the little mermaids

at long last - almost a year and so much has happened it makes my head spin.  we have a new computer and i'm hoping that once i figure out how to use it [technology has officially passed me by in the last year too], i will be back to regular posting.

we started swim lessons for both girls again in january.  last year hennie took a total of four lessons and hated every minute but this time she loves it.  she's with rocky and he comments every day how much she reminds him of thea.  she does and she doesn't.  their personalities are really quite different.

thea is with nick and they were best buds after the first lesson!  it took her about two lessons to remember what to do and now she's diving in and swimming the length of the pool all by herself.

tiny dancer

zack enrolled thea in a ballet and tap class at the Y in january.  she l.o.v.e.d. it for about eight weeks and then in true fickle female form decided she didn't want to do it anymore.  [i'm so glad we invested in the leotard, tights, ballet and tap shoes that are now gathering dust in her closet.]  she was quite good in the class, very attentive and a good direction-follower.  she still knows how to do a shuffle-ball-change and a bunch of fancy ballet moves.

some of my favorite recent memories though are of the dance lessons she and papa had while he and my mom visited in march.  he transformed into his alter ego, paolo di paolo, an italian baryshnikov of sorts, and she was mesmerized by his teachings.  i need to track down the video from my mom - it's priceless.

one of her very first words

internet, please forgive me.  it's been months. ages.  a lifetime, really.  we [finally, sort of] have a working work space and a [kind of] new computer so i am able to upload photos and videos from my phone and add to the blog.  though i can barely remember what happened last week, let alone five months ago, i'll try to convey as best and as much as i can. 

starting with this video, taken december 30 2011. i'm quite sure this was hellie's first word, at least it was her very clear and emphatically communicated first word [after da! and mama of course].

http://youtu.be/D4dpLxv3DLA

here are a couple photos too:

walking shoes

helen upped and starting walking last week and hasn't looked back. she's very confident and quiet in her determination. i'll post some videos this weekend but here's my favorite photo of the week, taken today by lisa.

the nutcracker

thea and i went to the nutcracker ballet on december 18. we were both really excited to go. i remember loving the ballet as a girl and though this performance didn't hold a candle to the boston ballet, it was still so much fun. thea wore a dress that laura gave her for her birthday and it couldn't have been more perfect for the occasion.







hellie was sad she couldn't go:



we arrived early and found our seats then went to check out the orchestra pit. thea enjoyed seeing the instruments but was a little impatient to get to her seat. i had to bribe her to go to the bathroom before the show and the entire time we were in line for the toilet, she kept saying, "it's starting! we have to go to our seats! we're going to miss it!" i was a little nervous as to whether she would sit still and be interested. she was definitely interested and sat still for all but the last few minutes. she was somewhat quiet though loudly whispered through a good deal of the show.



all in all, a great first trip to a live performance of this kind. i would do it again in a minute. we have plans to attend cinderella in the spring and we are both looking forward to it!

portrait of a lady

cool cat

i'm one bitches.



hellie cat turned one at the beginning of december and we had a big party in our new house to celebrate. we feel so lucky that we were able to spend the day with lots of our friends, loved ones and my parents!

we had yummy food then thea and helen both got to blow out candles - thea on a cake and hellie on a cupcake. helen was a bit skeptical at first but ended up very much liking the taste of vanilla cake with raspberry frosting.





happy birthday sweet little angel. i am grateful for you and your cuddles and kisses every single day.

threeeeeee!

our princess t.t. bird turned three last month.





and what a princess she is - this phase hit hard and came quite seemingly out of nowhere about two or three months ago. now we are full-on in the thick of princess fever. thea went from a little tomboy to insisting on wearing dresses [more specifically 'twirly dresses'] every day. i'm thinking it came from school but who knows.

stage one meant she had to wear her purple dress [well, it was a dress last year but a shirt this year] at all times. purple dress to go with her purple room - does she know purple is the color of royalty? she must.



then she moved on to her yellow dress. now we're in stage three - orange dress - and this one is the twirliest dress yet.



she's also very much into dancing and spends hours spinning, high-stepping, kicking and curtsying about the house. [the dancing coupled with her accident-prone-ness results in her falling into walls or onto the floor in various dramatic ways so much so that i've started calling her mary katherine gallagher.]

our beloved nanny, lisa, gave her a book of princess bedtime stories which quickly edged out mercy watson as favorite book before bed. the most challenging part of this whole thing is she thinks she's a princess only when she has a dress and her purple shoes on so getting her dressed and undressed takes some maneuvering. my parents were here last week [we MISS YOU SO MUCH!] and my mom bought her a couple nightgowns just so that she wouldn't insist on sleeping in her frocks.

i looked back at a photo taken when she turned two last year - oddly similar to the one at the top of this post - and can't believe how much she's matured and grown in a year. she's loving, confident, hilarious, sensitive, intense, curious, full of life and smart as a whip. i love every moment we spend together and feel so lucky to call her my daughter.

i hope she loves me as much i love my mother. happy birthday mom!!