gigglers

Happy Saturday and I’m glad it is finally the weekend! That applies to everyone except you retired folks and those of you working in the school system (now that it's summer). For you, every day is Saturday so congratulations! Being a working class guy, the weekend means more now than it ever did "BC". Guess I should spell out terms as I go so when I refer to timelines using BC and AD you know what I'm talking about. :) Here are your new "acronyms of the day":

BC = before children
AD = after diapers

Our defining date was February 7th, 2008 when the twins were born. Anything prior to that is BC, anything after that is AD. I hope there is no blasphemy comments or flame emails that come from using this reference...

Anyway, weekends "AD" are much more important because Kendra gets much needed help from me to hold the babies and an occasional chance to be alone. This morning she went to the gym and maybe she’ll go to a movie this afternoon. I get big chunks of time with the twins on the weekends instead of a few kisses and smiles goodbye in the morning and then a short few hours at night, which is what happens during the weekday. The bottom line is we all make time for what is important no matter what your job is or what other responsibilities you have. The biggest shift is that during a "BC" weekend I'd take a little time to do what NEEDS to be done and then prioritize the rest of my weekend with what I want to do. "AD" weekends are spent prioritizing what NEEDS to be done and figuring out who is going to be disappointed because there's no way we're getting through that list completely. Then whatever small slices of "what I want to do" time are forcefully injected into the days and balanced with a dash of together time for Kendra and I. I've said this before, but it's really amazing what you can do when you have no other choice. That reminds me of this picture from a few months ago when Oma Burgess was double feeding the twins with bottles! Thank goodness she's so good at multitasking...

This brings me to a point of clarification for the poopy diaper section from the last blog. Apparently the way I wrote that section implies I've been able to avoid changing ANY messy diapers since the twins were born (Thanks Dustin for the comment and helping me realize how poorly worded that section was). If I were in fact able to have a PERFECT track record, I'd write a book and make a few million because every father would want to know my secret. :) However, the reality is that I've changed many messy diapers in 4 months. It's just been several weeks since I had the misfortune of having that experience with just one baby, let alone both. The difference is we had at least Kendra plus me plus one other person (and sometimes FOUR other people) in our house for the first few months. It's kind of like playing hot potato because whoever is holding the baby when the proverbial music stops (and the odor starts) is the unlucky winner who is required to change the baby. The odds went something like this: Two babies that only did their messy business once per week on average because they were breastfed, then factoring in the number of people around who are potentially holding that baby when it occurs, then factoring in the likelihood that I happened to be the unlucky one holding the baby at that moment. Odds are pretty darn low. Kendra and Oma and Nana and GG and Joanie and everyone else who's spent any amount of time here all have had as high or higher probability than me. So there you have it… No special secret to avoiding poopy diapers except to have so many loving people in the home who hold and change the babies that your odds are lowered.

And now on to more pleasant topics: This year for Kendra's first official Mother's day I was on a mission to find the perfect ring. Again we go back to the over-researching disease that I’m cursed with. I wanted to find the perfect ring made of white gold with TWO amethyst trillion stones and some diamonds. I wanted a ring with two amethyst stones to represent Easton and Layla. Amethyst is their birth stone so that narrowed it down pretty quick. Since pink and blue amethyst don’t exist (believe me, I looked) I had to go with the purple ones. I also wanted a small diamond or two or three on the sides to represent us as parents surrounding the babies, metaphorically. I can’t tell you exactly how many jewelry stores I went into because I lost count, but it was a boat load. Anyhow, here's a picture of the ring I gave Kendra for mother's day and she loves it. I may not be the best husband in the world, but at least I didn’t get her a cooking pan or a vacuum AND I put a few minutes of thought into what to get her.

Before you pat me on the back or give me a virtual high-five, you should also know that for her birthday two weeks later I gave her a gift certificate and two nights off in a row from feeding the twins at 10:00 PM (so she could go to bed early). Oh yeah, and the insanely expensive jogger/stroller. I forgot about that, but I’m not sure if it counts as a birthday gift. The timing worked out close enough to where I can call it a part of the birthday gifts. And I also surprised her with a special water cooler dispenser for when she came home from her spa treatment. Wow, the more I write, the better I feel about what I did for her birthday. This is REALLY great therapy for me.

I should probably write fewer, shorter blogs instead of trying to paint a Mona Lisa and only posting every other day or so. I know how much you people like videos and pictures, so here’s our latest one of little Easton. Kendra found the “hot button” that makes him giggle. Now he can do more than just sit there with his smiling mouth gaping wide open to show how happy and excited he is!



Last night (Friday) was relaxed and mostly spent at home hanging out. Our big outing of the evening was roller blading to Starbucks together with Easton and Layla. We rolled right into the store and hung out until closing time. I enjoyed a green tea and Kendra had a whipped white chocolate mocha frappuccino latte macchiato something something. The barista ran out of breath just trying to tell Kendra’s order to the other barista. I still have no idea exactly what it was, but it tasted good. I’m sure we’ll get our money’s worth from the jogger since we both have such a good time being active like that. Here’s a picture of our outing to prove that we actually rolled INTO the starbucks and hung out in our roller blades.

It’s time for me to go to Tae Kwon Do class so I’ll catch up with you all tomorrow. Bye bye!

Kendra's birthday is Thursday!

Greetings folks,

****Call Kendra and sing happy birthday to her on Thursday. ***

OK, you don't really have to sing, but at least call and say hello! She'll feel special if you do... and tell her to get well soon also. The other 3 Webbs in the household are lost without her being 100%!

If you believe the old saying, “what goes around comes around”, then today it came around for me. I'm not a believer in karma per se, but I am a believer in statistics and odds and probabilities. Simply put, the law of averages always wins, which includes dodging poopy diaper duty. Today Kendra went to a day spa where she paid money for a stranger to put mud and seaweed on her face and then scrape it off. She enjoyed her time there and that is all that matters. While she was gone the probabilities finally caught up with me and I had Layla and Easton BOTH require clean diapers. It was no big deal and it’s amazing what you can do when you have no other option. After I gagged a few times and avoided passing out by not breathing, things went fairly well and I’m glad to say I survived.

You may not care for “Monkers” (the nickname we gave Easton), but feel free to create your own baby boy and call him whatever you like! :) He had a happy day as always and we’re starting to get a few more squeaks and noises out of him as the days go by. Our friends Judson and Heidi were kind enough to give us their bouncy swing and Easton really digs it. He jumps around and pushes all the buttons to do whatever it takes to make the funny noises. The noises sound like what you hear when an old clunker car goes by in cartoons. Easton jumps around with his mouth open as he looks at the plastic thing in front of him as if it were a demonstration of a time travel machine or something amazing. He’d say, “wow” if he could. I’m going to start writing down everything Easton and Layla say so when they get older I can ask them what they meant (just kidding). Here he is showing off his bouncing skills. He’s so small still that he barely fits his arms above the seat enough to touch the toys. I have a strong feeling he’ll grow into it at some point:

The twins are improving their coordination skills more every day and I took this second picture of them holding their heads up. I considered painting Easton’s face with camouflage because he looks like a soldier slithering through the mud into combat… except he can’t really move yet (that’s just a small detail).


I gave Kendra another reprieve from the late night feeding in the same way I did last night. What does she think this is… Her birthday or something? Oh, yeah. I guess it is, huh. I gladly took on the task and everyone is fed, changed, and sleeping once again. Hopefully Kendra will get the rest she needs tonight so that she is able to have a healthy birthday. We’re going to our church group meeting Thursday night and we look forward to it every week. Unfortunately this will be the last week for it until after the summer. Speaking of our church, the media finally came out with an article about the one million bucks stolen from our building fund. Yeah, that’s a real bummer, but everyone has handled the situation extremely well and we’re proud to be a part of the family there.

On a good note, Kendra figured out how to make Easton giggle and it's funny to hear him getting excited! Contact us on Skype and she’ll be more than happy to give you a video presentation of his new trick.

Have a great day and remember to give Kendra a call to wish her a happy birthday!

Finally, the jogger search is over

Well, well, well... look who decided to get back on the blogging wagon finally.

The weekend flew by so fast that I didn't even fell like I had an extra day off work. Church was great as always and because of the new schedule for the twins we were able to avoid a mid-service feeding, which we've become accustomed to ever since they were born. Layla fell asleep on my lap and her arms were both out to the side and rose up by her head. If it wasn't so taboo to take pictures during church I would have loved to get one of her like that. The rest of Sunday and Monday were spent hanging out with the twins at home and relaxing. It was nice for Kendra to get a sort-of break by only having to care for one baby at a time while I was another set of hands around to hold them all of the time they are awake.

Anyway, there has been so much going on for us that I hardly know where to start… Since my memory is so horrible I’ll go backwards, chronologically, from now until the last post of the blog. Just to get this out of the way first and because the game just ended, I’ll shout a big “Yeehaw!” for the Lakers win over the Spurs tonight giving them a 3-1 game lead in the best of 7 series. I expect to see them in the finals starting next week.

OK, now on the more important aspect of our life: Layla and Easton. Last night we went for a jog with the twins riding in our new jogger! That’s right, the search is over and we’ve made our choice.




While searching craigslist yesterday morning (as I do every day) I noticed an almost brand new jogger for sale up in north Scottsdale and gave the guy a call. We agreed to drive up there and after the babies were fed, rested, and changed we drove up and bought it! We don’t do anything halfway here at the Webb house, but we DO take every opportunity to avoid paying retail. I inherited that trait from Papa Webb. Thanks dad! We’re the proud owners of a Chariot CX2 jogger with every accessory except the Cross Country skiing conversion kit, which is useless in AZ. Can you believe they actually HAVE a cross country skiing conversion kit for a jogger?

He paid more than $1300.00 for everything (cough, choke, gasp). That’s not a typo or an extra zero… Anyhow, we discovered that most joggers handle kids from 1-2 years and that doesn’t do us any good for the next 9 months or after they turn 2. We’d have to buy something else for now, one for when they are 1-2 years old, and then another after only 1 year of use. This particular jogger came with TWO infant slings and the twins absolutely love riding in it. The slings are like little hammocks and work very well. Layla made happy baby noises and Easton had his open-mouth smile the whole time (hopefully he didn’t eat any bugs). Just LOOK at how cute and comfy the twins are in that picture!

If you have any questions about baby joggers, I’m your guy! The hours I put in finding the perfect jogger are well worth it and I’d love to pass it on to anyone else at this stage of life who is looking to get one. Why do I obsessively research every purchase that costs more than a can of soup??? I’m sure there is a disorder that applies. Maybe I should go research to see if a researching disorder exists. :)

The 4 webbs went over to our friends’ house yesterday afternoon to grill steak, shrimp, and salmon while trying to keep the kids happy (2 for them and 2 for us). It was very difficult to imagine how families with more kids than parents avoid total chaos. We are HUGE fans of the 1 to 1 ratio of parents to kids. As you can see here, each child has a parent assigned to keep them in line and happy.


We had lots of laughs and good conversation so it was an excellent way to spend part of the vacation day. It gave Kendra a chance to get out of the house and she’s always up for an idea that involves going somewhere because she feels a little tied to the house and babies schedules sometimes. After dinner we made dessert (ice cream, strawberries, and chocolate sauce). Judson and Heidi gave their 18 month old, Jaden, his own bowl, which was really just a measuring cup. I had so much fun watching him eat and happened to capture the best moment of his messy attempt. You can see he actually put the spoon in his hair! I’m not sure there was a single clean spot on his face, but it’s not easy to see how completely covered he really was from this picture:


Memorial Day morning was a typical start here at the Webb house. Layla was first to wake up with the chickens as always. Kendra wakes up from Layla crying. I wake up from Kendra getting out of bed and hearing her say, “good moooooorrrrnig!” through the baby monitor. And last but not least, I go and wake up Easton who sleeps through everything and has to be physically picked up before he stretches and comes to life. Just writing that last sentence reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies of all times: What About Bob. Click here for the video clip if you’re bored and need a laugh: Wake up, BOB!

Maybe we should have named our baby boy “Bob” instead of Easton? This brings up another new thing in the Webb house. We’ve decided to consolidate the nicknames for Easton because it is probably confusing the heck out of him for us to use so many different names: Easton, E.T., buddy, chunky monkey 2 (Layla is 1), chunkers, big boy, little boy, big man, little man, and monkers. The last one is a weird combination of monkey and chunker, so that’s what we call him now… Monkers. Not sure how “cool” that’s going to be when he’s 18 and his girlfriend introduces him to her father: “Hey dad, this is my new boyfriend, Monkers!” That’s just creepy… but then again, my nickname was Porky (yeah, go figure?) and I don’t really go by that name so we’ll see how it goes for him.

Since the birth of Easton and Layla I've tried to capture realty of "life with twins", but tend to take pictures of happy times and exciting fun things. My sister pointed out that it is also good to capture the low points and sad, crying faces as well because that's a part of life and an important aspect of babies to remember. It's not often Easton is upset, but I took this particular moment to capture him on the verge of tears waiting for mommy to provide dinner for him. Isn't this the saddest face you've ever seen?:

Kendra didn’t feel well today since she has a cough, congestion, runny nose... Oh, never mind, just watch the Nyquil commercial and that list is what she is dealing with. She was excited to go to bed early tonight when I offered to stay up and take care of the 10:00 PM feeding for Layla and Easton. It’s the least I can do considering how much she’s been sleep deprived and how much she puts into taking care of the house and the twins every day. Everyone is well fed and asleep tonight finally so it’s time for me to do the same: Eat a PBJ sandwich and hit the bed. :)

With my thoughts squarely focused on Easton and wondering what his life will bring, I'll close the blog with a quote to encourage myself and other to be sure of what "tools" I'm equipping him with because he's certain to use them:

Give a small boy a hammer and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding. -- Abraham Kaplan

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Memo's visit

Happy Memorial Day everyone,
We had a fun filled weekend so far and I’m looking forward to spending Monday hanging out with the family. I didn’t find anyone to go mountain biking with me in the morning so I may just sleep in and skip it this week. Oh wait… I have the dual alarm clocks that faithfully wake us up with the roosters! Maybe I’ll have some coffee to jolt me awake so I can get out and ride.

My good friend Guillermo (memo) from Costa Rica came through town for a one-night lay over during his travels for work and it was great to see him. We have an extraordinary amount of things common and have been friends for 9 years. This was the first time for him to see the twins and I took the opportunity to take a few pictures. I’d say he was a “natural” at holding a baby. He did a great job of holding both, but it is very UNnatural for almost anyone to hold two babies at the same time. It’s harder than you think to keep their wobbly bodies and bobble heads coordinated. Our goal is for Kendra and I to go visit Memo in Costa Rica next summer as a vacation while Kendra’s parents are here visiting, but we’ll see if that materializes or not. I call him my, “brother from another mother” and here he is with Layla and Easton:


You know how I refer to the “deer in headlights” look that the twins get when the camera is placed in front of them to take a picture? Well, yesterday they were both playing on the mat and making all kinds of faces and noises. It was a moment I wanted to capture on video, but as SOON as I turned the camera on them, they fell completely silent and stared blankly into the lens. I decided to go ahead and take the picture, which turned out to be a really good one. They look so interested and amazed that it is comical.


Kendra’s friend Sara came over this afternoon and she is 6 months along now with her own pregnancy. She’s expecting a daughter of her own and I’m glad they are able to share the “journey to motherhood” together. It’s always good to have her around… Sadly enough I didn’t get a picture of her little pregnant bump with her and Kendra together, but maybe she’ll send me one.

During our shopping errands yesterday I was reminded of how funny it is to be a part of the “twins club”. It’s similar to owning a motorcycle where simply riding one gives you the right and responsibility to wave and talk to every other motorcycle rider on the road. I almost feel like hugging every couple I see who also has twins. I see the double stroller and immediately think, “Hey those people know what it’s like to have twins!” There’s no secret handshake, but certainly a sense of belonging and friendship. I wouldn’t otherwise feel comfortable talking to some stranger about their kids running around, but I have radar that picks up on parents who have twins and they’re always willing to give an encouraging word and agree with us when we say how great it is to have twins.

We’re planning to spend the Memorial Day afternoon with our friends so I’m sure there will be some good pictures to post here tomorrow. Good night!

memorial day weekend plans

Good morning and hooray for the long weekend!

WARNING: Skip the following sections between here and the picture if you’re only interested in Easton and Layla. I babble for the next few paragraphs about unrelated topics.

The past three months are the most barren of the year for holiday vacation days. I’m not in government or banking so I don’t get off every other Friday for obscure, insignificant dated like national pickle week or Mozart’s dogs birthday. However, I’m also not a small business owner who gets NO paid holidays so I’m thankful for what I DO get. For this weekend we intend to do what we always do, just with one extra day of it. Keep the twins on schedule (Kendra changed the cycle to 3.5 hour intervals), go shopping and run errands, and go to church on Sunday. I may go for a mountain bike ride Monday morning if I can talk anyone into it.

Today was the third day in a row of clouds and rain (yea!), which is unheard of here in AZ. Although I’m starting to feel like a solar powered calculator crammed in the back of a dark drawer for a few weeks: still working and calculating slowly, but the numbers are a bit faded. I’m ready for tomorrow so I can go lay out in the backyard and recharge since the clouds will be gone by then.

Our water cooler dispenser broke a few weeks ago and we’re still searching for a good one. It’s starting to be almost as much of a quest as the double jogger stroller search. We’ve been to no less than 8 stores and can’t seem to find the features we want for a reasonable price. Today is the day though! We’re going to buy one today no matter what because Kendra needs her ultra-purified water and if mommy is happy, then 4webbs are happy.

And then there’s the baby jogger search… Good grief Charlie Brown. The biggest problem is most of them don’t accommodate newborns. The ones that do accommodate newborns have seats that are harder than horse saddles. The sun shades are woefully insufficient for early morning and late evening jogs here in the AZ sun because they don’t pull down over the babies faces far enough. Then you have the options of hand brake, foot lock brake, cup holders, swivel wheels, reclining seat backs, etc. It’s really much more complicated than it might appear because there are more options and upgrades on these things than a Scion Automobile. BUT the good news is Kendra has figured out the “requirements” and we’re ready to shop for the holy grail of joggers. I guess we’re doing our part to improve the economy by spending the government tax refund check (big whoop). Apparently I need to get my own personal blog so I can rant and ponder deep thoughts unrelated to Easton and Layla instead of wasting pages of their blog here.

*** Begin blog of things relevant to the twins:

OK, so now on to the stars of the blog: Easton and Layla. We took them over to Aunt Mary’s last night where she cooked a great pot roast dinner and took the opportunity to hold the twins. They were both well behaved and cuddly as ever. They were dressed in warm pajamas and kept out of the blistery cold 55 degree weather. Yes, that was a little sarcastic, but 55 does feel really cold to babies from what Kendra says.

Easton figured out how to make a few noises with his mouth (mostly when he does one of his extended sighs) and we’re glad to see him jumping into the noise-making era that Layla has lived in for the last few weeks. Both of the twins have their hands and fingers in their mouth continually and try to put everything else in there as well. Burp clothes, large plastic toys, stuffed animals, and anything else they can grab goes straight to their mouth. I hear that continues for the next four… years… We’ll probably spend a lot of effort saying, “don’t put that in your mouth!” Last night Layla fell asleep as I rocked in the chair. She loves to be held close with my arms wrapped all around her and her face up against my shoulder. Somehow she grabbed onto my necklace and even in her zombie-like sleep she STILL had a fist-of-power grip.




This other picture is one I’ve been looking at for a few days and trying desperately to come up with a cute caption. I just can’t seem to think of anything clever, but it looks like she’s staring straight into the camera with pursed lips, threatening someone aggressively and saying Mr. T’s famous line, “I pity the fool!” If you think of a good caption, feel free to add your own through a comment here.


And in closing, I’ll point you to the wikiquote of the day, which is both relevant and inspiring: Every failure is a step to success. Every detection of what is false directs us towards what is true: every trial exhausts some tempting form of error. -- William Whewell

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.