the z's turn one!!!

zachary and zoe turned one on january 10th and we celebrated by having a monkey themed birthday party at their grandparents house! it was a beautiful day (although a tad chilly) and we had a great turnout! thanks to all of our (zach and zoe's) wonderful friends (and family) for coming out to celebrate with us!!

merry christmas!!

we ventured up to toronto for a week over christmas to visit my brother and stay with my brother's family. it was the babies first flight and the way up was much better than the way back. unfortunately, two lap babies are not allowed in the same row due to limited oxygen masks, so we had to sit separately on the flights. it was a toss up who would be the better baby, but i ended up with zoe and daddy with zach. zoe slept most of the way up, so it wasn't half bad. according to jason, zachary ate puffs out the wazoo, but he was just happy it kept him quiet! Because of the terrorist attach over christmas, coming home was a nightmare! we had to get to the airport that much earlier and with all the additional security, it was about a ten hour journey for the babies...LONG DAY!!!

we had a nice, relaxing and relatively lazy time up north. the weather was less than ideal, so we stayed indoors for the most part and played with cousin noah. it was unfortnate because we had plans to visit keri and amber in london, but had to cancel because of a snowstorm! :(

zach and noah checking each other out

zachary and uncle alan (my brother)

noah loves his goo foo! (jason)

christmas morning!!

happy halloween!!

our very first halloween was spent celebrating our good friend cate's first birthday!! zach was a frog and zoe a ladybug. neither was terribly fond of their costumes, but to be honest, i'm not sure i would have been either!

ladybugs zoe and leighton!

nine months

three months have flown right on by and the babies went in for their nine month check up friday. here's the latest...

zach is 25 lbs and 30 1/4 inches long...95th percentile for both weight and length.

zoe is 19 lbs 14 oz and 29 inches long...75th percentile for weight and 90th for length.

as you can tell, my babies are not deprived when it comes to food! what's crazy is zoe actually eats more than zachary...must be from all that crawling she's doing.

they are really starting to interact with one another which is so much fun to see. and they seem to "talk" to one another now...it's too cute! the doc warned us of what she called "twinspeak," but i guess we didn't really believe it until we saw it for ourselves.

on another note...i've officially begun the weaning process. it's pretty bittersweet...on the one hand, i am so ready to be done with nursing and pumping, but on the other hand, it's so hard to let go! i don't know what i'll do with all the free time that i'll get back from not having to pump! jason and i are going on holiday in about three weeks (to australia for dawn and simon's wedding!), so that's the whole reason i've started to wean. to be honest, i think the babies are more ready than i am. zoe has refused to nurse in the evenings for about a month now and zach just gets restless a lot quicker these days. that...and the fact that they both have six teeth a piece doesn't make nursing such a fun experience these days! :(

regardless, we are where we are, and although i'm rather sad about it now, i think it's time....at the end of the day, they will have nursed for about ten months. it was amazing while it lasted and i've got two healthy babies...so for that, i am extremely grateful.

random thoughts

i know i keep saying it over and over again, but it just really amazes me how quickly time goes by these days. it's just mind-boggling! i find myself thinking about zach and zoe's 1st birthday already...how does that work? i remember vividly the morning i was to be induced and jason and i locking up and leaving the house and coming home two days later with two babies in tow having no idea what was in store! then came two months or so of serious sleep deprivation, but after that's it's been somewhat "business as usual" around the lawless household as far as schedule/routine goes, but changes galore as far as development and growth goes. it amazes me to watch them change and grow each and every day, but saddens me so much at the same time. i can't just bottle up some of the things they say and do and keep them forever...you know??

so what have the babies been up to you may ask?

well, zachary is now able to sit unassisted, but still can't say he's mastered it yet...still a little wobbly at times, but almost he's learned how to clap and is just the cutest when he does something and proudly claps to acknowledge whatever it is he's just done. he's my little cuddle buddy and has such a sweet nature. as far as food goes, he seems to be pretty open to anything and everything. (that probably explains why he's almost 25 lbs. yes, you read that correctly...25 lbs! i'll get the official word when we go in for their 9 mth checkup, but i don't think it's going to be far off). his hands down fave is carrots...he seems to experience a "carrot high" after having them...it's really strange, but he sure is in a good mood as a result!

zoe on the other hand is a little pickier when it comes to food. she's not the biggest fan of banana and definitely does not like chicken at this point. she LOVES those little puffs. it is actually great bribery material to keep her occupied, happy and confined to one spot! and the reason for needing to keep her in one spot is because she is all over the place! she's crawling and now that she's gotten a taste of "freedom," she's all about experiencing it to the fullest. she's able to pull herself up and can actually stand on her own, if only for a few seconds. jason and i have a bet going to see how long it is before she walks. i'm not looking forward to that day...just having her crawling now is so much more exhausting!

the funniest thing zoe does now is if you ask her what a tiger says, she'll growl at you. at first i thought it was just a coincidence when my nanny told me, but she really does. the funniest though is if she's doing something she's not supposed to be, and i say no...she'll look at me and growl. i have to give her props for trying! :)

they both talk incessantly and seem to have grown an awareness of one another. they'll watch each other, smile and claw at one another with zoe being quite the bully. it never fails that she always wants whatever zach has and since she's mobile now, she always seems to get it! she might as well enjoy it now...i'm not sure how long that will last!

other than that, jason and i are doing well. we're looking forward to our big trip to australia in just a little over a month and my friend ingrid and her fiance darren just came from hong kong for a visit last week, so that was a lot of fun having them meet the babies and catching up!

seven months

zach and zoe have started on solids and seem to love it...some things noticeably more than others. we're introducing one new food a week, so thus far, they've had rice cereal, avocado, sweet potato and oatmeal. their hands down fave is sweet potato! i've got some carrots actually steaming as i write this, so that'll be the food of the week.

zach has sprouted two teeth and thankfully, doesn't seem to be terribly bothered by them. he's not quite sitting up yet as he has a lot of weight to support, but in due time! :) he is just the sweetest thing...always smiling and so patient! might i add he's our thumbsucker...the boy loves his thumb!

his sister on the other hand, is getting to be quite the handful...she's nonstop! as lin likes to call her, she's our "supergirl!" zoe naps maybe an hour total each day and goes just like the energizer bunny! she's always looking for what she can get into next and is such a curious little thing! she's so much fun to watch and play with, but there's just zero down time with her!

we're just starting to see a tooth coming in for her, and she just developed some congestion, so i'm thinking it's a result of her tooth, but can't be certain. poor thing is all snotty and stopped up, but can't say that it's slowed her down any!

work for me has been ridiculously busy, so i'm still trying to get this whole work/life balance thing figured out. i tell you what...it's not easy! i have a lot more respect for working moms now as a result! it's tough to be and give everything to both sides, but you just gotta do what you gotta do i suppose!

six months!!

my goodness...where has the time gone? zach and zoe are already six months old!! we went for their check-up on friday and got a big thumbs up! :) zachary is now 27 1/4" and 21 lbs 4 oz and zoe is 26" and 17 lbs. yes...i have big babies! just that much more to love, right?!!

in all seriousness though...they are doing great! zoe can now sit unassisted (although still a bit wobbly) and zachary is not far behind. he just has a little extra weight to balance, so he gets a bit longer! they are talking non-stop and are starting to really enjoy playing with toys and examining things.

i've been holding off on feeding them cereal until six months, and what do you know...the time is here! i'm anxious to see how they react to cereal, but i think they're both more than ready. they are constantly watching jason and i as we eat and want to put everything in their mouths these days.

nursing is still going great and so a part of me just wants to keep them on milk...it's me in denial that my babies are growing up! :( jason thinks i'm nuts, but it makes me sad seeing them grow so fast! they're getting to be more and more fun though...that's for sure! their personalities are starting to shine through and are starting to acknowledge that each other exists...it's so much fun to watch!

we went on our first road trip to dallas to visit the andiel's and for jason to play in his annual volleyball tournament. we were nervous as to how the babies would do, but they did wonderfully! the drive there and back couldn't have been any smoother and they still slept great away from home. not only that, they had a great time with leah and katarina (the andiel girls) and even did well with the dogs!

a few pics from dallas and the 4th of july...