadied him and helped him sit down again. Phew.

The grand finale of Christmas day was going to the temple to see the Festival of Lights. Let me quote a 15 month old to describe it, "WOW!" The boys had a blast. We saw some friends at the visitor center and Soren became a baby model as a kind old man took a load of photos of him.

What an awesome day! Having children sure makes the experiences of life more substantive--from the simple to the complex, children add so much intensity and joy to life. Asher and Soren are such marvelous and beautiful little people and I love that I get to raise and nurture them. A fine Christmas indeed.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Fiesta Ware from my parents--I love the green!


Dinner cutes!

Roasted pepper, corn, and onion with cheddar tamales!


Cute hubs.
Freaking huge eggnog cheesecake. It's deliciousness was directly proportionate to its size.

Comfy, holiday p-jay jays.

Asher man!


Dad, this story is awesome!

All of this for two one year olds? I really need to rethink my holiday gift giving.


Well, I had to work on Christmas Eve. I didn't like it because Christmas Eve has always been my favorite part of the Christmas holiday but fortunately I got to leave work two hours early. As soon as I got home I continued to WORK. I made dinner: tamales, roasted veggies, queso, and eggnog cheesecake. Making dinner meant sacrificing time with my baby babes and that was hard. They didn't even like my tamales. boo hoo.

Dinner was awesome even if my tamales weren't perfect.

The Deuce wore their Christmas p-jay jays from Grandma and Grandpa Weiss and Jamie read the story of Christ's birth from Luke.

After the wee ones went to bed Jamie and I watched Elf and About A Boy while we wrapped presents...fun! Us, wrapping presents for OUR babies. Wow! Exciting.

Note to Self

Books to read!

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination
by Elizabeth McCracken

Say You Are One of Them
by Uwem Akpan

Unaccustomed Earth
by Jhumpa Lahiri

Netherland
by Joseph O'Neil

I See You Everywhere
by Julia Glass

American Wife
by Curtis Sittenfeld

15 Months

Monkey babies!

Soren was doing a fancy dance in the colander with his buddy the monkey on his back.


At 15 months Asher remains locked in the 5th percentile at 19 lbs and 29 3/4 inches tall.
Soren is rocking the 75th percentile for height at 31 3/4 inches tall and rocks the 5oth percentile for weight at 24 lbs. Yep, Soren is now FIVE pounds heavier than Asher. I am daily lifting and loving 44 pounds of baby boy awesomeness.

This is what 15 month-olds are like at our house!

Favorite foods: clementines, bananas, waffles, fried rice with tofu, grilled cheese sandwiches, and whatever bites of cookies mom sneaks them when dad isn't around.

Favorite activities: walking, dancing, pointing, chatting, climbing (Soren is climbing up the crib now...), dancing, tackling one another, reading, touching ornaments, touching Christmas cards, emptying cupboards, and being chilled out entertainers.

Favorite books: Goodnight Moon (Asher's favorite), Runaway Bunny (Soren's favorite), and the Hungry Caterpillar.

Words: Asher says bird, book, baby, and bye-bye. He loves B's! Soren says wow, okay, 'don't touch that' and just today when I opened the fridge he pointed to mustard and said, 'what is it?' Amazing. Language acquisition is remarkably entertaining and exciting.

Asher is walking all the time and spends most of his day occupying himself with books and other quiet, adorable activities. He does like to screech with joy and also likes to tackle his brother with kisses. The other day while I was feeding him he reached out, gently grabbed my face and gave me a splendid kiss. Heaven!

Soren is running, climbing, marching in place, and darting everywhere. He still loves to travel with something firmly gripped in his hand. Soren is quite fond of switching, especially bottles or sippy cups. After the first few sips Soren tosses aside his bottle or sippy cup and insists on taking Asher's bottle. This little activity is repeated until Soren is satiated.

Oh yeah, on most nights they sleep 12 hours! Woo hoo.

Monkeys and Cookies

Nick, Nick, Nick! Can we play with your phone??? We like your phone way better than dad's outdated and clunky razor.

Cell phone and monkey amusements.

Nick, Amanda, Jessica, Cliff, Jamie with The Deuce, and Jared.

Daddy has a beard! He looks awesome.

Holiday cookies! Amanda made awesome toffee chocolate cookies and I made more cranberry crunchies and I made chocolate chip cookies with toasted pecans and chopped up candy cane flavored Andes mints--yum!

Saturday night we had dinner with good friends--most of whom Jamie worked with during his tenure at the National Academies. Amanda and her fiance Cliff bought a house in Catonsville, MD and she made us a wonderful maccaroni and cheese dinner at their new place. We always have a delightful time with Amanda, Nick, and Jared so it was a pleasure to catch up, share a meal, and enjoy the holiday season.

Zoo Lights

Kelly kindly dressed Soren for our trip to the zoo. We loved her visit! Soren was so snuggly and flirty in her presence! He batted his eyes, flashed stunning smiles, and showed off his amazing baby patois.

Classy flamingo lights.

Petting zoo!



Friday was rainy. I mean it rained ALL day long so I was super relieved when the rain stopped moments before we departed for the Zoo. We had a great time strolling through the Zoo after hours with friends and cheesy lights.

A few of the animal houses remained open for the festivities so we had a spectacular time with the small mammals. Asher went nuts over the monkeys! His fingers were permanently in point mode. The tamarind monkeys were the most amusing and man were they HYPER. They made toddlers look sluggish. The tamarind monkeys were housed with one rather molested sloth--that poor creature had tamarind monkeys bouncing off of his face and every other body part. The tamarinds, in addition to using the sloth as a trampoline, were also fond of parting his long hair to snack on various creatures living on his body.

Zoo lights...a fun time.