Weather in San Diego

Well we were hit with our first 'storm' here in San Diego. It poured all day long on Monday, I didn't know what to do with myself and the babies because we always go for a morning walk and almost always hit a park in the afternoon. Tuesday wasn't too rainy but it was cold (like in the 40's). Then it rained all day Wednesday. I told my hubs yesterday that I hate the rain. He looked at me surprised and said "even after living in RI?" (where it rained A LOT). I informed him that this is why we moved to SUNNY San Diego. Well this morning we awoke to the return of some sunshine. So this morning I bundled up the babies (because it was still pretty cold) and we went on our morning walk. As you can see, both Parker and Penelope were glad to get some fresh air!!






A big thank you to Allison, a former roommate of mine, for the awesome hats that kept the kiddies' heads warm in our upper 40's degree weather :)

Sunday Dress

Well we have reason to celebrate, we actually made it in time for the opening song at church today. It has been (and will continue to be) a struggle to be on time because the babes don't wake up from their naps until 10:30am or 11am and church starts at 11am. We just do the best we can. Anyway, we took pics of the twinnies in their Sunday best and I thought I would post them. These pictures are mostly for my parents and my grandparents. The dress Penelope is wearing was a dress my grandparents sent to me as a baby, its from Europe where they were living at the time. So, grandma and grandpa, thanks for the dress, its the gift that keeps on giving!!

New Tricks

Sometimes I think we are raising puppies, we love teaching them new tricks and they (well mostly Parker) stare and whine when we eat in front of them. Here are a few new tricks they have learned.

One we are SO glad they have learned is they can feed themselves bottles:


Another we are not so excited about is they have learned to veg in front of the tv (ok, so sometimes we love this, particularly near bedtime so we can draw a bath and get bottles and pjs ready):

Aren't my couch potatoes cute!?!?!

Parker has recently learned to sit up and when we go to get him in the morning, he's usually sitting up in his crib like this:

Well this morning, this is what we found:

I think it may be time to lower the crib. Otherwise we are going to go in one morning and find Parker on the floor!!

In the meantime, Penelope has no desire to roll (she'll roll to her back only because she doesn't like to be on her belly) or sit up or crawl. But she has developed a love of books:


Her other new trick isn't so new, she works very hard on being so cute and frankly we think she is doing a FABULOUS job:

Naked Parker

By the title, you should realize that this video is probably not G or PG rated. In fact, I think it might almost be NC-17. You tell me.




Is he not the cutest boy ever!! He really is getting to the point where he can sit himself up. When I went in last night to get him (and feed him at 2:30am, yes, they still get up once a night to eat), he was sitting in the corner of his crib crying. We are now thinking of when we will have to lower the crib so when he pulls himself up, he won't be able to fall out of his crib.

This is for Abraham

This post is dedicated to my nephew Abraham. Apparently he lives for watching videos of the twins. Who knew you could love your cousins at such a young age!! We love you Abraham....enjoy!!

So this first clip is Tory trying to get the twins to have a reaction. The noises he make are quite entertaining :)




This second video doesn't quite do justice to the love Parker has for dogs. When we see a dog and Parker gets to watch it, he just starts to giggle, it is so cute:

Its the twins' half-birthday!!

I can't believe the twins are six months old. What I mean is I can't believe we survived the first six months. The past six months have been the hardest of my life. When the following picture was taken, I really had no idea what we were in for:

Thankfully with hard times come great blessings. Just look at these babies now:

To celebrate our survival I made cupcakes:

Here's to making it another six!!

Mama's girl

Penelope is a bit of a mama's girl; apparently I was as well. My mom said she pretty much had to hold or 'wear' me for many months in my early life and that I wouldn't even go to my father. Now, I guess it is payback time:

I had a dentist appointment yesterday morning (which was NOT fun) and when I got home Miss Penelope was just beside herself, as was my hubby. She was so upset that I was not around to hold her; and, my hubby could not do anything to console her. I hoped she was growing out of this phase but apparently we have a ways to go.

At least she still thinks her dad is funny (as long as I'm in the room):

My New Gadget

Don't you just love laptops and wireless internet? I am currently sitting on my couch eating ice cream while blogging. Technology certainly does have its benefits!! So guess what I finally broke down and bought (an early Christmas gift for myself): a food processor!! Here it is in all its glory:

After some careful research (i.e. talking to a couple of my sisters-in-law and hearing that America's Test Kitchen recommends this one) I went with the 12-cup KitchenAid. It just arrived so I haven't actually tried it. I made a dish last night that required a fair bit of chopping and halfway through the chopping I realized I could be using my new gadget. That thought was followed by the realization that I don't know how to use it and was too tired to figure it out. So hopefully, in the near future, I will develop some food processing skills, especially in the baby food-making department since that is what spurred this purchase in the first place. So if anyone has advice on how to get to know your food processor, let me know!!

Speaking of baby food, Parker and Penelope have now been exposed to oatmeal cereal, sweet potato puree and mashed up avocado. Here are a couple videos to show their reaction to the avocado:










So as you can see, avocado was a little much for them. The next two videos show them eating avocado mixed with sweet potato puree with better results:










I can't wait to see what kind of faces come when we expose them to other new foods.

We have also been working on getting the twins to use a sippy cup on their own. Here is Penelope trying to drink from hers:




She does pretty well. Parker, well, it depends on the day :) But he is pretty close to being able to sit by himself. Here is a little picture of him being a 'big' boy:




Check out those roly-poly legs!!

Hanging out at the park

Here are a couple pictures I took at the park last week of the twins. We go to the park almost every day. Not always the same park, I like to mix it up a little by checking out a new park every so often. Ahh the exciting life of a mother of 5 month-olds!!

They are becoming more and more photogenic:

Parker is practicing his 'tough' look for when we have to buy a house in the hood because we can't find one in a nice neighborhood that we can afford.


Penelope is such a smiler, she loves feeling the breeze when she is outside.

The beginning

This marks the very first blog by the Randall family. We will be updating with pictures and witty stories very soon. Stay tuned and make certain we are listed in your friend file.