Monday, October 27, 2014

Lake Trip

This last weekend my sweet cousin was married at Lake Nacimiento. We rented a little lodge right on the lake and spent the weekend visiting with family and celebrating another wonderful wedding! 

Playing in the sand at the lake (you'll notice where the water level for the lake should be but due to the drought it's extremely low):










Wedding Attire (Matt looked handsome too, but juggling too wiggly babies during a formal event was tricky and thus, no pics...sorry Matt!)



Saturday, October 11, 2014

10-Months-Old

I feel like all of the sudden the milestones are rolling in! This last month both boys have become super speedy crawlers, and we now like to race them against one another as we cheer them on. It's pretty hilarious. I promise, we're good parents. 

Lucas has started pulling up on everything and anything he can, be it a shelf, or a baby gate, or his brother, or my hair, or my nose, or my shirt, or my neck skin. Not all of them are good choices but we're working on that. Lucas has started pushing solid objects around that he can hold on to while standing, but not things with wheels. He also likes to think that he can stand up and not need to hold on to anything, in which he promptly falls over and gets very confused. I'm pretty sure this next month he'll be transferring from object to object and pretty close to standing on his own. Lately Lucas has really been into sharing. He thinks it's funny to take his paci and try to put it in your mouth or hand you a toy he likes to play with and then take it back. He also likes to take a burp cloth and pat your face with it like we do to him, or practice petting people or the dog with "soft and gentle touches" like we've been working on.

Andrew is working on holding on to the shelf and standing up, with a little help from momma. He mainly loves to crawl around and play with anything he can shake and make noise with. He loves to snuggle with momma and make sure I'm near at all times. I'm hoping that by next month he'll be pulling up on things on his own and getting ready to cruise along with his brother. Andrew is obsessed with his WubbaNub paci's. He has a monkey, a giraffe, an elephant, and a dinosaur. As soon as he sees one of them he flaps his little arms and hands and gets the biggest smile on his face and races over to grab it and stuff it in his mouth! It's pretty adorable and I need to get that on camera one of these days. 

Both boys had their first tooth come in this last week! And with minimal fuss! I am a little sad to see the gummy smiles go away but excited that they are growing up healthy and accomplishing these big steps in life. 

These two boys are in love with momma, daddy, puppy, one another, and life in general. They love to play peek-a-boo, crawl after one another, roll a ball and chase it around and around and around the playroom, look at themselves in the mirror or FaceTime, work on turning pages of board books, shake anything that rattles or makes music, touch every feature on your face, eat everything in sight, have books read to them, and knock over towers you build. 

We now eat three solid meals per day and have four bottles, and we are settling into two naps per day. We spend our days playing at home in the playroom or in the yard, going for walks around the neighborhood in the stroller, sharing a swing at the park, going on errands where Lucas sits in the cart and momma wears Andrew, rough housing with daddy when he gets home from work, and batting Hunter away when his kisses get too near their faces. 

Here our some pictures of our last month:

Andrew & Daddy

Lucas & Daddy

Little Boys

Andrew & Daddy

Lucas & Daddy (this is what we call his stink face or scrunchy face...it's a new thing and we think it's pretty cute!)

Sometimes Momma lets us play with the baking things to practice our cooking skills!

Lucas


Working on pulling up a few weeks ago

Andrew

Lucas swinging in the backyard 

Andrew swinging in the backyard 

Doing some art

Andrew was VERY excited at the banging noise the watercolor ice cubes made on the hardwood floor

And here are some videos:

Did you know Matt could juggle? Lucas was very impressed and thought he'd join in and give it a try...


Lucas rolling the ball and chasing it around....

Lucas practicing petting Andrew, and Andrew thinking it's hilarious unless Lucas is too rough...

Friday, October 10, 2014

Art Projects

Lately we've been doing some fall art projects and to contain the mess that would happen with two babies given finger paint, we do them in ziplock bags. :) For one project we painted with fall colors and I cut them out into shapes of leaves and then taped them to a bbq skewer cut in half for the stem. For the other project we painted with pumpkin colors and later I cut them into shapes of pumpkins. I'm no artist but they don't care. :)







Sunday, October 5, 2014

Pumpkin Patch 2014



Going to the pumpkin farm this year was short lived and thus will get a short summary: 

It was about 96 degrees, bright, and sunny. We bought four little pumpkins to represent our family on our fireplace mantle and one big pumpkin for our front porch. We also bought two ice creams to munch on as we walked around looking at the animals in the petting farm, sunflowers, the tractors, and of course, the pumpkins. We snapped these two pictures. And in less than 20 minutes we loaded back up and headed home. Maybe next year it will feel more like Fall and less like the face of the sun. If not, then perhaps we'll look forward to having ice cream as a regular tradition when we pumpkin hunt! 



Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Family Trip to SLO

SLO will always have a piece of our hearts and feel like home to us, and we were so thrilled and honored to be invited to the wedding of two of our dearest friends there this last weekend! There was something so magical about taking our babies back to where our love story started and sharing that with them! Plus, watching friends who feel like family exchange their vows and revel in their love....over the top mushy feelings and happy tears!!! We stayed in a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house near downtown SLO with my parents for the weekend. It was so fabulous to have a cozy house, kitchen space, and huge yard (for Hunter, who could come too!). Much thanks to Matt's coworker for sharing his family's vacation home with us! And much thanks to my parents for watching the boys while we went to the wedding!

We spent the weekend visiting favorite restaurants, laughing with friends, catching up with my parents, and basically not sleeping. Have you ever tried sharing a queen sized blowup bed with two babies? No? Well I don't recommend it. However, it did provide more laughs and great memories for Matt and me. We also had a great time at Avila Valley Barn showing the kids animals, pumpkins, and buying pies.

At Steve & Jessica's wedding. Beautiful ceremony overlooking the coast and reception at an amazing estate in SLO

Avila Valley Barn: Lucas & Matt

Avila Valley Barn: Staci & Andrew

Avila Valley Barn

Avila Valley Barn: looking at animals

Friday, September 19, 2014

Check Up & Growth Stats: 9 Months

Let's be real, this post is more for me than for you. ;) I need a way to keep track of these things so I can look back and recall how small they once were and the growth they're making!

9 MONTHS OLD (9/19/14)  

Lucas: 31 inches, 21.13 pounds          Andrew: 29 inches, 19.13 pounds


6 MONTHS OLD (6/27/14)

Lucas: 27.5 inches, 18.9 pounds          Andrew: 26.5 inches, 16.10 pounds


4 MONTHS OLD (4/11/14)

Lucas: 25.5 inches, 14.2 pounds          Andrew: 24.5 inches, 12.12 pounds


2 MONTHS OLD (2/14/14)

Lucas: 23 inches, 10.8 pounds          Andrew: 22 inches, 9 pounds


1 WEEK OLD (12/18/13)

Lucas: 19.5 inches, 5.2 pounds          Andrew 19 inches, 4.12 pounds

Thursday, September 11, 2014

9-Months-Old


9-Months. Wow. These little babies of mine are becoming more and more like little boys, and while my heart bursts with pride it also hurts a little too. They are learning and accomplishing so much everyday!

Lucas is a speedy crawler and is pulling up on people and furniture. He loves to stand and jump and he can't keep his little body still. There is just so much to explore in the world and he is filled with so much awe and wonder at everything. It's as if he needs to conquer and see it all at once!

Andrew is my snuggler. He loves to be held and put his head on your shoulder. He can crawl- we've seen him do it a handful of times in the last few days- but I wouldn't say he's "crawling" just yet. I'm not sure if he doesn't have the confidence, forgets he knows how, is happy where he is most the time, or is just taking his time. :) We'll see! He is quite the talker though and he constantly babbles! Along with vowels sounds can also make "da da da" and "ba ba ba" sounds.

Both boys love to play on their own, together, and with us. They love music, clapping (although they don't clap yet), banging toys together, shaking toys, knocking over towers I build for them, being tickled, being read to, and watching Hunter. And they both love to rough house with Daddy!

This last month Matt had a really long trip to Asia for work so we all headed to Ventura where Hunter, the boys, and I stayed with my parents while Matt took a flight from LAX to China. My parents graciously hosted our craziness for two weeks and we then found out Matt was able to come home early from his trip! Hooray! His flight would take him straight to SFO so it was up to me to drive the boys and Hunter back to San Jose and then to the airport to pick Matt up. Thankfully, it was a super smooth five hour drive with only one short stop to feed and change the twins! While we were with my parents in Ventura we were able to see several of our cousins- and even meet some new cousins! We saw some of our friends too, and we did a lot of swimming in the pool with Grandma Donna.

As you've seen in our pictures, Lucas has needed a cranial helmet to fix a very flat spot on the side/back of his head. Today he was cleared from needing it and his head measurements came back great! It typically takes three months but he only needed two! His head shape looks so much better and I am glad we pushed for him to have it.

Some Before/After Pictures of Lucas:

Before: very flat back and side of his head
After: a very round and even head shape!


Pictures & Videos of the twins!

Swimming at Grandma Donna & Grandpa Dave's house with Grandma!
Swimming with Momma
9-Months-Old!

9-Months-Old!
9-Months-Old!


Playing at Grandma's House

Laughing at One Another 

Playing with Junk Mail

Andrew crawing