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By Dan, on April 22nd, 2010
Just a bunch of random little observations:
- Janet and I recently put our heads together to calculate how much milk she has produced since the girls have been been born. We didn’t keep exact records, but in the last 11½ months we figure that she has pumped or nursed over 15,000 fluid ounces, which translates to around 120 gallons. My first thought at hearing this was “Wow, that’s a TON of milk!” Actually, it turns out to be only half a ton, but still, that’s a lot of milk! Janet’s thought was “No wonder I’m always hungry!”
- The inevitable corollary to the observation above is that we have changed well over 1000 pounds of diapers.
- Bottle feeding both girls simultaneously for these many months has made me very aware just how often some part of my body itches. Almost without exception, as soon as I’ve managed to get the girls settled and both of my hands are busy holding bottles, something starts to itch. Insistently. So, I’ve had a lot of practice improving my mind-over-itch control. On the plus side, the girls can now manage to feed with about 50% efficiency while holding the bottle themselves. It’s not good enough yet to just let them handle it completely on their own, but progress is being made.
- Elizabeth is now in full crawling mode. She wants to explore everything and everywhere, and is not long content in one place. And our house still needs a lot of childproofing before I’ll feel comfortable letting them crawl around without watching them every second! Carolyn is sorta crawling, but she still reverts to scooting or rolling sometimes. In another week or so she’ll probably have it down.
- There are a ridiculous number of Oxi-Clean products scattered around our house. Just off the top of my head, I know of at least four spray bottles, two bottles of gel stick, and one six pound tub of powdered stain remover.
- Carolyn’s inquisitive little fingers are fascinated by my comparatively big fingers. When I least expect it, her tiny little razor sharp fingernails unerringly seek out my cuticles, and then they dig in. Apparently she wants to completely peel open my fingertips and expose the root of my fingernail. It is quite painful. Elizabeth does this too, but it seems to be not as often.
- Carolyn has also learned to whistle a few notes, which makes her just about as good at whistling as I am.
- I’ve been practicing with the girls trying to get them to say “mama”. I guess those M-sounds are a little tricky to make, so developmentally they tend to come later than D-sounds. They’ve been making D-sounds for a while, and often say “dada” — but I don’t think they’re saying it as a name for me… You see, they also say “dodo” quite a bit.
- It’s hard to believe we’re coming up fast on their first birthday! But I don’t look back on the last year and wish that they could stay this age longer. I know that each developmental stage brings its own set of challenges, but I’m really looking forward to being able to converse intelligibly with them. I can see some advantages in not having to carry them everywhere too. But we’ll do our best to enjoy each stage as it comes.
- We feel so very blessed by these wonderful little girls!
 The Siemens Twins
By Dan, on April 19th, 2010
This last weekend I had the opportunity to go on a fantastic hike through Sunol Regional Wilderness with a couple geocaching friends, Fizzymagic and Kablooey. It was a beautiful day — the hills were brilliant green, the wildflowers were in bloom, and the weather was sunny and warm, but not too hot. (I did end up with a bit of a sunburn on the back of my neck though.)
 This view is looking south toward Calaveras Reservoir We started our hike up near the top of Welch Creek Road and then hiked one way to the far end of the park where we had a second vehicle waiting. Our route included climbing to the top of the highest peak in the park, and altogether I managed to find 10 caches, putting my total just over 3,300. I hiked around 9 miles total, and I can tell I’m sorta out of shape. I can think of only one other semi-long hike that I’ve been able to do in the last year… It was a great day!
 This rock was just begging to be climbed...
By Dan, on April 6th, 2010
This last weekend we did some fun things with the girls. On Saturday we walked the girls down to a nearby park and gave them their first ride on the swings. They seemed to enjoy it, I guess — I mean, they didn’t cry or look scared or anything, but they didn’t exactly go nuts and squeal with delight either. The expressions you see in the pictures below are pretty representative of their response to the whole experience. I’m sure it’s something that will grow on them as they get a bit more familiar with it.
 Wheee!  Elizabeth  Carolyn On Sunday, we celebrated Easter and had an early birthday party for my Dad over at my parent’s house. It was a fun time to visit with family and let all of them visit with Carolyn and Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s 4th tooth is starting to come in now (the 2nd upper tooth — more for her to grind), and they’re both beginning to sit well without support and make some genuine crawling movements. We all had a yummy meal, homemade ice cream for dessert, and watched Dad open a few presents. And as bonus, we got a bunch more pictures of the girls! Here are a few:
 Family Portrait  Easter Dresses  Easter Baskets  Cute Carolyn  Lovely Elizabeth  Happy girl!  Feeling playful!
By Dan, on March 29th, 2010
The girls are doing well. They’re still getting more and more mobile, but not quite crawling yet. Both have their two lower front teeth in now, and Elizabeth has one upper front tooth poking through as well. This means she has discovered how to chomp down and produce an absolutely horrible grinding noise with her teeth. Needless to say, I’m doing my best to make sure she always has some kind of teething toy in her hands that she can chew on. There’s not much more to say right now, so I’ll just post a few recent pictures of the girls that haven’t been shared here yet. (Photo credits on the first few go to Mark Johnson.)
 Carolyn  Elizabeth  Papa & Nana with all the grandkids  Did I mention they're getting more mobile? A quick word about this last photo… First of all, you can tell Mark didn’t take this one, because it looks so amateur with the crazy angle and everything. Anyway, I was working at the computer with my back to the girls while they were a few feet away supposedly looking out the window. When I realized it had gotten a little quiet I turned around to look, and somehow Carolyn had managed to get herself pitched so far forward that she had her cheek resting on the carpet. She was still strapped into the chair, though! I wish I could have seen how she managed to get that one leg cranked back around behind her like that. The thing that amazed me is that she wasn’t complaining about her awkward position, and in fact she seemed to be quite comfortable. I think we’re probably just about done with that particular bouncy seat, though.
By Janet, on March 20th, 2010
We got together with Dan’s family two weeks ago to celebrate both Annmarie and Cortnie’s birthdays. We received the message and picture below from Annmarie earlier this week. Audree is in Kindergarten.
I was volunteering in Audree’s classroom last week, and walked by a desk where these papers with green writing were laying, obviously a St. Patty’s Day project “in the works”. (This was two days after we got together for the March bday celebration.) Read Audree’s words verbatim that the teacher typed out for her and you can imagine the “awwww” that escaped my lips and why I had to pull out my phone and take a pic right then and there of these misc. papers just lying on the desk. : )
 All together now -- Awwwww...
Both Cortnie and Audree seem quite fond of their little cousins, and we think it will be fun to see how they interact with our little girls as they get older. Indeed, Cortnie also wrote something really sweet in the thank you card that she sent us after her birthday party… “When the twins get older I have a lot planned.” We’re intrigued to see what that’s all about!
Here are a couple pictures of Cortnie and Audree visiting with their cousins back in September.
 Audree & Carolyn  Cortnie & Elizabeth
By Janet, on March 17th, 2010
When I began composing this post in my head, it was going to be called “St. Patrick’s Day” — that being the current holiday the girls were dressed for. Sunday afternoon was so pretty and sunny, and the grass so green, that I thought the St. Patrick’s Day picture should be taken outdoors. So I dressed the girls in their pretty green dresses and shamrock bibs and outside we went. I only managed to take a couple of pictures before they discovered the grass. They were quite interested in it. It hadn’t occurred to me, but they haven’t really had an opportunity to play with grass yet. We’ve had them outside of course. But they weren’t really mobile enough to interact with their surroundings. That is quickly changing! They are more and more interested in what’s going on around them. They watch intently whatever I’m doing – even if it’s not something I might think is interesting like folding laundry, cooking dinner, or washing dishes. And they’re fascinated by grass. Is it the new texture? The pretty color? I’m not sure. What I DO know is that it was a real kick watching them examine it. Here are a couple of pictures to help you see what I mean.
 Lucky Charms  What's this?  I can't wait to walk barefoot in this grass!
By Dan, on March 10th, 2010
For the last couple weeks, the girls have been increasingly determined to be mobile, and that’s a good thing — except when it leads to mishaps like we had this morning after breakfast. They’re not quite crawling yet, but they’re very close! They get up on their hands and knees and then sorta rock back and forth like contestants at the top of a ski jump.
Anyway, I had just finished feeding the girls and as usual, Elizabeth was trying very hard to scoot off the edge of the sofa. Carolyn, on the other hand, is usually less aggressive in her efforts, and more content to just lie on the sofa next to my leg after finishing her meal. Usually. So there I was, grappling with Elizabeth’s legs on my right side as I once again hauled her top half back up onto the sofa, when all of a sudden there was a distressing plop and scream from the left side. (It was as if they had agreed in advance to coordinate their efforts — “You distract him, and I’ll make my escape!”) Carolyn timed it perfectly and went all the way over the edge. Now, if she had simply landed on the carpet about one foot away, this probably wouldn’t be worthy of a blog post. But no, sweet little Carolyn launched her sweet little face right at a sharp and unfriendly corner of stone at the edge of the fireplace! OH NO!
 Ouchie! I know this sort of thing is inevitable, of course, but that knowledge doesn’t keep me from feeling horrible nonetheless. The good news is that the scrape is very shallow, and as I gently dabbed at it with a damp tissue there was hardly any blood (less than a drop). I’m sure it will heal just fine in a week or so. But still, right now there’s this glaring testimony to my less-than-perfect parental oversight right there on my little girl’s face! [sigh] She only cried for a few minutes as I held her, and then she started smiling and wanted to play again.
I suppose the moral of the story is that there will be no more playtime on the sofa after meals for a while — not until they can safely dismount by themselves (or respond to instructions to stay put). In fact, this will be tested very shortly; I can hear them kicking their cribs in the other room, signaling that they’re ready for lunch! Wish me luck.
 She's a trooper!
By Dan, on March 8th, 2010
Last Friday was a fun first — I took the girls out for their first playdate with another infant! One of our good friends from college named Amy lives locally and had a baby girl (Tesiah Rois) a few months after ours were born. We had Amy over for dinner one night last year when Janet and Amy were both still pregnant, and we’ve been wanting to get together again for introductions ever since the girls arrived. (But, you know, life has gotten a lot busier since then!)
 Carolyn, Tesiah, and Elizabeth It was only a short visit, but we had a real fun time catching up and it was a pleasure to meet little Tessa. Carolyn and Elizabeth only look as big as they do in this picture because Tessa is indeed pretty small, and of course our girls are nearly twice her age! (Correction — everything seems small about Tessa except her EYES.) It will be fun to see them together as they get older and can interact with each other more, but for now Carolyn and Elizabeth seemed quite happy merely to play with (and slobber over) all of Tessa’s interesting new toys. One other fun thing about our visit was that we got to take Amy and Tessa out for their first geocache hunt, which was conveniently located just down the block from where they live. I’ve gotta take advantage of every opportunity I can these days!
By Janet, on February 14th, 2010
Carolyn & Elizabeth celebrated their nine month “birthday” on Friday. They’re rolling around now so we have to keep a closer eye on them when they’re playing on the floor. Elizabeth has even gotten proficient at getting up on her hands and knees and rocking slightly back and forth. She’s not quite crawling yet; but she’s oh so close…
Elizabeth now has two teeth; Carolyn has one. A few nights ago, Elizabeth began making kissy noises, obviously imitating Mommy and Daddy. It’s a gesture that we do with each other and with the girls occasionally, but we hadn’t really set out to teach them — and then a few days ago she just started doing it out of the blue! She’ll often do it now if we prompt her, and sometimes still spontaneously. What can I say but VERY CUTE! Here’s a little video Dan put together of her first few kisses.
 Click on the image to load the movie in a new window. We took the girls for their first hike in their backpack carriers yesterday. The day started out kinda grey, but the sun came out in the afternoon and we took the opportunity to spend some time in Brushy Peak. We hiked two miles — half uphill, half downhill. Not all that long of a hike, but it was more than I had done since I was nearly six months pregnant. Of course, this time I only had to carry one baby. I look forward to rebuilding my endurance so we can introduce them to some of our favorite parks and hiking spots.
Here are a few pictures of the girls in their Valentine’s Day outfits.
 Twin Valentines  Carolyn  Elizabeth
By Dan, on February 5th, 2010
Last weekend was a fun and special time for our family. We participated in the Baby Dedication at our church. There’s nothing magical about that for the girls, of course — it basically just means that we stood up in front of the congregation, showed off our beautiful little girls, and committed ourselves to raising them well and teaching them about God as they grow. And then, in what I think is a very valuable gesture aimed at building community, the congregation was asked to commit to supporting us as parents and caring for our family. Best of all, a lot of our family was able to be there — in addition to my immediate family, who all live right here in Livermore, Janet’s Dad and his wife were able to fly out from Illinois for the weekend, her sister and niece drove out from Stockton, and her Dad’s cousin (Janet’s first cousin once removed , if I understand correctly) and her husband drove up from Fullerton, stopping off near Bakersfield to pick up my Grandma on the way. It was really fun to have so many caring family members here to celebrate with us.
Here’s a 5 minute video of the event for those interested:
 Click on the image to load the movie in a new window. I really like the verses that we picked out for them. Here they are:
Psalm 20:1-5
May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May he remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious, and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests.
Psalm 121:3-8
He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you — the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Also, here are a few recent pictures we’ve taken of the girls. Enjoy!
 Carolyn just woke up from a nap  She got Mommy's beautiful blue eyes  Elizabeth  She loves making the turbo-poop noise!  Janet and the girls with Grandpa Hucker  Don't they look like cute little happy meals?  CUTE CUTE CUTE!
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