So, it’s April. April Fool’s Day aside, I am shocked, yes, SHOCKED that it is April. These babies are 7 months old! Would you believe that a year ago yesterday, we conference called our parents/families to announce that we were pregnant? Both of our moms said, “Are you lying? Are you serious? Are you kidding?” It was hilarious. That’s because we told our families rather explicitly all along that the purpose of our marriage was NOT to make them grandchildren. Maybe we would and maybe we wouldn’t… it just depended on what God had in store for Matt and I. But they were not allowed to discuss “babies” with us because we didn’t need pressure! We told our parents to call one another and commiserate if they needed to, but we didn’t want to hear a peep. And you know, they were great about it! They didn’t mention babies and barely believed us when we did! In exactly 3 days, on April 4, it will be the one year anniversary of the ultrasound that showed two little tiny babies! Oh my, what a whirlwind we have been on. It doesn’t seem to be slowing down. To celebrate these joyous events and really, just to update you because I’ve been abysmal on posting pictures, I give you a baby montage of cuteness. I’ll try to comment throughout.

March was a FUN month! Both babies are so close to being able to sit on their own and they are manipulating toys with amazing dexterity. Everything goes straight in their mouths. In fact, the babies have a rating scale for toys: if it is grippable with one hand or easy to suck on, it is a good toy. If either of these isn’t the case, not so good. If it is BOTH grippable and suckable, it is a 5 star toy. For example, the cuddle monkeys (or jet monkeys when Daddy is playing with them), the buckets, the num chucks (3 links chained together), rattles, and the stacking cups are 5 star toys. Here are some fun time pictures… attempting to roll, a self-fed lunch, tummy time (which they both currently hate but this was taken several weeks ago), Bumbos, and toy tasting (which closely resembles eating corn on the cob). Rissa is deadly when she swings her num chucks, by the way. Watch out everyone around her… those things are flying! It’s especially hilarious to get her going with a set in each hand.

When Laura and I were in Japan, our classmates took us out to a beautiful dinner party where a buffet of Japanese foods graced the table and we could try all sorts of things. It is a rather cruel joke to ask me if I like tako because I sure do like tacos! But why would tacos be in Japan? No no, Jaime. Tako is octopus. Aki is squid. For the record, tako is rubbery and a bit gross when you are trying to avoid feeling tentacles in your mouth. Aki is much better, but when they are shaped like tiny kush balls and need to be swallowed whole, not so much. Here are my children, trying tako and aki like the courageous little people they are! Zach doesn’t appear to be a fan of aki. When trying new foods, it is important to be dressed for the occasion. Here is a happy Rissa who likes her full body bib from Gramma and a devastated Zach who likes his full body bib just fine but what he’d like even more is if I would stop taking pictures and give him his bottle! And here are the babies hanging out in their jungle gym. They used to be so tiny hanging out in there, but now I have to squish them together to get them both under the most interesting toys. 🙂

In the world of solids… what was once a dreaded ordeal where I thought, “What’s so bad about pureeing our babies food to liquid consistency and giving it to them in a bottle right up until college?” has become alot of fun! Ever since Matt’s hard experience with the oatmeal they wouldn’t eat, they have been willing to try. They both open their mouths for the spoon’s arrival now! Rissa consistently makes an “ew!” face every time she tastes something new (except with prunes, which she loved immediately, go figure!). I realize now that maybe it isn’t so much “ew!” but more “this is different, what do I think?” She won’t take more than 3-5 bites of the new something, then by day 3 or 4 of that item, she is begging for it. Now that she has a pattern of rejecting all new foods several times, I don’t worry about it because I know she’ll love it eventually. It has been cool to get to know her and understand that she just needs to make sure she’s ready before she dives into something new. Why would I force it on her when she’ll be ready on her own and we don’t have to fight about it if I’d just wait a few days? And Zach is hilarious. He likes the sensation of sucking while he eats, so after every bite of solids, he pops his first two fingers in his mouth to suck them while he swallows. This creates a mess, especially during prunes, because prune-covered hands also mean prune-covered face, high chair, clothing, bib, and Mommy! And now that he loves to grab his toes (mostly his right foot), he has a pruny right foot as well! I pop his little hand out of his mouth to fit the spoon in and he is so quick! Even if I try to keep his hand out of there, he puts it right back in. Again, I’m learning how individual my children are. I’ve decided that I don’t care if he sucks his fingers while he eats and food goes everywhere! I’m just thrilled he loves prunes because he sure needs them! Here are some pictures of our adventures with avocados and prunes. Rissa actually loves avocados, can you tell? 🙂 She squirms and smiles and swings her arms trying to get me to hurry up and give her a bite, and then she makes this face. <sigh>

The babies started going to the nursery this month! Matt calls church nurseries “disease vectors,” but actually, TCBC is really careful about that. They make sure that once a toy has been sucked on, it stays with that child for the day and they wash the toys every week! We had to hurry up and dress the babies in these size 3-6 month clothes because they are growing and are already in size 6-9 months! Aren’t the babies beautiful? The third picture is later in more comfortable attire.

And finally, a few pictures of us just hanging out. The babies LOVE books. They are obsessed. Hey, we admit it — we WANT them to be obsessed! Their favorite 2 these days are by Sandra Boynton. Moo, Baa, La La La! and The Going to Bed Book are well-drawn with lots of contrast so they can really see the pictures. They rhyme, Matt and I are NOT sick of them even though we read them everyday, and they are small enough board books that the babies can hold them and not destroy them. They both try to turn the page now! Zach wants to turn every page and fights Rissa for the chance. And Rissa turns the back page, so that we go backward in the story rather than forward. I think this serves as more evidence that she is left-handed and Zach is right-handed because she likes to turn the left page and he likes to turn the right. Either way, he turns the page for us and she closes the book so she can look at the front cover. It’s alot of fun.

Well, I’m looking at the clock and realizing that my 2 hour break while they nap is now over!  That took awhile, but it was fun to update you!