The best Christmas presents

are sometimes the simplest. The biggest hits for the girls on Xmas day? A large cardboard box that was used for another gift, a can of 3 tennis balls, and those cards that play music when you open them. We could have pleased these 16 month olds beyond their expectations on a $10 budget.

Guess which girl has a fever

Guess which girl has a fever
Originally uploaded by Drumtech

Zoe and the Computer

Here are some funny shots of Zoe looking at the computers as we prepare our holiday card. She is VERY interested in anything with pictures of family right now.

Triple pony tail day

Triple pony tail day
Originally uploaded by Drumtech

How to get better

Zack explained to me tonight why he is now feeling better after being sick all through the night last night. The only thing I could give him this morning was ice chips, which he enjoyed.
"The ice made me get better. The ice was cold. My throwups shivered, and then my throwups died. And then there were no more throwups and I was all better."

15 Month Update

Just back from the doctor for the girl's 15 month checkup. Here are the stats:
Zoe (tall and skinny)
Length: 32" 90th percentile (30.5" @ 12 mo)
Weight: 20-14 25th percentile (19-7 @ 12 mo)

Zadie (not as tall and skinny)
Length: 30.5" 50th percentile (29" @ 12 mo)
Weight: 20-2 15th percentile (18-10 @ 12 mo)

Zoe is a monkey and climbs on everything. She can pull herself up on things that surprise us. We need to get her a play structure. Zadie is the social greeter, but also the accident prone one who suffers from her adventures by always having some sort of bruise, usually on her head. Zack likes to play with both, but usually Zadie is the one that laughs more at his antics, so he tends to try and entertain Zadie more.

Both girls are babbling and saying some words. They both say and understand roughly the same amount. When we ask "Where's ____?" they turn their head to the right person. They are using some basic baby signs, but still just the "more" "milk" "all done" "eat" ones. They have different favorite vowels when upset that allow us to figure our who is crying. Zoe just cries with a short-A sound "ayh" as in "Andy", Zadie will cry with a long-E sound "EEE". They both are excited when we hear the short-O "oooooo"

They are a fan of making animal noises like Zack was at this age. They can start to say "woo woo" when they see dogs, "meeyaa" when they see cats, "baaaa" for sheep, "Kak Kak Kak" for duck quacking.

Zadie can pronounce "Duck" and "Daddy" very very well, and sometime calls both mom and dad "Daddy". She will say Zack's name when she see him by saying "Dack" and interestingly when trying to say "cat" she says the consonants backwards like "tak". We've heard them put together two words before like "Hi Daddy"

Zoe eats very well, Zadie doesn't eat as much. They eat what we eat and both are very good with a spoon (Zoe is very meticulous!) Both sleep very well from 7pm to 7am, and Zadie occasionally wakes up at 10pm and cries for a few min and goes back to sleep. They have 1 nap starting around noon, Zoe sleeps for 1.5 hours, and Zadie can sleep up to 3 hours. Zoe doesn't seem to need as much sleep.

They are starting to play with each other and giggle a lot, they haven't ganged up on us yet, but I feel they are plotting something.

Thankgiving dinner accident

Thankgiving dinner accident
Originally uploaded by Drumtech

Zadie's Thanksgiving dinner accident. No ER trip needed.

Sneaky Zack

At some point in the late afternoon while the whole family was playing around the house, Zack came up to us and said, "Guys, don't come in the family room. It's a surprise." So we all kept to other parts of the house, but were reminded by Zack a few more times. I was curious as to what he was up to, but he sounded excited. Well, at some point we needed to come into the kitchen which was near the family room, and discovered what he was up to. Zack had found his bag of Halloween candy (which we had put out of reach so we could ration out candy to him) and was just sorting it and eating in the family room! I guess that was a surprise alright.

Upon feeling he needed to explain things further, Zack held up a small bag of M&Ms and said "I was feeling a little sick, but these M&Ms will make me feel better"

Evil pumpkin man

Evil pumpkin man
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Sent from my iPhone


While the twins napped, Jen and I and Zack created our "Property Defender" pumpkin. I don't think the girls wanted to come out and see it. See them standing in the doorway?
:-)

Pirate Plans

The setting: a dinner table with the entire family eating.

Me: Zack, what are you doing?
Zack: I'm digging for treasure in my belly-button.
Me: Um...oh?
Zack: Yeah. At school today I was digging for treasure in my nose!

The X factor's special night

Zack is the X factor, a 3 1/2 year old who can make or break an evening at home with the twins. Tonight I was a single parent of 3 through dinner and bedtime and Zack was the most cooperative he's EVER been. I need to write the events of tonight down, because it may never happen again and I want to remember how it was.

He played nicely by himself while I got dinner ready, he ate all his dinner given to him, he cleared his place voluntarily, he played with his sisters and made them laugh, he played quietly by himself while I got the babies bathed and into bed. He then took interest in my iPhone and played around with it (side note: it's amazing to see a 3 year old instantly pick up on how to use their UI) for a while with me guiding him. The highlights were playing all the ringtones, and taking pictures all over the house with the camera (I should post his photo set somewhere). He then got his pajamas on all by himself (which required him bringing in a stepstool from the other room to reach the top pajama drawer in the dresser. he also picked a pj top that is really too small for him, so I'm baffled how he even got it on). He then CLEANED UP THE ENTIRE FAMILY ROOM BY HIMSELF WITHOUT BEING ASKED so that we wouldn't step on toys while we played a new game he invented called the "Pajama Dance". After much dancing, he brushed his teeth by himself and settled into bed with minimal fuss. Wow.

I told him he was so good tonight, he could get any special privilege tomorrow. His choice? He wants to eat Mac and Cheese in the car on the way to school. And it shall be done...

Laundry day

Laundry day
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Sent from my iPhone

Zack's laundry philosophy

Zack: "Mommy, I want to wear this shirt everyday"
Mom: "But we need to wash it"
Zack: "I don't want you to wash it. Maybe we can just wipe it a lot! When a bell rings, maybe we can leave it on the counter and then come back and wipe it some more."

First day of school

First day of school
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Sent from my iPhone

Big brother back seat driver

Big brother back seat driver
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Sent from my iPhone

9 year anniversary cake

9 year anniversary cake
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Chosen by our 3 year old.
Sent from my iPhone

Baby squirrel rescue

Baby squirrel rescue
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Sent from my iPhone

Zoe losing her morning nap

As further proof that the twins really are different from each other, Zoe has dropped her morning nap before she's turned 1. She also wakes up before Zadie. So it just seems like she doesn't need as much sleep as Zadie. Zadie was the fussy one when trying to go to sleep swaddled as a newborn, but ironically, she's done very well with her naps. So our stretch of keeping the twins on the same schedule has finally broken. We will try and get Zadie to lose her morning nap within 4 weeks to realign them and get them ready for daycare. But in the meantime, it's gonna be hard with the girls being on different sleep schedules from 10am to 3pm. Zadie naps at 10am and 1:30pm, and Zoe naps at noon.

Zack's a Fish, Zadie's a Dog, and Zoe's a...Raspberry

Zack turned a corner in swimming class two weeks ago, where he became very comfortable holding his breath and keeping his head underwater for a while. This lead him to improve by leaps and bounds in class since he's not worried about his head staying down. We even went diving for things on the bottom of the pool with him, and while i helped him go down and come back up, he couldn't get enough of it! Now the problem is keeping him swimming on the surface because he wants to be underwater now.

Zadie is the master walker now and can walk around the house without falling down. She has taken a fascination to the dog water and food bowls, and will grab food and try and eat it or splash her hands in the water if we aren't careful, or even go after dog chew bones. The dog doesn't seem to mind, but...uh...we do.

And Zoe has been turning on her best raspberry imitation over the past few weeks. Zack now calls her the Putt-Putt Monster for the sounds she makes with her lips. She seems very happy letting out the bronx cheers whenever she feels like it.

Tooth count:
Zadie: 7
Zoe: 2

More bath fun

More bath fun
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Sent from my iPhone

Rub a dub dub

Rub a dub dub
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Sent from my iPhone

Fun at the park

Fun at the park
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Sent from my iPhone

Mohawk from side

Mohawk from side
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Crazy hair day

Crazy hair day
Originally uploaded by Drumbone

Zackasaurus

Zack was asked what he would say if he were a dinosaur for a class project. Well, instead of "Rrrawwrr!", he took it as a cue to explain the answer in detail, which the teacher recorded. Here's what Zackasaurus said:

"T-Rex. He looks like a dinosaur. He is green. They are all different colors of T-Rex. I am a red T-Rex. I'm a big T-Rex. I'm smooth and I have sharp teeth. I eat meat and other dinosaurs. I live in a T-Rex house - it's just a plain house. I have dinner and have snack - that's all. I fit in big, tall houses. I'm gonna make tall tall houses up to the sky and the volcano will be next to the other T-Rex's house. I have 65 neighbors - some speak Spanish and some speak English. I have an owie right here - but my owie on my knee is going away. I would have other T-Rex friends, but I'm not a dinosaur. I'm just a person. I'm a T-Rex. I'm all done."

Zadie's first steps

She took her first 2 steps yesterday and I actually got it on video! I need to capture it and upload it and will do so hopefully later today

Zoe walks and Zadie talks

I've been lax in my blogging duties lately and need to catch up. The biggest news is that as of a week ago Zoe is walking. On the day she turned 11 months old, she took her first set of unaided steps. This is interesting because Zack did the same on the day he turned 10 months, and Zoe was born a month early, so Zoe and Zack have started walked at physically the exact same time. I wish we had good video, but she never seems to want to walk when we have the camera ready. and Zadie, not to be outdone, now waves and says "Hi" when new people come into the room, she's also babbling a very wide range of sounds and noises, and pointing to things as she says them. The interesting thing about Zadie is that she had been consistantly a month behind Zoe in doing things for the first time (except for getting teeth), but at around 10 months she hit a development spurt within a two week period to catch up to Zoe and even pass her on things like verbal development.

This week Zadie is super-fussy, perhaps because tooth #5 is coming in, and Zoe's new favorite activity is putting toys and things into and taking toys out of my mouth. Is she trying to feed me?

Toilet Fun

I wish I had a picture of what happened - it was both cute and shocking - but if I did, it would have meant that I wasn't doing my job as a parent in stopping what I saw as soon as possible. I came home around 6:30 right when Jen was leaving so in the transition as I was tending to Zack, the girls crawled off down the hall. I then heard a sound coming from the bathroom that sounded like the dog was drinking water out of the toilet loudly. I didn't think much of it until I saw the dog in the living room and realized the girls were doing something. When I went into the bathroom I saw Zoe and Zadie both happily standing at the toilet bowl each with one hand on the rim and one hand smacking the water in the bowl both with huge happy grins on their faces. Fortunately the water in the toilet was clean, but they both earned themselves instant baths. And we need to make sure Zadie especially doesn't think to try and tip herself in to get a drink. It's time for latches on the toilet seat! Funny, Zack never was interested in the toilet and we never needed to do anything to thwart him when he was a toddler.

Ultimate Time-Out

I've got to keep track of the bad as well as the good. Zack has seemed to turn a corner in not behaving well. Yesterday after a great day of fun, he didn't want to leave our friends house, was warned numerous times, then hit his mom and once strapped in the car, hit his sister next to him, and lost all privileges for the day. He was put to bed (against his will) at a new record: 5:45pm. After much screaming he passed out for a while. He was able to wake up, regroup and eat dinner and get ready for bed with mom around 8:30pm and earn back his book-reading privilege. This morning went well, but he seemed to break down again when I dropped him off at daycare, which he hasn't done for a very long time. We'll see how it goes, hopefully he can behave better for his grandparents who arrive for 2 weeks tomorrow.

First attempt at harmony

Curses to my camera for cutting out too early (or perhaps for some, not early enough)

Family at the Gym

Here another video of the family at the My Gym in Palo Alto (great place BTW!)

Time-outs a plenty

A new record for time-outs was made tonight. A whopping 6-minute timeout was earned by Zack along with a revocation of book-reading privees and an early bedtime for multiple infractions that included spitting milk, multiple screaming, kicking dad, throwing bath toys, and generally just being a frumpy face. All of this meant an early bedtime for mom too...

Where do we sleep?

Zack has a fever and went to sleep early in his bed. At some point he then got up and relocated to our bed and Tobey followed. Now that we are ready for bed, there doesn't appear to be any room left...

Zadie dances the pole

For the first...and last...time.

Hidden night vision twins cam

So what do twins actually do in their crib at night after we put them to bed and walk away? I tried to hide myself in the corner of the room with the lights out to capture what they do, it's pretty interesting. I was hidden for the most part but had to come out a few times to rescue the pacifiers.

How a 3-year-old thinks

Zack swung his stuffed animal cat named Polly around and it hit his sister Zadie.
I said sternly "Zack! Be careful! Don't hit your sister with Polly. Polly has hard shoes that could really hurt her." Zadie didn't seem to mind as it was just the soft part of the cat that hit her.

Zack said, "OK." So he went and got a smaller stuffed animal and walked over to Zadie and whacked her hard across the back with the toy. Zadie cried in shock and pain, and before I could say anything to Zack, he held up the smaller toy to me and said, "See, this one is soft!"

I guess I need to be more specific in my instructions to him in the future...

ZackyCam

Zack steps behind the camera for the first time and records his first video. I think he's getting the hang of it, but for those prone to motion sickness be warned, there are some jittery scenes...

9 month checkup

The girls got their 9 month visit today. No shots! Horray:
Zoe:
Weight-17 3/4 lbs, 30%
Length-28 1/4 in, 75%
Head- 70%
Teeth- 2 bottom just coming thru

Zadie
Weight-17 1/2 lbs, 30%
Length-27 1/2 in, 50%
Head- 70%
Teeth- 4, her top 2 just came thru

Both girls are crawling quickly, standing on their own, walking with hand support and we think any day either one of them will take their first unaided step.
Zadie has been very very chatty lately and the baby babble from both is getting very cute. I'm going to try and record more of that audio.
Zadie is a great sleeper, she goes right down for naps and sleeps soundly, the only problem is that sometimes she gets hungry around 4am and if we go into the room and she sees us, it is all over. She'll throw a fit if we leave.
Zoe still is erratic in sleeping, she would rather entertain herself in the crib doing new flexibility moves rather than sleep, and she gets about an hour less of sleep a day than Zadie.
Their personalities are still different. Zoe is very interested in things and Zadie is very interested in people and faces. They sometimes wrestle, but it is usually just Zoe rolling over or grabbing Zadie, and Zadie doesn't do much to respond except by just crying. I have a feeling that will certainly change over time. Overall they are two very happy girls!

Learning the Wave

The girls have fun showing off their waves today. Check out the video:

Family Hike

When the going got long and rough on Yosemite, I had to hike with all 3 kids, here's how I managed the additional 80 pounds of kids.

SciFi Story

Zack made up a place and a little description while talking with his grandparents tonight. It goes a little something like this (summarized): There is a planet that is far far away called Nascoplat that has a blue sun and red sky and yellow water. The people are called Jibber-jabbers and they make silly noises. However there are no trains, cars, planes or boats on Nascoplat.
We were going to discover their mode of transportation, but then Zack's attention turned elsewhere. We may never know how the Jibber-jabbers got from point A to point B...

Baby signing time

We've started to watch some DVDs some friends gave us because the girls can start responding now, and guess who is addicted to the videos? Zack! Zack didn't seem to remember the hand signs he learned 2 years ago, but was very attentive to the video. He'd even correct some of the kids in the video that make signs slightly different than the correct way.
Zoe is already signing "milk" and Zadie is starting to catch on.
Also for those of you waiting to hear, Zoe hasn't taken her first steps yet, although she is constantly on her feet now and can free-stand. Only a matter of days...will she take her first steps before turning 9 months old a week from now?

Bottle Math

We go through a lot of formula now. The oversized formula cans at Costco have 1Kg of formula powder and each 8oz bottle requires nearly 35g, so that gets us 30 bottles per can. However with twins that drink at least 3 bottles a day each, that means a can only lasts us 5 days. So $110 of formula that I just spent on 4 jumbo cans is only going to last us 3 weeks. That's about $35/week on formula for twins at just under $1 per bottle, which seems like a lot, but I'm sure Jen would say that it is totally worth it not to have to breastfeed them anymore.

As a side note, I have now figured out how to bottle feed both twins at the same time. Failed attempts include: having both sit in high chairs (sitting upright isn't the most comfortable for them), having Zack feed one of them (he's got an attention span of 10 seconds), and feeding them separately (causing one to throw a fit while waiting). The trick so far is to sit on the floor with a baby on the outside of each of my thighs leaning back. This way they can't see each other and get distracted, and I look like some crazy type of gunslinger with upside-down bottles at each hip.

First Cooperation?

I really need to have the video camera nearby. So, one of the funniest things to watch with twins is the battle over a single pacifier. If they are sitting near each other, one will pull it out of the other's mouth with a "pop" and put it in her mouth. Then the other will reach out, grab it and and pull it back out with a "pop" and put it back into her mouth. This continues back and forth, and usually (and surprisingly) without either one getting too upset. Well this morning we had another pacifier battle, but this time after a while, Zoe took it out of her own mouth and reached out and gave it back to Zadie. It seemed as she thought this was more of a game rather than a posession battle. Is this the first step in cooperative play?

First Day Swimming for the Girls

Today we took the circus to the pool and started lessons for all 3. Zack gets a private lesson at the same time Jen and I both have the twins in a "mommy and me" swim class. Well, both girls did very well, even better than Zack's first time at the same age of 8 months. They each went completely underwater at least a half-dozen times and remerged just fine. Zoe would give a concentrated look of disapproval at times, but Zadie would quickly go back to grinning ear-to-ear. Zack worked on diving head first today, and it was very cute to be in the pool with the girls and look over to see him standing on the edge of the pool in a diving position with arms outstretched waiting for his teacher to help him dive in head first.

Zoe just pulled herself up to standing all by herself today. I think she'll take her first steps when she turns 9 months. And we'll probably have to get a helmet...

Active Imagination

Zack was in rare form after dinner tonight and was excitedly explaining how he wants to be Superman/Batman and fly around. I recorded the end of his story, and you can hear it by pushing the play button on the GarageBand podcast widget at Tales from the Crib. If you think he sounds excited here, the first half that I didn't record was even more dramatic, and very cute.

Crawling and Teeth!

Boy, it's been a while, but the updates will be coming more frequently now I promise. Zoe has been crawling for a month! She is an active little one, and will be skipping the chubby-baby phase because she is moving around so soon. She started crawling right when she turned 7 months, which is 2.5 months earlier than Zack. She's also standing well and taking some steps with assistance. Zack walked at 10 months, I think she will walk at 9 months (and she was even born a month early)

Zadie is now crawling too now, except she mostly goes backwards. But she got her first 2 teeth about 3 weeks ago! She's been great at eating solid food and taking naps. She's a little more chubby than Zoe, but that may melt away when she starts crawling forward.

How I woke up today

All the kids woke up early (before 6:30) so I fed them all and brought them all into the living room to chill and watch 30 min of TV while I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up to a punch in the face from Zack. Apparently he he didn't want me sleeping anymore. So he got an instant time-out. But after the time-out when I asked him about what he did and why, I said "It's never ok to hit anyone in the face". And his reply was "except for when they say it is ok". I guess he thought I gave him the permission at some point earlier. It's one of those things that I end up laughing about later in the day, although it didn't seem so funny at the time.

Zack's First Auto Accident

Yesterday was an eventful morning. Zack and mom were driving to school in the minivan in the carpool lane when the two cars in front of them collided. Jen stopped in time but the car behind her didn't and they got rear-ended. Fortunately no one was hurt at the time (although the whiplash took 24 hours to set in and is now quite bothersome for Jen) and what is more amazing is that the car sustained no damage at all. The bumpers aligned and did their trick, and the back gate of the minivan still works just fine. Horray for the Toyota Sienna!
Zack's reaction: Upon turning the car and the DVD player off after being hit, he simply said, "Turn the movie back on!"

What was even more odd about this situation was I was on the scene within a minute in the other car completely by accident (no pun intended). I took the highway to work (which i never do) because i had an errand that morning, I got on the highway and saw it immediately start to slow down. I thought, oh boy, there must be an accident. Little did I know that Jen and Zack were involved in it a half-mile ahead of me. Jen then called my phone telling me what had just happened, and then a minute later, I passed by them and pulled over and stop to help. I'm glad Jen called me and alerted me, because that would have been incredibly strange to pass by the accident unknowingly and suddenly see my wife, child, and car involved.

Super Duper

Zack has decided today that his new name is Super Duper. And he's referring to himself in the third-person. He's got a pet elephant that he has renamed Super Doo-pah to go on adventures around the house with Super Duper.

Zadie and Zoe got their first taste of solid food today! Zadie looked like she's been waiting for it all her live and took to the spoon very easily. Zoe was good too but a little hesitant.
BTW, they are now 6 months and they aren't swaddled anymore. Zadie goes to sleep very easily, and surprisingly it is Zoe that has to cry it out for 15 min or so at night.

Zadie Rolled Over!

Just the other day, Zadie rolled over, and back again! It took her a month and a half longer than Zoe, but she got there. Zadie is now noticably bigger than Zadie, which I attribute to the face that Zeo is mostly sleeping through the night, and Zadie still gets 2 big feedings in the night.

I want to see the bimbo play

I was giving Zack and the girls a music appreciation day by playing some old-school Phish (yikes, is the mid-90's old school now?). Zack was listening to the song Character Zero off Billy Breathed. After the song was over he starting singing the chorus as "I want to see the bimbo play". I couldn't contain myself, too funny. For those of you who aren't familiar with the song, the chorus is "I ought to see the Man Mulcahey"

Zack 3 year checkup

I've been meaning to write a 2.5 year update for Zack, and then whammo, he turned 3. I'll give the qualitative stuff shortly, but for now here are the numbers.

Zacky Stacky
Height: 39.5 inches (90%)
Weight: 37.5 pounds (90%)

So for the family, this means that he is a 4T, not a 3T, in clothing size.

So Zack, while large for his age is at least well-proportioned. :-)
At the doctor's, he got his blood pressure taken for the first time, and when he was told it was like blowing up a balloon on his arm, he seemed at ease.
He also got a hep B shot which he quickly recovered from when he got the bandaid. Overall very healthy and happy!

Zoe slept through the night!

First time she went from 7pm to 7am! Actually she probably fell asleep around 8pm because she was crying for quite a bit, but she lasted all this time on having taken just 4 oz during her last 6pm feeding. I'd rejoyce more but the fact that Zadie still wakes up twice means that we don't gain any sleep with Zoe's feat, but it is a step in the right direction!

Zacky Einstein

Who needs Baby Einstein videos when Zack is more than willing to play with baby toys in front of the babies?

Zack comments on love

Check out video of zack at the coolest new parenting site Maya's Mom.

And then check out this hilarious video response to Zack's video

4 MonthTwins Update

Wow, I'm really behind on the updates, so here comes a whole bunch.

While the twins just turned 5 months old, here are the results of their doctor trip just after 4 months.
Zoe:
Weight: 13lb 2oz (50%)
Length: 24.75 in (75%)
Head: 40 7/8 in (50%)

Zadie:
Weight: 13lb (50%)
Length: 25.5 in (80%)
Head: 41 2/8 in (55%)

We thought at the time that they measured Zadie incorrectly since Zoe always looks taller, but as the month has gone on, it really is Zadie who is growing faster and bigger than Zoe. She's been making up for lost time and for being the younger sister.

Zoe rolled over at Xmas! Exactly at the 4 month mark just before xmas, Zoe rolled herself over from her back to her tummy. Since then she does it very frequently and will almost always end up on her tummy when given the chance. We haven't seen her roll back to her back yet. Zoe also is doing very well with picking up and manipulating things. She clearly had made the connection between what she wants and what her hands can do. She can pull out a pacifier and wave it around and look at it, but can't quite get it back in yet. Zoe's skin is still sensitive, someties she'll have red blotches on her face after rubbing it or after nursing.

Zadie isn't rolling over yet, but she is able to keep herself in a sitting position, wheras Zoe cannot. Zadie is also very talkative and excitable. She smiles constantly and really fixates on faces and other people. She surprises us with how far away she can recognize people and objects and react to them.

For sleeping, we've kept them swaddled and are only now starting to relax that restriction. We've started sleep training them, which means that we have set times for naps and meals, and are adjusting them to that schedule. It has been a breeze for Zoe who now goes down at 7pm and will wake up only once before 7am. Zadie's been a bit more tough, having to cry it out for 15 min or so at 7pm, and then needs to eat twice before wakeup. Zadie also cannot comfort herself unless she's swaddled, so that transition may take a while.

Less than a month left for breast feeding, we are trying to make it to 6 mo.

The twins are more like sisters rather than twins, since they are showing different personalitities. If I were to guess now at 4 months as to how they may develop here it goes:
Zoe is very interested in observing how things work and manipulating things, so she like Zack has a little bit of a mechanical interest. She's a bit shy however, we call her our delicate little flower since she has sensitive skin and new environments and situations can be alarming to her.
Zadie is a people person and is more interested in people than anything else. She is very comfortable with new situations and smiles at everyone. She is very vocal and like to make many noises. She may turn out to be more extroverted than Zoe. She's the one who will get herself and her sister into trouble as teenagers...

The interesting thing is that I saw some of these traits (which i would classify as "nurture" rather than "nature") at birth, such as during their first week, if there was a loud noise, Zoe would be the one who would jump, and Zadie wouldn't be bothered. It makes you wonder what characteristics are nature vs. nurture.
So to recap: Zoe is more interested in objects than people, and Zadie is more interested in people than objects. They are starting to discover each other and interact, so we'll have more cute stories to come.

First Word Read

For those who are keeping track at home, Zack's experiment with underwear thru the night was not a success. And what was worse is that his accident didn't wake him up, so he finally woke up cold and wet. But we've done well since with dry diapers at night and will try again soon.

Anyway, Zack identified his first word a few weeks ago. It's not CAT or DOG or CAR. I guess as a sign of the times, it came about as he was looking over the shoulder of one of us on the computer, he pointed to the upper left of the screen and said "Google". Yup, there it is, Google is his first word identified by himself.