Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Mischievous Munchkins

Why does mommy and daddy have the tv fenced off?

Let's crawl under mommy.

Sophie takes a break.

Hannah says quickly follow me Soph.


This is what the girls think of junk mail.

Going on day 7 for mommy and the girls... The girls have a lot of energy and I realize now that I am so out of shape that I don't know how I got here hahahaha! Just a bit of humor.

The girls' curiosity is endless and as they discover their world around them I can't seem to keep up. They seem to know what they shouldn't touch or do and keep at it too. The positive and more funny part of it all is what they choose to mimic and what they don't. Today I noticed that as I was feeding Sophie she was trying to blow on her food, because she has seen me do it to cool off the food. It was so cute! They both picked up the phrase "toot toot" which we learned from Lauren and Auntie Liz. We use that phrase to blow their noses. Hannah has caught a cold again and every time she sneezes I say, "toot toot", so now they say "toot toot".

We learned ring around the rosies yesterday (more like mommy's version vs gymboree which they don't seem to like to hold the rope, but they like holding each other's hands). Sophie, Hannah, and I all held hands in a circle and sang the song. They like it so much we do it over and over until I can't anymore (the old and out of shape factor, the whole we all fall down, let's do it again....yeah).

I'm trying to teach the girls new signs and I'm learning as we go along too we learned the following: red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple, colors, rainbow, friend, share, thank you, book, read, veggies, fruits, pears, banana, watermelon, and more, as in I'm sure you don't want to read the whole list. They use these signs daily: book, ball, hat, please, milk, more, and eat. I've been lagging on teaching and incorporating more signs, so shame on mommy. The signs do help in communicating what they want, instead of them just repeating "mama, mama, mama!".

As for speech, they repeat the words I say, but do not quite understand them yet. The words they do understand when they say it are mommy, mama, dada, Emi, NO!, Elmo, uh oh, bubbles, ball, milk, mum mum (food), dog, woof woof (when they hear a dog), caaaa (cat or sometimes they say keeks), moo for cow, baaa or maa for goat or sheep, peas (please), more, nana (banana), toot toot, one, two, boo (blue), ello (yellow), jie jie (sister in Chinese), haya (more in Chinese), hewo (hello), hi, and bye.

I really want them to learn Japanese, but I think I've become my parents in that arena. Since I don't know enough to have them fluent (just like my parents), but I try to teach them hiragana, words and simple phrases I know. So far nothing sticks as in they don't use anything I try to teach them, but they could be confused as I throw in Baby Einstein's Spanish and French too.


This is how I feel

Exhausted like Soph Soph and Hann Hann.


Monday, December 29, 2008

Haru Ga Kita

This is a song that mommy sang as a little girl and she's teaching us it. Even the wiggles know it!

Transliteration - (Rōmanji)
Haru Ga Kita (Spring Has Come)


Haru ga kita
Haru ga kita
Doko ni kita?
Yama ni kita
Sato ni kita
No ni mo kita

Hana ga saku
Hana ga saku
Doko ni saku?
Yama ni saku
Sato ni saku
No ni mo saku

Tori ga naku
Tori ga naku
Doko ni naku?
Yama ni naku
Sato ni naku
No ni mo naku

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Christmas day


Opening presents...Hannah hugging Nana Kage's present.

Happy Holidays!

Sorry it's been a while for a post, but mommy's been comatose lately. I think it's because she's not used to us running around and getting into things. After all we are a handful and we're at this stage where we like to touch, break things, climb, and run all over the place.

We had a nice Christmas at home in the east bay. Mommy and Daddy got us great Elmo house slippers which we absolutely love. We seem to never tire of the little red guy.

Hannah loves bunnies and kittens and will squeal in delight if she sees them on tv, in the store, etc. She also loves to pick up play phones, real cellphones, anything that resembles a phone and say, "Hewooo!". She also has uncanny timing on answering anyone within earshot with the word "No!". Hann can also say and sign "more" and "please" which she uses over and over. Mommy can't imagine how much food can be packed into such a little package.

Sophie is a parrot these days and will repeat almost any word you say or any action you do. She also has an obsession with wanting to play with the toy any child has in their posession. Soph Soph loves to feed mommy and loves to eat anything mommy is eating...hmmmm.... Sophie likes to pull things off the dining room table. Sophie is teething like mad and of course she puts everything into her mouth.

Similarities:

Both girls love to play hide and seek and use daddy as the playground. Both girls like trying to feed themselves food. Both girls favorite food is Chinese whether it's dim sum, chow mein, fried rice, or fish, they will never spit out Chinese food. Both girls can eat bananas without it being cut up now because both girls have alot of teeth. Both girls love eating ahi and rice. Both girls love Elmo. They really like yogurt. Singing and dancing happens everyday. They like to be read stories. Both mimic words and actions. Both babies love to take baths. And lastly both hate brushing their teeth!

Opposites:

Sophie likes chicken hotdogs, Hannah doesn't.
Sophie likes eggs, Hannah isn't really keen on it but will eat it.
Hannah likes slices of apples, Sophie doesn't.
Hannah likes blueberries, Sophie doesn't.
Hannah likes veggies, Sophie doesn't.
Hannah gets frustrated when you show her how to do things, but Sophie doesn't.
Hannah likes to be carried, Sophie likes to run around.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hannah curious about her highchair.

Sophie plays with her new toys.

Hannah discovering gravity.

Daddy showing us how to play with the jack-in-a-box monkey toy that cousin Julius gave to us.

The mischievous duo.

Thank you Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Kuwata, Nana Kage and Grandpa Kage, Grandma and Grandpa Sakai, Auntie Joy Chun and family, Auntie Liz, Uncle Eric, BFF Lauren, Eileen and family, Auntie Dana, Auntie Flo and Uncle Ray, Auntie Sindy Mostoles and family, Auntie Vincy and Uncle Micah for the Christmas presents.



Monday, December 22, 2008

Winter morning play

Hannah explores the newly configured living room and look at the Christmas tree Daddy finally put up :)


Sophie gets to really play with Emi now that we took down the baby gates.


Friday, December 19, 2008

The man in the red suit




Ok, so maybe this wasn't a good idea. Mommy had good intentions to start a yearly ritual that Nana Kage had started when mommy was a little girl, but I guess we take after Uncle Chris (oops :P Hi Chrispy!!!), as in this man in the red suit is just too scary. Maybe next year we'll remember he wasn't so scary after all.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Gymboree time

This entry is dedicated to the grandparents this is what your granddaughters do every Sunday afternoon...

Mommy put our nametags where people can see it...hmmm....

Here the girls play with one of their friends.

You pull and I'll ride ok?

Sophie crawls through the colorful tunnel.

Here comes Sophie!

Here comes Hannah!

Mommy just rolls me around.

Hannah really enjoys bubble time. Teacher Cara blows bubbles all around the room and Hannah usually says "Buh-ble!".

Sophie loves bubble time too. Although in this pic she doesn't look too enthused.

On the colorful parachute the girls play with toys along with the other babies.


Sunday, December 14, 2008

Holiday Party

Today we had fun over at the Ko's and got to celebrate a little Christmas cheer early with some friends (theme being "cheese" and the ritualistic elephant gift exchange). The girls had fun playing with Lauren and by the time it was the twin's bedtime they had crashed hard.

Thanks Auntie Liz, Uncle Eric and Lauren!

Lauren playing upstairs.

Hannah took a nap on Auntie Flo.

My Sophie build-a-baby.

Sophie closing the door to lock herself into Lauren's room.



Tuesday, December 9, 2008

15 month check up stats

Monday was the girls' 15 month check up.

Here are the stats...

Sophie
Height - 30.25" (according to the sheet, but at the appointment the nurse said 30.5")
Weight - 23 lbs

Hannah
Height - 28.5"
Weight - 19 lbs (according to the sheet, but at the appointment the nurse said 18 lbs...hmmm..)

Anyway the doc said they look good - Sophie is at 50% for height and weight and Hannah is 3-5%. The doc reassured me that Hannah was growing at a "normal" rate and that the scale she was based off was made up of more Caucasian babies. He said this because I was concerned since she was a lot smaller that she may remain that way and he said that is a very legitimate question, however I don't need to jump the gun since there was plenty of time for Hannah to catch up. In other words, stop being a paranoid newb of a mommy.

So like Santa, the girls did not remember nor like Doc V. Before the crying episode, shots, etc the doc had warned us prior to starting. He said at this age they start to remember and associate. This will be their turning point where they associate the medical office as a bad place and that Doc V is the man that causes pain with needles. And like black magic when he started to look at them they started to cry instantly. Of course they had once again the sympathy cries for one another.

Another discovery besides sympathy pain is Sophie and Hannah can sing Eensy Weensy Spider and do some of the hand gestures that go along with it.


Hannah happy after her bath.

Sophie not happy about going to bed.

Sophie and Hannah with their pre-Christmas presents that mommy thought were so cute and had to get for them.


The girls preparing for their future iphones.



Sunday, December 7, 2008

Playing next door

Auntie Liz gets Hannah to look at the camera.

Hannah in action.

Lauren and Sophie learn to "share".

Saturday we braved the mall out in Pleasanton (the crowds weren't too bad surprisingly) and mommy was really set on the yearly ritual of us visiting the man in red. Apparently we're a lot more aware about who we think is scary and Santa is not only of of them, but probably at the top of the list. So mommy isn't quite sure if she wants to send out sad baby Christmas cards to everyone, she's still contemplating. We have three pics of us crying hysterically before mommy and daddy saved us from that strange man dressed in red. All the other mommies thought it was cute and Santa wanted copies of our photo session too. These adults are so mean!!!


Thank you Auntie Liz for all the pics!


Saturday, December 6, 2008

Been a long time

As mommy falls behind in getting our pictures taken and getting Christmas cards sent out, she finally has time to post some pics of us (I love the Hula Chicks t-shirt!). This week has been quite sad as we hardly saw mommy, she was too busy being in training and taking exams.

Sophie can be a little too aggressive with Hannah, but she watches mommy comfort Hannah from pain and decides to do the same after she makes Hannah cry. Sophie pats her on the back to comfort Hannah.

Sophie sitting in her chair chatting.

Hannah in action.

The girls play with daddy.

Here Sophie gives love to her new hippo friend.

Hannah is examining the wooden kitchen set that the Ong's gave to us (thank you Audrey!).

Special thanks to Uncle Ray and Auntie Flo for taking care of Emi while mommy was busy and to Auntie Liz for making us dinner one night :)