Snow Day!

Last night, the twins had a BLAST coloring on the walls of their bath tub. Sarah helped.

Today was great fun! We had snow, and quite a bit in the morning. It stuck on the ground for least half the day, and I think there are still a few small patches. The twins enjoyed watching it from the front windows.

Change of subjects, I was quite happily surprised today at how well Emily is saying the word "Hello."

Enjoy the pictures.

More Communications

Two days ago, I saw Ella give me a new sign. When she wants us to give her something, she points to her hand. So she holds one hand open, palm up, then takes her other index finger and taps her palm. She did it to me when she wanted my Nintendo DS and then later when she wanted our water markers.

Also, Emily started shaking her head when she means No. Previously, she only turned her head to the side. Now she does a combination of the two.

We're still progressing with getting them to sleep in their own beds. The night before last, they went down about 9:30 pm and Emily woke up at 4:00 am. Ella didn't wake up until after 6:00. They both went back to sleep, at least until about 6:45 am. Then last night, they went to sleep around 8:30 pm. Again, Emily woke up first, but not until 6:15 am and Ella didn't wake up until about 6:35 am. It's been working out very well!

Another First - Big Girl Cups

Last night at dinner, we gave the twins milk from a small (non-sippy) cup. We let them drink it using their own hands. That is a first - we've given them drinks from cups, but we always held it ourselves. It was probably more of a thrill for us than the girls. For the most part, they drank it fine. Ella spilled some towards the end on her shirt and in her lap.

A couple other quick updates:
The girls slept 10 hours straight last night, from 8:30 - 6:50.
They are saying words a lot more now, like "up" when they want to be picked up, and "more" when they want more to eat, and I think the newest is "help" when they want something. Also, I've heard Emily say Abby (one of our dog's names). They're saying so much now, it's sometimes hard to keep track.

Bodies Revealed

We took the twins and went to see the Bodies Revealed exhibit in Sacramento, off Alta Arden, this weekend. Sherri and Darryl were with us, and we all had a good time, but the exhibit was kind of disappointing. The twins did fine; although, Emily got a little too close to touching a couple of the exhibits. She didn't, but it made me nervous.

If anyone is thinking of going to the exhibit, I personally think $24 (which is the adult price) is too much. Less than $20 would be better. I had seen a lot of previews, interviews, ads, and other information about the exhibit before going, and unfortunately, it turned out I saw almost all the best parts of the exhibit before going. I think Body Worlds might be a better way to spend your money, but that's just a guess.

Ella has a great laugh

This morning, we played "horsie" with the girls while they rode on our backs and we ran around the house. Lots of fun. Ella has such a great laugh, too. Sarah was tickling her and they were playing, and Ella was just laughing and laughing.

The twins and I also made a game out of cleaning up the living room. The three of us were putting the blocks and Legos away, while Sarah was doing laundry. It made the chores much more entertaining.

Going backwards for a minute, last night was a "little" rough. Around 12:30, Emily woke up and for the next hour, I think I got up four times for her and once for Ella. But after about 1:30 am, they didn't wake up until 7:00. And we think it's because Emily is getting another tooth popping through. The 3-4 nights before that have been great - the twins are doing very well sleeping through the night.

Now skipping ahead several months, Sarah, Darryl, and I are planning another trip to Bandon, OR. We went there a couple years ago, when the twins were just a few months old, and we're going back this September to the same house. We're really looking forward to it. I'm going to take a week off and we'll go crabbing, tide-pooling, we'll go to the wild animal park, etc.

Sleeping Soundly (Mostly)

For the last three nights, only Ella woke up one time, and that was last night. The two previous nights, both girls slept from 9:30 pm - 7:00 am. Sarah and I are loving it.

Posting Frequency

I just have a short update - last night the twins each woke up once. Not bad at all. I'll work on increasing the posting frequency to 2-3 times per week on a regular basis.

The Rocking Horse

Tonight we went over to Sherri's for dinner. Unfortunately, we didn't have a camera with us, but Sherri brought out a wooden rocking horse from the garage and the girls loved it. They got the hang of rocking very quickly. They were almost too good - rocking way back and way forward. But it was fun to watch and they had such a good time.

Quick update on the sleeping - I'd say for the last five days, maybe a full week, I've had to get up at most three times a night. The last night, I only had to get up once, I think. Sarah and I both agree it's much better not having them in the bed any longer. We loved it while they were with us, but we are sleeping much better.

More Talking

The twins are saying more and more words. The biggest change was that they don't "whine" or "screech" as much when they want something. Instead, they say Mama or Papa. In a related story, they are sleeping better through the night, but when they do wake up, they often say Papa instead of just crying. It's pretty neat.

Emily is getting at least one more tooth. It hasn't broken through, yet, but her gums are very red and she's been cranky. I'm sure it'll pop through in the next few days.

As for me, I'm going to the gym now. Sarah gave me a gym membership for Christmas and I have been seven times in eight days; although, to be fair, I went twice the first day - once to sign up (and I did workout) and a second time for a class.

Pictures

We misplaced the camera for several days. Sarah just found it a few minutes ago, so I'll upload some photos later (hopefully today).


Also, a couple updates:

• We're continuing to get them to sleep on their own. Some nights are better than others.
• They really are saying Mama and Papa more often now when they want something, rather than just whining or yelling to get our attention.
• They're enjoying their toys from Christmas. They love when we read to them, so the books are seeing a lot of action. They also got some water washable markers that they play with in the bath tub.
• We went down to my Dad and Roberta's house in Sacramento this morning and had a good time. The girls were shy at first - they don't see Grandpa Bud and Pa-Pa (Roberta) often enough. But within 30 minutes or less, they had warmed up. We stayed down there about three hours and had lunch with them.
• Ella is getting another tooth in the lower-left part of her mouth.