There is a cartoon on Treehouse channel called In the Night Garden - it's a very calming cartoon with soft music and meant to be watched before bedtime. But the thing is they only show it at 7:30 PM once a week. Well, Natasha watched part of it about 2 weeks ago and really loved it, so Matthew came up with the idea to record one of the episodes so that the girls can watch it before bedtime on his computer screen.

ANYHOW... the cartoon has this ending song... it's a really really calming/sweet/almost sad type of tune as the characters go to bed... Well, Natasha watches the whole cartoon just fine, but the moment the song comes on, her face completely changes... it starts with her getting really sad looking... then her lip kind of curls up... then her eyes fill with tears... and a moment later she's just outright sobbing!!!

It never fails. EACH and EVERY time. She watched the cartoon maybe 5 times and sobbed each and every ending. She watched it again today; she was actually begging us all day to please please put it on and finally before bedtime, we did... Well, before the song came on, Matthew and I were like, "well maybe this time she won't cry... maybe she got used to it".

But nope! She was sobbing again at the end. I had to turn away because I was laughing so hard... it's so funny and so sad! I think she's gonna be one of those people who cry at the movies :D

Finally. I placed an order from Toys R Us for the girls’ Christmas presents this year from us. It’s been hard because they already have a lot of things, especially Veronika who inherited all of her older sister’s toys and wouldn’t understand what’s going on anyways…. BUT I want Natasha to see her little sister receiving gifts as well. So… Matthew gave me a budget and told me to “go nuts with it” and he doesn’t care what I get, just get it over with. So I did.

For Natasha:

Panda Cub

Thomas & Friends - Railway Rhythms Pop Up Songbook - English Edition

For Veronika:

Musical Inchworm

Activity Board

Teddy Bear Stacker

And for the girls to share:

Interactive Electronic Table

These are all the gifts from Matthew & I, as I am sure they’ll get a ton more stuff from the grandparents and other family.

The girls will not see the toys until Christmas morning when they wake up. The gifts will be hidden and when they go to bed on December 24th, we will place all the wrapped presents under the tree; they will get to unwrap them first thing in the morning. BUT. We’re starting a new tradition this year where each girl will receive a new set of holiday pyjamas and that is the ONLY gift they can open on Christmas Eve. Each girl will go to bed in new jammies (which I already bought)!

Picture of new pyjamas

When they’re a bit older (maybe next year), we will probably do a new set of pyjamas and a new book to take to bed. Also, starting next year, we will take the girls to the store and each will be able to pick out a new ornament for the tree. I want them to have traditions to look forward to each year. I am sure we will have more of them over time, but these are for starters.

So Natasha caught whatever bug her little sister had… she was acting pretty normal last night and went to bed at 7:30pm, as usual. Then at 8:30pm she awoke screaming, crying… and had the worst bark-like cough. She was miserable. All she wanted was to be held and won’t drink a thing. Well… some holding and cuddling later, Matthew took her to bed and read her some books. She calmed down and by 9:30pm was asleep again. She slept well and this morning woke up with a runny nose, although the cough is not as bad.

She looks pretty bad… watery eyes and she keeps pointing to her head, saying “hurts”. Poor baby. Veronika is no better. Both girls are down for their afternoon naps now.

Natasha this a.m

Our poor baby has had a rough few days... first her two bottom teeth came out within a day of each other, and now her nose is all runny and leaking. The runny nose started yesterday morning and it's pretty much preventing her from drinking her bottles... since her nose is stuffed, she can't breathe much through it making it impossible to eat. But oddly enough, she's in a pretty good mood although extra clingy and wants lots of attention. She eats a little solid food, though.

Last night she went to bed at her usual 7:30pm and slept until 11pm when she awoke screaming... her nose was stuffed and she was pretty miserable. We tried suctioning it but she was screaming & kicking so hard, it was next to impossible... I thought I'd be up all night with her. But after fussying for 30 minutes she seemed to calm down and I put her back to bed. She fell asleep right away and (again... oddly enough) slept until 6:05am THIS MORNING! Maybe all that screaming did some good for her...she woke up and ate almost an entire bottle!

Natasha is being an AWESOME big sister through this all... she can tell that Veronika has trouble eating (even solids!), so each time Veronika opens her mouth for a spoonful of food, Natasha goes, "EXCELLENT!!!!" which makes the baby smile!

Ugh. I am having some issues with my Windows Live Writer that I use to update this blog - it keeps posting my entries twice and when I delete the duplicate, it deletes both of them. Grr.

ANYHOW.... Yesterday Miss Veronika got her VERY FIRST TOOTH! Yay, finally! She's been teething for SOO long, for at least four months (poor baby!) but finally a little tooth popped through on her bottom gum. It's really sharp. I hope more teeth are to follow. She's still teething, drooling, and not eating too well so I am sure another tooth will pop through any day now.

We are no longer all gums!

EDITED TO ADD - November 24: We have a 2nd bottom tooth! Yay!

It always amazes me the things people say or ask when I am out with the girls in their double stroller.

• Are they twins?
  Yes, they are twins. One just happens to be a lot longer, has 3 times more hair and is speech advanced.
  
• Awww.... what a cute little baby boy at the back there!
  Oh, that's such a cute little baby boy... complete with a pink hat, sparkly earrings, and a bright pink jacket!
  
• Are they both yours???
  No... I kidnapped one.
  
• Are you old enough to have kids?
  [This one I will not even dignify with an answer].

Natasha & Veronika in their double stroller - November 2008
See what I am talking about?

How can someone so LITTLE cause such a BIG mess?

So I was feeding Veronika some veggies this afternoon when she decided to stick her little foot OUT of the highchair and knock the plate right out of my hands. She's never done that before so I wasn't expecting it... the orange squash/sweet potato/carrot mixture went flying right into my eyes, all over my shirt and pants... it was so unexpected that I placed the plate in the CENTRE of the little table next to her (so she won't reach it) and ran to the bathroom to wash my eyes.

But I should've known better. She didn't need to reach the plate... she just needed to PULL the tablecloth to make the plate COME TO HER, and then happily managed to dump the remainder of the food all over herself, the tablecloth, and the floor.

Ugh... this picture doesn't do it any justice! You should've seen the floor.... I know the fault is mine, you'd think after two babies I'd learn!

Today Veronika had her first taste of meats. She's over 7 months now, so I guess it's time to slowly introduce them... I gave her Heinz Chicken Noodle Casserole to try, and.... she hated it! Yuck yuck. She made a horrible expression. Eventually, somewhere on spoonful #3, she warmed up to it a little bit and actually opened her mouth, but by spoonful #7 she decided enough was enough. She wouldn't open her mouth any longer and screamed at the sight of the spoon.

It's a good thing we have a little puppy in this house (aka Natasha) who happily finished the jar for her sister. Natasha is 25 months old but still OBSESSED with baby food. She would eat it all day if I let her. She finishes off all the food Veronika doesn't - cereals, fruits, veggies, etc. Natasha is not a fan of chewing. She likes mashed up stuff and soups.

Oh well... we will give the meat a try again later!

I've been really trying to learn more about photography over the past few days. Back in August, we bought ourselves a new camera, a Canon Powershot G9. But the one condition Matthew agreed to buy a new camera under was that I learn how to use it. LOL. So I've been learning......... or trying to, anyway. I don't really have a lot of time to sit & read up on it, but more so, I don't have a lot of opportunity to practice. The lighting in our apartment isn't very good, and each time that I am outside, I usually have the girls with me and I have to watch them... so I can take quick shots, but don't have much time to adjust the settings, etc.

But I did spend quite a bit of time reading about Aperture and Shutter Speeds. About 95% made no sense to me at all.... it's SOOO confusing! And this is just a tiny fraction of everything out there. Maybe I'll get myself a book or something (got any recommendations???)

Today the weather was so beautiful (19C) that we went to the park for a couple of hours again. And the girls were both being very good, so I did have some time to practice, and I suppose some of the information I read earlier DID make sense, because I was able to take these shots of Nika:

It took me a long time to get the settings right, but I think they turned out cute. (Don't mind her red cheeks - she has a rash from teething.) I love how it blurs out the background, something that would have taken me HOURS to do in Photoshop. I was also trying to capture some pictures of Natasha running, but it wasn't coming out right. Gotta practice more!

 Hope your Halloween is SPOOKtacular!!

We have no plans for this Halloween, as we never do. We're going to buy a bag of candy incase some kids show up, but we doubt they will as we live in an apartment building. I think Matthew came up with the idea to buy candy just so that he can eat it himself.

ANYWAY.... poor Veronika has no costume... I just couldn't find anything cute for her that was in her size. Everything is awfully bulky, which makes sense if you're going trick-or-treating in the cold weather, but since we are not... well it's just not worth it for me. We'll get her a costume next year.

Natasha has a costume someone gave us.... I think it's pretty cute:

 And some Fall pics from yesterday...