Caden and Rohan had their five-month doctor appointment today, so I now have official weights. Caden is 17 lbs 14 oz, and Rohan is 19 lbs 12 oz. They're even bigger than I estimated!
The important thing, of course, is that both of them are perfectly healthy and doing great. Woo hoo!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Holy Blogging Deficit, Batman!
Has it really been this long since I posted anything? I'd swear the date is wrong on that last post. It couldn't possibly be this bad, right? Sigh...
Well, much has happened in the last 2+ months. The twins are getting big. And I mean big! They're in the 16-17 pound range now, and they're just over 5 months old. Big babies! They're starting to be able to figure out their bodies now; they're able to grasp and gather objects to them. They're still teething, but no teeth have erupted yet.
(As an aside, one of the reasons I haven't blogged is that I keep waiting until I have pictures to post. We've taken lots of pictures, but we don't always move them from camera to computer in a timely fashion, so by the time the pics are available to me, I'll be too busy to blog. I'll try not to use the "I don't have pictures" excuse anymore!)
Griffin had his third birthday on June 11. It's hard to believe that he's been in our family for three years already - wow! With the recent stretch of very nice weather Dina has been hitting the potty training hard with him, and he's doing very well. He's pretty much done with diapers during the day, although he still wears them when he sleeps. That is a BIG RELIEF. Changing diapers on three kids is a chore, and being potty trained frees Griffin up for many activities that he just wouldn't be able to do otherwise.
We had a couple of "kid parties" since I blogged last. One was a "come meet the twins" party (kind of like a post-birth baby shower), we had lots of friends and family show up, and it was a lot of fun. We found a great deal on an inflatable jumping-house for the little kids to jump around in, so that gets set up when kids come over now. We also had a party for Griffin's birthday (two actually - one early playdate party for Griffin's kid friends and one later party for family).
Whew - I really should give more time to each of these things, but there are just too many things to touch on.
My father-in-law helped me build a big cedar playground for Griffin with swingset and slide. It's sweet! And it was great to have his help, because I know as much about building stuff as I do about martial arts - just enough to get myself hurt. He also helped us fix some very crappy wood on our deck, which rules, because that was sorely needed.
I got together with Ben and Ryan and brewed my first batch of beer! (Other than the Vine Park beer I've brewed, which is mostly hands-off, but still cool.) I made some Copper Ale, and I must say, it turned out pretty darn good for a first batch. Stop over and have a taste sometime! Ben and Ryan graciously let me borrow some of their equipment, and walked me through the steps (quoth Ben: "STIR, mofackey!"). Brewing is great - I will definitely be brewing again, and plan to buy my own equipment sometime soon.
Well, out of time for now. Hopefully in the future I'll be posting more often with more content. Once-every-two-month cram posts wasn't really the intent when I started this thing. :-)
Well, much has happened in the last 2+ months. The twins are getting big. And I mean big! They're in the 16-17 pound range now, and they're just over 5 months old. Big babies! They're starting to be able to figure out their bodies now; they're able to grasp and gather objects to them. They're still teething, but no teeth have erupted yet.
(As an aside, one of the reasons I haven't blogged is that I keep waiting until I have pictures to post. We've taken lots of pictures, but we don't always move them from camera to computer in a timely fashion, so by the time the pics are available to me, I'll be too busy to blog. I'll try not to use the "I don't have pictures" excuse anymore!)
Griffin had his third birthday on June 11. It's hard to believe that he's been in our family for three years already - wow! With the recent stretch of very nice weather Dina has been hitting the potty training hard with him, and he's doing very well. He's pretty much done with diapers during the day, although he still wears them when he sleeps. That is a BIG RELIEF. Changing diapers on three kids is a chore, and being potty trained frees Griffin up for many activities that he just wouldn't be able to do otherwise.
We had a couple of "kid parties" since I blogged last. One was a "come meet the twins" party (kind of like a post-birth baby shower), we had lots of friends and family show up, and it was a lot of fun. We found a great deal on an inflatable jumping-house for the little kids to jump around in, so that gets set up when kids come over now. We also had a party for Griffin's birthday (two actually - one early playdate party for Griffin's kid friends and one later party for family).
Whew - I really should give more time to each of these things, but there are just too many things to touch on.
My father-in-law helped me build a big cedar playground for Griffin with swingset and slide. It's sweet! And it was great to have his help, because I know as much about building stuff as I do about martial arts - just enough to get myself hurt. He also helped us fix some very crappy wood on our deck, which rules, because that was sorely needed.
I got together with Ben and Ryan and brewed my first batch of beer! (Other than the Vine Park beer I've brewed, which is mostly hands-off, but still cool.) I made some Copper Ale, and I must say, it turned out pretty darn good for a first batch. Stop over and have a taste sometime! Ben and Ryan graciously let me borrow some of their equipment, and walked me through the steps (quoth Ben: "STIR, mofackey!"). Brewing is great - I will definitely be brewing again, and plan to buy my own equipment sometime soon.
Well, out of time for now. Hopefully in the future I'll be posting more often with more content. Once-every-two-month cram posts wasn't really the intent when I started this thing. :-)
Friday, April 18, 2008
Pics from Coon Rapids Dam Park last weekend
I finally put some pics from last weekend up on Flickr. Here you go! Also, if you want an RSS feed of any photo I upload to Flickr, here's the feed URL: http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=22696873@N03&lang=en-us&format=rss_200
Me pushing Griffin on his stroller tricycle:
Caden and Rohan in their stroller, with the dam in the background:
Griffin and Dina crashed on the couch after we got home:
Rohan crashed, too. Doesn't he look like an infant Emperor Palpatine?
Here are a few other random cute photos:
(other sizes can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22696873@N03/)
Me pushing Griffin on his stroller tricycle:
Caden and Rohan in their stroller, with the dam in the background:
Griffin and Dina crashed on the couch after we got home:
Rohan crashed, too. Doesn't he look like an infant Emperor Palpatine?
Here are a few other random cute photos:
(other sizes can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22696873@N03/)
Monday, April 14, 2008
The sun is alive!
What a great weekend! It started out a little rough as neither Dina nor I got much sleep on Friday night while Dina prepared for her Creative Memories event on Saturday and we both took care of the kids. We think Caden and Rohan are starting to teethe (at three months! give us a break!); it was definitely a long night and early morning.
The actual day went pretty well, though. Dina took off for her all-day event a little after 8:00 a.m., and I was alone with the kids for a couple hours. My mom was coming into town to help take care of the kids, but the roads between her place and ours (she lives about 120 miles from us) were horrible, and her trip took much longer than normal. She arrived around 10:30, though, and it was nice to have her help for the day. Dina came home around lunch time, and then she went back to her event while my mom, the kids, and I took an afternoon trip to run some errands. We met up with Dina at her event to show off the babies for a little while, then went home and hung out until it was time for me to go pick up Dina. Normally we stay up really late when my mom comes over, but that didn't happen this weekend due to Friday being such a bear of a night.
The sun showed its face on Sunday! I had my doubts for a while there...I was really getting into a lack-of-sun-and-warmth funk. Sunday, with its bright sunny sky and decently warm temperature, completely changed that. Dina and I took Griffin, Caden, and Rohan out to the Coon Rapids Dam park. My mom came with and took a quick walk with us, then headed home to make sure she was home before it started getting dark. Dina and I had Caden and Rohan in a double-stroller that you just clip removable carseats into, which is very handy. We brought Griffin's stroller-tricycle (it's a trike that has a handle sticking up from the back that lets an adult push and steer). We walked across the dam, which is always impressive, spent some time at the park's visitor center, then walked to a little playground and let Griffin run off some steam. After some playtime we headed back across the dam and to our minivan to go home.
It was great to get some fresh air and exercise with the whole family! We were pretty pooped out by the time we got home, though - Griffin and Dina collapsed on the couch while Rohan slept in his carseat. Caden and I had some one-on-one hanging-out time, then I put him down to play on his playmat while I dozed a little. I've got some great photos I'll have to post!
Now it's back to work. Mondays are so much easier after having a refreshing Sunday. Here's hoping for many more to come!
The actual day went pretty well, though. Dina took off for her all-day event a little after 8:00 a.m., and I was alone with the kids for a couple hours. My mom was coming into town to help take care of the kids, but the roads between her place and ours (she lives about 120 miles from us) were horrible, and her trip took much longer than normal. She arrived around 10:30, though, and it was nice to have her help for the day. Dina came home around lunch time, and then she went back to her event while my mom, the kids, and I took an afternoon trip to run some errands. We met up with Dina at her event to show off the babies for a little while, then went home and hung out until it was time for me to go pick up Dina. Normally we stay up really late when my mom comes over, but that didn't happen this weekend due to Friday being such a bear of a night.
The sun showed its face on Sunday! I had my doubts for a while there...I was really getting into a lack-of-sun-and-warmth funk. Sunday, with its bright sunny sky and decently warm temperature, completely changed that. Dina and I took Griffin, Caden, and Rohan out to the Coon Rapids Dam park. My mom came with and took a quick walk with us, then headed home to make sure she was home before it started getting dark. Dina and I had Caden and Rohan in a double-stroller that you just clip removable carseats into, which is very handy. We brought Griffin's stroller-tricycle (it's a trike that has a handle sticking up from the back that lets an adult push and steer). We walked across the dam, which is always impressive, spent some time at the park's visitor center, then walked to a little playground and let Griffin run off some steam. After some playtime we headed back across the dam and to our minivan to go home.
It was great to get some fresh air and exercise with the whole family! We were pretty pooped out by the time we got home, though - Griffin and Dina collapsed on the couch while Rohan slept in his carseat. Caden and I had some one-on-one hanging-out time, then I put him down to play on his playmat while I dozed a little. I've got some great photos I'll have to post!
Now it's back to work. Mondays are so much easier after having a refreshing Sunday. Here's hoping for many more to come!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Easter weekend
Griffin had fun on Saturday of Easter weekend playing with some water and food coloring in a squirt-bottle while Daddy cleared the snow off the driveway.
He also had lots of fun playing in the ball pit his Aunt Gretchen gave him. He even got Mama and Grandma Lynn to join in the fun!
Rohan got some good quality sleep time in Daddy's arms.
And Caden was showing off his grins and smiles to Grandma Lynn.
Here's Grandma Lynn proudly holding her two newest grandsons, who are all business.
We spent some time playing video games as a family.
On Sunday morning, Griffin got to hunt for Easter eggs and couldn't decide what to play with first from his Easter basket stash:
Later that day we all went over to my uncle Wayne's house and got to see Wayne & Melody and all their kids and grandkids. Griffin was a little shy at first, but he warmed up to all those people after a while. The babies mostly slept. :-)
All in all it was a good Easter weekend!
(larger images available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22696873@N03/sets/72157604332882865/)
He also had lots of fun playing in the ball pit his Aunt Gretchen gave him. He even got Mama and Grandma Lynn to join in the fun!
Rohan got some good quality sleep time in Daddy's arms.
And Caden was showing off his grins and smiles to Grandma Lynn.
Here's Grandma Lynn proudly holding her two newest grandsons, who are all business.
We spent some time playing video games as a family.
On Sunday morning, Griffin got to hunt for Easter eggs and couldn't decide what to play with first from his Easter basket stash:
Later that day we all went over to my uncle Wayne's house and got to see Wayne & Melody and all their kids and grandkids. Griffin was a little shy at first, but he warmed up to all those people after a while. The babies mostly slept. :-)
All in all it was a good Easter weekend!
(larger images available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22696873@N03/sets/72157604332882865/)
Monday, March 17, 2008
Whirlwind weekend
The weekend went off as planned. Almost. Saturday morning I called my dad, who was going to show up around noon, and asked him if everything still looked good. His reply? "Yeah, I'm still coming up tomorrow!" Uh...what? It wasn't a big deal, we were able to shuffle things a bit so we could hang out with my dad on Sunday morning, which gave us Saturday morning to just chill around the house.
Saturday evening we took the family to Reuben's place and hung out with a bunch of friends and friends' kids. Seeing my kid(s) play with my friends' kids will probably never stop being weird. It's like looking into a hall of mirrors where you see images of yourself, but smaller, repeating forever into the distance. Anyway, Griffin had an awesome time playing with the kids, and Dina and I had a great time with our friends, too.
Sunday morning my dad came over and saw Caden and Rohan for the first time. They treated him like one of the family, spitting up on him almost immediately. That's a sign of true acceptance right there! That afternoon we went to an indoor Equinox egg hunt (no wait...EASTER egg hunt) that was put on by the local Mothers of Multiples group that Dina recently joined. Eggs, easter bunnies, dozens of families with twins and triplets...with all those signs of fertility a woman could probably get pregnant just breathing the air in there. We met a family that lives close to us that has kids whose ages line up pretty close to our kids' ages; we'll probably be spending more time with them in the future, so that's cool. It's bizarre seeing so many twins and triplets in the same room. I was comforted by the fact that all the other dads there looked just as tired as I did. I'm glad I'm not alone!
And then, of course, Sunday night was D&D night at Ben's. R.I.P., Gary Gygax. The session followed the typical pattern of very little role-playing and a whole lot of hanging out and chatting, which was awesome. I managed to trade a bag of Cheetos for a six pack of Ryan's homebrew Irish stout. That's a win in my book! I left sometime around 11:00 p.m., and had some mundane stuff to do at home before I could go to bed, so this morning is a tired one. Hooray for coffee!!
Saturday evening we took the family to Reuben's place and hung out with a bunch of friends and friends' kids. Seeing my kid(s) play with my friends' kids will probably never stop being weird. It's like looking into a hall of mirrors where you see images of yourself, but smaller, repeating forever into the distance. Anyway, Griffin had an awesome time playing with the kids, and Dina and I had a great time with our friends, too.
Sunday morning my dad came over and saw Caden and Rohan for the first time. They treated him like one of the family, spitting up on him almost immediately. That's a sign of true acceptance right there! That afternoon we went to an indoor Equinox egg hunt (no wait...EASTER egg hunt) that was put on by the local Mothers of Multiples group that Dina recently joined. Eggs, easter bunnies, dozens of families with twins and triplets...with all those signs of fertility a woman could probably get pregnant just breathing the air in there. We met a family that lives close to us that has kids whose ages line up pretty close to our kids' ages; we'll probably be spending more time with them in the future, so that's cool. It's bizarre seeing so many twins and triplets in the same room. I was comforted by the fact that all the other dads there looked just as tired as I did. I'm glad I'm not alone!
And then, of course, Sunday night was D&D night at Ben's. R.I.P., Gary Gygax. The session followed the typical pattern of very little role-playing and a whole lot of hanging out and chatting, which was awesome. I managed to trade a bag of Cheetos for a six pack of Ryan's homebrew Irish stout. That's a win in my book! I left sometime around 11:00 p.m., and had some mundane stuff to do at home before I could go to bed, so this morning is a tired one. Hooray for coffee!!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Where did the last month go?
Since I last posted, it's been a long month of changing diapers, staying up late, making time for Griffin, and staring at babies. I've been back at work, which means my time at home is much, much busier, leaving little time for blogging. But I plan to get back into regular postings!
Dina sent me some great pics today at work. You can see how much bigger these babies are getting! They're looking more and more like little people every day.
Here's Griffin grabbing on to the baby toy, Caden looking fascinated by it, and Rohan looking bored of the whole thing.
And here are Caden and Rohan being very expressive. This is great to see! They're starting to progress beyond the "eat/poop/sleep/repeat" phase. Woo hoo!
This weekend looks to be busy, but fun. Saturday around noon Grandpa Dice (my dad) and Great-grandma Fran (his mom) are coming up to visit for a couple hours. That evening, Dina and I are piling our family into the minivan to trek out to River Falls to Reuben and Carrie's for Halvard's birthday party. There will be a number of other kids and babies there, plus a bunch of the Jabberboard crew as well. Should be a good time! Then on Sunday night I'm heading over to Ben's place to play D&D with a bunch of other D&D nerds, in memoriam of Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons. I am far more excited for this than I have any right to be. I even bought a brand spankin' new set of dice for the event! And yes, the set includes a d12. I refuse to believe the D&D world has changed at all since I was a teenager.
Dina sent me some great pics today at work. You can see how much bigger these babies are getting! They're looking more and more like little people every day.
Here's Griffin grabbing on to the baby toy, Caden looking fascinated by it, and Rohan looking bored of the whole thing.
And here are Caden and Rohan being very expressive. This is great to see! They're starting to progress beyond the "eat/poop/sleep/repeat" phase. Woo hoo!
This weekend looks to be busy, but fun. Saturday around noon Grandpa Dice (my dad) and Great-grandma Fran (his mom) are coming up to visit for a couple hours. That evening, Dina and I are piling our family into the minivan to trek out to River Falls to Reuben and Carrie's for Halvard's birthday party. There will be a number of other kids and babies there, plus a bunch of the Jabberboard crew as well. Should be a good time! Then on Sunday night I'm heading over to Ben's place to play D&D with a bunch of other D&D nerds, in memoriam of Gary Gygax, the creator of Dungeons and Dragons. I am far more excited for this than I have any right to be. I even bought a brand spankin' new set of dice for the event! And yes, the set includes a d12. I refuse to believe the D&D world has changed at all since I was a teenager.
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