Life in Manila

Again, it has been a long break since my last postings, but I have some photos I thought would be fun to share, so here they are.

Our complex is situated at the end of a fairly large pedestrian shopping area called High Street.  Every weekend there are activities on High Street, usually with corporate sponsorship.  This is from a couple of weeks ago when we took a walk and Stacey brought the girls close to see a fountain.  As you can see, it is a popular spot.  For some reason, people seek confirmation frequently that Clara and Lucy are twins.  It seems obvious , but it always comes in the form of a question.

Lucy in blue and Clara in red having their morning milk.  Stacey is putting a barrette in Clara's hair.  They both pull barrettes out almost as soon as they are put in.  Therefore, their vision is greatly reduced by their curls.

The girls love to spoon their own food, but to not have great accuracy in the direction it travels.  They were very excited by the introduction of their own bowls which have suction cups which are supposed to keep them in place.  Although they work hard with the spoons, they also still dig right into their oatmeal with bare hands when it gets too frustrating.

Yesterday we went for a walk within our complex.  I was on the other side of the koi pond and Stacey pointed me out the girls.

There is a nice seating area where people gather to look at the koi.  This is right by our apartment, so we get a good view of the pond from our living room and bedroom windows.  Sometimes the koi stare back.

We are starting to get into a routine of going to the pool on Saturday afternoons.  This is Lucy carrying the pool toys.  They both love to carry the bucket.  The shovel might actually be more appropriate for a trip to a sandy beach, but they have found it useful for shoveling water in the pool.

Our "swimming" actually is much more splashing around in a section of the pool that is probably about six inches deep.  Perfect for the girls.  They really enjoy climbing in and out of the pool and playing on this wooden deck, too, which unfortunately gets really slippery when wet.  

Stacey doing leg lifts with Lucy.

Clara proving the value of a shovel in a swimming pool.

Striding with great confidence into the water.

Post swimming bath.  Almost as much fun as the pool.

Post bath teeth brushing before going to bed.  We do this every night with mixed results.  We use kids toothpaste, which they love.  But we also call this lollibrushing since it seems like they are much more interested in licking off the toothpaste than actually making any contact between the bristles and their teeth.  Hopefully this will become more effective over time.

Climbing the Slide

Here is a cute video of the girls on the playground outside our apartment.  You can see what a good climber Clara is becoming.

19 months

Today is the girls' 19 month birthday.  We celebrated by giving them dinner and a bath.  In other words, we kept it pretty low key.  By the end of the day we are all ready to fall over, especially Stacey since she is on the job with them all day.

the girls at their 19 month birthday party - brushing their teeth.

They are doing really well and although they can drive us crazy at times, they are also incredible sources of amusement and affection.

One of the best things to see is that they are increasingly interacting as they play.  I think I mentioned before that they can make each other laugh really hard.  One example, that makes me cringe, is when we are changing Lucy's diaper, for example, Clara will come over and stick her finger in Lucy's eye.  They both think that is hilarious.  Another game, which is easier to watch, is them chasing each other.  It is so funny since there are times when the chaser loses track and the chasee continues to run and seek protection from nothing at all.

They are saying just a handful of words, but they obviously know what we are talking about or asking them a lot of the time.  I can be in one room of our apartment and send either of the girls to give something to Stacey.  They love to unload and load things.  A bedtime ritual for them is to dump a canister of Q-tips on the floor and then pick them all up and put them back in.  The love it.

In the apartment complex here in Fort Bonifacio, the staff is incredibly polite to all of the residents.  And there are a lot of staff members around all the time.  There are uniformed guards, doormen stationed at each entrance, a very large cleaning staff who are always mopping the hallways (which are open-air), a gardening crew that comes every morning to pick up any blossoms that have fallen on the walkway over night and to clip the greenery, a medical staff, and on...  There is a very clear hierarchy of employees, so the doormen and guards always say hello and always call us by name (I think they also keep a log of when we come and go).  Anyway, all of this to say that many of the staff know Clara and Lucy and will call them by name as well.  I suspect that we are also pretty known to the people who work in the restaurants and stores nearby - we are fairly conspicuous as we walk around.

The last thing I'll mention in this post is that they are both starting to move pretty quickly now on their feet.  They are not quite running, but walking nearly as fast.  We have been walking much longer distances with them and they seem to really enjoy it.  Stacey was pointing out to me the other day that a challenge for them now is holding up their arms to hold our hands as we walk together.  She noticed that they were switching hands frequently with us.

That's all from Manila tonight.

The girls in containers

It seems like any time one of the girls decides it looks like fun to sit or stand in something that is just big enough to fit them, the other will decide it would be a good idea to try to squeeze into the same space.  Most of the time this results in some serious unhappiness for all parties and neighbors, but sometimes it works out OK.

Our folded double-stroller served as a small playground while we were in a hotel after arriving in Manila. 

A great children's chair can double as a laundry basket. 

Technically, for a moment, they were both in the basket.  

Riding on a luggage cart in DC. 

Our first hotel in Manila was designed with twins in mind.  Two perfect spaces for them.  What they did not realize is that even if there are two identical items, both girls want the same one of them.  Much of their time in this hotel was spent jamming into the same little nook. 

Plenty of room, for now, in our new egg chair. 

Stacey got this picture in our apartment while I was at work.  The next day she happened to go back to the same store where they had given her this large paper bag to carry her things home, so she showed them the photo of how an extra paper bag can be used.  They thought it was cute and gave her an extra two bags to take home! 

Fall and Holidays in the US

Although it is actually winter in Manila as I write this, I was going through photos to post and found that there were lots that I never posted from before we left Maryland.  And then there was the long time in transit from Maryland to Vermont to Florida (where Stacey and the girls spent a month) and then back to DC and the long flight to Manila.

This is not staged.  When we were getting ready to move we put lots of things on the curb to lighten the load.  Among them was the inflatable pool.  When Clara (left) saw it she went running over and got in.  Lucy was not far behind.  Stacey had put the sign on the curb earlier in the day.  You can see Maggie watching from a distance.

Chilly fall walk in Silver Spring.

We saw Patty (Gigi to the younger generation) and Larry in Indianapolis at Halloween time.  They did not take well to the kids and vice versa.

 Clara

 Lucy

Lucy

Right before the move we were in Ft. Myers at Stacey's Mom and Tom's house.  The girls enjoyed getting out in the front walkway to play with toys.  We thought the gate would keep them in until a golf ball rolled under and Lucy went right after it.  It was just a bit too much space off the ground.

The girls had little Christmas outfits.  This was at Grandpa (Dick) and Nonna (Toni's) house in Florida.

Haddie is very sweet and can't get enough affection.  She even tolerated being poked and pulled by the girls.  She was about the size of a horse to them.

Lucy

Clara and Haddie. 

 The girls got their first shoes right before Christmas.  Big fun!  

Also good for chewing, as Lucy demonstrated.

 Feet.

 Picking out a Christmas tree in Florida.

 With shampoo in it, the girls hair will curl up into one large curl.

 Here are four generations together.  Great Grandma Betty, Grandma Dalea, Mommy and the girls.

 Bellied up to the breakfast bar.

 Dalea and Tom live in a golf community, so we toured around in the golf cart.

 Here is a behind the scenes shot.  Some people think the curls are natural, but it take a lot of work.

 The girls enjoy giving each other kisses, but even more fun is biting each other on the arm.

 Here's Grandpa with Lucy.

Photo Shoot

When we first moved to Manila we stayed in a hotel a couple of blocks away from my office.  This area of the city - as with many others - is not pedestrian-friendly.  Actually, it is not vehicle-friendly either.  One of the few places Stacey, the girls and Uncle Gregory (who was here for two weeks) could walk safely was MegaMall.  As the name implies, it is a huge mall. 

Stacey noticed that there were a few places in the mall where they did "professional" photography.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be similar to what they do at Sears in the U.S. where there is an untrained person who pushes a button on a fixed camera.  Also, the backdrops are a bit limited and most are pretty cheesy.  I did not witness the event, but apparently Stacey selected the best backdrop that they had.  She and Uncle Gregory had to work hard to get what we have here.

Thankfully, a few of the photos came out pretty well.  Through my eyes the girls look really cute.

Stacey said that Clara (above) was really working it for the camera and had a good time. 

Lucy tended to be a bit more reserved.  She has such a serious expression!  Hard not to feel judged with that look. 

I love the hand on the back of the chair.  It seems like a really old fashioned style.

(Lucy standing, Clara sitting)

Some updates

[This was supposed to be posted on December 8, 2013.  I had some technical issues.  Two months later...]

So, it has been a bit more than three months since I posted anything on the blog.  Since I am in Manila now, on my own, I am really missing Stacey and the girls, so this is a nice time for me to post some more recent photos.  I also was transferring some old saved photos/videos that I had taken on my old Blackberry, so I will post a couple of those too.

I will make an effort to update more frequently since we will be far from home.

Our friend Jacques came to the house in September to take some photos.  He has done some professional photography and you will see he got some great pictures.  Clara was pretty fragile that day, so she didn't give much up, but Lucy was in a better mood.

Clara being a bit tentative.

Maggie managed to score a frame.

Clara did manage a smile.

What a great smile!

This is my favorite photo of the day since it captures her mood.  She was a bit teary most of the time.  

So beautiful even with the tears.