My first haircut

It has been about 1 month since our last posting.  Not going to hide to you that we are having a blast enjoying life to the fullest.  We are finally getting to see what it is to have twins with the "fun" terrible twos (which in our case seem to be threes), the trials and tribulations of being parents juggling family life, friends/family, husband-wife and work.  There where in the past the sole focus was Miabelle's survival and Noelie's wellbeing, now we get to add many more facets of life... of which most are pleasant.

First of all, Miabelle is still kicking smurf.  She is fast walking or slow running, when she jumps she gets a few inches off the ground; and when she does she gets so excited and her smile stretches from ear to ear.  Now, Miabelle and Noelie are going 1 hour every other day to some kind of activity.
Monday = Soccer
Tuesday = School time
Wednesday = Open
Thursday = Introduction to Ballet
Friday = Open
Saturday = Gymnastics
Sunday = Shopping at the mall or Banzai Ball Pit (which recently I found out is a germs pool to avoid...GERMS!!! AaaaaaaaaaaH!!!!! .....no more ball pit, we will just go and throw rocks in the river or catch fish in the East side River....oh! no those carry germs also.)

As you can see our princesses are relatively active.  But not without wipes and good hand cleaning.  We still keep human contact under relatively tight control compared to other healthy families.  We see or hear sniffles or coughs and we are out the door like Speedy Gonzalez "Arriba, Arriba!!".  We have been very lucky that family and friends have been very understanding and very kind to inform us when their children are ill resulting in canceling a playdate.  Regretfully winter season is not the best time for socializing.  However thank you to all our friends and families for their patience and care.

We can see that the girls hunger for more social interaction, especially Noelie.  Social butterfly by nature she so looks forward to moments out of the house.  When complete strangers pass in front of the house she will scream "hello, I am Noelie" and when people offer to give her a hugg she is all over them.  When Noelie and I traveled to Europe she was so easy going, polite and kind that the flight attendant fell in love with her, as the result she was the only kid invited to see the pilot:

And with no fear she took control of the plane.  Miabelle who has been more reserved and borderline shy is intrigued by other children but has an extreme interest in babies.  It seems like she still cannot believe that out there in the open world there are other children like her.  When a baby is in the room she wants to hug and care for him/her.  Not sure where that came from but maybe from the days that everybody cared for her.

All in all, them G-girls are fun, active and happy kids, despite Miabelle's obsession with the word "NO!"

This week was another fun week.  But one for the books was Tuesday when Miabelle got her first haircut ever.  Indeed...indeed!  Miabelle's new hair has grown back and is now so long that it warranted a haircut.  Her first haircut ever!!!  It may seem to so many of such little importance but for us it embodies the "Grow Cells Grow" slogan all of us BMT parents so loudly scream/pray for post transplant.  Hair are like nails, they result from growth cells and reflect the regrowth post chemo/BMT.  V and I watched her hair grow week in week out as if it was the hair that cured her illness.  And thus once she got her haircut it meant the world to us.  Strange how you get attached to the little things of nature.  Miabelle showed confidence and no fear when the big scissors arrived.  Not a tear, no fear just giggles all over.   Now for those who know Abuela (grandmama on V's side) must have noticed how Miabelle's hair is an exact copy of Abuela's.  When Miabelle sits on Abuela's lap it is like Grandma and Mini-Me.

Abuela and her Mini-Me

Another moment inscribed in history is the girls first and second experience with snow.  Although the girls are not from the outback or Africa but rather from the North-East, they had never touched snow.  Their first experience was with los abuelos this winter in PA and the second experience was this weekend when "storm" Nemo dumped a pathetic 10-12 inches of snow.  Miabelle had some difficulty walking with her heavy, yet fashionable, snow boots in the snow.  Her legs need a little more training to catchup with Noelie.  But given her history V and I were both impressed with how well she got herself through the snow without help.  Noelie, kamikaze that she is, and mama couldn't wait to jump in and make snow angels:

Miabelle and papa thought that the hype around snow angels was way overdone and that snow is just too wet to sit in.  However, they did start a snow ball fight with Neolie and mama.  We also made their first snowman:

Doesn't he look like papa?  The girls discovered snow and man were they happy.  The past two years they watched from our apartment windows the snow fall but never got a chance to touch it.  Now they touched it, ate it, buried papa in it, snowballed all over mama, sled 20 times down a hill, etc...  .  It was just so much fun to see the joy on their faces!!  Way overdue...way overdue.

Regretfully, we have now two ill kids.  Noelie has a runny nose the size of Niagara falls and Miabelle  coughs as if she has been smoking for 50 years, but for now (touching wood) nothing major for which we have to run to the hospital.

Another first timer was the discovery of the public ball pit, which they regularly visit with clueless papa.  Indeed clueless, you lock your family up for a year to then go to a public ball pit filled with germs (thx Joe and Lisa for letting me know).  Fellow BMT parents should just report me to social services.  I mean doh!  Regretfully mama made the same mistake... but let's not mention it...oops.  Here are some videos of the ball pit experience:

Discovery of the unknown.  Wazdat a ball pit?

Some more discovery

Miabelle: My first leap of faith.

Noelie makes the jump!!!

Hope you enjoy the update and see you all soon.

O.