Feeding Cereal 101

As I mentioned in the last post, our latest news is that the girls are beginning their journey towards becoming foodies. They've moved onto Oatmeal this week and have taken to it very well. I'd like to commemorate this achievement by looking back at their humble beginnings - the first taste of cereal. I'll let the pictures do the talking by posting what I like to think of as "Cereal for Beginners - a photo montage."


Since these photos were taken, the girls have done considerably better. But they still get it all over their mouths. A few more photos to illustrate why bibs rule the roost at mealtime.

Leaving Arizona

"But it's a DRY heat." We all have heard that phrase and laughed. 'Yeah, but a hundred and ten is a hundred and ten,' you say. It's true that the home we left 3 weeks ago was technically significantly hotter than our current home in Indianapolis. But I'm tellin' ya, 85 degrees with 75 percent humidity is going to be the death of me and my morning walk habit. The girls and I haven't ventured out for a stroll in DAYS. It's rediculous. Ok, I'll stop posting about the weather. I'm sure I've made my way onto some sort of "Most boring blog post" list now. Let's leave it at this - I miss Tucson's blue blue skies, beautiful mountains, and the fact that when I washed my hair, it used to dry in 15 minutes all on its own.

So we're in Indy now, and humidity aside, it's wonderful. In the words of my friend Lori Kennedy, "Family is everything." It's been great living in Jean and Aaron's home, with the "upstairs family" just a flight of stairs (or, if you're Jean today, a cell phone call!) away. Clay and Owen have been model cousins to the girls, playing with them, bringing them toys, making silly faces at them when they are crying, and generally being fun cousins! It confirms why we moved here every day I see them together. The "supper club" that Jean and I have created has also been a huge help. Jean's cooking has allowed me to slowly get used to being the girls' sole caretaker during the day, now that Ama and Akung don't live with us. I think the girls miss having her around - they've been talking a LOT less since we moved, and I suspect it's because they spend a lot more time alone, without adult interaction. In some ways it makes me really sad to know they don't get the attention that they used to, but I'm also proud that they've adjusted so well and are become more and more self sufficient. They are meeting tons of physical milestones because they spend a lot of time on the floor playing on their playmat. Alex not only rolls over from her back to her front, she now rolls from her front to her back. She just started that today! I'm excited now, but in a few days I'm sure I'll be cursing the ability because in this way, she can cover a lot of ground, rolling in the same direcion to get from place to place. Dani is also rolling back to front, and can go either to her left or her right. And her legs get stronger each day we practice standing up to be "Soooo Big!" Since we moved, she's made huge strides in arm strength and can push up her chest just as high as Alex can.

Every day they do something just a little better than the day before, and some days, like today, they make huge leaps all at once. When I saw Alex purposefully rock herself to roll from her tummy to her back, I remembered, yet again, that they aren't like Plato - they will just keep on learning and growing...forever! I'll never see them "plateau." It's awe inspiring. I wish I could have captured Alex's smile when she successfully completed her roll. She was beaming! And I was too! We fed off each other and I couldn't stop telling her how proud I was of her! And the coolest thing is that someday Dani will be proud for her too, and vice versa. That's a milestone I can't wait to see. They have already begun to interact with each other more each day. I can put them down facing each other and they'll be more content with whatever they are doing than if they were "alone."

The other big milestone in the girls' lives is the addition of rice cereal to their diet. It's been a few weeks; we're slowly getting them accustomed to this new thing called "solid food". Alex has taken to it very well the last few days, and Dani made huge strides today, swallowing most of it rather than pushing it onto her bib. I'll post some pictures of this new activity on my next post.
Our big family news (besides the kids' rolling skills) is that we've found and bought a new house here in Carmel! We were going to wait until the Tucson house sold to finalize anything, but this house was hot to move and we really found it to be the best of the 60 homes that we saw in our 3 weeks of searching. We don't close for a month and don't gain possession until the beginning of October, so I'll update everyone with our new address once we actually live there. For now, check out some pictures. Please be advised that all the stuff you see belongs to the current owner. Don't want everyone to think I've suddenly gained decorating skills (ahem, Kamila. Remember the "grand piano incident" from the last time we bought a house?!?).
I'll try to post more now that my computer is set up. The Chicago grandparents are coming down this weekend, so they'll get to see everything and everyone for themselves, but all you loved ones in cyberspace will have to wait for more pics. I'm thinking I'll link to a page on my website with photo montage of the girls. Gotta spread their adorableness.
Over and out for now.

Yet another post about sleep...

To keep George from crying (as a new father, he was unhappy to see that Everybody Doesn't Sleep) it's time to update you all on our sleep status here on Wei's World. The big news around these parts is that I've only been waking up once per night to feed the girls for the last week!!! Of course there are still a few fussy-time wakings, but those are easily fixed with some pats and shushing. The girls have been consistently sleeping at least one 4 to 5 hour block each night, and 3 hours for all other blocks. AND, the biggest news is that the longest sleep stretch is usually between 10 pm and 3 am. They used to sleep 5 hours at a time, but it was from 7pm to midnight, which meant I'd have to scarf down dinner and head to bed by 9pm to get the most out of this block. But now I stay up to 10pm, wake them up to top them off, and then go to bed after that. They even gave me 5 consecutive hours of sleep a few days ago! (George, Christina, I highly recommend this schedule. It's worked well for us.) The other thing that helps is a really dark room, so as you can see, I've rigged up a system of blankets to keep out that Arizona sun as looooonng as possible with the goal that Dani will sleep past 4:30am. The sun rises mighty early around here, thanks to our lack of daylight savings time, and our blinds were just NOT cutting it. Our next house will definitely have room darkening shades or curtains in the nursery! Well, I'm off to bed. The girls are fed and we'll see what happens tonight. Every day (and night) is an adventure! Keep on snoozin', world.

Captain's Log, BabyWeek 15, day 1

If this experience really were like StarTrek, there'd be TWO captains of the ship, and their names are Alexa and Danica. They really do call the shots around here, and they certainly have a crew of people at their service. Ama and Akung, Aunt Jean and Cousin Clay (and even Cousin Owen lends a hand now and then), and of course Mama & Daddy are all here to keep the ship hurtling towards new and exciting solutions to... managing bodily fluids. There's all the baby standards: poop, pee, urp, tears, drool... it's a cornicopia of liquid. And then Plato decides to contribute now and then. I spent the evening cleaning up dog vomit. (For all you childless readers out there, are you going to run out and double check your birth control supply? I don't want to scare anyone - there really are wonderful moments to the day too!!! I'll get to those in a second.)

But for now, I'll pretend that I'm at least the captain of my own life, and jot down some notes about this great journey called Motherhood. In all honesty, besides the sleep deprivation and explosive poo action, it's an incredibly satisfying way to spend your life. The girls are developing into marvelous little people, capable of eliciting a smile from everyone they pass, and they are expanding their understanding of their own bodies and the world so quickly. They've figured out that their arms and hands are attached to their bodies. They love to reach out and grab the fabric of my shirt, or their own onesies, or someone's finger, or a dangling toy. And their head control is really coming along. When we took family pictures, Dani even sat still and held her head up while I propped her up on the floor. (see the family photo below... thank goodness it didn't become an "Elaine's nipple shot" photo. I was skeptical when they were posing us...) Another great discovery lately is the sound of their own voices. They are "talking" up a storm! The house is never without the sound of cooing, especially with jabberjaws Alex around. I love just holding them with their faces towards me and having long "conversations". So all in all, I'd say being a mom is worth all the angst from separated stomach muscles and sleepless nights and urp stains and saggy "milk machines" and chaos. Especially with family nearby to help ease the strain. Which is why we're moving to Indianapolis in 3 weeks. Which is the topic for a whole other post, one that must be written some other day. Right now it's time to wake the girls for their midevening meal and then toddle off to bed.

Captain Kid Chaos, signing off.

Everybody doesn't sleep...

Well, since that last post, the girls have taken a few steps backward. They are not only NOT sleeping 7 hours at a time, they haven't even been sleeping 3 hours between wakings all night long. They are back to one stretch of 4 hours and then waking either to fuss, poop, or eat every 2 hours, and not always simultaneously. It's driving me batty. To top it all off, I've gotten into the bad habit of taking a long 1-2 hour nap during the day to make up for the lost sleep, so at 8pm, I feel pretty good and decide to "get something done" instead of going to bed as soon as possible to take advantage of their 4 hour block of sleep. That will end today, I guarentee it. On the bright side, the girls are talking and smiling up a storm. Alex is especially talkative, which is funny because we've decided her temperment is more like me and Dani's is more like Jack's. So I guess I must enjoy the sound of my own voice. Hmmm...maybe that's why I started a blog. It definitely helps to vent! It was all I could do not to run to the computer and post my annoyance at the girls' sleep habits this morning at 2am...

Here's a few close-ups to show the girls' features. Both were taken in the month of May. And as you can see, everyone (especially Alex here) is enjoying having Ama and Akung visit us!

Everybody sleeps!

The girls just successfully slept for the longest stretch of their ten and a half week lives! Dani slept 6.5 hours and Alex went for 7 straight hours!!! We are well on our way to sleeping through the night, and all this after a day of very good napping. I laid them down in their cribs and they were out in a few seconds for at least 2 of their naps yesterday. It was heavenly to watch.

The best part is that I got 4.5 hours just now, which is also the longest stretch in 10 weeks, save a really nice nap I took back around week 6 or 7 I think. I can't really take much more than that anyway or the milk machine will explode.

These photos I'm posting are from last week when I was on my own, before Shu & Tsong arrived. I'll fess up to posing Dani with that bear, but Alex got herself into that pretzel on the couch all by herself.

the wei's are on the web

Well, here's my first post on a new blog, and like many to come, it's being written in the wee hours of the morning after feeding the girls. I've decided to create a blog because I've been so bad at keeping track of who I've sent shutterfly albums to, as I've discovered thanks to Renee. This will be a place to put pics of the girls and our life as it unfolds. Mikey, this blog can be like a Ceiva for you! And it'll be an extension of the journal I started back in pregger days. Jack's friend Nate had a paper-scrap system for remembering funny stories about his kids, and I suspect this blog will be our system. So here's the first pic of the blog. It's last friday's "cute moment of the day." Enjoy! And see you again soon.