bonnie & jason

We’re all sick

Alissa got sick a number of days ago and proceeded to get the twins and Bonnie sick. I thought I had caught it and summarily kicked it away a few days ago, but I’m a little sniffly now too. The lack of sleep and a bit of a stressful week at work probably didn’t do me any favors in that regard.

Despite the plague, stress, sleep deprivation, and other “life stuff” going on, I figure it was time to post to the blog. I told myself that I would not be any less prolific with the arrival of the twins, but now I realize that was an unrealistic expectation. At least in the short term, while they are feeding every three hours 24 hours a day, it seems that my camera and my computer will have a bit of a respite.

That being said, I do have a few pictures to share today. As many of you with kids know, when the house is quiet for more than a few minutes at a time, you can be sure that nothing good is happening. Well, this afternoon, after one of said quiet times, I went hunting for Alissa, the #1 trouble maker and discovered this:

She had gotten into Bonnie’s purse and helped herself to some Burt’s Bee’s lip something or other. I guess she was feeling a bit chapped.

Twin update

Somehow, the weeks have gone by and the twins are now six and a half weeks old. They’ve definitely chunkified a bit in that time, Ashley in particular.

But I think Amanda actually looks more different given she was all skin and bones before whereas Ashley already had some chunk going on.

Physical changes aside, things continue on the same pace as they have for the most part. They still eat every three hours. They still pee and poop like champs. And for the most part, they’re still pretty “easy” babies. That being said, feeding, changing, washing, entertaining, and otherwise taking care of twinfants is hard enough as it is without layering on one or both of them being fussy or colicky. And then of course, Alissa isn’t exactly self-maintaining.

Speaking of whom, we need a new time-out strategy for Alissa. Over the last week or so, when we threaten to put her in time out, she just says “ok.” Grr… two years old and already aggravating. I tried making her stand in the corner but that didn’t really work either. I’m going to have to start dismembering Elmo dolls or something.

Abigail turns three!

We schlepped all three kids (I still do a double take sometimes when I realize we have three kids) to Abigail’s birthday party Sunday and had a nice time as we always do at Calvin and Deeann’s events. They are always on top of food, entertainment, party favors, and lucky for us, we even won a Target gift card with a raffle ticket!

Of course, I didn’t get away scot free as I donated my photography “skills” to capture some of the moments during the day. I figure the images are worth about 2 or 3 of the yummy fresh spring rolls I wolfed down.

Personalized party favors:

So much food!

Devyn ate most of it:

It’s nice to have a NICU nurse in the family:

Megan, the porcelain doll:

The scary clown that Alissa wasn’t sure about:

It was all good after he gave her a balloon though:

Daddy entertained by clown, Abigail, not as much:

Abigail is all about the Wiggles:

Alissa chased Megan around in circles for quite a while:

The best part about family parties… lots of volunteers to hold babies:

Here’s the link to all the pics.

The Olthofs visit

Our friends Bryan, Sijen, and their son, Lincoln, came down for a visit this past weekend. It’s been forever since we’ve seen them so it was nice to spend some good quality time together, even though last time we saw them, there were zero kids around whereas now there are four! A lot can change in a couple years…

Anyway, just a few pics from the weekend.

Lincoln is 7 months old but already about the same height as Alissa and just a few pounds lighter. That’s the difference between 100th percentile boy and a 3rd percentile girl.

Damn, that’s a lot of kids!

This is Sijen’s sister, Sybil, and Lincoln:

Family dinner for Bonnie’s birthday

We had a bunch of Bonnie’s family over to help celebrate Bonnie’s birthday today. I can’t believe how big the family has grown. Between myself, Tony, and Calvin marrying in and then Abigail, Alissa, Megan, Amanda, and Ashley (and Yau girl #2 on the way), the immediate crowd has practically doubled in the last five years. Anyway, here’s most of the crowd in our living room:

And then Alissa helping Bonnie with the cake. She even blew out the nonexistent candles.

Alissa is an audiophile

I’ve been enjoying my new headphones fairly regularly lately and Alissa has herself developed a bit of a “golden ear.” Here she is concentrating on how the Sennheiser HD650 headphones smoothly convey female vocals:


She sure is a cutie…

Jason, two ways

Those of you who saw me in the month after the twins were born noticed I got a bit on the hairy side. Bonnie was not a big fan… as a matter of fact, she said I looked like a pervert. So she was happy to see me freshly shorn in preparation for going back to work. Anyway, since I may not have a month off of work again until I retire, I thought I’d capture myself at peak hairiness and again after Mister Gilette.

Trying to look perverted:

Hot stuff, right!?:

Smooth as a baby’s behind:

Anyway, since I don’t want you to leave with that as your last memory, here are a couple pictures of Alissa doing her Charlie’s Angels poses:

And finally, I should mention that we went to the twins’ one-month doctor appointment today. Ashley is now 7 lbs and 19.25″. Amanda is 5lbs 11oz and 18.25″. Both are apparently healthy and doing a good job putting on weight. Here they are waiting for their exam: