No, I haven't died. I've just been buried, under work and two kids. So what's been up with me and the Lins? Well, let's see...

No police have been to our door, and the infamous mobile home actually disappeared from our street a couple of months ago. Was it sold? Was it being repaired? Were the owners putt-putting their way across the country? Whatever the reason, sadly, the latter was not it. This past weekend, my mom was visiting, and we took the girls out for a quick morning stroll. As we walked down the street, I saw that my belligerent neighbor had his garage door up (sound familiar?), and he was working in the yard. Sweating on the inside, I remained calm and steadily pushed our double-stroller past his home, across the street, and back home on the other side. If he looked at me, there was no recognition. Phew...

Keira is talking up a storm, and she has a comment for everything. "What's that, mama?" "Where'd the moon go?" "I wanna raisin...I wanna cereal...I wanna Elmo song...I wanna baby doll!" Her chattiness is absolutely adorable, but my shy girl is still true to her timid nature. She'll be blabbing away, and then we'll step into a store or she'll see a stranger or a friend will come by...and ZIP! Her mouth closes up like a clam, or she jams her thumb in. "Keira, can you say hi?" Nothing. Complete silence. The minute the stranger/person/friend walks away, Keira's thumb pops back out, and the talking resumes as if nothing had happened.

Ellie just had her six month appointment, and her chubby chubbiness still reigns supreme! She's 90th percentile in weight, but only 50th percentile in height. Short and solid, my girl LOVES to eat. She's a Chi at heart in more than just appearance, and I love, love, love her. The most remarkable thing about Ellie has to be her good-hearted nature. She can seriously sit around just smiling and waving her arms forever. It doesn't matter that no one is paying attention, that Keira's being demanding, that we put her down on the floor half an hour ago. Ellie's simply content to look around, drool a bit, and grab her own feet. What is there not to love about my sweetheart?

And the grandparents feel the same way. A big reason I'm posting...is that I actually feel like I have the energy to do it! The girls took off two days ago with my mom and brother for New Jersey, where they'll be hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma Chi for two weeks. I must admit - I cried my eyes out Saturday, especially when we came home to an empty house, but after wiping the tears away, Felix and I immediately got our life-without-kids going! In 48 hours, we've already seen two movies (Serenity - highly recommend it; Wallace and Gromit - recommend, but kind of slow), had dinner with two groups of friends, and spent an afternoon in San Francisco. I slept in this morning (OMG, that was WONDERFUL), have rearranged our closet, prepared Keira's room to be repainted, and changed Ellie's wardrobe to 6-9 month clothing. In the last two and a half years, Felix and I have been parents, and suddenly, for a brief couple of weeks, we're just ourselves again. I'm going to make the most of every moment, and then be at the airport with arms open wide for my girls when they come back.