So Sorry

I know it has been terrible with the lack of posts. I have been swamped with work, and each day that goes by I feel more and more guilty. I know I need to post some update pictures, which I promise to do this weekend. Here are some updates:

• Emily is saying "No!" a lot. Even though we know it's a phase, and she doesn't really mean it, she definitely acts like she means it. When we offer her food that we know she likes, she will say "NO!" and scrunch up her face and turn away.
• Ella and Emily talk more to each other, like asking one another to sit with them or play with them. It's SUPER cute!
• Ella and Emily both have ouchies on their chins - I think one of them bumped it on a table and the other one fell at the park.
• They still wake up once or twice during the night. They go to sleep around 9:00 or 9:15 and wake up around 7:15.
• Everyone is doing well.

Thanks!

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.

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.

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.

Night Three

Last night was the third night the twins slept in their own cribs, and WOW, it was great. Yes, you heard me, it was GREAT! Everything started the same as it did the last two nights - we put them to bed by reading to them. They fell asleep in my arms, and Sarah helped me put them in their cribs. I don't remember the time now, but I think it was around 2:30 am when I heard the first cry. It was Emily this time, not Ella. When I went to check on her, I saw Ella stirring. I thought for sure Ella would wake up. However, to my surprise, within 2-3 minutes of me leaving the nursery, all was quiet. No one made another sound until about 7:15 this morning when Ella woke up first. Emily slept until maybe 7:45.

I'm not ready to call this war won, but I think at this point, Sarah and I are winning every battle. :)

Sarah's Birthday

Today is Sarah's birthday. We had a small gathering over at Sherri's with pizza and cake. It was really nice. I had fun planning (most) of it.

The main reason for today's update is, as always, to talk about the twins' progress. Last night was the second night we had them sleep in their own cribs the whole night. It started the same as always - I read to them, put them in their cribs, and they went to sleep. Ella woke up first, around 1:30 am and started crying. We started the cycle of checking on her every few minutes. This time, it only took about 35 minutes for her to fall asleep again. However, from 1:30 - about 3:00, she would wake up, cry, fall asleep, and repeat the cycle every 15-20 minutes. I think Emily woke up twice. Eventually, everyone fell asleep, and didn't wake up until after 7:00 am.

The last update I have has nothing to do with sleeping. Ella and Emily both say "Uh-oh" now, and I taught Emily "pee-yew" (as in stinky diaper). My mom (Sharon) has been trying to teach them "Woopty-do".

Last Night the Earth Shook

Well, we finally made the decision to get the girls to sleep the whole night in their own cribs. I'll write more later - gotta get ready for a Birthday Party.

We decided it was time to start getting the girls out of our bed and into their own for the whole night. And since Sarah and I have several days off between now and New Year's, we thought this was the best time to start. We started by putting them to sleep like we normally do - we change them into their PJ's and read them a few books. Everything was as usual. Then Sarah and I went to bed. Around 1:00 am, Ella woke up first. This is where things for the girls changed. Instead of bringing her straight to bed with us like we would have done in the past, we put our pediatrician's advice to work. I checked on Ella right away, said some soothing words, and laid her down in her crib. Then I left. She kept crying. Five minutes later, I repeated the same thing. Then 10 minutes after than, then 15.

At this point, 30 minutes has passed. Ella cried the whole time. Emily hadn't woken up at all. After 30 minutes, you're supposed to wait another whole 30 minutes before going in again. I think I fell asleep sometime in that second 30 minutes. I woke up a little after 2 am when the alarm went off and Ella was still crying. I checked on her and stayed with her a little longer to settle her down. Maybe two minutes. Soon as I left, Ella started crying again.

Basically, she cried constantly for 90 minutes. Emily didn't wake up at all while Ella was crying. At some point, Ella quieted down. Then, around 3:00 am, Ella started crying a little again. She finally woke up Emily, so I checked on them both. It didn't take long for them both to fall asleep. Then they didn't wake up until 8:30 (for Ella) and 9:30 (for Emily).

It was an exhausting night, but an important one. We have to keep it up now until they have fully transitioned to sleeping in their cribs all night.

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.

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.

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...

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall... (the Johnson Twin version)

Last night on the drive home from Sherri's after dinner, Sarah and I came up with a new song. It's called "99 Sippies of Water on the Wall." It was dark, and whenever we drive home after dark, the girls cry pretty much the whole 10 minutes it takes to get home. A couple weeks ago, Sarah and I discovered that if we sang to the girls, they quieted down. But we're getting tired of the same old songs - most of which we learned at Swim Lessons. So last night, we went through the usual bunch:
Sally the Camel
Little Fishy
Ella's Here Today
Emily's Here Today
Old MacDonald's Farm

We were almost home and the girls started crying again because we couldn't think of another song. I started singing 99 Bottles of Beer, as a joke, but I didn't want to sing that to the girls (something seems wrong singing a drinking song to babies - maybe that's just me). All of the sudden, Sarah or I said, "99 Sippy Cups of Water on the Wall." Even though that didn't quite work, it made us laugh, so we shortened it to Sippies on the Wall. And we only did 10 or less for the rest of the drive home. But it made us laugh and it entertained the twins.

Then today, Sarah was at work and Sherri was helping watch the twins. Around 11:00 it was nap time. I had both twins in my arms and sat in the Lay-Z-Boy. They were fussing a bit and crying, and I knew they were tired, so I started singing "99 Sippies..." Boy, what a great song! It's my new favorite. Ella was asleep by 75 and Emily was asleep by 60. Sherri came and carried each of them into their cribs. Again this evening around 6:00, same thing. Sarah and I split the twins to try and get them to take a last nap - I had Ella. I sat in my chair and sang the song, and she was asleep before Sarah had Emily asleep. This is great! :)

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.