Amy

Since the beginning of January we've had a babysitter named Amy who comes to the house every Wednesday while Becky is in class. She's been great and the kids seem to like her a lot. We'd love for her to continue to take care of the kids this spring, but she's working hard to find a job as an elementary school art teacher or substitute teacher and our schedules may not work out. It's been so nice to have her here this winter.

Last week when August woke up early from his nap he "helped" me get Aunt Beth's birthday present wrapped and ready for sending. His specialty is picking out the wrapping paper from the closet. He does it with such zeal, who could resist taking his picture?
As some of you may know, the twins have really turned a corner with sleep since Christmas. They're now consistently sleeping through the night in 12 hour stretches and taking two naps during the day. Hurray! When she transitioned to the new schedule, Rose developed an affection for her pink baby doll. Now she clutches the doll as soon as we put her down for sleep and sometimes carries it around right after waking up(even in her teeth if she needs both hands to cruise) . The twins are way too big for their little bathtub now and have been taking baths in our bathtub. Last week we tried putting them in together for the first time and they thought it was so much fun they could hardly stand it. In fact, getting them out of the tub now causes considerable upset.

Enough posing, back to the splashing!

Weekend in Oregon

This past weekend we spent two very relaxing days visiting friends and family in Oregon. Thanks to our friends Anne-Marie, Miguel, Emma, Luke, and Rowan for sharing their hospitality. Rosie, Emma and Augie work hard on the activity block. Our kids loved this so much we're trying to find one like it for them at home. Has anyone seen them anywhere?
Rose enjoys watching "Curious George" with the big kids, Emma and Rowan (or maybe that's his twin brother Luke...)
We made a trip to visit Aunt Juel's family in Salem for lunch on Sunday. Here is Rose posing with her cousin Molly. Rose is just about ready to let go and start walking without holding on to chairs, but she doesn't know it yet.
Did I mention that the weekend was relaxing?

Birthday Presents

The twins have received lots of gifts in the mail from relatives and others back east (Thank You, Everyone!) and have definitely had fun opening them.

With these two, Auggie immediately just went for the bows, leaving Rose to start the unwrapping.

Time out declared by Mommy for nose-wiping (this happens alot around here right now).

Then it's back to the ripping.

Here's the two of them checking out one of the toys they got--a little musical piano with animals that twirl around when the music plays.

Birthday "Cake"!

Yesterday, on their first birthday morning, we gave them each a birthday cake (okay, they were blueberry muffins) before Daddy went off to work.

After Mommy helped them out with blowing out the candles, they each got their own little cake to do with as they pleased. They both seemed a bit mystified by them at first...

Then Auggie got the idea and dug into his with abandon, shoving handfuls in his mouth and spreading the rest all around,

but Rose didn't seem interested in eating it at all, and soon just melted down completely--oh, the pressure of your first birthday event!

Early Birthday Outting

We wanted to try taking the twins to the Seattle Aquarium for their birthday (they've recently become interested in watching animals and fish in tanks), but our schedules meant that the best day to try it was actually on Sunday.
They both seemed to have a great time! We were afraid they might tire of it quickly, but they seemed to enjoy almost every exhibit the whole way through.

Here they are at one of the lower windows into the big main tank. They loved the fish swimming by, though August got a bit overzealous with pounding on the glass.

A scuba diver who was cleaning the inside of the glass had a good time playing peek-a-boo with Rose.

At the end there is a "hands on" section with some types of sea life in a shallow pool where you are allowed to put your hands in and touch them. Auggie and Rosie both dipped their hands in, with a lot of assistance. Auggie was a bit more cautious about it than Rose.

Playin' at the playground.

We've had some beautiful weather recently and took the kids (we're trying to stop calling them "the babies" since they've almost reached the one year mark) to the playground. They enjoyed the equipment that they could walk around the best since practicing to walk is their favorite activity right now.
Rose liked the bouncy frog a lot, especially once she learned how to make it bounce herself. She really wanted to try to eat the gravel and the mulch so trapping her in this seat gave us a break from being the chewing police.
Augie was pretty unsure about most of the equipment including this wobbly platform. He didn't like the slide very much...
...and here's how he felt about the swing. Rose wasn't much happier swinging. Maybe next time. Luckily there were several older kids at the playground and our kids enjoyed watching them have a good time.

Enjoying the Last Days of Our First Year

Rose tries out her Easter bonnet from last year. A little tight, but it still fits!


August mellows out on Daddy's lap. He's recently begun to crawl and is usually a very busy boy these days.