Daily Schedule -- Mealtime and Bathtime

In case you've ever wondered, the photos below provide further documentary evidence that mealtime should always be close to bathtime.

Apologies to Our Loyal Viewers for Extended Absence

Apologies for my extended absence from the blogosphere. I am now recovered from a three-week illness which my doctor titled the "Bug D'Jour." I ran a fever for five days before we reached the conclusion that the girls and I would need to travel to my mother's home in Albuquerque for some much-needed relief help.

It was the girls' first major road trip and what a trip! Zoe, prone to screaming tantrums at times of excessive tiredness or frustration, found the trip especially unsettling. Their schedule was entirely thrown off and both were majorly teething as evidenced by the brand new tiny teeth the sprang forth on our trip home.

Papa, my grandfather, was able to visit and meet the girls for the first time while we were in Albuquerque -- an unexpected treat. Pictures will be posted soon. Despite his elder status, he seemed to be the healthiest of the group, resisting infection by whatever sickness I had picked up.

I seemed to be the Typhoid Mary of the family, passing the Bug D'Jour to almost everyone around me, except Papa. Zoe, Kaia, Scott, my mother and even my nephew ended up getting sick with apparently the same nasty bug.

We are all healthy and glad to be home, though Zoe and Kaia are still hard at work on even more toothy grins.

Kaia -- Ready for Spring

Our little cherry blossom models the ladybug hat that is a big palytime hit. The girls love to see each other in this hat, swipe it from one another and waggle it as if to flaunt the spoils of the day.

Me and My Sister

Such good sisters. On Valentines Day, Zoe made my day with another first. She entertained herself for much of the afternoon by repeatedly crawling up to Kaia and giving her big hugs and kisses on the cheek and forehead. It seems she may already be taking on the role of big sister even though she is only one minute older.

Zoe On the Move

Kaia Smiles

Flashing that darling smile, Kaia enjoys a "push-up" workout here as she laughs at Mommy's goofy antics. She pushes up on arms and elbows more each day and even pushed up on her knees a bit today. Soon she and sister will be both be crawling and chasing one another, challenging Mommy to keep up.

Seven Months Old

Our babies turned seven months old Thursday. How they are changing!

Zoe started sitting up this week and has made great advances in crawling. She crawls and falls, but can easily work her way from one side of a quilt to another in only moments.

Kaia is pushing up on both hands and straightening her elbows. She'll be pushing up on hands and knees soon. She loves to laugh and spent much of our trip to the mall yesterday laughing at random passers-by.

Peek-a-boo is a big hit with both girls as they love to entertain one another. Kaia will lay on her back and waive her big Whinnie the Pooh in front of her, then whisk him away to see Zoe and laugh, laugh, laugh. Zoe sits up, holds a blanket with both hands, waggles it over her head and then flops it down with a mischievous look of anticipation waiting for Kaia to laugh.

Late at night they giggle, coo and scream in delight at each other, carrying on as if having their own little baby slumber party.

It seems they are changing every day. It amazes me how quickly they learn. They will be big girls all too soon. Kaia just had a bottle and fell asleep on my lap as I finished writing this. What could be better than a cuddly baby asleep in your arms?

Kaia still loves to swing in her Nature Sounds Baby Papasan swing, so we're squeezing the last bit of usefulness out of it. She loves to watch the bird, butterfly and dragonfly turning above her and listen to the babbling brook sounds as she swings. Soon she'll have to graduate to a bigger swing. She can already almost reach the big leaves on the mobile above her. 

Zoe Reaching for the Phone

Zoe started sitting up all on her own this week. This picture is of the first time she sat up. She is now sitting with no support from her hands. She especially loves this as it allows her to entertain her sister by waiving blankets over her head with both hands, playing peek-a-boo. 

Adventures in Babyland -- Babies Stage Riot at 2:00 AM, Take Over House

Click above for sound clip

Two nearly seven month old babies, Zoe and Kaia, staged a full-force riot this morning at 2:00 a.m. Zoe began the riot with a shrill cry and demands for a bottle, which were quickly met. Soon thereafter, her sister and cohort, joined in with a refrain of "Ehhhhhhhh. Ehhhhhh. Ehh." Which roughly translated means, "I think want to get up. Come get me. I want to get up."

Foolishly ascribing to the theory that it is good for babies to soothe themselves back to sleep if not too upset, the mommy (that's me) let this go on just long enough that Kaia's growing refrain awakened Zoe who had been satisfied that her demands for a bottle had been quickly met with top-shelf formula and a good snuggle. But now, yes now, it was on.

Not to be outdone, just as the mommy reached to pick up rioter #2, rioter #1 chimed in again with "AAAaaaaaahhhhh. eh. Aeeaah." Which roughly translated means, "How could you pick her up and hold her and lay me down here all by myself? You're supposed to be MY mommy."

And so, this back and forth went on, for nearly three hours, with bottles, diaper changes, lullabies, rocking and even attempts to convince the babies/rioters they were sleepy by telling them they were sleepy (Perhaps a reflection upon the mommy's powers of logic and concentration at 4:30 in the morning.).

At 4:40 a.m. all hope appeared to be lost as Kaia rolled over onto her tummy in her crib, waived all four limbs in the air above her, made raspberry sounds at her sister and laughed hysterically. Finally, at 5:00 a.m., the mommy gave in, sat down, with Kaia in her crib and Zoe on her lap, and had a Diet Coke and an organic cranberry orange scone, and the babies/rioters went to sleep. Who knows what it was that soothed them. The fizzie sounds of the Diet Coke? The sweet smell of the cranberry orange scone? Some strange stress-relief hormone that is released when mommies eat sweet carb-laden foods in the wee hours of the morning?

Who knows. But all is well that ends in babies going back to sleep. Even if it takes three hours to get there. Bless their little souls. They really are sweet, even at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. They are so worth every bit of effort.

Sleep well my babies. Mommy is going back to bed to prepare for tonight's adventure.

We Love Grandma Sue

Kaia -- "I'm Ready for My Closeup"

The Great Escape

Some may argue she's just teething, but I suspect Zoe's staging her escape.

We've Got Grandma on Speed Dial

Kaia -- Resisting Zoe's Early Morning Wake Up Call

Please be quiet Sister. Just a little more sleep.

Zoe -- Sweet Potato Dreams

Our little sweet potato fast asleep in her highchair. Eating is hard work after all.

Six Month Well Baby Visit

Our babies are very well! At their well baby vist yesterday, Kaia tipped the scales at 18 lbs 2 oz and Zoe weighed in at 15 lbs. Both smiled and babbled incessantly at Dr. Job, the fourth-year medical student who came in to visit us first. Kaia even gave Dr. Hui, the regular pediatrician, a big hug when she picked her up to examine her.

They received their third set of vaccinations yesterday too. Ouch! I think this hurt me as much as it did them. But they were troopers, only a minute of crying and back to bottles and rattles and other such things.

Poor Zoe has been irritable and restless since the shots, so we are doing our best to keep her comfortable. There must be a better solution to immunizing children than making them into little pin cushions so often.

Kaia and Zoe are doing well with their first baby foods (sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, apples, bananas) and have been cleared to begin sippy cup training. I have a feeling I may need protective gear for this. : )

The Six Month Milestone

Zoe and Kaia will be six months old the day after tomorrow. Yippee! Who would believe these tiny giants began as preeemies? Both are as big as or bigger than their nine-month-old cousin.

Six months without catching a cold or the flu leads us to a big shout out to the makers of Purell Hand Sanitizer. We're now working on making it through flu season. Any chance we could get a bulk discount, Purell?

Zoe is just beginning to crawl, making her first few moves forward yesterday while belting out a little battle cry of triumph.

Kaia loves her exersaucer and spinning herself around by pushing with her feet on the rails of her crib. Perhaps we shall nickname her Legs of Steel.

Last night I dreamed that Zoe stood at the edge of her crib holding the top rail and peered over the bar at me, as if to say, "Mommy, I'm going to climb out and run around now." I'm sure it won't be long.

Hatching a Plan

Okay Sis, this is what we'll do.

Oh boy, I can only imagine what's in store for us . . .