Fifteen Months and Growing!

We celebrated Estella's and Cordelia's fifteen-month birthday this week. Every time we celebrate such a milestone, I reflect back on the girls' lives and the pace of time with kids. On the one hand, these past fifteen months feels feel like they have flown by! It is hard to believe that fifteen months have passed since I met these two beautiful girls for the first time, or that five whole months have gone by since they learned to crawl (it seems like just a few weeks ago!). Was really an entire year ago that we took them to balloon fiesta for the first time, and they just slept in their stroller the whole morning? On the other hand, when I think about how much both girls have changed in the past fifteen months, it seems like such a long time. Remember when they were newborns and I could hold them on my chest, curled up in little baby balls? Now they love to run when Adelaida chases them and are very squirmy when sitting on anyone's lap. I think about when they started rolling over for the first time (eleven months ago) and how much effort it would take for them to simply roll from their bellies to their backs. Now they are climbing ladders, getting into the bathtub by themselves, and opening drawers and cabinets in the kitchen -- such a huge change relative to only a year ago!

Here is a visual chronicle of Estella's and Cordelia's first fifteen months:

This is one of the first pictures of Estella (on the left) and Cordelia (on the right), when they were one day old. Estella weighed 7 lb, 3 oz and Cordelia weighed 6 lb, 13 oz when they were born. They were good-sized babies, but small enough to fit in a single bassinet together!

These are pictures we had taken of the girls when they were just a few days old. Cordelia is on the left and Estella is on the right. They used to curl up just like this to sleep on my chest!

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at one month old.

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at two months old. This is when I remember life just starting to calm down after the chaos of have two infants.

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at three months -- the girls were really becoming aware of their surroundings and interacting with us more. Such a fun age!

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at four months.

Five-month-old babies are no longer particularly fragile or delicate, and actually spend time awake and not nursing. At this age, Adelaida discovered that her sisters were fun to play with and she wanted to play with them all the time! Fortunately, Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) loved to watch Adelaida play and didn't mind Adelaida touching, hugging, and playing with them. Adelaida loved to give the girls toys and to put blankets on them. She took such good care of her little sisters then, and still does!

Six-month-old Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right).

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at seven months old.

By eight months old, both Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) were crawlers, although Estella had had considerably more practice crawling then Cordelia. They had been so frustrated before they learned to crawl, and suddenly had so much freedom to crawl around the room to get the toy they wanted.

By nine months old, Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) were eating lots of solids and both loved meals. Estella would investigate her food -- pick it up, look at it, smash it between her fingers, see what it felt like in her hair, and sometimes even taste it. Food was definitely a toy for Estella rather than a source of nourishment! Cordelia was much more deliberate with her food. When something was placed on her tray, she would either pick it up and put it neatly in her mouth to eat it, or decide that it didn't belong on her tray and pick it up and drop it on the floor.

Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) at ten months.

Eleven-month-old Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) loved to climb on everything. They were always happy babies and loved to smile and laugh.

On their first birthday, Cordelia (on the left) and Estella (on the right) were both cruising around furniture and getting ready to walk. Independent steps came in the weeks after their first birthday, and by thirteen months both girls were walking more than they were crawling.

Now they are fifteen months old and love to play. Estella likes to figure things out, doing the same thing over and over and over. Cordelia loves to be chased and to laugh at silly things. They are both so much fun right now and we spend less time doing things for the girls and more time doing fun things with them. They like to put blocks in boxes, and to gather up toys into a bucket and carry the bucket around the room. Both girls love to play with Adelaida, and their big sister enjoys playing with them (most of the time).

Help from Nonna, Poppa, and GG

In August, my employment status changed from "part-time, limited term, as many hours as I wanted to work each week" to "full-time, regular employee, 40 hours per week." I knew the transition was going to be difficult so invited family to come out to visit (and clean the house, cook us dinners, watch the kids on the days that they couldn't go to school, help get them ready in the mornings on the days they did go to school, and otherwise earn their keep). Fortunately, the "40 hours per week" part of the job was short-term: I had to work full time for only two weeks before I was able to transition back down to a very comfortable 60% time (24 hours per week). Even more fortunately, I have wonderful family members who were willing to put their own lives on hold for two weeks to help my family get through this difficult time.

My mom came out first, and stayed for a full two weeks. She cooked two dinners for us every night: one to eat that night, and one to put in the freezer to eat later (and we've been burning through that stockpile over the past two months!). She had dinner on the table every night when we came home from work, and did dishes and cleaned up after three messy kids every evening after dinner. That alone was worth an extra half-hour of sleep for me every night!

And more importantly than all the cooking and cleaning she did, my mom spent two weeks loving on my kids, playing with them, reading them books,  and listening to their stories. Here is Estella sitting on her Nonna's lap.


For the second week of my full-time job, my mom was joined by my step-dad and grandma. This was especially good timing because the kids couldn't go to school on Tuesday that week, and keeping all three kids at the same time is stressful. I'm their mom, and even I am exhausted by spending an entire day with them! So, I'm glad that my mom and grandma were both here to keep the kids that day.

Adelaida was pretty pleased to have her Nonna and Poppa here!


This is a precious photo that captures just how much GG loves to love on her great-grandchildren. Estella just pressed her little head into GG's shoulder and she was enveloped in a comforting "Grandma Betty hug." Estella was going through a particularly bad case of stranger anxiety in August but within a day of Grandma arriving, Estella was asking for GG to pick her up and hold her.


Nonna, Poppa, and GG: thank you, thank you, thank you!

A long roadtrip, part 5

We had spent a week traveling, visiting with friends and family in Tulsa and in Indiana while Dale had been in St. Louis, and finally it was time to drive west. We left Owen County in the evening, drove to St. Louis for the night, then a (relatively) short drive to Tulsa found us visiting the Oklahoma Parkes clan again. Charlotte was visiting in Tulsa as well, so we were able to have a little family reunion while we were there. We were eager to get back home, sleep in our own beds, return to our normal lives, so we spent only one afternoon and evening in Tulsa, then drove back to Albuquerque the following day. Here are some of the pictures I took during our half-day in Tulsa:

Mamaw reads a book to Sarah, Adelaida, and Elizabeth


Dale reads to Benjamin and Adelaida. I love that our kids love to read!


This picture has Mamaw with all six of her grandchildren: Cordelia on the left; Benjamin rolling on the floor; Sarah, Adelaida, and Elizabeth listening to the story; and Estella in the back standing up.


Finally, we drove back to Albuquerque -- with several stops at parks along the way -- and made it back home. It was a fun vacation, but we were eager to resume our more normal lives!

A long roadtrip, part 4

We spent our last day in Indiana in Owen County, hanging out at the farm in the morning and visiting with extended family in the afternoon. Here are some pictures from that day:

Annabelle and Adelaida read books together. Annabelle was so adorable helping with Adelaida, and Adelaida was happy to follow Annabelle everywhere she went!


Soon Annabelle decided to dip her feet in the kiddie pool. Adelaida followed and soon we'd stripped her and put her in the pool. It feels so refreshing on a hot, humid summer day!


Eventually Simon woke up and was ready to jump into the pool, clothes and all! Fortunately we were able to undress him before he jumped in, and he and Adelaida played together in the kiddie pool for about an hour.


In the afternoon, we went to Fred and Carol's lake house for a family gathering. Between the rafts, the leisure boat, swimming in the lake, the lake surfboards, and the plentiful food, there was more than enough to keep everyone occupied. Here are some of the pictures I took that afternoon.

We borrowed a life jacket for Adelaida and she was happy to go out on the raft with some of the big girls. For a normally timid child, Adelaida was very adventurous at the lake!


Grandpa, Cordelia, Grandma, and Estella watch the big kids play in the lake.


Owen and a dog stop by the blanket to say hi to Estella and Cordelia.


Adelaida jumped off the boat dock into Michael's arms. For weeks she talked about going swimming with Uncle Michael. She loved it!




After their swim, Uncle Michael and Adelaida relaxed together in a raft. They both look so happy and content!


Estella helps Cordelia finish her lunch.


The next photo is, in my opinion, the most impressive one of the entire trip. 19 kids (ages 10 months to 18) plus 9 dogs sitting together for a picture, all smiling (or at least not crying), all looking at (or at least near) the camera. Wow! This picture has 19 of my grandparents' 24 great-grandchildren (the other five weren't at the party that day). Simon is in the back left, Estella is in the front left, Adelaida is in the front middle next to Annabelle, and Cordelia is in the back right.


Just imagine all those kids, plus a couple dozen adults, running around at the lake house that afternoon, swimming, taking boat rides, relaxing on the rafts, eating at the picnic tables. It was really a wonderful gathering and we so enjoyed spending time with our extended family who we just don't get to see often enough!

A long roadtrip, part 3

We most frequently visit Indiana over Christmas, when it is cold, often snowy, and inevitably dreary outside, so we haven't spent a lot of time at the local parks. Indiana in May is hot and humid during the day, but relatively pleasant in the evening, so when my dad and Mary Jo suggested that we meet at a park for dinner one evening, we eagerly accepted their invitation.

Rachel and I arrived early and let the kids try out all the park equipment before dinner. Estella and Cordelia doubled up in the infant swing, with squeals of delight when I pushed them.


Simon enjoyed running up and down the ramps.


Dad and Mary Jo arrived with dinner, which we ate while watching a colony of ants move -- a really amazing sight! From a distance they looked like a large black mass slowly moving across the concrete. I wish I had a picture to share!

After dinner, the kids gravitated back to the playground and tried out all of the other equipment. Adults and kids both had so much fun!

Grandpa and Simon tried out the seesaw. I think Simon enjoyed sitting with Grandpa as much as he enjoyed the up-and-down of the seesaw!


Slides are fun, but why bother climbing up when you can be magically transported to the top of the slide? Simon just wanted to slide, and Grandpa happily obliged.


Adelaida convinced Grandpa to put her in a baby swing. She can go so high in the infant swings, and she loves to swing higher!


Grandma and Cordelia spent some time together on the swing.


Estella found the string on Grandpa's hat, and she was happy.


Adelaida joined Grandma and Cordelia on the swing.


Estella got to swing!


Auntie Rachel and Simon ride a horse ...


... and Adelaida rides a race car!


We all had a great time at the park, and will definitely be spending more time there on future Indiana vacations!

A long roadtrip, part 2

Having arrived in Indiana after a very long roadtrip, we were so happy to get out of the car (all of us, but especially Estella), visit with family (me), crawl around (Cordelia and Estella), and nap (Adelaida). We ate dinner, got settled in and unpacked, woke Adelaida up from her nap so that we could put her to bed, and went to bed knowing that we were going to be staying in Indiana for a while and didn't have any long car rides for the next week.

Over the next few days, we tried to do something fun with the kids every day, whether it was going to a bouncy castle play area, playing at the park, or taking a walk. Here are some pictures from our week in Indiana.

The Greenwood Park Mall has a great play structure for toddlers. All four of our kids loved it! Here, Estella practices standing at one of the climbing structures.


Cordelia and Estella eventually got down on the floor and started doing what they did best: army crawling. I'm not sure if Cordelia was crawling faster than Estella and just decided to go over her, or if Cordelia thought she'd have a better view if she could just gain a few inches. Either way, Estella didn't mind and Cordelia continued to crawl on her for several minutes!


Rachel let Simon take a little bus ride at the mall. Simon wasn't so sure about the weird animal next to him in the bus!


Back at Nonna and Poppa's house, four pajama-clad kids (Cordelia, Adelaida, Estella, Simon) play together. We just loved watching these cousins play together!


Papaw and Nana were staying in Indy while we were there and we learned that Papaw is an excellent baby-holder. Of course, since Estella and Cordelia are his third set of granddaughter/great-granddaughter twins, he's had a lot of experience holding two baby girls!


Late May in Indiana can be described by two words: hot and humid. Rachel pulled out the sprinkler and let Simon and Adelaida run around in the sprinkler. Adelaida loved the water play!


Simon found a hose attachment and walked around the yard with the hose attachment. He wasn't all that interested in the sprinkler.


Nonna gets to love on Estella and Cordelia together!


I have so many more pictures from this wonderful trip and will continue to write about our time in Indiana again soon.

A long roadtrip, part 1

This is another long overdue post, about a trip we took four months ago. I am trying to get caught up on this blog, but find that things happen faster than I'm able to write about them!

For the purposes of this post, let's call Dale's company "The Big B." When The Big B identifies an employee with leadership or management potential, they want to brainwash the employee as early and as effectively as possible. One technique that The Big B has found to be particularly effective in indoctrinating employees is to bestow an award on the employee in the form of a week-long stay at a very nice hotel, with excellent food, surrounded by other Big B employees (some already brainwashed, some being brainwashed at that time), with all-day-long seminars with the message "The Big B is wonderful" repeated subliminally approximately once an hour. In April, The Big B bestowed such an award on Dale, and for one week in May Dale was required -- I mean privileged -- to travel to St. Louis for a week-long Big B Project Management boot-camp at The Big B Corporate Training Headquarters.

St. Louis is only a four-hour drive from Indianapolis, and we know quite a few people in Indianapolis who we love to spend time with, so we decided to drive Dale to St. Louis, then continue on to Indianapolis for a little vacation.

Of course, "...drive Dale to St. Louis..." sounds so easy, as if I might say "I'll just drive Dale to St. Louis after lunch" -- but it was a little more difficult to execute. For us, it took the best part of three days.

Part 1 of the trip was a day-long drive to Tulsa. We woke up at 3am, I nursed the babies, Dale had Adelaida use the toilet, we put the kids in the car (still in their pajamas), and started driving. One reason we decided to leave at 4am was that we imagined that the kids would sleep for the first four hours of the drive, putting us pretty far down the road before we had to stop for stretch/play/breakfast/bathroom breaks. That worked for two of the kids. Adelaida was awake the entire time.

By 8:00 we were ready for a break, so stopped in Amarillo at a very nice park. We fed Estella and Cordelia while Adelaida played on the playground, then got back in the car and let Adelaida eat in the car. Adelaida burned off some energy at the park and was kept occupied in the car by eating. It worked wonderfully! We repeated that at lunchtime a few hours later and made it to Tulsa in only two stops, although those stops were close to two hours each.

We had a lovely evening with Richard and Laura, and the kids all played together nicely. We spent the entire next day with them, relaxing between long driving days. Highlights of that day included Adelaida going fishing in the neighborhood pond (her attention span was much too short to actually catch a fish, but she did touch a fish!), a nap for me, a walk around the neighborhood, Dale watching eight hours of pre-training videos, and all the adults watching six cousins play together.

Elizabeth leads Adelaida on a walk around the neighborhood


Day 3 started much like the first day: we woke up at 3am, loaded kids in the car, and started driving. Again, Adelaida stayed awake while Estella and Cordelia slept. Unfortunately, it was raining in Missouri that morning, so our first stop was at a McDonald's with a play structure instead of a park. It turned out OK, as Cordelia and Estella were able to burn off some energy playing on the structure as well. We ate, took bathroom breaks, stretched, played, and got back in the car for another long driving stretch.

Estella, Adelaida, and Cordelia -- all still in their pajamas -- play in the tunnel at McDonald's


Our second stop was in St. Louis, where we met my mom and brother. Michael was going to spend some time in St. Louis with a friend, and my mom was going to help me drive the kids to Indianapolis. I didn't really need the help, but it sure made it easier to have a second adult!

We played a little at a park, but by this time Adelaida was so tired from getting up at 3:30am that morning (and two days prior) that she wasn't really interested in playing. Estella and Cordelia ate a little, but soon we decided to continue on to our destination.

We said goodbye to Dale and Michael, and Mom, the three kids, and I finished the drive to Indianapolis, with only one brief stop. Adelaida actually fell asleep in the car for about an hour, and was so tired when we arrived at Mom's house that she slept on the couch in the living room while seven other people talked and laughed around her. We were so happy to have reached our destination, and happy to see Mikel, Rachel Murphy, and Simon!

And so ended the first part of our roadtrip. I'll write more about it later!