Loen is fearless when it comes to animals, which worries me. Derby is definitely more cautious but Loen will charge after a furry friend. She doesn’t understand that they are not always friendly. While at Mima’s house Loen kept going after their cat Pounce. She finally got a hold of his tail and he flipped around and swatted at her. 1: I was glad the cat was declawed. 2: The last thing I need is a child freaked out by cats. I told her the cat was trying to give her five (not knock her block her off). That was all the reassurance she needed to go after Pounce again. Derby kept calling the cat “doggy” then halfway through our trip in Michigan he was saying “kitty”. I’ve had people tell me that we should really get the twins a dog. Perhaps I should lock those people up in the house with the twins and a puppy for 24 hours and see how they feel about that idea then. For now we are content visiting other peoples pets.

Loen and a horse

Family with the horse. I love Derby’s expression

Restraining Loen before she charged after 2 baby alpacas. I’d hate to be an episode of When Animals Attack

At the SB Zoo

What’s all this white stuff?

After waiting in a very long line to go down a small snow covered hill we were over it. They can see snow in Michigan. I will apologize for the terrible video quality. I think it was because the camera was angled towards the sun.

Saying hi to Katie. Or should I say trying to get them to say hi. Loen kept acting ‘shy’.

Finally

Loen and Tomiko

The twins with Dr. Donelly

Trying not to blow away

With Dr. Lueck. I think Derby got dirt in his eye and was over it.

One of the twins nurses, Ann, does photography on the side. She posted the family picture on her website.

]]> http://thetadpoles.com/2009/10/16/nicu-reunion-2/feed/ 1 http://thetadpoles.com/2009/03/20/week-of-the-mms/ http://thetadpoles.com/2009/03/20/week-of-the-mms/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 22:36:42 +0000 Hava http://thetadpoles.com/?p=741 Last month Tadd’s mother and Aunt Tracie came for a few days, we had a small break and then my mother came for a visit. There is much to report on these visits but it all boils down to “spoiled grandchildren”. I often wonder if a little has to do with their rough start in life or if they would be this spoiled no matter what.

The twins recognize their Mima T because they ‘talk’ to her weekly via Skype (web video conferencing). We have found that Skype works much better with Macs vs PC’s. Calling Aunt Tracie often ends because the camera freezes.

Mima T & Derby

We noted that Mima came with a LARGE suitcase this time. She said that it was half full with a gift from their Aunt & Uncle Rapson. Penguins are their favorite thing at the zoo & now we have our own at home. Loen likes to lick the plastic eyes.

Aunt Tracie reading Derby a book

Mima got Derby the cutest pair of shoes

Posing with the dolls their Mima made them.

They were of course fawned over, held, read to and taken to the zoo. I was afraid all the extra attention would turn them into needy monkeys once everyone left but so far so good.

Tamie left on a Tuesday then my mom came out on Saturday. So they didn’t have long to wait before they were once again the stars of the show. Well they always are the center of attention anyways… Meemaw rallied because she worked the night shift, changed out of her scrubs and caught the next flight to Santa Barbara. I thought for sure she would want to take a nap once she landed but the thought of grandbabies had her too amped up so we went out to lunch.

I was surprised when my mom said spending the afternoon with the twins was more exhausting then working a 12 hour shift at the hospital. I think the meemaw was being dramatic. Though we did hit up all of the babies favorite spots: the zoo, Target, Costco, Tupelo Junction. Come to think of it, it was a little tiring.

Uncle Guy (Souther) came out too and we all went to the zoo. It was the first time the kids went down to the Giraffe feeding. Loen was mesmerized by how close they were.

Checking out the meerkats

No trip would be complete without a few rides down the sliding hill. 

Loen loved when Uncle tossed her in the air

Derby was pretty tired (the reason there wasn’t many pics of him)

Uncle Guy and Derby at lunch (that turned out to be a bad idea to take them to restaurant. Lots of screaming and a kid barfing on the floor isn’t my idea of a relaxing lunch)

We also went to Costco (the Daddy’s fave place to go)

Loen channelling her inner princess

It was a busy week but we loved having everyone here. In the end I think the twins were ready to go back to their schedule. Since she is my social butterfly Loen wouldn’t go to sleep if she could hear visitors and Derby did not nap as well. It took them a couple of days to adjust to the house being quiet. Now were looking forward to the next round!

• Loen: Weighs 17 pounds 4 ounces and is 28 inches long. Miss Loen is really into eating especially if it something you are eating. If I sit in the kiddie korral and try to eat a container of yogurt she will crawl all over me to get a bite. If you try and give Derby a bite she will get in front of him so she can have it. It is like having a puppy. I still make a lot of their food but have been buying some organic baby meals, because really who has the time to make a chicken apple risotto for a baby?? Loen does love the risotto. Loen has started to sign which I think is great. She can sign milk, more, eat and all done. The only problem is she will sign ‘more’ and you have no clue as to what she wants more of. She can say mama, dada and ba (for bath). She has started to say baby when you ask about her doll but for some reason she will only whisper it. She is SO close to walking but is scared to let go of things. She gets around pretty quickly with her crawl/cruise mode of transport. She also blows kisses which is heart meltingly cute.

Loen is my smiley little girl

Soon there will be enough hair to do elaborate styles!

• Derby: Weighs 16 pounds 2 ounces and is 26 3/4 inches long. He seems to have stalled in the growing department. The Pediatrician says he has hit a plateau where he is burning more calories by being active but not eating more. He will eat solids but has to be in the mood to do so. We think one of the reasons he has issues with solid food is he has a hard time seeing the spoon coming at his face. Next thing he knows someone is trying to shove food in his mouth, I’m sure it kinda freaks him out. It helps if I give him a spoon then try and put some food in his mouth when he is chewing on the spare spoon. He likes to hold food and chew on it (like a piece of toast or a little pickle) but I get worried he is going to choke. We have these mesh bags that are made so kids can eat whole pieces of food without the fear of choking but Derby doesn’t like the texture of the mesh. He has been doing really well in therapy. They have been working on getting him into a crawl position and trying to have him move forward. The first few times he really resisted but he is getting better. We are not crawling but we are on the way. He still is my vocal kiddo. He doesn’t sign but can say hi, mama and dada in context. If someone comes over and doesn’t acknowledge him right away he will start to yell ‘Hi’. When Tadd comes home Loen will crawl over to him, but Derby will just start shouting ‘hi’ a bunch of times till Tadd comes over to him. He wants to be sure he is noticed. He is the master of the fake sneeze and cough. Sometimes his coughs are so good I think something is wrong then I will notice he is smiling…such a faker. He will shake his head ‘no’ when he doesn’t want something. He still wears the helmet but only at night and his glasses during the day. Doing them together caused too many issues. Keeping the glasses on his face is still a challenge. I asked the doctor for suggestions and he said to keep his hands occupied. While that sounds great I cant be there occupying his hands every second, so I often find his glasses are off and he is chewing on the lens. 

Notice the bite marks

The twins really like going to the zoo. Having a membership is perfect because I don’t feel guilty if we’re only there for a 30 minute visit. I think some animals are still hard for them to see unless they are moving a lot, so the penguins in the underground viewing window is our favorite right now. The last 2 visits that is really all we looked at and then left.

The giraffe hanging out.

Derby has become more aggressive with Loen. He has started pulling her hair if she is in his way. As you can see he wasn’t too keen to share the turtle statue.

I let them try to feed themselves one Saturday. Not one of my best ideas

Loen couldn’t believe I gave her the spoon

AND the bowl of cereal

Since there was cereal in the twins hair we moved on to one of Loen’s favorite activities, the bath. She says ‘ba’ and gets so excited. She tries to climb in herself.

We don’t have therapy on Wednesdays so I try and catch up on the laundry. Loen is very good at helping me unfold.

Derby was ready to take nap in the warm clean sheets

Derby checking his email

We are relishing the time we get to spend with the daddy. Tax season is upon us so Tadd leaves for work right when they are waking up and comes home once they’re in bed. We try and see him at lunch time or make the most of our Sundays (yup he works on Saturday too). At Goleta Beach

So this is a video of them doing random things such as signing and fake sneezes. It is long and not that exciting. Well, exciting if you’re their grandparent.

John spent the weekend with us while his parents were out of town. Faux-bro is always a big help

Loen under our new sign. Not to be mean but you would be surprised at how many strangers feel it is okay to bend down and start touching them. I know they mean well, but hey I don’t know where their hands have been. I would rather people thought we were being uptight than the twins being hospitalized from some virus they got from a stranger.

Blue Crowned Pigeon (that thing was huge for a pigeon, it must have had a glandular problem)

White handed gibbon

The elephant was enjoying a little swim

Hosing himself off (then he went and threw dirt all over himself. Kinda negating the whole bath thing…)

Tadd using the zoom lens to spy on us at the penguin pool while he was by the elephants

They are in the midst of remodeling the zoo and the park was a new addition. They had a hill covered in a really soft artificial turf made for sliding. They even padded the tree trunks that were close by in case someone got out of control. It was really cool.

Loen was ready for a nap

We were sad to learn of Gemina’s passing. She was always one of John’s favorites when he was little. He did get a chance to feed another member of the giraffe herd though.

Even the giraffes do yoga in Santa Barbara. (You can see the beach which is right across the street)

The gorilla was napping right against the viewing window.

Derby doing his best gorilla impression. (His eyes are the same color as the sign)

Derby debating creation vs evolution

Yes, there are more pics of Derby this time around. Loen was sleeping peacefully in the stroller while Mr. Derbs demanded to be held.