Yeah, yeah, yeah

So I know there are folks waiting for a post for, like, ever. In the time since my last post the common cold has been eliminated, funds transfers have completely replaced dollar bills, Larry King has married wife number 17 (yes, he's still alive), "Saw XXXII" was released, and the Ladybugs have started collecting retirement. Or it just feels that way.

The trouble is, the longer I wait in between posts, the more there is to cover, which makes it seem a little more daunting, which makes me procrastinate a little more, which becomes a cycle of delay that, it seems, makes you all more anxious than a doughnut at a Weight Watchers meeting. So here I am. Ready to write.

In the time that has passed, the girls had a series of firsts:

First birthday, first cake, first cup tilt (Lilah)

From C&L 12-24 months

From C&L 12-24 months

From C&L 12-24 months

First baby pool (and first face dunk), first sunglasses

From Charlotte and Lilah together

First one year visit at the doctor (below 1st percentile for weight, 97th percentile for head - yes, indeed, an orange on a toothpick)

First independent standing (Charlotte, very proud of herself, thinks we applaud her for falling so claps for herself whenever she lands on her butt)


First cabinet opening (both girls, who then stained their dresses - my favorites - with toilet bowl cleaner with bleach)

First tricycle ride (they never stopped smiling!)

From C&L 12-24 months

First sports balls (the $1 inflatable ones from the drugstore terrified Charlotte for the first two days but now Lilah is a champion thrower)

First time biting each other (to be fair, Charlotte did stick her finger right in Lilah's mouth)

First camp chairs (They looked like such big girls!)

From C&L 12-24 months

First major injury (Charlotte managed to catch her bottom tooth on the coffee table and push it forward 90 degrees from her other teeth. Hopefully we pushed it back in time and it will live.)

First possible words (I think Lilah says Nana (Banana), Num-num (food), and Mama. But maybe it's just coincidence and those are just the sounds she makes.)

All of these firsts actually make me doubt my parenting. Seriously. The ladybugs do so well when they're introduced to new things that I wonder about all the things I'm not doing and they're potentially missing out on. The tricycle, camp chairs, and inflatable ball were all courtesy of someone else and I would never have guessed that they were ready until we tried it out. I'm confident that it won't be the last time I question my abilities as a mom though, so I'm waiting for some massive 3-Mile Island-style failure before I get too worked up about it. All parents screw their kids up somehow, right? I just gotta keep them off the pole and out of prison and that's a moderate success.