SAHM

Come January I will have a new job title and two new bosses, I will be a stay at home mom (SAHM). Ever since going back to work in late September I've been working half time and so has Tor, so that we can trade off days at home with Lars and Odin. It's been working great. Unfortunately my company wouldn't allow me to continue working part time, at least right now, so I made the choice to resign. I'm working part time through the end of the year so that I can get my bonus for 2010 and get the holiday shutdown pay, not to mention wrapping things up. January 4th will be the last day of my 9.5 year career with my company.

There are some downsides, the biggest one being that Tor won't have as much time with the boys and I won't be able to get out of the house and do "adult" things by myself on a regular basis, but all in all I'm excited about it. And who wouldn't be with these guys to spend my days with?

Solid Food!

On Saturday the boys experienced their first solid food, avocado mashed up with breastmilk. They seemed to like it! Odin ate well, lunging forward for more. More ended up on Lars' face than in his tummy, but he still seemed to like it. The only difficulty now is trying to fit solid food in around their 6 milk/ formula feedings and 3+ naps a day. It's a good thing that solids are only for practice right now...we've only been able to fit in solid meals for 2 of the last 4 days. They will be having yams mixed with breastmilk for Thanksgiving.

Odin says "Yum!"

Lars likes avocado too

Happy Birthday Grandma Jean!

We want to wish you a very happy birthday Grandma! Sorry we slept through your visit this afternoon, watching all that snow come down made us tired. We love you!

6 month check up

The boys had their 6 month check up yesterday and all looks great with them!

Here are the stats (all are unadjusted for pre-maturity):

Odin

length: 25.25", 9.44%
weight: 14 lbs, 2.39%
head circumference: 16.46", 6.36%

Lars

length: 26", 30.01%
weight: 15lb 9 oz, 14.13%
head circumference: 16.85", 21.67%

They each got 4 shots and it was miserable for them both during the shots and for the rest of the day. Tor was home with them and he did a lot of bouncing on the exercise ball with both boys in carriers. Odin felt pretty crummy for most of today as well and needed 2 doses of tylenol for his fever, but he is all better now. Lars seemed to feel great all day today.

Here are some recent pictures:


Odin likes the jolly jumper



So does Lars



Snug as 2 bugs in a crib

Giggling Lars

Grandpa Lee made Lars giggle for the first time ever this weekend, and I happened to get it on video. Enjoy!

6 Months!

Dear Lars and Odin-

You are 6 months old today! It is truly amazing to get to know you as you grow into your individual selves. You are growing like crazy! Just look at how you've changed in the 1.5 months shown in the photos below.

Lars at 4.5 months, then at almost 6 months


Odin at 4.5 months, then at almost 6 months

Sleep! You are great sleepers and your parents are SO grateful! The last time we wrote you a letter on your 3 month birthday, we were really struggling with naps, the pictures below show what nap time used to be like...I had to hold you both. Though I miss all that snuggle time with you, we don't need to do that any longer. I think you even sleep better in your own crib. It was a real process to get you sleeping on your own, but you learned so well. It all started when Mama was exhausted and just took you to our bed in the middle of the day for a nap all together...and you slept! We moved onto lying down with you as you fell asleep on our bed, then just putting you in our bed and you fell asleep on your own, finally we could put you in your crib and you would fall asleep and stay asleep on your own. It has been great for you and for your parents to have some time to ourselves and to get some chores done! We've settled into a nice routine of you boys sleeping for about 12 hours at night, from about 7pm to 7am with one feeding somewhere around 3-5am, you usually have two 1.5 hour naps and a 45 minute one later in the day. You get enough sleep that your sunny dispositions shine through almost all the time. One month ago we moved you to your crib in your own room for naps and bedtime sleep. The next step is to ditch the swaddles. We probably should work on getting a second crib, but you sure seem to enjoy sleeping together--no matter how far apart we put you in the crib, you are always snuggled up next to each other when you wake up, even though your mobility is severely limited by being swaddled!


Odin and Lars sleeping on Mama at about 3.5 months old


Sunny boys in the morning!

On October 24th you were baptised at Bethany. Your sponsors are Auntie Karla, Uncle Jared and your cousins Einar and Soren. You wouldn't believe how much family came to support you, there were at least 4 pews full of family! You are lucky little boys who have lots of people that love you. Despite all of the stimulation and lack of naps, you boys did SO well. You are such happy babies and everyone got to see that. You didn't fuss at all during the baptism, even when Pastor Andersen put the water on your head...way to go!

Handsome boys all dressed up for your baptism!

Fun! We have so much fun with you guys, from watching you learning about your world, to seeing you reach each milestone, to laughing with you and giving you zerberts on your tummies, and getting out an about as a whole family.

A picture that could only happen with twins..."Here Lars, let me stick my fingers in your mouth while you puke on me"

Lars says..."Yummy giraffe foot!"

Halloween redux in Wenatchee...Grandma and Grandpa needed to see our little Vikings

On our way to Trick-or-Treating with our PEPS friends in Ballard

You both love it when we sing to you, especially "head, shoulders, knees and toes." Then again, that is about the only song that isn't filled with la la la in place of the real lyrics.

Odin, you are more verbal than physical. You constantly talk to us and tell GREAT stories with all sorts of drama...we are looking forward to hearing the stories continue as you learn English! You also can be talked out of being crabby, all it takes is a good smile and laugh and soon you are smiling and giggling back...it has saved us a couple of times on long car rides! You are so observant with your big wide open eyes and seem very content to hang out and watch and learn. You LOVE to smile at your brother when he is still long enough for you to catch his eye!

Lars, you are more physical than verbal. You are spending a lot of time on your tummy these days moving your body around and it seems that you may be mobile very soon. You are starting to realize that you can move around the room by rolling from back to front, then front to back again. We plan to figure out a baby proofing strategy for the fireplace this weekend! You smile ALL the time with a huge gummy smile and you are starting to laugh, but at this point it sounds more like a sneeze than a laugh...it's really quite cute. You LOVE to put everything in your mouth including your brother's hands or head.

We marvel at you both every day--we are the luckiest parents in the world.

With All Our Love,

Mama and Papa