A week of firsts

It's been an exciting week of firsts around here.

We'll start with Alyssa's new talents. About a week ago, Lisa was either changing her or just playing with them during floor time, but was doing her normal noises and games to keep her entertained. She was making the noise...how do I describe it? It's something like this...PFTPFTPFTPFTPFTPFTPFT...and involves the tongue somewhat outside of the mouth. You get the picture? Well suddenly Ms. Lyssa thought she would try and imitate that noise. She concentrated and put her lips together and her tongue out...and "pftpftpftpft". I missed the first time but she has done it a couple of times for me. It's very entertaining and is usually greeted with us cheering wildly.

A night later, Alyssa discovered that she could throw her toys off of her lap and onto the floor when she was in the swing. Lisa and I were sitting down for dinner which meant the girls were in their swings/bouncy chairs and Lisa was sitting on the floor in front of them. I know...it won't be that way forever...it's just the way we do it for now to keep everyone happy. Lisa put our favorite cube toy in Alyssa's lap and she immediately flung it off to the side. Lisa put it back in her lap and the comedy began, over and over. Every time Lisa put it back in her lap, she would use all four limbs until that thing was on the floor. It was cracking us up but not her, she was very serious.

Not to be outdone...Ms. Katy beat her sister to a very big first. The long story involves poopy diapers and a Christmas tree. The short version is...after Lisa changed Katy's diaper, she rolled over from her back to her front!!!! The best part of it was we were both there and both watching when she did it. We're lucky enough to have two girls so if we miss a first of anything, there's a chance we'll see the other one do it but it's still exciting, and kinda amazing, that both of us were watching her as she finally figured out how to roll from back to front. She's been close for 3 or 4 days now but could only get on her side. But this time, she grabbed her toes and started rolling and didn't stop until her head popped up and she was on her belly.

The physical therapist that comes has been working to get them interested in their toes. Once they start grabbing their toes, rolling will come very easily. Katy has been a lot more interested...bringing her feet up into the air and reaching out to play with them. Alyssa just isn't interested yet. So it was just a matter of time before it happened. Here is a picture of Katy about 2 minutes after she rolled over. Notice she still has the "what just happened and why are my parents yelling?" face.

Lots to share...

If the girls would give us more time, I could post more than once a week but it's been hard to find free moments lately. The girls are teething and night time has been getting worse. Going along with the theme of firsts, we are ready to commit to a new night time strategy, I mean, routine. It has been too difficult on everybody and we can't continue this any longer. Lisa and I have both been fighting bugs and sleepless nights are making us feel worse and probably not allowing our immune system to help us recover. So we have a game plan but are going to the doctor tomorrow to talk about everything...to get his input and suggestions.

To be honest, we're both a little frightened of the unknown. We've been debating the best way to get them to fall asleep on their own. The thought of possibly hearing them cry for hours on end is depressing. Not that we're going to allow them to do that but knowing that the first several nights of transition could be very difficult. Are they ready? Are we ready? When do you pick them up? How much do you let them cry? Is it fair to do this if they're teething? We've read and heard all different ways to get them to sleep on their own and the reasoning behind it. It doesn't make it any easier to make that commitment and stick with it. We're going to be asking ourselves questions like these and who knows what else as we go through it. Please pray for our little girls and for us. It's going to be a challenge, no doubt.

Now, on the bright side...we've been decorating for Christmas! It is taking us much longer than your average family but we don't care, it's getting done. On Sunday, we got our tree. The girls got all bundled up (pictured below) for what was supposed to be a fun afternoon of shopping and Christmas tree hunting.


Mother nature did not see it that way. It was relatively warm for early December in Alaska but when the winds picked up and starting blowing dust, we had to alter our plans. Instead of walking around and taking our time finding the perfect tree, we had to take turns running through the lot looking for a tree while the other parent stayed in the car with the girls.

Then, it was a comedy of,

"I thought you said 2nd row, 5th tree from the back...that one has too many bare spots in it".

"No, no...the 5th row, 2nd tree from the back".

"OH...ok, just a second".
"Well, that's one alright. But what about the 3rd row, 2nd tree?"

Get my point? It was pretty funny. In the end, we picked out the perfect tree and thoroughly worked the salesman. I probably should have tipped that guy, oh well.

Then, the next night (I told you we were taking our time) we began decorating the tree. This was kinda special because again, we turned on the webcam and let family spy in on us while we decorated. My parents and my sister happened to be online (which was kinda late for both of them). I pointed the camera toward the tree and put the lights up. Of course, we had to get a couple pictures of the girls during the process.


I thought this was a cute photo of Katy straining to see what I was doing behind her.

If you can't tell, the girls are laying down while the lights were being strung out to make sure they all worked. We haven't had a tree since 2003 so it was pretty exciting for everyone.

After a couple hours of work and the girls were taking their last feeding, I took a quick shot of the tree with the lights on. Still no ornaments...those will come in the next couple of days. Again...taking our time.

By the way...yes we have "If you give a moose a muffin" and the girls love it. Thank you!