For the love...

Has it really been 3 months since my last post?  Guess the girls are keeping me muy busy!

No way to catch up on everything so I'll just give a snapshot of where we are now.  Elianna is Sassy with a capital S.  Everything is 'why?, why?'  and, 'what are you doing?  Why?"  She keeps us on our toes because she sees and remembers EVERYTHING.  We've started reading sight word books with her and she is really good.
 Marielle is on the move!  She army crawls like a champ and is starting to knee crawl.  She's also pulling up on everything, be it stable or not.  The end result of that is that I'm afraid to leave the house for fear someone is going to call CPS...her head is the very epitome of 'bruises in various stages of healing'.  She's also a babbling fool and I'm pretty sure she signed, "daddy" a couple weeks ago.

Okay, I'll get to what you all really want...pictures!

And I'll try and do better.  If only I was a better writer, you'd have better content.  Oh well, I'll let the pictures of the girls do my talking for me.

Comparisons are odious...

...or so it is said but I'm not sure how to get around it when talking about your children. When Elianna came around, Mike and I, in our naiveté, thought she was a difficult baby, realizing around 10 months or so, that we probably had it easy. Marielle's arrival proved us right, making us feel like we are complete noobs at this parenting thing even though we have a 2 year old under our belt.

It's also so easy to compare because we have digital evidence of almost every milestone. If we want, we can know exactly when Marielle does something new and look back and see when Elianna did it. I just don't want to compare them and maybe find one of them lacking. I love both of them so much and I never, ever want one of them to feel like the other one is my 'favorite'. I want it to be exciting to see where Marielle's strengths are, compared (there's that word!) to Elianna's. That being said, I think it just means being proactive and knowing when we're comparing because we're going to do it; it's inevitable.

And with that, here's the pictures:

Elianna and Daddy reading:

Daddy and little girl:

Snow White and Rose Red:

So solemn, both of them!

Pretty, pretty girls

Vegas peectures!

So as promised, Vegas pictures. I will give the caveat that they are all camera phone pictures and as such, could be better.

Da goils hangin in da crib, aka Vdara:

Elianna feeding a donkey and goat at the saddest petting zoo ever. She was entertained though which was the whole point.

Great-grandma Mary, aka Gigi with the littlest grand baby

Elianna eating a monster pancake at Mozen Bistro in the Mandarin Oriental hotel. She was quite taken with the restaurant and has named one of her stuffed animals, Mozen.

Elianna had a blast riding the trams around City Centre. Trams and escalators were all a big hit with her.

I'm pretty sure there's a joke to be made about a girl swinging on a pole in Vegas. Were one not someone's mother, that is.

Elianna at her aborted park trip. We tried to get her outside for a nice park visit, only to find the park was under construction. Not to be thwarted, Elianna made do with some nice, sandy volleyball courts. Who needs slides when you can make sand angels?

And my favorite picture of all, for obvious reasons:

Sleeping beauties

I have no pictures of my children sleeping. None. I see my friends showing off their newborn pictures or of their 4 month olds asleep in their beds and I am a bit forlorn because I'm lacking in this department of parenthood. Neither Elianna nor Marielle have been what you'd call easy babies when it comes to sleep so there was no way, no how I was going to risk them being woken up by the click of a camera shutter. Thus, while other people have pictures like this:

My good friend, Aimee's new daughter, Hazel. Photo by Tabitha Ward


I have pictures like this:

Home sweet home!

We are home from our Vegas trip and what an awesome trip it was. Only a few members of my extended family didn't make it (I'm talking to you, Joe. What, you think studying for orals gives you an excuse? As if.) so everyone got to meet Marielle and re-meet Elianna who made quite the impression. We are so used to her but it must be a sight to see this little girl the size of a one year old talking in complete sentences.

Vdara was quite nice and a change of pace from the Trump where we usually stay. One thing you start to realize however: nobody really expects you to actually use the kitchen in these rooms. Basic necessities were completely absent ( dishtowels, sponge, toaster, cutting board, silverware etc.) and the bowls and plates were more artsy than functional. Eh, we made it work but I did miss my cuisinart. The rooms didn't get all that dark also which was problematic for sleep for the girls. Both of them became early birds, getting up before 6am which is NOT their norm. Mama and Daddy were quite sleepy from this.

Elianna had a blast riding the trams, going up and down escalators, seeing the Bellagio fountains and seeing her family (read: new audience). We soon realized that all the things we had planned that cost money weren't really necessary; she was loving just being outside and playing in parks. I guess we should cherish that tendency while it lasts, eh?

Oppi was there for the second half of the trip and had a ball with Elianna. She immediately appropriated his iPhone and proceeded to teach him a few things (Angry Birds, anyone?). Marielle charmed him as well with her smiles.

We ate well for the most part with meals at Botero, Michael Mina and Holstein which has a vegan burger that is so good I've tried to recreate it for us at home. I haven't succeeded yet but I shall persevere. Our last night, we tried to go to Bar + Bistro which has an extensive vegan menu. After fighting traffic for over an hour for a mere 3 miles, we made our way to the door of the restaurant and saw a line of people waiting to get in and no visible parking within half a mile. By that time it wasn't worth it for either of us so we bailed and ate at the hotel. Next time, next time.

The computer is acting up thus, there are no pictures. So sorry! I'll get them up when I can.

Sisters!

So this two kid thing is pretty fun. It's been so nice to see that Elianna can make Marielle smile, even when she's feeling bad. It's also nice to have Elianna's first question in the morning be about Marielle. I have to confess that when we found out Marielle was coming, I was a bit dubious about how another baby was going to fit into our lives. Elianna seemed to be thriving on being an only child and we were loving spending so much time with her without any other distractions. Another child just didn't seem to fit in that picture. To be sure, Elianna has rolled with the addition of another person to the mix, much like she rolls with everything: New city? Sure. PacknPlay instead of crib? Not a problem. Sleep sack instead of swaddle? Bring it on! Tiny creature who makes a lot of noise and takes my mommy and daddy's attention away from me? Absolu...uh, what? No, she actually has done pretty well but sometimes I find myself wondering...is she okay with this?

Yesterday, however, any lingering doubts I may have had about how Elianna has adjusted to a sibling were dispelled. Marielle was lying on the ground near us and we all laughed really loudly at something and startled her. Her face crumpled and she started wailing. I picked her up to comfort her and much to my surprise and great pleasure, Elianna stopped what she was doing, came over, gave Marielle a hug, patted her on the back and said, "It's okay, little girl, don't cry!" As an aside, Elianna saying 'girl' is the cutest thing; it's more like 'goyle'.

My heart just got warm all over, seeing Elianna be so loving and concerned about her sister. I know they are going to fight, and often, I know they'll wish the other one wasn't around but that small display also gives me hope that they'll be there for each other when they need it and will view the fact that they have a sister as a blessing.

Alas...

No miracles came to reside at Chez Sokoloff. The Divine Miss M caught whatever bug Elianna had and is currently sick. Elianna didn't catch her first cold until she was after one year old so this baby being sick thing is all new to me and, man does it suck! They can't take anything but Tylenol and the new dosing means that you have to force down ridiculous amounts of liquid medicine while they're coughing up a lung. Then, she's lost her voice so she has this pathetic little mewl that I can barely hear. This, along with her red rimmed eyes and sad face just breaks my heart. She doesn't understand why she feels so bad (obviously) but she still tries to be happy. She is such a sweet, sweet baby, I can't wait until she feels better.

Not her most pathetic but sad, nonetheless:

And in happier, non-sick times: