Date Night

J. and I took advantage of Pud's visit to have a date night. Since dates are pretty rare these days we decided to go big and go horseback riding at the Sunset Ranch. We rode from the Hollywood Hills, thru Griffith Park, to a restaurant in Burbank and back again. It was a ridiculously long ride, but the ride back in the dark was worth it. It was a beautiful night and amazing to have the park to ourselves. The photo above is from one of the stranger aspects of the ride, which is having to cross a capped landfill, which is now a methane field. We also had to ride thru tunnels under the freeway to get to Burbank. Despite the bizarre territority and feeling a bit out place on horse, we were not too happy to find out that the helmets were requirred.

J. and Jack

More of Sadie & Pud

These two are having way to much fun together.

Kickboxer

Jack is getting serious about kicking his feet.

Water Baby

Both Sadie and Jack like their baths, but Sadie seems to particularly enjoy bath time.

Hand in mouth

Putting their hands in their mouths is the new thing for Sadie and Jack. It's a pretty exciting development because it means that they have some understanding that their hands are connected to their bodies and have gained some control over their movements. It's not exactly consciousness of the self, but we're still pretty proud of them.

The end of the 4th trimester

Their is a theory in child development that for the first three months of life infants are supposed to still be in the womb. J. thinks the theory is completely bogus, but there is no denying that newborns crave womb-like sound, movement, and containment. Newborns are also completely helpless and bit blob-like for those first three months. It's not really the most rewarding time to be a parent, as newborn babies can't really do anything. As a parent it can be disheartening that your presence barely even registers with them.

For us the fourth trimester was a lot more than three months. Because Sadie and Jack were born 7 weeks early we got the extended version of the fourth trimester. I am happy to announce though that we have now moved on to the next phase of development. Jack and Sadie reached the adjusted age (adjusted to their due date) of 3 months yesterday.

I cannot explain how exciting it is to be beyond the blob stage. The babies actually interact with us now. Jack even played with his first toy today! He batted the rattles on his bouncy chair (as demonstrated in these photos). Sadie can now splash around in the tub. Jack laughs. Our children have graduated to being babies instead of newborns! When Sadie's colic first took over our lives in May and we had not even reached Jack and Sadie's due date, and were thus in the negative for adjusted age, it seemed unimaginable that we would ever make it to this mythical stage in their development when they would engage more and cry less. But I am happy to report that we finally have made it and it is a wonderful improvement.