Pictures are worth a thousand words...

Presents

Chelsea and Colman are wonderful presents that we will enjoy "unwrapping" for many years.

They are growing so quickly. We are constantly seeing them do new things. Parenting is so amazing to actually see a new skill develop right before your eyes.

As for what is going on in the present, Chelsea is learning to pull herself up. Carol was giving Chelsea a bath a week after Thanksgiving. (They take baths in the regular tub sitting in an inflatable duck tub.) While Carol was putting soap on the washcloth, Chelsea reached up and grabbed the frame of the shower door and started pulling herself up! Carol gently but quickly pushed her back down since she was sitting in water. Since then, Chelsea loves trying to pull herself up. We don't have a lot of things that she can pull herself up on, so she likes to grab your hands and try. She has even started showing signs of walking . She has started saying la la la la and ma ma ma. If we could only teach her to say fa la la la la, it would be just be as good as Merry Christmas. She it still army crawling, but looks close to getting the full crawl down. Look out!

Colman is always saying new sounds. His latest is an ng sound. He often sits and quietly talks to himself while playing with a toy. He has such a sweet spirit. He does get wound up and bursts out with a screech or a babble or sometimes just a grunt/growl. Colman LOVES to eat. He opens his mouth wide open and gets excited with each bite. They have a bottle 4 times a day and eat solids 3 times a day (with 2 of the bottle feedings). They are down to 2 naps a day - the solids have helped with that transition. We are slowly acclimating them to the harsh reality of a life without naps. As far as moving, just when we thought Colman was not at all interested in crawling, Carol walked in to get him up from a nap and found him on his hands and knees last Wednesday. Since then, he will occasionally get on his hands and knees for a brief moment and then goes back on his belly. He does like to walk when you hold his hands. But hopefully he will learn to crawl first, which at the current rate, might not be for a while.

By the way, for documentation purposes, they had their 6 mos checkup and all was well. Stats: Colman - 17 lbs even, 27.5 inches; Chelsea - 15lbs 15 ozs, 27inches. We think Colman's 4 mos length must be wrong, otherwise he only grew half an inch! Their method is not exactly scientific - while on paper, make a pencil mark at the head, straighten a leg and make another mark at the heal. Either way, they are growing and healthy and immunized.

We are looking forward to CnC's first Christmas!

Photo Shoot

We finally got dressed up and took the kids out for a photo shoot. We went to Sears. It was a little like a drive thru experience - snap a few shots, order the photo package with biggie size options, and away we go. The nice part was that we received the pictures on a CD so we have all rights. Chelsea was a little out of it and not so quick with a smile, though the photographer made all kinds of sounds and faces. Colman liked the noises and was quick with a smile. By the end, Chelsea was loosening up, as you can see.

Thanksgiving 2008

For thanksgiving, we took the kids on a long road trip - 11 hours! We visited Doug's brother in Texas. The kids did great in the car ride. They would fuss right before it was time to eat, which they sometimes do at home too. The only challenge came in warming their bottles. So we had to stop to get a cup of hot water to warm the bottles in. We would just change their diaper at that point. Although the first time we waited til after they ate and ended up pulling onto a dirt road to change their diapers. You do what you have to do!

It was a fun time spent with family. In attendance were Doug's parents, Joanne's mother, her 2 sisters and nephew along with a couple of Joanne's friends. It was a full house. We chowed down almost a complete 20 lbs turkey with all the fixins.

Chelsea was battling diarhhea and diaper rash before the trip. It worsened during the trip; she started getting open sores. Poor little girl! We desperately searched the internet for tips and came across Triple Paste diaper rash creme, which many people recommended. We were also going to try Maalox, which works well when mixed with another diaper rash creme. But the Triple Paste worked like a charm. It got better almost overnight. Now it is the treatment of choice in the Goodwin home. I highly recommend it to all moms and would be moms.

So Thanksgiving 2008 was a great success. We are thankful for CnC, family, friends, good road trips and coming home.


Hanging with Grandma

Playing Nintendo with cousin Richard

Chelsea working the remote control

Dressed up for the road trip

Lovie

With turning 6 mos old, we introduced the kids to a bed time lovie. They were given as gifts from uncle Burnie, aunt Kim, Kaelyn and Conner. Colman seems to enjoy the lion lovie. He will cuddle with it and put his arm out for it. Chelsea has not shown as much affection for her bear lovie. She has her thumb and that seems enough for now. It is so sweet to see CnC cuddled with their lovie, if only by accident for now.

Luv the bumbo

Everyone loves the bumbo. It allows the kids to sit and watch Baby Einstein DVDs or play with toys. We started putting the kids in the bumbo when they were 3 mos old. Chelsea always liked it least because she likes to see everything going on around her and does not like feeling confined. (Potential control freak) If Colman is to her left, she watches him and tries to grab his bib or blanket or touch his face. He will sit, watch the video and suck on his fingers for quite some time. It is fun watching him react to the DVD. He smiles when the animal faces show up on the screen. There is a green dino puppet that suddenly sticks out his tongue and says "Blah". It startles Colman every time and he jerks his head back slightly. He startles quite easily. Getting Colman out of the bumbo is funny. He has got such chunky thighs, the middle piece gets stick between his legs.

Good times in the bumbo.

But now the kids are sitting on their own so well. Chelsea will only stay in it for a short amount of time. But it is still a way to contain her since she is starting to army crawl. (more on that later) Colman is sitting up on his own like a champ. Still, on occassion, when he is tired, we will stick him in it. But he also rebels against the confinement of the bumbo. They will make their body straight and lift their bum up. Neither one has yet to escape.

So long good times in the bumbo.

Cutie Pies

Milestones for Chelsea

Chelsea is once again onto new challenges. She has started sitting up. She can sit for a long time, almost 20 minutes, but still falls over occasionally. She has the best posture in the family. She likes to pivot around in circles on her tummy as well, so she can check out all the toys and see what is going on in the room. She still enjoys standing. We have started to put her in the packnplay when left in the room alone. She moves around so we can't leave her alone. She doesn't crawl but manages to push forward or backward with her feet and arms.

Chelsea's first tooth has broken through on her bottom gums. She does not fuss but has been drooling a lot for the past couple of months. It is good timing as they are about to start on solids soon for the big 6 month celebration.

Colman's milestones

Colman is sitting up for a few seconds, but does not have a lot of stamina yet. We hope he becomes stronger in the next couple of weeks. He has outgrown the baby tub and we are looking forward to bathing them in a regular bathtub. He likes to be on his belly and kick his legs and swing his arms. So he has a strong back, but does not seem to have the balance to keep himself up for long.
Colman is very vocal. He babbles a lot. He finds a sound or skill that he learns and practices a lot. His latest sound is da-da-da. Sometimes, he even says daddy. He also likes to stick his tongue out and curl it over his lip. The best is when he puts it all together - kicking, saying da-da, then sticking the tongue out. Quite a bag of tricks.

Big month for Doug

October has turned out to be a big month for Doug. In summary:

• Doug turned 40 - woohoo
• Doug's computer hard drive died - boohoo
• Doug got a foosball table - yahoo
• Doug was on a panel of reviewers for grant proposals submitted to a national funding group - big to-do

Turning 40 was a bit uneventful. We went to Atl to see one of Carol's cousins passing through.

As for the computer hard drive, nothing could be salvaged and all was lost. Did he have a backup... that's a good question. He does now! But God's grace was sufficient and Doug walked through it with strength and a sense of humor.

The foosball table is very nice and farely brand new. It was a big 40th birthday present. It was played once by the owner when he played with Doug. In college, when Doug was not studying, he was playing foosball with his friend Burnie, kind of like a PE class. They did not get credit, but they did get pretty good at "the sport."

Doug was also in Washington DC for 3 days the last week in October. It was an intense 3 days. He met with several other people to critique grant proposals. It was helpful information to be on the other side of the process and should prove handy for hisown future submissions.

Exersaucer Fun

Thanks to Jake Johnson, we have gotten a lot of wonderful hand me down toys. One of them is the Exersaucer. The kids enjoy it and Chelsea has honed in her manual dexterity with it, but it wears her out. Colman thinks the toys taste good.

Another fun weekend in the big city

We had another successful trip to Atlanta. There was much to celebrate. It was Doug and Hadabuhjee's birthdays and Aunt Sara was in town. She is Carol's cousin. Sara is driving cross country in an RV and moving to Hawaii. She is a cool Aunt. We are sad she will be so far away, but we are glad she got to meet the twins and of course, look forward to visiting in Hawaii!

Chelsea wore Haduhbujee out.

The kids did very well. We have changed their schedule to 2 long naps and one catnap a day. So they are used to being up longer and getting shorter naps, which allowed for more play time with everyone. And they are sleeping better in their carseats so a walk in the stroller helps lull them into a nap, which helped because we took them to a restaurant for the first time this weekend. Fortunately, we had our own room so the crying would be a little less bothersome. Both kids were in need of some sleep. Colman fell asleep with a ride in the stroller, but Chelsea was a little more strung out. She did fall asleep in mom's arms so Carol ate and held Chelsea at the same time. Mom's have to multi task.

We also got to have a short visit with Rebecca and Jake Johnson. Jake keeps the kids hooked up with toys and clothes for Colman. (We did not take the shirt off Jake's back. He was messy after lunch and in the process of being cleaned up.) In the picture, Jake is crying because Colman was sitting on his arm. Colman is no lightweight, so we don't blame Jake for being unhappy. Jake - Thanks for the toys and sorry about the arm!

Just for Dad

Doug is having a bad day; his whole hard drive died. So the kids wanted to say they love him. Chelsea is checking that her name is on there.

Got spitup?

In case you were wondering why Colman always has a bib on and a blanket under him, he is the spitup master. One may be covered with a towel, burp cloth and bib, but Colman manages to find the piece of unprotected fabric and leave his mark. Very few can claim they have held him and come out unscaithed. Look closely at the one of Colman in the bumbo, it is an action shot.

As for Chelsea, she is a drooler, so we leave the bib on for her as well.