Sandy here:
I know I have to post Christmas and Birthday pictures, but in the meantime, here's a video of the girls with one of their favorite toys. They have had this toy since they were only a few months old.
I can't wait to reciprocate to the bear giver...
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Skiing
Doug:
Did you notice all of my posts involve things that I already like to do that I involve the girls in? That's how I view parenthood, I'm raising a support crew. But for now, I have to push or pull them everywhere.
Saturday's experiment was cross-country skiing. We have a very nice golf course here in Durango that grooms a cross country course/track once the snow flies. It's a good way to stave off cabin fever during the long winter here; in a good year we can get 3 months of skiing in and I can do a good workout at lunch. So when we were looking at buying a jogging stroller/bike trailer, I wanted to get one that could also serve as a cross country ski sled. This way we can ski at the golf course with the girls and even take them on some mellow backcountry or hut trips. So this fall we bought the ski attachment for the Chariot and turned me into a draft animal.
Here are the photos. The girls seemed to have a great time. It was about 25 degrees and cloudy, but no sign they got cold. I don't know how they could have gotten cold wearing everything they were wearing. Tava actually fell asleep and was sleeping so deeply it scared Sandy; she had to check her to make sure she was really breathing.
"Let's do another lap!!!"
Momma didn't have to pull
Parenthood in Durango.
It's a one-Doug open sleigh.
Sandy took some video that we'll try and get up later.
Did you notice all of my posts involve things that I already like to do that I involve the girls in? That's how I view parenthood, I'm raising a support crew. But for now, I have to push or pull them everywhere.
Saturday's experiment was cross-country skiing. We have a very nice golf course here in Durango that grooms a cross country course/track once the snow flies. It's a good way to stave off cabin fever during the long winter here; in a good year we can get 3 months of skiing in and I can do a good workout at lunch. So when we were looking at buying a jogging stroller/bike trailer, I wanted to get one that could also serve as a cross country ski sled. This way we can ski at the golf course with the girls and even take them on some mellow backcountry or hut trips. So this fall we bought the ski attachment for the Chariot and turned me into a draft animal.
Here are the photos. The girls seemed to have a great time. It was about 25 degrees and cloudy, but no sign they got cold. I don't know how they could have gotten cold wearing everything they were wearing. Tava actually fell asleep and was sleeping so deeply it scared Sandy; she had to check her to make sure she was really breathing.
"Let's do another lap!!!"
Momma didn't have to pull
Parenthood in Durango.
It's a one-Doug open sleigh.
Sandy took some video that we'll try and get up later.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Winter girls
Hi, Doug here:
Okay, long time readers will remember this picture from last winter when the girls were like 3 weeks old:
However, now that they're a bit older, we can really enjoy the winter and begin the process of training them for the 2034 and 2038 Winter Olympic Games. They have to get used to being bundled up, of course, so we took them out for a jog in the Chariot last weekend in their fleecy hats and Patagucci jackets. The temp was about 25 degrees and overcast, but they seemed to handle it well:
And then on Tuesday we got about 30 feet of snow in Durango (okay, it was 18 inches) and Sandy and the girls got to enjoy a snow day from work. Sandy bundled them up in their "climbing Mount Everest" outfits (complete with goggles for that harsh glare off the snow) and took them out to hang out in the snow. They were kind of like the kid from A Christmas Story that couldn't put his arms down, but they had a good time sitting and checking it all out:
The plan now is to take them cross country skiing in the jogging stroller this weekend. The ski track has been laid at the golf course and we're jonesing to get out on the snow. Look for a follow-up next week.
Okay, long time readers will remember this picture from last winter when the girls were like 3 weeks old:
However, now that they're a bit older, we can really enjoy the winter and begin the process of training them for the 2034 and 2038 Winter Olympic Games. They have to get used to being bundled up, of course, so we took them out for a jog in the Chariot last weekend in their fleecy hats and Patagucci jackets. The temp was about 25 degrees and overcast, but they seemed to handle it well:
And then on Tuesday we got about 30 feet of snow in Durango (okay, it was 18 inches) and Sandy and the girls got to enjoy a snow day from work. Sandy bundled them up in their "climbing Mount Everest" outfits (complete with goggles for that harsh glare off the snow) and took them out to hang out in the snow. They were kind of like the kid from A Christmas Story that couldn't put his arms down, but they had a good time sitting and checking it all out:
The plan now is to take them cross country skiing in the jogging stroller this weekend. The ski track has been laid at the golf course and we're jonesing to get out on the snow. Look for a follow-up next week.
Look at them go!
Sandy here:
This morning was so fun with the girls, I had to capture some of it on video. They get so proud of themselves when they accomplish something:
I see even more chasing in my near future.
This morning was so fun with the girls, I had to capture some of it on video. They get so proud of themselves when they accomplish something:
I see even more chasing in my near future.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Inside Outside
Sandy here:
The other day I was home playing with the girls. Most of the time when they actually play "together" it's about stealing toys or parallel play. In this video though they seem to actually be playing with each other.
They're so mobile that sometimes it's about containment. This was Tava's turn in Pack 'n' Play jail.
The other day I was home playing with the girls. Most of the time when they actually play "together" it's about stealing toys or parallel play. In this video though they seem to actually be playing with each other.
They're so mobile that sometimes it's about containment. This was Tava's turn in Pack 'n' Play jail.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Fast Forward
Sandy here:
I keep intending to write a blog post and upload videos, then a couple days pass, and I realize that what I was going to write no longer applies. Initially, it seemed like someone had hit the "pause" button--our life consisted of feeding babies, changing babies' diapers, swaddling babies, putting babies to sleep, and trying to stop babies' crying. That seemed like it went on forever--we were in a holding pattern. Then one day someone hit the "play" button--maybe right around 3 months. Here we were, merrily going along--recording firsts times two--first smile, first laugh, first rollover, all with plenty of time in between. Then in the last month or so, someone hit the "fast forward" button. Almost every day something new happens. We went from struggling to crawl around Labor Day to zooming around the house, and now both babies are all about the standing up. Analee will use anything to stand up--the couch, exersaucer, crib, sliding glass door, dryer, cabinet. . . Tava had the flu and then a double ear infection (ouch!) so she had a couple weeks where she didn't want to do much of anything but be held. She's making up for lost time though and is not too far behind her sister in her standing prowess. Analee has started "cruising" a bit and I'm sure Tava will soon. They are still an easy audience and think everything we do is hilarious (don't worry, we'll remind them of this when they're 12 and think we're embarrassing and incredibly unfunny). The other big arena where they are turning into little people is with food. We have gone from the strained baby food to self-feeding. In fact, the girls will only tolerate so much food being fed to them before they start to get annoyed and want to feed themselves. They love yogurt, cheese, avocado, carrots, broccoli, chocolate, beer (kidding kidding). But seriously. . . every day I'm not sure what fun and funny thing they are going to do next.
Grandma and Grandpa just came for a visit (again--they were here in September) and the girls love getting bites of Grandpa's banana--pretty impressive that he can wrangle 2 babies, a banana and a spoon (Tava left, Analee right):
Sporting their Brother's Bar t-shirts. Start 'em young!(Analee left, Tava right)
Happy Halloween! With their friend Cypress, the ladybug (this picture was taken right before Analee--on the left--attempted to grab onto one of Cypress's antennae)
There's always lots of rasslin' going on in our house:
Good oral hygiene is very important: (Tava left, Analee right)
Tava says "mmm...avocado"
But would Analee use her powers for good? Or evil?
My new favorite thing they do--both stand up in the crib (Analee left, Tava right)
Will our blog still count as a family-friendly blog now that this picture is posted? (Tava left, Analee right)
I keep intending to write a blog post and upload videos, then a couple days pass, and I realize that what I was going to write no longer applies. Initially, it seemed like someone had hit the "pause" button--our life consisted of feeding babies, changing babies' diapers, swaddling babies, putting babies to sleep, and trying to stop babies' crying. That seemed like it went on forever--we were in a holding pattern. Then one day someone hit the "play" button--maybe right around 3 months. Here we were, merrily going along--recording firsts times two--first smile, first laugh, first rollover, all with plenty of time in between. Then in the last month or so, someone hit the "fast forward" button. Almost every day something new happens. We went from struggling to crawl around Labor Day to zooming around the house, and now both babies are all about the standing up. Analee will use anything to stand up--the couch, exersaucer, crib, sliding glass door, dryer, cabinet. . . Tava had the flu and then a double ear infection (ouch!) so she had a couple weeks where she didn't want to do much of anything but be held. She's making up for lost time though and is not too far behind her sister in her standing prowess. Analee has started "cruising" a bit and I'm sure Tava will soon. They are still an easy audience and think everything we do is hilarious (don't worry, we'll remind them of this when they're 12 and think we're embarrassing and incredibly unfunny). The other big arena where they are turning into little people is with food. We have gone from the strained baby food to self-feeding. In fact, the girls will only tolerate so much food being fed to them before they start to get annoyed and want to feed themselves. They love yogurt, cheese, avocado, carrots, broccoli, chocolate, beer (kidding kidding). But seriously. . . every day I'm not sure what fun and funny thing they are going to do next.
Grandma and Grandpa just came for a visit (again--they were here in September) and the girls love getting bites of Grandpa's banana--pretty impressive that he can wrangle 2 babies, a banana and a spoon (Tava left, Analee right):
Sporting their Brother's Bar t-shirts. Start 'em young!(Analee left, Tava right)
Happy Halloween! With their friend Cypress, the ladybug (this picture was taken right before Analee--on the left--attempted to grab onto one of Cypress's antennae)
There's always lots of rasslin' going on in our house:
Good oral hygiene is very important: (Tava left, Analee right)
Tava says "mmm...avocado"
But would Analee use her powers for good? Or evil?
My new favorite thing they do--both stand up in the crib (Analee left, Tava right)
Will our blog still count as a family-friendly blog now that this picture is posted? (Tava left, Analee right)
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Here Piggy Piggy
Sandy here:
So, Doug and I had great plans to update the blog this weekend. The girls have been doing so many fun and new things in such rapid succession, it's been hard to keep up with them! Well, the best laid plans of mice and men. . .
We're pretty sure Doug has the flu. It came on in the middle of the night last night. And not just the seasonal variety, no we're pretty convinced that he has full blown swine flu. So, needless to say, our fun blog will have to wait. Cross fingers that the girls stay well or have a mild bout.
So, Doug and I had great plans to update the blog this weekend. The girls have been doing so many fun and new things in such rapid succession, it's been hard to keep up with them! Well, the best laid plans of mice and men. . .
We're pretty sure Doug has the flu. It came on in the middle of the night last night. And not just the seasonal variety, no we're pretty convinced that he has full blown swine flu. So, needless to say, our fun blog will have to wait. Cross fingers that the girls stay well or have a mild bout.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Perfect Fall Day
Sandy here:
Today was one of those crisp clear Colorado days where you know that summer is gone and winter is coming, but for the moment, you're just so happy for it to be fall. We took the girls to a local park and had some good clean twin fun:
If their career as swimmers doesn't pan out, they can always swing for money.
Today was one of those crisp clear Colorado days where you know that summer is gone and winter is coming, but for the moment, you're just so happy for it to be fall. We took the girls to a local park and had some good clean twin fun:
If their career as swimmers doesn't pan out, they can always swing for money.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Future Careers
Sandy here:
The girls are in daycare these days, so for 3 days a week someone else gets to watch their antics, and we only get reports. Today I picked them up (Doug does the drop off, I do the pick up) and their caregiver told me that both Tava and Analee learned a new trick--albeit different ones.
Analee has learned how to unscrew the tops of her bottles and pour out her milk (my milk!).
Tava has learned to squeeze the liners of her bottles (we use these kind) and make the milk squirt out of the nipple creating a fountain effect.
Needless to say, the girls came home in their back-up outfits and I was handed a plastic bag full of wet clothes.
I think we have a scientist and an engineer on our hands.
The girls are in daycare these days, so for 3 days a week someone else gets to watch their antics, and we only get reports. Today I picked them up (Doug does the drop off, I do the pick up) and their caregiver told me that both Tava and Analee learned a new trick--albeit different ones.
Analee has learned how to unscrew the tops of her bottles and pour out her milk (my milk!).
Tava has learned to squeeze the liners of her bottles (we use these kind) and make the milk squirt out of the nipple creating a fountain effect.
Needless to say, the girls came home in their back-up outfits and I was handed a plastic bag full of wet clothes.
I think we have a scientist and an engineer on our hands.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Where Did You Go?
Sandy here:
So, I could give all sorts of excuses about not writing in oh, like, forever, but the biggest one is this--I no longer have stationary babies! You might think the title of this blogpost refers to my lack of blogging, but in actuality it refers to the fact that the girls are no longer where I place them. Gone are the days of cute little chatty houseplants--I now have roamers. They are both crawling (although with different styles)! Video to follow soon (we have filled up the stick that stores our pictures, and getting a new one implies errands, so needless to say that hasn't happened yet), but here are a couple recent pics:
Tava says "Mom, bibs are for babies":
We just woke up from our nap
Look! Babies in the zoo!
Analee, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake:
So, I could give all sorts of excuses about not writing in oh, like, forever, but the biggest one is this--I no longer have stationary babies! You might think the title of this blogpost refers to my lack of blogging, but in actuality it refers to the fact that the girls are no longer where I place them. Gone are the days of cute little chatty houseplants--I now have roamers. They are both crawling (although with different styles)! Video to follow soon (we have filled up the stick that stores our pictures, and getting a new one implies errands, so needless to say that hasn't happened yet), but here are a couple recent pics:
Tava says "Mom, bibs are for babies":
We just woke up from our nap
Look! Babies in the zoo!
Analee, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake:
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The Power of the Belly
Sandy here:
Our girls are rolling over, and the funny part is that Analee is better at the tummy to back rolling, but guess who LOVES to sleep on her tummy? Yep, Tava. And guess who wakes up freaked out that she somehow ended up on her tummy and completely can't remember how to get off it? Yep, Tava. So right now several times a night I have to go in and roll her back (and usually feed her because she's gotten so upset).
We are all looking forward to her learning how to roll onto her back without thinking about it.
Our girls are rolling over, and the funny part is that Analee is better at the tummy to back rolling, but guess who LOVES to sleep on her tummy? Yep, Tava. And guess who wakes up freaked out that she somehow ended up on her tummy and completely can't remember how to get off it? Yep, Tava. So right now several times a night I have to go in and roll her back (and usually feed her because she's gotten so upset).
We are all looking forward to her learning how to roll onto her back without thinking about it.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Anti-Soother No More
Sandy here:
Those of you who are regular readers of our blog may remember that a while ago Doug posted about his less than soothing ability with the girls at bedtime. Well, recently the shoe was on the other foot (Tava is on the left and Analee is on the right):
I don't really sing the boogaly boo song anymore. . .
Those of you who are regular readers of our blog may remember that a while ago Doug posted about his less than soothing ability with the girls at bedtime. Well, recently the shoe was on the other foot (Tava is on the left and Analee is on the right):
I don't really sing the boogaly boo song anymore. . .
Friday, July 17, 2009
Swimming!!!
Doug-
The other day I found out that my friend LaRae's 8 year old son swims faster than me. By quite a bit. I could work my tail off and still not match his 100 meter time. And the thing is, he wasn't even the fastest 8 year old in his swim meet.
Anybody who knows anything about my triathlon hobby knows that the swim is a big challenge for me. I consider it a successful swim in a tri as long as I don't drown. So far, so good. Now this year I have actually hired a swim coach and she has helped me with my technique over the course of 5 or 6 lessons. The result is that I now have a much prettier, more efficient swim stroke in which to cover the exact same ground in the exact same time. It's too bad there are no style points in triathlon.
In an attempt to avoid having our daughters go through this kind of embarrassment when they are 40, we have started taking them swimming at the ripe age of 5 months. Sandy noticed that our rec center offers a "Mommy and Me" swim class for infants and insisted we sign up for June (of course when you have twins, "Mommy and Me" becomes "Mommy and Daddy and Me and Her"). However, when we showed up, we were bummed to learn that we were the only people signed up (they usually cancel classes if they don't get enough participants, but they told us they must have forgotten to cancel on us). So instead we got a semi-private lesson with the swim instructor which was fine and all, but apparently with big groups they do songs and games and lots of fun stuff that just didn't work with 2 babies. Oh well.
In any event, the girls had a great time and they have been going to the pool 1 or 2 times a week since. They have been dunked in the water, have spit up in the pool and even stick their faces in themselves sometimes. They really like the bubbles and the swirling water in the hot tub (never more than 5 minutes!!!!) and think the pool is awesome across the board. I'm just hoping in 8 years they aren't faster than me.
P.S. When I started this post I thought we had more than 3 pictures of them swimming, but it turns out we don't. As Sandy explained, when there are two of us and two of them, it doesn't leave any hands left over for the camera. You can't just let them float on their own, they haven't gotten that good in the water. We'll get some more soon.
The other day I found out that my friend LaRae's 8 year old son swims faster than me. By quite a bit. I could work my tail off and still not match his 100 meter time. And the thing is, he wasn't even the fastest 8 year old in his swim meet.
Anybody who knows anything about my triathlon hobby knows that the swim is a big challenge for me. I consider it a successful swim in a tri as long as I don't drown. So far, so good. Now this year I have actually hired a swim coach and she has helped me with my technique over the course of 5 or 6 lessons. The result is that I now have a much prettier, more efficient swim stroke in which to cover the exact same ground in the exact same time. It's too bad there are no style points in triathlon.
In an attempt to avoid having our daughters go through this kind of embarrassment when they are 40, we have started taking them swimming at the ripe age of 5 months. Sandy noticed that our rec center offers a "Mommy and Me" swim class for infants and insisted we sign up for June (of course when you have twins, "Mommy and Me" becomes "Mommy and Daddy and Me and Her"). However, when we showed up, we were bummed to learn that we were the only people signed up (they usually cancel classes if they don't get enough participants, but they told us they must have forgotten to cancel on us). So instead we got a semi-private lesson with the swim instructor which was fine and all, but apparently with big groups they do songs and games and lots of fun stuff that just didn't work with 2 babies. Oh well.
In any event, the girls had a great time and they have been going to the pool 1 or 2 times a week since. They have been dunked in the water, have spit up in the pool and even stick their faces in themselves sometimes. They really like the bubbles and the swirling water in the hot tub (never more than 5 minutes!!!!) and think the pool is awesome across the board. I'm just hoping in 8 years they aren't faster than me.
P.S. When I started this post I thought we had more than 3 pictures of them swimming, but it turns out we don't. As Sandy explained, when there are two of us and two of them, it doesn't leave any hands left over for the camera. You can't just let them float on their own, they haven't gotten that good in the water. We'll get some more soon.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Sleeping Again, Redux
Sandy here:
Since I posted my last entry about the girls and their crib positions, I have captured a few more pictures. All of these are actual positions I found them in when they woke up in the morning:
But this is my favorite so far (maybe they'll be wrestlers when they grow up):
And finally--a bedtime video. They had been changed into their sleepers, but were still in such a good mood I put them into their crib to play.
Watching them interact like this makes all that extra work worth it.
Since I posted my last entry about the girls and their crib positions, I have captured a few more pictures. All of these are actual positions I found them in when they woke up in the morning:
But this is my favorite so far (maybe they'll be wrestlers when they grow up):
And finally--a bedtime video. They had been changed into their sleepers, but were still in such a good mood I put them into their crib to play.
Watching them interact like this makes all that extra work worth it.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Sleeping, Again
Sandy here:
So, we haven't written about sleep in a while. At least in our opinion, sleep became the most important thing to figure out. I mean, you can live for a while without food (besides, isn't that what Wendy's is for?) and showering and reading and socializing, but sleep? For the first few months, Doug and I would obsess about sleep -- ours and the babies. The girls had a few reflux issues and got some bad colds this winter so the jiggly chairs turned out to be at the perfect angle for their little digestive systems and noses. Well, this was all great, but we knew we would need to get them back in the crib. We made the transition almost a month ago (right around the time Tava started doing this) and it's been funny, to say the least. We put them down parallel to each other and parallel to the short sides of the crib (can you tell I'm a math teacher?). Tava is always on the left as you're looking in the crib (Analee's right).
Inevitably, when we go in to get them in the morning, this is what we find:
In fact, some nights Analee has woken up because Tava woke up and started kicking her in the face. Analee deals with this all pretty well though, I think she thinks of it as her "big sister" duty to put up with Tava. For a long time, all Analee would do when we put her to sleep was raise her arms up in a "don't shoot me, I give up" gesture. Now, she's taking cues from her sister:
Some of you might be wondering why we don't just separate them into their own cribs. One night we tried putting them on opposite ends of the crib (since we only have one crib set up right now) and we had potentially the worst night of sleep EVER from Tava -- she was so upset and couldn't get settled. As soon as she fell asleep, she would wake up and be upset again. We speculate that it's because she wasn't touching her sister (and while she's very good at scooching around in a circle, actual forward or backward motion still eludes her), and I just don't have the heart to make her so upset again so soon. Analee is learning the meaning of "sacrifice for the greater good."
So, we haven't written about sleep in a while. At least in our opinion, sleep became the most important thing to figure out. I mean, you can live for a while without food (besides, isn't that what Wendy's is for?) and showering and reading and socializing, but sleep? For the first few months, Doug and I would obsess about sleep -- ours and the babies. The girls had a few reflux issues and got some bad colds this winter so the jiggly chairs turned out to be at the perfect angle for their little digestive systems and noses. Well, this was all great, but we knew we would need to get them back in the crib. We made the transition almost a month ago (right around the time Tava started doing this) and it's been funny, to say the least. We put them down parallel to each other and parallel to the short sides of the crib (can you tell I'm a math teacher?). Tava is always on the left as you're looking in the crib (Analee's right).
Inevitably, when we go in to get them in the morning, this is what we find:
In fact, some nights Analee has woken up because Tava woke up and started kicking her in the face. Analee deals with this all pretty well though, I think she thinks of it as her "big sister" duty to put up with Tava. For a long time, all Analee would do when we put her to sleep was raise her arms up in a "don't shoot me, I give up" gesture. Now, she's taking cues from her sister:
Some of you might be wondering why we don't just separate them into their own cribs. One night we tried putting them on opposite ends of the crib (since we only have one crib set up right now) and we had potentially the worst night of sleep EVER from Tava -- she was so upset and couldn't get settled. As soon as she fell asleep, she would wake up and be upset again. We speculate that it's because she wasn't touching her sister (and while she's very good at scooching around in a circle, actual forward or backward motion still eludes her), and I just don't have the heart to make her so upset again so soon. Analee is learning the meaning of "sacrifice for the greater good."
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