Twins first year party and Dad turned 40

On a Sunday afternoon recently we had a quiet party for the twins and my Birthdays. Emma and Dylan were a little bit shy but dealt with all the attention really well. Unfortunately they were not that keen to be held, which led to some tears and they had to come back to Mom and Dad for consoling.

Last weekend we went to another friend of ours 40th Birthday party. Since Emma and Dylan weren’t the centre of attention this time they where alot more relaxed. Either that or they have gotten more used to big get-togethers. Both Emma and Dylan were happy to sit with others which gave us a chance to eat.

For their birthday they got two brick trucks, one made from wood and another made of plastic. This is really encouraging them to practise walking. Look at the really cute videos below. Dylan picked this up all by himself. He learnt how to grab the handle and climb up and start walking. It is hard work for us. We need to turn the truck around after every walk. This gets pretty tiring. Udette and Bruce gave the kids plastic bikes for their Birthday. Just to see if they would ride on them we tried them out last weekend. Amazingly they manage to stay upright and can hold onto the handlebars. Dylan and Emma loved to be pushed around on their bikes. They can’t quite make them go by themselves yet. Emma is very keen to ride though. She rode for about half and hour. While Emma was still on her bike Dylan tried climbing the stairs (two) and came back down head first, with his arms stretched out. So he got a big bump on his head. While we were attending to him Emma tried getting off her bike and also fell giving her a bruised cheek. It was her first biking accident.

We took the kids to the paediatrician yesterday. It was my Birthday, so I took the day off. The paediatrician is very happy with both Emma and Dylan’s development. They can do everything they need to do. He has predicted from their current heights, Emma 80cm and Dylan 79cm, that Emma will be just a bit shorter than I am (1.84m) and Dylan will be about 1.8m. They will be tall in other words.

We have now started feeding them full cream cows milk. They love it. The sterilizer has also been packed away as they gather enough dirt when they crawl around that sterilising their bottles is no longer required.

Weights: Emma: 10.280kg Dylan 11.325kg

Click to see more pictures on Flickr

Dylan walking with his brick truck with the Roly-Poly Bear on it:

Emma walking with the Brick Truck:

Their birthday cake:

Birthday singing for the kids at their party:

Humpty Dumpty made by Mom (Mom’s own design made without any patterns):

1 Year old today

For all of you eager to see Emma and Dylan on their Birthday here are pictures of the one year old babies. We had a special Birthday celebration for them this morning. We read them their cards that came from all over the world. Thank you Feli for the cushions and the blankets. They are lovely. We bought Emma Eeyore and Dylan Pooh Bear for their birthday.

We ate the chocolate cake with two candles on it, which Anina and I enjoyed. Emma and Dylan later in the morning had a small slice of Melktert which is the typical texture of the food they are used to. They made some funny faces at the cinnamon sugar on the Melktert but got used to it. They follow a strict diet so that was the only food treat they got today.

Anina took them to our local Nursery, Lifestyle, to look at the farmyard and have lunch. They thoroughly enjoyed this.

We have recently, since we were on holiday, switched their bathing routine to evening bathing. Since we got back from our holiday they both now sleep like angels. Emma no longer requires hand holding to go to sleep. Once we have fed them and given them their bottles and changed their nappies for the night, we simply say goodnight, close the door and they take themselves to sleep. This is wonderful.

We looked again today at the video I took exactly a year ago of Emma and Dylan on the day that they were born. It is hard to believe how much they have grown in a year and how much they have developed.

See more pictures of the kids on Flickr

Family Photo:

Emma and Dylan with their candles lit:

Emma:

Dylan:

Holiday in Dullstroom

Last weekend we purchased new car chairs for the kids. Dylan was getting too big for his baby car seat and would have been too uncomfortable for a long drive. After checking the Internet and what the shops had, we eventually decided on the forward facing Chicco car seats with IsoFix. They are really nice seats and will serve the kids until they weigh 18kg (not too long for Dylan in other words).

It was a bit of a risk going on the drive down to Dullstroom in new car seats. I had done a fitting the day before to adjust all the settings and got plenty of smiles from both Emma and Dylan. The drive turned out to be an absolute pleasure. We timed it such that we left quite early to coincide with the kid's nap. They were awake for the first while and then fell asleep. We made it all the way to Belfast before we took our lunch stop. Belfast is 30km short of Dullstroom. This meant we made the whole trip down with only one stop. We are definitely getting back to our more normal travel routine for a driving holiday. We also took our new travelling side by side MacLaren pram. With some nifty packing tricks I managed to have it packed in the boot such that it was accessible for the stop. With this pram we could even take two of our suitcases along, one of them our very big one as opposed to the last holiday where we were constrained to tog bags as the pram took up most of the boot. This meant that we had lots of space for stuff which we needed as Dullstroom is very cold this time of year.

We stayed in a lovely hotel called Peebles Country Retreat which is in Dullstroom. We had a massive room (more than 100 sq m). The best features of the room where the underfloor-heating in the room and the bathroom. The day we arrived it was raining and really miserable and cold. We all froze the first night even with the underfloor-heating. Emma and Dylan caught their first cold of the year, actually first cold ever, the Saturday before we left on the Tuesday, so they were still recovering with runny noses and coughs. We therefore tried to keep them as warm as possible. Dylan slept in his little dressing gown over a number of other layers of clothing. The hotel provided cots. They were average. Dylan’s was broken on the one side and hence was lopsided. He loved it anyway. The kids took well to their sleeping arrangements. See the pictures below.

After our trouble with eating out on our holiday in January, we decided to make use of the in-room dining option this hotel offered. We had a small dining room table and chairs in the room so this was extremely comfortable. On most nights we managed to get the kids to sleep before dinner was served. One night however Emma was awake and cranky all through dinner. The food from the hotel was really superb. They had a daily dinner menu with three options per course and served a three course meal. If you didn’t like anything from the menu you could order something from their Ala Carte section at a small surcharge. We ate very well, given the cold we had to. Breakfast we had in their breakfast area. We took the kids with us to breakfast, just after they had finished their cereal and fed them their bottles. After the second day we managed to get the kids to have their morning nap, which didn’t work out on the first day. This meant that they were in a better mood for the rest of the day.

On the last day we managed to go to the Bird Rehabilitation Centre just outside Dullstroom. One of my departments at my company sponsors one of the birds there, Sid. This was something the guy I took the department over from had instigated and I took it over from him and continued to sponsor the bird. The bird centre had some very impressive birds. We could not watch the show as our double pram is not very good on the off-road and most of the park is very uneven with no paved paths. Given the fact that it had rained alot this made for heavy going. Anyway after chatting to the owners we managed to find Sid. His cage was marked incorrectly. Mission accomplished.

On the travel back home, the kids were a little more cranky than the way down, however we still only needed to stopped once for lunch. The fact that they now face forwards means that they can see us and Anina can interact with them. This makes them much happier. Yesterday when we got back we were all pretty much exhausted. The kids went to bed early and Anina unpacked all the holiday goods and started on the mountain of washing. Today (Sunday) we took it easy.

Pictures of the Kids and Dullstroom

Dylan clowning with the camera:

Dylan in his first public high chair at the Wimpy:

Emma and Dylan ready for Dullstroom cold weather: