Story Time

Carol has been giving the babies story time to help them enjoy looking at books and to learn to sit still in one place. But it is a little like jail since they have to sit in the bumbos. It is proving fruitful, Chelsea is starting to flip open the little peekaboo picture doors in one of the books with her index finger.

Chelsea's Baby Doll

For Christmas, Uncle Mike (Carol's brother) got Chelsea her first baby doll. We hope Chelsea will enjoy the doll for many years. We thought it would be fun for Chelsea when she is older to see how close she was in size to her bitty baby.

Self feeding

The kids are slowly learning to feed themselves. They have been able to hold their bottles for about 3 weeks now. Chelsea can even palm the bottle with one hand. What a great new found freedom for mom and dad.
The Gerber puffs took a little getting used to. We are not sure if it was the flavor or the texture they did not like at first, but they are big fans now of Peach and Sweet Potato. However, they are still not proficient at eating them on their own. They have gotten to the point where they bring a puff to to their mouths with their hands, but they don't know to let go of it so they end up pulling it away from their mouths. And then just throw it down. When you hold it in your hand for them to pick up, Colman just brings his mouth down to your hand to get the puff. Funny little guy.
We have also been showing them the joy of self feeding with a food mesh contraption. Chelsea loves it. She will chomp on it for a long time. Colman only chomps for a few minutes and throws it on the ground. We are mopping the floors pretty regularly.
So it will be a long road til they are true do it yourselfers, but that's ok if it means being our sweet babies for a little longer.

Colman is crawling

Colman can't wait til it is warm enough to play outside.

Colman likes to play with his crib toy instead of napping.

Colman has his game face on. Grrrr....

Colman is officially crawling today. Amazing what 24 hours can do in a baby's life. Yesterday, he would take a few strides and cry the whole time because it was too much work! But today, he and Chelsea were crawling all over the family room.

It has been a long month getting him down this road. He has been wanting to move since Christmas. He was slowly figuring out how to get from sitting to a crawling stance. Then he would flop on his belly and kick/flail. And eventually start whining because he was not getting any where. (Don't know where the line is from crying to whining, but my kids have definately crossed it.)

He loves when someone holds his hands to help him stand up and walk around the room. But who can do that all day? So whenever he would be sitting alone, he would get onto his hands and knees but drop on his belly. We would try to show him the movements of crawling by moving his arms and legs for him. He would just cry; he wanted to be walking. This slow process has lasted for a couple weeks.

Last week, he discovered he could go from his hands and knees to a sitting position. It was such a wonderful surprise to walk in and find him sitting up in his crib. Then this past Monday, as Carol was secretly video taping him playing in his crib, she caught him stand for the first time by himself. (I have been trying to figure out how to download a large MTS file onto the google website. I even tried to convert the file to an AVI file, but only the sound was converted. So due to technical difficulties, the video will be shown at a later date.)

There were so many times when he would be on his hands and knees and look like he was going to crawl and then flop on his belly. If someone was around, he would moan/cry because all he wanted was someone to help him up and walk. And he would smile as soon as he was standing. There has been a lot of whining over the last couple of weeks. So mom and dad are very happy that Colman can now crawl and feel independant.

We think he may try to walk soon. He likes to stand and not hold onto anything. But when he falls, he is a cryer so no rush there. For now, we will enjoy and celebrate his new found mobility.

Give Chelsea a hand

Last Friday, Chelsea had a monumental day. She figured out how to shake a rattle to intentionally make noise and clap! (It truly is the little things we take for granted but is so exciting when done by your babies for the first time.)

She picked up a little rattle from the toy box in the afternoon and just started shaking it. She moved it from hand to hand, shook it again and then she looked at Carol with a big grin. That is one of the best parts of parenthood - seeing their faces light up when they discover something new. She beams every time she shakes it.

Then on Friday night, while mom and dad were getting ready for the bedtime ritual and with the Baby Einstein DVD playing, Chelsea was by herself for a few seconds. Doug and Carol both walked into the room, to see Chelsea sitting on the floor. She looked up and started clapping her hands. It did not register what she was doing, at first she looked like she was waving her arms around. But then we realized she was clapping them. We were so excited. She did it a couple more times that night. She does not do it often, but we were able to catch it on camera. We hope to catch the rattling soon as well. Check it out:
www.google.com/s2/sharing/stuff?user=107614506122395768240

Season of Change

The kids are going through such major changes; they keep mom and dad on their toes. We are having to baby proof the place since Chelsea is crawling all over. It is anyone's guess when Colman will crawl, but that is ok. Having one kid to chase is good enough for now.

We have bought a giant playyard fence to keep them enclosed. Chelsea is not a big fan, but she will play contentedly in little spurts. Colman is ok, so long as he has a toy within his grasp or he is in the exersaucer. Chelsea will pull up on it and they will play with the same toys. When Chelsea wants to get out, she pulls herself up at the gate, stands there and cries. We have another gate at the kitchen/foyer entry which Chelsea enjoys pulling up on.

Colman is also probably around 20 lbs, so we have moved the kids into converter car seats. So long Graco Snug Ride and Double Snap'n'Go. They have served us well. After a lot of research, we got the Joovy Groove Double Umbrella stroller in lime green. However, since it is an umbrella stroller, we feel it may not have the stamina for walking around the neighborhood or the park, so we are looking into a double jogger stroller. We are leaning toward the Tike Tech Trax360. Any input would be appreciated.

We are also starting other baby proofing around the house. Electric outlet covers, stairway gates, cabinet locks, baby straight jackets. The list goes on.

New Years' Eve

The night of New Year's Eve 2008, we stretched the babies' schedule to the fullest extent. We normally feed them a bottle around 6pm and put them in bed. This time, we put them in their carseats and went out on the town. We went to 2 different parties and finally headed home at 11:30pm. When one kid was up, the other was asleep. They took turns throughout the night. And when the one child was up, they were so sweet and friendly. We are learning when we expect the worse, they are good and when we expect good behavior, they are crazy. They are already defiant!

Before the evening festivities, we took them to Sam's Warehouse. That is becoming everyone's favorite place to shop. They have buggies that will fit 2 kids and wide aisles, so little hands have less chance to grab stuff. We turn the buggie around and push from the front of the cart so that CnC can see where they are going. They love it. Sometimes, they even hold hands.