Attack of the 32" Twin Sister

Abby REALLY wanted to give Claire a kiss in the tub tonight, and she just wouldn't take no for an answer! Can you tell who the more aggressive twin is? At least Claire's a good sport...
We've had lots of fun celebrating with loved ones lately! First, my family went out to Pittsburgh Blue (really good steak place) to celebrate my brother's long-time-coming graduation. He already had a Bachelor's, but now he has a teaching license. With the new work bag we got him, doesn't this guy look ready to teach kids math?
Then, this past weekend, us Lamberts headed to Eau Claire to celebrate with some friends. This pretty lady below just got engaged to a wonderful man, Matt. They just happened to be throwing a BBQ this past weekend so we got to see the ring and hear the proposal story. Ah, love - so sweet!
Congratulations, Hannah and Matt! We're thrilled for you and can't wait for the wedding! Since we were in Eau Claire, we also got to spend some time with Grandma Gwen and Grandpa Rich. Claire loved getting an airplane ride from Grandma!
We also headed to Irvine Park with some friends. Attempting such an outing with 4 young babies, 1 pre-teen, and 3 dogs may sound crazy, but it actually went very well! Kayla helped push a baby...

and Erik helped keep Asterix under control (a tough job, but he did it well) while also watching his much more well behaved dog, Archie.
Ryan hoisted a baby around most of the park...

...but Zach shared his stroller whenever Ryan's arms got tired.

It was a really nice day, but bitter sweet because it was the last time we got to see Jon, Val, Kendall and Harley before they made the big trip back to Maryland. Hopefully they will get to visit again soon!
Monday seemed pretty boring in comparison to our action-packed weekend, so we headed to the park for some quality time on the swings (Claire below).
Have I mentioned how much we love, love, love the nicer weather?? Happy almost May everyone!

Everything's Coming Up Roseola

So... where to begin?

The last few weeks have been quite the adventure! After our trip to the zoo on Sunday, March 29th (see my sister's blog at http://woyak.com/ for some cute pics), Claire developed a high fever. It got so high that very late on Monday, she had a seizure. Trust me, Ryan and I have never been so scared in our lives! The 911 operator calmly told us that it is actually quite common for babies to have seizures with high fevers, but we should bring her to the ER and have her checked out anyway. So we did, and the lovely people at the ER got her fever down and diagnosed her with an ear infection. After a quick stop at Walgreen's to pick up Claire's amoxicillan prescription, we were home and in bed by 4 a.m. Quite the night!

By Wednesday night, Claire had developed a rash over her entire body. Assuming this was an allergic reaction to the amoxicillan, I slept in our armchair with her to make sure she didn't stop breathing (yes, a bit of an overreaction, I know, but I was running on little sleep and high adrenaline, people!). We took her in Thursday morning where she was then diagnosed with Roseola, plus her ear infection. Oh, and just to not be left out completely, Abby was also diagnosed with an ear infection.

Things were smooth sailing over the weekend, and I left for a work retreat on Monday morning. On Tuesday morning, Ryan woke up with the girls and found Claire covered head to toe in a rash even worse than before!

Poor girl! Ryan took her in to Urgent Care, and they determined that she was allergic to amoxicillan. Her regular pediatrician still isn't completely convinced this was an allergic reaction, though, so we'll just have to wait and see! I kept trying to tell people she just wanted to be speckled for Easter, but no one really seemed to give my theory much merit.

Anyway, we are doing MUCH better now! Good thing because we had many fun plans for this past weekend! First, we went to Eau Claire, WI to hang out with our friends Jon and Val (in town from Maryland), Sean and Kari, Erik and Katie, and Jake and Kelli. The girls got to play with Jon...... and Val, and meet their beautiful baby Kendall! And their dog Harley, who is too small to be photographed, I believe.
We also got to meet Erik and Katie's very sweet dog, Archie...

... and play with our boyfriend, Zach!

Thanks to Jake and Kelli for having the "stampede" (as their daughter Brinn puts it) over!

For Easter the next day, we dressed up in our Sunday best and went to church with Grandpa Rich.
We then headed back to the cities to celebrate with my side of the family. My Aunt Pat, whose house we were going to gather in, continued the trend of sickness by ending up in the hospital the night before with a bad infection of some kind, so we impromptu met at my Aunt Joy and Uncle J0e's house, conveniently right next door.
There were many fun things to play with, including our cousin Lily (above), bunny ears, bunny and chick sippy cups, little bunny and chick books, and a coffee table at just the right height for climbing!
Claire's rash seemed to be bothering her a bit, so we took her dress off and she seemed content just cuddling with Daddy. Abby, who started walking sometime in the chaos of the last few weeks, was thrilled to run around and play with all her cousins and aunts and uncles.

We are back to normal today, and hopefully we'll stay rash-free for a while! Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Playtime!

We have had so many fun playdates lately! A couple of weeks ago, we got to go to Aunt Jill, Uncle Jason, and Cousin Lily's house to play. We also took a nice walk to the park where we rode on bouncies (Claire below)...
Climbed through the jungle gym (Abby below, assisted by Auntie Jill)...
And went down the slide a ton (Lily demonstrates the landing, below)!
It was lots of fun and so nice to finally play outside. Check out my sister's blog for more cute pictures and a video of Lily and Abby dancing.
My friends Amanda and Ben and their cute little boy, Atticus, were in town visiting, so we also got to play with them a bit last weekend. Of course, I forgot my camera so there are no pictures of that! Sorry! But, I did have my camera on hand when Zach, Sean and Kari Shipman came over to visit this past week. Zach is well on his way to being a major heartbeaker and I think both my girls are now madly in love with him. Watch as he steals Abby's heart with kiss after kiss!

We also got to hang out with the Shipmans, our friends Hannah and Matt, and Sean's friends from school, Tim and Carla, yesterday for a grill out. (Yes, we know it's still cold out. We're going to just go ahead and pretend it's Spring no matter what the weather is doing!) The girls were a bit shy at first, but eventually managed to corner Zachy and demand he give them more kisses.
Later, they all three snuggled on the couch with Hannah and Kari and watched "Wonder Pets." The girls hadn't seen it much before, but they loved it! Maybe it's time for Ryan and I to invest in cable... March 23rd was Grandma Gwen's birthday, and the night before we all met at Applebee's in Hudson for dinner to celebrate. It was quite the crowd with Grandma Gwen, Grandpa Rich, Uncle Scott and Aunt Emma all coming from Eau Claire, and Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Andy and Counsin Alex coming up from Richfield. By the end of the night, and past the three girls bedtimes, they were getting a little punchy. Claire has always seemed to me to be the quieter of my two girls, but she was not that night! Check out Claire and Alex goofing off and having a ball (btw, I know it's pretty dark, but have you ever seen a more beautiful brown-eyed little girl than Alex?? She is gorgeous, just like her mommy!)



Off to the zoo today! The fun continues...

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Claire and Abby here. We gave Mommy the night off so we could tell you all about our favorite guy in the whole world, Daddy! It's his birthday today. He is 28 years old, which is WAAAAAY old. But even though he's old, he still does so much for us. Like build us playrooms...

And play with us in them! And he keeps us from getting bored by bringing us a new toy every week or so from the thrift store (even though Mommy tells him we have no where to put it all).

He also gets really excited to take us fun places like the MN Zoo and the Science Museum.
We always have a blast, especially when he lets us sit up on his shoulders.

And in those times when we really, really, really don't want to go to sleep, there's nothing better than cuddly with Daddy. It puts us right to sleep.

We couldn't ask for a better Daddy.
Thanks for all you do for us, Da Da! We love you!

Science Museum Excitiment

This past Saturday, this Lambert family decided to make a spontaneous trip to the Science Museum of MN. Grandpa Rich, Uncle Greg, Aunt Jill, Uncle Jason, and Cousin Lily all decided to come along for the fun!
Grandpa Rich was very excited to spend some time with his granddaughters, Claire (with him above) and Abby. Cousin Lily was super excited to practice saying "duck" to a real life in person rubber ducky.

Uncle Greg, strangely enough, was excited about the math exhibit.

Claire (below) was excited to practice her new favorite thing, pointing.

And I mean really excited. She did it a lot.

Abby, however, was NOT excited about what Claire was pointing at...

THIS GIANT SCARY BEAR!!
And our friend Erik, had he been there, would have been incredibly excited about this Chupacabbra exhibit. He went all the way to Mexico to look for Chupacabbra. Little did he know, he need only travel to St Paul, MN!
All in all, it was a great day! Oh, except for the part when Lily gotten eaten by a Tiger (see shadow below). Apparently, she would not survive long in the wild. Although Lily didn't seem to mind it, I think we'll keep her nice and safe in the Twin Cities where tiger attacks are not currently an issue.

Who knew science was so exciting???

Whistlin' Claire

Bounce and Spin.... and Dance!

The girls got a Bounce and Spin pony recently, which hooks up to your TV, then changes pictures and plays music when the baby bounces on the pony. While the girls seem to like it, I'm not sure they quite get what they're supposed to do on it. They do a little bouncing and a little spinning, but mostly they like to 1) dance to the music, and 2) pound at the pictures on the TV screen. They're dancing is pretty cute, though! I especially like Claire's hand movements. Check out this little video and judge for yourself. (Abby started on the pony, but eventually climbed off and starting reading books. You might see her shake it a little, though.) Are they ready for "So, You Think You Can Dance" or what??