Some updates and lots of pictures

Work's been busy, which is why the posts aren't very frequent.

This is totally off topic, but it is related to kids. A friend of mine is adopting two sisters in the Ukraine. Their names are Tanya and Alonya. You can checkout their blog at http://jobthedog.blogspot.com/. Right now is a good time to read it because they are in the Ukraine now. They started this more than two years ago and are literally days away from finishing.

So the last several days we've been having success setting the girls in their cribs and, as long as one of us stays in the room, they usually fall asleep in 15 minutes. I find that I like this method, as long as I have my laptop or DS to entertain me while I sit in the glider. About 10-14 days ago, I saw Ella and Emily "twirling" while they dance. I think Sarah said she taught them. It was neat to see.

Today, I think Emily might have said "dog", but not really sure. We're teaching them a lot of new signs, and they are so quick to learn. We taught them "bird" recently, and "you're welcome." They know tons of signs, and use most of them correctly. Milk, water, eat, more, please, thank you, hat, bird, dog, cat, etc.

Now for some pictures.
Ella

Emily with her new hat


Emily is a ham, alright.


Time to put the girls in their boxes for a nap. :)




Ella on the piano


They love those purple plastic boxes



Not quite settled down enough to go to sleep. Something is funny.

Food!

The last 24 hours have been good to us in terms of food. Last night we went to the local Rotary Club BBQ. We had free tickets, but damn, the food was good! I would have paid if I'd known it was that good. They had tri-tip, salmon, chicken, and ribs. We had a little of everything except the ribs, which were gone when we got there. They also had corn, salad, garlic bread, and beans on the side. Did I mention it was good? We saw several friends, some of Sarah's co-workers, lots of people Sherri knew. I think girls had a bit of everything.

Then today we took the twins to the Japanese Food Bazaar in Penryn. We met Darryl, and saw all of his family. We even saw an old high school acquaintance, Andy Leukonen, and his wife, Megan, and baby girl, Josie. Josie is two weeks older than the twins. Anyway, we brought home lots of good food - inari sushi and chow mein.

15-month Checkup

The twins had their 15-month checkup with the pediatrician yesterday. All is well! The doctor said they are growing well, he said they look great, and we're very happy with the checkup. The one surprising thing was that Ella still doesn't weigh 20 pounds. She still has a couple ounces to go. Emily is a few ounces below 21lbs. They are about a pound apart. But they are the same height.

The doctor said Ella is in the 5%-10% range for weight and Emily is in the 15%-20% range for weight (these are both on the low half of the spectrum). Both girls are about 50% for height, so he said he fully expects over the coming year or so that they will grow into their height - in other words they'll gain a lot more weight.

He also gave us some tips on getting them to sleep through the night. I think Sarah and I will make a decision either to try the techniques or not in the coming few weeks. He also recommended a book called "Good Night, Sleep Tight" by Kim West (www.sleeplady.com). I don't want it to sound like we're totally have problems with the twins sleeping at night. Yes, it is true that they do not sleep through a whole night, and yes, it is true that we sometimes don't get a good night's sleep, but in the grand scheme of things, I think most new parents go through this.

Last Night

Really quick (getting ready for dinner and I already did one post), last night we decided to let the girls try and get themselves to sleep. They cried and cried. Around 12:15 am, Sarah went into their room, laid down next to their crib, and within 5 minutes, they were asleep. We're going to work on this, but it was great that they went to sleep without being totally dependent on us.

The Pirate

Yesterday, I tough our daughters to do a "Pirate Face." :) What does that mean, you ask? Well, we were having dinner last night and one of the twins put a hand over her face. At first, I said "cyclopse," and had both twins doing it. But then I decided a pirate was more hip. :) So I started saying, "Show me your pirate." And they put their hand over one eye. It's so funny. I'll have to get a picture of it. I did it again today, and it still works. :) My mom saw it and got a kick out of it.

San Francisco Zoo

Okay, I know this will be a bit of a let-down, but the only picture we got of the twins at the zoo was with statues!! Wait, let me explain - we went to the zoo using free passes that Sarah had from work. Saved us $28. We went through the first third of the zoo, and then decided to have lunch. By the time we were done with lunch, we could tell the twins were tired, and we decided not to push it, so we hopped in the car and headed home. Two minutes after we got in the car, both girls were sound asleep - new record.

At the zoo, before lunch, we saw the Savannah exhibit (giraffes, zebras, etc.), African Aviary (some ibis birds, ducks, and a couple others I can't remember), the gorillas, lemurs, howler monkeys, and more. Mostly African (or Madagascar) animals. When I was looking at the pictures, I realized we had so few, but honestly, since we had been to the petting zoo at the CA State Fair just a few days before, where the twins could get right up close, there really weren't any animals close enough to get a pic of the girls and the animals in the same shot. It was still fun, but we'll have to go back another time to get more of the zoo. And I'm looking forward to taking the girls to the Sacramento Zoo.

Emily petting the lion cub

Emily and Ella sitting on the lions

Watching the Parade at the California State Fair

While we were at the fair, we saw a short parade and I took a quick video of the girls watching the parade.

California State Fair

Yesterday afternoon, we all went to the California State Fair. It was great! Sarah, Sherri, the twins, Darryl, and I went. We went to the petting zoo, walked through the farm and jungle areas, saw the county exhibits, etc. This was the twin's first fair.

Ella on the left with Emily and Smokey!


Smelling the orchids(?) in the rainforrest display.



On the lawn for dinner. Emily didn't want Darryl to let go of her.



Ella had a ball walking on the grass.


Ella with Sherri after dinner.

Emily's Teeth

Over the past month, Emily has been getting two more of her lower teeth. These are the teeth immediately next to the two front teeth. I really noticed that they were finally in this week. For those of you keeping track, she now has four top teeth and four bottom teeth. (It's a good thing the biting seems to have stopped.)

Ella is getting those same bottom two teeth now. I can see them, especially the one on her right, coming through her gums.

My Dad and the Twins

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of going to my Dad's house with the twins. I always enjoy the times my dad and I spend together when there is no pressure, no one else around, nothing to distract us. That's not the same as saying I don't want anyone else around. What I'm saying is that the times I remember most with my dad are when we can relax and he plays music, and we don't have to be somewhere or go some place else. So yesterday was perfect. I took the twins down to his house and we had a ball. The girls walked around, Dad played his ukulele, we went to the co-op for lunch. Great times. I even got a little video on my digital camera of Dad playing and singing for the girls.

Biting Resolved

We think Emily's biting has stopped. While I was gone at my company's Sales Conference, Sarah said there was no biting that week. And since I've been back a week, there hasn't been any. We're very thankful, but we'll continue to keep a close eye on it for a while.

BTW, check out the Tahoe Reunion and the Emily is Walking posts because I added some pictures to them.

Three Nights in a Row

Okay, I'm back from my company's annual Sales Conference, so that is why the absence of posts. Here's a quick one - the last three nights Emily has been sleeping really well in her own crib. Last night she went to be at 10:00 pm and didn't wake up until after 4:00 am. But more impressive than that are the two nights before where she went to be around 9 pm or 10 pm and didn't wake up until after 6 am. Ella has still been waking up anytime between 11 pm and 2:30 am, but it's easy to get them both back to sleep again.

More posts to come...