First Fathers' Day

On Fathers' Day, all of the twins' grandparents came over for a yummy pizza lunch. Then Nana & Grandpa Cermak took Francis to see the new "Indiana Jones" movie, and Grandma & Grandpa Cordes stayed here with me and the kids. Evie didn't want to take her 3rd nap, but other than that they were very good! (Yes, she still takes a 3rd nap - she usually goes right to sleep so I am sticking with it!)

For Francis' first Fathers' Day, Gavin decided to chew on his new "Lego Indiana Jones" Xbox 360 game. Francis is also sporting his new "Cool Daddy" t-shirt that Nana Cermak got him.



Three Generations of Cermaks: Grandpa Cermak, Francis & Gavin:

Grandpa Cermak, Francis, Grandpa Vic & Gavin:

Grandma Cordes reads The Night Pirates (about tough girl pirates) to Evie:



Gavin chills out with Grandpa Vic and a teething toy:



Grandpa Cermak and his Fathers Day gifts: a battery powered light for the basement (preping for the next basement flood!) and a propane tank gage:



Grandpa Vic and (one of) his gifts: a Weber grill work table (Grandpa has to wait until Sunday for his other gift) :



Nana Cermak & Gavin with yet another toy in his mouth:



Evie and Grandpa Cermak:

In The Buff

We have discovered that Evie loves to be naked! (According to Nana Cermak, so did Francis when he was a wee tot.) Evie also continues to hate tunmmy time, so I decided to lay her on her tummy naked. Guess what? She's happy as a clam now! She has rolled over at least once on most of the days she has done her "naked tummy time."

Here, Evie has both her cell phone and Gavin's to keep track of her social calendar.

Here you can see both of her scars (click the picture for an enlargment): the left side is the one from June 2, and the right side is from her February surgery. Francis has decided to tell her "that's where your angel wings used to be."

Learning to Share

The twins are learning the art of sharing...actually it's more like they haven't yet figured out how to protest if a toy gets grabbed by their sibling! Usually Evie tries to grab whatever Gavin is playing with. She can have 8 toys in front of her, but all she wants is whatever he has.

First they were both trying to play with the stuffed frog...



Then they moved on to the toy car keys...



...next it was a fabric book...



Then they were really interested in their photo book...



...looks like they settled on sharing this one!



Gavin has tried to grab Evie's feet a few times, too!

More Family Fun

Gavin learned a new pose: first Uncle David did it...


...then Gavin copied it!



Evie helps Grandma Cordes open her birthday card.


"Happy birthday Grandma! I'm so glad I'm home for it!"




Playing on the floor...this is where we spend a lot of our time!


Gavin relaxes with Daddy

A Walk at the Riverwalk

Last week Francis took a few days off from work, and we loaded the kids into the car and headed to the Naperville Riverwalk. Even though part of it is under construction, the Riverwalk is still huge and lots of fun to explore. We could go there every day for a week and probably still not see every part of it.

The kids liked it, we think! Most of the time they are in the stroller, they just look bored. They got a little fussy so we didn't stay long this time. We envision many hours of fun here when they are older!




One of the many covered bridges that cross the Riverwalk.



You can see the Millennium Carillon in the background. This was the first time we have been up close to it, and it is huge! At 14 stories and 160', it is several feet taller than the Statue of Liberty! Francis is amazed that someone can actually "play" the 72 bells in the Carillon like an instrument. We hope to come back for one the Carillon concerts when the kids are a little older. There is a large grassy hill adjacent to the Carillon, and we can envision the kids running around with little lanterns catching fireflies.





The twins were having more fun than their expressions would indicate in this picture!



Lots of animals around the Riverwalk: birds, chipmunks and lots of geese and ducks. Here are some of the many groups of goslings we saw (click on the photo for an enlargement).

Fun with the Family

The twins have been in a playful mood with all their visitors lately!

Evie & Gavin cuddle up with Uncle Brad:





Evie reads a magazine with Nana Cermak:



Gavin and Auntie Di (To me, Gavin looks much older than an 8 month-old in this picture!):



Gavin with Grandma & Grandpa Cordes:





Here's Gavin being silly with Uncle David & Uncle Brad:

Happy To Be Home

Evie is so happy to be home that she is full of smiles! On her first full day at home, she was very clingy with me and she was still uncomfortable from the surgery. We give her Tylenol and Ibuprofen, and she has gotten a little better each day. She has a lot of cuts on her arms and legs from her IV's, and also the places the nurses tried to insert IV's but couldn't get them in. We were able to give her a tub bath on Monday, which she loved!

She is eating really well, but has a little spit up each day and sometimes a big barf. She had a bit of fluid in her lungs, so she is on a diuretic, and when she coughs, that's when her food comes back up. She had such a big barf Sunday night that Francis said he was "amazed by the blast radius." I always thought it was gross when people talked about their kids' bodily functions, but here I am doing it. I guess that's just part of parenting small babies!

Daddy's "LEGO Indiana Jones" t-shirt (which he got for pre-ordering the game): Evie says, "I hope you don't expect me to wear this, Dad!"

Evie and Grandpa Cermak: it's never too early to start batting practice!

Evie and Uncle David

Here's Evie chattering away:

Francis brought home a new Spin and Sing Alphabet Zoo toy that both kids really like. Evie decided to spin it with her foot instead of her hands:

An Update on Me... by Gavin

Hi everyone, it's me, Gavin! The blog has mostly been about Evie lately, so I had to get on the computer and make a post about me. I have been doing a lot since Evie was in the hospital! I sure am glad to have her home, though. We share jokes that Mommy & Daddy don't get.

High five on the surgery, Evie! You surprised everyone (except me).



I can sit in Daddy's big computer chair:



My first steps toward mobility...I'll be working on my technique so I get faster!



Whew! Crawling was so much work that Evie gave me a backrub afterward. "A little higher, Evie!"



"Ahhhhh, that's the spot!"



I just love grabbing Daddy's big head and drooling on it! Daddy looks thrilled, doesn't he!?





I just love to chew on Mommy's hair, too! Here I am after a bath in the upstairs bathroom. I get baths in here now because I splashed water all over the kitchen when I got baths in the sink. I taught Evie the joys of splashing, and now Mommy has to start bathing her up here too!



After months of me plotting to grab the cookies from the kitchen counter, Mommy gave me something called a "Nilla Wafer." It was pretty good! I made sure I got it really sticky all over my hands, then mashed it on my arms and face, and then wiped my hands on her shirt. Isn't that how everyone eats them?



I can play with blocks, and say something that Daddy calls "syllables." I haven't decided whether to say Ma-Ma or Da-Da first.



I had a lot to say the other day, but I didn't want to say it to the camera. Looks like Mommy figured out how to record me anyway:

I also learned how to get into a sitting position from lying on my tummy! Yesterday when Mommy got me up from my nap, I was sitting up in my crib. So Daddy lowered my mattress...now I can't reach up far enough to kick my mobiles to turn them on & off. I really liked kicking them! Well, I'll be able to do that again when I learn to stand up by myself. Hmm...I think I'll go work on that now!