Pics and Video

Here are some recent pictures and video...haven't even put first birthday pics on here yet - although they have been on the photo site. As you can tell from the video, both are ready to take off walking soon, although Cate more so than Logan. Crazy that he crawled way before she did and now she is going to walk before him...technically she already is, but by that I mean 4-5 wobbly steps at a time.

Enjoy, more details and stories later when I have the time...heard that before?

Quick Update with Recent Pictures

Been a while since we made any type of updates or posts...no time to write much, but I promise we'll have some commentary and details soon as the big one year milestone is less than a month away. But for now, here are some recent photos of the Mixed Doubles - who now, by the way, are both on the move (usually in opposite directions) and pulling up on and pulling down anything they can get their hands on.

Whew, was that a vacation?

Hope everyone had a fun, safe Fourth of the July week or weekend...We had all of that and more.  Whew, what a vacation, if you can call it that...Just kidding, of course it was, we were at the beach for 9 days (besides, work is still counting it against me as such).  Drove the 6.5 hours (on a good day, 8 hrs on a bad one as we had coming back) down to Atlantic Beach, FL - due east of Jacksonville, north of Neptune Beach, and south of Amelia Island.

It's just a LOT more work than before.  But then again, we brought it all on ourselves as a major challenge...It's just no longer that the reward from all it takes to go on vacation for a week is rest and relaxation, it has now turned into more of a sense accomplishment to get there, get through it (albeit while trying to enjoy ourselves somewhat), and then get everything and everyone back safe and sound - which we did, but not without a few tense, trying "now we can look back on it and laugh" type of moments, but I'll have to get a longer blog out about these and more from the trip later. 

We had full intention on getting out a blog update while we were down there, but once it was back to just us every night after they went to bed, we weren't far behind, or at least had spent every brain and enercy cell that day to keep us from pulling anything together. 

Anyway, plenty more pictures can be found on our photo site here, but a few highlights below...


The Griswold Family motorcade...Us, the twins, and Baxter all in the car along with a little gem of a trailer I found on Craigslist being pulled behind loaded with essentially all our luggage, baby essentials (pack n plays, walkers, wagon) beach essentials (chairs, tent, baby pool) kid toys, adult toys (not including those pictured up top or back of trailer, i.e. tennis rackets, golf clubs, scooter), and whatever else we thought we might need and didn't want to be stradded in a bind without. 



Logan and Cate red for the July 4th around the cul de sac parade...there were no real official awards, but they definitely got the most looks, especially when towed by the scooter. 



Among many 'firsts' this trip, bike rides...this time for lunch and ice cream.

 Ahhh, I finally get a chance to sit on the beach...even if that means inside the pool trying to hold Logan still long enough for Catherine to take this picture.  Immediately after he was back to crawling over the wall or at least reaching over it to grab some sand that almost immediately made it to his mouth. 



 The last two nights I finally got a chance to use my fathers day gift (kayak, not scooter)…like the other various laborious pursuits all week, it was well worth it...especilly in the rain at dusk one night with just me and the surfers.

Lastly, I've been meaning to get this posted for a while...We did a little photo comparison project of the twins compared to each of us as babies.  It is like we don't have twins, we have clones...

                              Catherine                                      Cate

                   
         Trey                                                Logan

Videos and More Videos

Sorry, no time for a long-winded entry, but here are a variety of videos for you to see what the twins have been up to...pictures/videos say a thousand words anyway, right?

Compilation Video (some clips you may have seen already and there are longer versions of others below)....

Cate and Logan watch Obama's announcment on Bin Laden...

Cate amused by the babysitter (with an appearance by Logan checking out what all the fuss was about)...

Logan's turn to chill out in the front porch swings...

Cate's reaction to the news of Osama's Bin Laden's death...

Cate and Baxter in the back yard...

Baptism and beyond...

Since I did an all text update last time, this one will be mostly pics and videos...Many more recent photos can be found at www.mixeddoublesmatch.shutterfly.com.  Enjoy, Happy Easter! 

VIDEOS...

Cate humming along in the front porch swing...

Logan learning to watch some TV in peace (or as much peace as possible with what you'll hear going on in the background)...

 

PHOTOS...

Baptism Day!  April 10, 2011...

The Whole Family on Baptism Day

Logan's preferred napping position on Baptism day.

Pastels on the front porch, Spring has sprung! 
Ready for Selwn Pub Patio...

Logan with MoHawk...After a recent bath I decided to comb his hair into a mohawk, but I didn't realize it would basically stay this way 'til the next one.





Even better look with shades on!

Catherine & Cate on front porch, our favorite place to hang
 out now...replaced the old wooden swing in the background
with dual baby swings - not very subtle, I know, but as you
can see by Cate's video above, they're a big hit and allows
 each person to now have their own swing - in theory,
it hardly works out that way though.  

Logan and me's first baseball game!  We both thoroughly enjoyed it...
Especially the foul balls coming right back against the screen when
we were standing behind the backstop.  He had the whole place
laughing at him laughing each time it happened.

First Meal, here we go...get out the hose and mop!

I'd imagine they are saying something to themselves (or each other)
like, "Uh-oh, something's up...They got us sitting side-by-side on
top of the dinning room table, Dad's got the camera out, and
Mom is all giddy whipping something up in the kitchen!"

Pre-"first meal" prayer...Ok, they didn't really pray, but
it sure looked like it when we went back and looked
at the picture of them holding hands.

Cate is looking at me saying something to the effect of,
"What is this nasty stuff?  Look at me, I'm a mess...
How much more is mom going to try and feed me?"

Logan looking drunk on rice cereal, leaning on Cate for guidance

(for some reason I feel like this scenario may play out again

at some spring break somewhere in high school or college

 - preferably the latter).

Cate's reaction to the aftertaste...the look says it all!

Cate Delivers Some Poetic Justice

The adventures with my daughter and her bowel movements continue...And along with it, another incident of poetic justice plays out in my case of against doing the really "dirty" diapers. I have always had a knack of really "bringing it out" of them, but yesterday really takes the cake, or should I say "custard pie" - at least to date.

It all started as an innocent, mid-morning feeding on Saturday where I happened to have Cate this go 'round. Well, after a relatively smooth feeding I sensed that she had a wet diaper that needed to be changed. So since we were headed to the mall soon to spend a rainy afternoon, I figured I'd go ahead and get the diaper, along with with a wardrobe change, out of the way so we could be fairly ready to go - at least with one of them.

Well after picking out an outfit and getting the changing essentials laid out on the table (new diaper and fresh wipe), I begin to undress her. For those not familiar (can't remember if I've mentioned this on here before), Cate loves to be changed, better yet, she loves to be naked. As much as she likes to throw her feet in the air normally, multiply that several times over when she is unencumbered by clothing or diapers. I firmly believe she would lay there contently most the day if we let her - at this stage there isn't much danger in it since she still hasn't shown a remote interest in rolling over or anything close.

As I take off her diaper I discover a surprise - a small, green turdlet. Ok, no problem, I've seen worse, I can easily handle this. So I use the old diaper, still partially on her, to grab the turdlet and some other "debris". Since I assumed that was the end of it I didn't bother reaching for my diaper changing essentials - Vicks vapor rub under the nostrils and my mask sprayed with cologne - big mistake! (although, with what was about to transpire I can say with certainty that my defenses wouldn't have made much difference).

So after I wipe her down and am about to slide the new diaper in place, I hear a quick release of air/gas and look down to find my daughter basically churning out a strand of olive green poop. Her anus basically became like a play-doh spaghetti factory, where I, "the baker", had a hard time keeping up (and putting up) with the level of output. At first I just started reaching for wipe after wipe, but those weren't thick enough or big enough. So then I reached for a burp cloth nearby, but by this point my reactive instincts were wearing off and my gag refluxes were starting to take over. Finding myself stuck between a proverbial rock and a hard place, I did what most men in this situation would do - I start calling to her mother to come relieve me, pronto! All along I had been giving Catherine a play-by-play, but by this point it had turned from a comical recount to one of desperation and panic.

But what tore me up the most with this whole ordeal was that with all the fuss I was making by turning away and yelling over my shoulder saying things like “Oh my god, so gross!” or “Get me out of here!”, I look down at Cate and the look on her face has gone from a wry smile of relief and amusement to a whimper of shame and embarrassment. It was as if she was looking back up at me now asking, "Daddy, what's wrong, am I being bad? Do you no longer find me adorable, am I disgusting you now? I can't help it." So once Catherine came to the relief, I let her take care our daughter's bottom half while I restored the top half of our little, uncontrollably pooping angel.

After Cate's confidence was restored I had to quickly vacate the room and let mom handle the rest of the cleanup duty. Not only did Catherine have to deal with the aftermath of my disaster, but Cate continued to crank it out, filling up another diaper and requiring countless more wipes. Little did we know that this was a sign of things to come with her for the rest of the afternoon...While at the mall, Cate had to be changed for this same reason not once but twice, and thus set a couple of milestones in the process - first use of the Koala Kare public changing stations and most number of times (5) going poop in a 24 hr period.

This actually isn't the first time she gone on me while on the changing table, but the other times she just wet herself - and the changing table, and her outfit, and the fresh diaper I had laid out. But the problem is, when she does this you don't really know it's happening until you feel the results. See the thing is, with her - how should I say - rather healthy amount of skin combined with the design of the female anatomy, when she relieves herself there are a lot of creases and channels for the urine to run down out of....therefore, when she goes on you, you never see a geyser like with him, you just slowly start to see and feel the results as it trickles out of all the aforementioned crevasses. On more than one occasion, while changing her I've gone to slide her diaper underneath her and felt some wetness, but since I didn't see anything that would lead me to think otherwise, I just thought it was sweat (especially when after waking her up from a nap)...However, the smell of urine finally hits me and I realize what all has just transpired.

Later, as I retold and relived the story to my mother, she asked what I would have done if Catherine was not there? Hmmm, good point, the thought of this happening hadn’t really occurred to me before. Obviously I hadn't experienced anything like this before, and not that I thought I wouldn't be faced with this reality of fatherhood, but it was so quick and surreal it started me a bit. What I told her at the time, is what I think really would be my best contingency plan - I probably would carry her (under her arms and away from my body) into the bathroom, dip her bottom half in the toilet and hit flush. It would basically be like giving her a reverse swirly (fyi, I swirly is when you push a drunk person already getting sick's head in the toilet and flush it).

OMG Do Our Floors Crack!

It's not like this is new news, it's definitely something we always knew made some noise, but I never realized how loud it was until we had kids - and by "kids" I mean sleeping babies on the verge of falling asleep.  On top of that, I swear the little patch of hardwood planks right at the door to their nursery seems to be the loudest spot in the house.

This is all a bit of an exaggeration, to be honest they aren't nearly as sensitive to noise as I’m making it out to be…And the best thing about their sensitivity while sleeping, or lack thereof really, is that they are immune to whatever noise the other one is making – to be accurate, it's more a matter Cate not being affected by all the wailing away Logan does at times.  Thankfully he doesn't wake up when she pipes up either, but her "awakenings" don't come with nearly the same decibel level or duration as his.  

But nevertheless, doing something like dropping a pan in the kitchen or letting the screen door slam is treated like setting off dynamite.  In these cases, we do have a house rule that the person who causes any disturbance has to deal with any repercussions from it. Like I said, this actually seldom occurs, we are way more sensitive to these noises than they are.  Even though they are sleeping a LOT better now, but because of it we still walk around on egg shells not wanting to disrupt the peace and trigger any sort of regression.  A month ago or so ago we didn't recognize the noises as much because they were only sleeping in short increments anyway and chances were they could wake up at any moment regardless.

To touch on their sleep a bit more (although it seems that is all I talk about – but this time in a positive tone), each one now is "going the distance" with regularity…the only problem still is that they haven't mastered how synchronize these nights together so well - except when we split them up and let them spend the night out at the grandparents apparently, like we did this past weekend for Catherine's birthday. 

(Side note: It's kind of bittersweet to get the report the next morning from both sets of grandparents that each one made it through the night without making so much as a peep.  On one hand we want to see consistency with them sleeping all night, but on the other hand these nights are still rare and we want them occurring on our watch.  Moreover, it not only helps for the grandparents to see where we're coming from when we complain about the bad nights and the lack of sleep, but after both going the distance one night, it is rather rare that they will both do it again the next – so we feel like we’re for it come the following night).

Back to their sleeping, and only because I didn’t quite finish my quick update…chances are, most nights there will still be an "awakening" or two at some point that translates into a trip by one or both of us into the nursery.  But right now though, it's usually Cate the one waking up.  Whereas it used to be him waking up and her going through the night, now she is the one that can't seem to go all night without some sort of attention...However, on the bright side, these awakenings are usually short-lived and not near the length of something like a full feeding, but rather just a paci "insertion" - sometimes followed by a paci "replacement" trip - which I can practically do by sleep walk now though.  

Not only is Logan going the distance without his usual 4am feeding, but he is sleeping through the night frequently. He definitely still stirs, spins, and flips over occasion – yes, there are literally times when we'll go in there and find that he has not only flipped over on his belly, but also somehow completely spun himself around where his head is where his feet were and vice-versa.  I need to figure out how to setup a time elapse video camera where I take like 3 seconds of video every minute or so to see just how and when he does this (stay tuned, I think I’ve found my next project).  But the key that has really helped with him staying asleep or getting himself back to sleep is that he's learned to find his thumb "in times of need" and work himself back into his happy place.

Ok, enough about sleeping, it is during waking hours where things are most interesting....They are really starting to be very interactive, and each in their own unique and different way…not to mention, there is quite a bit of overall development and growth going on now. 

Topping this list is the fact that they are starting to notice and somewhat interact with each other now.  Mostly Cate will just look at Logan and his antics like he is crazy, basically wondering what all the fuss is about, but when they both get going in the pack-n-play you can tell they are amusing each other - especially when we clip the balloon to Cate's foot and let her entertain the both of them with the balloon bouncing all over the place.  With each of Cate's leg kicks (and resulting balloon movements), Logan will let out a sound of amusement to which Cate typically responds with chuckle of both pride and delight.

Yes, these balloons have been both a HUGE hit and relief as they have provided countless hours of entertainment.  My parents stumbled upon this discovery during setting up for a SuperBowl party one afternoon while keeping Logan and saw how his eyes just kept following and were fixated on a Packers helium balloon.  So after attaching it to his sleeve and seeing how it mesmerized him for over an hour, they knew they were on to something here.  So then we then introduced it to Cate by clipping it to her ankle and bingo!  Once she realized that her leg kicking - already her favorite pastime - causes the balloon to bounce around her legs took off and haven’t really stopped since. 

Another big hit, along the same lines of visual stimulation, has been the Baby Mozart DVD they watch while lying on our bed.  This is one of the few scenarios where Logan will sit contently - laying on our bed, thumb in mouth, and staring at the TV showing Baby Mozart. 

(Quick side note on Baby Mozart videos:  I had heard about these before, but never really seen one so I didn't know what to expect...Whether it was from their fancy name or just my assumption based on how advanced animation-type movies were these days, I thought these were going to be much more elaborate and impressive than they turned out to be.  What a farce and at the same time ingenious idea these videos really are!  On the surface there is nothing impressive about them at all - no complex graphics or animation, no story or characters, just simple shots of simple things set to classical music - brilliant!  All these videos consist of are a collection of short segments showing around the house types of toys and still pictures of animals like a dog hand-puppet that just goes "ruff" or a toy train going around the tracks followed by a still photo of a cow with the sound "moo"...again, brilliant!  Oh well, as long as it interests him, it could be paint drying set to music for all I care.)

Not only are they growing fast right now (the ever-expanding bag of out-grown clothes makes me cringe), but they are "growing up" in their motions and capabilities...some of which are way too fast for our liking, but do you really try to curtail these?  For example, Logan loves to stand up, with balancing assistance of course, and even wants to take steps forward (see video below).  His new favorite position is standing in my lap facing forward with his chest leaning against my knees and his neck and head up surveying the scene or starring at the television.  But as hyper and curious as he is, I'm not sure we want him walking as soon as it looks like he will. 

As for Cate, that won't be a problem, despite all the use of her legs with the balloon and constantly sticking them up in the air, she has absolutely no interest in standing up or even rolling over for that matter.  I'll try to lift her up expecting her to stiffen her legs and prop herself up, but she let's them just dangle and go limp when I try to lower her down on them.  Speaking of growing, Cate's legs have done quite a bit of it in terms of sheer girth...and with this girth come rolls upon rolls.  But despite the added weight to them she still likes to lay on her back and throw her legs in the air.  Many times we'll walk in the nursery to see if she's still sleeping and quickly get our answer by seeing nothing but two feet in the air rising above her crib.  Unlike him, she'll wake up and contently lay in her crib just chattering to herself, all the while exercising those legs. She also remains as flexible as ever...she can literally spread her legs so far apart that the outside of her knees touch the bed, and she'll even lay and sleep this position comfortably (see pic).

Staying with his all-or-nothing approach, but in a positive way this time, Logan's smile is an all-out, ear to ear, mouth open, tongue showing smile...seldom does he just smirk or grin.  Often his smile is also accompanied by the odds on favorite to be his first word - "hey."  In some ways he's already said it, but we can't really count it until we can tell he is uttering it knowingly and intentionally.  However, by the same token, when he cries it's not just a whimper, he goes straight to a full high-pitch wail - which we can often see coming with his trademark bottom lip quiver.

Lastly, one department where they are not growing so much is their hair.  Logan is still clinging to his few strands on top, but yet to get much coming in on the sides...as the hair on top continues to grow with nothing on the sides he's starting to look like he has a Mohawk.  Cate on the other hand, has hair growing up top with some random long strands, but because she lays on her back so much, she has a definite bald spot on the back of her head.  And until she starts rolling over and laying on her tummy, this bald spot will never have a chance to fill in.

Ok, that's about it for now, or at least all I can try to capture and put into words...(or also all I have time for before it's time to clock back in, always something to do to try to stay ahead of the game).   They have their four month appointment later this week, so we'll get accurate weight then, but I'm putting the over/under at 13 lbs - and probably taking the "over" on that bet.  Stay tuned, the amazing journey continues...

Some other recent favorite pics...



Major Milestone!

(Update to this:  Logan made it through the second night too, fingers crossed on the third and beyond...Also, Cate needed her own video too, so we took this own of her today playing with her (and his) favorite toy - a helium balloon.)

Not much time for a lengthy update as I’m in between two travel weekends with the NASCAR season starting up, but since we hit a major milestone last night I figured I had to go public with it…For the first time since birth, BOTH Cate and Logan “went the distance” last night by sleeping all the way through from roughly 7pm to 7am!  While Cate has been going the distance for about a week or so now (with the exception of occasional nightly trips to put her pacifier in), Logan still required a nightly 4am feeding – until now.  I told Catherine to consider it a Valentine’s gift from her son.  Who knows whether this was just a one-time fluke or a sign of things to come, guess we’ll find out tonight, but either way I consider it progress.

Here are some favorite recent pictures and a video, larger update coming soon...Happy V-Day for now! 

Trip to the Mountains for MLK, as you can see, Logan was not too pleased to be woken from a nap to take this picture at sunset.

Logan "riding along" with me on leaf sweeping duties...Might as well start training him early on doing yard work. 

Logan loves laying the wrong/front facing way in the Poppy pillow, see video below for just how much he enjoys it.

Meanwhile, Cate is perfectly content just lounging on her back surveying the scene.

Cate likes sitting in it the right way (almost like it is a throne with arm rests), and occassion sits up in it.

This a good depiction on how play time tends to go, Cate on her back on the play mat and Logan perched over the Poppy.