Cribs Lowered

Hello baby lovers,

Happy weekend to you all and may you relax in peace. The 4 Webbs are doing well, but we are sharing more than "love" here in our household. We're sharing in sickness too! 3 out of 4 Webbs are sick. I am the last of the Mohicans to avoid catching the sniffles. Those of you who were at my wedding may remember my nervous demeanor and shaky voice as I said, "In sickness and in health". Subconsciously I was thinking ahead to this moment in time where i'd be taking care of Kendra AND the twins! :) The symptoms are not all that bad and everyone is still sleeping through the night. Just some runny noses and a few coughs here and there. Easton is just a little more ho-hum than normal and Layla isn't letting a little sickness slow her down at all. Spirits are still high around here and we're hoping to get every back to healthy over the weekend. You think I'm kidding? Here's a video clip showing all of us laughing for Oma and Opa while chatting with them via Skype:



That's one my favorite clips of all times! Layla is so happy and so intense. While I'm thinking about it, I have to clarify the names we considered for Easton. As Dustin pointed out in the comment for our last blog, Kobe was only a frontrunner in my mind. Here's a picture of me 5 years ago with my brand new set of Kobe sneakers with my Kobe poster in the background:

Kendra was looking over my shoulder as I wrote the last blog and she firmly requested I remove that name from the list. I responded with, "this is MY blog post. Feel free to post your own thoughts if you choose to do so! In the famous words of Captain Barbossa, 'I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request. Means no." Those kind of sarcastic responses don't go over well with Mommy, but she gives me some latitude to kid around with her without taking things too seriously. Anyway, to make a short story long, as a Lakers fan I seriously considered Kobe, but Kendra was almost offended I would even mention such an abomination as a name for our first born son.

OK, so back to the twins and what's new. The title of the post comes from the fact that we had to lower Easton's crib last night because he is now standing up on his own in the crib!


Over the past few days we noticed a trend when we put Layla and Easton down for nap time: They don't sleep. We lay them down, give them Nunu blanket, and leave the room. As soon as we leave the room they both stand up in their cribs and talk across the room at each other with shrieks and laughs. Kendra and I just look at each other and laugh along with them because it is so funny to hear them communicating. It's hard to see their little heads and hands poking up above the cribs, but here's a picture from when I caught them red-handed:


and for those of you who can see the videos, here's video #2 for this post that shows Easton and Layla BOTH standing up in their cribs talking to (shrieking at) each other instead of sleeping during their afternoon nap.



I forgot to mention and post the picture from Kendra's soccer game this past Monday. Her teammates, Jenn (on the left) and Kendra (on the right) were asking us to bring the babies once so the team can see them so we decided to bundle up the babies and head out to the field. In case you are wondering, that last sentence is not a typo. There is another girl named Kendra on my wife's soccer team. Anyway, we arrived at the field and were getting ready to put their jackets on since it was getting chilly. I asked Kendra where she put them and she said, "where did YOU put them?" Doh! Both of us forgot to grab their jackets so we used whatever was in the car to keep them warm... A shopping basket cover to be exact. See that blue thing in front of Layla?


Yep, that's the shopping cart cover. I felt like a dope wrapping up the babies in that thing, but it kept us warm for about 30 minutes while Mommy kicked the ball around with her friends. Oh well... As my Uncle Dave used to say, "You can't have adventures unless you go adventuring!"

I'll leave you with that thought as you plan your weekend. Good luck and happy adventuring!

The story of names

Good morning folks,

Today I'll tell you the story of names: How we ended up with twins named Easton and Layla. I've had a few people ask the question so I thought it would be a good opportunity to share! Plus, if our twins ever get around to reading this multi-volume blog some time I want them to have the answer regarding where there names came from. We found out 6 weeks after conception there were two lint balls (babies) in Kendra's tummy and then we found out there was one boy and one girl after 18 weeks. So if you do the math, we had a LOOOOONG time to figure out names. Kendra and I spent hours surfing the internet and reading books in Border's searching for the perfect names.

We'll start with our beloved Easton who finally figured out this week how to use a hammer:

To understand his origins, i'll need to use some etymology on my own name. From what my parents tell me (since they have no blog or documented account of the origin of my name) I was named after a TV show... sort of... Apparently after having my older brother and sister, who are a year apart, my parents were content and happy with their own version of the 4 Webbs. 4 years later I was born as a "surprise gift from God". That last phrase is code word for a contraceptive malfunction, but I'm ok with how things turned out! :) Anyway, while at the hospital just before I was born Ma was watching TV. There it was as if by divine revelation... A rerun of the show called "Then came Bronson". Ma says they were deciding between "Bronson" and "Terry", but once I was born, my fists were clinched and I looked really intense and tough (I wonder where Layla gets her traits). Hence, the name Bronson.

OK, fast forward 33 years and now it's my turn to name my son. I decided to follow Ma's example. I had four basic criteria for the name. It had to be:

- known as a last name
- strong and masculine
- common enough that it is pronounceable
- rare enough to be cool and memorable

As I was looking through a big book of last names I came across Easton and it was the first one that Kendra didn't hate or laugh at. So there you have it. The runner up names for Easton (in order of likelihood) were:

Nolan
Shaden
Bronson
Ace
Braden
Kobe

Here is one last picture of Easton from play time with Marsha yesterday. The twins always have a great time with her and Kendra really appreciates Marsha's help with going to LapSit, shopping, and hanging out around our house.


It wasn't as if I had autonomy to pick whatever name I desired. Both babies have names Kendra and I both agreed to mutually. I just want to make sure that point is noted so everyone knows we jointly decided on these names. :)

And now on to our little sweetheart, Layla. The Curious George monkey (Thanks Jessie Cassani) is her all time favorite stuffed animal and she spends more time chewing on and drooling on him than any other toy.


The runner up names for Layla were:

Ava
Kylie
Summer

I can't remember how we found Layla exactly. I think it was from a character in a TV show oddly enough. Anyway, one evening when Kendra and I were finished looking for names at Border's book store we walked down the shopping mall row and went into a restaurant / coffee shop for some hot tea. As we sat at the table contemplating the name "Layla" a musician sat down next to his equipment, picked up his guitar, and began singing Eric Clapton's song named "Layla". We agreed at that moment that if divine revelation can come to my Ma through a rerun of a TV show, then why not a musician at a coffee shop? As Paul Harvey says, "Now you know the rest of the story..."

Almost every day during Kendra's pregnancy I would say, "Kendra what do you think about... blah as a name?" and based on her reaction I would say, "Yeah, we should consider that one" OR "Ha! I was just kidding... that's a stupid name".

Here's a picture of Layla holding and chewing on one of Easton's socks. Don't worry, it was a clean one. Just after this picture she said, "Hey, wait a minute... this sock doesn't match my outfit?!" OK, maybe she didn't say it, but i'm sure that is what she was thinking.


Can you guess which baby is feeling a little under the weather and has a temperature?


Nope, not the girl with her fist in her mouth. The other one... The boy who has snot running down his nose and was caught mid-sneeze in this picture! He's a little sick, but doing ok. It's difficult not to laugh because every time he sneezes it sounds like, "Ah CHOO! mmm nah mmm nah" as he moans and grunts after each sneeze.

That's it for today, but check back again soon! I'll post the video of "Playtime with Marsha" where the twins really ham it up for the camera.

shake, baby, shake

Greetings from the 4 Webbs!

I'm feeling much better and apparently I had a bad case of allergies from all the wind outside and heavy cleaning inside our house. We let the cleaning chores get behind and Kendra felt a little overwhelmed so we tag-teamed every room in the house until it was done... except the garage... we'll leave that for a rainy day (and luckily we live in AZ so it probably won't rain again for a couple of months).

Anywho, we've been having tons 'o fun with new toys, new clothes, and new tricks. The party never ends. Here you can see Easton and Layla in awe of the "great toy box from heaven" Layla is old enough to see inside and pull out whatever toy is easiest to grab.


and one more from that photo shoot that I just can't resist posting. I call this picture: "When you're happy and you know it, drool on the floor"


As the fairy tale goes, Hansel and Gretel left a trail of breadcrumbs to find their way home. Layla, on the other hand, tends to leave a trail of drool wherever she goes. We just follow the slober trail to find where she's located in the house. She's getting stronger by the day and able to pull herself up on the couch, her crib, the exersaucer, and just about anything else that will support her. She's managed to figure out that falling backwards hurts so at least she has the common sense to let go gently and squat down to the ground using the cushion of the diaper to break her fall.

Ladies and gentlemen... It's the great Easton and his many talents!

He can drink from a straw!


Ok, so he's not too excited about the straw idea, but the tasty banana Jamba Juice inside made it all worthwhile. He can pose and look cute enough to be the poster child for baby soft toilet paper:

He can sport a fake tattoo on his forehead by lying on his toy while sleeping (notice the red imprint where he slept face-down on his rubber toy). He also has the "I just woke up" look, but that's not really a talent because we all have that at some time or another.


And for the grand finale! It's Easton shaking his plastic egg with little metal BBs inside. He's a rock star in the making. I've been coaching him by saying, "I need to hear more shaker!" in memory of Gene Frenkle and the famous SLN skit about "More cowbell" with Will Ferrell.



He had his first concert as a one-man-band via Skype for Oma, Opa, GG, and Great Aunt Judy. He was an instant hit with lots of laughs and smiles from both sides of the camera.

Not to be outdone, we have a picture of Layla with her shaker egg too. She is equally talented when it comes to musical creativity. She looks so cute and cuddly with her bib, pacifier, and pretty eyes!


It's gettin' might cold down here in the winter wonderland of the desert. We hit a night time low of 50! Brrrrrr. You know what that means... time to break out the terrycloth robe and sleep sacks for the babies! The twins slept very well in their sleep sacks and they feel like really thick felt material that is very soft. You think I'm kidding? We're lightweights when it comes to cool weather so here's your proof:


Don't worry... we won't be packing our shorts and flipflops away just yet. It's supposed to be back up into the mid-90's for day time highs by tomorrow.

Come back again soon for more fun with the twins!

Oh, to be a baby

Welcome back to the work week!

Another weekend is in the books for the 4 Webbs and we made the most of our time together. Being around Easton and Layla and Kendra is the highlight of every day for me. In many ways I'm jealous of our babies. They are completely innocent even though they are mischievous. They are aware of their surrounding, but not affected by them. Today was a hard day at work for me and apparently long and tiring for Kendra. The stock market is going down like the Hindenburg and global economies are slowing. BUT, when I get home for that hour before their bedtime, none of that matters.

The simplicity of life for them is so refreshing and I'm jolted back to reality on a daily basis back to what matters. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a day of ignorance! I'd love to find utter delight from 5 raisins on a plate or big belly laughs from a round of peek-a-boo with Kendra or the silliness of a finger puppet. I've discovered the joy of parenthood isn't from watching them grow up. The joy is from watching them live in each moment with no pretense, no prejudice, and no expectation. Kendra frequently says how much she wishes this time in their lives would last longer and go by slower.

Normally a 33 year old man can't get away with lying on the floor playing with a plastic egg, but if you add a baby in the mix... Viola! I can be as goofy and kid-like as I want.


He kinda looks like me, huh... The only thing cuter than a baby in a bathtub is TWO babies in a bathtub. Lately Easton is the constant splasher and Layla is more interested in studying the rubber bath toys.



Here are pictures of the twins individually for those of you who aren't able see the video. Easton can't get enough of the water. He'd probably stay there way past the point of pruney fingers if we let him...


and Layla has those big, intense eyes squarely focused on mommy as she chews on the killer whale bath toy.


Layla continues to reach milestones first and here is the typical commando crawler, Easton and upright Layla. Easton finally pulled himself up onto his hands and knees today, which is a big step in the right direction (no pun intended) for him to progress through the stages to the eventual end goal of walking. Commando crawling only qualifies him for one job in life: The US Army! That reminds me... Back when my brother and I used to play with little, green, plastic army troops I always wanted the commando crawling ones because they were much harder to turn them over on the battle field of the kitchen floor.


Anyway, back to the twins... The two of them are having frequent, loud conversations with each other and the two of us are completely entertained when the twins get going. Their vocabulary has grown from just "Da Da Da" to many indescribable sounds and shrieks. Especially when we play "get your sister" with them. Kendra swings Easton back and forth slowly and the closer the twins' faces get to one another, the more wildly they babble and shriek. Exhibit A:


Only 10 more days until my Ma and Pa arrive! The twins were only a few days old the last time Pa saw them and only 3 months old the last time Ma saw them. Since they change daily (from our point of view) it will be interesting to hear their impressions as they get to know Easton and Layla as 9-month old babies. We're really excited to have them here with the 4 Webbs so we can squeeze in as much family time as possible.

I'm getting a cold or some sickness so there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that i'll probably miss work, be a burden for Kendra, and feel like a bowl of Jello dropped on the floor... The good news is I'll have more time to post to the blog more regularly than the past week. :)

Have a great week and check back again soon for a video of Easton's latest trick.

Lunch Party!

(Kendra's blog post)

Good Morning Everyone,

Friday was a wonderful day! The Twins and I had our normal morning, full of playing and laughing. Easton and Layla roamed all over as usual and found there way to the toy box. Layla was pulling herself up and Easton was reaping the fruits of her labor. She would pull a toy out and he would grab it and happily play with whatever came out.


After their morning nap we had lunch plans with my friends from ERAC (Enterprise Rent a Car). I had so much fun seeing everyone. There was about 20 people who showed up and we all sat together. The twins had a blast staring at everyone whom I worked with, smiling and laughing.


Easton and Layla and me sat at the end of the table near Esther and Rob. Layla was in love with Esther, and I cannot blame her. Layla would half talk/half yell to Esther and Esther would respond,with Oh, really, okay! Here is a clip of them having a conversation.



Since I was only on one side of the table, I took Layla with me and went to visit with my old boss, Frank (Go Frank!), and my coworkers Troy and Todd. I gave Layla to Todd and he held her like a champ. Todd you did great, she liked you!


Well that's enough about work. Hope you all have a great Saturday! My parents are in LA about the watch the USC football game, thanks to Scott and Marisue! GO USC!

sleep, eat, play, repeat

Good day friends and family,

Another day, another dollar for the 4 Webbs and things are moving right along. The routine is starting to set in, for better and worse, and we are just working through the week waiting for my Ma and Pa to get here on the 22nd. I call them Ma and Pa because I'm from the mid-west and it differentiates them from Kendra's parents who we call Mom and Dad. We've called each other's parents by these names since the day we were married and it's nice to have two sets of great parents that we love so much.

Today Kendra wheeled Easton and Layla over to the living room where the computer is so Oma could watch them eat and sing to them over Skype. For some unknown reason, "biter biscuits" exist and i'm certain whoever invented them did so as a practical joke on mothers. In case you're not familiar, biter biscuits are a self-described finger food that are supposed to be big enough that babies can get their hands around them and tasty enough for them to eat without being actual cookies. When baby drool touches these biscuits a chemical reaction takes place and the whole thing turns to sticky mush. The inventors must have sat around and said, "what is the messiest food ever created by man and how can we make it sticky and crusty as it dries?" Here is Easton and Layla with their first attempt at biting the biter biscuits:


You can see Easton got the hang of it pretty quick. Somehow he was able to keep it out of his hair.


Not that keeping it out of their hair made a difference. Once they were done smearing it on their arms and face we took them out of the high chairs and straight to the tub for washing and splashing! Bath time is always fun for them and now we have a bathmat that sits in the tub and keeps their tiny butts from sliding around all over the place.

Layla crawled from the living room through the kitchen and into the front room all by herself! I think that was her longest distance of crawling so far. Good thing I was by the front door to stop her otherwise she would have continued crawling around the neighborhood until she found Mommy, who was out jogging. Easton has a little blister on the top of his foot from crawling. He's really getting used to the idea of being mobile.

Taking a picture is getting trickier now because as soon as the camera comes out and I move into position, Layla gets curious and starts charging towards the camera with the bright lights and dangling strap.


The two of them were at about the same distance from me when I started to take the picture, but by the time it finally took, Layla was already charging me like a wild animal. What you see here is typical of how they spend their time. Easton doing the army crawl and Layla up on all fours doing the bear crawl.

The rest of the time we find Layla propping herself up using Easton as a stepping stone like this next picture where she climbs up over him and rocks back and forth.


That about does it for current progress of what the twins are up to lately. The 4 Webbs are going to "Kid to Kid" on Friday so we can barter. We have two gigantic plastic tubs full of clothes and are hoping to trade them up in size for some other clothes that actually fit since they have outgrown most of what we received from the extremely generous showers and gifts.

I'll finish the blog today with a clip of Easton and Layla laughing... at Kendra... Now you can see what she does with her day while I'm away at work! It may appear she's borderline crazy, but you would be absolutely amazed at the lengths we go through for a few laughs from the twins. Kendra's cinematography gets better during the second half of the short clip. :)

Have a great day and we'll see you again soon!

34 weeks old

Greetings baby fans,

Easton and Layla are 34 weeks old (8.5 months) so that means they've spent almost as much time lying on top of Kendra's belly as they did inside it. Technically she made it to 37 and a half weeks being pregnant. I can't decide whether pregnancy seemed longer than the time since they were born. When Kendra was pregnant we spent every day wishing time would hurry up as we looked forward to the delivery with anticipation. Now we spend our time loving the moments with our twins and wishing the clock would slow down.

It's been a long, fun weekend for the 4 Webbs and I've taken about 40 pictures in the past few days. Most of them are duplicates because I have to shoot 3 or 4 shots of the same event or moment just to get one where everyone cooperates! Here are Easton and Layla after dinner and hanging out at aunt Mary's tonight:


We adopted and agreed on the new nickname for Mary as "GAM", which stands for Great Aunt Mary. As you can see, the babies were worn out after spending their last bit of energy scooting around her floors. We put their pajamas on over there and between GAM's house and ours (about 90 seconds of driving) they were completely asleep when we arrived home!

Layla is getting smarter and more curious by the day. After I walked over and put one of her toys away, she decided she wanted to play with it more. So she convinced Easton to crawl over to the toy crate with her and she pulled herself up and found the toy! Doesn't Easton look so much older? He has a very stout body and is more handsome all the time.


Kendra and I were at Costco buying mayo in a 5 gallon bucket and chocolate chips that came in a package the size of a charcoal bag. They have this small, round vacuum called a Roomba or something and it's a robot vacuum that runs around the floor picking up dirt with no human interaction. I thought, "why do we need one of those? We have an Easton!" Roomba, meet your match:


He crawls around commando style and covers almost every square in of our tile floor as he uses his shirt to clean up the dirty floor... and he doesn't require batteries...

I caught a good picture of Easton and Layla as they were playing with their new toys. Layla has her first flip phone. God help me if we still have to pay for cell phone usage by the minute when she starts talking on a real one!

and here is Easton showing how THRILLED he is to hear "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" for the 4,000th time. He's such a happy guy and content with the little things in life.

For example... An empty plastic bottle:


Or a Dryer Max Anti-Static Dryer Ball! Seriously. Hours of fun for our little guy.


Or here you can see him face down, gnawing on a package of baby wipes. OK, you get the idea...


For those of you who have not figured out yet that you can click on the pictures to see full sized versions of them, I'll post this close up of Layla with her big, green eyes and angelic face:


Layla is able to pull herself up on anything stable enough for her to hang on to. We put Easton in the Exersaucer and Layla crawled over, pulled herself up, and took the toy Easton was playing with out of his hands. Hmmm... Apparently we'll need to increase the lessons about sharing.


Kendra took the twins to the Mommy and Me class and all three of them loved it! Kendra had a chance to engage in adult conversation with women she can relate to directly. Easton played with a bunch of new toys and Layla made a new friend, Daniel. You can see the back of Layla's head:


Remember my Pastor and his wife who came over to our house for dinner and fellowship? Well, that's their grandson who is both enormous for his age and a really nice boy. Kendra has agreed to write her own post to the blog some time this coming week and she'll have more to say about the Mommy and Me and how great it was.

We went out last night for a "date night" and that was the first time in months where we were able to hang out with some of my close friends and couples we know. Kendra dressed up and looked great with her hair and nails done. We were out until around midnight and today we walked around like zombies because our bodies are used to a 10:00 PM (or earlier) bed time.

Whew! thank goodness I get to go back to work tomorrow and slow down! I could use a break from these crazy busy weekends with Kendra and twins. :) Honestly, I'll miss them very much and it's difficult to leave them knowing i'll be gone all day and only get to spend an hour at night between the time i get home and time they go to bed. I'm looking forward to my parent's arrival in two short weeks because they will be here and I get to take a few vacation days to hang out!

Have a shoooper week (inside joke with Oma)

Stay-at-home mom

Happy Thursday everyone,

Given the lack of blog posts over the past couple of days you can probably guess things have been busy with the 4 Webbs. The twins continue to change and grow as expected. However, just when we think we have them figured out and can rest on the plateau, they completely change the rules and we have to re-figure them out. One example is Easton's shift from breast feeding and bottle feeding to food and water only. He's been happily chugging formula at 6:00 PM every day from the same bottle for 8 long months now, but last week he suddenly changed. He does this drink, stop, play-with-the-rubber-nipple routine that led to feeding taking 2 or 3 times longer than it should. Then this week he wakes up starving as usual, but uninterested in breast feeding. He's still eating like a champ, but now it's oatmeal and apple sauce or we have one unhappy boy on our hands.


I think Kendra said that she talked to her mom about the new pattern of Easton and her mom said Kendra's brother did the same thing at 8 months where he stopped bottle/breast feeding. Yes, yes, i know... Every baby is different! :) If that were really true then wouldn't be an entire section of books at Border's about how to care for children.

Anyway, Easton and Layla are crawling faster and becoming more adventurous by the day. There are no more "turtle races" where I put the twins side-by-side and place a toy several feet away to see who crawls there first. They are more like wind up hot wheels now where you pull them back into starting position (with that "click, click, click" noise) and they race off at a measured pace towards the toy. Here's a video clip of the babies crawling around:



Kendra calls them "Lewis and Clark" comparing them to the duo of explorers famous for the transcontinental crossing of North America. When we hear crying or odd noises if we walk out of the living room for a few seconds She says, "Can you go find out what Lewis and Clark have discovered now?" Based on this picture, it's easy to see who is the manipulative instigator (Layla) and who is the perpetrator (Easton). If I were a baby language translator, the caption of this picture would be, "Go ahead, Easton, touch the shiny black buttons and lights on the black box!"


I'm already mourning the day I will find a pancake in the Blu-ray DVD player.

Easton and Layla require more and more interaction and fun each day and that's wearing Kendra and I out like you wouldn't believe. I remember when they used to just lay there in their papasan chairs for 30 minutes at a time with nothing but a a bell attached to plastic toy. Those days are over and now even the exersaucer isn't fun enough as they'd rather be crawling around it and through it like a play ground. Here's Easton who is now crawling around everywhere that Layla is able to go. He just gets there "commando" style as opposed to Layla who bear crawls. Go, babies, go!


That's it for now. I'm hoping Kendra took some pics at her "Mommy and me" adventures today. We're looking forward to my Ma and Pa (a.k.a. Nana and Papa) visiting in THREE weeks! The weather should be about perfect and we'll do something special for Nana's birthday, which will happen while she is out here visiting. See you all again soon.

First time for everything

Greetings friends and family,

What an exciting weekend for the 4 Webbs! We packed our free time with food, fun, and fellowship so it turned out just as we'd hoped. I'll jump right into the list of "Firsts" because it could take all of my blog time just for these events...

First fruits and foods for Easton and Layla: Kendra is introducing new foods for the twins every day; Green beans, pasta, maple syrup, etc. So far no allergies have surfaced and we are breathing a sigh of relief that they can eat so many different foods. Aunt Mary was planning to come over for dinner the other night, but Kendra was gone longer than I expected so I asked her to come over early so she could help me juggle the twins. You'll notice her hand is there in the picture... If I didn't crop her out, she'd be very upset because she wasn't able to get herself "ready" for blog-worthy pictures. Anyway, here is Easton and Layla eating kiwi for the first time. It's green... it's mushy... it's tasty. Go babies!


First time in the church nursery: It was bound to happen sooner or later and we decided this past Sunday the twins were no longer quiet enough to sit through church on our laps. Easton and Layla stayed in the church nursery during the entire service! We experienced similar feelings to someone sending a kid off for the first day of kindergarten... At least, that's what I guess it will feel like... The nursery and staff there are incredible and we weren't nervous or worried about them at all. The twins played and smiled the whole time (from what the staff said). Everyone enjoyed them as much as they enjoyed being in the new environment and playing with new toys. We just had to accept that our babies are growing up and are no longer new borns that we will hold in our arms. Here they are in the nursery as we said, "good bye!" before service.


Don't they look sweet in their matching red outfits? We were a little worried about Easton because he gets "stranger danger" sometimes. If a stranger holds him, once in a while he starts crying and becomes fearful even if one of us is standing right next to him. So leaving him with a bunch of strangers was a concern, but things worked out very well.

First time having our Pastor and his wife in our house for dinner. We had a great time sharing lunch and conversation with Pastor Phil and his wife, Pam. They were kind enough to take a sunday afternoon and spend their valuable time hanging out with the 4 Webbs. I took the following picture as soon as they came in and sat down. Mostly because we planned to eat ribs for lunch and there was a high probability someone was going to get their clothes messed up from the BBQ sauce.


Easton was captivated by Pastor Phil and his voice. Layla was excited because her outfit matched Pam's so well. Good color coordination! Christ Life Church means so much to us and we are looking forward to getting more involved now that the twins are not quite so demanding with feedings every two hours.

First time Layla crawled towards me: While I was sitting on the ground playing with Easton and Layla I called Layla over to me and after a few times she headed my direction. It was the first time she crawled towards me without me holding a toy to convince her. It was just me smiling with my arms out and she chose to leave her toy and head in my direction. Kendra's huge nursing pillow was between us, but you know how extraordinarily strong willed she is. She shifted into 4 wheel drive and crawled right over the pillow to me!


That's all for now... I need to go peek at my 401k and see how many more years i'll need to work before retiring after this bloodbath on Wall Street.

A post about Easton

This post is dedicated to our baby boy, Easton Troy. He's the mellow, relaxed one of our twins and luckily he balances out Layla who is intense and ready to go, Go, GO! This picture is of Easton lying next to me when he was just 5 days old. I'm amazed to see how tiny his head is against my hand.

Kendra and I both truly felt we didn't care how many or what sex the babies were once we found out she was pregnant. Although I will say that in my dreams over the months and years before she was pregnant I clearly saw a boy and a girl as our two kids. I told Kendra about the dreams every morning when I could recall them. The troublesome part of my dreams was I could never figure out which one was the "older" sibling. As it turns out, that was all part of the plan and I never considered the possibility of twins. And just like that we were blessed with twins. Here's Easton from today as he tries to get more chicken rice soup in his mouth than on his face. I'd call this marginally successful. :)

Here's Easton's list of personal information:

Age: 8 months and 1 week

Favorite toy: He plays with almost anything that makes noise and even more so if he can put all or some part of the toy in his mouth. He usually will grab the plastic, colored doughnuts and chase them around the room in circles.

Favorite bed time comforts: The blue Nunu blanket and his thumb. He's developed a conditioned response where as soon as we lay him in the crib and give him the blue Nunu, he pops his thumb in his mouth and it's off to sleepy town he goes.

Favorite food: I'd say crackers if I have to single out a specific food. However, most of the time he's like a human garbage disposal vacuuming in everything edible and chugging bottles of formula. That explains why he's been exactly 1 pound heavier than Layla since they were born.

Favorite time of day: Early, early morning. Between the time he wakes up and when he sees Kendra or I and realizes his breakfast is just seconds away - that's when he's all smiles all the time.

Favorite book: Touch and Feel Farm (he likes to feel the fake dog hair)

Favorite Movie: Fisher Price puppet thingy. i'll have to get the name of it, but it has three puppets mixed in with kids dancing around. Easton watches TV no matter what movie is on... Even the "direcTV" logo as a screen saver slowly moving across the screen is enough to keep his attention for hours.

What people say when meeting him for the first time: "He's smiling at ME!" Little do they know he smiles at everyone... He doesn't just glance at each person and go back to staring at his toy... He really loves people watching and stares as he smiles.

Favorite noise to make: While eating he sounds like an Ewok from Star Wars. He goes on and on during the entire meal.

Favorite face to make: His "flirty face" where he smiles at someone enough to show his bottom teeth, but not so much his eyes are squeezed shut. He regularly uses this cute face to get the attention of anyone within seeing distance.

What makes him cry: When more than 10 seconds go by without a parent picking him up once one of us goes into their room after nap time.

Nicknames: Monkers, Buddy, Hot Rod, E.T., Monkey 2 (he was born after Layla by a few minutes)

Here is a picture of Easton and I as he intently watches his Fisher Price movie and I do my best to look as interested as he is.

Easton is without a doubt the happiest baby I've ever seen and other people tell us the same thing about him. He's content just to sit and play with a block on the floor for long periods of time and that makes things easier on Mommy when she needs to give extra attention to Layla. Here's one final picture of Easton that I cherish. My dad (Papa) holding my son on the day he was born:

Who knows what he'll turn out to do with his life, but it's exciting for me as a father to see him daily growing into a wonderful boy. Kendra and I are incredibly grateful for two happy, healthy babies.

A post about Layla

Congratulations to the 4Webb's blog and "Thank You" to everyone who stops by to see it! There have been 2500 unique visits since I started keeping count 3 months ago. We're averaging about 165 different visitors per week and I think that is VERY cool!

Today's post will be all about Layla Rae and the interesting aspects of our little peanut. I bet you can guess what tomorrow's post will be about, right??? Not everything is equal in the Webb house, but we try hard to keep it close because we love them equally. :)


This is one of my all time favorite pictures because you can see how small and cute Layla was even when she was only 2 days old:



She is growing up so fast that every day feels like a giant step closer to becoming a little kid instead of a baby. Here she was today crawling around on her hands and knees beneath the exersaucer she normally sits in.

She's looking more like mommy every day... Here is a picture of Kendra when she was about the same age as Layla is now:


Looks pretty darn close, huh?! Layla is very curious about every little detail of her surroundings and whatever she can grab. Here is what we know about Layla so far in life:

Age: 8 months and 1 week
Favorite toy: Whatever Easton is holding, which could be something as simple as a bottle of nasal spray or a fruit rollup wrapper
Favorite food: butternut squash
Favorite bed time comforts: the pink Nunu, the GlowWorm, and her pacifier
Favorite time of day: The first 5 minutes after being fed throughout the day. She has such a peaceful demeanor and look on her face
Favorite book: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"
Favorite movie: Baby Einstein on the farm (yeeeehaw!)
What people say when meeting her for the first time: "What a beautiful baby... she is really trying to figure me out, huh!"
Favorite noise to make: She sounds like a zombie from a 1950's horror flick as she moans for minutes at a time only stopping long enough to take a breath, while she stares intently at washing instruction tags on various items
Favorite face to make: Often times she will open her mouth with a huge smile that shows her teeth as she closes her eyes and rapidly breathes in and out through her nose. That's when we know she's really having fun.
What makes her cry: not getting the toy she wants, Easton gnawing on her foot when she puts it too close to his mouth, and being really tired.
Nicknames: Peanut, Lovely Layla, Sweetie P, Little Princess

I may add to this list some more this weekend, but that's a good start at getting to know Layla. :)
Have a happy Friday!