We did it!

We had a baby AND cut JJ's hair... it's been quite a month! Samantha Kay was born on June 3rd at 5:26 pm.. She was a healthy 8 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long. Almost 4 lbs more than JJ and 5 lbs more than Alexis was. She's been great--we're amazed at how awesome having a full-term baby is--and only one-at-a-time. Of course, she's not on much of a schedule and the twins were NICU-scheduled from the start. But she doesn't need any medications, no apnea monitors or oxygen tanks and no pumping for me! Even though it wasn't planned, we're excited to have her join our family, and we couldn't be more in love! My parents were able to come out for 10 days or so after Samantha was born and the twins loved it (though maybe not as much as I appreciated it!)

Just a couple of weeks after Samantha came home, we ventured out to the local kids-haircut place and took the plunge of chopping off JJ's hair--we figured why not do it while my parents were here. We were all shocked at the result... the kid looks completely different, but it's definitely grown on us and now when we take him swimming, he doesn't have to always swat away his hair while floating. Not to mention how much more clean it is (no more stray corn found camouflaged in his hair). But our baby boy is now more grown up than ever :(

A couple of funny stories from this month:

• JJ and Alexis give us a lot of grief and challenge our nerves almost daily, but one day they had me both awestruck and, I'll admit, a little proud. They recently learned how to leverage their body weight and open the refrigerator (luckily they don't get in there too often). So one afternoon after I fed Samantha, I come out to the living room to find them with a container of peas and carrots they had ransacked from the fridge. (Mind you, there was also a container of toffee right next to the veggies). They had gotten a couple of spoons and were devouring the vegetables like they were candy! I have proof if you don't believe me (I need to upload the pics to dropshots).

• When Mike brought Alexis and JJ up to the hospital to see Samantha, they were both pretty excited and ran to greet me and the baby. Alexis, however, immediately poked her sister right in the eye. Of course, Mike and I both gasped and yelled in unison, "No! No poking the baby in the eye!" So, for the next few weeks (and even now), whenever Alexis comes over to Samantha, she'll inquire "No poke eye?" and thankfully, has listened to the reproach. But hopefully, Samantha's nickname won't become some version of "no poke eye" because Alexis seems to really like reminding herself.

• As many of you may know, Pampers utilizes Sesame Street characters for their graphics. Well, Alexis has somehow formed quite the affinity for having cookie monster on her diaper. Unfortunately for us, elmo, grover, ernie, and big bird share the spotlight with cookie monster. So only 1/5 of the diaper packages have the coveted cookie monster front-and-center. Normally, we could just "force" the other diapers on Alexis or "convince" her that grover is really just an emaciated cookie monster. However, Alexis is becoming too smart and independent. It all started one morning when she came downstairs and ransacked our alternate diaper changing station and proceeded to take her elmo diaper off and demand the superior diaper. It culminated the day I came up to get her from her nap and found her sans clothes and with a slightly skew diaper on. I also saw that there were dozens of diapers on the floor. Turns out, she had stripped her clothes off and pulled the diapers from the changing table (she could reach it through the slats in the crib). She found the cookie monster diaper and had put it on herself. Of course the old diaper was found in jj's crib.

• Alexis and JJ are also showing signs that their ready to potty train.. both tell us when they need to go #2 and will go if we put them on the toilet. If they don't have a diaper on (during "naked baby" time or while swimming) they will hold their pee and run to the toilet if they have to go (and go once they're on). Also, Alexis recently during her nap-time (she often wakes before JJ and has extra time to herself) took off her diaper and put her shorts back on sans diaper. When I went to get them and saw that she had taken her diaper off (but thoughtfully put her shorts back on) she said she didn't need a diaper. Well, they may be ready, but we're not! So until Oct/Nov, we'll be putting them in diapers (I'll be driving out to Utah in September and don't want to deal with every-hour-potty-stops).

• In order to stop the crib shenanigans (which includes JJ jumping into Alexis' or visa versa), we installed crib tents. We'll be happily keeping them in their cribs until they're at least 3. With a new baby, having a place to contain them during nap and nighttime (not to mention during tantrums) is a godsend!

• Another funny thing about the twins is they've discovered baby einstein videos. We have a few that we got before they were born, but never really showed it to them. One day recently, however, they found the DVD's and asked to watch. The instantly fell in love. They call them "music" and will ask to watch "music" over all the other shows they're allowed (signing time, sesame street, chuggington, etc.). This pleases us immensely because the DVDs we have are the early ones, where the video consists of simple images set to classical music. So when they're watching them, it's actually pleasing to listen to.

Life with three is definitely different, but I'm enjoying my time off work and have even successfully taken all three out by myself on a number of different occasions already. One day we walked/jogged 2 miles to a friends house for a play-date (Mike needed the mini-van that day for work) in our new three-seater Valco stroller. Another day we went to the park and then to Chick-fil-a for dinner (that outing was a near-disaster at the end though since Samantha needed to nurse at the same time Alexis decided to have a break-down). We went grocery shopping together and took dinner to a friend of mine who just had her own little guy. The grocery shopping was an adventure: Alexis was again having a bad day so was crying in the shopping cart; samantha was sleeping in her carseat also on the shopping cart--not much room left for groceries. I was soooo grateful that JJ was near-perfect, staying by my side and not touching anything the whole time. When we left the store, it was poring down rain, and we all got soaked loading up the car, but we survived! Finally, I took them to see the fireworks last night on my own. I wore Samantha in the bjorn and kept the twins in the stroller. I definitely got a lot of comments and stares (or maybe looks of pity). But JJ and Alexis were amazingly good and they enjoyed the fireworks and concert/carnival--they danced and sang and, most importantly, stayed by my side while out of the stroller. It was their first time seeing fireworks and we had an awesome view on the pearland high school football field!

Another long post... but a lot to report!

C-D Day

Well.. As fate would have it, we scheduled a hair cut for JJ and Alexis for this Saturday but found out mid-week that we'll need to do an earlier-than-planned delivery of #3 due to some minor complications. So... JJ's haircut will have to wait. Mike finally was won over when he himself dug out 2 leaves, a small stick and a clump of sand from JJ's hair--and JJ hadn't even been outside that day!

JJ and Alexis finished their refresher ISR course... they spent three weeks brushing up and definately can swim-float-swim much better. They now love going to the pool and yelling "watch me" as they jump in (more like belly-flop) and swim to either Mike or I. Alexis is still somewhat panicky if she has to flip and float to breathe, as can be seen by some of the swimming videos on dropshots... but she still wants to jump in, so we'll give her as much practice as she'll take. Hopefully, by this time next year we'll have a pool of our own to go along with all this practice (we'll have to get Baby #3 trained to float by then too). JJ is really amazing at the swimming and floating. When he floats, it seems as though he could do it for hours. And he knows it... he's very proud of himself. Who knew pride could set in so early in life?! Yesterday, I took them with Cata and Vincent to the local rec center for one last swim pre-life-changing-baby-#3. Vincent has also done ISR and Cata and I are big supporters of the program... it's awesome to see these little guys swim and float. Of course, it will be years and years before they can be trusted near water, but it's nice to know that an extra layer of safety is in place.

It will be a while before we post again, and we'll have to change the title of the blog! Wish us luck...

The Great Hair Debate

JJ and Alexis have yet to get a haircut... this is incredibly obvious on JJ and emphasizes how slowly Alexis' hair grows... so.. if we have any readers left :) cast your vote... should we or shouldn't we take the dive now and get their hair cut (esp JJ's). And FYI, my vote is pro; Mike's is con. Mine has become much more pro in the last week or so as I've found a few peas/carrots and other yummy treats while giving the little guy a bath!

In other news, we're only a few weeks away from having baby number 3, and are furiously trying to get ready. We'll be setting up a new crib this weekend: we'll then have 3 cribs in our house! We're exited to welcome the baby though... JJ and Alexis have taken to pointing at my rather large belly and calling it "mommy's baby owie." They're pretty insightful.

Mike recently went on a week long business trip and when he came back he remarked on how much their language developed. I was skeptical, but a week later I went on my own week long business trip and when I returned it did indeed seem like they made a step change in their verbal skills. This is perfect timing, because we were hoping they'd be better communicaters before #3 arrives. They're still just 2 year olds though, so we temper our expectations.

The twins are showing more and more signs of actually liking each other and becoming more than just roommates. Recently, Alexis was about to fall off a toy in the backyard and JJ came to her rescue; breaking her fall and then they both burst into giggles. We've started their ISR swimming refresher courses, and on the first day, JJ went first and absolutely hated the entire lesson. When the instructor wrapped him up in a towel, he collected himself a bit, then immediately sat up, looked around and couldn't find Alexis so started yelling, "oh no. Dee Dee. No swim... Dee Dee... oh no." It was so cute to see how worried he was about her having to go swim.

They also have amazing memories now and will recite what they had for dinner the night before or if I told them they could have a fruit snack a few hours earlier... we can no longer get ourselves off the hook by waiting for them to be distracted or forget...

Latest Happenings

This will be a long post, as usual, since we have three months of updates to go through. Luckily, since the twins are now officially two, the rate of development is slowing (though sometimes, like with coherent language development, it can't happen fast enough for us).

Thanksgiving

We went to the Outerbanks for Thanksgiving this year with Mike's extended family. JJ and Alexis had a lot of fun playing on the beach... even if it was pretty cold. They played in the Atlantic for the first time (though not on purpose: while trying to get some photos for our christmas card, a wave came up and knocked them both over and promptly ended the not-so-successful shoot). They also got to meet their second cousins, and enjoyed following 6 year old Shaun around. Shaun was fond of getting them to try to say the word "vegetable" since at that time it came out like "Bee-ball". The twins were fond of poking Shaun's nose. The house we stayed at had a sound-proof media room equipped with two extra-long raised sofas. It was where we spent most of our time, as we could keep the twins' corralled there and, more importantly, not bother the other guests!

Christmas

This year (2009) was the twins' first Christmas in Utah. And it was, sadly, our last "free" flight with them. All-in-all Alexis has been on 9 flights in her first two years, while JJ logged 8 (as I took Alexis with me to visit my sister Heather when she had her baby boy Travis). Now that we'll have to pay for 4 seats (plus have a new lap child in a few months), we'll likely be traveling less--much to my chagrin! Christmas was especially fun this year since JJ and Alexis could really enjoy sledding and walking around in the snow... They loved it (JJ more than Alexis). The snowsuits my parents bought them last March still fit them (they are little munchkins), so they were always kept warm. One highlight was going with my entire family to the Utah Zoo one evening. The Zoo was all lit up for Christmas and we found a little playground that they could play with their cousin Devin at. The playground had an extra-long enclosed slide. Since they were wearing their snowsuits, it had the effect of minimizing the friction on the slide... causing them to literally propel down the slide while laying on their backs. At first their squeals seemed to indicate extreme fear, but we realized they may be future x-gamers when they clamored back up the stairs for another ride again, and again, and again. We also took them to see the lights at temple square and we wish we remembered the video camera because we've never seen them so happy for so long, even though it was below freezing. They definitely had the Christmas spirit.

2nd Birthday

They turned 2 on January 23rd and since we don't celebrate much of anything... I baked them very mundane individual cakes, which they didn't eat much of. We're learning that JJ has much more of a sweet-tooth than Alexis. They both are good about not over-eating sweets, but Alexis is just fine with a taste and really doesn't care much for chocolate--not sure how she could be my child! JJ was pretty efficient at blowing out his candles, but even though Alexis has learned to scream at the top of her lungs, she really wasn't able to focus that lung-energy at her cake. The next day, we had their "play-date" friends (and my "play-date friends") come over for cupcakes and pizza (and football). They had a lot of fun and Alexis did a little better (with some help from Claire) blowing out her candles.

Other Things

JJ started calling Alexis "Dee Dee" a few months ago and it's stuck. So even though he is capable of saying "exis" now, he chooses to keep the nickname Dee Dee. They have developed more language, but it's not articulate nor expansive. They are two, after all. I have started noticing that they understand a lot more spanish than I thought they did, and are even using their sign language as a bridge to communicate. So they'll use the ASL sign for both "thank you" and "gracias" or "milk/leche" or "please/por favor". But while they are definitely making strides on verbal communication, nothing compares to how good they are at whining. It's pretty amazing (and infuriating).

They still love going for walks and for a while I was able to leave the stroller at home while we walked around the neighborhood. Then they decided to consistently run in separate directions. Additionally, Alexis decided that our "hold hands to cross the street rule" included just her and JJ holding hands: no adult needed. So now I bring the stroller and buckle them in if they don't follow the rules. It's a great deterrent--so i don't see us giving up the stroller anytime soon. And since #3 is on her way, I'm looking into trading our Bob in for a triple.

Speaking of #3.. it is a girl and we're thinking about the name Samantha, though Mike prefers the name Hannah. We have a few more months, so we'll see. The pregnancy's been really good so far and in fact, until I started getting markedly larger about a month ago, both Mike and I would literally go days forgetting that we were going to have a third. But she kept growing and started kicking in force, so now I can't go one hour without forgetting. We think she'll do just fine making her place in our family.

Finally, we took the plunge and bought a minivan. We tried really hard to avoid it, but since we'll have three carseats and a triple stroller, there really weren't many other options, esp. since I didn't want a mammoth Suburban or Yukon XL. We figure we'll use the minivan for a couple of years until JJ and Alexis are onto boosters, then we'll go with a three row crossover. We can't wait!

Three months of photos and videos are on dropshots now... we don't take as many anymore so it's not that bad!

Pushing, Hitting, and Biting: Oh My!

As par for the course, it's been a couple of months so we figure it's time to write down the twins' latest shenanigans. They are interacting more lately, though not always in the "aren't twins cute" genre. Alexis no longer bites JJ (at least, she doesn't seem to be using JJ as her own personal teething ring anymore), but JJ has now learned how to utilize his own jaw in aggression... they also seem to hit each other and shove each other much more now, and it appears that they're doing this all in "fun." When we say "no hitting", "no pushing", "no biting", they'll turn to us and do the offending action to themselves and repeat, "no no".

As a result, time-outs seem to be a plenty around our house--and we definitely think they're effective--if only for a few minutes post time-out. But they do remember what they're not supposed to do (touch the tv, turn on the washer/dryer, hit, etc.) and when they go to do said offenses, they'll look around to see if we're watching. If we are, then they're more likely to commit whatever crime they're contemplating and, of course, say "no no" while they're doing it. But they hate time-outs, so slowly they seem to be understanding consequences. One day they'll be contributing citizens of society... One day.

At the same time they are increasing their aggression toward each other, they are simultaneously becoming more affectionate with each other. We often go for walks around the neighborhood sans stroller, and now they will hold hands while walking, and give each other big hugs while playing, and even the rather gross open-mouth toddler kiss. They also always ask about the other if they're apart, but they both call each other JJ. I guess "Alexis" is too hard to pronounce. We try to spend some one-on-one time with them occasionally (by taking just one to the grocery store or to run errands while the other one stays at home), and both Mike and I love this time--and we can tell that JJ and Alexis do too... but they always ask for each other and get so excited when we're all back together again.

There also seems to be a bit more rivalry developing. They're constantly watching each other and trying to do what the other is doing (like dancing, jumping, climbing, etc.). Even when it comes to being injured. If one falls down and bumps their head, the other one ever so gently lowers themselves down and "bonks" their head on the ground followed by the fakest cry ever. We just roll our eyes.

We traveled a lot over the last couple of months: We went to San Francisco to visit my family, stayed with my Aunt Karen and her gracious husband Doyle, drove over to Sacramento to see my uncle Roger and his now grown kids (and some of their kids) and most importantly introduced JJ and Alexis to their great-grandmother Crown and Aunt Patti. They don't fly as well now since they can fight sleep much better than even just a couple of months ago, but overall we survived. We spent 4 days in California and loved the time with our family and even got to do a little hiking. Alexis and JJ didn't sleep much since we were always doing something during naptimes and late into the evening, but we enjoyed the "recovery" at home: for the first four days after we got back to Texas, they took 5 hour naps! If toddlers slept 5 hours in the middle of the day, parents everywhere would have a whole different outlook.

We also took a trip to Utah at the end of September, a trip we always enjoy. My sister Christina flew out to spend the weekend with us, and flew back with Alexis while I took JJ. Mike then joined us mid-week and joined us on a trip to the zoo and up the mountains. We have two more trips this year: one to the outer banks to be with Mike's family for thankgiving and one more trip to Utah for thanksgiving. Then we'll have to start paying for extra seats, so our trips will likely decrease somewhat.

Halloween this year was a lot of fun, we dressed up as a "bad" family in jailbird outfits with corresponding "mug shot" signs that read "bad twin A" bad twin B" "bad mommy" and "bad daddy". We thought it was appropriate.

In other news, we also moved. Unfortunately, not out of Texas yet, but literally just down the street. We found a house we really liked and since the market was good, we decided to buy. We didn't have our current house even on the market yet, but we figured we could try to rent it. Luckily, we found a renter right away and had about 3 weeks to move. Since it was just down the street, Mike had the brilliant (and frugal) idea to move ourselves by borrowing his brothers pick-up truck. So we swapped cars a couple days after we closed on the house and after about 50 loads we were finally moved in. We really like the new house... it's not much bigger than our former home, but it has a great yard and a nice view. We plan on putting a pool in eventually (which was really the impetus for our move), but now realize we'll have a to wait a year or two for that dream... Because life threw us a curve ball and we're now expecting #3 in June.

Slips, Trips and Falls

I made a movie for a Safety meeting at work and incoporated a bunch of falls with JJ and Alexis and some other friends (Thanks Kim and Cata!) The result is below (very similar to the STF section of the First-Year movie posted a few months ago).

Sweet. And Sour.

It seems that we're just not meant for being true bloggers... it takes us at least a month to remember to update this site, then another few weeks to do something about it. In the meantime, JJ and Alexis continue to both delight and frustrate us as they develop into such entertaining (and exhausting) little beings. Since it's been almost 3 months since we wrote down their latest shenanigans, this post will likely be pretty lengthy.

A few months ago, Alexis was becoming quite aggressive, and almost daily there would be a twin-toddler altercation resulting in JJ having Alexis' teeth imprinted on his arm, hand, cheek or back. We started out firmly telling Alexis, "No!", then trying to distract her with something more enticing than gnawing on her brother. But that didn't seem to help... so we moved to an alternative disciplinary strategy that I'd learned from some other twin parents... combining a time-out with lavishing attention on JJ. I initially was very dubious about this approach but tried it a few times. It didn't work right away, and indeed, I'm not sure if the lack of biting that we currently enjoy is a result of the strategy or if it was just a phase she was going through. Regardless, it seemed to have worked and now Alexis no longer bites her brother--she just whacks him on the head.

One of the things that did surprise us when doing the "time-outs" was that Alexis immediately knew that she did something wrong, and she would never try to get out of time-out (I would put her facing a wall/chair/or other inanimate object that was close by and tell her not to move). She just stayed facing the wall and would cry until I would kneel down and ask her to say she's sorry. She's learned "sorry" from sign language videos and was getting quite good at making the sign. Another thing that we find ironic, is that as soon as we'd get her out of time out, she would come to us for comfort... we were, after all, the one causing her to be upset in the first place.

Thankfully, at almost the same time we were having aggression issues with Alexis, they both learned how to hug and kiss. They would constantly make the smacking noises and run over to each other or us to plant a big one. Of course, neither of them has the best balance, so when they try to give each other hugs, it usually ends up with them horizontal on the floor. But we are so grateful that despite the energy they drain from us, they also melt our hearts.

Additionally, Alexis and JJ have learned to hold hands. They mainly like to do it across their car seats, but also while we go for walks. They think it's hilarious. Speaking of walking, I'm so proud of them right now... I've been letting them out of the stroller while we walk to the park or at the zoo, and will tell them to "stay on the sidewalk" or "stay by momma"... after months of redirecting them back to the sidewalk or by my side, they now almost always walk right beside me. I don't even have to use the leash-backpacks. I feel like a mother duck with her two little ducklings waddling behind me. Of course, this won't last as they'll test their boundaries endlessly, but for now, I'm enjoying the obedience.

They've also finally transitioned to one nap a day, and we're enjoying the extra morning time... They're still great sleepers, usually giving us from 2.5 to 4 hours of nap time... but we're still waiting for them to become stellar eaters. We may be waiting a while for that one. But at least they're not quite as messy as they used to be and no longer throw food on the floor deliberately. They do like to clean up now, and Alexis especially seems to like everything in it's place. She's always putting the shoes back where they go and little pieces of garbage into the garbage can. They both love to play with the brooms and mops or take their old burp clothes and wipe up the floor. When they first started eating in the high chairs, I would use those clothes to wipe up the food they would without fail, fling to the floor. They would sit in their chairs laughing their heads off while I was on my hands and knees cleaning up the floor. It's nice now to have them think it's cool to clean the floor by their chairs instead of just mocking me.

In other news, we've started them in swimming lessons. We tried parent-child swim classes, but decided pretty quickly that we wanted something a bit more serious and found ISR. A friend of ours had her son enrolled, so we decided to give it a try. The goal is to teach them "survival" swim, not how to do the breast-stroke, but it's still pretty intense. They learn how to get to a float after falling in the water, how to hold the float, and then how to turn from the float to swim to an edge. The instructor often comments that if we could take Alexis' attitude (she LOVES it) with JJ's skills (he's a great floater and strong swimmer but screams the entire time), we'd have a swimming genius. I'll post some pictures and video next time.

They also seem to have had a slight language-regression as opposed to the language-explosion that supposed to happen around 18 months. At their 15 month well check up, we went through their words with the pediatrician and they had about 20 or so, and with signs well over 40... Then they got a few more words until they started calling their bottles, "Ba". We still give them one bottle before bed, and whenever they would see us even start to make it, they started yelling/asking, "Ba?" "Ba?" Then, suddenly, everything they wanted when they were upset became "Ba?" If Alexis was pointing at a toy she wanted on the counter she would hold her hand up and say "Ba?" The funny thing is they just keep trying and we can tell they're thinking as they're crying, "one more time... if I say "Ba" one more time, then they'll understand." So, they stop crying, look at us, take a deep breath and yell "Ba?" before breaking into more hysterics. And then repeat.

They do throw little tantrums now where they'll fling themselves onto the floor face down and then slide their foreheads on the ground. Not sure what they're hoping to accomplish by doing that, but they both do it fairly frequently--especially when they've unsuccessfully tried to take something from the other. We're pretty good about ignoring them during these fits, so they're not very prolonged, but sometimes they happen at the craziest places. The other day, Alexis was at swim lessons when she threw herself down on the crushed-granite patio by the pool (after pointing to who-knows-what and yelling, "Ba?" of course). Then she proceeded to push her forehead along the patio floor. She ended up with a scrape on her forehead but as soon as I got her snack cup (which sounds nothing like, "Ba" for the record), she was dancing around. Injuries never seem to bother her (perhaps because most are self-inflicted).

They are playing so much more together now (not just alongside each other), and have also become more sophisticated when they're fighting over toys. Instead of just using brute force (in JJ's case) or biting (in Alexis') to get what they covet, they will find something they think will entice their sibling away from the toy they're after and offer it up as a "trade." The amazing thing is that it seems to work 9 times out of 10.

One more story to end this long post: I occasionally let them play with our TV/Media equipment... they love to push all the buttons and open and close the DVD and CD players (I empty the discs ahead of time). I was on the couch doing some work on my laptop while they were quietly playing. While pushing buttons, they must have turned up the volume knob and set the receiver to FM because suddenly mega-decibel static blasted from the speakers. JJ and Alexis froze for a millisecond, then both hit the ground as if a bomb had gone off--of course, they landed on top of each other, which delayed their frantic scramble away from the TV. I turned off the receiver and couldn't stop laughing while they were both crying and clinging to me with never-before-seen panic. They haven't tried playing with the media equipment since.

I've been taking fewer video and pictures, but a couple of weeks ago posted the last ~7 weeks of footage/pictures on Dropshots...