We're Sick!

By chance we had our 2 year routine check up today but we were lucky because Cameron came down with something yesterday, had a bad night last night and was worse this morning. Turns out she has bronchitis and an ear infection! This is the first ear infection for either baby so it's hard to see her hitting her head trying to get inside to her ears to make them feel better. And she has a whole farm of frogs in her throat! Poor girl. Please be in prayer for Cameron, she is coughing so much, it's hard for her to sleep...but sleep is really what she needs right now.

As far as our 2 year check up, sickness aside, both toddlers are good but way under weight! Ugh!! Everything else about them is normal (height, head, etc) except for their weight. They just aren't putting on the pounds on. It appears they have a super high metabolism and are burning more calories up than they are taking in. So we met with a nutritionist there and got some great ideas on high calorie meals and snacks. And it comforted me to know that some of the troubles I have feeding them is just a toddler thing...like Timo taking 2 bites of his lunch and then saying "all done" so he can get down and play. She gave me some helpful hints/tricks to get them stay seated longer and eat more...let's hope it works! We go back in 6 weeks for a reweight...

Love Afair With Dora

Dora the Explorer has invaded our house! After watching just one episode on Sharona's laptop, Timo has become, for a lack of a better word, obsessed. One episode led to two episodes which led to me checking a few Dora DVDs out of the library because my little boy just got so much joy in watching the show. Now we have an addict on our hand. Every minute of every day Timo walks around asking "Dora?", "watch Dora?" So now we've had to limit him to watching just one episode a day (30min)...which has been really hard because of all the rain, we've spent a lot of time inside. I'm hoping as the weather clears and we get out more and more, he'll lose interest.

I'm really not sure what it is about the show other than the lovable Dora and her sidekick monkey, Boots..."monkey Boots" as Timo calls him. The show covers numbers, colors, Spanish words and always solving a problem. Both the kids love the backpack and map song they sing so they are learning that way too, I guess. But I just can't figure out why Timo has fallen madly in love with her. Sharona took pictures of Timo watching his favorite little explorer. Just look at the love on his face!

"Yeah! Dora on! There go Dora."

"Wow, monkey Boots over snowy mountain, Mommy look!"

Show is over..."Where go Dora? Where go Dora?"

I just hope he doesn't find out you can buy the talking backpack! I'm not sure I want my son walking around with a purple/pinkish talking backpack...

Singing with Daddy

Young loves to sing to the kids and most of the time they just sit and stare at him...but not this time! I couldn't decide which video was best so I just put up both. In the first one, Timo is very active in singing along with Daddy and so might pleased with himself when the song is over. The second one Cameron decided to join the fun and have a try at conducting her Daddy. Enjoy!!

Rainy, Rainy Days

It has been raining here for 8 straight days, including today. Needless to say, we are ALL going a little stir crazy trying to come up with activities to entertain the twins as well as ourselves. I've been reaching deep into my creative side to find fun, engaging and lengthy projects for us. Here is just a few pictures of our rainy day activities...

Cameron spent quite a bit of time playing dress up with her beads and purse (thanks Granny!)

We tried finger painting one day...total waste of time and a disaster! We won't be trying this again until they are 5!!

We've played a lot of music and created our own little marching band. The kids really loved this so I'm thinking we'll be marching and playing more often.


And then another favorite is taking the pillows off the sofa and making an obstacle course out of them....it's much harder than it looks!


As much fun as all this looks...let's just hope the sun comes out soon!!!

Singing, Singing, Singing

I know I've mentioned how much Cameron loves to sing...but that girl does LOVE to sing. She evens sings herself to sleep. I heard noises coming from the kids room the other day at nap time so I went to investigate... Cameron was just signing at the top of her little lungs. Sorry this video doesn't actually show anyone, just their bedroom door but I didn't want to open it for fear she would stop singing...but I think she caught a glimpse of me in crack because she didn't finish her song.

Money Shot

Any mom of multiple children, whether they be twins, triplets or just 2 or more kids, knows how hard it is to get a good pictures of all your kids smiling at the same time. The twins are just learning how to say "cheese" when they see a camera pointed toward them but they don't always do it at the same time or when I'm ready to snap the picture....but I got lucky! I got the "money shot" at the Randall Museum last week. Both smiling...at the same time...at the exact moment I took the picture. It was a one in a million shot! And just to show you, I'll post a few more we took trying to get the money shot...

Park With a View--Randall Museum

Ok, technically the actual museum isn't a park but it's located inside a park. The Randall Museum is a cute little hands-on childrens museum with all kinds of exhibits and animals for the kids to touch and get up close to. But the best part was the caboose they had set up downstairs! Oh my, Timo was in heaven. And if you think it couldn't get any better...they had buttons inside that made all the different train noises (steam, whistle, etc.) We sat there for what seemed like FOREVER while Timo hit all the buttons over and over and over again. Gotta love him for his passion of trains!

After we pried Timo away from the trains we headed back upstairs to the earthquake/lego area. They had these platforms that you could build lego buildings on and then press a button that shook the platform...simulating to an earthquake. Needless to say we spent another good chunk of time at this exhibit.


The animal area was really cute but the animals were somewhat elusive. Timo loved the bee area though...

We decided to take a stroll outside on the nature path and discovered the amazing views from the park grounds. You could see the Bay Bridge on one side and Twin Peeks on the other.

We saw a lot of nature on the trail and the kids loved being able to just run free outside...oh and Timo, who is really into climbing these days, trying to scale the big rock...

Glasses

The kids got a Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head for Christmas and they LOVE them! They ask to play with them all the time and just sit there putting eyes, ears, hats, arms, etc in and out of the potatoes. Well, Cameron has taken a liking to the glasses and now obsessed with wearing them all the time. They are WAY too small for her head and they don't stay on long but she just keeps on putting them back on. I think it might have something to do with the fact that her daddy wears glass...

Dump Truck Fun

Since it has been kinda rainy, wet , cold weather, we've discovered a new fun activity for the kids...dump truck riding in the garage! They used to ride the trucks all the time over the summer in the back yard, but it's been too wet back there to play, so....we found pushing and riding them in the garage just as much fun. Our garage is slightly slanted so they have a nice incline for the ride down. They push the trucks up to the front of the garage and then sit down for the ride...
(both kids are in a hat wearing phase right now...not sure why but we can't walk out of the house without them...even to church!)

Ahhhh...

Nothing like snuggling up with Daddy on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Happy 2nd Birthday Olivia!

Last Friday was Olivia Tafao's 2nd birthday and we had a blast running all around the Academy of Sciences. Olivia's is one of the twins friend from church and our co-op group, so they are all best buds. There were about 6 kids going in all different direction but we managed to have a good time. This is what everyone looked like before we unloaded them all out of the stroller...
Olivia had an agenda of her own so the twins and Caleb hung out mostly in the aquarium and shared snacks.

We did something new on this trip, the rainforest room. Other than being very hot and humid inside, the kids loved it. There was all kinds of butterflies, birds, bugs, frogs, etc just roaming around in the open. All the animals had such amazing colors! The pictures just don't do them justice.

Once you are done in the rainforest, you board this elevator that takes you way down to an underwater tunnel...so super cool! We thought this was a great spot to try and do a group shot. It was tough trying to get everyone up on the bench and sitting still for at least 5sec...

We had a short stop to see the albino alligator and anaconda snake...ick! I can't believe Timo got right up to the glass!

Then we all headed up stairs for lunch and the chaos that ensued...the kids only sat down for a minute to gobble up some cheese and banana before they were off and running. (actually, Cameron wouldn't even sit down) For some reason they found the garbage/recycling area the most fun. Cameron expecially liked the "tunnel" crawl space next to the cans.








Olivia's dad, Elijah, was so nice to keep track of all the kids so us mom's could eat our lunches...what a treat we all had being able to talk AND finish our lunch!! What a great trip all around...

"Just relaxing, doing a little reading on my trucks..."

New Roommate!

We have a new roommate in the Ko house for the next few months and we're so happy to have her! My dear friend Sharona has been off in Europe for the past year exploring and is back in SF to renew her visa...so she can go back! She is only here for a few months during the renewal process but nonetheless, we are excited to have her become a part of our family. I can already tell we have the better end of the deal...the kids just adore her, she is an extra pair of hands when I need it, an aspiring cook for nights when I'm so tired and an accomplished photographer....check this cute shot of Cameron playing with her dollhouse.

What a blessing it is to have her with us again! You can keep up with her adventures in the Ko House on her blog...Sharona's blog.
(You might remember Sharona from previous posts over a year ago...she used to come over and help me out with the twins when they were baby-babies when Young would be out of town. She would sleep over and help with the 3am feedings!!)

New Beds!!

We got a wonderful gift over the new year...new bunk beds for the twins! Our dear friend Claudia wanted to give the twins the bunk beds her daughters used...who are now off at collage. Ever since we had the twins, she has been saying she wanted them to have the bunk beds. What a blessing for us and the kids!!

We didn't really decorate a nursery for the kids when they were born...we just turned our small office into a bedroom for them. It's just big enough to fit two cribs, a rocking chair and a dresser/changing table but no real "baby's room" work was done it. But now that they are older and have personalities, I can't wait to decorate and make their room just for them.

But back to the beds....Claudia wanted to turn her daughter's room into an adult room so she brought the beds over New Years so she could get started on decorating the room. We won't be moving the kids to big beds just yet but it's nice to have them now so we can start getting them excited about the "big boy" and "big girl" beds. The kids were super excited watching Daddy unload them from Claudia's car.

The hard part came in trying to set them up while the kids were running around. We finally had to take them out of the room and close the door...much to their loud disappoval.

We decide to bunk the beds for now just to have more space. Once we move the kids then we'll unbunk them and each little one will have their own bed...low to the ground. The kids had so much fun climbing on and off and checking out the new beds!

Thank you Claudia, Alexis, Ashley...we love you!!!