The Beach

Today we took the twins to the beach. Now they have been there many times before. In fact, I think their first visit to the beach was when they were 2 and 1/2 weeks old. I have a photo of it but after looking at it, I just can't post it. Its quite unflattering in terms of weight and tiredness in our faces so you'll just have to imagine two tiny babies and two extremely tired parents standing in front of second beach in Rhode Island!!


And since we moved to San Diego, we go for a walk on the beach almost every Sunday afternoon:
But today, today was different. We went to the beach. You know, took towels, toys, lunch, etc. and set up camp. The twins got to actually 'touch' the beach.




While the water was still a little too cold for them (and us), we enjoyed playing in the sand and dad shared his banana with Parker (Penelope was busy eating the sand as shown in this clip):




The whole catalyst for this jaunt was Tory's sister and her family coming down for the day. After our time at the beach, we headed back to the house and hung out for a while, unwinding from our fun in the sun. Parker and Pen really enjoyed spending time with their cousins. Penelope took quite a shine to baby Jackson (he's baby Jackson because he is a whole 3 months younger than the twins):




What a great day and perfect weather to boot. A big shout-out to the Players for coming down to hang out with us. Let's do it again soon!!

A hodgepodge of pictures (and a video)

The twins were excited to have their cousin Abraham and Auntie Kirstin come visit them in their new home a few weeks ago. In fact, Penelope warmed up so quickly to Abraham, she was comfortable resting her hand on his leg. However, judging by Abraham's face, I don't think he was quite ready for that familiarity:


So Penelope, not wanting to offend her guest, quickly gave him the space he needed:



Parker has discovered our piano and enjoys playing it while sitting on daddy's lap:


He also enjoys playing it on his own:



Another feature of our home the twins enjoy is the fireplace. We taped the glass covering shut so they grab the handles and the glass knocking against the fireplace makes a fun noise they love. We often find them hanging out here:


We have instituted dinnertime at the table in our house. The kids eat enough foods that they usually can have part of what we are eating. Plus, it allows Tory and I to eat dinner at the same time which really hasn't happened since our family doubled in size.

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And finally, here's a photo from Sunday when the twins turned 9-months old. Are they not the cutest little twinners you have ever seen!?!

Need a good laugh?

Then laugh along with Parker:



PS Happy 9-month birthday to the twins (and to us for making it this far!!)

Baby Food

I'm not sure when or why I decided to make my own baby food, but when the babies were ready to start solids, I decided to give it a try. I figured that if making the food got to be too much, I could always go buy it at the grocery store. Well, the first few weeks were a little rough (of course, not nearly as rough as the first few weeks of nursing the twins), but, like nursing, I decided to stick it out and it has turned out to be surprisingly easy; and, now I still nurse and make their baby food...and enjoy both (not to mention the savings!).

To learn the art of making baby food, I went to the library and checked out some books on the subject (huge props to Ben Franklin for coming up with the public library idea). I found one (Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron) that seemed to work the best; the book had me puree (I had to learn how to use my food processor) foods, freeze them in ice cube trays and store them in ziplocs in the freezer. It really does work:


The book also taught me how to grind up grains (oats, millet, rice, etc.) and make my own cereal. I make a pot of cereal every few days and the kids totally dig it. I usually mix in a couple 'green' cubes such as asparagus, zucchini, broccoli or green beans, and every other day I throw in an egg yolk or some tofu; and to top it off, I sprinkle in some brewer's yeast. It looks (and generally smells) pretty disgusting, but Parker and Penelope love it.



And, I feel good because even if I don't eat whole grains all the time, they do!!

We are working on the twins feeding themselves, so I cut up various foods for them to eat; and, for some reason they really like cut-up tofu, which is great. Yesterday, I tried little pieces of egg yolk with mixed results. But, they enjoy watermelon, pear, sweet potato, carrot and cantaloupe, as well as the requisite cheerios. Here's a couple clips of them feeding themselves:








Here are a couple random pics of the kiddos eating:

Parker has no diaper on b/c he had this wicked diaper rash and I was letting him "air out" but he has his hood up and socks on to keep warm!!



And here is Penelope, just happy as a clam to be eating:

Sharing

This is what I like to see (now you know why if one gets a cold, the other one is sure to catch it as well):




Unfortunately this next picture was taken not five minutes later. Parker got a little greedy with the pacifiers and took Penelope's even though he had one in:




Apparently we have some work to do in the sharing department.

Its Official....

Penelope has learned to crawl:




I think Tory was more excited than Penelope. Oh and she got a second tooth as well, it was a big day in the Randall household!!

Precocious Parker

As promised, here is a post dedicated to my Parker. Let me just tell you, this kid is a character!! He is one busy boy. The latest feat he has tackled is climbing stairs. It all began when we started sitting in the up-front row at church (you know, the one vacated by the deacons after the sacrament is passed) and Parker saw the two steps leading up to the pulpit, and he decided to check it out. Today he climbed up both those stairs - luckily Tory grabbed him before he did any real damage up there. At home he's been working on our stairs as well:




That clip was filmed almost a week ago and he only would go up a couple stairs before stopping. But, yesterday he just kept going and he made it all the way upstairs (with no help from me, I was just the spotter, following from behind), he was pretty proud of himself:



When Parker isn't busy climbing stairs and exploring our new house, he loves to be in the playroom with Penelope and play with his toys (he's also polite and likes to thank those who give him toys):



Parker already recognizes the camera and knows what to do; he's become a little camera hog as evidenced in the following clip that was supposed to be showing Penelope making crazy noises - which she does here:




One of Parker's favorite times of day is when daddy comes home from work; Parker smiles, laughs, and plays with Dad:



Luckily, he also loves cuddling with mom:



Boy do I love my little boy. If he weren't asleep, I would give him a big ole love right now!!