A New Year begins...

In a few days it will be 2009. Things are racing by at lightning speed and before we know it the twins will be graduating from college and starting a career of their own! (head spinning)
Thinking that way seems to put everything in perspective. It's very easy these days to get caught up in the minutia and loose track of months, let alone days! So making a conscious effort to enjoy every moment is a MUST as they change by the minute. It certainly is a joy to watch each discovery through their eyes. And I am already saddened as they let go of their baby traits and become little people.

Our Holidays were filled with visiting family and friends. Grandma H was here for Thanksgiving and we had a small gathering with the Lusk family. (small compared to our pre-twin standards of thanksgiving dinners!) Paco and Grandma C visited for the Christmas season and Audrey & Ben got to see their cousin David S as well. We visited Santa, Leila's family and Leanne's Family and enjoyed great holiday food and song. The twins did amazing throughout all the traveling and crowds of googling eyes.

Audrey's newest words are "Wow" and "Wheeeee!" Wheeeee! is used whenever she is having fun, whether it be her just spinning around in a circle or us swinging her in the swings. She just loves the Christmas tree. She says "Wow!" every morning upon seeing it. She also says "baa baa!" when she sees it as Aunt Annie gave her a sheep ornament that sings "baa baa..." to the "We wish you a merry Christmas" tune. It's become her favorite next to Elmo. I'm not looking forward to packing up the decorations. I will be heart broken when she discovers the tree gone.
Ben is taking the holidays in stride. He is very even tempered with just about everything. No real highs or lows - unless he's hungry or tired (who isn't cranky then?!) He just enjoys observing people and things and eating! His newest "thing" is climbing on everything. And he's pretty darn good at it, to his father's dismay. Both are still infatuated with books and have a library that would make the most noted scholar envious. :)

In a few days we'll be on our own again and looking forward to the discoveries of 2009...

check out these links for our past two months in pictures...
November pics
December pics

Giving Thanks

Turkey Day is upon us once again. We certainly have plenty to be thankful for this year.
The twins are healthy and generally happy - (when their teeth aren't giving them issues!) And although times are certainly tough for the world in general, we are keeping our head above the fray and are thankful for all our blessings.
Last year at this time we were getting less than a few hours of sleep at a time. So I am certainly thankful for a full nights rest.
If you ask Dave, he will additionally be thankful for a new and improved government with a conscience awaiting us in the new year!
Despite my want to update this blog more often to keep up with our daily adventures, life just won't stand still long enough for me to do it. So once a month will have to suffice until I thankfully get some more free time. ha.
But aside all that, Ben and Audrey have not disappointed and both have had several new milestones this past month.
As I predicted in my last post, both are walking. Sort of... Ben has had a solid grasp of the concept for several weeks now. He can actually stop, start and travel fairly long distances at a good clip, barring any obstacles under foot. He still needs help pulling himself up to a standing position, though. Audrey took her first steps just this past week and is slowly learning how to put one foot in front of the other. But even given her inability to walk very far, she can easily stand up on her own. Her thigh muscles must be so strong as she gets a kick out of doing squats. It makes her smile and giggle.
Both love books, music and Elmo.
Ben is now playing peek a boo and clapping, something that Audrey has been doing for months now.
Ben has almost all his teeth and Audrey is just barely getting started.
Bottom line is, although they are brother and sister twins, they are far from similar.
We continue to be entertained by double the fun and worn down by double the need for attention. But we wouldn't want it any other way, thankfully.
Here's pics from our October

Wondertwins are One!

Well a whole year has passed and the Wondertwins have turned One!
It's been a very exciting year for all of us to say the least. Watching them grow, discover and amuse is a continuous reminder of just how blessed we really are.
Their one year check up went well. Audrey continues to have a height advantage while Ben is packing in the pounds.

Audrey: 29 1/2 in. 20lbs. 2oz.
Ben: 29 in. 21 lbs.
The doctor was very impressed on their progress and mentioned that their pointing at objects is a major milestone in their development. Ben is obsessed with pointing at things he wants while Audrey can point - but she would rather say the words (or what sounds like words) than physically have to point for what she wants. She is also signing her first words: milk and ball.
Ben is still not walking but we are convinced he can and will just as soon as he gets over his fear of standing on his own.
Audrey still has a ways to go before she'll walk, but she's getting stronger day by day and I'm starting to believe she'll walk before Ben if she continues progressing at the rate she's going. Both love to walk while pushing their little toys around so maybe they'll both be walking by Thanksgiving?!
As we prepare for the Holiday season we are looking forward to the next milestones and enjoying each new discovery along with them.
Here's some links to our past month's events:

September Wondertwin pics

1st Birthday pics

Not so lazy days of summer

Summer is gone and Fall is slowly gaining ground on us. I do love this time of year when the light at the end of the day is a little less harsh and the evenings are much cooler in anticipation of the next season.

We had a whirlwind summer with visiting family and family visits.
It started off with Grandma C. visiting once again in June, a visit from Brother Dan & the clan in July, and ended with our trip back East in August for the twins' christening and meeting just about everyone else in the family.
Needless to say we're all tired and have barely any time to catch our breath before the next big event: Their 1st birthday!!!
The questions are repeated over and over through out the ages...
Can you believe it - a year has passed!!? Where does the time go!!!?
The last few months Ben & Audrey have grown and developed in leaps and bounds. Ben is cruising around now and is hours away from taking his first official step. Audrey and Ben both like to pull themselves up and stand by the coffee table. Both are proficient at crawling (Ben is finally using his knees!) and both are jabberhaulics. Saying words like "cat" and "ball", mama"" and "dada" and of course "no!"
They are saying much more than that, as both can have entire conversations with themselves, but it's hard to decipher their language at this point! :P
Both are doing well with eating solids, although Ben with his eight teeth has double the advantage over Audrey with half as many teeth. Plus he definitely has more of an appetite when it comes to toast and crackers!
We're looking forward to their 1st birthday as all the grandparents will be back to celebrate, just as they did for their birth.
Then it's on to the next season and the next year and more exciting adventures!
Click here for wondertwin pics in July
Cick here for wondertwin pics in August

9 month checkup

This past Tuesday we went for the twins' 9 month checkup. Wasn't it last week we arrived home from the hospital?!! Man time is flying by, that surely never changes...
They both were getting over a cold - one that their mother got hit by like a freight train (ug.) - so we were unsure if they would have any issues with their shots. Turned out all was fine. They behaved beautifully (again) and Ben was even picked up by a nurse who just couldn't resist and both were cooed over by a Doctor who was passing by the checkup room.
I must admit, albeit quite biased, that the two of them are quite Adorable. (notice capital A!) You just want to squeeze them and their cute little chunky cheeks.
But I digress...
Audrey weighed in at 18lbs. 15 oz. and was in the 50th percentile for weight and height.
Ben weighed in at 19lbs. 15 oz. - a full pound bigger than Audrey, and was in the 50th percentile for weight and 60th for length. He's growing like a madman.
Some people have been confused about the percentile and what it means:
Percentiles rank the position of an individual by indicating what percent of the reference population the individual would equal or exceed. For example, on the weight-for-age growth charts, a 9 month old girl whose weight is at the 25th percentile, weighs the same or more than 25 percent of the reference population of 9 month old girls, and weighs less than 75 percent of the 9 month old girls in the reference population.
If you land on the 50% mark as ours do, you're pretty much right on target for what a healthy baby should be at their stage of development - 50% of population is bigger, 50% is smaller. Granted if they would be higher or lower, that really doesn't make much difference either, unless mentally they are lagging behind. Fortunately we are right on target all the way around!
As July marches on we are preparing for our travels back East and can't wait to see the faces of all the friends and family who will be meeting the twins for the first time...
Wondertwins June

First Father's Day

This past weekend we celebrated our 1st Father's Day with the Twins.
Grandma C is back once again visiting for a couple weeks and was able to join us in the celebration.
Since it was his day, David decided to reprise our Mother's Day trip to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. When we went in May, both Audrey & Ben started singing and babbling aloud in the museum. And although it was cute to hear, most museum dwellers didn't appreciate the distraction, so we ended up cutting the visit a bit short. This time Audrey & Ben did much better and we were able to walk through the whole museum and the outdoor gardens before they started getting antsy. Pretty soon they'll know the difference between the Degas & Manets!
We are well into the month of June now and both babies are growing and exploring by leaps and bounds.
Audrey's favorite pastime now is peek-a-boo. She's mastered it quite quickly! She also loves to play music - xylophone, piano and cups being her instruments of choice. She's finally begun teething and has one whole tooth in (bottom) and at least one other peeking through. With the amount of drooling she does in a day, you would think all of them are coming in, but alas, she's taking her time...
Ben is forging ahead in everything. He has 6 teeth now, two bottom and 4 upper. He is literally spinning circles on his belly and bum and he is standing almost on his own - It's all he wants to do now and I fear it won't be long until he's strutting along. Then we're in for a world of fun, chasing little Benjamin all around!

Here's some of our memories of May...
click here for latest pics of WonderTwins

First Mother's Day

Well, tomorrow will be my first Mother's day with the twins - outside the womb! It's been a year now since we first told everyone that we were having twins. It's hard to believe a year has passed already.

Audrey and Ben were just little peas this time last year and now they are easily close to 19 lbs.
Both are still eating and sleeping well. We really couldn't ask for better behaved 

little ones.

Last month we saw a ton of relatives as my Aunt Shirley, Uncle Jack, cousin Jackie, her two little ones, cousin Joe, wife Aida, their newest addition Aneesa, and Aida's Cousin all visited while Paco was in town. It was a great visit and the twins really did well with such a big group of people googling and cooing at them.

The twins are usually cooped up in and around the house during the week, so we try to get out as much as possible on the weekends. Three weekends ago we went to the Cowboy Music Festival here in Santa Clarita. We used the baby bjorns to schlep them around and they really seemed to like being strapped to our chests watching all the horses and cowboys walk about. Last week we finally got ourselves a new jogging stroller and quickly used it to go to the L.A. Zoo. They both had a great time observing all the people. (I don't think they had a clue as to the fact that there were live animals there!) Some day...

We've got some more firsts this past week as well. Ben has gotten his two upper teeth - just peeking through. He hasn't even shown signs of it bothering him. He now has four teeth altogether. No teeth yet for Audrey. But she did say "cat" this morning! And no wonder, as our two cats are always walking by them. And as they do, we say over and over and over C...A...T, caT, CAT, CAT... Both Audrey and Ben are fascinated by them. (sorry Aunt Annie!)

And finally, we've scheduled their christening for August 16th in Pittsburgh. They'll be 10 months at the time and hopefully just as well behaved, well adjusted and happy as they are now. We can't wait to see more relatives and show off all their new skills.
...now, the 5 hour flight to get there... that is not really something I'm looking forward to! :P
click here for the latest pics of the wondertwins

6 month checkup

We went for the twins' 6 month checkup on friday. All went GREAT - so well I was actually pleasantly surprised. Audrey has had precedent with having a meltdown at the doctors office. Also, in weeks past she had taken to crying when strangers popped into her view. So I was prepared for the worst. Not only was she happy and playful the whole time, when it was time to get her shots (they had two each this time) she only cried for a brief moment. Huzzah! Maybe we have turned a corner? It goes without saying that Ben was delightful as well. :P

Audrey weighed in at 16 lbs. 12 oz. and 26" long which puts her in the 50th percentile for her age. Her head actually bumped up from 40 percent at four months into the 80th percentile! - she's a brainiac!!!

Ben weighed in at 17lbs. 2oz. and 26 1/2 inches long. That put him in the 50th percentile as well. He is continually moving up the charts! Double Huzzah!!

I want to thank everyone who sent happy thoughts our way. It has paid off and Audrey has gotten a few firsts for herself. First off, she is sleeping through the night!!! (You have no idea how happy this makes us!) Not only is she sleeping through the night, but they BOTH have dropped their 9:30 pm feeding and are now going from 7:30pm - 6:30am sans food.

This past week Audrey decided that she would hold the bottle herself, thank you very much... Audrey has also rolled over on her own several times now. Last night she woke up at 1am crying and when I went in to see what was wrong, she had rolled onto her belly and couldn't roll back. She did this again at 6am. Hopefully she'll figure out how to roll from her belly to her back soon!

All in all it was a great checkup and they are both doing amazingly well. On to the next milestones...

Month of Firsts

Another month has past and this one marks many firsts for the twins.

It began with Ben leaving his beloved swing behind for sleeping solely in his crib...

He protested a bit at first, but with a little training he grew quite accustomed to his very own crib, and as a result it was followed by Ben's first sleeping through the night!
Did you hear the cries of elation??!!
(A feat his sister still has yet to master, much to her parents lament. wa.)

By mid month they were both sitting up on their own for the first time. They really enjoy this and have taken to leaning forward if they are placed in the reclining bouncy seats so they can sit up.

We began feeding them solids for the first time, and although they got a slow start, they both seem to be doing well and getting most of the food in their belly instead of their lap.

We started with rice cereal and are adding vegetables a little at a time. Audrey had some "issues" with peas, so we skipped over that veggie and went to carrots for her. Ben in typical fashion has no problem with anything, he just goes with the flow.

Almost simultaneously upon starting solids, Ben got his first tooth! Followed immediately by his first second tooth! He handled both of them well and only occasionally wakes up and whines at night. Again, Audrey is letting her brother take hold of that first and she doesn't seem like she'll be teething soon, although she does have a handle on the whining, so when the teeth do come, she will be a pro at complaining! ug.

Another first came in the form of me leaving them for more than 2 hours since their conception and starting back to work. It's a difficult transition for me, but I'm trying not to let it bother me and enjoy the time I do have with them in the morning and weekends.

And finally, starting this Monday, Leila our nanny will be home alone with the twins for the first time. I think she has gotten a real good handle on caring for them, so hopefully it won't be too difficult a transition. ...And Yes! This also means Dave and I will be on our own for the first time since the twins were born, a fact I must admit I'm a little nervous about. Dave has admitted it too. It's been a dream having the grandparents take care of them at night and pick up the slack around the house. We are so grateful for all their help. So we're not looking forward to having no "backup" for the duration - now it's down to business!

Please keep us in your thoughts as we try to get Audrey to obtain some extra firsts of her own - especially sleeping through the night!
In the meantime, here's the latest round of pictures for March...
WonderTwins March

Busy February

This has been a VERY busy month for the Wonder Twins. The grandparents did another tag team hand off. We started off with Paco helping us out January and into February and Grandma H came in for the last 3 weeks of February.

The twins had their 4 month check up the beginning of the month, but because Ben was starting to get sick and had a slight fever their shots were postponed two weeks. Then Miss Audrey caught her brothers cold and we postponed their shots another week. Everyone ended up getting sick, but for some reason the Cold Gods were good to me and I was able to dodge the cough, stuffy nose, aches and fever!

(click on pic to enlarge)

In the meantime I took them to the polls for the history making primaries. I held Audrey as I voted, being very proud as a registered voter, woman and mother. We also celebrated their first Valentine's day and more importantly, prepared ourselves for their nanny.(click on pic to enlarge)

I go back to work in a week and we decided to go the nanny route instead of daycare. Leila, who is Persian and lives the next town over, started this week. The babies love her already, which makes my going back to work a little less stressful knowing they are in such good hands.

The twins are more and more active. They are both on the verge of rolling over, they babble - (especially Miss Audrey, who I'm afraid will take after her father with the gift of gab!), they are intentionally grabbing objects and tracking everything in their sight. Ben raises his right arm for high five at every opportunity. In a week or two we'll introduce solids - can't wait for that fun :P!

We are now getting ready for another Grandparent hand off for the month of March as Grandma C gets her second tour of duty!

Here's some more pics from the month:
http://www.flickr.com/gp/90777815@N00/QNq8N2

4 months and a year

The twins went for their 4 month checkup this past Friday.
Audrey weighed in at 13 lbs. 9 oz. and is 24 inches long. This put her in the 45th percentile for 4 month old girls. Good job Audrey!
Ben weighed in at 13 lbs. 15 oz. and is 24 inches as well. And although he weighs more than his sister, he's at the 25th percentile for 4 month boys. Still, his growth chart looks great as he wasn't even on the chart when he was born!
It was a year ago at this time that these babies were conceived and we found out I was pregnant. What a year it's been!
A friend commented that our lives have changed more than anyone she knows this past year. That is true TWO fold!

Here's some video of Audrey chatting and Ben Smiling...