Birthday week tales

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Not many babies can say they celebrated their first birthday for an entire week, but Layla and Easton have the honor of claiming that title. My Mom and Dad (Nana and Papa) flew back to Missouri after spending a week sharing adventures with the 4 Webbs. I was sad to see them go as always, but the times we spend together are more meaningful as time goes by. Here's an endearing picture from one of our many walks to the park.

One of these past few mornings we drove to the local airport for breakfast at the Hangar Cafe. We ate healthy around our house as usual, but we went all out here with biscuits and gravy and pancakes and syrup. Very good food... Afterwards we wondered around the tarmac to check out the cool planes like this bi-plane in the background behind Papa and I and the twins. You'll also notice slippers on the babies' feet, which look like an actual sheep and kept their toes toasty while we wondered around. :)


We anxiously waited for the twins to turn one year old and reach the 20 lbs. mark so we can put them in forward facing car seats. Thank you to everyone who chipped in to help pay for the plush seats! We bought the Graco Cozycline seat because it reclines within the base. That means the seats recline even though the back seats of our Honda Pilot do not. It's like a Lazy-Boy wall hugger. :) It was the ONLY one we found with this feature and I can't figure out why there aren't more companies that make seats like this. I asked people who own the normal non-reclining seats how their baby sleeps and everyone says they stuff a pillow or a teddy bear between the baby's head and the seat so it doesn't flop forward or to the side. Anyway, here they are relaxing in style:


Guess who has new teeth??? Layla! Apparently Kendra's claims of teething were actually true during the past week or so. I had to make Layla laugh (easy) and look up at the same time (difficult) while taking a picture (next to impossible). It's the best I could do to show you her new top-row chompers.


As an addendum to Easton's word list, I forgot to add "apple". Kendra's dad reminded me today that he also has mastered the word apple and indeed he is right. It's become very apparent Easton is a man of WORDS and Layla is a woman of ACTION. Easton still holds on to my pinky finger with hand while he walks across the floor. Even though he's taken some steps on his own, he still has the desire to hold on to Daddy's finger for just a few more days. Here's Easton showing of his new Crocs and walking at the park.


Change occurs gradually most of the time when dealing with babies based on my reflection of the year gone by. Once in a while there will be those noticeable bursts of new abilities and signs of growth, but in general it's slow going. Take for instance my pool table. I used it during the year prior to babies for playing 9 ball once in a while. You know... what a pool table should be used for.
However, once the babies were born, playing pool was suddenly not even an option. If they are awake then I'm playing with them. If they are asleep then I'm not able to smack the pool balls around because it will possibly wake them. Slowly over time... one by one... baby items started showing up on the pool table. It used to be a "staging" area where items would sit temporarily until Kendra found a better home for them. At some point we gave up on playing pool all together and now it is filled with unused baby paraphernalia. No complaints from me though. Just one of those things you notice and accept it. I'm grateful we have friends and family who give gifts and that we have the means to provide so much for the babies.


One night this week Nana and Papa gave Kendra and I a break so we can go out for a date night and Valentines Day celebration. Any guess of what we ate? Sushi. If there's ever an opportunity to eat sushi we will certainly take it. We left the twins in the capable hands of Nana and Papa who almost needed ear plugs to tone down the shrieks and shrills from the babies as they played happily in the tub.


Speaking of bath time... Yesterday was terribly awful for me because I had a fever, cough, runny nose, and felt like crawling in a cave to hibernate for the rest of winter. However, Layla absolutely made my day! Every night Kendra and I get the twins' attention and make the sign language motion for bath. After a few times of doing that we say the word "bath" and their eyes light up as they scurry over to the edge of the tub and wait for the water. Last night when I used sign language for bath I could see Layla thinking about it. Then after a brief pause she made the sign for bath over and over again as she walked peg-leg style to the bath tub! I cheered loudly for her and for that brief moment I felt like everything we've been doing to teach the babies actually made a difference. If you can imagine the feeling Thomas Edison had when his light bulb worked on the 2000th attempt, that's close to what I felt.

No one will argue Easton is a Mama's boy and this next picture showcases his new hat, stylish shoes, and love between those two.


Lastly, on this special Valentines Day I want to thank my parents and parent-in-laws for what they have taught us over the years about love. It's one thing to tell a kid how to love, but another to show it. They are not perfect and never claim to be, but you can clearly see in this next picture what kind of legacy they are leaving for us. My parents hand-in-hand, Kendra's parents arm-in-arm, all of them still in love with their spouse after so many years of marriage.


Now it's our turn to show Layla and Easton how to love by loving each other to the best of our ability.

Have a great week and stay healthy.