Happy Halloween!

Here's a picture of our little goblins in their Halloween duds. Mila is on the left in the bear outfit. Sophia is a ladybug.

Here's Sophia after she got Mila's bear-hat away from her. Notice the sweet, innocent look she's giving.

Here's Mila lounging in her snuggly bear costume.

We didn't do much for Halloween, just stayed in. We don't really get trick-or-treaters any more. Not having the doorbell ring all night is a good thing.

The girls are looking forward to their birthday in a couple of weeks. It's hard to believe they'll be a year old soon.
For those of you wondering if I'll be teaching the girls any martial arts - of course I will. Here is a photo of Mila and I knife-fighting. She's a natural, so I'll teach her some Arnis. Naturally, theses aren't real knives - they're rubber. I was packing up to teach a class, and Mila just picked up the training knives.

Shame on me

I've been bad about blogging lately so here's my list of excuses. Pick which one sounds the best to you:

1. Both my laptop and desktop computers at home were broken and needed repair. the desktop is still in the shop.
2. I'm pretty busy with work, the girls, and my commute.
3. The girls like to wake up at 4am and when I finally do get home from work I crash and fall asleep by 8 or 9.

The girls are doing very well at 11 months old. They are starting to walk now, talk a lot, climb everything, and crawl at about 150 miles per hour. They like to coordinate and each go in different directions so it's impossible to corral them.

We took them to Connecticut a couple of weeks ago to visit our friends Sarah and David (who have twins of their own) and my cousin Dina who is expecting a girl on Halloween. The girls liked the trip and really enjoyed getting into everything at the hotel.

Last week we took them to Smolak Farms which is a farm and apple orchard that has hayrides, a bakery, and all kinds of stuff for kids. The farm has pens with deer, cows, goats, peacocks, llamas, sheep and other animals. The girls seemed to enjoy the animals; Sophia wanted to touch the peacock.

I know the grandparents are especially anxious to see new pictures of the girls, but currently the blog software is not allowing picture posting. I will do my best to log in tomorrow night and post some photos.

In the meantime you can see the newest pictures at Flickr. Just click here.

Moore Twins Now 81/2 Months

I'm getting worse at blogging, it's now been a month and a half since I last posted. The girls are keeping us pretty busy. Both girls are now crawling, sitting on their own, and standing supported.

The girls are eating quite a lot of solids now; they love sweet potatoes and peas. We're slowing replacing the Nutramigen (their old formula) with a less simplified formula. The new stuff smells a lot better and, I 'm guessing, tastes better too.

Here's a pictures of Sophia with our friend Charles. Charles appears to be flexing for the camera.

Here's a picture of Sophia with my good friend Kevin. They have the same expression on their faces for some reason. Kevin and I have know each other since we were 5. He and his wife are moving to Ithaca, so he came by for a visit before he practically leaves the country.

This is Mila with her Ninang Valerie. Mila's got a bit of stranger anxiety (normal for this age) but doesn't seem to mind women, particularly Asian women. I guess maybe they are similar enough to her mom that she is comfortable.

A number of people have been looking at the pictures on Flickr. If you want to get to my photos there, go to www.flickr.com/photos/jujutsu. This has all my pictures, so if you want to just see babies, the photos are grouped. Look at the set of photos on the right called "babies". There are hundreds of photos for you to get your fill.

This weekend we went to Maine for a reunion. I have photos from that, but haven't uploaded them yet. I will get the m up soon. The girls enjoyed visiting with their grandparents, uncles and aunts, and cousins. We even ran into my mom at Rite Aid. We'll be back in Maine in a couple of weeks for another reunion at my grandmother's.

Our Babies are Growing!

I realize it's been well over a month since I've updated this blog. The girls, and my new job are keeping me quite busy. Certainly there's lots to report about the Moore twins.

Both girls had their 6 month checkup a few weeks ago (they'll be 7 months old in a few days). They got a clean bill of health and are developing very well. We've started them on some solid foods; they really love applesauce.

Here's Miss Sophia thoroughly enjoying her applesauce. In fact, she's practically bathing in it. Sophia has recently learned how to blow raspberries, which she enjoys when she's got a mouth full of formula. She's our little comedienne.

At her 6 month checkup she was 14 pounds 10 ounces and 24 inches. She's starting to sit up, although she needs some help. While we were in Maine for Memorial day, she figured out how to roll over onto her tummy.

Here's miss Mila equally thrilled with the applesauce experience. She likes to "help" when we feed her by grabbing the spoon and shoving it in her mouth. the hand-eye coordination is not quite there yet - so she often gets it in her hair, and ears, and eyes.

At her checkup she was over 15 pounds and also 24 inches. We now have 4 feet of baby! Mila is pretty much crawling on her belly now, and quite mobile.

While both girls "talk" and imitate sounds, Mila likes to sing.

This Saturday, our friends Leslie and Charles had a 1st birthday party for their daughter Catherine. We brought the girls and they handled the crowd pretty well. They were exhausted when we got home though.

Before I sign off I will leave you with a quiz. Here's a picture of Kara with both girls. Can you tell who's who?Did you guess?

...

OK - Mila is on the left and Sophia is on the Right (in yellow).

Ups and Downs

Its' been almost a month since I've posted anything here. Work and the girls are keeping me busy, as my mom can now attest to.

The girls are both still growing like crazy - both over 14 pounds now! They are sitting up well, rolling over, and trying like mad to crawl. Both of them are quite talkative, and Myra and I are amused to no end when they put syllables together that sound like words. (Mila said "Booger" and what sounded like "Hello Daddy" the other day). here's Sophia lounging on her side and checking out daddy's camera.

The girls love to stand supported and jump up and down. They are starting to sleep better at night - but they are fighting their naps during the day. I try to get them doing interesting things on video, but the second I get the video camera out they stop what they are doing and stare at me.

The girls both came down with a little stomach virus, which was hard on them, and us. The pediatrician told us that kids in daycare average 15 such virii (viruses for you non-Latin types) per year! I can't imagine going through that more than once a month. Thank goodness we are able to not put them in daycare yet. Here is Mila, on the mend.

Last week Myra left the girls for the first time. It was really hard for her to leave, even for a few days. She went to a leadership conference sponsored by GE, where she received an award. It was a great experience for her, and great recognition that I'm sure will propel her career. Speaking at the conference were George Takei (Mr. Sulu from Star Trek), Kal Penn (Kumar from "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle"), and Jeff Zucker (President and CEO of NBC Universal). She got a tour of Universal Studios and also got to meet up with some West Coast relatives - her Auntie Rose, cousin Teresa, and Teresa's fiancee.

While she was gone, my mom came and helped out. The girls really love her, and of course she really loves them. Here's a picture of her with Mila and Sophia. Grammy is very good at calming down fussy twins and getting them to fall asleep, even when they don't feel good.


We're hoping to get back to Maine with the girls for Memorial day weekend.

Happy Easter From The Twins

The girls had a very good Easter; we took them on their first trip to Maine. They did very well on the drive and with meeting so many new people. This was their longest car ride so far.

On Saturday we took the girls to meet their great-grandmother Mimi. Cousin Melody, Uncle Pete, and Aunt Diane came over. Mimi had made beautiful quilts for the girls. I'll have to post some pictures of the quilts here on the blog. Here's a picture of Mimi with miss Sophia.

Here's Mimi with Mila. The girls really enjoyed their visit. This was their first time meeting Mimi.

Myra and I had a great vacation in Maine. Grammy Jean held both of the girls a lot and helped feed them. I told my Dad that having the opportunity to sit down at the same table with Myra and eat a hot meal together was a rare treat. Here's my Dad with Mila and Jean holding Sophia.

On Easter my Dad had a bunch of folks over for dinner. Here's great-aunt Bev holding Mila. Aunt Bev knew how to win over our girl and fed her a bottle.

This was also the girls' first time meeting their Aunt Kim, Uncle Brian and cousins Hannah and Zachary. Hannah is a great big sister and cousin who tried to keep the girls entertained. We hadn't seen Zachary since he was a few days old. He's now 7 months old and a very big boy. Here's Hannah, Mila with Grammy Jean, Zachary with Kim, and Sophia with me.

Our babies are continuing their rapid growth. As of Monday, Mila weighed 13lbs 5oz and Sophia 12lbs 15oz. They just got their last dose of Synagis - a special vaccine for preemies that protects them from a dangerous respiratory virus. Thank goodness insurance covers it, because each girl's monthly dose goes for well over $4000

The girls are sleeping better at night - which is just great. Generally they only wake up once to eat. They're pretty happy babies and they love to laugh and "talk" a lot.

Happy Birthday Lolo

Today the girls want to wish their Lolo a happy birthday. In honor of the day I have uploaded a little video birthday card. The quality isn't that great - I'm still trying to get the editing and encoding software down. I'm using YouTube to host the video.

It seems like we've had a busy couple of weeks. Last weekend we had a visit from the girls' Ninang Jenniffer and her 4 boys. The boys were very well behaved and seemed to enjoy a visit with the girls after their trip to the aquarium. Here is Jenniffer with Garrett and Wyatt with Sophia.

And here I am with Ninong Jason, Colby, Morgan, and Mila. The girls mostly slept through the entire visit.

The girls are getting so big - I'm guessing that Mila is creeping up over 12 pounds now. She definitely feels heavier now. They both love to stand up - supported, of course. Both girls laugh and coo a lot more and smile all the time.

Here's a picture of Mila with our nanny Kara. She's reading a book that has mirrors on every page. Mila loves this one, so I joke that she's vain.

The girls seem to be eating more frequently during the day and going for longer stretches of sleep at night. We're anticipating that golden day when they sleep through the night. Until then, I get free coffee at work.

We are still planning on taking the girls to Maine for Easter weekend. There are still a few family members that they haven't met there. The girls take to the car well, so I think they'll like the trip.

Our Growing Girls Get a Visit From Their Papa and Grammy Jean

On Saturday the girls had a visit from their Papa and Grammy Jean. Here is Sophia with Papa. She just fell in love with him, and smiled and played with him until she fell asleep on him. Mila was asleepwhen they first arrived, and it took a while for her to wake up.

Eventually Mila woke up; here she is whith Grammy Jean. Both girls were great with the grandparents - they are getting much more social.

Both hadn't seen the girls since they were 2 weeks old, so I'm sure they were surprised to see how much the girls have changed.

Also, the girls' Tita Althea came by to visit as well. Here is Althea with Miss Mila.

The girls had a pediatrician appointment this morning and we're happy to report that Mila is now 11 lbs 9 oz and Sophia is 11 lbs 3 oz. In less than 4 months, Sophia has increased her bodyweight over 3.5 times. Holding them as much as we do, it's pretty clear they are getting heavier. I should be sporting some big muscles soon.

Both the twins seem to be sleeping much better at night. We changed their formula so it has more water content, and we stopped giving them iron. Both of these things seem to have alleviated some of their tummy-aches. We are also giving them breast-milk twice a day now.

The girls smile and laugh a lot, and it is much more social. We had them evaluated by a program called 'Early Intervention' which aims to make sure the girls are developing well. They were above their adjusted age, and at their real age for each of the criteria they measure. This is great since some preemies can take as long as two years to catch up to their age group developmentally.

Here's a great picture of Papa holding both girls at the same time. Together they are just a little bit heavier then their cousin Zachary, so Papa was up to the task.

We are hoping to take the girls to Maine for Easter weekend. Hopefully they will be able to meet their Mimi and some of their cousins that weekend. They have been really healthy and strong, so the trip might be good for them. Like many babies, they love to sleep in the car.

Our Fine Day Out

Yesterday the girls had a new adventure. We decided to take them out on the town for about an hour after an appointment. Since it was cold, we took them to the Prudential Center mall and had lunch. The Prudential center is relatively quiet and not as crowded as some other malls.

As a proud dad it was fun to see a couple dozen people stop in their tracks who had to comment on how cute they are. Although, one lady reached in and touched Mila's pacifier (I don't know why). We had to confiscate it to stave off the stranger germs, but we had brought a spare. I had fun pushing them around and, of course, I love it when people fawn over the girls.

On the Nanny front, we are fortunate to have found a great new nanny. Kara is a wonderful young woman who lives one town over. She shows up early every day - and is great with the girls. Myra and I really like her. She seems to love taking care of them. It makes me feel better about leaving for work in the morning.

Speaking of work, I start my new job at Fidelity tomorrow. I am looking forward to the change.

That's all for now. As usual, I'll post a couple of cute pix of the girls. Here's a great shot of the girls duking it out in the crib. That's Sophia on the left with a blow to Mila's head. And, of course, Mila is countering. No, I did not pose them like that, they do this on their own.

Here's Mila in the stroller at the mall. She loved to look all around at everything and really enjoyed herself. Both girls were great and never cried or fussed. Generally new people and sensations can overstimulate them, requiring a couple of days to calm them down. They handled this outing very well.

Sophia mostly slept through the whole thing. I think the movement of the stroller lulls her to sleep.

Happy Valentine's Day - The Girls are 3 Months

Our girls turned 3 months old yesterday! They are getting so big, and developing new tricks every day. Here is a picture of Sophia with her Tita Georgie.

Sophia smiled ear to ear and laughed out loud for the first time the other day - a trick she has since repeated a few times. Mila appears to be trying desperately to talk and trying out all the new sounds she can make.

Turning 3 months is not without its trials and tribulations. Grammy Collins returned to San Antonio on Wednesday during the storm - it took her about 15 hours to get there with all the delays. She was an amazing help and the girls will really miss her.

We hired, and already fired our first nanny. Apparently good nannies are very difficult to find. The nanny we hired was good with the girls, but couldn't show up on time, and didn't think it was her responsibility to show up when we expected her. So Myra is taking a couple days off to try to find a new nanny. We are trying to avoid an agency, because they charge around $3000 for a placement.

Here's Mila holding on to her bink. I call her new favorite game the binky game. She spits out her bink every ten to fifteen minutes and then whines until daddy gives it back to her. Her favorite time to play is 3am.

I don't know exactly how big the girls are now, but they are starting to outgrow the ability to both sleep in their pack and play. They can now reach each other and frequently whacking ensues.

They both feel really heavy as well. Their next appointment at the doctor's is on March 5th. I can hardly wait and am tempted to buy a baby scale. They both have healthy appetites and equally healthy diaper-output. In computer science terms we would say that their systems are highly interactive.

Other than the whacking and the binky game - the girls sleep pretty well at night. Sometimes they go as long as 5 straight hours.

I'm going to attempt to get some video up here on the blog. No promises, my lame laptop is having a hard time with the video editing software.

I apologize for not updating the blog more frequently but, as you can imagine, the girls keep me quite busy. When I get a spare moment I like to care of little things like eating, sleeping, and using the restroom. I am starting a new job on February 26th - I'll be back at Fidelity doing some cool interactive stuff. I'll be happier there, and we'll actually be able to afford a nanny with the pay increase.

Oh yeah - here is a picture of the girls' Ninong Jason two-fisting the suds. He says he's given up beer for Lent, I can hear his liver screaming in protest.

Our Chubby Babies

The girls went in for a pediatric appointment to get a shot of Synergist. That's an antibody which helps them resist RSV, a virus dangerous to preemies.

As of this morning Mila was tipping the scales at 9lbs 9oz and Sophia at 9lbs 2oz! They're growing like crazy!

They are both developing their funny little personalities. Today Sophia was punching Mila in the face, and Mila just started sucking on Sophia's hand.

Here's Mila all dressed up to go outside in the cold. Of course, every time they have to go to the pediatrician we have record cold.

Here's Sophia in her snappy sweater.

Ups and Downs

The girls continue to do very well - growing, eating, pooping. They are both developing a lot of neck control and hand-eye coordination.

Personally we had an up and down weekend. Yesterday I was offered a new job back at Fidelity, which I am very excited about. Today we had lined up 3 potential nannies to interview. Not one showed up or even called. It was a frustrating day.

Not much else to report, so here are some new pix. Notice how big the girls are getting.

Here's Mama with Miss Sophia. She's very strong and will stand up on your knees of you hold her under her arms. She likes to grab on to people's bottom lip and pull.

Here's Mila working on a bink. This particular bink is attached to a stuffed duck. This ingenious contraption was a gift from friends Sarah and David who also have twins. The girls love these and it is easier for them to hang on to the bink.

Our Big Girls and Their Big Day

Our little pumpkins are getting HUGE! We had a pediatric appointment yesterday and Mila is now 8lbs 9oz, and Sophia is 8lbs 6oz. Mila is now on the chart for full term babies her age.

The girls' Grammy Collins is here for the next three weeks helping out while we look for a nanny. The girls absolutely love her and she's being a big help.

Here's Grammy with Miss Mila chilling out on her shoulder. Grammy helped out with bringing the girls to the doctor's while their mom worked at home.

The girls had another two vaccinations - and they both did really well. These vaccinations can cause fevers and make the girls cranky, but they were very well-behaved.

This brings up something very important that bears repeating. We've had several people recently who've wanted to visit with the girls who we've had to refuse because they have been sick. Let me clarify, the rule is that you have to be well for three consecutive weeks in order to visit the kids. You can't have had a cold, or stomach problems, or even a cold sore. This isn't an arbitrary rule, and we aren't being paranoid. This is straight from our medical professionals.

We're sorry when we have to tell people they have to wait. We know that, if you don't have premature children of your own, this may be difficult to understand. A virus that may give you or me a common cold can be life threatening for the girls. Even if you have been well for two weeks, you can still carry a disease which can be serious. For the first year or so, premature babies do not have the immune systems of full-term babies.

Speaking of preemies, we had a visit from our good friends Kirk and Christine today. They brought their son Quinn who was born at just over 23 weeks. He's now over a year old and doing extremely well. You can see just how big he now is here on his dad's lap. Keep in mind he was 1lb 4oz at birth.

Here is Ninong Jason with Mila and Tita Christine with Sophia today

The Girls are Zero!

Yesterday was the girls actual due date so their adjusted age is zero! They're actually 9 weeks old.

We had a pediatric appointment yesterday to get some vaccinations. The shots made the girls cranky all day. They actually had us give the girls Tylenol when we got home to try to ease the pain a bit. They were not happy campers. They have to get two more vaccinations next week - one of which can cause a fever.

I have to say that I believe vaccinations are good, but I think we may be going overboard. The kids will get 15+ vaccinations in their first year. Merk alone is expecting their vaccine sales to top $18 billion a year. I get a little nervous when health decisions are mixed up with that much money. At least the FDA has made them remove mercury from pediatric vaccines. No matter what the FDA or drug companies would have you believe, injecting infants with levels of mercury that would be toxic to eat is a bad idea.

OK - I'll climb back down from my soap-box.

Sophia is now 7 pounds 12 oz and Mila 7 pounds 13 oz. They are catching up to where full-term babies would be at their age, but have a little bit to go.

Here's a photo of Sophia doing her best bodybuilder pose on her boppy. Both girls love the boppy, and it's easy for me to prop them on the couch next to me and kep an eye on them.

Here is Mila in hers.

Our First Week Home - Two Months Old Today

You may have noticed that I haven't updated this blog in a few days. Most new parents will begin to understand how little sleep and free-time I have on my hands these days. Only parents of twins can truly appreciate just how busy Myra and I are.

I am certainly not complaining. We are very happy to have both girls home.

They're doing very, both are now over 7 pounds. They are essentially full-term babies now, even though they were born 2 months ago. The major difference is their immune systems will be immature for their first year. If you want to visit them, you can't have been sick for the past three weeks, and we're going to slather you with hand-sanitizer.

The girls still wake up at odd hours - it seems their days and nights were switched. We're working on that and on getting their schedules in sync.

Here is a cute pic of the girls holding hands. They do this a lot and will actually scoot toward eachother if we put them too far apart in the crib.

Here is Mila kicking back in her bouncy-chair. She seems to enjoy it. The blue thing on her left is a stuffed moon with a ring and some plastic stars attached. She's a little less interested in that then in staring at daddy. I guess I should be flattered.

And this is Miss Sophia in her bouncy-chair. I like to set the girls up in their chairs and sit between them on the floor and read to them.

Sophia Home! Twins Reunited!

Yesterday was a great day... we went to the hospital and picked up Sophia. Our family's now all home! We can't begin to describe how happy Myra and I are now that the girls are home and doing so well.

We brought Mila with us to pick her up and when we were ready to go a page went out to the whole NICU. All thedoctors and nurses came by to say goodbye and congratulate us. They even the give the girls a little diploma for graduating from the NICU.

When we brought them home we put the girls in the same crib, and they immediately grabbed eachother's hand. (No, I didn't get a picture of that - shame on me)

Sophia had a bit of a rough night getting used to the new diggs, and kept us awake pretty much all night. We certainly expected to have some sleepless nights with twins, and we're not complaining.

The Visiting Nurse came today and checked out both girls. They are doing great. Mila is now 7 pounds! Sophia is 6 lbs 12oz. They have their first pediatrician appointment tomorrow..

Here are some pix:

Here's Sophia almost ready to go. Her hat wound up being about 4 sizes too big. As long as it was out of her eyes, she didn't care.

Here she is all strapped in and ready to leave. By the way, her beautiful little sweater was made by Mrs. Grant, a good friend and mom to our friends Jason and Jenniffer (yes there are two 'f's and two 'n's). She also made us some gorgeous buntings and hats for the girls.

Finally, here are the girls reunited at last. I'll let you guess who is who and tell you the answer at the end of this entry. It's getting harder for even us to tell them apart - in profile it's especially difficult. Head on Mila's face is rounder, while Sophia's more oval. Sophia also has comparitively chubbier cheeks.

Last night the girl's Ninong (godfather) Jason and their auntie Christine came by and we ordered Chinese food. Chistine's son Quinn was a preemie too and spent a lot of time in the NICU. He's a little over a year old now, a big boy, off all his meds, and doing really well. Christine held Sophia for a while last night while I held Sophia.

So the answers to who's who in the picture above: Miss Sophia is on the left, and Miss Mila is on the right.