We're back

First off let me say that Emma is walking!! When we were in Ottawa she got more and more confident. We then got them walking shoes and she's really going now. Way more walking than crawling. She still has her arms up in the air but she's looking less and less drunk as she gets the hang of it. The shoes also seem to be helping Leah - she's tried a few times to get up to standing, can stand by herself and on Thursday night she took 2 steps! She still has a way to go but she's much more daring than Emma. The girls had a good trip to Ottawa. We are still battling constipation with Emma. We get her sorted out and then it starts up again. Nothing has changed in her diet and the only thing I can now think of is that she doesn't drink as much now that the hot weather is gone. Leah is fine. They both aren't eating as much as they were and they still aren't sleeping very well although we're down to 1 wake up a night. My theory on this (it seems all I do is sit around and think up theories!) is that they're hungry. They are really not interested in sitting in their chairs and eating but I'm going to start trying to get them to eat more. Baby Einstein during meals helps as well as letting them eat off the coffee table. Bad habits I know but they're so small and they need to eat more. I don't understand how they didn't get my "I love food" gene. Our trip to Ottawa was good. We got a flat tire on the way but thankfully we left early enough that it was still daylight and the roadside assistance was very quick. I'm sure we could have done it ourselves (we actually found the donut and all the tools) but neither of us were confident enough in our non existent tire changing abilities to risk the girls. The weather for the wedding on Saturday was crappy but they had a good indoor backup plan and the night was a lot of fun. It was nice to be out without kids. John left on Sunday and we got back Thursday. My parents didn't read my last post but I was still able to do all of my plans minus watching Oprah because I was napping. Thursday night the girls had their first swimming lesson. The girls were in the water a lot over the summer and they quickly got used to it again. We had to lay them on their backs, on their tummies, dunk them and blow bubbles. There was no crying during the dunking - just alot of funny faces. We were also officially the last people to go home that night. I'm not a slow poke and I couldn't figure out why we were last until I remembered seeing a supporting cast of onlookers for each child. These same people swooped in at the end of the lesson and got the child ready while the swimming parent changed. Maybe one day I'll be a grandparent and undertand but I can't even imagine how boring it would be to spend 30 minutes watching toddler swim class. Yesterday I had my first workshop with the speech and language program. There were 7 other parents there and their children were mostly a little over 2. It was an interesting session. I learned some ways to encourage them to talk. We've already been doing some of the things like not talking all the time and making them ask for stuff rather than providing everything. I also learned some things like correcting them in a positive way, waiting for them to express themselves and rather than trying to get them to focus on one activity to just move on and stay engaged with them. Last night John and I went to Canyon Creek for dinner while my parents watched the girls. We went to the one right by the condo. I forgot how busy that area is - we got there at 8:30pm and we still had to wait 40 minutes. Even when we were leaving there was a big wait. That restaurant really reminds me of the days before we were married when we were both working and going out all the time. My parents left this morning so it's back to reality once again. They go to Florida soon so it really is reality this time. It's cold, rainy and miserable here today. We took the girls to Costco and the grocery store then came straight home. I wanted to go to the pumpkin patch but it doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate. I might have to buy our pumpkins at the grocery store which I guess is a fair trade off for the hottest summer on record. I'll post some pictures soon. No change except they are both cuter.