5 months of fun

The Hagen family of four has survived yet another month! (officially on Friday) When I think of how completely crazy I felt that first month I can definitely say it's gotten easier. However, not necessarily because of the girls. In the beginning doing my job was simply making sure they were clean and fed, they didn't require much and were pretty compliant. These days babies are rolling all over the house, sometimes demanding to be held and at other times demanding to be sprawled out on the floor. They want to play and interact, which is soo fun and also much more demanding of my time. I feel a great responsibility to teach them coordination in preparation for grabbing, eating, crawling, talking, sitting, sleeping habits...the list goes on and on. Down to the point: I'm raising 2 human beings who are starting to learn and develop- the pressure is on. However, it really is easier because I've been more adjusted these past couple months.
Currently we are in the middle of a cry-out because the girls digressed to old sleeping habits with multiple night feedings.  After too many nights getting <5 hrs of sleep I started to go crazy. I was exhausted returning from a baseball game last night (after a day at the pool), and I announced to the girls that we were going to sleep for 10 hours. I was joking, but after they finally fell asleep crying it actually ended up being 10 hours between their feedings! I felt bad hearing them cry, I'm only aiming for some healthy sleep for all of us...
We also decided to introduce the girls to food for the first time yesterday! It was fun to watch them try to figure it out.

June wasn't crazy about the whole experience. June's response: "What is this...what's the word again...SPOON...doing in my mouth? Get it away from me, I prefer human milk, plain."

As expected, Lyla was a natural. She ate like a pro and sucked on that spoon like there was no tomorrow. Lyla's response: "I've been waiting so long for a spoonful of iron-fortified rice cereal, thank you! Now, what else have you got in the cupboard? I'm still hungry."

Dear little Juney-June,
You are such a little cutie and we love you so much. You are quite the little go-getter, and you're finally able to move yourself around, which makes you happy. You love to roll all over the place and grab at everything. There is a vibrating toy hanging from your car seat and you figured out how to pull it and haven't stopped since, I was a little startled when I heard you pulling it the first time as I drove. I can't put you in the same crib as Lyla because you roll over to her and take her binkie or whatever toy she is playing with. You love to grab plastic chains, and your favorite toy is a soft book that makes lots of crinkly noises. You are really into your feet these days and grab them all the time.  I really have to watch out for you, I had you in your bouncy seat while I washed dishes, I turned around and you were on the tile floor a few feet away looking slightly dejected. Another time I was cleaning in the kitchen and left you playing on a blanket in the front room. I heard a thud, and came in to find you all the way across the room on the hardwood floor, running into your car seat! You have been mimicking my laugh which is adorable. I laugh, you laugh. You even did it when you had fallen asleep eating, I laughed about something and you kept mimicking me. That smile and laugh of yours is so sweet and adorable. You also make lots of faces, just like your mom. You are an energetic little thing and we can't get enough of you! I am so grateful for your sweet little spirit and love you so much!
love,
Mama

Dearest Little Lyla Bean,
You're such a sweetheart, we love you so much! You are a funny girl, you always know exactly what you want and won't stop till you get it. You like to relax too- sometimes while being held, hanging out in the crib or on a blanket, even in the pool, you loved hanging out in the water! Anything you grab goes right into your mouth, you suck on your hands and sometimes put both of them in your mouth and almost seem frustrated you can't fit anything else in there. You are a little talker. You laugh, make noises, coo, babble, blow bubbles, and make happy noises all day long. You do these big, open mouth smiles that are so cute. I can't help but open my mouth right along with you every time you do it. When I take you to Young Women's, you watch everyone who talks or sings, and sometimes make loud noises like you're talking back at them. Everyone turns around and watches you during lessons because you're so funny and cute. You continue to be such a good little baby- you're a great eater and sleeper. We assumed you'd probably like trying rice cereal and beginning to expand your taste buds, we were right! You're a little foodie like your mom, a good meal makes you happy. You're such a sweet baby, I love you and am so grateful to have you in my life now.
love,
Mama

P.S. To both of you- looks arent' everything, but you're the cutest babies in the world. Everyone says that too. I've even had people say they mean it counting their own children, cutest babies ever seen! You really are the sweetest, most precious little things there ever were.

mom cut?

After months of contemplating, I cut my hair. Despite many slightly irritating comments like "Oh, you got the predictable mom cut", I am happy with it! I needed a change, it's easier for me and it doesn't look like I obviously didn't do my hair everyday (it doesn't even fit in a ponytail anymore).  For me it isn't a mom cut because I've had short hair on and off from elementary school through college. So there you have it, short hair is for everyone. (especially moms I suppose) :)

Harry Potter!

Harry Potter...(to be said slowly with the best British accent your mind can muster up) I just got back from seeing HP 7, part 2. So, I'm no longer one of the 5 remaining people in America who hadn't seen the movie... I can't believe I've been able to wait this many days, I always do the midnight thing dressed as a witch for book releases and movie premiers, but, ya know, I have a couple more important things in my life these days!
I was radiating way too much Harry Potter energy for a Wednesday evening showing. I was the only one who clapped at the end, and I had to pinch my own legs to keep me from dancing my way out of the theatre, seriously. It was very well done- emotional, powerful, and light when it needed to be. I'm such a HP nerd and I love it.
I felt a little emotional thinking of my great memories with "the boy who lived" all coming to an end. I remember dressing as a witch for the first movie premier at the Villa theatre, the high school boys I was with were embarrassed to be with me..(not cause of my age, I was in highschool too!) :) I still remember from the moment the theme song began as it showed the WB, I was in awe how they captured the magic and feeling from the books.
I love that instead of feeling sad about it all coming to an end I now look forward to sharing the magic with my girls one day! (probably when they're about 11 before they get their letters, we're not muggles, giggle giggle!)

Florida babes

Our trip to Orlando was nice. The girls were awesome on all the flights and caused no problems, which was my biggest worry. Brad had to work a ton though, which left me on my own with the girls a lot. It was harder than California because it was humid and hot, and I had no snap-n-go stroller for ease and convenience. A couple days it was frustrating to not get out and see the fun things all around us, but we still had some fun. (hey, it sure beat waiting around at home for Brad to get back to us!)

My sister and her family had their Orlando trip overlap a bit so I hung out at the pool with them one day. It was so fun!

Brad got to hang out with us one day for a bit so we headed over to the Epcot center and gave the girls their first disney experience. At first it was stressful trying to figure out how to keep the girls cool and happy. I said to Brad "Maybe we should just leave and try to get a refund, I think the girls might be too young for this..." Brad responded, "I know the girls are too young for this (duh), this is all for you.". Well, kind of. I am a disney girl, if there is one thing I regret from my single life it's never auditioning to be a Disney princess for Disneyland. Ha. Still, I think the girls will enjoy the pictures one day...so it's not just for me. And the weather ended up being overcast and perfect for our infant day at a disney theme park. We had fun!

We pretended to travel world! EPCOT is pretty much the only theme park with good food, each "country" had something that smelled good and made you want to eat..
The girls and I in Mexico:

I think this was Germany:

I thought this might be a good preview for China (except Brad informed me they were speaking Japanese..)

We had to get a little family pic, just in case we never look this composed on our real deal adventure.

Denmark, or something like that:

Now here I really wanted to place the girls like they were walking down the street, giant babies!!! (I didn't do it cause we weren't ready to get kicked out of the park yet.)

A trip to Japan with daddy!

And that fabulous trip to Italy with mom:

Of course, we had to take the girls back to the land where this family first started out. A taste of our Moroccan honeymoon!

Compare epcot version to the real deal: (it obviously doesn't really compare, but it sure would be hard to visit all these places with infants) :)

I love Paris in the spring time. :)

Somewhere I could actually live with the girls in real life: England.

We also visited Canada blah, blah...and got some pictures with the giant ball, and watched Captian EO. Some pics with disney characters would have been adorable, but not 50 min wait in line adorable.

The girls, clearly thrilled with Disney, just like their mom.

We went to Coco beach our last day which I LOVED. It wasn't all that relaxing with the girls, but it was perfect conditions for a happy beach day. A shady umbrella for the girls. Soft sand. Warm weather with a nice breeze- enough to cool you down without blowing sand in your face. Tiny waves for ocean wimps. Shallow, warm ocean water- perfect temperature. How lovely was that...I wish I could go there every week! What I'd give to be sitting on that beach right now...

I had all these plans to take pictures of the girls at sea world, universal studios, make a trip to the Kennedy Space Center, maybe even take an alligator tour...but you can only do so much when you're just one person with two little babies.  I thought it was a very fun place, hopefully when the girls are a little older we'll make it back and we can experience Orlando more intensely. :)

California girls

Our little roadtrip to Newport Beach a few weeks ago was a huge success! The girls were awesome on the drive. I had fun having little shopping companions to bum around with me. We had some good times.

I ate my most favorite nachos and pina colada with a view of the beach. The girls saw the ocean for the first time.

Then we got up close and personal with the sea.  I like to imagine the girls enjoyed it. :) We took a ton of pictures, the girls were so stinking cute in all of them, but for your sake I won't share them all. (here are a few more I posted a while back)

I love vacations, even if Brad didn't get to spend the entire time with us. After all, we did go down there for his work!

I believe it was during one of these "photo shoots" that one of the girls started fussing a little and Brad said, "leave them alone, they aren't your dolls." But the thing is, they are my dolls! I worked pretty hard for these 2 dollies and it's not everyday you get 2 sweet little dolls to play with, so I'll play dress-up with them all I want! :) 

my canine issues

I haven't been on my computer all week, I actually have blog posts written from our vacations etc that I've been waiting to post once I add a few pics- prepare to be bombarded with all the exciting tales! (wink, wink) for now I will share a thought that requires no picture...
I think I might have some unusual issues when it comes to "man's best friend". I can admit this. People keep underestimating how much I hate dogs. I've visited several people who have dogs while Brad has been traveling so much. Some of these people read my blog. No offense, it's not you...it's them. I guess some people see a dog and look into it's puppdog eyes and fall in love with it's wagging tail. Or something. I look at a dog and my eyes zoom into it's dirty, sharp little teeth. I don't really care how "small" or "friendly" the dog is, I don't want those teeth anywhere near my baby's sweet little hands. I next observe the dog nose. Wet. Dog snot, what could be worse? I imagine that nose all over the ground and sniffing other dogs bums. I don't want that nose anywhere near my baby's face. Next I observe the hair, not just on the dog, but how it inevitably ends up on everything around it. I mentally start thinking of everything I brought with me so I can make sure to throw it in the wash when I'm home. I won't even mention dogs claws, self explanatory right? Claws.
When someone's dog walks up toward my baby seat I might flip just a little. I just can't help it, I see a dog and I think of stories I've heard from fellow nurses... A baby getting defaced because a dog thought the baby was a toy. A woman getting a chunk ripped out of her bum because she jogged past her neighbors "friendly" dog. These are the things that pop into my mind when your dog gets anywhere near my babies.
My view of dogs may be just a little unhealthy, a little OCD. I may act like a frightened child when a dog runs toward me. I just don't care, I would be perfectly happy if my children had a little fear of dogs, keep them cautious. Protect them from our four legged friends.
I don't want to make anyone feel bad.. I'm fine with other people liking dogs, I just can't get myself to join the party. It may surprise you, but if I had to choose I would actually say I was a "dog person", even though I don't want dogs anywhere near me or my little people. I say that because most people are either dog people or cat people, and if I had to choose between a dog calendar and a cat one I'd pick the dogs. So dog people, can we still be friends? :)