Date night downtown

Trying to have some fun here....

Bath time with the Twizzles

No matter how many toys are floating around with them, they always fight over the same one.

I'm a big girl now!

What a long way we have come from peeing on the DQs lap in front of an ENT colleague! Now she sits in the chair all by herself!

Smoofie Mustaschf

BabyYarnoz. Where have you gone?

Well, Internet readers, I'm back. I think. I'm trying to dictate this with Siri at this moment, while watching the kizzles tear up my living room.

But now, thanks to the power of the Internet and a blogger app, we're back in the game. Seems that the last couple months we've been bogged down by life. The blog has been bogged. The humor has left the building. But now it might returned. We will see.

Many posts have been formulated in my mind that'll hopefully be dictated to text shortly. Stay tuned loyal babyyarnoz viewers.

Guest Blog: Happy Me Day to my Kizzles

This marks the 3rd Mother's Day where I am considered an active, and
perhaps even willing, participant.


For this Mother's Day, I wanted to document exactly what it is that
makes me happy to be a mom to the kizzles, one by one:

To Kemper Pilar (aka The Pizz, Pizzlesticks, KP, Boo): No offense to
the Twizzles or anything, but you were the best baby in the world.
No, really. You slept reliable hours, you ate well, and you giggled
non-stop. There is nothing else that new parents really need in a
baby. You were such a great baby that we even took you on a
transatlantic vacation. I think about that now and consider us either
overconfident or complete idiots, but we did it. You managed to glide
through every milestone at just the right time with just the right
amount of energy. You avidly devoured every Baby Signing Time video
and have accumulated enough ASL knowledge that you correct me when I
do something wrong! You make me laugh hilariously when you say things
like "What you say Mama?," or throw a fit because you "wanna go to
Book Club too!" I love that you love to read books for hours (of
course this means that I've only taken you to the libary once because
you wanted to take ALL the books home with you.) I love how you say
your daddy is a "Hot [instead of heart] doctor" and your mommy is a
"Sick people doctor." I love how you adore your brother and sister,
and yell at all the other kids at school "My twizzles!!" even if it
isn't very nice of you. I love it when you tell me "Mila is my best
friend in the whole world" especially since she hasn't uttered a word
yet. You will be a great big sister for her I am sure. You are our
future hair model but I hope I can keep you from being vain about it.


To Court (aka the Dude, Courtizzle, Coco, Cocoloco, Cocorito): Oh
Court, you poor thing, to be the boy squished between the girls.
Thankfully, it appears that you have the personality for it. From day
one, you have been the mild mannered one, the one who didn't really
care to nurse or take from the bottle, the one who was easily calmed,
the one who slept through anything (anything mostly being Mila
screaming in your ear). I love how you put up with almost anything
Mila does until she goes one step too far (i.e. puts her finger in
your ear), at which time you just horsecollar her, even though I
probably shouldn't secretly enjoy Twizz-on-Twizz violence. I am
constantly amazed at how much you can eat (as much as Kemper) and
scared witless at how much that means I will be needing to feed you
when you are full grown. In fact the only assertive thing you do,
really, is eat. The rest of your milestones have come in time,
mostly only after you've watched Mila try and fail them all for a
while. This slow and steady pace will probably constantly challenge
me, who only has two speeds (warp and off), but I'll learn patience in
time from you. You are also the one who it is most gratifying to
force a giggle (you are too cute when you laugh!) And never mind what
your Daddy says, you are a Yarnoz through and through, even without
the dark hair!


To Mila (aka the Double Deala): Mila, you have been my most
challenging baby so far, without a doubt. No one has ever wondered if
you had an opinion on something. You are either furious or elated
most of the time. You hate to take naps when there are more important
things to do or people to see. You take forever to eat, inspecting
every last millimeter of each cheerio before popping it into your
mouth. You move briskly everywhere, while Court watches, but you
always turn back to him to make sure he is going to come eventually.
You love everything that Kemper does, and for months the only time you
giggled was when Kemper hopped on two feet in front of you. You love
Hamilton to distraction, and your first word in sign was "dog." You
have the most beautiful eyes that strangers constantly remark on. You
are a fiercely loyal baby to your Mama, but your eyes light up when
you see Daddy too. You are a born leader, if we can only learn to
channel your energy!

Who is the smartest one in this photo?

Beach + Kizzles: Take One

Yes! We made it! Two tons of beach supplies later, and the entire Yarnoz Family + Edna made it to the beach.  And it was fun!  Really!  We're not kidding.  Fun for the entire family.  We thought that would never happen!

The Double Deala had to seriously contemplate the use of a plastic rake

The way Cocorito spent his hours at the beach

The Pizz and Edna making sand castles

"What's up, Bro?"

"We are going to the beach!"

For those of you who don't know, the DQ and I have a hard time really being "normal" parents.  Case in point: The Pizz has been in daycare since 8 weeks of age, and every few months she is supposed to participate in some sort of "program," which usually consists of small children on stage singing none of the words to 2 songs that they sing daily in class, when no one is looking.

Well, above you will see the Pizz's debut at the NHRMC auditorium -- yes, that's right -- it's the first time we've made it to one of these program-things.  And that's just the kind of parents we are.

But, she was cute, if a litte bit tone-deaf and uncoordinated.

The Pizz and her favorite friends: Anna and Olivia

Beach date! Take two:

Remember our last attempt at a beach date? It ended 2 miles down the street in a torrential rainstorm. Well, this one was much more successful!  We packed up some stuff (had to practice for the big day with the kizzles!) and trotted out to Wrightsville.  Ironically, when we got there, there was a mommy-fest in progress, with more kids than we could imagine!

I'm at the beach and none of these kids are mine!

Escape!

Stickers

It's a magic waffle type of morning!

Spring is leaving us, and summer is coming. That means the end of al fresco dinners and a brief opportunity for outdoor breakfasting. Yum!

I think Ham misses the kizzles when they are at school, what do you think?

Happy Easter 2012!

A fantastic time was had by all this Easter.  Ita and Wowo came for a visit!  And Wowo wanted to be the Easter Bunny!  Maybe this was after a couple of glasses of scotch though....

There was, of course, another trip to the Aquar-mum-mum so that the DQ could sleep off a round of night shifts without Team Chaos in the house.

But the DQ rose from the dead just in time - how appropriate! - to get the Family God On as we must say.  Yes, folks.  We consciously decided to take all three little people and our adult selves to the busiest Catholic mass in the city!  Sober!  And it resulted in surprisingly only one premature exit from the facility - Daddy and the Pizz.  

Whew.  After a quick return home and some naps, the crew was ready for the first annual Yarnoz plastic-Easter-egg hunt. The Editor hid the eggs, to the consernation of the DQ, who thought they were too easily discovered!  (I guess the strategy was supposed to be an Easter egg hunt that consumed the 2 year old attention span for 2 hours!)

The Twizzles managed to be in fairly good spirits.  If only the Double Deala would not have pulled on the Dude's unfortunately large ears during most of the photos, we would have had some winners!

  

Then, after the photo fest, we finally got to eat!  The DQ decided on steaks (for those of you who know her, this is a major thing around here), and after marinating in wine (what could possibly be wrong with that?) and the Editor googling "how to grill a steak," we ate a delicious meal al fresco.  Yum!

Next year we'll need a bigger table!

The Twizz Join the Pizz at School!!!

It's a red letter day in the BabyYarnoz world.
Nope, no one passed any milestones... but the Twizz went to school!!
After much speculation about how to successfully rear three little
people with different personalities, developmental levels, nap
schedules, etc., it was finally decided that they would all go to
school -- together!!
[This may have also been prompted by the supreme guilt trip that the
Pizz would lay on every morning, telling us that she didn't want to go
to school and would rather stay home with her "best friend" Mila and
'Coco. It was getting to be a pain to even get her out of the house!]
On the inaugural morning to the CLC, the minivan was packed to the
gills with little kids (the Pizz and the Double Deala in matching
dresses "'cause we are sisters!" said the Pizz), diapers, wipes,
lunches, and spare outfits in case a too-good time was had by anyone.
And it was a dream ride, with the Pizz and the Double Deala blowing
raspberries at each other and cracking each other up!
Then we arrived, and sent the Pizz on her merry way. Dropping off the
Twizz was another story -- somehow in the chaos of loading up, the
Dude's paci was left behind, and he was not having any of it! His
separation anxiety racheted up to 10+, while the Double Deala happily
mouthed all the new toys.
After everyone was settled, the DQ2.0 had a lovely day in her
ultra-quiet house, with nothing to be heard except the snores of the dog. Aaaaahh!

The Double Deala gets serious on the swing....

But then breaks out the toofy woofies!!

Will Mommy miss my infectious laugh??

Our day at Airlie Gardens

It's been a beautiful spring here in Wilmington, so one day the DQ decides we just need to get everyone out of the house.

Where to? I ask.  She answers that it's time that I see the largest oak tree in the world (or something like that.)

And it was... huuuuuge!  We showed all the little people too, who were somewhat underwhelmed.

The Pizz preferred looking at all the wildlife -- geese, swans, turtles, etc.  The only sad part of the day: the butterflies apparently were on vacation, or pollinating the gardens.

Next stop??  Who knows!!  That's the fun of it all....

More

Dining outside!!!

Look At Me, at the Gym!!!

Playing Hookie!!!

Gettin' Our God On...

Lest you not think that this blog is just turning into gratuitous post of Kizzle Pictures... I bring you a rarity!

A real blog entry!

But I digress, this past Sunday the familia Yarnoz made its way to church.  But this time, the plans were different.  (Editor's Note: for the past year or so, we've been going to the 9:30 mass, which has free daycare.  We've been dropping off the Pizz and taking the Twizz into church.  Last week, we were talking to another young, Catholic couple, who has a 6mo and is pregnant again!  Man!  Anyways, we were commenting how they take kids as young as 6mo.  As we drove home, we simultaneously thought out loud, why don't we drop the Twizzles off too!)

Man, what a moment!  We were so geeked up for the peace and tranquility, even for the 60minutes of catholic praise.  We were so giddy, we got there 25 minutes early. 

We saunter up to the daycare, and, of course, we're the first ones there.  KP and the DQ go in first, and I tumble through with the Twizz on each arm (but the carseats are getting heavy, even with my girlish physique!)  We leave the Kizzles with the poor dude, leave our cell phone # and "location" and skip off.  As we're walking out of the building to go to Church, I turn to the DQ, "maybe we should just head for the hills!"

She giggled, but dutifully said no.

Next thing we know we're sitting in the back of Church waiting for Mass to start... 20 minutes early!

Ohhh, this is nice.  Peace and quiet.  We look around and sit.

and sit

and sit

I look at the watch ... 10 minutes to go-time!...  Maybe, I'm getting anxious.  Do you think that the Kizzles are ok?  I pat the phone to make sure it is working.  The DQ squirms a little too.  "I don't know.  I guess we'll hear something soon."

I squirm some more... man, this is not relaxing... this is torture... is this some sort of God punishment thing? 

Finally, the Mass begins.  Whew!  Something to take my mind of my Kizzles!  But, the whole time I keep pressing the phone, making sure the vibrato is working.  It is... Apple is too good.

I gave the DQ the over/under on either the Pizz peeing her big-girl panties at 20minutes, or the Twizzles flipping out at 25mins.  She agreed (although later she asked what an "over/under' was... nice!)

I couldn't pay attention as the mass pressed on.  What scripture is he reading?  Huh?  Oh, it's Lent?  Huh?  Man, is this phone going to go off?

We get communion, which was a totally new experience without a squirming Twizzle on your arm.  So peaceful and serene... weird!

Then we were done!  Wow!  No phone call.  I looked at the DQ, maybe I wrote down the wrong ##.  We skirted out the back of the Church, across the street, and walked into daycare.

We were greeted by the Pizz, who was "an angel", and had sat quietly reading books the whole hour.  Supposedly, she "read through the whole library".  She also read to Mila, who got a little fussy and needed to get out of her carseat.  She was teary when we walked in.  The Dude was zoned out in his carseat the whole time! 

No Pee-Pee-in-Her-Big-Girl-Panties.  No meltdowns!  No blowouts!

Just normal Kizzle daycare.

Hmmm.... so when can we start to relax?!