The Zoe and Silas Show

5/30/14: We had a goodbye lunch for Lina on her last day. I'm not in the lab on Friday's so S&Z came with me to the lunch. They did SO GREAT, tolerating a 1-1/2 hour lunch with 7 adults! GOODBYE, LINA!!!!!!!!!! WE MISS YOU ALREADY!!!!!!!

4/1/14: I had a really, really fantastic birthday on Tuesday. This year I decided to bring back the "birthday month", so I've already had a couple of birthday dinners with friends. There is nothing like your actual BIRTHDAY, though! Zoe & Silas were very sweet both the night before and the morning of my birthday. On Monday night Silas told Julia that they needed to buy me a present. She asked what he thought I might like and he replied, "maybe some lotion!".   They also managed to squash Daddy as I was on my way out the door- At work my co-workers surprised me with delicious birthday cupcakes at lunchtime. We had a journal club meeting in the afternoon and I arrived to find the room decorated,  complete with party hats and a tiara! Yup, I actually led a paper discussion about infant ERPs wearing a tiara :) Derek picked me up at 3:00 so we could hang out for a few hours to celebrate. I snapped a picture of his face wh...

Another large media outlet is doing a story about a study we have been doing in Romania since the late 1990s. They wanted to film kids of similar ages to the ones we have tested in Bucharest, so Derek and I brought S&Z into the lab this morning. It was a toss-up about who would be filmed to fit the 3-year-old bill for the story. I originally thought Silas would be more agreeable, but after a week of being sick he informed me a few nights ago that he didn't want to wear the silly science hat because it makes his hair too messy. Zoe stepped right up this morning and did AWESOME. Unfortunately we were so focused on the filming that we didn't get any new photos of her wearing the hat. After Zoe finished up of course Silas decided that he also wanted to wear the hat. No wonder S&Z love coming to Mommy's work. They get to hang out with lovely ladies like Auntie Nessa and Geneva, And they get special treats for being great cooperators. I w...

I started catching wind awhile back that there were a few other twin moms within my same division at Children's. At the holiday party this year a handful of us ended up sitting together. We had such a great time connecting that we decided to try and get together for lunch more regularly. Finally we have a regular date and we're going to do it 1x/month! Jayne has the oldest set and they are ~6 years old; Eugenia and Anne's twins are both 4 years old, I'm next with S&Z at 21 months, Sam's boys are 18 months, then we have 2 younger b/g sets via Nora - 8 months and Carrie - 3 months. I invited 2 other research friends to join in the fun - Michelle works in Psychiatry and her babies are 6 months and Stephanie works for the Autism Consortium and her boys are 4 months. That's 9 twin moms all within my work circle! It will be tough to get us all together due to busy schedules, but last month 7 of us made it and today there were 5 (+ Carrie's babies!!!). Ja...

We had the annual Nelson lab holiday party at Chuck & Gwen's house on Saturday night. This is the second year that Silas & Zoe have been able to attend! Same as last year , the big question leading up to the party was what were they going to wear? We got received some great hand-me-down holiday clothes from my co-worker, Ellen, and Zoe actually had several adorable choices. We opted for a cream and read snowflake dress with red and white striped tights. I was able to get a few pictures of her goofing around before their nap, while Daddy dressed Silas in his red Christmas overalls in the other room... Zoe's everyday Stride Rite shoes just wouldn't do with this dress, so I decided to buy her a pair of inexpensive patent maryjane's at Target. When I put them on her last weekend she cried and cried. I figured out it was because the soles were so thick that she couldn't feel the ground. After leaving them on her for 30 minutes, she finally got up and walked ...

Chuck bought a house on the Cape a few years ago and we subsequently started a tradition where our lab and a collaborating lab from BU goes to Chatham, MA for the day. View Larger Map This year was the 3rd Annual Lab Day on the Cape, and I was excited to share it with Silas & Zoe! Vanessa & Oliver drove with us in the M.V. to Chatham. We tried to time it so that all 3 babies would sleep for most of the nearly 2 hour drive, but of course that didn't happen, and Vanessa ended up in back on "puffs" duty! The day started at our collaborator's house. It was a gorgeous day, and those of us with kids set up shop on a blanket down by the lake. There were 4 babies all around the same age, an 18-month-old, and 4 older kids. What fun! Everyone ate lunch outside on the blankets and we all enjoyed the gorgeous weather for awhile after lunch. As always, my friends & co-workers were such a huge help with the babies! Here is Auntie Eliza with Zoe, And here is Sonya giv...