Coolness All Around.............

How have I let 10 days go by without posting??? Oh, that's right, I am the mom of 6 month old twins!!! Yes, the boys turned half a year old on the 5th. Jeff and I were trying to decide how to celebrate the big day.....I had contemplated making cupcakes (my all time favorite dessert!) and passing them out to our friends in the neighborhood. Ran out of time for that. Then both of us realized that this celebration of the first 6 months of their lives, was not so much a celebration for them, really more of a celebration for us. We survived the first half a year of being first time parents to not one, but TWO babies!!! And while this new chapter of our lives has been filled with exhaustion, tears, exhaustion, fears, exhaustion, stress, exhaustion, nervousness, and,oh, more exhaustion, it has been equally filled with joy, amazement, laughter, and amusement. I think back to that day when they arrived into this world......It was a cold, rainy day...somewhat chaotic as I had to be discharged from the hospital only to be readmitted an hour later. The first sight of each of them and our hearts seem to have doubled in size instantly!! Okay, I'm making myself cry...time for some pictures!

A toast to us and our boys! (Bella was excited too!)

Opah Cay ("opah" means grandma in Malaysian) made some awesome quilts for the boys. She embroidered all of their stats on each quilt. We will do an "official" 6 month shoot this weekend.

Check out the drool!

You probably noticed that Blake is wearing a "cool dude" helmet. Over the course of the last few months he has developed a flat spot on the right side of his head. Our pediatrician checked it out and recommended this course of treatment. He had this special helmet fitted just for him and he wears it 23 hours a day! We are hoping it will only take 2-3 months for his head to return to a more rounded shape. We had a choice of designs/ colors for the helmet, but with football season upon us, we decided on plain white. After we get a hold of some Chargers stickers/ decals, Blakey will be the coolest Bolts fan around!!

So, back to the flat spot. The reason he developed a flat spot on the right side is due to some tension on the right side of his neck. This was most likely caused by a lack of space in-utero. (Not only was Nico hogging up all the food in there, apparently he was hogging up all of the space too!) So Blake has been working with Teacher Andrea (a physical therapist) weekly to help ease the tension on that side resulting in him having a full range of motion in his neck. Here are some pics of Blakey working hard!

So onto other "cool" news....

My niece Carolina is one cool kid! She is very competitive and looks forward to entering something in the County Fair each year. This year she decided to enter a drawing. After contemplating the subject of her piece for a while, she announced to us that she wanted to make a portrait of the boys because she needed something "that inspired her". She studied a picture of the boys and here is the end result........

As you can see, she won second place...To us, she will always come in first! We love you Carolina and when the boys get older they will be so honored that you made this drawing for/of them!

In other news, both boys are rolling around all over the place! (in both directions) Blakey appears to be our big eater. So far they have tried rice cereal, oatmeal, applesauce, bananas, avocado, and squash. Nico can honestly care less about solids. Every time I put the spoon in his mouth he looks like he is going to throw up! We will be trying out carrots tomorrow!

We have been "sleep training" over the last week. The hope is that the boys will learn how to fall asleep at the same time in their cribs during nap time. We had some rough moments at the beginning, but they are doing better now. They have both been sleeping while I've been writing. Life has been so much better when they nap at the same time. It allows me to get things done around the house. One of these days I might even be able to nap with them!!

Hope you are all well! We have their 6 month appointment at the doctor's office in a couple of weeks.....

hugs and kisses and cheers to all of you who have helped us make it these first 6 months-

Rebeca, Jeff, Blake and Nicolas

Pictures of the Week

So Jeff and I thought it would be a fun idea to find the cutest picture of each boy and have a weekly "Picture of the Week" post.....As I was looking though my pictures I realized pretty quickly that picking "the cutest" picture would be impossible..........Hate to sound biased, but we sure have some darn cute babies in this house!

"The Jumperoo"

Well, it's been an exciting week. First the cereal then we broke out the jumperoo. Nico went in first. He quickly gave us his sign of approval- his ear to ear grin! Jeff is working on the video......

As you can see, their feet don't quite reach the ground yet so we placed the phone book on the ground to give them some leverage.

We thought the phone book was a good idea until Nicolas "danced" all over it, tearing it apart. Luckily we have a few others sitting in the cabinet!

Look at those thunder thighs!

Blakey looking pretty happy in the jumperoo too!

I just LOVE this picture!! Blake always has the cutest expressions! He is enjoying tummy time more and more each day!

Another personal favorite. Nico actually fell asleep with his bib in his mouth! After I took the picture, I carefully took it out. It must have tasted good.

Last weekend we went down to Long Beach for a Fassett family reunion. As you can see in the picture, it was quite a large group. We especially enjoyed chatting with Jeff's second cousin, Elise, who is the mother of 8 year old triplet girls!!

The other night I told Jeff to go choose a book for story time. Being the good father that he is, he came back with the "Word a Day Vocabulary Builder". Got to start them young, I guess! The boys look so entertained, don't they?

Believe it or not the boys will be celebrating their 6 month birthdays next week!! I think we will ring in the big day with a yummy jar of carrots!!

hugs to all-

Rebeca

A Little of This and a Little of That

So..................the big news around here is that the boys had their first "meal" on Saturday. You can let the video do all the talkin' on how it went! Clearly, we were far more excited for them to eat cereal than they were! (**sidenote- The boys DID NOT sleep through the night that night like we were promised. We want our money back!)


We hope it doesn't take too long to download on your computer!




And a hodge podge of pictures for your viewing pleasure........

Nico enjoying a little Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

Good job Blakey!




Serina/ Blake and Carolina/ Nico swingin' with the boys!

Nap time.....for dad!

Nico and Evan........two very cool dudes!

Blakey flying high!

There are those sunglasses again..............

Nico enjoying his first time in a real swing! (not the kind that requires batteries!)

That's all for now..................we'll keep you posted on the cereal situation!

Hugs,

Rebeca

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Hey Friends and Family-

Last weekend we were brave and ventured out to boiling Bakersfield to visit our friends Tami and Craig and their two wonderful children, Emma and Cole. (Emma was the adorable flower girl in our wedding who sat next to Andrew in the wagon.)

We had a fun, fun time despite the triple digit temps and enjoyed some R and R in the pool. Emma and Cole love the boys and are very good helpers.


In preparation for the trip the boys tried on some hats:

Nico looking good in his Dodger Blue cap.

"All aboard" says Blakey.

"We're ready to go!"




Emma and Nico






Emma getting in on some Nico snuggles.

Nico slept through pool time but Blakey enjoyed being in the water. (most of the time!)

Cole, Jeff and Blake chillin' in what felt like bath water!

"I was just kidding Blakey, there are no sharks in this pool!"

"Real funny dad!"

Other than that the boys are moving around EVERYWHERE! The days of leaving them on the couch "for just a quick second" are long gone! They are scooching all over the place! I really can't imagine what it is going to be like when they are crawling around everywhere.

The boys will be 6 months old in a couple of weeks and we will be trying out some solid foods soon! I'm sure that will make for some fun pictures!

Hope you are all well and staying cool this summer!

Love,

Rebeca

Busy Babbling Boys

We have been busy, busy, busy over here! My dad and step mom have been staying with us over the last couple of weeks and my sister is visiting from Arizona. So the boys have been out and about hangin' with their cousins at the beach, mall, book store, etc, etc.

On the 4th we went to our usual spot near the local community college. We packed a picnic dinner and the kids ran around until it was time to watch the fireworks. The boys fell asleep in their stroller about half an hour before showtime. We were quite nervous that the fireworks would wake them up and startle them....but, nope, they must have been very tired because they slept through the whole thing!

Here are a few pictures from that day.......

A close up of Nico

Blakey with his hat on...we though it might muffle the sound a bit!

My sisters and me with the boys

My nephew Evan (Ryan is in the background....mmm...he had recently enjoyed some cupcakes!) with Blake

My niece Serina with Nico............he wasn't too happy......it was right before bedtime!

This is Jeff's picture from our Meet the Babies shower. Arden and Tristan are the boy/ girl twins holding Nico and Blake. Natalie and Samson are also boy/ girl twins..........We thought this was a cute picture!

My sister took a whole bunch of pictures when we were at the beach so I'm anxious to get those and post some......There is a potential trip to the zoo in the coming days and I will definitely have my camera for that one!

Oh, there continues to be a lot of babbling going on in our house! Each morning (very early morning) I get to wake up to one of the boys talking away on the monitor......It really is sooooo cute and I need to get some video footage ASAP!

hugs and kisses-

Rebeca

Enjoy the pictures!

Yes, I know, not a very creative title but it sums up this post.........

The Fassett Family

Daddy and Nico

Grandpa Jim and Nico



Tio Daniel and Blake



Aunt Marilyn signing our picture

Tia Teresa and Nico

Cousin Hillary and Blake

Our good friend Chris giving Nico a big smooch!

Carolina holding her cousin Blake

Mary holding Nico while TJ admires his eyelashes. Yes, we know how long they are!

Daddy and Blake- Can't get much cuter than that!

There is one more picture coming that Jeff took. We ended up with 3 sets of twins at the shower, all 3 years apart. Jeff has that picture and will not release it to me until it has been properly edited.

In other news, we are looking forward to celebrating the 4th with the boys. Uncle Warren and Aunt Penny will be meeting the boys for the first time this weekend so that will be exciting!

Both boys are starting to grab at things now and everything is going straight into the mouth- blankets, burpies, etc, you name it and it's in there- watch out!

My niece Carolina is over tonight and we had a delightful first- Blake was in his bouncy seat in the family room. The dogs were celebrating their realization that they were actually going to go for a walk. As they wrestled each other excitedly Blakey began to giggle away. It was adorable and I am sooooo sad that it was not recorded on camera! He was entertained by them for a good 5 minutes or so.........We know it is only the beginning of the dog show so I am sure we will have the opportunity again to capture the giggles on video!

Later on in the night Jeff put on a Beatles record at my niece's request- she's only 13, but very mature! Low and behold, Nico fell asleep for the night listening to John and Paul singing away! Yes, he is our son!! Blakey was too excited to sleep, but fell asleep shortly thereafter in his crib!

Okay, off to bed. Jeff has a wedding tomorrow so I must sleep when I can!

Hugs to all and I hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend,

Rebeca

Growin' Boys and More............

Hi All-
Things here are good, but busy as usual! The boys had their big 4 month checkup last Monday and it went very well. We were smart this time and gave them Tylenol before the shots and that made for a much more pleasant evening than last time!

Blakey Boy weighed 10 lbs, 8 ozs and Nicolas weighed 12 lbs, 14 ozs. What was interesting was that their heights were only different by about half an inch. So we think Nicolas is going to have a body like Grandpa Jim (Jeff's dad) and Blake is going to have a body like Grandpa Bob (my dad). They are both now wearing 3-6 months clothes which makes my life much easier when doing laundry and putting away clothes!!

Dr. Pecht was happy with their weight gain and the development of the age appropriate milestones. They are doing everything that a baby born full term at 4 months should be doing with the exception of grabbing for things. We are working on that skill and the are now just starting to grab things and hold on to them.

The doctor was extremely impressed with their verbal skills and actually said the way in which they are talking is what he would expect from a 5 or 6 month old..............I can see days of nonstop chitter chatter in our future!

On another note, last weekend we enjoyed a very nice Meet the Babies shower hosted by Nancy and Jim. We had great fun introducing the boys to new members of the family and new friends. Uncle Dave took pictures but of course they are in a format that makes it impossible for me to open......I have to wait for Jeff to do it!! I'll post some as soon as I can. The boys did great as they got passed around from person to person. It was a special day for us!

The next couple of weeks will be exciting for us as my dad and stepmom are visiting from Oregon for a while. Today we had a big outing to the local roller skating rink to watch my nephew in his roller skating class. It was then off to lunch and Barnes and Noble. We are looking forward to spending the 4th of July with the family. ( my sister will be coming out from Arizona with the kids) We will have some big outings with all of the cousins and the boys might even get to have their first trip to the zoo.....Stay tuned for pictures!

Hope you are all well!
Love, Rebeca