Molly Too!

Molly crawled for the first time this morning, and looked cool as a cucumber while doing it. "What, you thought I didn't know how to crawl? Puhleeze, I was just giving the little guy his 15 minutes of fame." I'll try to post a video later today if she deigns to ham it up for the camera.

Big Joe's Trailer Truck

It seems that there is only one book out at camp - but it's a good one.

Here's Molly and Grandma reading it way back in September...


... and here's Kate with both kids last weekend

Photos from T-Bay

Here are some photos of Kate, Ben and the twins' visit to Thunder Bay last weekend:

- Molly in control, as always


- Don't led the pigeon drive the boat


- Enroute to camp


- I leave them alone for one weekend and they end up in buckets


- Great outdoorspeople, like their father before them


- First time in a canoe - lifejackets anyone?


- Having fun with Grandma


- More watersports


- If you're going to be part of Kate's family, you have to learn how to be frisked by the cops. Hands on the wall and spread 'em.

- Ben, Grandma and the kids

Window Seat

The cushion for our new, enormous window seat (in the front, tv room) arrived today. We still need to paint the facade, but it looks great. The kids and I sat on it and waved bye to Kate as she headed back to work. I think they love being able to crawl around it and look outside. I also foresee much nap potential.

The Dominant Gene

So that this blog is not merely an account of the successes and triumphs of the twins, I thought I'd share our first attempt to go swimming with the little ones. We went to the Y with Beth & Don and their kids over the long weekend. Jacob began to howl as soon as we got out on deck and Molly promptly followed suit. Even when Kate arrived a few minutes later, they remained inconsolable. I was pretty impressed that despite sharing some DNA with their Olympic swimmer aunt and water natural mother, my genes are dominant - yes, I'm taking full credit for their water-wussiness. We'll try them again in the lake this summer, once it warms up a little.

No-Twins Weekend

Kate flew up to Thunder Bay with her brother and the twins this weekend, so I was free to play some golf, drink a few cold beverages, stroll around Kensington Market, go to the Jays game, etc. Apparently the flight up north was tricky, with the kids upset for half the voyage (not helped by the fact that I forgot their bottles in the fridge at home), but otherwise I think the trip went well. I spent half the weekend in London visiting Darryl & family and then the second half with Greg and a slightly rounder version of Jo. At the airport last night, Jacob gave me an "oh, you're back, I have a vague memory of you" smile. We're spending today getting reacquainted. Molly looks to be within days of crawling. They're 11 months old today!

Back From The Dead

Our computer, that is. Saved by Don, who has leaped into a dominant lead in the ever-competitive "best brother-in-law" competition. Not only did he replace the power source on our computer, thus bringing it back to life, he also installed our webcam, fixed three doors that didn't close properly, and scared the bejeezus out of Molly every time he walked in the room.

It'll take me a few entries to catch up on the goings-on of the past ten days or so, so here are some of my mom's photos of our birthday/Mother's Day weekend in Montreal.

Chowing down at Grammy & Grampa's house

Montreal pastries going down just as well as at home

Best b-day present ever - Brady & Maroney jerseys for the kids

Early celebration for the Patriots' victory in the 2009 Super Bowl

Erin helping me cut the cake

Twins on slides

The whole Hazel clan on Mother's Day

Jacob practising his standing

Molly enjoying the sun

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines

After a lot of shimmying and shuffling and a weekend of backwards wriggling at Grammy's, Jacob accomplished the big crawl today. And ever the performer, he was more than willing to oblige for the camera.


And, as promised, here is Molly with her first word, "row". Jacob tries to steal her thunder early in the video with his version of the word, but hang on until the end to see her shine.



I'll try to post some photos tomorrow of the weekend in Montreal, but our computer has gone on the fritz (Ben was the last to use the computer, but he assures me he's not to blame. All I know is that with Don visiting this coming weekend, the title of best brother-in-law is up for grabs!).

Molly's First Word

In case anyone thought Jacob was the one with all the skills (see two posts ago), think again. Molly can also wave and clap with the best of them, but she is less likely to show off for the camera - no trained seal, our Molly.

She does have the first, undeniable, recognizable word. They both say hi when they wave, but those with looser familial ties could lodge an objection that it kind of sounds like "hahhhh". And when they clap, they say something that sort of, almost sounds like "clap". And they both say "mum mum mum mum mum" when they're tired, but even I don't think they're referring to Kate.

But Molly's first real word is "row". When we hold them standing, they like to be rocked back and forth on their feet while we sing the "row, row, row your boat" song. Molly likes it so much that whenever she pulls to standing, she now looks at you earnestly and says, "row, row, row". It's pretty killer. Of course Kate thinks she's learned to pronounce her middle name.

We're heading to Montreal for the weekend, but I'll try to capture the word on video next week.

She's Back

Molly seems to be back to her full throttle self. In fact the post-sickness Molly seems more smiley than ever - perhaps proud to show off her mouthful of teeth.

And this seems to be Jacob's new favourite sleeping position. We've found him in the identical spot three times in the past couple of days.

My Boy's Got Mad Skills

Here's Jacob showing off a few tricks: waving, rowing (as in Row, Row, Row the Boat) and clapping. And he barely take his eyes off his sister the whole time - it's good to have an audience.


And another one to show that we're not crawling yet, but we can't be far off.

We'll Get'Em Next Year

I'm in minor mourning for the Habs, but "maybe next year" at least rings true for this talented young team. They seemed a little fragile against both the Bruins and Flyers so they may need another year or two. Although the Penguins may be unbeatable by then. I had to admit to Kate last night that our new hero, Carey Price, has country music stars adorning his mask. Shortly after this embarrassing admission, he let in two soft goals and the season drew to a close.

Molly seems to be back to full health, although she's still wound pretty tight emotionally - getting quite worked up at the slightest upset. Jacob spiked a fever on Thursday or Friday night, but he didn't ever get Molly's bug - so it must have been his new tooth that popped out (his second, to his sister's six). And then Kate came down with a version of the flu yesterday, but she seems to be recovering too. So, we're walking wounded here, but skies seem to be brightening, both figuratively and literally. We did get in a walk this morning on the Uhtoff Trail, and a drive down to Bradford to check out a Mennonite furniture store (our ongoing mission to diversify away from Ikea).

Molly Getting Better

Molly seemed to be getting better early in the week, but then she was really pukey and lethargic on Wednesday and Thursday. We went to the family doc yesterday and again confirmed that it's nothing too serious, and she seems a lot better today.

Here are a couple of shots with Tara's very happy Korben, whom we visited on Tuesday.

We were going to go hiking this weekend, but it's pouring with rain so I think we'll just stick around and get healthy.