|
Date: 12/20/2004
Entered By: Dad
1 and ½ years old. Wow. Jake and Emma will be 18 months on Christmas Eve. I can’t begin to explain how our lives have changed.
The good times are better that I had ever thought possible. The tough times are more difficult than I thought they would be.
At the end of the day, when I leave my office and head home to my waiting family, the one constant is that when I see my love reflected back from my children’s eyes, I know everything is right with my world.
Jake and Emma are both running around like crazy. They are saying a few words – ‘bye’ being the current favorite. They eat whatever we eat and make a huge mess doing it. They are still sleeping from 7:00 p.m. to 7:0 a.m. without waking up.
Everyone is happy and healthy and very, very busy.
Here is wishing you and yours Happy Holidays.
Date: 6/8/2004
Entered By: Dad
Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve added anything other than pictures to the site. Things have been very hectic around the house. I guess the biggest news is that Jacob took his first steps last night (6/8/04)! He’s been standing on his own for sometime now, and if you give him your finger he’ll follow you all over, but he has now officially began walking on his own!
They are both sleeping through the night now and have been for a couple of weeks. Actually, Emma has been doing it for a couple of months now. Jake finally decided that he would join her. They go to bed between 7:30 and 8:00 and are usually up between 6:45 and 7:30 the following morning. It is so much fun to go get them out of bed, they both are so happy to see you and they have the most amazing smiles on their faces. It is a perfect way to start a morning.
Emma has developed into our little climber. She tries to climb ANYTHING she comes in contact with. One evening I had set my laptop bag in the floor to pick the twins up after work. After hugs and kisses had been exchanged and they wanted back down to play, Emma found my bag. She promptly knocked it over and climbed right in the middle of it, very proud of her accomplishment. She was so cute I had to snap a couple of pictures (I’ll get them in the album in the next day or so). She can also go right up the stairs – with Mommy or Daddy right behind her for “moral” support, of course.
They both love to “patty-cake” and will start clapping their hands if they hear the song. They also start to clap anytime we are dinning out and the wait staff starts one of those terrible happy birthday songs.
They have gotten pretty good at waving “bye-bye” also. Jake uses one hand and Emma feels the job requires both. :-)
They are drinking out of tippy cups and eating small pieces of food on their own. They both like apples, cheerios, raisins, and gold fish crackers. Emma LOVES mac-and-cheese. Neither child cares for any type of potato very much.
In just over two weeks, our little babies will turn 1 year old. How amazing is that? We have a big birthday party planned and I can assure you that I’ll get many pictures! We are planning on giving each of them their “own” little cake so that should make for some very memorable moments. Over the past week Mommy and I worked on making the invitations so once they are delivered I’ll get a couple pictures of them up too. Mommy picked out the card stock and we all think she did a wonderful job.
Finally, my sister and her husband (Aunt Stacey and Uncle Rich) are pregnant. We are so happy for them. Not just because the twins will have a cousin(s) but for the more important fact that they will be wonderful parents and provide a loving and supportive home to this child(ren). Stacey, say it with me: “Twins, Twins, TWINS!!!
Date: 4/8/2004
Entered By: Dad
Mommy and I took the kids out and swung them on their new swing set today. Emma loved it and smiled the entire time. Jake was a little uncertain at first, but he warmed up pretty quickly and broke out in smiles too. We have video on the "Streaming Video" page and pictures in the "Photo Album".
Date: 3/28/2004
Entered By: Dad
Emma and Jake have been “babbling” for some time now. It has not been uncommon to hear a “mamamama “or “dadadada” along with other “almost words”. Tonight, while I was rocking Emma in my arms in preparation for bed, she looked directly into my eyes, and said “Da Da”. My heart just exploded!! I KNEW she was calling me “Da Da” and she was doing it intentionally. She had been quiet before she said it, and she was silent after saying it. I looked at Mommy, and she was beaming right back at me. It wasn’t just random chatter. I hugged Emma as tight as I dared, wiped the couple of tears off of my cheek and felt a little more like a real daddy.
Date: 2/8/2004
Entered By: Dad
I woke up this morning feeling a little under the weather. My stomach was pretty upset, so Mommy, being the angel that she is, went up and got me a breakfast biscuit. I had a single bit of it before I decided it wasn’t a smart idea to eat it, so I wrapped it back up and set it on the end table.
Mommy had a baby shower to attend, and after much assurance that I was ok, she headed off.
Jake was in his walker, and Emma needed a diaper change so I headed up to her bedroom to changer her diaper.
As I was coming back down the stairs, a wrapper on the floor caught my eye. As I got closer, I could see that it was the biscuit wrapper. In the short time I had been gone, Jake had found the biscuit, unwrapped it, and was in the process of smearing it all over his face! The look on his face was priceless, and I can’t tell the story without breaking out in laughter.
Date: 1/24/2004
Entered By: Dad
7 months old! How amazing is that? It wasn’t very long ago that Mom and I had these tiny little babies with little bitty feet, hands, and cries. Now, Jake is over 21 pounds, Emma is right at 20 pounds and nothing they have or do is “tiny”.
We’ve replaced their infant carriers with full blown car seats (Eddie Bauer Manchester 3-in-One Elite Car Seat – pictures in the “Misc” category of the album) so outings are much different now. Instead of buckling them into their infant carrier, and then carrying that to the car, we now carry a squirming kid to the car and fasten them in to the seat. When we get wherever we’re going, instead of removing the carrier and snapping it into the stroller, we unbuckle them (which wakes them up) and put them into the stroller. One fun thing about the change is that the new seats set up higher, so they can see out the windows. They are amazed by everything whizzing by their windows.
Mom and I decided that her little red car wasn’t going to cut it, so we replaced it with a new 2004 Toyota Sienna XLE (thanks Aunt S. for the hookup). It’s an amazing thing, with leather, a GPS Navigation system, all power doors, DVD System, a camera that displays what is behind you while backing, and everything else you can think of! The best thing is that we still have tons of room after “installing” the kids and all of their stuff.
Jacob is crawling now (only backwards, he hasn’t figured out how to go forward). We also have a little walker that he can make go backwards. It’s so cute, he looks back over his shoulder while moving and he gets pretty mad if he gets stuck. He also has had his first tooth start to peak through. While it’s not fully “in”, it won’t be long.
Emma, I’m so proud of you! Emma has slept the night now for several nights in a row!! It’s amazing, I had forgotten how wonderful it was to sleep all night, and this makes me want it so badly! She is also holding her own bottle. She still has Daddy wrapped around her little pinky. They are both eating baby food from a jar now. They seem to enjoy squash, sweet “tators”, and anything else that isn’t green.
Recently, we had our first experience with them using the high chairs at a restaurant. Normally, we kept them in their infant carrier and they would sleep while we were eating. The change to car seats has changed all this, so we tried the high chairs. While it wasn’t a easy as the carriers, it was a lot more fun. Mom and I each had a baby and it seemed everyone in sight of us was starring and smiling. Of course this encouraged the twins to be clowns and they had a huge amount of fun throwing toys, cooing loudly, and laughing. Each new sound or act from them brought a fresh round of smiles or laughter from the “audience”. It was a window into what the future holds for us as a family. I’m very excited.
7 months. I am amazed and a little scared by how fast it has gone. There have been some tough moments (luckily, we have an incredible Mommy) but for the most part it’s been wonderful. As I look at them, I can’t wait for them to grow so Mommy and I can share life’s experiences with them, but at the same time I can’t bear to think of not being able to hold my little boy or girl and have them smile up at me for no reason other than I’m “Daddy”. If you have to have conflicting desires in life, this – by far – is the type to have.
Date: 1/21/2004
Entered By: Dad
Emma, thank you! For the past 3 nights, Emma has slept from about 8:00 p.m. to about 6:00 or 6:30 a.m.! Yeah!! I’m hoping it is the beginning of a long and steady pattern. Jake is still getting up once or twice a night but we hope that will change and he will follow his sisters lead in the near future!
Date: 1/19/2004
Entered By: Dad
Jacob has his first tooth peaking through! It’s very cute to see this little tiny white thing peaking out from his gums. It doesn’t seem to be bothering him, I told Mom he’s excited about it because that means he is that much closer to eating steak!
Date: 1/17/2004
Entered By: Dad
Jacob is starting to crawl! Well, maybe it’s more of a “scoot” but he is moving! He can only go backwards and if he hits something he is stuck, but it is still amazing to see my little boy moving on his own!
Date: 1/2/2004
Entered By: Dad
The Twins had their 6 month(!!) check up today, and everything is perfect! They are happy, healthy, and growing like crazy. I’ve included their measurements below.
Emma weighed 17 pounds and 8.4 ounces. She is 24.75 inches long. Her head is 18” in diameter and her chest is 16.5” in diameter.
Jacob weighed 21 pounds and 2.5 ounces! He is 27.5 inches long. His head is 19” in diameter and his chest is 18.5” in diameter.
[ Home ] [ Diary ] [ Photo Album ] [ College Plans ] [ Streaming Video ] [ Live TwinCam ] [ Hopes & Dreams ] [ On Your Birthday ] [ That's My Name Too! ] [ Truth About Twins ] [ Games ] [ Mailing List ] [ BookMark Us! ] [ Links ] [ Site Info ] [ Contact Us ] [ Admin ] |
