Milestone for Timothy

He grabbed a ring today!!! I know that may not sound like much but in baby land it's quite an accomplishment. Timothy actually coordinated his hand to reach for the ring and grab it. Young and I had watched him the day before try so hard to figure out how to reach for the ring. His hand moved closer and closer but he couldn't quite get his hand open to grab it...he sorta rub his nuckles up against it. But practice makes perfect! I couldn't believe it. I got so excited...I cried...

Hitting the Gym

We got this play mat at the twins club consignment sale last week...and what a find it was. $10!! We broke it out for the kids and they absolutely LOVE it! Timothy of course loves the mirror and Cameron gets so tickled when she it's the animals hanging and they move. They both can lay there for at least 30mins, which is a very long time to an 11 week old. I like this one too because it's big enough for both to lay side by side to get some good brother/sister bonding.

monkey see monkey do

Just a funny picture I cam across of Cameron.

Baby Boot Camp

It's been a busy week and weekend for us here in the Ko household...sorry for not keeping up on the posts. We have officially started sleep training with the kids! They are 10 weeks and eat enough and weigh enough. Most of my free time has been spent reading a number of sleep training books, trying to take a little from each doctor to fit our twins. There are so many books and so many methods...from the old "cry it out" to sleeping next to the crib so your baby is comforted. We finally settled on one book, "The Baby Sleep Solution" by Suzy Giordano (she has twin girls). We like the gradual way she has the baby adjust to sleeping through the night...a 4 step plan. Step one: feeding every four hours in a twelve hour period as a posed to their normal every three hours. I tried starting this last week but couldn't handle both screaming babies by myself. My son does not like to have his feeding time pushed back! We started on Saturday so we could tag team them and decided to the key was to keep the kids distracted. The first push back went pretty well, they slept all the way up to the noon feeding. The 4:00pm feeding on the other hand was a big loud. Distract, distract, distract...so we danced with the kids, looked in the mirror, tossed them in the air, singing, anything we could think of...and we made it! The last feed at 8pm was a little better...bath time distracted them mostly. Then amazingly enough, they slept long at night, four hours between feedings!! The book says it takes about 3 days for the baby to get used to the new schedule, so we still have some time before it gets easier. Step 2 is to eliminate all night time feeds...but I think we are about a week or so away from that.

Information Station

I was running out the door the other day with the twins and need blankets to cover them in their car seats...we got these as a gift from a drear friend in North Carolina, Nancy Fish. We normally keep these in the pack n play but I grabbed them in a hurry. I must back up and say first, we get stopped A LOT when we go out with the twins. Total strangers come up to us and ask about the twins. Now, having said that, I grabbed these blankets, threw them on the kids and headed out the door. I still got stopped by strangers but this time all their questions were answered by looking at the blankets. One man standing in line behind me said "I have a son named Timothy" without asking me their names, another woman was tickled they were born on Valentine's Day and yet another who commented on Timothy being born first. Now we only keep these blankets on the kids when we go out. Thanks Nancy!! You saved us alot of time and talking.

Sunday napping

The kids woke up super early Sunday morning so I decided to feed them and get them ready for church first and then get ready myself. I asked Young to watch the kids while I took a shower...this is what I found when I got out. Just a Sunday morning nap. (yes, with her reflux, Cameron likes to lay face down on her Boppy)

two months old

Just some shots of the twins at two months old...sorry I'm a week late in posting these. I remember when they were smaller than this monkey...

OUCH!

Today was the twins two month doctor visit and first shots. First the doctor visit...all went all, the kids are health and growing. Cameron weighed in at 10lb 14oz and Timothy is a whopping 13lb 6oz! Cameron actually weighs more as far as height/weight ratio...she is over the 95% range.

The shots went OK...I held down Timothy and he let out a scream then went right to sleep. Young held Cameron and she did well, just a little crying. Let's not talk about how hard it was on mom...

Here is a picture of before the shots. We meant to get an after shot but we were in a hurry to get out and get home for their lunchtime feeding.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Just a funny picture of Timothy and all his rolls! How did this kid get so big? I don't know his official weight, we find that out Friday at their 2 month apt, but I'm guessing he is around 12 pounds...and it's all in his thighs. That's just more of him to love!!

Night Shift

Young had to go out of town last night on a business trip and my friend Sharona offered to come over and help for a night shift. She was great! She survived Cameron's reflux outburst, Timothy's bath time temper tantrum and a 5am feeding just before she had to get up and leave for work. What a trooper! Thanks so much Sharona, your the best Auntie Rona ever!

Spring Time

It was such a beautiful, warm weekend here in San Francisco...a rarity. Temperatures were in the 80's. So on Saturday we decided to load the kids up and head to Napa for a picnic and a little wine tasting and Sunday we hit the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan Town. The kids were great on Saturday for the drive up and down. We managed to hit a winery or two and had a nice picnic in the cool shade. Young and I love taking day trips to Napa and look forward to the kids getting older to experience Napa as a family. We keep saying we will not be held hostage by our twins...meaning we would like to continue living a full, active life with kids in tow. And like everything else, we are learning what we can and can't do (letting them sleep and miss a feeding...not a good idea...we paid for that later that evening)

Here are a few shots of our weekend...Timothy lounging in the shade at the picnic and the girls just relaxing. And we all have our beverages at Domaine Carneros! The last one is the kids napping after an afternoon of strolling around at the Cherry Blossom Festival.

All Smiles

As some of you may know, Cameron has been dealing with a nasty case of acid reflux. We've been trying all sorts of remedies/tricks to bring some comfort to her but nothing was working. Feeding time and about 10 minutes after are a nightmare for her and for me...we were both in tears. Finally after a few visits to our wonderful pediatrician, we finally got the right formula and some medicine for her (Zantac for babies) and it's like we have a new baby on our hands. She is all smiles now! It's amazing. Here are a few shots of my smiley baby girl.

A Day In the Life

My friend Lisa put a entry on her blog ..."a day in the life." She went through her day hour by hour so see how busy she is as a teacher. So, I thought I would try to pin my day down as well. I have no idea where my day goes...the day goes by and I can't think of what I accomplished except moving from the crib to diaper changing station to boppy pillow back to crib. So let's see how it plays out. Since my day doesn't really have a beginning and end, I'll just start with when Young goes to work.
(please note all times and activities are subject to change depending on the moods of the kids!)

7am: Young leaves, Timothy is restless from his 6am feed and won't go back to sleep...I get up to entertain him.
8am: still entertaining/trying to put Timothy to sleep so I can get some more sleep or eat some breakfast.
9am: Cameron wakes for the 9am feeding and Timothy wakes from his cat nap, right on time (he never sleeps through a feeding).
10am: Feeding, changing, dressing is done, time for mommy play time...this is the time of the day when the kids are most responsive. Lot's lovin', kisses ans hugs.
11am: Cameron is sleepy, goes down for a nap. Timothy gets a little one-on-one time with mommy.
12pm: Lunch time, Cameron wakes up like clock work, Timothy is screaming by this point...feeding time.
1pm: Timothy is passed out for an afternoon nap. Cameron gets a little one-on-one time with mommy...but doesn't last long...she is down for a nap by 2pm
2pm: Sara time...a load of laundry, wash bottles, check email/post on blog and a toss up between shower, nap or eating...it varies from day to day.
3pm: Get bottles ready, kids wake up, feeding time.
4pm: Activity time...bouncy seat, tummy mats, reading or maybe an afternoon stroll if the weather is nice.
5pm: Hopefully both are sleeping and I can start dinner. Also get mise en place ready for bathing kids when they wake.
6pm: Daddy comes home! Bath Time! Bathing and change for bed, lots of crying and then feeding time. One-on-one time with Daddy, I finish dinner.
7pm: Young and I eat dinner while the kids watch in their bouncy seats.
8pm: Family time, lots of lovin'. I try to go to bed around 8:30/9pm
9pm: Feeding time (Young) and bed time for the kids. I help out if the kids are being difficult.
12am: Feeding time! Back to bed 1am.
3am: Feeding time! Back to bed 4am.
6am: Sleeping while Young does feeding...but usually have to get up b/c Timothy doesn't like to go back to sleep.
7am: Young leaves, Timothy is restless from his 6am feed and won't go back to sleep...I get up to entertain him.


Here are the kids bouncing while we eat dinner and Young getting the kids dressed after bath time.

Milestone: Cameron makes the move

So far the twins have been sleeping in the same crib. We thought we could keep them together until at least four months...but a lase, the kids had other plans. We had decided we needed to separate them for several reasons. Mainly because they wake each other up with noises. Timothy makes so much noise in his sleep, always grunting when he moves. And Cameron has acid reflux and occasionally she cries out in her sleep for 10-15 seconds...just long enough to wake Timothy. Timothy is also getting so big that he slides down to the side of the crib. He is all squished up at the bumper by time he wakes up.

Having said all that, I got Cameron's crib ready last week and intended to make the move over the weekend, thinking it would be smooth...not so much. Cameron cried every time we put her down in her crib. I guess it was hard on her to be away from her brother or to be alone. I decided I should put her down in there just for naps during the day so she could get used to it. I think she warmed up to it and finally slept in her crib last night! She isn't sleeping as long as she usually does but it's a start.

Here are some pics of her crib and some of their last nights together in Timothy's crib. Look at all the space she has now to sleep. (never mind the fact her mommy put her bumper on upside down...I'll fix it when I change the sheets again.)

More Tummy Time

Now that the kids are getting bigger they stay awake longer between feedings. So our challenge it to keep them engaged and learning. Here they are having a little tummy time on these great surfboard tummy mats...one of my co workers, William, gave the twins these mats...he's a big surfer...

You can see how much bigger Timothy is than Cameron in these pictures. His arms reach further and he is longer in the overhead shot. They are growing so fast! (especially in their cheeks, what's up with that??)

Fan Mail!!

We always enjoy hearing feedback about the blog...either by comment or by email. Today we received our first fan letter via the postal service. Sena Abernathy, our 7 year old niece in Ohio, sent us thank you cards for putting up the blog. She is so excited about her new cousins and can't wait to meet them. Thanks Sena for your letter! We will try to keep putting up more video of your cousins so you can get to know them. And no, we haven't started calling them Cammi or Timmie yet but your Uncle Young calls little monkey and porky pig.

Here are some fun outtake pictures just for you Sena...

The Boppy!

Everyone makes a big deal over the bouncy seats...well, they haven't really worked out that well for us. But the Boppy pillow, now that is a real treasure. We LOVE our Boppy pillow. We've used it since the kids came home from the hospital. It's a great place for the kids to nap (Cameron loves it b/c of her reflux), it's a holding place when feeding two at once and it doubles as mommy and daddy's arms when the babies need to be cradled. I especially love the Boppy b/c it's light and potable. I move the pillow all over the house to help hold the kids in whatever room we're in...we even put it in the crib to keep Cameron upright after she eats. Thanks Timmie for the great hidden treasure.

Dancing Baby

Here is another video of Young dancing with Cameron...this was at the wedding last weekend.