snow

it snowed recently. since this is old news for all my local readers, we'll make the narrative short, and get to the pics. these were taken on wednesday - most of the snow was monday/tuesday, so it's not the snowiest look ever, but blake did go in to work all three days and taking the babies out in the snow / below freezing weather myself seemed like an undertaking plus blake said he wanted to take them out with me so I didn't even try! (side note: blake ran to work every day to avoid crazy snow traffic... since he rarely rarely reads this blog I can say that I just learned about these crazy yaktrax and picked him up a pair for christmas, but I'll give them to him early if it snows again). anyways... pictures:

dad and kaylee

me and ethan - hats on both kiddos made by my friend tierney!

silly kaylee noise

thanksgiving pics coming later when I find where the camera went...

for now - we finally caught kaylee's silly noises on video. Ethan coos - they are what you would expect baby noises to sound like. but kaylee does this gurgly trilling noise. sometimes she coos too, but more often when she "talks" it's this funny noise. but, whenever I try to catch it, she stops. So here's blake talking with her, and me secretly filming...

she is going to be really good at rolling her Rs.

out and about with twins

Here are our/my tactics when going out with the babies:
- go with another female. this works really well with jackie. people assume one baby is hers, one is mine.
- put one baby in a carrier, one in the stroller. people assume the stroller is empty and just there for backup.
- we used to snuggle both babies in the carrycot of the single stroller. but now tehy're too big for that.
- blake and I each take a baby in a carrier. we do this often for the grocery store, and when we're in the store we split up. if we meet up in the store (did you get the peanut butter or should I?) Blake will just keep walking when people ask questions. I find myself automatically stop, and then wish I hadn't. But usually I can say, "well, I have to go catch up with my husband now..."

Why do we have these tactics? Because this video is SO true... and so funny to me - hope it's funny to you too.



I have literally been asked every single question in this video. One time I sat outside of Jamba Juice with the babies while Blake ordered a drink and I had almost that entire conversation. I was so surprised that a complete stranger would ask about IVF and then keep asking! (You all can ask whatever you want since I know you, but a complete stranger?) The other comment I get from A TON of people is, "well now your family is complete all at once!" I do find that absolutely amazing. Considering that Blake and I don't know if we're done having kids, it's amazing that so many random people think that they know!

okay, but I didn't write this post to complain, I'm just sharing because Blake and I found it so funny and even if you don't think it's funny, it's always funny to see what blake thinks is funny... but hopefully you did think it was funny.

roll kaylee roll

Kaylee: Mom, why are you always posting cute videos of Ethan? What about me?

Me: Because Ethan does something cute, and then I get the camera, and then he does it again. You do something cute, I get the camera, and you cry at the camera.

Kaylee: Hrumph. Fine, I'll show you. I'll show you all. I will roll over, and I won't cry. You'll have to post that. I just need a little help with the rolling part... I shall incorporate a bit of a slope and some gravity...

ta da!

(sorry the laptop in the background is sorta distracting. we had just finished watching church. church in bed. I pretty much love technology.)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Alright, Happy Thanksgiving Week! Today we kicked the week off by visiting Blake's grandmother Betty at her retirement home in Kirkland where they had their annual thanksgiving dinner. It was a fun evening; great company and, um, some entertainment with our waiter. He was well intentioned, but let's say not the most skilled. There was red wine spilled (all over Bruce), ham ordered that came as turkey, missing/forgotten salads, drinks, and desserts... it was entertaining! The waiter was just a high school kid though, so everyone was good humored and we had a wonderful time, especially seeing some family that we hadn't seen in awhile. And, yes, we brought the kiddos. We were nervous of course, but they were pretty much perfect. They were awake at the beginning but soon fell asleep and mostly slept until we began to pack them up to go home. All in all, very successful.

Anyways, here's a pic of Betty, Kaylee, and Ethan.

and again, happy thanksgiving!

head, shoulders, knees, and toes

oh man I think my kids are cute. video below: Ethan loving Head, Shoulders, Knees, and toes. He loves it every time.

3 month photoshoot

no music to this one because I made it in the middle of the night while blake was sleeping (and the babies for that matter). we also took some christmas pics that day (and also on saturday because the babies got too tired last wednesday) and they are cute! but I'm not going to share them here because then it won't be as fun when you get a christmas card in the mail!

3 months old

Kaylee is 3 months old today. I have been a mother and Blake has been a father for 3 months now. and I'm sure that by the time I finish this post, Ethan will be 3 months too!

I know I never wrote 1 or 2 month milestone posts, but hey, some is better than none, right? And so, without further adieu...

• Sitting up: Both babies now enjoy the bumbo chair. Neither is near sitting up unassisted, but Kaylee used to reject the chair entirely and now she mostly likes it okay. Ethan is getting even more and more comfortable in it however, and will happily sit in it for longer periods (by which I mean maybe 10 mins max).
• Drooling: Kaylee's new thing. She likes blowing bubbles too. Apparently salivary glands develop / further develop around 3 months and when they stop drooling it means they've figured out how to swallow w/o a bottle or boob in their mouth and is one of the signs they may be ready to try other foods. (Michele told us this recently - who knew?)
• Talking: Both babies like to talk these days. At two months Ethan had just started cooing on the rare occasion, but we hadn't heard anything from Kaylee. Now they both coo, but they make different sounds and have different voices. Ethan started out with more coo-ish, vowel sounds, whereas Kaylee started making more short chitter-chatter sounds. now they both make both sounds. Ethan also yells occasionally, which is pretty funny.
• Interaction: Ethan seems more social and interactive, Kaylee is more ambivalent to what you might be doing, she just wants whatever she wants. Ethan's coos seem to say, I'll coo if you coo, and I'll smile if you coo at me or give me a bottle (even if I'm not hungry). Kaylee's coos are more like, hey look, I can make this sound. That's interesting, I think I'll try again. Ethan will look at your face, whereas Kaylee will look around. Kaylee has a silly thing where she is just constantly turning her head side-to-side, back and forth. Again, they both exhibit the same range of behaviors, they just differ in how often their coos seem to mean one thing versus another.
• Smiles: We get lots of smiles from both kiddos. Ethan started the occasional full-out smile around 2 months and Kaylee a week or two later, but now they're both good big-smilers (as opposed to a little grin). Ethan is unlikely to smile while flat on his back, so you're unlikely to see that smile in his month-photos though.
• Flexibility: Ethan bends at his waist and knees, Kaylee is more often rigid. They're both wiggly and bendy in their swings and bouncy chairs and on the floor, but if you try to put Ethan in the bumbo or sit him up somewhere he just slides right in or bends normally. Kaylee says, thank you, but I'd rather stand. And she does, she'll stand (supported of course) on the floor, on our tummies, where ever. If you try and get her to sit - good luck. Sometimes it works and if she sits she's happy sitting, but more often she just looks at you like, what are you doing and holds her body all straight so it's at 45 degrees from the floor.
• Sleep: They both slept a nice 6-7 hour stretch the other night. the bummer is that they go to bed around 5 or 6 now (silly daylight savings) so their long stretch of sleep doesn't often line up with when Blake and I want to be sleeping. 6-7 hours isn't typical, but one 4-5 hour stretch is.
• Neck muscles: Both kiddos can hold their necks up pretty well now, although Ethan's neck muscles seem stronger.
• Diapers: Both kiddos are wearing size 1 diapers these days. Ethan could possibly be promoted to size 2, but it doesn't seem necessary and it's very nice to have them in the same size for now.
• Clothes: Newborn clothes are long gone. Kaylee is wearing 0-3 months or 3 months, and Ethan fits in some 3 month clothes, but has outgrown others. Kaylee doesn't mind getting her outfit changed, but Ethan does not care for it at all. He doesn't like things being pulled over his head, and he doesn't like working his arms through long sleeves. This further contributes to him wearing larger sizes. There's no way he's going to have a long sleeved, non-snap up the front, size 3 month outfit. Ethan also does not like being hot. He's a bit picky in the clothing dept.
• Eyes: Ethan's eyes are definitely brown now. Kaylee's are... blue/green-ish - not sure if they're still changing.
• Weight: we weighed Kaylee earlier this week and she was 11 lbs. Haven't weighed Ethan recently, but I'd guess he's 13 or so lbs, definitely still noticeably bigger.
• Carseat inserts: we took Ethan's infant insert for his carseat out after we got home from the 2 month doc visit. We just removed kaylee's on Monday (they're supposed to be removed when the baby is 11 lbs)
• Farting: Kaylee is our champion farter. she also burps more than ethan (but ethan spits up more), but farting is really her area of expertise.
• Swings & bouncy chair: Ethan still loves to sleep or hang out in the bouncy chair or swing. He sleeps in one of the two at night and for naps. Pretty soon we're going to have to transition him back into a crib though, because he's almost getting too big. :( Kaylee starts out every night in her crib, but finishes the night and naps in the swing or bouncy chair.
• New discoveries: Kaylee has a game she plays with her feet while in the swing, which she thinks is pretty neat. She tells me that she wants to play by kicking her feet a lot really fast. Then I put my hand against her feet when she has her legs bent and ... whoosh! she pushes off of my hand and swings herself in the swing! oh what fun! Ethan's latest fun is sucking on his hands. It's pretty funny due to his lack of coordination. sometimes he gets the back of his hand in his mouth, other times he gets his fingers, but it's always at some weird angle, like he'll just get his ring finger in his mouth and his hand is pushing it out, but with his head he's trying to keep his finger in his mouth - sorta a dog chasing its tail look.

That's what they're up to at 3 months! That and being very cute of course. Here are a few pics from the last month.

smiles from Kaylee!

listening to the Spot halloween story

Ethan says, "Go Giants!"

This is the top rack of our dishwasher. Let's see, what do we have... in the upper left corner we have the small bottle pieces holder - it holds the innards to three bottles, then we have 3 glasses, one bowl, 16 bottles, 4 parts of my pump, and two parts of the blender. On the bottom rack is the main glass part of the blender and a plate or two. This is a typical dishwasher load for us now. a little ridiculous.

here we are visiting Emma! Emma is one week younger than Ethan.

"I love ewe!" says Kaylee

I like to kick off my socks.

A typical scene: Ethan says, "Hello Kaylee, I see you, would you like to interact with me?" Kaylee says, "No thanks, i'm quite interested in my own feet instead. And also my neck muscles aren't as good as yours, so I'll just sit here and look down."

You can't see it very well, but Ethan is wearing his cargos here. haha, just like Dad!

nom nom nom, I am eating my hand...

happpy three months!

more fall pics

here are some more pics from the photoshoot w/ the great grandmas...

4 generations of women

kaylee had to leave the photoshoot at this point... she needed a little love

but ethan was pretty content!




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this pic is included for the special look my dad is sporting