Some 3-Month Milestones

Zora and Noemi are almost 4 months old, but because they came early they're developmentally somewhere around 3 months. They have been hard at work gaining more control of their bodies and beginning to come into their own personalities. Some things they can now do:

• Make eye contact and follow objects with their eyes and by turning their heads
• Smile and (sort of) laugh (Zora especially)
• Notice each other
• Hold their heads up when on their tummies
• Hold their heads and upper bodies away from our shoulders when we're carrying them
• Push against our legs or the ground to "stand up" with us holding them
• Open their hands (but they still get lots of finger lint!)
• Bring their hands together at the mid-line of their bodies and bring them to their mouths (Noemi especially)
• Start to reach out and touch/grab things (although you might not be able to tell that's what they're trying to do)
• Stay awake for a couple of hours at a time
• Sleep for several hours at night
• Coo, gurgle, and squeal to try to communicate
• Get all their nutrition from breastfeeding (no more prepping/washing bottles and pumping!)

Some of these might not seem momentous, but they're all big steps. I'm sure they're doing a bunch of other new stuff that is so subtle we don't even notice it. (Thanks to Oma for some of the pics below.)

Zora pushing up on Oma

Zora laughing

Noemi smiling

Noemi lifting her head

Zora making eye contact (and a funny face)

The girls checking each other out under Mowgli's watchful eye

Noemi bringing her hands to her mouth

Newborns No More

I just finished clearing out the newborn-size clothing from Zora and Noemi's dresser and am feeling slightly nostalgic for their days as wee peanuts. They're both solidly in 0-3 month clothes now (with Noemi pushing on into 3-6 month clothes any day now) and it's hard to remember when they were still too small to fit into their NB onesies. Funnily enough, my mom just happened to have this video of the girls from her visit in April, back when opening their eyes was a major accomplishment. Now not only are they opening their eyes, they are really into making eye contact, smiling, and responding to your expression and voice. And they're twice as big!

More Oma!

The girls can't get enough of their Oma. She's quickly catching up to Ceiling Fan for favorite thing in the house. In between soothing babies and playing peekaboo she's also been a huge help around the house with cooking and cleaning. Good thing we have her for another week and a half - don't know what we'd do without her!

The cutest booties that a co-worker knit for the girls

Real Food Rising Summer Program Begins!

Mike's hard work came to fruition on Monday when the first summer program of Real Food Rising kicked off with 10 youth farmers, 2 crew leaders, 1 agriculture intern, and a 1 very tired program director/head farmer/youth coordinator/father of twins. Oh, and it was 98 degrees too. Go Mikey! He's been working on getting this going in some fashion since we arrived in Utah so this is very exciting. The girls are so proud of their daddy.

Some shots of one of RFR's farms a few days before the program started (Mike had already planted most of the crops with the help of volunteers):

Bonus shot of the girls! They're thinking about how awesome their dad is.

Opa and Oma Come to Visit

Opa and Oma came all the way from Braintree, MA to help out around the house and with the girls. Opa was just here a week, but he got a lot of good cuddling in, alongside running a 5K, helping to re-landscape our front yard, drinking local beer, and getting a haircut, among many other projects. The man's a machine!

Luckily Oma's staying on another couple of weeks so we'll get to post lots more pictures of her in the future.

The 5K was to raise money for Burmese refugees. Opa ran and Oma walked.

Nothing Beats a Good Ceiling Fan

Adults like ceiling fans in the summer for the cool breeze. Babies love them for their contrast with the white ceiling and their hypnotic spinning. Hours of entertainment. Zora especially can't get enough; whenever she seems to be gazing wistfully off into space, thinking deep thoughts, she's really just mesmerized by a ceiling fan. If she happens to be "looking at the camera," it's likely we just got in her line of sight to the fan.

Starting to Have Expressions (and Opinions about Sports)

The rivalry heats up. Punches were thrown.

Some pretty great faces.

"I've got my eye on you..."

Love Zora's face: so pensive and wistful.