new schedule

Greetings folks,

It's a new day in the Webb household and we're updating the schedule around here to fall more in line with what our friend Lori has experienced according to her experience with Baby Wise. Jim and Lori are friends from years ago who we reconnected with now that they are settled in with their two daughters and living in AZ again. We were happy to see them again and hope to have more contact with them in the future as time permits for all of us. Their girls were entertaining and especially interesting for me because I saw a general idea of what girls are like at their ages and what I have to look forward to from Layla. Here's a picture of them in front of their house as we were leaving last night, which turned out really cute of kaylee's blonde hair moving in the wind and her big smile:

There are some other milestones for the twins this week that are less than spectacular, but you gotta celebrate the small things right? The newborn clothes are officially outgrown and ready to be given away! Easton and Layla are 15 weeks old today, but just now fit into the 3 month old clothes. Some of these clothing companies should be ashamed of themselves for making "newborn" clothes that fit my 15 week old daughter. Seriously, who's giving birth to babies THAT huge? I can't imagine a true newborn monster actually filling out some of those clothes... Even Kendra who was 11 lbs. when she was born. :) Luckily we've had gracious and giving friends and family who helped stock our closet and drawers with 3-6 month clothes so we don't have to go out and buy an entire new wardrobe every three months. I was just thinking... I have some shirts that I still wear on a regular basis that are 10+ years old! (my brother, BJ, will be proud of me for that kind of cost savings and efficiency of usage). I can't imagine a new wardrobe every three months. Ah, the lifestyles of the rich and famous... and all babies.

Another transition is that Easton and Layla are BOTH wearing size 2 diapers. for those of you not familiar with the process... every time they go UP in size, you get less diapers for the same money. The results of making them wear smaller diapers than they need end up in leaky incidents and looking like a stuffed sausage.

The other milestone is that the twins can both hold their heads up during tummy time on the play mat. See exhibit A below:

That abilty leads to the chain reaction where they roll over, crawl, fetch, and bark. Oh, wait. that's how dogs progress... babies roll over, sit upright, crawl, stand, walk, and then go to college. I may have skipped a few milestones in there, but you get the idea.

This afternoon it is 64 degrees and rainy. I'm not even sure I typed that correctly because it's so foreign to think like that. Everyone at work flocks to the windows and doors and makes noises as if we were watching a fireworks show: "oooooHHHH, Ahhhhhh, wow!" I admit to prarie dogging, but only to enjoy the entertainment of watching people wonder over to the windows and be dazzled by wind and rain. For those of you who don't know, prairie dogging is the practice of corporate hacks popping their heads above the cubicle walls in response to a noise or other distraction. Yea! now you learned something. Maybe i'll have to start a "word of the day" paragraph...

Anyway, back to the topic of twins. I raced home from work because it was still raining and I was hoping to get the twins out to feel their first raindrops ever. I ran in the house and asked Kendra if she had taken the babies out to feel the rain on their face. She said that was a stupid idea because it is chilly... and windy... and rainy... and they are fragile babies. So I disregarded her chiding comment and grabbed Easton first (because he was the one crying on the play mat and most in need of attention). We went outside and she captured the moment in a picture.

There it is... Easton's first rain drops. 2 seconds later Kendra said, "get him in the house and you're not taking Layla out in that!" Layla's first rain will have to wait until August because that's the next time it will probably rain here in Phoenix. By the way, that shirt I'm wearing is 5 years old or more and so is my underwear come to think of it... but we already covered that issue in an earlier post. :)

I did get a self portrait of daddy kissing little peanut on the head. she is not as enthusiastic about it I'd hoped, but still cuter than ever! Today is the big transition of schedules in the Webb house so the twins are both a little more mellow and cranky than usual.

Enough for today! Come back again soon, OK?

wombmates

The “womb mates” of 9 months in Kendra's belly are now "roommates" because they are exhibiting the same kind of behavior as normal roomies: Keeping each other awake at night talking, playing with each other’s toys, eating meals together, etc. It would be fun to have them dressed in onesies that say, “wombmates” on it because that’s another way of saying twins, I think. Anyway, I captured this next video clip of Layla and Kendra talking to each other. Easton will get his time in front of the camera as soon as he does something more interesting than wave his arms and smile… For now, Layla is the video queen and Easton is the picture-worthy gerber baby model. There are many other moments I’d like to capture, but as soon as the camera powers on, they stop everything and sit there motionless like a deer in headlights probably thinking, “Oooooohhh, shiny thing! Wow!” Last night I sat Layla in my lap while sitting at my desk and played “Lover, lover” by James Iha through my computer. It’s a slow love song with harmonizing parts and I gotta tell you… Yes, I know it's not a lullaby, but I wasn't trying to get her to sleep, but rather hoping she'd join in singing a duet with daddy. Layla and I sounded REALLY good as a duet. She sang almost the entire time through the three minute song! I think she’s going to be singing before she even talks. Her life might be like one of those chick flick musical Kendra watches where everyone sings to each other instead of conversing with normal conversation. OK, enough writing… Here she is giving an example of her wondrous abilities.

And not to be outdone, I went in to wake up Easton from a nap yesterday and this is how he was sleeping. No joke! He really was snoring away in this model-like pose. I can see him now with little, fake wings floating on a light, fluffy cloud for a sleep commercial…


This morning Kendra and I were running around doing some cleanup of the house because her friend is coming over to hang out. And because we keep the house cleaned up on a regular basis whether company is coming or not. Our bed is even made! Aren’t you proud of us, mom? As we were cleaning, I decided that the babies would like some time in the swing. Problem is that we only have ONE swing because it was given to us by our friends Judson and Heidi. I thought it would be fun to try and stuff them both into the swing and it turned out to be a very cute picture:


However, the smiles quickly turned to sad faces and groans of discomfort. I told them, “How can you be unhappy like this? You spent several MONTHS in mommy’s belly with MUCH less room than you have now!” They didn’t seem to appreciate the amount of open space they had even though I tried to remind them of where they came from… There they are in all of their cuteness: The wombmates.

Happy Wednesday!

Birthday parties

Good morning friends and family,

Sunday afternoon was spent at Riley's birthday party. She is the 3-year old daughter of my best friend, Judson. Even though we've attended both of their kid's birthday parties every year it was definitely different to be one of the many couples there with babies of our own. I think the kids outnumbered the adults at this year's party! We all had a fun time with the piñata, tasty cake and catching up with folks we haven't seen in a while. Easton and Layla were well behaved and looked adorable. It was their debut as far as parties and seeing our old friends goes. Easton smiled the entire time we were there and everyone that walked past smiled back with comments of how cute our babies are.

Here's one picture I didn't have the chance to post yet from last week. It is one thing for Layla to catch daddy's eye with her ear-to-ear smile, but it's another to have him by the chin!


Anyway, the twins soaked up every spare second of my weekend and I was glad to spend the time holding and playing with them for my enjoyment as well as Kendra’s sanity. When I lay Easton in his bed for nap time it is SO hard to just leave him there to fall asleep when he turns on his side looking up at me with his open-mouth smile. It’s almost as if he’s trying to say, “play with ME! Stay with ME!”

I hear people say we should enjoy the twins when they are this age and size because they will never be that way again. I really DO get it and understand what they mean. There are some things people describe from their own experiences that you can never fully understand until you are in that situation such as the birth of your child, getting married, graduating from school, grieving over the death of a loved one, etc. However, in this aspect of life I honestly know what people are feeling when they talk about “cherishing the moments when they’re young because they don’t stay that small very long”. My desire to avoid feeling regretful like so many others is what drives me to take so many pictures; to write this blog every day; to spend entire evenings switching between holding Easton and holding Layla. I know I’ll look back at this era of the Webb house and be glad I spent the extra time and captured our family in pictures and lived in the moments as they whizzed by at warp speed.

People ask, “How was your day?” I give the standard meaningless gesture answer of: “fine thanks!” In reality the BEST part of my entire day was sitting on the couch with Easton on my lap as he giggled at my silly face and Layla on my lap as she sang a few measures of an off-tune duet with me. I could do that all day long and be satisfied. I’m sure Kendra is saying, “Ha! Yeah, right… try it sometime and we’ll see how you feel about it.” :)

Here are two pictures where Kendra has a more somber look. It’s very rare to see her without a smile and even more rare to catch a photo of her like that, but as you can tell I woke her up from a nap in the picture with Layla and she was ready to fall over into bed for the night in the picture with Easton.



Speaking of rare: Look over there! Through the jungle, past the parrot and the giraffe… It’s Layla holding herself up like a big girl! We’ve never seen her performing like that before.


She is very strong and loves to be sitting up as much as possible so she can see and be seen. She doesn’t want to miss any of the action going on around her and wants to be involved in everything possible. Hmmmm... sounds a lot like someone else I know? (kendra)

I better get to sleep now so I can wake up early enough for Kendra to go for her morning run before it gets so hot that her shoes melt to the pavement in the Arizona heat. By the way, I've been working on the Dr. Suess challenge and it's more difficult to write like that than I thought! Green eggs and ham is a masterpiece...

Good night.

What women want

Dancing and laughing! That's what women want... At least, that's what MY wife wants. Ever heard a woman turn down an opportunity like that? I haven't. As proof of my point, for our first night away from the twins (longer than 2 hours) we did what Kendra wanted for her birthday celebration: Swing dancing at The Kat’s Korner and having a fun evening out.



Her actual birthday is coming up in two weeks, but we decided to celebrate early because the place we go will not be open that weekend. Our friends Marisue and Scott joined us and we all had a great evening together. They were adventurous enough to actually show up and try something new!


We hadn’t been swing dancing in more than a year, but it didn’t take long for us to get back into the… ummm… “swing of things”. There is an hour of lessons and then the dance floor is open with lots of 40’s and 50’s music. I know exactly two moves and we both grew tired of my inability to improvise after about an hour of spinning around the floor. On the way home we stopped by Sonic to get a cherry-limeade because we were dehydrated from all that dancing!

Our neighbors Marsha and Erica were extremely kind to watch Easton and Layla for the evening. We both were very comfortable leaving the twins in their capable hands and that made for a low-stress evening as opposed to Kendra worrying and asking me every 5 minutes, “Do you think the twins are alright?” Easton was awestruck by Erica and provided lots of smiles through the night for them.

This morning the first alarm clock known as Layla Rae went off a bit early so I got out of bed and hit the snooze button (repositioning the pacifier back into her mouth). She fell right back to sleep, but I couldn’t. The sun was just starting to provide some hits of light in the room I thought it would be a perfect morning to go for a mountain bike ride. It was sunny and 68 degrees at 5:45 AM!



I plugged in my iPod and wore my lungs and legs out while jamming to DJ Tiesto spinning my favorite sets known as “In Search of Sunrise”. How’s that for creative thinking! I was spinning on my bike into the sunrise... and listening to DJ Tiesto spinning records titled “In Search of Sunrise”… Get it???



In the last 24 hours I spent 2 hours kicking and sweating in TaeKwonDo, 2 hours swing dancing, and 2 hours mountain biking. The weekends really wear me out! (begin sarcasm) I can’t wait for the work week so I can spend 40 hours sitting around in my chair, talking on the phone (end sarcasm). Maybe I’m just working out extra hard because I’m afraid that Easton’s legs will be thicker than mine before he gets into first grade?

The only sad part of the weekend has been Easton’s high temperature. He’s feeling fine and happy as ever, but is just a little warm for the past couple of days. We’ll hope for the best and expect he’ll be fine by tomorrow. I have to include this picture of Layla because hopefully you can agree that she’s the cutest baby girl in the world with her big, bright eyes and chubby little cheeks. Thanks for the rattle, Joanie! She holds on to it easily and it is her favorite…


Bye bye folks and have a great start to your work week on Monday.

Young Me Now Me

You all know I'm not a big forwarder of junk email to mass distribution lists telling you to go look at some website (I’ll rant about that later), but please check out the pictures on this web site ---> ( Young Me - Now Me ) if you get a chance. I linked it to page 8 because this one has some of the cutest, most humorous pictures of the site. The pictures on the site made me think about all of the pictures we took and posted of Easton and Layla. I can only imagine which picture(s) would be most likely to show up 15 years from now on a site like this from our twins... Hmmm...

Speaking of old pictures, there aren’t many of me as a kid because I was the third child and we all know how THAT goes. I’m sure you can relate to me if you were third or later in a family, right? Anyway, here are a few that Joanie brought of ME that I was happy to see. This one is 9-month-old me and there are lots of similarities between Easton and I. I'd like to recreate this picture with Easton when he turns 9 months, but where am I going to find a wacky tricycle like that one??? It was junky 32 years ago when I sat on it, so no telling where a similar one might exist today. I'll have to go check ebay. :)



Here is another one of me in the grey and white striped shirt at my 2nd birthday. The other boy is my beloved cousin Bud who apparently cut his own hair for the occasion. See the big missing section of hair? Maybe that's why he didn’t end up in cosmetology?


And last, but not least here is one of my personal favorites of all times. I’m 4 months old here and now can see where Easton gets his looks! I had hoped Easton inherited the Burgess Legs instead of my skinny, chicken sticks, but in this picture you can see my legs look chunky just like Easton’s do now so the jury is still out as to what kind of legs he’ll end up with. Just for clarification, Burgess legs refers to the massive and muscular legs of Opa Burgess… which are the opposite description of mine and much more desirable. I guess you say I’m hoping for a Burgess LEGacy?

And of course you see my sister, Joanie and my brother, B.J. who were great sibling to grow up with. I REALLY gotta get some of that shag carpet in my living room! One other note for this picture… I was teased for my love of Winnie the Pooh by my siblings even to the point of tears (don’t think I’ll ever get over the “pooh pot” incident in the 1st grade). Anyway, if you look closely at B.J.’s shirt, just under the ENORMOUS collar, you can see the white outline of… TaDa! Winnie the Pooh! After all these years of thinking I was alone in my fondness for Pooh Bear, I see now that I was just following in my brother’s footsteps!


I change a LOT of diapers around here (roughly twice as many as most fathers) and have no problems being a team. That’s not a big deal for me and I am usually lucky enough to miss the “messy” ones somehow. BUT, when my sister was here and we were all hanging out in the living room Easton made it audibly and odoriferously clear that he needed a diaper change. Apparently it was payback time for Kendra and she thought it was humorous enough to take a picture…


Happy Friday to you all and have a great weekend!

lots of laughs

Over the past few days Easton and Layla both had a high temperature, but not at the same time. Everyone still sleeps well at night so at least we have that going for us! I think the twins are both better now and hopefully they will have good naps today...

This picture is what Kendra sees during the day when the twins are awake and begging her to read and show them the "Brown Bear" book. We are SO glad our babies are easy going and generally happy. She's momorized the whole book, which I think is very cool. I can't remember anything past the Blue Horse. :)


This morning I woke up at 7:00 and was planning to go into work early. Then Kendra told me Easton and Layla were taking a nap and weren't going to wake up until 8:00. I wanted to see them so bad that I went ahead and did some work and was waiting outside of their bedroom door for Kendra to give me the "green light" to wake them up! After Kendra went for her morning run, 8:00 finally rolled around and I found Easton snoring and drooling as he was in a deep sleep. Layla was starting to wake up a little so I stood over her crib as she slowly pulled herself out of sleepy time. She blinked and squinted a few times and then realized it was me staring at her with my goofy grin and raised eyebrows. Her expression waivered back and forth between wide-eyed, pursed-lipped cooing and squinty-eyed full open mouth laughing. That really made my day! I'm sure it will be even more meaningful when she can say, "good morning, Dad!" instead of me pretending that is what she's saying... It was a great way to be sent out the door for work instead of having to go all day without seeing them.

Here's a short clip of Layla doing really well with "tummy time" holding her head up! She'll be walking in no time, i'm sure.



We're still on the quest to find THE perfect double jogging stroller. At least now we have our requirements straight and agree on what attributes it needs to have. We should have started with that in mind, but oh well... live and learn. Thanks to Dustin for the websites to do some searching because we were able to figure out what more about what we need from looking at those for sale!

Have a great day!

Bumbo babies

Good morning friends and family,

These past few days were packed with new things for the babies and fun times for the Webb house. Joanie left her family to come and visit us for 5 days and we are grateful for their sacrifice. BUT, we’ll DOUBLE whatever amount of money her family offered Joanie to return home if she’ll come back to us! Her and I haven’t had the chance to spend one on one time talking and hanging out together in 12 years or more. We’ve seen each other for a few brief hours at a time during family gatherings and trips, but it meant a lot to have just the two of us enjoy brother-sister talks and catch up on life. She has three kiddos of her own that are GREAT kids partly due to her nurturing and teaching. Having her around was a blessing because we were firing questions at her non-stop about everything we wanted advice or opinions on over the past few weeks and she had answers for all of them!

The dedication on Sunday went very well. There were 8 babies on stage and we were happy to be a part of it. Layla and Easton were cute and cuddly as always throughout their entire stage appearance. Having Joanie there made it special because she was the only family able to make it for the occasion. She took some great pictures and here’s one during the first part of the dedication:

Here is a closer up picture we took with Pastor Goldsberry after the service was over. I wasn’t able to talk him into wearing a half pink / half blue shirt so he went with all pink so as not to look like a court jester.

Joanie brought a Bumbo for us and we were glad to get it! Her baby Daphne has outgrown it (and lots of clothes too) so she gave us big bunch of things including the Bumbo. Layla is extremely strong and able to hold herself up already. She holds her head up during “tummy time” on the mat. When she is held up while on our lap, she stands upright on both feet for a few seconds at a time and only requires us to hold our hands around her midsection just for balance. Easton is not quite interested yet in being mobile and sitting/standing upright, but he’ll get there soon! I’m working on getting a blue Bumbo for Easton, but for now they are gladly sharing the pink one.





Easton was giving us some outright giggles last night and hearing him be so happy really hit me emotionally. Layla has been laughing and singing and making noises for a few weeks, but to hear both of them interacting with Kendra and I is a whole new level of excitement for me. For the first few months, the twins required so much from us and weren’t able to really DO anything or GIVE in any way back to us. They smiled and were happy, but it wasn’t very fulfilling because their smiles or facial expressions could just as easily be gas (or worse) and not a real connection with Kendra or I. BUT now that they are recognizing us and our voice it is 100 times more fulfilling. Layla and Easton transformed from needy, motionless “things” into small people who have their own individual personalities and gifts and interests. Layla is already practically singing and frequently has these 10 second continuous melodies where her tones go up and down. Easton smiles most of the time and stares at me just WAITING for me to look directly at him. When I do, his smile changes into the same open-mouth grin you see on a person who just won the powerball lottery. You know how a dog can go fetch the same stick thrown in the same place 1000 times and never get tired of it? Well, that’s how I feel about hearing Layla and seeing Easton when they do these things. It’s harder to explain than I thought, but that’s the best I can do!

Oh yeah, by the way… I ONLY had Kendra’s shoes on because she was grossed out and freaked out because our cat bit the lizard tail off and it was still squirming around on the floor! She wanted the lizard and its tail OUT of our house pronto and guess who’s shoes were close by? Mine were put away neatly in the closet and hers were left out. SO, that’s why I had her shoes on. If only I had kept the camera hidden from Joanie… :)

Have a great day and I’ll add more tonight after my Lakers beat down the Jazz!

Joanie's blog entry

After 4 days of being here in the Webb house, I can honestly say that I am truly amazed....Amazed that 2 such adorable creations are so well adjusted to this new world. Amazed that 2 parents are balancing life and responsibilities together. Amazed that their home isn't the crazy"Babylandia" that I expected. I came to Phoenix expecting to simply help, clean, cook, and change diapers until exhaustion set in... Instead, it's been a vacation too!

This home is a well-oiled machine right now. This machine is running fast, however, and everyone is doing overtime! Our days started with Kendra making a delicious breakfast for us...waffles, crepes, yum! Then she quickly hit the road for a run, just as the twins laid down to rest for their first nap of the day. By the time they awoke, she was ready for whatever the day held. We had a great time exploring a bit of Phoenix, eating at great restaurants and Bronson let me tag along in his fun active life. He stretched me to do more activity than normal, with hiking in South Mountain, biking across big intersections and swimming in the chilly pool. I didn't go to Tae Kwan Do class with him, but I learned a lot about it and he gave us a mini-version of his yellow belt tricks. He also gave us a big treat, watching both the babies while Kendra and I got manis and pedis together.

It was busy around here, but Kendra was committed to keeping the twins' day organized and in synch. She was constantly aware of the activities they needed (songs, books, love, feeding--and lots of this!-- playtime, alone time). She and Bronson tossed questions back and forth, figuring out the game plan, like two coaches organizing the plays for a championship game.



The twins...how can I describe them?
Layla is such a singer! She intently gazes into your eyes and belts out the biggest songs! Her eyebrows wrinkle up as she concentrates to produce the sounds. Determined to get moving, she strongly wiggles on the play mat for "tummy time", lifting her head and arching her back. I was lucky enough to be here when she rolled over on the play mat for the first time! After missing her the first 12 weeks, it meant so much to be with her for one of her “firsts”. When holding her in front of you, she stretches out her legs, reaching to find your lap and pushing to stand. Happy to show what she can do, her biggest smiles happen when you notice her movements and her lovely songs. Her face turns quickly when she hears her daddy’s voice and you can tell that she has already won his heart.


(**Here we are with my cousin, Ginger Barrett, who lives in Maricopa with her husband, Josh. They are pastors of the Church of Celebration and have 2 boys and a baby girl on they way.)



And Easton, this little boy draws others in, with his broad smile and warm expressions. He makes you happy to just be with him--and every care in the world can be wiped away, just hearing his little chuckle and seeing his toothless grin. He is so amicable and he accepts attention without demanding it. He seems genuinely happy that you took time to smile at him. Most children of this age react to your smile. Easton initiates it. One time I caught him looking at Bronson, smiling up at him, just waiting for him to turn to notice him. Easton loves a hearty tickling and his face and smile just get wider. I think he has grown in the 4 days I’ve been here and he has yet one more chin from all the sufficient feedings that Kendra diligently gives.

I wouldn't trade these last few days for a vacation anywhere in the world. It has meant the world to me to see my little brother babbling with two babies, to see his wife caring for all 3 of them, with such hospitality and grace and to see their peaceful home, with everyone doing their best to help. It is exactly what the word "FAMILY" means.

At the babies’ dedication, their pastor annointed the head, hands, and feet of the twins. He prayed that they would have the minds of Christ, that their hands would do works for the kingdom, and that their feet would follow after the Lord. It was a beautiful moment to see Bronson and Kendra with their babies and to know that God’s blessing will follow this commitment and prayer. This occasion, coupled with Mother’s Day, made me miss my own babies, remembering how special it is to hold such a precious gift from God in your arms.


As I leave Phoenix tomorrow, my heart is filled with joy from being in this home. I hope each of you have a chance to experience some of this too… To watch a “first” with the twins, to gobble up some of Kendra’s delicious cooking, and to try to keep up with Bronson’s vigorous activities in the hills and roads of Phoenix. As I sign off, I want to thank each one of you for the support and generosity for them, knowing that each one of us give a special piece of love for these twins as they grow.

ps--Bronson posts pictures of Kendra all the time. I happened to catch a great shot of him after he grabbed a lizard that their cat, Sugar, dragged in the house. Bronson put on Kendra's wedge heels and tossed the lizard outside. This is after the big traumatic lizard moment: (look head to toe!!)

Happy Mother's day

Hi Mom! Happy mother's day to all the moms. I sympathize and celebrate with all of you moms more this year than ever before. Guess who else is a mom? Me! With two babies in our house, Kendra and I both "moms" to some extent. Don't believe me? Then that means you don't have twins or multiples because otherwise you'd be saying, "That is very true!"

The blogs will be a day behind for a while because there are SO many things happening and pictures and video to post that I can't possibly fit the past few days into one blog. Plus we are trying to convince my sister to blog. It's a perverse peer pressure really (kendra said to Joanie) ---> "Come on Joanie, Nana Webb did it! Oma Burgess did! everyone is doing it! Just try it, you'll like it..." It sounds like Joanie is willing to give in and write a little bit here on Monday night.

The one thing from today I'll share is a Mother's Day wish from Layla and Easton... ok, it mostly Layla who's doing the talking, but Easton agrees. :)




Yesterday I captured a picture of Easton doing what he does best: sleeping and looking cute. His pose and peacefulness was too much to pass up. I just stood there next to his crib and stared at him for the longest time. Watching him breath and his little body move up and down in timing. I focused on his forehead a few minutes and noticed how it is totally smooth and relaxed because he doesn't have a care in the world or anything on his mind. Extreme peace and calm.... that's what Easton is displaying so perfectly during his sleep and awake time both.

We all went for some shopping and our journey ended with a tour of the local mall. Kendra sniffed out the closest cookie shop with her nose like Toucan Sam from the Fruit Loops cereal. I requested a chocolate chip cookie covered (and I mean covered) with chocolate frosting and the cookie makers were more than happy to comply with my request! Joanie and Kendra had plain old cookies, but not everyone can be such a pain-in-the-rear customer like me. Here's Joanie and I enjoying our cookie break.

and here's one of Kendra and I with pirate hats on as we sat and played with the twins while Joanie shopped. Cool hats, huh? I put my fist up to look mean and pirate-like, but Kendra is WAY too happy and bubbly to be a pirate. :)


We had a great dinner outside at Abuelo's mexican restaurant and then spent the rest of the evening talking and hanging out at home. Layla is making noises and giggling almost double every day. She's figuring out new noises and longer lasting tones that go up and down and last for 10 seconds or more! It's almost like she's singing... Joanie and Layla have such a fun time together and when the two of them start chatting in the car, there's no stopping them. I caught this cute picture of Joanie holding up little lovely Layla who has a different expression on her face every single time the flash goes off:


That was our Saturday and I don't have time to even start with all of the excitement from today. However, the twins were dedicated in church this morning and they well behaved little angels. Also, both babies sat in a bumbo chair and are getting stronger every day. Pictures and videos


will be here on Monday night late, so stay tuned and have a great Monday!

Aunt Joanie's in the house

After another successful night's sleep we had a full day of running errands and cleaning and doing our best to keep the twins on their schedule. They BOTH took a two hour nap and I know that doesn't sounds like an event worthy of the 10 'o clock news, but it really is a big milestone at the Webb house to have a full two hours in the middle of the day where Layla and Easton are both sleeping peacefully.

We also bid a fond farewell to Kendra's water cooler dispenser that provided purified water for her since we were married. It died so we bought a new one from Lowes. She survived the two-day gap in water service by buying a case of bottled water. Whew, that was a close one... she almost had to drink.... {queue the Frankenstein music} TAP WATER! EEEEEEK! I'm just teasing her. She likes purfied water and I can't say that I blame her because our tap water is tastes like it was filtered through an old pair of socks.

We had the chance to talk with Oma and Opa as usual through Skype and it's always fun to see and talk with them. It's good to get all six of us talking to and seeing each other at the same time. Nana and Papa? log into skype! we miss you! :)

Anyway, we've been looking forward to Joanie's visit for months, then weeks, then days, and it's finally here {standing ovation and cheers}. Joanie and I drove straight from the airport to In-n-Out burger because we were hungry and Joanie misses their burgers from when she lived in California.

I snapped a quick picture of everyone when Joanie first walked in the door to greet them for the first time. I could tell she was truly excited to see them because she left her warm In-N-Out fries on the table to sit down and hold little Layla. That is HUGE will power if you ask me... I sat down with my fries and only stopped eating them to breathe and say, "uh huh" once in a while to stay in the conversations.

We all took a walk through our neighborhood to get Joanie's legs moving after driving and flying all day. It was typical, awesome spring weather here in AZ with clear skies and warm temps. At 9:00 PM I was perfectly comfortable in my flip flops, short pants, and T-shirt.

Now that the babies are asleep and we have the whole weekend to look forward to, I'm sure we'll have TONS of pictures over the next few days. Most of my favorite photos of me were taken by Joanie so I'm sure her photographic eye will be a welcomed change to my point-n-shoot mentality.

Later folks!

4 webbs, 1 playmat

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm not quite sure how I should have taken this picture, but it is artistic and cute, yet lame and uninspiring. Kendra is always willing to go along with my hair-brained ideas for picture taking.... She's such a sport. Maybe you all have a different opinion of this photo or a better idea to recommend. Here we are during playtime with the twins on their favorite play mat. It has elephant ears sticking up with butterscotch wrappers inside (or whatever they put in there to make the crinkle noise) and Easton and Layla love it. We couldn't get Layla to look at the camera so this is as good as it gets:





It's official! I'm a yellow belt in Taekwondo. I broke a 3/4 pine board, did some pretend blocks/punches and viola! It only took me 4 weeks to achieve, which is a really fast pace. I did lots of home-work just to figure out how to tie my belt and stand correctly (it's harder than it looks)! I look forward to continuing training and practices because it's fun to learn something new like this. Not to mention that I gain confidence in my ability to protect myself and my family considering I've never hit anyone or been hit in my whole life. :) This is a picture of me and my class mates after the testing and new belts. I'm the goofy, tall white guy on the right end and all three ladies in the class can kick my butt.



Tonight we met with our small group from church as usual and Kendra pulled off a super dinner for everyone including homemade lasagna, salad, bread, and angel food cake with strawberries. We usually spend the evening working in a workbook for "boundaries in marriage", but tonight we sat outside in their backyard and enjoyed food and fellowship the whole time. Easton is huge compared to Layla and his weight is noticeably heavier when I pick him up. but I held Easton next to Brendon and Danielle's son who is 9 months old and Easton looks so tiny in comparison. It is bizarre how perspectives change when different situations require you to see things from another view... The busy evening threw Easton and Layla's schedule for a loop, so we are hoping for a full night's sleep in spite of it.


I better get to bed so I can accomplish something at work tomorrow (with lots of coffee) and get ready for Joanie's arrival in the evening.

Drool is Cool

We're not sure IF Layla is teething, but we put the puzzle pieces together and it appears that is the case. Neither of us has any idea how to know for SURE when a baby is teething or if it even matters. Layla soaked her way through a few outfits yesterday from drool, required a little more mommy-holding time than normal, and didn't sleep much at all during the naps. I think those add up to teeth popping in soon, but I'm not entirely sure. Those symptoms could mean her diaper is too tight for all I know... From this picture you can clearly see that her drooling is in full effect:


My sister is coming to visit tomorrow and our house is a whirlwind of activities and to do lists. OK, I guess I really mean KENDRA, not "our house". She is doing last minute cleaning, cooking for tonight's church group meeting, and normal baby scheduled activities. The other two members of our house, Layla and Easton, will spend the day making noises, sleeping, and flailing their arms. Ah, the good old days of no responsibility.

Kendra and I are very excited for my sister to be in town and plan to spend lots of time hanging out playing with the twins, experiencing some tourist highlights of AZ, and catching up about her life and family. One other bonus we are hoping for is to hear her ideas on all things baby and house related. She's raising three kids of her own as a stay-at-home mom and home schooling as well. She's doing a great job of it so we're hoping to hear some of her wisdom and ideas about how the Webb house can improve. :) Yes, there is always room for improvement and I'm great at accepting criticism.

I'm expecting to test for my Taekwondo belt today so hopefully I'll have a picture to post of my accomplishment. Don't worry, I'll have the twins in the picture too instead of plain-old-me because every picture is better with two cute babies like Layla and Easton.

By the way, I've discovered a trend when it comes to baby questions that is really humorous. Almsot every time I ask a question to anyone, the answer is, "It's different for every baby". Maybe it is some right-of-passage where people KNOW the answer to my question, but they CHOOSE not tell me so that I'll have to experience all of this blindly! For Example, I ask these types of questions: When does a baby get teeth? What causes a rash on a babies face? How many times should a baby eat per day? How much should a baby eat per day at age 12 weeks? ad nauseam

I can actually "mouth" the response from whomever I ask the question of when they inevitably say, "It's different for every baby". I had a nightmare where I wondered through a crowded street of people and they are all talking to each other, but only using the phrase, "It's different for every baby" over and over and over. Kind of like in the movie, "Being John Malkovich" where everyone kept saying his last name repeatedly instead of actual sentences. Click this link to see the short video clip I'm referencing. I may actually write a book some day about my lovely twins and the name will be, "It's different for every baby". Wouldn't that be ironic? Thank goodness for the real book, "What to expect the first year". This one at least gives some good guidelines and information...

Have a great Thursday and my next post will be as a Yellow belt in Taekwondo... HiiiiiiYAAAAH.

All about baby Layla

Good morning folks,

I suppose a recap is in order to give a full perspective of Little Layla Rae and here is the first picture ever taken of her only minutes after she was brought into the world. Notice the left hand is clinched in a fist, which is prevalent in almost every single picture of her so far in her short life.

She loves to be held by mommy and requires a bit more attention than her brother, especially in the evenings at bedtime. Her demeanor changes so quickly that it is hard to capture on the camera. She'll be sitting quietly with a calm expression and then give the biggest open-mouth, eyes-closed smile ever. But it usually only lasts long enough for me to jump out of my chair and dash towards the camera before it disappears and she goes back to being nonchalant and mellow. We were able to capture Layla doing her impression of Emeril Lagasse where she waved her hands and said, "BAM" in her own baby language.

Layla has now joined the ranks of 75% of all babies who partake in the primordially pleasurable pasttime of thumb sucking... She found her thumb JUST this morning so we'll see if she decides to try that instead of a pacifier from now on. Whoa! Just think... we could have a pacifier-free house and avoid habitually picking it up off the floor every 60 seconds after it falls out of her mouth!

One of the highlights of her day is playing with her dolly, which has a frilly dress full of that crackly, noisy stuff. It sounds like it’s packed with butterscotch candy wrappers… Layla also enjoys going for strolls around the neighborhood. We know she likes this because she spends the whole time wide awake and talking, talking, talking.

And here's the most recent picture of Layla with her plump little belly and legs. It's easy to see how tense and intense she is. Looks like we have our type-A personality match already!

There are many funny stories and unique traits about Layla that I'm leaving out, but there are enough to get the idea of what our little Peanut is like!

Have a happy Wednesday.

Already talking back at 12 weeks old!

Hello, Hello,

Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, which is traditionally a day to party and have fun. So what did the Webb house do for festivities??? I popped a straw in my fruit punch Caprisun, Kendra had water, and the twins had milk. We toasted and then went to Costco. Yep, that's the highlight of the day... Costco. :) I'm not going to lie... I do miss getting together with friends and hanging out by the pool, grilling hotdogs for the big celebrations like Cinco de Mayo, but times change and you gotta move through the stages of life. I wouldn't trade Layla and Easton for the best holiday party ever imagined, so don't get the idea I'm unhappy. There are just moments (very few) now and then where I wish I could have the best of both worlds: The fun and responsibilities of my babies along with the chance to go out with Kendra and have big get-togethers like when we were dating. Not like I have a choice, but if I did it would be very easy to choose time with the 4 Webbs...

Anyway, we also spent time searching for a double jogger, which is growing more mysterious every day. The illusive double jogger should be on the endangered list like the Bald Eagle. When we finally find one, I'm going to dedicate an entire post to HOW to find the right baby jogger and where to go and what to look for because Kendra and I will be experts. Maybe I can get Oprah to have us on the show and tell people with twins about our findings??? Hey, Jon and Kate Plus Eight got onto Oprah and all they did was have 8 kids!

I don't think i've had the chance to post one of the FIRST pictures of Layla and Easton. I think this was one of the first where we knew they were a boy and girl! It's amazing how they developed so much from this picture into the little people they are now:

As we were getting ready to go out the door, I put Easton into his car seat and he was extra happy and chatty. Usually as soon as I hold the camera up to take a picture or movie, they quit whatever they were doing that was so cute and freeze with that "deer-in-headlights" look. Here's a video clip of Easton and I conversing, which I consider "talking back":



It's cool for them to respond to us. Sometimes I walk into the room and slowly get closer to them without saying a word to see when they recognize me and my goofy grin. He's so good at sticking his tongue out and usually sounds like the Tasmanian Devil when he tries to make noises. He just needs pointy teeth and more hair.... Hopefully he'll say daddy as his first word! My next post will be all about Layla, so don't get your torches out just yet for this being an Easton-centric post.

I better get back to work... catch you later!

Wrapped with care

Howdy Ya'll,

Since my sister is coming to visit from the ozarks, I need to prepare by reclaiming my Missouri (pronounced Miz-ER-uh) accent. I was teased relentlessly for using the word "ya'll" when I first moved here 12 years ago so I ditched the accent as quickly as possible. Actually, my sister has perfect diction and almost no accent considering she's lived in Oklahoma and Miz-ER-uh most of her life, but it's fun to tease anyway.

We officially became members of our church this morning and I'm sorry to say, that didn't instantly make Kendra and I perfect... awe, shucks... :) The way it turned out was fairly humorous though. We expected the membership part of the service to occur at the END, but that's not what happened. I was chewing gum (orbitz rocks) and had Easton strapped to my chest in the baby bjorn, facing outward. Kendra was holding Layla and sitting next to Marisue and Scott. Then, only 10 minutes into the service the pastor calls all of the new members up to the front! We froze and then scrambled around trying to figure out what to do. Kendra gave Layla to Marisue and it became clear that I wasn't going to untangle myself from the bjorn contraption fast enough so we just stood up and Easton came right along with us down to the front! There we were with the whole staff and choir on stage looking directly at us. well, actually they were staring at Easton who had a big grin and a calm demeanor as always. Everyone on stage did a collective, "Awwwwwwwe" and it turned out just fine. I wasn't worried about Easton because I knew he'd do great. I was a little worried that Layla might feel left out and also worried that I looked like a total goober with the bjorn thingy and Easton hanging off my chest.

Anyway, we had a great time at lunch with Marisue and Scott at Chino Bandidos (btw, it's been featured on the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" recently). The rest of the day was spent chasing around MORE stores trying to find a double jogger. It's starting to be like a quest for the holy grail or something. I guess mothers with twins don't JOG! We have a game plan now though so we'll see how it works out. Firstly, we plan to CALL AHEAD to the stores that might have them so we don't waste an afternoon and gas going from empty, useless store to empty, useless store (DUH!). Also, we hope to do some online shopping to figure out exactly what Kendra is looking for.

Just as an insight into the Baby Wise book, here's the summary of how WE do things:

- get the twins on a schedule... the SAME schedule.

- we decide when the babies eat and sleep and play

- that usually goes in a three hour cycle ALL day long. Eat for 30 minutes, awake for 60 minutes, sleep for 90 minutes.

- feed until they are full... no snacking...

- full feeding at 7 or 8 PM with a "top off" at 9:00 PM sharp. that means they are in bed at 9:30 PM

- be flexible and make sure the babies are flexible: if we need to run errands at 2:45 in the afternoon, we pack up the twins and go!

That's about it really. Kendra is the expert on this methodology so ask her if you have any questions. I just do what I'm told. :)

For now (until the babies don't like to be wrapped any more) we wrap Layla in her blanket with one arm out because she doesn't like to be completely confined. Easton gets the full-on burrito wrap treatment compliments of me. It's much easier to steal kisses when his arms aren't flying around and he can't kick his way out of it. :) He's SO mellow!

Happy Monday to everyone and have a great week!

Dr. Seuss challenge

Good evening friends and family,

It feels like Easton and Layla are getting heavier by the day. I should start measuring my biceps for growth because carrying them around in the car seat is a pretty good work out. At least I have twins so both arms should grow equally. I see moms of single babies carrying the lone baby on one hip and I have to wonder how they don't develop problems from leaning so far over all the time to balance the weight!

Seeing the picture of Marisue and Easton really shows how big of a boy he's getting to be and Layla seems to be continually behind by a couple of pounds. The pediatrician says the current size of the twins doesn't have much correlation to how tall or large they will be when they finish growing in the teens, but who knows. I'm all about statistics and percentiles, so I want to know as much as possible about what to expect.

Anyway, today we went shopping all over phoenix for a double jogging stroller and I gotta tell you, they are NOT easy to find. Some places have single joggers, but that doesn't do us much good. We still need to check REI, but already looked at Babys 'r us, toys 'r us, Dicks sporting goods, a local bike shop, and some other places. And by the way, we need to find one with a drink holder. It's Ar-I-ZON-A people! it gets hot here and I'm not sure who designs the baby joggers, but they need to make them with cup holders so we don't pass out as we run around the neighborhood... We found one online that we like, but it is $660. That's correct, I didn't goof on the price. We'll probably end up getting the $200 model from the sporting goods store that we both like. Also, we are looking on Craigslist every day and hopefully will come across a double that is even cheaper. One thing I learned very quickly is that baby gear is expensive and I can't figure out for the life of me how some people have 5+ kids and are still able to survive. Here's picture from cyber space that seems appropriate with that last comment and puts things into perspective on how privileged we live:



After that I went to martial arts practice and then Kendra went to her gym so we each had some alone time to get some activity and alone time with the twins. Nana and Papa Webb were on Skype last night and we are so glad to have that capability now with them (yeah)! We see and talk to Oma and Opa Burgess every day and it's so much more meaningful to communicate that way. Today we were able to put the microphone up to Layla's mouth as she sucked on the pacifier with perfect cadence. Oma and Opa could hear her very clearly and it sounded a lot like Maggie from "The Simpsons". Very humorous, but I guess you had to be there. Feel free to look us up on Skype and I'll be happy to share the laughs with YOU as makes the squeaky noises with her pacifier!

During one of the naps I had to get a picture of the twins sleeping. For one thing, they do that OFTEN so that is the perfect opportunity to sneak a picture. Layla gave up on her pacifier in the middle of the nap, but you can see it is still close by! If you click on the picture and see the bigger version, you can notice Easton's looooong eyelashes (he gets that from me). I've never heard a girl say, "wow, look at the long eyelashes on THAT guy", but I like to think it adds to how good looking he is. :)



Here's two more pictures, one that shows how Easton (known occasionally as chunky monkey 2) is really plumping up like a little grape and looking cute as ever. The other picture shows Layla's big, thoughtful eyes and her tiny fist clinched and showing the "power to the peanut" sign as always.

My sister, Joanie, gave me a new writing challenge so I want to let you know what I'll be working on for the next few days. Here's what she wrote:

Thing 1 and Thing 2, as they are known in the Cat and the Hat...remember them?? The little ones who cause havok in the house with the cat? Dust off your Cat and the Hat book. I bet you could write your very own rhyming blog, Dr. Seuss style, about your adventures with your own Thing 1 and Thing 2....ok--sounds like I've just issued a challenge..... If you hadn't written all about yourself and your underwear, I wouldn't have to make you think about rhyming prose, BUT you did it to yourself!!! So, I challenge you to higher standards of writing composition....

She is coming to visit in 5 days {cheering from a crowd} so I'll try to get it done and posted before then, although we might be able to make some serious improvements on my "rough draft" while she's here. This will be exceptionally difficult because not much rhymes with "Peanut" or "Layla"... I'll look for comments once I get it posted!

Tomorrow is a big day for us as we become members of our church. We're very excited to finally settle in and start to do something for others. We've been floating along too long soaking in the work of what others put into the church. We're not sure what area we will get involved in to serve, but it will be nice to give of ourselves in whatever way we are needed.

Have a great Sunday and go to church. It's good for you. :)

Equality issues already?

Happy Friday everyone!

There have been rumors that my thoughts and posts here on the blog are biased towards Easton. I'm not sure if that's a common feeling from everyone, but I've tried to be as equal as possible knowing that equal opportunity will be an issue from now until the end of time. SO, I reviewed the blog for the past 30 days and Easton's name is mentioned 102 times while Layla's is mentioned 106. That doesn't even count when we refer to her as "Peanut". :) That's not too bad for equal air time if you ask me...

Anyway, here are two pictures of each of our babies from this morning. They sat quietly except for the occasionally snotty nose sound in their little chairs as we made some breakfast and ate:

Last night we went to our church small group, which is one of the highlights of every week for us. We were lucky to get into the one led by our assistant pastor Brendon and his wife Danielle. They are great people and I really respect and appreciate them.

We are taking 8 weeks to work through the book , "Boundaries in Marriage" and materials related to it. I'm not much of a book reader so for me to recommend one is a rare occurrence...

Layla and Easton behaved like little angels for the most part. One of the ladies, Marisue, enjoys the twins and takes every opportunity to help and hold them when we are all together. Easton had a few fussy moments. The cause is unknown, but we expect it was sleep deprivation because it was 10 minutes past when he should have been asleep. I had the deer-in-headlights look as I scanned the room for helpful advice. Marisue was quick to help out and Easton proved once again that he can fall asleep in any position. Look how BIG he is getting?

Layla was cozy sleeping in her car seat with the shade pulled over and I didn't want to take a close up picture of her because the flash wakes her too easily...

We're both happy it is Friday because we have the whole weekend to spend time relaxing and also give each other some breaks from work, babies, chores, etc.


Enjoy your weekend!

Sleeping like a baby means something now

Kendra is almost better and the twins are at least still sleeping well even if they don't feel much better yet. What's the deal with the blue sucker thing that Kendra has to put up their little noses and suck out the yucky stuff? It's probably more painful for me to watch than it is for Easton and Layla to deal with it. I know doing that is necessary and Kendra is really good at it... People have told me for years, "it's different when _____ happens to your own kid" (fill in the blank with any gross or discusting bodily fluid or situation). I'm here to tell you it isn't any different at all. I'm too grossed out to wipe the sleepy eye from my cats eyes and I'm too grossed out to see what comes from the various bodily places of Layla and Easton. I don't care who you are, some of the stuff I've seen in the past three months gives me that gaggy feeling just thinking about it. I can't even tell you how happy I am that Kendra is SO good with taking care of these types of situations that come up more and more often.

yeah, yeah... I know that one day Kendra will be gone for an afternoon with the girls and BOOM! I'll be treated with something terribly discusting, but until then why put myself through that and risk losing my lunch? I'll get there soon enough, so stop trying to jinx me with your mean thoughts and wishes already. :) What goes around comes around and boy am I gonna get it some day as a pay back for all the times Kendra has taken care of the twins when I wasn't strong enough. Don't worry, you'll be the first to know because I'll take plenty of photos and post them here (minus the yucky parts).

Until then I get to enjoy the happy, fun part of being a parent that goes along with the diaper changes and being a part of the Webb team. Easton was my responsibility for most of the night since Layla is much more calm when Mommy holds her while she recovers from the cold. I had Kendra come over to take a picture because he is the most peaceful baby I've ever seen. Having him fall asleep in my arms is as interesting as any event or movie you can imagineWhen he sleeps you can tell by the look on his face that he's REALLY in lala land and sleeping like a.... ummmm... like a baby. What a good looking boy, huh?

Here is one other picture from the other day that I didn't get a chance to post or comment about. It was a very interesting moment when Easton became aware of Layla and did his best to reach out and touch Layla out of curiosity. His motor skills aren't all that great yet, so mostly he just flails his arms in the general direction of toys, but you could tell at this moment that he was trying his best to find out what Layla was all about. And Layla was just lying there probably thinking, "Hey, stop poking me in the eye!"

I've got a work escalation to tend to this evening/morning so I better stop blogging and get to working... :)