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Stats...That May Be Out of Date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...