Huddle Up!

Thursday Jake came home from school with Batman painted on his face...very cute, but not so fun to clean off.  But, Nana, Erica and Granddaddy stopped by very briefly before heading to dinner near our home and I caught this cute picture.  

Jumping Queen

Oh my goodness....we pulled out the baby jumper/activity center things last week, and Colbie will not stop jumping!  She could literally stand and jump for an hour straight, take a break to eat and sleep, and go right back to jumping.  It's come to a point where I wonder how much is really too much jumping for a little brain.  But, it makes her really happy.  Addy thinks its ok...she is less interested in jumping, and more interesting in pushing the buttons or pulling on the toys.  It certainly seems that we've got one girl that takes after Jakey on the energy front, and one very mellow little girl.  Very funny video showing the difference between the two girls...

First Cal Tees

Evening Giggles

Caught the boys making the girls giggle like crazy last night.  Pretty funny.

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Costco Helper

He started off super excited but by the time we were checking out, this was Jakey's face (looks just like Josh's when he gets dragged in too!)

A & C are 5 Months Old!

Making it to the five month mark feels great right now.  The girls continue to do really well at night time (thank heavens we were blessed with two good nighttime sleepers after Jake who still doesn't sleep through the night!).  Both of the girls roll immediately to their stomachs upon being put down on the floor, and Addy can push herself up and be happy for quite awhile still.  Colbie still much prefers to be sitting up or standing.  We're curious who is going to crawl first at this point.  Both of them are reaching for anything within arms each, and putting it straight in their mouths.  We've converted our never used living room into a baby playroom at this point.  Soon there will be gates up in the doorways, and no shoes allowed, as we're going to have either crawlers or rollers, as they both are starting to push themselves around with their feet.  They are eating a ton as well (hello chubby babies!) and we will soon start trying some solids!     

 Colbie:

 Addison:

And just to share- a picture of me around 5 months.  I don't have one of Josh handy, but what do you think...do they look like me?

Aviation Museum

For our family fun day this weekend we headed over to the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos.  We've seen it driving home every single day, and with Jakey getting super interested in airplanes, space ships, etc, we thought we'd give it a try.  Well, it was a very impressive place actually.  It's located literally along the runway of the little San Carlos airport, so you get to watch and hear planes take off every 2-3 minutes.  There are a ton of refurbished old planes, helicopters, blimps, etc at this place, and it's done really well.  Jake was a little too young to really appreciate the history and significance of everything there, but he was still pretty excited.  His highlights were definitely sitting in the real cockpit of a Blue Angels plane, seeing the cockpit of a real United airplane and of course, watching all of the little planes take off.  We were definitely thinking of two special people while we were there- my Uncle Dick Gentz and Jakey's best buddy and airplane enthusiast Benny Bolger!!

Playtime

Jake loves to be right in the middle of the mix, always.  When Josh and I are sitting together, he wants to be directly in between, and now when the sisters are seated next to each other, he likes to try to get himself right in the middle of them too.  Here he is having fun with his little sisters.

Chef Jake

The girls have started taking a short nap around 6:00 each evening (how they actually go right to sleep at 8:00 for the entire night after a nap that late, I don't know, but they DO), which is perfectly timed during dinner prep time.  So, Jake gets to help me cook, while the girls sleep, and everyone is happy.  Yesterday Jake made this yummy concoction while I cooked dinner...raw rice mixed with cheerios and old Christmas sprinkles....yummmy!!!  It's always interesting to watch what he puts together, and which kitchen tools he decides to use.  Next step is to teach him to clean up after his cooking mess!!!

Happy Birthday Granddaddy!!!

Today is a VERY special birthday for GRANDADDY!!!   We love you so much Granddad, and we look forward to celebrating with you!!  We hope that you have a wonderful, relaxing day today.

 

Last Mat Leave DIY Project

One of the last projects that I was able to mostly complete while on maternity leave was fixing up the Tough Shed that the previous owners left in our backyard.  We made it into a playhouse right away upon moving in, but it was really sun faded on the outside and boring on the inside.  So, Jake and I painted the outside of it together (he continued to paint white on the brown and red on the white parts, so I feel like I painted the thing 3 times over at this point).  On the inside I put those big white board and chalkboard stickers on the walls so that they can be drawn on, a big map and fun toys.  I'm pretty sure that Jakey likes his playhouse again, yippee!!!  Now I just need to make a sign for the outside, and then I'll be satisfied with that project for the moment :)

Before:

 

After:



Ready for Swim Time!

We've tried to get to the pool at the gym on the weekends as much as possible.  We finally got Jake some goggles though he wears them over his ears and totally cockeyed.  It's just hilarious! 

Bruce and Lynda visit

We had a quick visit from Josh's Aunt Lynda and Uncle Bruce on Saturday afternoon.   Great seeing you guys and thanks for coming to see the kids and the house!

Car Wash Time!

We thought it was time to show Jake how fun it can be to hand wash a car on a hot day last weekend.  So, Josh took him out and they soaped, scrubbed and splashed water all over the car.  Jake only made it for about half of the car wash, and then Josh got stuck doing the rest himself, but it was a gorgeous day, so all was good!

I Survived!

Well, my first day back in the office was better than I expected.  The hour drive to work definitely had me anxious by the end, but entering the office soothed my fears and guilt.  My awesome team had decorated my new desk (while I was gone all of our desks were reduced to less than half the size they once were due to major space constraints going on in the online headquarters world) and everyone was very understanding and wonderful.  I love that I work with so many working moms as well as loving, amazing friends.  While I was on leave I was given a promotion (very strange I know, but I'll take it) so I still have to feel out how my job is going to change.  My day was brightened even more by the great flowers my wonderful husband and thoughtful mother-in-law had sent to the office.  Flowers just make my day, ALWAYS!   To top off the day I came home to two happy girls.  I'm really happy with our nanny so far, as her very calm and quiet nature soothes Addy and Colbie...they are all smiles with her already.  Phew!!!

Back to Work Today!

It's really incredible how 20 weeks of a Maternity Leave of Absence can fly by, but it really has.  How much my life has changed in these 20 weeks is really amazing.  I was so miserable in that last week of work (not in doing the job, but in my very immobile state).  Those first few weeks at home, staying up virtually all night with the baby girls, seem like just last week.  Now Colbie and Addy are 4.5 months old and rolling over like crazy, one trying to crawl and one trying to sit up already.  And Jake has come so far as well...from not wanting to speak to us if we were holding a baby to now loving to snuggle up with either of us with or without a baby in our arms.  It was a really hard decision to make- do I go back to work or not??  Ultimately, I really want to give it a good try.  I love my job, my team, the brand I work for...I will always wonder what it would have been like working full time, while managing our household.  I'm going to try to work from home a couple of days a week to eliminate the unproductive commute hours, as well as to be closer to my baby girls.  If I hear our new wonderful nanny, Heissel, shriek from them doing something new and exciting, I hope to run in and see it for myself, vs having to hear about it when I get home from work.  I honestly have no idea how this will all work out but I just want to give it a try...so here I go!  Off to the Gap building once again, starting my tenth year of working in the 2 Folsom building.  Wish me luck!

Here I am enjoying my last few days of maternity leave with my three little loves:

And I am so thankful that I don't have to ever feel the crazy pain of carrying twins ever again...it hurts me to even look at this picture that was taken a whole 1.5 weeks before I was even due (so I was even BIGGER than this in the end!!!).   My body will never be the same, but I have to remind myself that my scars and extra lbs are all worth it because I now have two healthy beautiful baby girls!

They go together like

Addison and Colbie go together like PEAS & CARROTS.   One of Grandma Lee Lee's friends gave the girls these adorable onesies that finally fit them.  I just thought they were so cute paired with their yellow skirts from Old Navy!

Colbie is on the left, Addy is on the right.

Vacation to Seascape Continued

On our third day of vacation we headed down to Monterey to see Jake's best buddy Benny Bolger and to meet his new little brother Brody.  Of course the boys were SO excited to see each other, and pretty much played together the entire time without having to be watched too closely.  Brody is just adorable, and super duper mellow just like Benny was as a baby.  The girls were of course, NOT mellow, and wanted to roll all over the place and eat endlessly.  But, it was a great afternoon with the Bolgers and we so miss them. 
The last day we headed to the beach again, as well as stopped by the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  We had a big ah ha on this vacation...we finally tried the baby carriers and the girls did pretty well in them!  We didn't have to haul the stroller or carseats onto the beach, and our hands were free to help Jakey if needed.   We're definitely going to be using them more often at home now too! 

 

Jake tasted his first Dippin' Dots at the Boardwalk, and was quite a fan!

First Vacation for our Family of FIVE!

Before I head back to work next week, we wanted to take a little vacation as a family.  Jake's school was closed this week, so we decided to take advantage and booked a 4 day trip down to Seascape Resort just south of Santa Cruz.  It turned out to be a perfect spot for us, as it wasn't too far from home, rooms had full kitchens and LOTS of space for kids to play, plenty of beach space and pool options...the list goes on and on.  We truly couldn't have really thoroughly enjoyed our trip though, if it weren't for my sister Erica coming with us.  We had planned to bring her along in hopes of convincing her to stay close by for her next job, versus taking off to some exotic place far far away.  In reality, her extra pair of hands and wonderful nature with our girls and Jake was a HUGE help (and the chaos of our fam will probably push her farther away, faster)!!   So, we owe Erica a BIG thank you!!! We took quite a few pics so I'll post more tomorrow, but below are a few of our favs from the first two days.  We headed to Capitola one morning and played on the beach (Erica hung out with the girls on the sidewalk while we played since they were sleeping...see silly pic of Erica below).  We also spent time at the beach at our hotel most days.  The twins weren't so excited about the beach I have to say.  We had this great little tent perfect for them to just hang out in, but it was cold and lumpy, and they opted for being held most of the time.  They were awfully cute all bundled up in their hats and hoodies though.  They really haven't had much exposure to cold weather yet here in San Carlos, so they were a little upset with the cold mornings in Santa Cruz.   Tomorrow I'll have pics from our great trip down to see the Bolgers, and some more fun family of five pictures (YEAH...thanks to Erica we finally have some pictures of our entire family, as we still only have the one taken when the girls were two weeks old).  Overall, it was a great trip.  We will definitely be going back there frequently over the years!!!