Stats for the Babes

We went to the doctor's for their one year check up. Everyone at the front desk were impressed to see our girls walk into the office, say 'Hi' to everyone, then went to play with the toys. The waiting room was full of people that could not take their eyes off of them. The fact that they are identical is becoming more apparent to strangers.

The both received A+'s on their health and development. Dr. Monk was impressed by how much they could do and said to keep on what we have been doing since it is obviously working well. Definitely the praise a stay at home mom wants to hear from the doctor!

Unfortunately, they did have to get shots; 2 in each thigh for each girl. Ouch! They were even brave after the first shot. It was the second one that made them both cry. Ches and I learned that there is a Chicken Pox vaccine! Whoa! That made me feel really old, especially since he said it has been required from the school system for a long time. I guess the end of high school was 10 years ago for me now. In fact, the reunion is this summer, but I doubt we will be able to make the sojourn back to Florida then.

Here are the stats for the babes:

ALINA
Weight: 22 lbs (50th-75th Percentile)
Length: 29.75 in (75th Percentile)
Head Circumference: 47.2 cm (95th% Percentile)

AVERY
Weight: 21 lbs 12 oz (50th Percentile)
Length: 29.5 in (50th-75th Percentile)
Head Circumference: 47.1 cm (90th-95th Percentile)

Another First

Our big girl, Lina-bug, went pee pee in her training potty! I do not even think she needed the massive amount of praise (often in dance form) I showered her with, as she was already wearing her mega happy, open-mouthed expression that she often has when jamming to music. Granted, she probably didn't even make the association that we should pee pee in potties rather than diapers, but you have to start somewhere!

One Year Old...Whoa!

The girls have hit and passed their one year of life mark. Though momentous for them, it is also a celebration of a year of parenthood for me and Ches. It has been an indescribable experience to watch the growth and development of these two precious girls. Here are some pictures from their birthday night and their birthday party that following weekend. Videos of cake destruction are to follow!

Family Trip to the Aquarium

We had a wonderful outing today to enjoy the Seattle Aquarium. Mimi and Papou surprised us with an annual family pass! Works out since I think the girls are now hooked on fish. They smiled the whole time. Can't wait to go back again!

Training

So apparently Avery is training for the first ever baby iron woman competition. Being the dutiful, loving sister, Alina has decided to help her out via assistance with weight training. Note the awesome music in the background. No, we did not edit this to add the music; it is a Pandora station Ches has created with hours of effort to focus only on sport montage music. This has been a great aid in her training. No babies were harmed in the making of this movie.

Again, this is also a PSA to show the importance of remaining seated in a moving vessel.

Bottle Feeding

I am typing this post with my new found moments of free time. Yes, after eleven months, the girls have learned how to hold their own bottles. They have even come near to perfecting the tilt to get the last drop. Well, almost perfect...Alina did have a nasty fall this morning when trying to drink her close-to-empty bottle while standing. She just tipped her massive head back so far that she could no longer hold her balance. But we are very close, nevertheless. Think of all the Facebook time I can squeeze in...oh, I mean Accounting and Finance studying...or dishes....

January's Random Cuteness

It is funny to see how quickly the girls change when I do a flurry of albums at the same time. At the beginning of December, they could barely fit into the 12 month size fleece onesies often shown in pictures. Now, they are on the verge of out growing them! Below is the album for January. I will try very hard to post February's before the end of the first week of March.

And if you are interested, here is 3 full minutes of Avery playing with her Nandy Bear Ugly Doll.

December Cuteness Album

Okay, well, at least I can say that I am done with the cuteness updates for 2011. It only took me two months into the new year!

2011 Holiday Photos

Yeah, yeah...I know I am way behind...pretty much in every aspect of our lives right now. But Mimi will be here on Tuesday so hopefully we can play catch up then! Anyway, I finally made it around to making a web album for Thanksgiving and Christmas 2011. Enjoy!

PacNW

It has been five years since Ches and I rolled up to see the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, our new and foreign home. We took a big risk by moving to a place neither of us had visited without any jobs already lined up. That was a great example of a big risk paying off in a big way, since we are as happy as can be up here in the Pacific Northwest. Gainesville will always be our hometown, but the life up here better suits us.


Love to all! What were you guys doing five years ago?

Snow Days

We had a monster storm roll through last week that left hundreds of thousands without power. After the 7" of snow over two days and an inch of freezing rain, we received days of solid downpour. But we made the best of the two days of gorgeous white that surrounded us. Ches was even lucky enough to get a day off from work! I am grateful for that since we made lasting memories. Here is some of the cuteness!

Stats...That May Be Out of Date

The girls went to the doctor on December 22, 2011 for their nine month check-up. As usual, Dr. Monk was impressed with their development saying it is beyond where he typically sees twins at that age. They continue to maintain perfect health. We were all relieved to hear that there were n o shots for that visit. Though late, I wanted to give everyone the rundown of where they were at.

ALINA
Weight: 20 lbs (75th Percentile)
Length: 27 in (25th-50th Percentile)
Head Circumference: 46.5 cm (>97% Percentile...seriously)

AVERY
Weight: 19 lbs 1.76 oz (50th-75th Percentile)
Length: 27.5 in (50th Percentile)
Head Circumference: 45.8 cm (90th-95th Percentile)

The doctor likes to show us the growth charts for each girls. When he showed us the chart for Alina's head growth, the dot was a good bit above the live denoting the greater than 97th percentile point. We can only rationally conclude that she has the world's largest head. Thank you, Wilson side of the family! The better to grow the brains in!

We are so thankful to have such healthy baby girls!

Waving & Wet Kisses

Both our girls have become pros at waving. They have no biases: waves to mommy, daddy, family on skype, the kitty cats, reflections in the mirror, characters on Days of Our Lives...they are just happy to see everyone! They also know to wave when someone says "Hi", "Hello", or "Hey". It is quite cute when I yell "Hey!" at the cats for doing something bad and the girls just start waving like crazy. But they are very conservative with their goodbye waves. They have to be confident the person departing will promptly return. They still refuse to wave bye bye to their daddy when he leaves for work, but there is a flurry of baby smiles and hand flapping upon his return.

Avery has a very solid side to side hand motion for her wave. Alina does a very limp up and down motion. Honestly, though, they are all just variation of the original 'bang, bang' motion they first learned months ago. So one has to be careful not to get too close to their waving hand or it will quickly turn into a barrage of knocks on the head! Their passion for waving has started to infiltrate the earlier learned skill of hi-five.

Alina has also learned how to give and ask for kisses. Of course, to her, a kiss means mouth wide open, tongue hanging out, and drool dripping down her chin. If the mood strikes, she will give a sweet kiss when prompted. She then will burst out with a giant, wrinkle-nosed smile and/or giggle. After that, she may or may not ask you for another kiss by leaning in close and puckering up her wet, open lips.

They are developing new skills almost daily, from clacking to stacking blocks. I am so fortunate to be witness to the early stages of their life-long process of learning.

Cute New Moves

Avery has learned how to shake her booty to music she likes. Here is a short video of her awesome moves to a poor beat provided by mommy. Of course, it starts with an adorable little sneeze!

Video Proof

Though shaky, here is some video I tried to take of Avery working on her steps. I promise to try to get better video of both girls when Ches is here to help!

First Steps

How cool is it that the first post of the new year is to share the news that Avery took her first unaided steps last night after her bath. Not to be outdone, less than 12 hours later, Alina took her first steps. The one big difference between their triumphs was their motivation.

Avery was standing by the gate of what we call the corral (picture a really big pack n play) looking eager to come to me. She let go of her support and crossed the distance to her mommy's arms with two wobbly steps.

Alina and Avery were having some epic battles over toys this morning in the corral. By epic I mean inclusive of hair pulling, face and head smacking, and elephant seal attacks lasting well after the original object of their intentions had lost its appeal. After Avery conceded, Alina's hunger for retribution was still unsatisfied, so she took her first steps on her way to dish out some more vengeance. Hopefully the reinforcement for her mobility achievement did not also strengthen her blood lust. Guess only time will tell...