4th of July

This past weekend was rather busy. We took all 3 kids to get a haircut (I need one myself too but haven't made that appointment yet). Then we took the kids on the bus (the 41 bus - very important detail to Ben & Ella) to downtown (Ella still says "down the town"). We just wondered around for a while, then headed back home for naptime. On Sunday, after church, we took the kids to Tacoma to visit my in-laws. We went to a farmer's market and got some fruit and a balloon animal( that Benjamin promptly popped once we got back to their grandparents house - thankfully, Nicholas forgot about his as his popped as we were trying to load things up). We also went out to lunch at a buffet where I learned that Ella & Nicholas will eat beets (though I don't) and Benjamin will eat chicken drumsticks (again, I don't eat - don't like dark meat). We went back to their house for the kids to open their presents from him - bubble guns and a big bottle of bubbles. They enjoyed that.

For the 4th, we went to a birthday party of a 2 year old from their daycare/preschool and came back home for a low key 4th. We watched some fireworks on tv and when it was over, Ella says she wanted to watch the fireworks. I told here that is what we've been doing. I don't know if they quite get excited about fireworks yet. At first, they thought I was talking about firetrucks.

This weekend, we visit my family for a family reunion on my dad's side. It shall be interesting and fun, I hope!

Christmas & Other News

This was Nicholas's first Christmas - he certainly enjoyed the wrapping paper a lot. The 1st Christmas hat that I had when Ben & Ella were little - the one that didn't fit Benjamin at 6 months - definitely does not fit Nicholas. I still managed to take a picture or two with it sitting atop his head. :-D

Benjamin and Ella didn't even notice that Santa had come and brought them stuff until they were gently nudged in that direction. I would think next year, they will notice. Ben & Ella (especially Benjamin) really enjoyed playing with Nicholas's toy - it's this.

They enjoyed their new puzzles a little bit too. Ella seems to really enjoy playing with the playdoh we got for them.


Nicholas is starting to stand up only holding on with one hand. Last night, he is getting a little adventurous and tried to stand all on his own. That lasted all of 1 second, if that.

We watched "Up" the other night. Benjamin and Ella seemed to enjoy it. Ella did get a little bored halfway through, but then at the end asked if we could watch it again. Benjamin picked up the "big snipe" part of the story. During the movie, we ate some popcorn. Ella wanted to give Nicholas a small piece, but I told her that he was too little. Well, Ella didn't like that - she showed me that piece is little like I make his food, but I told her no. At one point, I think she snuck him a piece as it looked like he had some big piece in her mouth, but I didn't feel anything in there. Nicholas was not happy either by my decision, so I asked Jon to get him some cheerios. I do wonder when he's going to get more teeth.

So, I'm a little paranoid. I watched My Sister's Keeper the other night and then I saw a bruise on Ella the next day. But I'm trying to tell myself that it was just a bruise she got when playing as it was just one small bruise not like ones I saw in the movie.

For Christmas, Oliver & Sophie got a new scratching toy and some catnip canes. They seem to be enjoying both items. Oliver tried to open the catnip canes before it was Christmas, but somehow, I managed to keep them under their wrapping paper.

After spending Christmas morning at home, we traveled to Tacoma to visit my in-laws. We had dinner and the kids opened some gifts. It was a nice time.

And the best Christmas news is - a couple friends of ours have learned that they were chosen to adopt a baby that was born on Monday. They were able to be there for the birth. I look forward to seeing them and their new baby soon! Congrats to Paul & Ally!

Catch-up Time

When I last wrote - it was just before Thanksgiving. We had a small little Thanksgiving - just the 5 of us at home hanging out the entire time. It was nice - we had chicken parmesan instead of a turkey - it was yummy. Later that weekend, we had Jon's family over for dinner and I made some enchiladas - which were alright. Jon's mom hadn't been to our house since about a week after Nicholas was born - not sure why it took this long to get her to come back. Jon's dad and sister - well, it was a while before then. We've visited there a few times. We plan to go down to their house on Christmas in the afternoon and spend some time with each other in the morning. On New Year's Eve, I'm going over to Spokane to visit family - specifically, my grandmother as she found out recently she has cancer all over her body. It isn't looking too good, unfortunately. I'm going over on my own - I will my family terribly!!!

Anyway, some time ago, we took the kids to see Santa at my work. Nicholas enjoyed looking at Santa's beard while the twins didn't want anything to do with him and didn't want to go near him. We had to force them to stand with us. Toward the end, Nicholas was screaming. Maybe next year, they will like Santa. Though, I suppose it is good that they are nervous around strangers.

And now onto specific things about the kids...

Nicholas - cruising all over the place. He gets to a standing position with no problem at all - it's the getting down that he is still trying to figure out. His latest sounds are "da da da da" and he has said "ma" and the other day, he made a sound that sounded like "ella". :-D One of his favorite things to do is pass the baby between one adult and another. Another is for him to have a toy or something in his hand and put it up to my mouth (or whoever is holding him) so I "eat" it. He thinks that is hilarious! He also finds it funny when I blow on his hair. He's been copying me too - which is fun too. :-D

Ella & Benjamin

I find it cute when Ella wakes up in the morning as I'm getting ready for work and she quietly asks for "bekfas" or breakfast. Most of the time, all 3 kids are still sleeping when I leave, but I love it when they get up in time for me to see them before I go. The other morning, she asked for a "banna" (or banana).

Last night, Ella had a full on meltdown. Nothing was calming her down. Eventually, the only thing that was going to calm her down was being in our bed as one of us was in there with her. Seriously - last night was the worst night by far I've had with her.

When Ella says "here" - it sounds like she has a Boston accent.

Lately, Benjamin has become more interested in helping feed Nicholas - which can mean a fight between Ben & Ella. Ella has always been our little mommy ever since Nicholas came around. It has taken a while for Benjamin to want to help out.

Both of them like to count. At first, they would leave out some numbers, but I think they got all the numbers now. The other night, they were counting the number of boys and girls in our house. It is so cute the way Ella says "girl". They had a conversation a while ago on whether the pink baby was a boy or a girl. Benjamin said it was a boy. Now, I think he says it is a boy. Funny. Oh, that reminds me - whenever they find something enjoyable - they say "that's funny". :-D

Both of them are starting to get more into the tv. They will ask to watch this dinosaur DVD with Diego that I got at the holiday library book sale. Lately, I've been letting them watch a half hour show while I get dinner ready. These days, it's been Christmas shows that I've recorded. Benjamin was very mad the other night when I told him no tv tonight. I think this might be my fault - I introduced that Diego dvd to them - only because it had dinosaurs - which for a while, Benjamin was really interested in. I thought they would be super excited by some dinosaurs that I bought for Christmas until we went to go see Santa and one of the gifts they had were the same dinosaurs I got and Ben & Ella did not care.

They helped put together our tiny little tree - I think they enjoyed it. I think next year, we'll be getting a bigger tree. Well, I'm going to see what goes on sale the day after Christmas.

O.K. That's about it for now.

We have a crawler...

I am so bad - I really want to document Nicholas growing up as much as I did with the twins.

Anyway, Nicholas is definitely a crawler now. He has been for about a week or two now. He's gotten quite good at it. And he seems to understand the word dance because when I say to him, you gonna dance, he starts swaying from side to side. His two favorite activities are crawling over the floor puzzle and messing with it while Ben & Ella are playing with it (they don't like that too much) and blowing raspberries.

He has had a lot of different kinds of foods, including Gerber puffs. He loves those - as do the twins...still. They insist I give them some when I get some out for Nicholas. Don't bother telling them they are for the baby.

Both Ben & Ella like to play with puzzles. Ben likes to play with some different types of computers at the daycare.

They went trick or treating for the first time this year (see pics at www.flickr.com/photos/heathercim). They don't quite get it yet and forgot all about the candy once it was out of site. Wish the same could be said about their parents. :-D

Ben was a lion, Ella was a pink poodle and Nicholas was a pumpkin.



We also went to a farm this year to look at the pumpkins and went through a hay maze. The maze had a slide at the top that both kids went down. They also got to look at different animals and eat some kettle corn. Good times!

Cute Stories

Both of them kinda understand now that there is a baby in mommy's belly and will point to my belly when we ask where the baby is. Of course, there have been a couple times that they look to their own bellies. Both of them know how to say baby and last night, Benjamin said "I see a baby". Does that count as his first sentence or is it "hello, how are you?" though he says that as all one word?

Jon put up some Christmas lights the other day and each morning, Benjamin insists that we turn them on. He really insists. This morning, I put on my Christmas light necklace and turned it on - he liked that a lot - as did Ella.

Ella has figured out how to get on and off the scooter, so she's been riding that around everywhere. Ella also asks "what's that?" all the time now. I guess that's her first sentence. :-D

Both of them know where a lot of their body parts are and will point to them when asked.

Did I write the other day that Ella was walking around with their baby dolls and found the bottles that went with them, and she was feeding the babies? It's so cute.

Another thing that they like to do is to put on Jon's pink (yes, pink) croc wannabe shoes and walk around in them. I keep trying to get a picture but have had no luck.

Speaking of pics, there are new pics on my flickr site - www.flickr.com/photos/heathercim - even though they've seen the snow before - it is like they are experiencing it for the first time. Ella doesn't appreciate it so much unless she's where the plow has been in the road. Benjamin likes that too. I got them both mittens and hats to wear outside and of course, the 2T/3T hat does not fit Benjamin's head so Jon put his hat on Benjamin. You'll see a pic of that on flickr.

I think that's about it for now. I know there are some stories I'm forgetting.

Many things...

I really need to write more...I can't remember all the things I wanted to write about.

Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. We stayed at home, watched football (Seahawks suck this year - UW too), and went to the park to play for a bit (it was rather crowded at the park). It was just the four of us and our two kitties. The kitties even had a turkey dinner (though they'd rather it be fish).

Ella didn't seem to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner all that much - Benjamin, at least, ate a little bit of it.

Pregnancy

The other day into work was a rather bumpy one - it felt as if the baby was going to come out due to all the pressure I was feeling. It felt as if the baby was dancing on my cervix - much like Ella did.

We went on a walk to a park about 10 or so blocks away yesterday - that brought on quite the hip pain. It may be time for the PT again.

Yesterday, at church, the pastor asked if everything was going o.k. in the pregnancy. A friend who goes to the same church said that we were mentioned b/c I had told our small group that I was going to have the fetal fibronectin test and that they had prayed that the test went well. It was nice of her to ask. It will be the next time that I go in that I'll be a bit worried about the results as that's when I got a negative on that test. Next time is also the gestational diabetes test.

Children Stories

Each time we leave the daycare, Ella insists on sitting in the time out chair. Then she gets up, pats the chair and tells Benjamin to sit there. She even tries to gently nudge him that direction, but he has no interest. I'm thinking of trying to find them a little table and chair set for Christmas as I think that they would enjoy that - Ella especially. Or maybe one of those little couches for toddlers.

Yesterday morning, we heard some giggling in their room and we just listened to them wondering what they were giggling about. It turns out they were playing hide and seek with the curtains.

Last night, Ella insisted on going to bed with one of my little books - ones that you might find at a Hallmark or something like that. So funny.

Lately, Benjamin has started to turn on his music crib toy when he wakes up - it's a good way to let us know. :-D

Both children - especially Ella - will sit down on their little potty for a little while, but they don't actually do anything. Sometimes they like to sit their with their pants on. It's a step, right? Getting them comfortable with the potty.

Other

Went to go see Twilight this past weekend - it was alright. I enjoyed it well enough - though it was rather cheesy at spots and the special effects were just bad. That being said, I may go see it again especially since the movie I wanted to see next and thought was coming out next weekend (The Time Traveler's Wife) isn't coming out until 2009 sometime.

Halloween Party Time!

This past weekend, we went to three separate Halloween parties. The first one was Saturday morning with one of the multiples groups we are members of. Ben & Ella had some fun playing with some crayons (to my knowledge, this was their first time with crayons) and going through the bowls of "prizes" that went with each of the games. Ella decided on some crayons and Benjamin had a monster guy, but ended up putting him back. After that, we visited the park right by the center that the party was at. Ben & Ella went on the swings - we got some good pictures of them on there. I need to upload them soon! A ladybug and a crocodile/alligator on the swings.

That evening, we went to a friend's house for dinner and ate some yummy food and talked a little bit with everyone. We ended up leaving rather soon so we could get the children to bed. Turns out, they needed the sleep. They surprisingly didn't wake up (or we didn't hear them) until 8:15 that morning - sleeping in time - so we had to rush to get ready to go to church that morning.

Later on Sunday, we went to the church's Halloween party. It was a rather warm day for October and even warmer inside so eventually, their costumes came off. We stayed there for a bit, then headed to the park in between parties. The next party was a pumpkin carving party. We didn't end up staying too long as it was rather difficult to keep the kids away from the knifes and food, but we wanted to come say hi to everyone as it seems we don't see many of these people that often anymore. And to those of you at that party, I do not just feed my children potato chips and chocolate treats. In fact, they don't really have much of that at all.

I'm not sure what we're going to do on Halloween night. We might take the kids around to say hi to the neighbors or go to the mall to see if they have things for the kids or we just might stay home to hand out the candy from the huge bag I bought at a warehouse type store. Decisions!

Christmas Weekend 2007

Our Christmas weekend started with going to a friend's party on Friday night. We met another couple there with a 7 month old baby, so we chatted with them for a bit. We didn't end up staying too long as the babies were getting cranky (they were sleepy), but we had a good time. Some lady offered to hold Ella so I could get something to eat - that was really nice of her. I forgot to have some puppy chow though. :-(

Saturday, Jon and I took turns doing some last minute shopping. I am not exactly sure how I made it through the shopping I did as I was in so much pain on my left side - I was nervous I was having another kidney stone because it felt like what it felt like before I when the kidney stone was just starting to bother me (not like it was toward the end when I thought I was dying). It just hurt to move, but I finished my shopping, came home, and when it was time to go to bed, I took some painkiller drugs left over from the c-section and went to bed (thanks Jon!). Thankfully, when I woke up the next morning, the pain was mostly gone. It was there a little bit, but not as bad as the day before. I'm not sure what the issue was.

Sunday came around. We went to a party that a couple from our childbirth class was having. They are from England so they were serving mince pies and mulled wine. I didn't have a chance to try the wine, but the mince pie that I tried (they were little ones) was yummy! I had never had one before! At that party, we met another couple with twins - they had their twins at 6 months of pregnancy. I can't even imagine having them that early. They stayed in the NICU for 3 months. I was nervous about having them 2 1/2 months early when I entered the hospital, but thankfully, they stayed put for 5 weeks! I just cannot imagine having my babies that early nor having them at the hospital for 3 months. We were so lucky the way things turned out for us the way it did - so lucky - we were able to go home with our babies. The couple said that their twins are doing wonderfully now - I believe they said that they are almost 3.

After the party, we headed home and Jon's mom and sister came by shortly after that. I was supposed to have Christmas Eve off, but I ended up having to go into work for 3 hours to make up time (even if I am salaried, but that's a gripe for another time). I came into work later than I normally did though - and that gave me a chance to stop by Cos&tco on my way into work to pick up a few things that we needed (like formula, etc.). I think I forgot to mention that I'm not pumping anymore - I made it to 6 months and 2 days (sort of - there were a couple days there I didn't pump at all b/c I was sick - thankfully, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would as my supply was dwindling anyway, but it did hurt a bit). I'm proud of myself for making it that long.

For Christmas Eve, we had chicken fajitas for dinner and just hung out listening to music, reading books, and playing with our cuties.

Christmas comes around and my sister-in-law made us breakfast (with Jon's assistance), then we just hung out until it was time for dinner and presents. What was great is that we got a white Christmas - it actually snowed pretty good in Seattle though it's all gone today. It was so pretty to watch coming down that when I went to go take a nap I kept waking up to look at the snow (and because I heard my babies - especially Benjamin - talking and playing). Jon's dad showed up while I was napping. We ended up having dinner between 5 and 6, then afterwards, we opened presents, then we had dessert. It turns out the reindeer sleeper that someone gave us as a hand-me-down is too small for Benjamin so no Christmas sleepers for them for the day AND Benjamin's blue Santa hat was too small for his head (I had bought those last spring at a multiples group sale when I was still pregnant). Too bad - I still got some pictures of his cute self with his hat kinda laying upon his head. Ella's pink Santa hat fit her just fine and she looked so incredibly cute in it. I also got some pictures of Ella trying to open her presents only so she could eat the wrapping paper.

We had a wonderful Christmas with our babies and Jon's family though I wonder if Jon's dad had a good time at all. He left late last night, but Jon's mom and sister stayed again tonight so Tanya can make dinner for us tonight and so the babies are at home with them today. They haven't been in day care for a while - I hope that they remember their DCPs! We'll find out tomorrow!

I'll try to upload pics tonight (though I thought I would get around to uploading some this past weekend, and I didn't).

Christmas & 6 month checkup!

The Friday before Christmas and I am not ready at all. Hopefully, I’ll be able to finish everything up tomorrow. Unfortunately, I need to come into work for a few hours on Monday to make up some time for last week when I stayed home sick when I didn’t have any sick time. At least, I don’t have to stay the whole day. Thankfully, my mother-in-law agreed to watch the babies for me for those few hours. The daycare is closed.

I’m so excited for the babies’ first Christmas! I got them presents and stockings. My boss made them stockings too and gave them presents. She made the stockings – so sweet of her! She is so crafty. She also made these wonderful scrapbooks for the babies that she gave to me at my baby shower back in April (that I need to get around to putting the photos into).

Ella so much wants to sit up. She’ll lay there and do some stomach crunches. I had read that to help her gain some strength to sit up to basically act as her trainer and hold on to her legs so she can lift herself up. I tried that – it didn’t work so well. She will pull herself up by using our hands though. Benjamin still isn’t quite interested in that yet. His thing is to talk and to kick. Ella talks too with her little gurgle talk. Last night, I was changing her diaper and she was cooing and I made a little noise and shook my hair in front of her and she thought that was hilarious! OMG – when the babies laugh, it is the most wonderful sound. I absolutely love it and she was laughing at something I was doing! The next thing I know, we had an audience of my mother-in-law and Jon videoing us. I’ll try to upload this weekend to share (I still need to upload those pictures of their first solid food tasting) – it really is cute. Speaking of solid food tasting, Benjamin is doing really well at it and seems to enjoy it quite a bit. Ella is slowly getting the hang of it.

Another cute thing that Ella has started to do lately is when she’s excited, she flap her arms up and down like she’s getting ready to take off. She has a huge smile on her face when she does this. Benjamin will flap one of his arms up and down when he’s excited about a story he’s telling. Have I told you how absolutely in love I am with my babies?

2007 was definitely a wonderful year for us. I look forward to seeing my children grow up.

Before I forget, the babies had their 6 month checkup on Tuesday and here is their info:

Benjamin
19 pounds 5 ounces (I thought for sure he would be over 20) (80th percentile)
28 inches long (93rd percentile)

Ella
16 pounds 2 ounces (55th percentile)25 or 26 inches long (I can’t remember – all the info is at home) (45th percentile)

Sick, Solids, & More!

It's been a while since my last post.

I ended up getting sick on Wednesday missing my department's holiday party :-( 3 years in a row I miss out on bowling. I went to work on Thursday and Friday though I ended up leaving early both days - one of those days via cab as I mistakenly took the vanpool (I thought I was feeling better) (which reminds me - shouldn't cab drivers know how to get places? Especially if they have a navigational tool in their car? This driver kept asking me how to get to Northgate). I was supposed to go shopping this weekend for Christmas presents - yep, that didn't get done - though the only issue with me this weekend was I lost my voice. I went to the doctor this morning just to make sure it isn't something more serious since I haven't had a voice in 3 days, but thankfully, everything is fine. I decided to stay home from work today to help get some rest which meant I missed the company holiday luncheon. I'm always sad when I miss out on free food - thankfully, when I went into work on Friday, I got my free frozen turkey! Yep - that's my Christmas gift each year from the company - a turkey!

Anyway, we started given Benjamin and Ella solids on Thursday. They turned 6 months on Wednesday but because I wasn't feel so great, we started the next day (even though I still wasn't feeling all too great). Benjamin seemed to do really well with it - he got it into his mouth and swallowed. He even seemed like he was looking forward to the next bite since he kept opening his mouth for some. Ella - well, she spit it back out most of the time. I think we may have gotten a few swallows. We've been giving them solids at least once or twice a day this past weekend. We need to give some to the DCP so she can give some to them as well. I forgot to get another box when I was at the store. We are starting them out on rice cereal, but I'm hoping to try some veggies next, then we'll move onto the sweet stuff - the fruits!

They have their 6 month checkup tomorrow - too bad I couldn't stay home again tomorrow so I can go with them, but I have to take Wednesday off since the daycare will be closed (for a holiday that they celebrate) and Jon can't take that day off so he can go to his work holiday lunch - someone should be able to go to their holiday functions! Jon is taking off Thursday and Friday, so the babies will not be in daycare for a week!

I'm so excited to see their official weights and and heights! I hope Jon does well with the two of them while they get their next round of shots! Poor babies!

Oh, something cute that I should write down here so I can remember to write about it in their baby book later (as I'm really behind with that) - they've discovered their feet! Ella desperately wants to put them into her mouth, but she can't quite get them there. Benjamin thinks their fascinating. Both are talking up a storm - at least with us - and Benjamin talks LOUD. It's very cute. They didn't talk so much at the party we went to on Saturday until Benjamin was getting sleepy and needed to let us know he was starting to get cranky.

Well, this post is getting a bit long. Back to resting!

Party Weekend

This weekend was busy, but fun. We went to a party on Friday and on Saturday night thrown by people Jon works with. We ended up getting there late to both parties. We didn't stay too long to either party, especially the one on Saturday. We would have been on time to that one had my haircut appointment not been cancelled at 10 and rescheduled for 5:30. I thought about waiting 'til the next weekend, but I desperately needed a haircut. My last one was when I was in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy (I think). You can't tell I got a haircut - I wanted it shorter than it is, but since I felt I was in a time crunch, I didn't ask for her to cut it any shorter. (One of the guys at the salon looks exactly like my brother Chad in body type and in looks - I almost wondered why Chad didn't tell me he was back in Seattle and working as a hair sylist).

Anywho, it is so funny to see Ella at parties. She'll be sleepy, but she can't possibly fall asleep when there is so much socializing to do. Like my husband said on his blog, she'll perk right up when someone comes up to her and will smile and talk to them. It's really very cute. Benjamin will sleep anywhere. He's a mellow baby.

Yesterday, we went to a party with my support group. All of the babies have gotten so big! One of the babies is walking and another is getting close. Everyone was surprised at how much Benjamin weighs (~20 lbs), but it's true - that son of mine is a big boy! While at the support group party, Benjamin decided to tell everyone, very loudly, his stories. What a great storyteller! :-D Ella later joined in on the fun.

There is a picture of us at the party on my flickr site, as well as a picture of the babies in their holiday outfits they wore on Saturday night. I forgot our camera so I didn't take a picture of them on Friday night. :-(

It was wonderful to see everyone. Hopefully, we'll see each other again soon to share stories and secrets of raising children, especially twins!

Friday!

Aww, Friday again. How I love Fridays. More time to spend with my hubby and my babies. Time away from work. The babies seem to be feeling better - they still have a bit of a runny nose and Benjamin still has the cough, but we seem to be settling back down to our normal routine. Ella almost made it the whole night before waking up demanding a pacifier or cuddle time! Yay! Benjamin woke up with his cough though, but quickly went back to sleep once given his pacifier or some cuddle time.

Something cute that my husband told me about - the babies were talking with each other this morning when my husband was getting ready. That had to be so cute to hear - I've seen them do that before and I love seeing it. :-D


I'm looking forward to this weekend - 3 parties in 3 days. It will be a busy one. At some point, I really should start some Christmas shopping.

Tonight, we've been invited to a cocktail party but I doubt we'll stay long because it starts close to bed time for Benjamin & Ella. Tomorrow night is Jon's work party - we probably won't stay long there either for the same reason. The party on Sunday is in the morning though so we can stay a bit longer at that party. The one on Sunday is with my support group and their husbands and children. I'm so excited to see everyone and to see how big all of the kids have got!

Only 3 1/2 hours to go!

First December Weekend

Parts of this weekend were good and parts were bad. Benjamin and Ella have colds - poor babies!!! :-(

Since Jon has a lot of sick time and I'm not allowed to take time off until mid-December (and I don't have any sick time to use until Feb.), he stayed at home with the babies and was taking them to the doctor to make sure it isn't more than a cold. I haven't heard from him yet - I hope everything went o.k. Hopefully, it is just a cold and they'll be alright with some humidifier time and some Tylenol. We took the babies into the bathroom while the hot water was running to get it all steamed up in there - that seemed to help them. A couple times over the weekend, Jon brought in Ella (Benjamin was sleeping both times) while I was taking a shower and she apparently thinks it's funny to see me without my glasses and with wet hair as she just kept cracking up each time she saw me peek around the curtains. Such an adorable laugh!

The weather in WA hasn't been the best - we had snow on Saturday and part of Sunday, then the snow melted, and now we have flooding from the melted snow and a lot of rain plus supposedly high winds though that doesn't seem to happening here...at least not yet. The pond by my office is flooded, but it does this every fall/winter. Oh, with it snowing, we quickly took a few pictures of the babies outside in the snow as it was their first snow - they had looks on their faces as if they were trying to figure out what was going on. We were out there for maybe 2 minutes, if that. I haven't uploaded the pictures yet. Maybe tonight.

As for the good parts, a few of us went to go see a friend perform at a concert on Saturday night. It was really nice to go to a holiday concert while it was snowing outside - the snow set the mood, I guess. It was a good concert - I'm looking forward to her next concert! On Sunday, I joined a couple friends to do some shopping for Toys for Tots. A friend of ours does this every year - he pools together money, we shop, the Marines come pick up the toys, and we go to his place to enjoy his homemade pizza. I love doing this every year!

Well, that's about it for the happenings of this weekend. Looking forward to this next weekend when we are going to two different parties (one for Jon's work and one with my support group). Hopefully, the babies will feel better by then!

Twin Talk & December

Those of you who read both this blog and my other one will notice that this post is exactly what I wrote on the other one. I'm just lazy today, and I don't remember reading that each post for NaBloPoMo has to be unique (of course, I didn't look either).

Yesterday afternoon when I finally got to the daycare (after spending 45 minutes trying to get from First Hill to Shoreline), I went straight to my babies and said hello to them. They smiled. Then the day care provider (DCP from now on) asked me if I wanted to sign the babies out (apparently, I was supposed to be doing this all this time), so I said yes just as soon as I was reaching down to get Ella. I went to go over to sign the book, and I think Ella thought I was leaving her again as she started to cry Jon was telling me that the DCP told him that Ella will cry when he leaves in the morning. Aww sweetie! Mommy and papa don't want to leave you! I quickly signed them out and went to go pick up Ella. She was a happy girl...until later when she had gotten tired of playing in the exercauser and well, wanted to sleep. She was a bit mad at me for making her wait until I could finish putting the silverware in the dishwasher (we desperately needed more bottles cleaned). Her little face got so red. I felt so bad. I snuggled with her for a while after that. I gave her some food and she promptly fell asleep, but in true Ella fashion, she woke up the second I put her in her crib. She started to talk to the bears hanging from the mobile. She kept waking up last night - she must be teething - this is not like her to keep waking up that much. I think Benjamin might have slept the entire night except for maybe one little squeak that a pacifier helped with.


This morning, Benjamin saw that I was leaving and he started to cry. I bent down (he was in the bouncy seat) and I gave him a kiss and gave him my hand. He got a hold of my glove and wouldn't let it go. He had a smile on his face at that moment as if to say, "you can't go now. I have you." I broke free of his strong grasp, and headed toward the door. He started crying again. Aww - he didn't want me to leave. I wanted so much to stay, but I couldn't. I had to walk really fast to the bus stop to make it there on time. I can't wait until we have another car so we can spend more time with each other in the morning and maybe I can switch my work hours so I can get home earlier (if I'm given the approval).


December is going to be a busy month as it is every year, but this year, is even busier. We've met new people through our childbirth classes so we're getting together with them, and this year, most of my support group are parents so we're getting together to celebrate. What a wonderful year we've all had. Except for one lady who had her baby in late 2006, we've all had our babies in 2007 (that reminds me, I need to send a birthday card to my friend's child who turns 1 on Sunday).

This weekend, we're going to a friend's choir concert and to a Toys for Tots event that another friend does every year. Hopefully, the weather cooperates!

Little Post

Boo - the Huskies lost yesterday. But the Seahawks won today!

I managed to get one project done this weekend - so happy. This project will be a Christmas gift for a couple different people. Yay!

Well, I must keep this one short. I need to go give my daughter a bath, then when Benjamin wakes up from his little nap, he'll get one too.

Football, Rolling Over and Car Seats

Apple Cup is going on right now - Go Huskies!!!

Ella is continuing to roll over, so it wasn't just a one time thing. Benjamin also rolled over for the first time today from his tummy to his back, but he only did it once today. Hopefully, he'll try to do it again soon. Ella is trying to roll from her back to her tummy and she's been really close.

Jon's mom told us why they didn't come to Thanksgiving dinner at our house - she said she couldn't walk when she tried to get up to do so that morning. She's going to a doctor on Monday. I wish they would have told us why Thursday morning so I'm not thinking Jon's dad hates me and the twins (though he's only met them once).

We got new car seats - we ended up getting this one. One is black and the other (a friend of mine will like the colors on this one) is pink and brown (the one in the link). Because of gift certs we had, it only cost us $8 to get the car seats (my kind of price). We didn't get a new stroller yet - none of the (very limited) choices at Babies 'R Us really caught my attention (well, one did in that it is the same pattern as our infant car seats). Any recommendations out there for a twin stroller? We might get umbrella strollers for when we are bought around, but for those times it is just one of us, we'll need a twin stroller.

Well, I better go. Jon is going to meet his friends for game night and the babies are going to want to eat soon. I kinda hope that they go to bed easy tonight as I've been up since 5:30 and I'm exhausted!

Before I go, has anyone read Happiness Sold Separately? If so, what did you think? I'm almost done with it (it takes me 3 weeks to finish a book these days).

Thankful at Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had or is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are thankful for a lot. Our babies, our kitties, our friends, and much more.

Jon and I ended up spending Thanksgiving on our own. Jon's parents decided to not come up for some reason. Sometimes I wonder if my father-in-law likes me and the babies. Anyway, we ended up having a wonderful day. We watched some football games - a must on Thanksgiving for me. We went on a walk before dinner, and then we had our dinner. We have some leftovers! I know what I'm having for dinner tomorrow. While we were eating dinner, we had the babies in their high chairs, but they were a bit cranky and needed a nap - per usual, Ella slept for maybe 10 minutes, if that. I hope this means she'll sleep through the night (which reminds me, Ella woke up for about 10 or so minutes at 1:30 this morning, but other than that, both babies slept throughout the night).

Also, I managed to get about 5 or 6 loads of laundry done - something I wouldn't have done had we had company over. We desperately needed some laundry done.

And the most wonderful part of the day - Ella has rolled over!!!! She did it from her tummy to her back, so far, a total of 8 times today. The last few, it seemed each time I put her on her tummy, she'd roll right over. She got so excited, especially the last few times she did. She seemed so proud of herself. I certainly am proud of her. Benjamin looked like he was about to roll over when he was on his tummy, but he didn't. I was getting excited that both babies might roll over on Thanksgiving.

How cute - Ella is talking to her papa right now. They are hanging out with me upstairs as I write my blog post for the day.

Well, that's it for now. I have to go to work tomorrow. We are trying to make it a bit more enjoyable to be at work by having a potluck.

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving again!

Manic Monday...wish it was Sunday

I wish I could watch those videos of Benjamin & Ella talking when I'm at work - they are so cute! This morning - I'm guessing around 4 a.m., I heard Benjamin talking in his crib. So incredibly cute. It had to be dark in there, so maybe he was trying to tell us to come get him or maybe he was trying to wake up Ella. In either case, it worked. Ella woke up and Jon went to go get her - he went upstairs with her. Then a bit later, I got up to go get Benjamin. I laid him down next to me and we fell asleep next to each other. It was hard waking up this morning at 5:30 to pump with his cute little self next to me. I eventually did get up and when I was done pumping, Benjamin woke up and gave me a huge smile.

That reminds me, yesterday, I was sorting some clothes for a friend and I thought Ella was sleeping, but I turn around after getting some hats out to sort, and there was Ella staring at me and giving me a big smile. How sweet is that?

I just went to go pick up the pics I'm going to submit to the baby model contest I mentioned a few days ago. We'll see if anything comes of it. The pics I chose are a couple that are on my flickr site - I'm too lazy to point out which ones.

Some of these look kinda cute - I'm tempted to get some for Ella.

We will be spending Thanksgiving at our house with my in-laws. Hopefully, despite my mother-in-law's dislike of the holiday, we will have a good time. I'm looking forward to it. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the holidays with my babies though I do wish my family could join us. I guess I just like big celebrations.

I really don't think I'm going to make it to 6 months for pumping. My supply is seriously dwindling. It makes me kinda sad it's nearing the end because I want to give my babies breast milk, but also glad that I won't have to strap on that bra and those suction cups anymore. Speaking of, I should finish up my lunch and go pump.

My thoughts are just all over the place today!

1st Halloween

Just thought I would write about Benjamin & Ella’s 1st Halloween. They came to visit me at work in their cute little costumes…emphasis on the little when it comes to Benjamin. I got him a 3-6 month cow costume, but he really doesn’t fit into it. He’s a big boy! He’s wearing stuff that says it’s for 9 months (though it’s Car*ters stuff and that seems to mean it goes up to 9 months, not that it starts at 9 months). Anyway, after we visited with people and had some lunch, the babies, Jon and my mom-in-law went to go visit Jon’s work for a bit. Then when I finally got home after a rather long commute home, it was time for trick-or-treaters. We thought of going out around our neighborhood just to show them off, but Benjamin’s costume was off and there was no way I was going to attempt to put it back on him and Jon had promised him he didn’t have to wear it again. Plus, he fell asleep and we had to get stuff ready for their 1st day in daycare. Ella, on the other hand, got her costume back on (Jon had taken it off) and she helped us answer the door. We got a good turn out this year – there weren’t any OMG outfits this year though there were a lot of cuties!
So that’s their first Halloween. We’re going to a late Halloween party on the 11th, so we’ll dress them up again. I went to a store nearby my work and found a costume for Benjamin for $5, so he’ll have something to wear. He’ll be a fire chief (though it looks like a bumblebee costume) (and the costume could double as a sleeping blanket so we’ll get our money’s worth, I think).