Well it finally happened, our darling daughters have made that leap into lets confuse the parents and doctors. About a week ago ilana developed some spots on her face. I thought it was becuase of the hot tub she went in, wrong, sorry guy and mary. Then we thought it was an allergy, nope. A day later kira deveopled the spots. Needless to say we went to the doc and she told us that they had a variant of hand foot in mouth
here is a pic of spotted Kira
This past weekend Ilana was on her swingset and having a good time. She then decided to swing her legs up around the chain and let go with her arms and swing back and forth like she was on a trapeeze. When asked where she learned how to do that manuver she said ............
CELEBRITY CIRCUS!!!!! I guess thats another show i can not watch with my daughter
jhf
I guess that Kira favorite movie line os going to me from good morning vietnam. Its oh four hundered in the am. "What's the "O" stand for? Its OH MY G-D ITS EARLY!!!!!" Kira has decided that it does not amtter what time she goes to sleep she is going to get up at 4 am every day this week. The worst part of it all is that she is also trying to go to one nap. I do not think the combo is working weell for either of us. I think that the fact that she is also getting her two top molars and a bottom tooth all at the same time has something to do with it, but what do i know , i am just sleep deprived.
In better news Kira turns one on friday and we are all excited to celebrate with family and friends. I figured that since we are having people over, what better time than to do some fixer uppers around the house. Ilana's room reciebved a fresh coat of paint, a nice wine frost purple, the bathroom dowstairs got a new door, it only took 3 doors to get it right and our bedroom got a fresh coat of paint yesterday. All i want for x-mas is a goods night sleep.
jhf
sorry that therer have not been any new posts in a while. I am trying to figure out how to balance everthing as well as writing a blog now and then.
Quick notes. The girls are both getting over being ill. Ilana had a fever all last week and now of course Kira has it. She gets to go to the doc today to see if it has spread to her ears. Yeah!!!
A big Warm Heartflelt hug and THANK YOU to Auntie Carolyn for coming to visit and spend time with the girls so Laura and I could go to Jamaica for her ABA conference last week. Pics and stories to foolow soon.
Also THANK YOU's go out to Auntie Lisa and Aunt Mary for all of thier help as well this past weekend.
jhf
We've once again been quite delinquent in our posting.... missed Kira's 6 month birthday... missed Jay's turning 72 times Kira's age.... missed Hanukah..... missed some great snows.... missed Kira learning to get herself into sitting position and how to crawl on her belly.... so here's a recap!
At her 6 month checkup, Kira weighed in at 17 lbs 13oz (75-90%ile) and measured 27" (90%ile). And she did great with her 4 shots (no, she didn't get the one that was recalled a few days later). Dr. Lum was very pleased and gave us the go-ahead to give Kira just about anything to eat. She adores yogurt and graham crackers (though the mess the graham crackers make means that they are an infrequent treat), but still hasn't figure out what she's supposed to do with Cheerios.
Hanukah was great. Jay made light as air latkes for us to enjoy. Ilana got very into it this year, and Kira, well...., Kira loved that there was so much paper around for her to play with. Ilana loved lighting the candles (which we allowed her to do with close supervision), and by the end of the week was leading us in the blessings.
And then there was snow...then ice...then snow. We have about 7 inches on the ground, accumulated over the last week or so. Ilana's had lots of fun playing outside and now agrees with the rest of the world that snow (which we allow her outside to play in) is much better than ice (when she has to stay inside).
The big news though are Kira's recent milestones. A few weeks ago she learned how to get herself from laying down into sitting position and started commando crawling just about everywhere. About 2 weeks ago she learned to get up on all fours -- but still went back to her belly when she wanted to move. About a week ago she figured out how to go from all fours directly into sitting position. Friday night she pulled herself up to standing for the first time. Then today, in addition to pulling up to standing, she got up on all fours and took a couple "steps" crawling. I guess you can say that our little girl is on the move.
Hope that everyone is having a very happy holiday season. And a special shout-out to our newest little friend, Delilah Jacklyn Shulman (daughter of our friends Jon & Kerri) who arrived on December 12th. Kira's very excited to have a new playmate.
Wishing you all a very happy and healthy (and warm and cuddly) new year! 
Yesterday in the car. Ilana says, " daddy can we go out for dinner?"
No Ilana Mommy and Daddy are too tired to go to a resturaunt.
Ilana," Well steak and Shake and McDonalds have drive thru's."
Well how can u argue with that logic, and i guess the fast food industry has a new convert. Needless to say the adults won out and we had cheese blintzes for dinner and they were yummy
jhf
So last Sunday, I (Laura) took Ilana to her first musical. It was a kids' show called How I Became a Pirate. We went with a friend of mine from work and her daughter and Ilana's buddy Charlie, who is a HUGE fan of pirates (note the costume!). 
The show ended up being really cute. At one point, I looked over and Ilana was sitting on the edge of her seat with her jaw dropped taking it all in. Needless to say, the three year old attention span was a bit stretched by the 1 hour show, but we have a lot of fun.
First, let me start with a big apology for the lack of posts as of late. The second half of October was pretty crazy (as you can tell from the fact that I'm not posting this until mid-November!)....
The big news for Kira is that in addition to rolling all over the place, chasing after Ilana (this morning I left her in the middle of the living room rug and found her under a chair), she's staying up for a bit when you prop her up to sitting. 
She's also really getting the hang of solid food. It took a while to get to this point. When we started, little of the food actually stayed in her mouth.... Ilana suggested that we should get Kira a bigger mouth. I told her that that was the first time I'd ever heard anyone make that comment about someone in our family.
And of course this big news for Ilana is that she's now THREE! Her birthday parties (the one at school just beefore her birthday, the one at home on her birthday, and her official birthday party) seemed to go on for ever, but were all fun in their own way. The kids danced the afternoon away and had their full of pizza and cake. 
That GM, Papa, Grandma JoJo and Gramps all made it in for the weekend was the cherry on top. Ilana's already asking when her next birthday is.
Last, but certainly not least were traditional end-of-october festivities. We went to the pumpkin patch (once in a downpour) and got a series of very large pumpkins -- all of which were eaten whole by the squirrels. 
Halloween night was a blast. Ilana was a trick-or-treating machine. We did both the north and south loops of the neighborhood, hitting about 30 houses. Back home, Jay handed out about 23 pounds of candy to about 350 kids. Halloween always reminds us why we love our neighborhood so much.
So that's it for now. Happy November to all!
Our little Kira has started rolling over. Monday morning Jay went in to get Kira and she was on her belly. Tuesday morning (well, technically morning, I think it was 3:30 am) I went in and she was on her belly. Today, Thursday, she figured out that she can go back, belly, back to pick up distance. The lovely days of being able to lay her down on the bed are officially over!
Well Laura has now gone back to work as of yesterday and I am home with the two girls. Those of you who want to say gulp go right ahead, because i am right there with you. So far (day and a half in) things are fine. I got dinner on the table and the girls slept fine yesterday.
Ilana went to the dentist yesterday and got a great checkup. No cavities, but a little staining on her teeth, guess she drinks to much coffee. She got her own toothbrush and cup along with floss from the dentist and she is very excited to use them.
Kira is still being a dream she laughs and giggles and spits up all over me. But she sleeps and i a m VERY happy at that. That is all for right now.
JHF
