WALKING!!

I know I posted before that we had the first couple of steps, but last night, we had REAL walking from Emily. I know this is such a short post, so I'll provide more details later. We got some on video and I'll try to upload it You Tube style.

Good Night's Sleep

The last two nights, the twins have been sleeping very well. On Monday night, they both went to sleep between 9:15 PM - 9:45 PM and didn't wake up until after 5:00 AM! It was GREAT. I actually woke up before they did and was worried. I went in their room, and Emily was just starting to stir, but otherwise they were both sleeping happily. Then last night (Tuesday), Ella woke up at about 1:15 AM, but Emily slept again until 5:00 AM. And both of them went right back to sleep once they came to our bed. We hope to keep this up. :)

Now here's a random picture:

This is from Father's Day. Emily is on the left, my dad, Bud, and then Ella.

Auburn Family Night

Boy, with all this blogging, I guess I'm having dreams about it. I could have sworn that I already posted about Auburn Family Night, but I guess not. Since I don't want to forget again, I'm going to post now, but this is short since I am still working and want to get a few posts done today.

Auburn Family Night was a lot of fun. It takes place in Downtown and Old Town Auburn. There are little maps that you can get stamped at certain venues. Then you turn in the stamped map and get entered for a chance to win something. So the four of us all participated and got stamps. Some of the highlights included the Placer Savings Bank parking lot where they had pony and horse rides, ice cream, rock climbing, and more. My favorite part of the tour was a young (think High School) rock band - three boys rockin' out to Jimi Hendrix, Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and more. They're called The Krate (http://www.thekrate.com/) and I loved the music! In Old Town they had some young girls dancing to a bunch of different songs outside the Post Office. BTW, I didn't know that the old Shanghai was now a restaurant/brewery. It looked really intriguing. If Sarah and I hadn't already eaten, I'd have checked it out. Another time...

Speaking of Dinner, we went to a new Japanese restaurant about two doors down from Sum's Mongolian BBQ. I think the name of the place is Hapanami Sushi, and has only been open about five months. We had the Bento Box and everything was great - spicy tuna rolls, teriyaki salmon, teriyaki chicken, tempura, and more. We'll definitely go back. One thing Sarah and I noticed immediately was that the majority of the employees were, in fact, Japanese! We have another favorite Sushi place near our house, but it's odd walking in there because the sushi chefs aren't Japanese. So that was a plus right away, and the food was great to boot. Not to mention, the women staff all "oohed" and "awed" at the twins. So much so that two of the waitresses gave them cute stuffed animals. Just out of the blue. It was very cute, and the twins loved them. So Sarah and I are looking forward to going back.

Here's Ella giving her new toy a big hug!


And here's Emily with a big smile.

Father's Day Pics

Breakfast at Venita Rhea's in Rocklin. (Left to Right: Joe, Gary, Roberta, Bud, Sarah)


(Left to Right: Jesse, Chris, Marilyn, Layla, Savanna)


All the father's: Gary, Chris with Marilyn, Jesse with Ella, Bud with Emily

The Race to 20! (Pounds, that is)

So, we took the twins to the doctor for a checkup today. It's sort of a long story, but this is their 12-month check. Everything went fine, and the doctor commented how well we and the babies are doing! This brings me to the subject of this quote. Sarah and I are so eager for the twins to reach 20 pounds. What does that mean, you ask? Well, when they hit 20 pounds, we can turn their car seats around so that the girls face forward. For me, that means (hopefully) a little extra legroom in the passenger seat. We'll see. It also means new car seats, but we already have those.

Here's a random picture of Emily:


Edit: I meant to include their current measurements. As of 6/25/07:
Ella - Weight 18lbs 7oz
- Length 29 inches
Emily - Weight 19lbs 4.5oz
- Length 29.25 inches

Another FIRST Today

We had another first this morning. Sarah was in the nursery with the girls and Ella grabbed a diaper, crawled over to Sarah, and made the sign for "change." And what is most amazing about that is she actually did have a dirty diaper. In the past, both girls have made the sign for change, but this is the first clear instance where we could tell Ella knew what it meant. And the fact that she grabbed a diaper first, and brought it to Sarah is just wonderful! Very exciting.

On another note, last night we went to Auburn Family Night Out in downtown/old town. We had a lot of fun and I'll write more later. Sarah's grocery shopping and I'm watching the twins.

Last Day of Swim Class

Last day of swim classes was today. The girls did great, as always. They are now officially "Star Fish" having completed all the required elements to attain such an esteemed rank! :) The elements consisted of holding their breath, kicking, entering and exiting the pool appropriately, and holding onto the wall for safety. For each element they completed, they got a little plastic colored token - each token was a different color. When they got all their tokens, they got a ribbon with their name on it that says "Super Swimmer." Very exciting, as you can imagine!

Now that classes are over, it'll be our job as parents to keep them up with swimming. I'm looking forward to it.

Final Week of Swim Classes

So this is the final week of swim lessons. I had to go to Cupertino on business yesterday, so my mother-in-law, Sherri, filled in for me. I heard it went very well. Today I went and my mom, Sharon, came for the first time to watch. Tomorrow is the last day, and as far as I know it'll just be Sarah and I with the twins. I am kind of bummed that it'll be over tomorrow, but Sarah and I will make it a point to get the twins into a pool over the summer. Sherri has one, my father-in-law, Gary, has one, my uncle, Doug, has one. So we've got several we can use.

FYI, feel free to post comments. If any of our family and friends are reading this, please let us know. I'd love to hear from other dads (and moms) of twins especially. Take care!

FIRST WORDS!!!

Yesterday was Father's Day, and in the morning, Sarah and I heard Ella say "Dada" three times in a row. What's even more incredible is that she said "Mama" that evening! This is great! Here's a random picture of her.

FIRST WALK!!

Well, we have another major milestone. Ella took a first one or two steps on her own last night, and Emily did it today. Now, when I say "on her own," I mean that Sarah and I were basically surrounding them with our arms, encouraging them, etc. We held their hands to start them walking, and then as we got near the couch or the chair, or the other parent, we'd let go. Most of the time, they either stopped moving their feet and leaned forward, or they just sat right down, but at least once they both took steps on their own!

Also today, almost as exciting, Sarah and I were watching "Walk the Line" - the Johnny Cash bio pic - and we danced with both girls to some of the music. And then at one point, I started snapping to the music, and Ella imitated the motion that my arm made every time I snapped. It was fantastic. First time I've snapped around her, and she displayed it back right away! I'm loving this whole fatherhood thing. What a good weekend!

Sleeping Beauties

This morning I got up early (like 3:00 AM early) because the twins woke up together and it took some coaxing to get them back to sleep. Long story short, around 6:00 AM I was heading back to bed (the girls were asleep with Mommy in our big bed) and I paused for a moment to take in one of the most beautiful sites ever. My family was all asleep in our bed. Ella was on the left, Sarah in the middle, and Emily on the right. What a site! All asleep, all like angels. For me, a new father, this still takes my breath away. I don't know how long I'll be able to see this kind of thing - before I know it the girls will be grown and not sleeping with us. And most days, if I do wake up early to help with the twins, I'm too tired to appreciate a moment as precious as the one I saw. So this is doubly-special because it is the Friday before Father's Day and I just had one of my best memories ever.

Swim Lessons, Week 2

The girls finished their second week, and are doing GREAT! The instructor has commented multiple times how great the girls are doing. She said their attitudes are great - they rarely complain. They are great about going full underwater, too. She said they are really advanced for their age.

In fact, this week the instructor had us let go of our babies underwater as we pushed them towards her. So she would stand a few feet away from the parents and we'd give the babies the signal to go underwater (for me, I say, "Okay Ella, ready? Blow!" or sometimes, "1... 2... 3...") and then we push the baby towards the instructor and let go with about a foot of space left for the baby to travel. It was pretty nerve-wracking for Sarah the first time, but both girls were wonderful!

Now at bath time (we bathe them in our full-size bath), we practice things like running water over their heads so they get used to holding their breath. One of the funniest things happened just a couple days ago. We were bathing them when all of the sudden, Emily stuck her face in the water. Sarah and I both looked at each other, pretty stunned, and then looked at Emily (who was looking at us for approval) and we clapped and told her what a good girl she was. Well, that started a frenzy of "dunking." Emily did it again, and again, then Ella joined in. Then Ella started drinking the bath water (we're discouraging that), and now each day since the girls like to dunk their faces in the water. They will just be sitting in the water, and then lean forward until their whole face is under, and usually stop right before their ears touch. Usually, they pop right back up within a second or less. But last night, Emily did it for more than a second on a couple occasions. Now I know a second doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're the parent and you're used to seeing your baby pop right up, you notice a one second difference. It was a bit disconcerting when she didn't pop back up, but when she did, we clapped and smiled. I think Emily did the longer dunk once or twice more, and Ella did it I think once.

It is so fascinating watching them learn and do things. Just a day or two ago, I showed one of them, I think Emily, a new sign that I'd never showed her before (I don't remember it now), and she did it back to me immediately. That is when I realized two things:
1) I can actually see their mind working, and it's a wonderful thing.
2) I better enjoy this while I can 'cause pretty soon, I'll have two mirrors walking around, imitating what I do and what I say. Yikes!!

1st Birthday Party

Sorry for the long delay between posts. The Birthday Party last weekend really wiped me out. I'm still waiting to get some pictures back from people, so I'll post some as soon as I get them. I took some video at the party, but no still shots.

We had a great time - thanks to everyone who came. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. I heard the food was great! :) I hope everyone got some of Darryl's orzo pasta salad, Sherri's deviled eggs, my mom's fruit salad, Roberta brought chow mein, not to mention the hamburgers and hot dogs that yours truly cooked up. I know I was practically stuffed by the end of the day. Oh, and I'm sorry we didn't have time to cut and hand out the cake. We'll give everyone double at next year's party. Speaking of, next year June 10th will be on a Tuesday, so I'm not sure if we'll have the party the weekend before or after (I leave that kind of planning up to Sarah). We'll make sure everyone knows.

It took three days for us to get the car unloaded! I know Sarah and Sherri catalogued all the gifts so we know who gave us what. So far, I've seen a wonderful tea set from Nicole, a great kid-sized pool and pool toys from Gary for the backyard, I know Darryl got the girls some US Bonds (those will go into their college fund), we got some great toys to help them learn to walk, and so much more I cannot begin to list them all.

By the way, I wanted to send a special acknowledgement to Eric and Danielle French. They have given us toys, clothes, advice, and all kinds of great help throughout. I owe them a lot!

Birthday Prep

Here it is the day before the twins' first birthday. We're all very
excited, making sure everything is in order. It's a lot of work, but
of course very worth-while. Personally, I cannot wait until tomorrow.
I'm looking forward to the party and seeing everyone. I know the first
few years are really about creating memories for us, and I'm fine with
that. :)

By the way, the swimming lessons are going well. I missed the class on
Wednesday, but Sherri was great and stepped in. On Thursday, both
girls did so well. They are going full underwater and kicking. We sing
several songs and have a good time.

First Swim Lesson

The girls had their first swim lesson today. Sarah and I were hoping to get pictures of the girls actually in the pool, but it didn't work out. I'm sure we will get some over the coming weeks. The lessons are 30 minutes each, three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) and go for three weeks. I think there are about 8 babies in the class, from 10 months - 2 years.

The girls did well - better than I expected. They actually have us put the girls fully underwater (only for about 1 second), but we did that 3-4 times today. Emily was with Sarah and did a bit better than Ella, but that could be because I wasn't doing it quite right. Sarah showed me the right way to do it, and so the last time Ella went under was better. The pool is nice -heated to about 92 degrees. Sarah and I are going to be trading off on the twins, we'll get to work with each girl.

I am SO glad we're doing this because so many people we know have pools and it's just something that we all love to do - swim in the summertime. As a safety factor and as a skill, I'm really looking forward to the next three weeks of classes.

Mmm... Fish...

The girls had their first trout today. I think they've had salmon before, but now that they've had trout, Darryl and I will have to get some fishing in.

Emily has also learned how to pull the caps off many different pens. Actually, she's known that for a while, so today I decided to try and teach her how to put the caps back ON the pens. Let's just say she has a few ink marks on her hands. In all seriousness, I think it is a good hand-eye coordination skill. We'll see if it comes back to bite me. :)

Now that I'm getting the hang of this thing, I'm going to try posting more pictures.

Journal

Okay, so I'm starting to get into this whole blogging thing a bit. I'm going to use it as an online journal to replace the paper and pen one I have been using for our girls. I need to update the journal more often, and I think an online one will be much easier.

This whole blogging thing

Not much to report tonight. Just trying to get into this whole blogging thing. I think it'll be neat to have a central page for the family to see updates on the twins. I'm going to try posting some pictures and see how that goes.

Lately I've been looking into buying a domain for the family. Something like www.johnsonfamilytwins.com or www.thejft.com. Just a place where the whole family can come to see updates on the twins - pictures, blogs, etc. May be more work than it's worth. Might just go with Flickr or some other sites.