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