Twin Pix – March and April 2012

Meri & AlexThe Habertwins just keep growing. Well, not that much, since at our last doctor appointment they are still in the 5th and 8th percentiles for weight and all. Let’s say they are “advancing” at a rapid pace.

They can probably identify easily over 100 different items by name. If we say go get “xyz” toy, they can find it in the pile. Reading their picture books, we can ask them “which one is the cow?” and they can point it out. Verbally the aren’t as advanced yet but are improving almost daily. The words they do say (da da, momma, bye-bye, night-night, cheese, shoes, etc.) they are starting to put them together to form thoughts. Just yesterday, I went into our bedroom while Jess was playing with them. Alex turned to Jess and said “da da bye-bye”. Mind boggling that is happening already.  We are also working on them saying their names. Alex does pretty good with her “Allllll-cexs”. Meri falls back something close to “momma” but is working on it.

You can tell Meri, “Let’s go change your diaper” and she will drop whatever she is doing and start heading to her room. Pretty funny to watch. She gets so excited about it for some reason.

We survived another round of sickness/simultaneous teething. The progression is like this… they start teething, so their gums hurt. They chew on their fingers constantly to make their gums feel better. Fingers in the mouth end up getting them sick. Thus, we have 2 children who are teething, uncomfortable, in pain, and can’t breathe because they have colds. Wow. Not good times.

We have reached a point where the following is completely true. If we have one of something, we have zero of something. Because, if there is just one, they will battle over it. As an addendum to that, if we have 2 of something, but it is something they can carry in one hand, then we’re still screwed because one kid will end up with both of them with the other kid screaming. In those cases, we need at least 5. One for each of their hands, and a “floater” to assuage any additional problems. I can see this getting out of control rapidly.

On the positive side, 2 days in a row last week we had 100% cry free afternoon commutes. 45 minutes of total silence from the back seat. No crying. No screaming. No nothing. I can probably count the total number of times that has happened in 14 months on one hand. So, you know, rare. About two thirds of the way home, Jess and I were looking at each other afraid to say anything that would screw it up. It was like a pitcher with a no-hitter going and nobody wanting to break his concentration. Alas, the string only lasted 2 days, but those were 2 glorious days… We are hoping to have turned a corner on this, but it is too early to tell.

With the weather finally getting nicer, the girls absolutely love being outside. They have been exploring the backyard, picking up rocks and digging in dirt. Good times.

They love eating bites of pizza. They must really be my kids after all.

All in all, every day that passes they are becoming more and more fun to be around. Their personalities are really coming out. The days that they are both in good moods are like gold. I wouldn’t trade those for anything.

Without further ado, here are some pictures. As always, go to Flickr to see all of the photos.

Twins – March 2012

Meri & Alex

Meri

Alex & Meri

Meri

Alex

Alex

Meri

Alex & Meri

Alex

Twins – April 2012

Meri

Alex

Hop on Pop

Meri

Meri

Alex

 

Twin Pics – December & February

Damn. How time flies anymore…

Alex and Meri are growing like crazy. Granted, they don’t seem to be getting a ton bigger just yet, but they are running now. Usually in a direction away from us when we call them. They think that is hilarious. They both have crazy fascination with their coats and want to wear them all the time. They absolutely LOVE zippers. Can’t keep their hands off them. Want to move them up and down. Alex will grunt at you to zip up her jacket so she can play with it more.

We’ve upgraded from their old “bucket” style car seats to their new big-kid type seats. They adjusted to them pretty well. Jess and I had a little more work to do, since we now have to wrangle the kids in and out of the car, rather than just grabbing the whole seat. We’re getting it figured out.

They are both learning more words. They don’t know what all of them mean and they are just mimicking Jess and I, but they do know somethings like “banana”, “duck”, “night night” (nap/bed time) and others. Some of the recent additions are “sissy” (what we call each of them), “boom”, “go go go”, “done”, “yeah”. It is quite fascinating. Although, the still don’t like to perform on command. Go figure. The do know what the sound of the bathtub being filled and will come running and attempting to strip off their clothes. Yeah, they love baths.

Meal times are still trying. Alex, for the most part will eat without much complaint. Meri, on the other hand wants nothing to do with us feeding her most times. She only wants to feed herself finger type foods. All well and good, unless you’re trying to feed them some bananas and yogurt in the morning and still get out the door at a reasonable time. Yesterday, Jess and I spent about 4 hours preparing 10 different recipes of baby food and filling our freezer with stuff to feed them. All fresh veggies and meat. Provided they eat it, they will definitely be eating better than their parents do.

Anyway, without further ado, here are more pictures of these crazy kids. As always, more available on Flickr.com than are posted here. Enjoy!

Habertwins Christmastime

Christmas Decorating

Meri

Alex Opening Presents

Meri - New Sippy

Alex

Helping Mom with her stocking

Alex & Meri

Habertwins February ’12

Meri

Meri

Alex

Meri & Alex

Alex

Meri

Mom & Meri

Alex

Meri & Alex

Meri & Alex

Twin updates and pictures, Months 8 & 9

Alex & MeriIt’s that time again. I’ve finally cleaned the memory card of photos I’ve taken in the past couple months. Here is what Alex and Meri have been up to lately.

Let’s see… what’s been going on…

Well, we successfully drug the girls across country to Pittsburgh PA. That was a serious accomplishment, if I do say so myself. Full post on that trip is forthcoming, I promise.

After a few more teething rounds, which were not fun at all, we now have 5 teeth each. Nothing can stop these pip-squeaks from growing. I remain completely blown away how 2 kids can both start teething within 12 hours of each other. Amazing.

We took the girls to the Western Idaho Fair a couple weeks ago. It was hotter than hell the day we went, but they were total troopers. Nary a cry was heard. They are almost always good in public, though. They didn’t get much out of the fair, I don’t think. They just kinda rolled around in the stroller with the same bewildered look on their face. Next year will undoubtedly be more fun. One side note to taking twins to the fair… for once WE were not the biggest freak show/attraction for people to stare at and comment about. Between carnival rides, food booths, farm animals, and hot tub sales, there was plenty else to keep peoples’ attention off of me any my kids. I can’t adequately describe how nice that was. I wish I could go to the fair every week for that reason alone.

However, the biggest news has come from changes to our bedtime/sleep routine. We had settled into a routine of rocking them to sleep every night. Some nights, it would take 45 minutes… sometimes 90 minutes. To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t that bad of a gig. Jess and I would each get a beer, have our phones, sit in their dark room and relax ourselves. The problems came in keeping the girls asleep. If they woke up, we could be stuck rocking them back to sleep because we didn’t know what else to do.

Well, Jess had ordered a DVD called The SleepEasy Solution and we chose to try their method. It basically consists of performing your regular “wind down” bedtime activities as usual… pajamas, stories, bottles, etc. But not letting them fall asleep. Then, you put them down awake and leave the room. Of course, they cried. You set a timer for 5 minutes, then you go into the room and let them see you, but don’t touch them, and reassure them that you’re there and they can do it. Less than 30 seconds. Then, you set a timer for 10 minutes. Repeat. If they’re still crying, set a timer for 15 minutes and repeat. Basically, you’re teaching them they can fall asleep without a crutch (our rocking). The first night they cried for about 35 minutes. The second night, we didn’t make it to the 15 minute check, they fell asleep at about 28 minutes. Eventually, in 5 or 6 days they are asleep in less than 5 minutes after we put them down. Seldom do they cry as we leave the room. We will listen to them on the monitor and they will jabber to each other in the room, but not cry. Then they just fall asleep. Damn, this shit almost works like magic. Amazing. Plus, it gives Jess and me 30 to 90 minutes of our days back. Not to mention that when the girls wake up in the middle of the night, they seldom cry. If they do, we still don’t go in and they just fall back asleep.

Now, we’re still rolling out of bed at 6:30am, but there isn’t much we can do about that…

Anyway, without further ado, on with the pictures. As always, there are more pictures on Flickr than posted here. Click on the picture itself, or the link to go there.

Haberwtins at 8-Months

Alex & Meri

Alex

Meri

Meri & Alex

Floor full of toys, we choose the diaper wipes

Meri

Busted

Twins (and mom and dad) made it to 9 months!

Alex, in the toy basket

Meri

One of the girls at daycare french-braided our hair!

Alex

Meri

Synchronized Standing

Meri in the Bath

Alex in the Bath

Meri and Alex

Meri

Alex

Meri

Story Time

So, there ya go. More to come!

Twin Pix – Months 5,6 & 7

You know how when you get busy and time just slips away from you? AKA, why you’re getting 3 months of photos in a single post…

A short Habertwin update. They are growing quickly. They are grabby as all hell, especially with things they aren’t supposed to have. They are eating a ton of baby food and still sucking down bottles of formula. Their dexterity is amazing. They are now able to grab a binky and put it correctly into their mouths. Of course, they are also just as apt to chew on some other part of the binky… can’t tell if that’s intentional or not. Meri is now combination army crawling/rolling across the floor to get to where she wants to go. Alex isn’t quite as mobile, but can still roll and scoot backwards a little bit. They’ve both got “monkey feet” which they curl their toes to grab things.

They are sleeping in their own room, each in their own cribs for about the past month. Which is a good thing, since they were rolling and knocking heads sleeping together. They generally only wake once per night. Unfortunately, that is only a generality. Last night they both were crabby and awake from 1:30am until about 4. Not good times. Meri has slept through the night a handful of times already. Alex is not there yet. That’s the thing with twins… Even if one perchance sleeps through the night, the chances of the other one doing the same thing are not great. So, we’re still getting out of bed anyway. The frustrating thing is we know they know how to do it now… they just choose not to.

We’re still crying on the commute home every day. That’s not fun. Nothing we attempt to do appeases them. So, they cry the entire 45 minute trip home. As soon as we get there, they stop. Go figure. Good thing that’s not stressful.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the pics. As always, more pictures reside on Flickr.com to view. Click the link or the individual picture to view them.

5 Months Old on Flickr

Feeding Time

Meri

Meri

Alex & Meri

Alex & Meri

This is what it is like attempting to hold 2 babies who’d rather be doing something else:
Mom with girls

6 Months Old on Flickr

You’ll notice that only Meri is wearing the sticker on her shirt with the “6 months” on it. That’s because we misplaced the other set. Still haven’t found ’em, nor really had much time to look. Oh well.
Alex & Meri

Meri & Alex

Alex

Meri & Alex

They aren’t getting any easier for mom to position…
Girls

7 Months Old – 4th of July on Flickr

Alex

Meri

Alex & Meri

Alex & Meri

Alex & Meri

So, there ya go. Hope you enjoyed.

Perhaps next month’s will be published before November, but I make no guarantees.

Twin Pix – May ’11

I know I owe you all pictures from the girlies 5 month photo shoot… and for that matter the 6 month photo shoot which has yet to take place. Watch this space for those images coming soon.

Instead, enjoy these pics I’ve take over the past month, May 2011.

As always, there are more pics on Flickr than are posted here. Go view them all.

Enjoy.

Meri & Alex

Is it just me, or can you practically see what Alex will look like when she’s an adult in this picture?

Alex

Meri

Meri & Alex

She loves those prunes

Trying out our new shades

The Family

More to come.

More Pictures

Someday, there will be a blog post that does not revolve around the twins.

Just as I suppose that someday there will be a time that Jess and I are well rested and able to accomplish more than tending to these girls every beck and call. When that day will be? Anyone’s guess.

For the record, in the past week we’ve been dealing with both teething as well as dueling ear infections. I’m sure you parents out there know the joy of which I speak on both of those subjects… now, just combine the two and multiply that by 2 and you’ve got what we’ve been dealing with. I’d come up with a joke about it, but I’m too damn tired.

So, without further ado, some pictures of what we’ve done lately.

As always, there are more pictures on Flickr, so click on an image or a header to go there and view ’em.

4 Months Old!

4 Months Old

4 Months Old Alex

4 Months Old Meri

4 Months Old

4 Months Old

First Solid Food!

Meri takes the first spoonfull

Hmmm... I might like this, mom.

Alex, patiently waiting her turn

Alex's first spoonfull

Meri aftermath

Alex aftermath

Get Your Baby Pic Fix Here

Ok, I know I’ve been slacking horribly about posting baby pictures. In my defense, I’ve been doing a total of like 5 things every day. Feeding, Burping, Changing, Sleeping, and Working. That’s it. It is difficult for me to do anything more than that.

But, today was a bit different. I scrubbed the shower. I walked the dog. We shot more pictures of the girls (on top of all the regular feeding, burping and changing)… So I figured I might as well get some pictures out to all of you.

The first set was taken the day after Christmas. Although we had done nothing to celebrate the holiday, we did dress up the girls in their Christmas best if for no other reason to remember it happened.

As always, click on the image to view it on Flickr. There are more pictures there than I am posting into this blog. So be sure you go visit and view those!

Christmas Twins on Flickr

Meri - Alex

Meri bottom Alex top

Alex top, Meri bottom

Alex

This one just cracks me up.
Alex - Meri


First Bath on Flickr

Set 2 is the occasion of the girls’ first bath. Meri went first, and didn’t really enjoy the experience. Alex, however, seemed to really like the warm water and just hung out in the tub and enjoyed the attention.

Meri

Meri

Alex

Alex


Set 3 is the 1 month old group that we shot today. Jess bought some big ol stickers for each month that we can use to mark their ages. Should be fun going forward! These were taken on one of the beautiful blankets their great grandma just sent them.

One Month Old on Flickr

Meri - 1 month

Alex - Meri

Alex - Meri

Alex - Meri

Rachel & Gabe’s Wedding

A few weeks ago the whole Winkle clan, myself included, treked back to Pittsburgh for a big family wedding.  Jess’s cousin Rachel was getting married.  Of course, we had a blast.

I took a few pictures during the wedding itself, a couple more of the reception and a bunch when the wedding party all hit the Hofbrauhaus for the after-party.  These are a few of my favorite pictures.  You can view the entire set here as well.  There are a bunch more photos there that I haven’t posted here.  Go view them.  They’re good.

A note about these photos.  I didn’t take my big SLR camera since I didn’t want to have to lug it around (and be responsible for it while drinking), so these were all shot on my little Canon point and shoot.  During the actual ceremony, we were too far away from the aisle for my flash to work and the church was pretty dim.  So, I chose to switch to ‘sepia’ mode for the evening.  I liked the way it looked, so I just kept it there.  Some of these photos are ‘happy accidents’ where because of the dimness, lack of flash, and longer shutter times, they got blurry but I like to think that was my desire all along.

Plus, there were plenty of other people there taking regular old snapshots… I wanted mine to stand out a bit.  As always, click on each image to go to Flickr to view the image larger if you so desire.

Without further ado…

I like this one a lot… wish the faces were a bit more in focus, but still, it’s very impressionist.  Their first walk as husband and wife.
Down the Aisle

Family

Bride and Groom

This is another one where the ‘blur’ really worked out in my favor. Their first dance. Love this shot.
Dancing

The Hofbrauhaus photos really turned out good with the flash and the sepia.  Definitely give an ‘old school’ feel.  I love catching candids at parties.  Try to capture how the night really went down.  I think I did that in these.
Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Party at Hofbrauhaus

Really dig this one too.  Gabe in rare form… Liter of beer, cigar, and his new bride all tearing up the dance floor!
Party at Hofbrauhaus

Idaho State Capitol Rededication

Great Seal of the State of IdahoThis past weekend the Idaho State Capitol building was reopened to the public following 3 years of construction.  Jess wanted to go but I wasn’t too sure… then she mentioned that I could shoot pictures and that sealed it.  Not only was I in, I was excited to go!

So, we rounded up the parents (both sets wanted to go) and headed down there Saturday morning.  I’m no expert on what all they did during the construction, but I do know that they added two wings that are underground with skylights which were pretty cool.  They did an amazing job matching up all of the marble as well.  Go to the idahostatesman.com for more on that front.

I mainly just wanted to take photos, so that’s what I did.  Here are my favorites.  You can also go to the entire Flickr.com set to view more than what is here.  Also, I would like to add that you really should click on each image to view it larger.  Some of them really benefit from being viewed bigger.  Thanks and enjoy!

This is the first picture I took that day.  Might be my favorite…

Idaho State Capitol Rededication

Two cheapo flags, held by me. Just playing around.
Idaho Capitol Rededication

The National Anthem… I wish I could have gotten a little closer to the 2 servicemen, with everything in the background.  But I still like this shot.
National Anthem

Straight up through the dome.  This almost looks like something out of 2001 A Space Odyssey or something.
Under the Dome

Idaho Capitol Rotunda

Zoomed on the dome a bit more… removing the lights gave a much “cooler” blue feel.
The Dome

Idaho Capitol Rotunda

Visitors gazing up to the dome.
Looking Up the Dome

Capitol Reflections

There you go, hope you enjoyed.  Like I said, there are more images in the Flickr set.  Go there now.

As a side photography note, I have a bunch of really good photos from the Christmas holiday that I have yet to share.  I know Christmas feels like a couple months ago at this point, but hopefully I’ll post them soon.