Happy Happy Birthday!

Wishing my wife a happy and glorious birthday. Happy 21st birthday to my beloved bride ;)

Big Brother Jadon.

We have yet to get a picture of Jadon and his new sisters (or how he says it "baby sittah"). We'll ask him if he wants to hold them and he will reach out with open arms and say "hol." So we'll sit down with Jadon on our laps and put one of the girls on his lap. For one second he will put his hands on them and then next he'll push them away and say "no!." Sometimes he'll even say "No mo' baby sittah." Either he means he doesn't want to have any more baby sisters or he doesn't want these baby sisters (I'm with him in that I don't want him to have anymore baby sisters, or brothers for that matter). Sometimes when we ask him if he loves his sister he'll say "yesh" and when we ask him if he wants to kiss his sisters he will. He is still a little jealous, but for the most part he's good because most of the time he's not around them. The girls are mostly in our room eating or sleeping and Jadon is downstairs. Plus we make it a concentrated effort to spend a lot of time with just Jadon.

Photos Updated!

The Natalie & Vanessa: Year One (2005) album has been updated.

Twins, sort of.

As mentioned before, Natalie and Vanessa are supposedly identical but are different in every which way:

-They still cry differently, Natalie still has the cuter cry and Vanessa wails, only thing is they are even louder (the treatments that they got seems to have helped a little too much).

-Also mention previously is one loves to eat and one loves to sleep. Let me go into more detail.
Vanessa, who loves to eat, loves to eat anything she can get her mouth on. Just the other night (before eating time), Fiona was changing her diaper on the changing table. There are a stack of diapers and it seems that Vanessa had her eyes (as well as her mouth) fixated on them. She gradually shifts her head in the direction and towards the diapers and begins to "taste" them. By "taste" I mean she first licks it and then mouth opens wide and tries to chomp on them. She does this with burp cloths, towels, whatever. Little weirdo. As for her sleeping, she makes a lot of noise. She sounds congested (which is normal for newborns) and she likes to grunt and stretch throughout the night.
Natalie doesn't seem to care about eating. Sometimes she even cries. She still doesn't have the rooting response that most newborns innately acquire. You put something near her mouth, she could care less. But I will give her one thing, she is a better burper then her sister. After she has eaten, you can just sit up straight up and soon enough, *burp!*. Most of the time you don't have to pat her. She is still a better sleeper then Vanessa. She would rather sleep then eat. Plus she is so quite. She rarely makes a peep

-They still look different from each other. Natalie has significantly more hair. Very reminiscent of Jadon. Vanessa on the other hand looks almost bald by comparison. Vanessa weighs more then Natalie and she's got bigger cheeks too (maybe a bigger head as well). It seems that Vanessa has some sort of birth mark on the left eye lid. I didn't really think much of it because it looks like a red scratch, but Fiona pointed out that it has been there since birth. Strange, I hope it goes away.

One thing though as they continue to grow each day, they look cuter and cuter. I didn't quite think so at the beginning but they are coming around.

Ticking Time Bombs.

Having the girls are like ticking time bombs (this was also the case when Jadon was just a wee little baby). We'd swaddle the girls really really tight that they couldn't move their arms. Now during their nap/sleep you would hear them stretch and grunt (sometimes they would even yelp) and when they do this they try to stretch. Well over time they begin to loosen their blankets and then their arms come lose. When this happens they are prone to start to cry. So their arms start to move and for some reason it scares them. Babies are mental. Sometimes when I check on them and if their arms are about to break out, I'll just reswaddle them before they even go off. Natalie seems to have an edge over Vanessa as far as getting out of the toughest of swaddles.

Something thought impossible.

This past Saturday I did something that I thought was currently impossible and wouldn't be done for a long time, watch a movie. Fiona took Jadon to the mall for some mother/son time in the morning right after we fed the girls and put them to sleep. That meant that I had a gap from 10:00am to 12:00pm or so. So I plopped in my recently purchased Aliens vs. Predators DVD.

-Although it doesn't come close to Aliens (#2), it was still entertaining enough for me. The brief premise of this movie (for those who don't know) is it takes place current day, Antartica. A private highly technological company detects a strong heat signature in the ice continent. They quickly dispatch a team where they find an old underground Aztec/Cambodian/Egyption temple. Their they run into Aliens and Predators. There's actually a lot of detail that I left out (why they are there) but I won't get into it. I have always been intrigued by this match up since I played the Aliens vs Predator game on my computer some years back. Some parts of the movie seem inconsistent with prior Aliens' movies such as the incubation period of the Alien host attaching itself to humans (significantly shorter amount of time in this current movie).

So I was able to watch this movie with a few interuptions. Occasionally I would hear one of the girls cry and I would check up on them (contrary to what Fiona thinks; she thinks I close the door and turn up the volume).

Vanessa's back!

Two nights ago Vanessa returned from the hospital. She is still a little under the weather but she is more active on the crying front. One big happy family again! Yea!

Jadon's accent...

It sounds like Jadon has an accent when he speaks, although I am sure all kids sound foreign. Here are a few phrases of what he is saying and what it sounds like:

- Bird socks (he has some socks with birds on them): sounds like "bird shit"
- Fork: sounds like "fock"
- Baby sister: sounds like "baby sitter"

Hospitalized...

Yesterday Fiona took Vanessa to see her doctor because she was looking pale. The doctor ended up admitting her into the hospital. They had to call an ambulance over from CHOC in Mission Viejo. They wanted to rule out bronchilitis and pnumonia. Fortunately she was tested negative. But she does have a virus called RSV (respiratory synctial virus). The doctor said it was common for babies under the age of one. So they gave her some oxygen treatment and some steroids as well as nebulization treatment. Hopefully she should be out of the hospital in a day or two.

Wish I could go into more, Natalie's crying...... =(

First Time...

Yesterday (Friday), I had first time experiences. I had the day off which was devoted to taking Jadon and Vanessa to their doctor's appointment. In the morning I took Jadon, by myself for the first time, to get his 2-year wellness check up. He cried when he was being weighed and measured and even when the doctor took a look in his ear. But when it came to his hepatitis shot, the nurse was so quick in administering it that he had no idea what went on. He didn't cry. All in all he was a good little boy. He weighed in at 28.2 lbs which puts him in the 60th percentile. That surprised the doctor a little because he had a big jump. So I was pleased to hear that. And his height is at 36in., 90th percentile which also surprised the doctor and was a joy to hear. There is a general thing that is said that when kids turn two, if you double their height, that is what their height will be when they are all grown up. So I am imaging Jadon being a 6 footer. Holy smokes!

As for Vanessa, she went to CHOC (Children's Hospital of Orange County) to get her hips scanned (ultrasound). Our pediatritian ordered it because she was breached coming out of her mommy's womb. Everything came out normal. Her sockets were in place. Nothing to be concerend with. She was pretty much asleep the whole time and the service was quite speedy (I was impressed).

All in all it was a tiring but satisfying experience (I guess when you become a parent, especially a father you have to look at the little things to make you happy).

In A Related Topic...

The lack of quality sleep has left me a little more testy lately. It doesn't help that Jadon has been extremely needy and cranky as well. He cries at a drop of a pin. It's cute when he goes up to me and says "pick me up." But it can be very trying when I am trying to prepare his food or I have to do something that needs the attention of my two arms. I also found myself snapping at Fiona as well. To them, my apologies. I just gotta learn to take a few minutes for myself, pray, and refocus myself each time I find myself losing my grip. I've done that before and it's helped, so I just have to do that some more.

Looking Forward To the Weekdays...

Believe it or not I look forward to the weekdays more so than the weekends. It's not because I get to go to work and be away from the kids (contrary to what one may believe). I look forward to it because of the sleep. On the weekends I have to wake up for the 3:00am and 6:00am feedings. On the weekdays, Fiona kindly let's me sleep at the 3:00am feeding. Although I told her that she has the option to wake me up if she needs me (and to not feel hesitant or guilty). She feels that it's better to have a well-rested hubby to help her out later (I knew she had a motive =)). It wouldn't make sense too that if I woke up for the 3:00am feeding and get to sleep by 4:00am and then have to wake up again at 5:00am and go to work. So essentially I look forward to the weekdays because I get about 3 1/2 hours of continuous sleep. Yippee!

A Funny Thing...

Fiona was just telling me yesterday morning that she went to check up on the girls. As I have mentioned, Vanessa is our eater and Natalie is our sleeper. Well Natalie was quietly asleep and Fiona saw Vanessa snuggled up right behind Natalie. Vanessa, apparently hungry, was munching the back of Natalie's head. Fiona was a little hesitant so she check the back of Natalie's head, it was all wet and her hair was all swirled! That Vanessa! I got to to even witness this incident when it happened again. It was hilarious, poor Natalie.....

Big Head!

I'm just taken aback how big Jadon looks compared to his sisters, especially his head. After palming the girls' little tennis ball sized head and then seeing Jadon's football sized head, I just get amused. We have yet to take a nice picture with Jadon and his sisters (we haven't because he's been sick). Hopefully we will soon.

Pictures Updated!

I have finally updated "Jadon: Year Two (2004)" album and added "Jadon: Year Three (2005)" album. Also added some more pictures to "Natalie & Vanessa: Year One (2005)" album. Enjoy! =)