No topic, other than cuteness that is

Auntie O

Olivia and I took the babies out for burgers and beers at a nearby greasy spoon, The Bucket, the other day. The babies were sooo good. They sat and watched us eat, and generally seemed to enjoy themselves quietly for over an hour.

Olivia said that when she was a baby her mother would give her little sips of beer now and again because babies, it turns out, love beer. This was news to me. It can't be too harmful because beer is recommended as a medicine to increase breast milk supply. If babies can have beer in breast milk why can't they have it directly? I decided to hold off in offering beer to Sadie and Jack until I could check the trusted Internet for warnings and affirmations on the subject. I googled "babies beer," which not surprisingly yielded nothing of usefulness. Does anyone reading this have any knowledge of babies and their love of beer?

Happy Thanksgiving!

This pilgrim's looking a bit scared of the big indian next to her.

Mealtime observations

I was noticing tonight, at Jack and Sadie's third meal, how much Jack enjoys watching Sadie eat. He has spent a good portion of his first three meals watching his sister. I can't really blame him; Sadie does eat like she's royalty. After she finishes each bite she opens her mouth and sticks out her tongue singling her readiness for the next bite.

Jack's other favorite pleasure during meals is grabbing the spoon before it reaches his mouth. Jack's always been under the impression that he can assist in feedings. He often wants to hold his own bottle, which he inevitably drops within 5 seconds. Tonight he grabbed the spoon at one point during the meal and started banging it on his tray when I did not deliver another spoon with food on it fast enough. I was quite impressed.

Sadie and Jack's First Meal!

Jack and Sadie had their first meal today! I was very proud of myself - I prepared homemade organic sweet potatoes for them. The sweet potatoes were a big hit. They both loved them. They did have radically different approaches to solid food though. Jack was very aggressive and grabbed the spoon to try and bring into his mouth with every bite. Unfortunately Jack's hand coordination is still not the greatest. As a result a good portion of the sweet potatoes ended up everywhere but in his mouth. Sadie, on the other hand, could not have been a more dainty eater. She sat still and open her mouth for every bite. The high chairs post-meal tell the story better than I can. Despite being a bit of a hog, I think Jack did get immense pleasure out of the whole experience.

Our little sicky

Jack is sick...again. For the past two months Jack has been sick constantly. Because Jack was born with Respiratory Distress Syndrome his lungs are not as mature as they should be. The result is that Jack is very susceptible to colds, and every cold he gets goes right into his lungs. Today was our seventh visit to the pediatrician in two months. The doctor said that we have to come back tomorrow, so we'll be up to eight visits.

My blog posts have dropped off a bit simply because we've been getting out less during this extended period of sickness. According to the doctor the effects of RDS go away after one to three years, so this will not be lifelong problem for Jack, but J. and I have resigned ourselves to the fact that for the time being illness is just going to be a part of our lives.

Goof Balls

I'm not sure if goof balls is one word, or two. As the Sadie and Jack get older and their personalities emerge so does their goofiness. Here they are just chilling on the back porch after a bottle.

The world's in the palm of his hand

While Sadie's plotting her escape, Jack is happy as can be taking control of everything he can grasp with his hands. He has no interest in rolling, crawling, or standing; he simply wants everything he can find either in his hands or mouth. J.'s working on training him to hold his own bottle. Jack's working on his own to take down every hanging toy in sight. In the top photo you can see their different aims: Sadie's checking out her brother as she tries to roll away, while Jack is intently, and surprisingly strongly, pulling on the butterfly toy.

Sadie's new happy places

Finding activities that occupy Sadie is always a challenge. While Jack has found his feet to be the most interesting toy around for weeks now, Sadie gets bored with most activities and toys after about 30 seconds. Fortunately any activity that simulates independence is a big hit with Sadie. She has become obsessed with standing (with assistance of course). So it's no surprise that she instantly took to the jumperoo, which combines standing AND bouncing (always a Sadie favorite). Her other big past time right now is hanging out in a bouncy chair in the window box. I think it might be a hit because she believes that she's outdoors on her own.

The Family That Votes Together Stays Together

Sadie and Jack got their first taste of democracy today. They proudly sported their "I Voted" stickers after we submitted our ballots.

Bloomers

I must say I'm getting a bit jealous how adorable baby clothes are. I really enjoying dressing

the bebes (as Olivia calls them) every morning. Meanwhile I tend to be in my bathrobe until about 3:00 in the afternoon on non-work days. What's the point of getting myself dressed when Sadie's looking this cute?

Close Ups

Roll Away, Baby

On Halloween Sadie got to hang out with her friend Tatum, who had recently learned how to roll over. (The photo above is of the two girls hanging out. Tatum was still in her Scooby Doo costume and Sadie is pulling her tail.) Sadie studied Tatum's rolls very intently. The next night as J. and I were in the nursery with Jack, and she was in the living room with her great aunt Mary Anne, she did her first back-to-stomach roll. J. and I could not believe we missed it! To top it off she refused to repeat it. Mary Anne was, of course, excited to have witnessed such a big first, but it was a little hard on us to have missed such a giant occasion.

So tonight, after Jack went to sleep, J. and I put Sadie down on her blanket to see about this rolling stuff and, low and behold, she rolled right over! She did a full back-to-stomach-to back 360. I couldn't stop screaming I was so excited. It was better than a Dolly Parton concert. She proceeded to roll over two more times, but then we brought out the video camera and she developed performance anxiety. We did get some cute video of her blubbering that we'll try to post. In the meantime we'll be drilling Sadie on rolling over.

Play time

I'm not sure who's about to do what to whom here, but it certainly looks like someone's about to get it.

Happy Halloween

They did not last long in their costumes, but they sure were cute octopi.