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!

new clothes

Good morning everyone,

Today I learned that putting a tube of super glue in your pants pocket is a poor decision. Yep, when God was handing out common sense I was staring at the sky and Kendra took mine. For unknown reasons I placed the superglue carefully in my front pocket expecting to use it on my headphones at work. I spent the rest of the afternoon standing up and sitting down at my desk like a Catholic Mass.

On my way to the car after a long day of work I reached into my pocket searching for car keys and grabbed a squishy wad of keys, cloth material lining my pocket, and superglue. I spent a few minutes outside the car literally ripping the pocket material out of my pants. Then freeing the keys from my fingers enough to get my car started... I shamefully drove home with my hand stuck to the keys and had to explain to Kendra why my pocket looked like it was attacked by a badger and why I still had the keys in my hand. We had a good laugh and luckily skin grows back.

I saw Kendra and the twins chatting with Oma and Opa on Skype. They turned to see me and I gave my standard greeting with a huge goofy smile and said, "Hiiiiiiiiii Baaaaaaaabies!" Easton and Layla showed me their bottom teeth with equally goofy grins. I noticed Kendra dressed up Layla in a dress she's had for a while and was finally big enough to wear. Guess who picked the dress out??? That's right... me. I knew she'd look like a perfect little doll.


Both of the twins had a sleepless day today so bed time came really early tonight. Kendra pulled out some new pajamas now that Easton and Layla are growing into some of them. They looked so cute listening to mommy read "Brown Bear" for the bazillionth time as if it were the first time they'd ever seen the book.


The highlight of the day for Kendra was spending time with our neighbor and friend, Marsha, out shopping and inside playing. The highlight for me was dinner with Aunt Mary at On the Border. We had a lot of laughs between us and also with our favorite waitress who's been there for 11 years. I'll have to add more detail for that experience some other time because right now I'm still working through my thoughts about taking such a brave step, but talking with Mary for a few hours definitely helped. One year ago today was the last time Uncle Dave was healthy enough to go out for "Tuesday Tacos" so mourning the loss of Dave and our ritualistic fun is difficult.

As I mentioned earlier, Kendra and the twins were happy to have Marsha hang out. Especially Layla who discovered her bracelets and decided that biting them is as fun as wearing them on her wrist. :)


See you soon! Keep your superglue in the utility drawer...

where's this coming from?

I'm sitting at work on my lunch break and wanted to take a few minutes to share what's going on with me today. I am completely overwhelmed with feelings of thankfulness and love. That must be the cheesiest thing I've ever written in this blog, but it is what it is.

I've spent the day listening to various ballads and love songs? My ipod has a whole play list of nothing but songs from Sade, Joshua Kadison, Brian McKnight, and other similar artists. I even have the occasional Aerosmith ballad and they collectively are putting me in an emotional state that lends itself to these love-blog soliloquies.

I'm thankful for Kendra even more today than normal. I've been hearing about and helping with marital problems of some friends over the past few days. I'm incredibly thankful Kendra and I have such a strong relationship and are still in love the way we are. There isn't another woman on the planet who could love me as much as she does. I never want to take that for granted.

I miss my kitties who have been a part of every day of my life for the past 5 years. Some people can disconnect from pets easily and move on without grieving the loss. Part of the difficulty for Kendra and I is the change-averse nature of our personalities. I'd probably grieve the loss of a tooth brush if I had one for 5 years... That's just exaggerating, but part is truthful about how deeply attached we sometimes get to things of lower importance than human life.

The pain of missing Uncle Dave and the healing of my relationship with Aunt Mary puts things in perspective regarding what is important. We all make mistakes and none of us are perfect so I'm thankful for forgiveness and willingness to communicate. Tonight Mary and I are going to dinner together at "On the Border", the mexican restaurant Dave and I frequented every Tuesday for 5 years. This will be the first time I've been there since a year ago when Dave last felt healthy enough to get out of the house for our weekly fiesta.

Maybe it is my growing desire to just be home with Kendra and Easton and Layla. I miss them every minute I'm at work and wish the weekends were longer so we could have more time together. Hmmm... 4 day work weeks are starting to look really appealing to me! Last night Layla was having trouble falling asleep so I cuddled with her against me on the couch. She was facing outward with her fists clinched as always. when she finally had enough and couldn't keep her eyes open another second, she rolled towards me with her cheek against my chest and let out a big sigh of comfort. That was one of those moments I wish could happen to me every day for the rest of my life. However, I know she's growing up quick and those opportunities won't present themselves indefinitely.

Senator Dodd commented about the US economy: The chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee said “we’re literally days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system... " Whether you agree with the $800B tax payer financed bailout or not, we are where we are and that scares the begeezus out of me. Everything will most likely work out great and the US economy will find it's footing again, but the thought of "hard times" causes my brain to quickly figure out what's really important to me.

I'm sure it is a combination of all these unrelated aspects of my life, but one thing is clear: Being a parent and all that goes along with the responsibility reveals things about yourself that you never knew. I've known myself for 33 years, but new feelings pop up daily that never surfaced BC (before children).

Enough deep thoughts for today! i'll post the latest pictures and comments of Easton and Layla later tonight.

Bye bye

Best friends

Hi friends,

The weekend is already gone and I have mixed feelings about Monday morning. I'll miss spending solid hours at a time with Kendra and the babies as I head off to earn my paycheck at the salt mine. However, I'm looking forward to a break and a slower pace of life during the work week. I have no idea how Kendra manages the twins and the house and life so well by herself, but she does a great job. It's evident to me when I do my best to cover for her while she goes to the store or her soccer game or anywhere outside of the house for more than a few minutes. I think I'm getting the hang of it though.

Kendra went in to the babies room and found Layla is pulling herself up to the standing position in her crib on a regular basis. The picture is great, yet SO disheartening to see my lovely Layla looking sad with her eyes glazed and red from crying.


Doesn't she look like such a big girl?! Please pray for me to be strong when she's 3 years old and I need to tell her "no" for some reason. If she pulls this kind of stunt with the sniffling and pouty lip I'll need some strength to get through it and stand firm. :)

Today we decided to get in the pool to cool down and have some splashing fun. Layla and Easton laughed louder and longer and more intensely than ever before! Kendra and I held the twins facing outward from us and then faced each other so the babies were looking right at each other. They were fully aware of the other baby and splashed around for several minutes while pausing only long enough to catch their breath and then were at it again. They truly are becoming best friends... We moved the exersaucers together so the babies can swivel and talk to each other. They smile and make all kinds of crazy noises. My guess is they are currently formulating their own language and figuring out each other. Similar to "Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind" where the humans are playing tones and showing lights to the aliens and discovering common ways to communicate. Do DO do do DOOOooooo


We're in the process of shifting nap times now so the twins are awake longer each time. The idea is for their naps to last longer since we are cutting the frequency from 3 to 2 per day. We'll see how well this goes, but at almost 8 months old they should graduate to the next level of life without any issues.

The sad news for the 4 Webbs is our cats are gone. Sugar was accepted by the rescue we originally bought her from and Kobe is on display at petco waiting to be adopted. The rescue lady said he should have no problem being adopted because he's declawed, neutered, current on shots, and very mellow. If things don't work out, we may need to take him back into our house through the work week and then search for a family to adopt him over the weekends. Kendra has been depressed a little over the past week so I'm working on becoming more understanding of her during this time. I'm sure everything will work out fine, but it's just like any other change and loss that it takes time...

I'll leave you with a picture of Easton and Layla playing together where you can see Easton's two teeth as he smiles from ear to ear. Layla is drooling like crazy, but i'm sure it's hard to get past her big, mesmerizing eyes to notice. :)


Cheers to you for making it through another weekend and I hope you have a wonderful week!

sleeping - the mystery unveiled

Hello friends and family,

An unbelievable thing happened this glorious weekend. Friday night after our couple get-together we came home with two tired babies. Easton and Layla were asleep by 8:30 and the two of us were in bed by 9:00. But wait! there's more! Saturday morning... I heard the pool pump outside our window start it's daily cleaning routine, but no other sounds. I woke up naturally with the sun shining in through the window and looked over to find Kendra still in a deep sleep. At first I thought it was a dream because I haven't had the privilege of waking up whenever I wanted to. For the past 8 months my wake ups have been more like firedrills as the dueling alarm clocks sprang to life right on schedule at 6:00 AM. Then I thought something might be wrong so my adrenaline kicked in and I walked briskly into the babies' room. Luckily I found sweet little peanut sitting up in bed with her pacifier halfway hanging out of her mouth as she smiled really big. Easton was rubbing his eyes as he was in the process of waking up also. Both babies were fine and we were able to sleep in like a couple of hibernating bears all the way to 7:00 AM!

I'm not sure where Easton learned his sleeping positions from, but face down in his Nunu and butt up with legs crossed is probably not recommended. However, we're ecstatic he sleeps as much as he does so we don't care what position he chooses.



So now I can unveil the mystery of sleeping once kids are introduced into a household. Those people who would go on and on with there diatribes about how "babies sleep ALL the time" were not liars. I apologize to those of you who i've called liars when it comes to how much and how long babies sleep. The caveat everyone seems to have left out is this: At what age do babies sleep so much that generalizations and stereotypes have developed? The answer: after 6 months. THAT is the part all of my friends and family who talked to me about sleeping babies left out. When I give advice to couples expecting or those with new borns I will definitely start the conversation with a disclaimer. It will go something like this: "Oh you're expecting? Great! You'll love parenthood, but let me tell you when you can expect to really sleep again... After 6 month. 0-6 is a guaranteed trial of enduring insomnia, but it DOES get better and you'll catch up on the days of sleep you missed over the past months."

On Thursday of this week I earned my next level of Tae Kwon Do. The instructor uses my existing green belt and wraps tape around it to create the blue stripe. You might think that is a ton of work for a little piece of tape on a belt, and you're right! I've worked very hard to get this far and I plan to continue for as long as I'm able to pursue martial arts. I'm half way to my black belt now... Here's a picture of the instructor after my testing and presentation to the class as he explained what will be expected of me in the future now that I've reached this level.


Skype has proven to be great way to keep in touch with our family and we really look forward to seeing and talking with people in our lives. Let us know if YOU have Skype and we'd love to chat with you also! I installed it on my aunt Mary's computer and since i have Skype at home and at work it's turning out to be a good way for us to communicate about dinners and errands and general info. We chat with Kendra's parents almost every day and now my sister's family is starting to catch up with us from time to time. Unfortunately, my mom and dad's computer is not cooperating so Skype isn't an option even after several troubleshooting steps and reinstalls.

Anyway, Layla is able to pull herself up to the standing position in her crib! That is a big accomplishment and doing so a week before their 8 months old shows how advanced she is. Easton is crawling commando style and seems to be very content now that he can move across the floor at about the same speed as Layla. Placing a toy a few feet away and watching them crawl towards it is no longer similar to a turtle race. If we walk out of the living room and back, it is very likely both of them are already on the tile somewhere playing with something they shouldn't.

We found a new toy in our house... A fruit-roll-up wrapper. The twins are amazed by how it feels and the noises it makes. Here's Layla happily crinkling the wrapper and moaning as she studies it.


Yes, i know she is wearing the color green... I've slacked off my "pink and blue only" requirements especially when it comes to pajamas because no body has the chance to ask, "are they both boys or both girls?"

Another humorous and somewhat ironic discovery was made yesterday. Here's picture of Layla playing:


Notice anything odd? Look closer... You'll see Layla intently focused on the TAGS of the brown basket, not giving even a second look to the wealth of store-bought toys inside. She laid there for at least 10 minutes fiddling with the tags, trying to figure out what they were, and how to put them in her mouth.

I'll finish off the blog today with pictures of Easton and Layla playing in their exersaucers:



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

The expression lives on

Good morning everyone,

It's time once again to recap the highlights of the past few days, contemplate deep thoughts of parenthood, and do my best to crack a few smiles out there.

We'll start off with the deep thoughts of parenthood, which is more correctly described as advice and key learnings. Don't buy shoes for your babies. Today I want to tell you about the uselessness of baby shoes. First of all, we live in Arizona and it's blazing hot. It has been since the twins were 2 months old. That being said, they are now EIGHT months old and have never worn a pair of shoes... Ever. Maybe that's my back-woods, redneck past coming out? No, it's actually a conscious decision we've made not to bother because we have twins and no time to worry about details such as shoes. It's not as if they are walking around on the hot pavement and need protection on the bottoms of their feet, so why bother?

Maybe there is some psychological or physiological reason why babies should wear shoes, but I sure don't see it. Even Kendra and I don't wear shoes in our house. That's not some anal retentive Obsessive Compulsive Disorder either one of us enforce to keep the carpets clean, it's just nice not to wear shoes! Anyone coming to our house who has funky feet or an undesirable aroma can feel free to wear shoes without persecution. However, the only time any of the 4 Webbs wear shoes at home is when we're taking out the trash. I'm sure the day will come when Easton and Layla start walking around and will need shoes, but for now, we're putting our clothes money towards onesies and pajamas.

OK, so now I can share the fun, fun times we're all having together. Lest any of you think the twins somehow stole the magic from our romantical marriage, here are the highlights from our special evening and morning. We were BOTH in bed by 9:00 PM and stayed there until 6:00 AM this morning. That deserves a round of applause and a curtsy. It's been roughly 14 months since we slept that long at one time. Don't tell me you already forgot the "get up to go pee 5 times per night" routine for Kendra while she was pregnant...

Anyway, we watched the first half of the movie "The Notebook", which is one of our all time favorites. I'm not much for chick flicks, but that one really gets me all choked up thinking about how strong love can be between two people. Really puts things in perspective. We spent a few minutes talking and then had a full night's sleep. This morning Kendra woke up before the babies (make that another first for the 4 Webbs) and then we went for a stroll through our neighborhood to feel the crisp, cool 77 degree morning. I'm dead serious about 77 degrees being the night time low, but it's all relative.

Layla continues to find great joy from jumping around like a pogo stick in her bouncy seat. As Kendra was talking to Oma Burgess on Skype I snapped a few pictures and happened to catch this one:


Does this expression look familiar? As SOON as I saw this image I knew exactly where I remember seeing that before:


Is that awesome or what?! Kendra's expression moments after we committed our lives together in marriage is EXACTLY the same as the thrill Layla gets from bouncing in the bouncy seat. Kendra's facial expression from that day lives on... Gotta love the cycle of life, eh? When Layla asks us how she'll be certain she's found true love we'll say, "You know that feeling you get from jumping up and down intensely in your bouncy seat? It's like that." Seeing that picture of our wedding brings back great memories.

Tonight we had another milestone as the twins successfully bathed without mommy's assistance.

Until now I was unable to get good pictures posted to the blog showing Easton and Layla in the tub. Kendra always jumped in naked with them one at a time so she could hold them carefully while soaping their little bodies up, which never turned out as a G rated opportunity for pictures. I think she read in a book somewhere today that our babies are at the right age where they can sit up on their own in the tub. So there you have it. Easton and Layla begin their long road to independence one step at a time. All I was thinking during this elongated play time in the tub was, "Please, oh please... Don't poop in the tub."

Another cute picture from today was of twins sitting calmly watching their short video while Kendra and I ran around the house preparing for our neighbors to come over for dinner. Here you have a very common scene of Layla intensely studying the situation and Easton grinning without a care in the world.


The twins are communicating with each other more (and louder) every single day. They respond to each others moans and screetches with ever increasing volume of their own baby language and it sounds very similar to a prehistoric aviary. A blind person would swear a pterodactyl will fly through the room any minute.

And finally, we have the embarassing shot for the day. Kendra incorrectly thought she wasn't good enough for the camera, but I knew Easton would give me a sweet, happy face picture so I took this one. Kendra's covering her face and Easton is showing off his two front teeth on bottom.

Have a great Thursday and we'll catch up again over the weekend!

tale of two monkeys

Hi friends,

It's been a late night for me so i'll have to post more details tomorrow, but everything is going well. One short story to show a difference between our twins is how they react to a monkey. We had lunch with aunt Mary at her place yesterday and she has a rather large stuffed animal monkey that makes monkey noises when he is moved around. We sat Easton and Layla in front of the monkey and shook him a bit to instigate the noises. Layla was amazed and immediately lunged forward grabbing a hand-full of stuffed monkey fur before we could pry her away from it. Easton sat there, stunned, and went from quivering bottom lip to full-on crying within just a couple of seconds. I hope we didn't give Easton a monkey-phobia... Here's Layla moments later after we moved the monkey on the other side of the rocking horse, she began to navigate her way through to play with the stuffed animal.

After things calmed down, they were watching their Baby Einstein movie so we could have a peaceful lunch with Mary. We have fun just watching them sit upright and get excited about the movie. You can see the kid on TV chewing the corn while Layla and Easton both chew on their toys.

We've discovered Layla and Easton have hazel eyes and that's probably how they will stay. I'm not sure what age eye color becomes more permanent, but I'm sure the answer is the same as every other baby question: "It depends on the baby".

Another entertaining scene was giving Easton and Layla an entire cracker (as opposed to little crumbly pieces) and watching them figure out how to eat it. They both knew to use their mouth to break the cracker, but as you can see in this picture below, Easton was baffled by the whole idea. We ended up with half of the cracker on the floor, as you might expect.

A few other stories come to mind, but i'll have to save them for tomorrow afternoon when i get a chance to blog again. :) have a great day!

Healthy babies with Band-Aids

Hello, hello!

Here's a good picture from yesterday to get things started for this blog. Kendra is standing behind Layla as she stands up and walk a few steps with assistance from mommy. Her smiles get bigger every day!




Then we caught Layla climbing OVER Easton a short while later. She seems to think Easton is her own personal jungle gym. He wasn't happy about it and at least made some noise as if to say, "stop climbing on me!" They play really well together and are starting to talk TO each other instead of just making random noises when something isn't right. The pediatrician said our babies may lag behind a little in verbal communication because they develop their own "baby language" between the two of them long before speaking English (and hopefully Spanish) to the rest of us humans.

They are really hitting the milestones lately and the biggie yesterday was dueling high chairs! We put one together and it seemed to work out so I screwed the other one together and now we have two. The bumbos just weren't cutting it any more. Now we have half of our front room lined with chairs and papa sans and seats that the babies no longer need because we've traded up to the bigger sizes. I'll have to provide a more detailed review of this model of high chair once we have a few miles under our belt.

This morning started out a little rough since Easton decided to wake up before the chickens. He's still pushing up those two bottom front teeth so he doesn't sleep quite as soundly or as long as normal. Kendra was relieved for me to come home a little early on Friday afternoon. I gave her a break from entertaining the babies all day and the 4 Webbs went together to the pediatrician for their checkup.

After a successful trip to the pediatrician, we were assured Easton and Layla are as happy and healthy as we thought. Easton weighs 16 lbs. and is 26 inches long. Layla weighs 15 lbs. and is 25.5 inches long. They are both very close to the 50% mark on their measurements and the pediatrician said that is exactly where they should be. I can't remember the circumference of their head, but does that really matter??? I mean, as long as they are both close to average and don't have a huge melon, then all is well, right?

Babies getting immunization shots are about as sad of an event as a mother can handle in the normal course of raising a child. I was the unlucky one to hold their little arms as the nurse poked them 4 times. Seeing their expressions go sour and the tears stream down their face is heartbreaking, but at least that round is over! Easton and Layla are both running a little temperature and their smiles are a slightly more subdued, but other than that they are both doing great. When we arrived home I took these two pictures. Here is Layla with her Tasmanian Devil band-aids as she waited to get suited up in pajamas for the evening.

She has the prettiest eyes even when they are a little puffy from crying... And here's Easton sporting the same band-aids as Layla. You could say the picture was a failure because his eyes were closed, but I think it shows how extraordinarily long they are and how much of a cute baby he really is.

Our free time today was spent researching, documenting, and driving around to see houses for sale. I love research and I love shopping so finding a house is one of the most fun things I can do with my infinitesimal amount of free time. We found a few we really like and will do a formal walkthrough of some early next week just to get a feel for how these houses look on the inside.

Anyway, while we were out and about we decided to have some breakfast / lunch at "the good egg", which is a really good breakfast spot. Kendra decided instead of turning the wooden high chairs upside down and placing the twins' car seat in them, we would use them as designed and depend on Easton and Layla to sit upright. Well, it worked fine and here's their first moments sitting up in public like a big girl and big boy.

Layla has her trusty spoon to bite on and talk to. Easton was banging on the table saying, "where's the flapjacks, lady?" Between the time we ordered and when the food arrived the waitress brought some cheerios and fresh pineapple. Layla's face really shows her dislike of the bitter sweet, mushy substance:

In person it was even more humorous because you could see her mind going back and forth between: "That tastes horrible!" to "Let me try that again!" What a funny girl... I'll leave you with a short video clip of Layla's latest trick of: (drumroll) Feeding herself and using her finger and thumb to grab! Tadaaaaa... Here is Layla with her Pinchers of Power:

The twins are sleeping soundly as of 8:30 PM on Saturday night. More importatly, Kendra is drifting off to sleep as we speak. I'm always relieved when she gets to sleep early because if Mommy is happy, everyone is happy... I learned that a long, long time ago from my own mom. :)

Have a super weekend!

The big day at the doctors

Hi folks,

Happy Friday to you! Sorry for no pictures or movies. I know that's what you really come here for. :) I'll do my best to catch some of the babies at their doctor appointment to commemorate the moments.

Friday is the big day for Easton and Layla to have their belated 6 month check up... now that they are almost 8 months! They'll be getting a few shots, but we're debating how many to give them and which ones. There is much debate over which shots are really necessary and which ones are just an extra pain in their legs. Also we've heard that 6 shots in one day (that's what the pediatrician said to do) is too many and overloads the poor babies systems. There is so much information and data out there that I'm sure we could find a research paper or some quack doctor who has "scientific research" that proves whatever slant on the debate that we are looking for.

We thought it was time to move Easton and Layla up to size 4 diapers, but found out the hard way they are still a size 3. luckily we have tile floors so it was easy to clean up, but you get the point. accidents DO happen, but apparently they happen more often when the diapers are too big. The other end of the spectrum is that the size 3 diapers make Easton look like he has a huge belly that overlaps his diaper waist band. He's chunky, but it just looks painful and uncomfortable.

The good news of the day is: Easton's #2 tooth poked through yesterday! We can officially see both of his teeth sticking up through his gums and can certainly feel them when we put a finger in his mouth. Hopefully he'll fuss less now that he isn't dealing with that pain.

Meanwhile, Layla Rae is drooling like a faucet and it appears her top teeth may be coming in soon. We all know how much this is like the boy who cried wolf though. I've learned that babies just drool sometimes for no reason!

OK, enough rambling tonight. look for some pictures and updated statistics from the pediatrician on Friday evening or Saturday morning.

high chair is kinda big

Good evening!

It's your friendly baby blogger taking time out of my sleep schedule to fill you in on the latest with the 4 Webbs and hopefully get a smile or two from your face. It's been quite an emotional ride lately here with all of the changes in life. For starters, Wei Wei is going bye bye. That is his full name by the way... Wei Wei... He's been one of my best friends for the past several years. He's been a great mountain biking buddy, work out partner, and friend among other such associations. Here's a picture from our trip to Flagstaff last month where we camped out and celebrated his bachelor party.

Wei is the Chinese dude I have my arm around. See that valley faaaaaaarrrrr down to the left? Yep, we started there and hiked our skinny legs up to 12,500 ft. Anyways, we gave Wei the nickname "twinkie" because he's yellow on the outside (chinese) and white on the inside (american). We've shared many adventures and I'll miss him very much. He's taking a position within our company that requires him to move to Shanghai, China. He just got married two weeks ago, so he's got a lot of change coming his way in a short period of time. Kendra and I can certainly relate to that since our marriage started the same way!

The other change going on with us is that we've decided to give away our two kitties... :( It'll take us a few days to figure out exactly what to do, but the bottom line is that they have to go. My allergies are getting worse by the day almost and the allergy tests I went through confirm that I'm highly allergic to cats. Kendra is completely broken up about having to give them away, but she's supportive of my need to breathe and stop my nose from dripping like a faucet. Give Kendra a hug when you see her or at least a phone call if you're too far away because she's going to need some support dealing with the loss of the kitties. Here's a picture of Kobe, our 21 pound boy cat.


OK, enough of the sad news, now for some happy stuff. The babies had a great day today and were treated with a special visit from our neighbor, Marsha.


Easton and Layla and Kendra all three enjoyed her company and help. Kendra always looks forward to her coming over every week on Tuesday because they have such a fun time talking and playing.

Here's a couple of pictures of play time this evening as we waited for the magic 6 o'clock hour where the babies take their bottle and then go to sleep. I did a little self-portrait of the three of us as Layla was rocking back and forth and playing with her sippy cup.


Then I turned the camera and caught a good picture of Easton showing his super-advanced skills of sitting up well, grasping and holding the two plastic doughnuts, and looking intently at them as he ponders the chemical makeup of plastic. OK, maybe he was really thinking, "how can I fit both of these in my mouth at the same time?"


And finally, as the 4 Webbs were communicating with Oma through Skype, I caught a good video of Layla riding the jumperoo like a bucking bronco and me narrating with my best "Okie from Muskogee" accent.



We finally gave in and accepted the fact that our babies are outgrowing the bumbo with the tray. So I pulled out the screw driver and instruction manual and successfully put together one of the high chairs. Apparently Easton and Layla are at some in-between stage where they are too big for the bumbo, but too small for the high chair. That thing looks HUGE compared to Easton!


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

The profile photos

Greetings baby fans,

All is well in the Webb house and we're taking full advantage of family time together over the weekend. Easton's tooth is officially poking through and it's like a razor! I'll have to nickname him "the shark" until those teeth level off.

Easton and Layla are both able to sit up and play now so that introduces several new variables into our lives. One unintended consequence of their new found ability is that Layla steals Easton's toys. Now that her arms and hands are available instead of being used to support her body when she used to lie on her stomach, she is free to reach over and whatever Easton has. Whatever he holds is the ONE toy she wants. doesn't matter if it makes noise, lights up, or is just a fruit rollup wrapper; She'll take whatever he has and play with it. I already have to tell Layla to share and Easton to stand up for himself. I'm guessing this will be an ongoing opportunity for character development over the next few years.

As the two of them were munching on their fruit net things (pictured below), Layla reached over and grabbed Easton's because apparently the one he had was more appetizing even though the objects and fruit contents were identical! I'm really looking forward to our twins talking, but not so much hearing Layla once she learns the word, "mine".


I was relieved to get a clear picture of the profile for Easton and Layla because as you know they have the propensity to stop what they are doing and stare directly into the camera as soon as it is pointed in their direction. You can see more clearly the differences between them and those differences are becoming more pronounced the older they get!



If you look hard you can see the flattened side of Layla's ear, which is exactly like Kendras. :) Like mother, like daughter...


You may be asking, "how did he get a picture of the babies from the side when they are notoriously staring blankly into the camera"? Well, I sat them in their bumbos in the living room and turned on their favorite kid movie. It looked something like this from their perspective:


They watch intently as some other baby on TV plays with toys they don't have. Easton and Layla absolutely love it! We limit their TV/movie time to only the baby DVDs and up to 30 minutes per day. No spongebob for our babies, yet... Here's one final picture of Layla showing the drool literally dripping off her chin as she played in her activity center (a.k.a. exersaucer):

I've overcome the yuk factor of drool and now I don't mind the babies slobbering on me and my clothes. Spit-up is a different story... That still grosses me out and I'll never get used to it (yuck). That'll be one of the first questions I ask God after death is: "Why did you create babies with the design of spitting up so much, so often, and for so many months?" There may be a medical answer for that, but whatever it is won't suffice.

We're gearing up for the pediatrician appointment this Friday for their big checkup and next round of shots. We're both hoping for good reports and happy babies over the weekend!

Have a great week and check back soon!