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This journal is about raising identical twins.7th to 8th month
Previous entries
Friday, February 6, 1998 (6 months)
Today is the twins' half birthday.
Saturday, Feb 7, 1998 (6m+1d)
We tried giving the twins some rice cereal today. They were not too enthusiastic. They kept pushing the cereal out with their tongues. I believe it would take quite a while before they get used to spoon feeding.
Sunday, Feb 8, 1998 (6m+2d)
Elizabeth's family and Hing & Lucy paid their Chinese New Year visit. We had a potluck dinner. The twins joined us when we had our after-dinner chat. I held Jasmine while Joanne sat calmly in Hing's lap. Both babies were quietly staring at whoever was talking. It looked like they were following our conversation.
Wednesday, Feb 11, 1998 (6m+6d)
We took the twins to their 6 month check up at the doctor's office. Both had two immunization shots.
Joanne weighed 13 lb. 13 oz. (20 percentile)
Jasmine weighed 13 lb. 9 oz. (15 percentile)
Both measured 25½ inches. (30 percentile)The nurse suggested we start to introduce solid food to the twins' diet. The formula remains the main diet while using other food as supplement. We should start with rice cereal and add other food gradually.
Joanne develops a red rash on her right ear lobe. The doctor said it is Eczema. She prescribed some Eucerin cream for moisturizing the skin. Eczema is known as the "itch that rashes" because children can cause it or aggravate it by scratching their itching skin. You can't blame them, unlike some rashes that look worse than they feel, eczema causes great discomfort.
Sunday, Feb 15, 1998 (6m+9d)
Michelle and Simon, Jenny, Anita and son Wayland came to visit mommy. The twins were quite calm in their presence. Daddy stayed home baby sit while they went out for a Japanese dinner.
Monday, Feb 16, 1998 (6m+10d)
Today's the President's day holiday. I've got an extra day in the long weekend to spend with the twins. I did not shave my beard over the weekend. When I kiss the twins with my stubby face, they giggled and laughed happily. Apparently they were very happy about the new sensation on their faces. But I'd bet once mommy teaches them how to criticize the male's appearance, they won't let daddy kiss them unless I shave clean. :-(We split a jar of Gerber apple sauce between the twins. It was great progress because the twins started their spoon feeding just few days ago. We had better success with the sweet apple sauce than the plain rice cereal. Jasmine opens her mouth whenever the spoon is near, but Joanne still needs some more assistance. Both are still not good at swallowing, they just suck on the food in the mouth and at times, squeeze it out and make a mess.
The twins each picked up some new habits. Joanne makes a funny face. She puckers up her lips and wiggles her nose as if she wants to kiss us. However, she looks like a carp gasping for air, it is very funny. Jasmine likes to grab her left toes with her left hand while she is drinking her bottle.
Jasmine can sit well on the "tripod" position. Joanne keeps toppling over. Jasmine reaches new milestones faster than her "elder" sister almost every time. However, Joanne is the one who laughs more and puts on a lovelier smile.
Wednesday, Feb 18, 1998 (6m+12d)
After two days of apple sauce supplement, we started with banana sauce. We try to introduce different baby food to their diet one ingredient at a time, that way it is easier to isolate the cause if the babies show any allergic reactions.Perhaps the baby food supplement fills them up. The twins refuse to take as much formula as before. They now only take 6 ounce of formula three times a day.
The doctor told us the twin should eat more than they are eating now. However, each feeding take longer than before because spoon feeding is slower and we have to put up a fight with them in every feeding. It is especially hard with Jasmine, she would shut her mouth tight and turn her head away. She would scream until her face is all red. But it is also the best time to stick the nipple into her mouth while she is screaming. They usually starts to suckle after a few minutes of struggle.
The twins make their daily "speech" every afternoon before their nap. They make a lot of "Ya, Ya, Eee, Eee" noise sometimes mix with loud sighs before they fall asleep. The "speech" usually last 15 to 20 minutes.
Sunday, Feb 22, 1998 (6m+16d)
Day 200.
Wednesday, Feb 25, 1998 (6m+19d)
Not much changed this week. The twins can take a full 8 oz. bottle now. The El Niņo(1|2) storms finally took a break. The weather was sunny and nice for several days. We took the twins out several times to stroll in the park. The twins seems to enjoy the sunshine.Joanne no longer makes the funny face. She learned to smack her lips. She probably is inviting kisses.
Saturday, Mar 7, 1998 (7m+1d)
We took the twins out shopping at Costco. We saw Bill W., Christine and their two year old daughter there. Their baby was born two weeks before due date at 4 lb. 11 oz. Compare to her, our twins were big given they were six weeks premature.We took the twins back to my work place for a feeding stop. Feeding them in the office is better than on the street. I also spent some time scanning the twins' photos into digital format for posting on this web page.
It started pouring rain in the late afternoon. Taking the twins in and out of the minivan in pouring rain is quite a task. We went to Ikenohana in Cupertino for a Japanese dinner. The twins were quietly watching us. Jasmine started to cry when we were about to leave. We were glad that they didn't make a scene and let us have a peaceful dinner in public.
Sunday, Mar 8, 1998 (7m+2d)
The in-laws came to visit. They have not come for over a month because of the El Niņo storms. It was grandpa's birthday, and we had dinner together.
Tuesday, Mar 10, 1998 (7m+4d)
Joanne fell from bed! The twins have not started crawling yet and they do not like to flip over that much. So we assumed that they would be safe at the center of a king size bed. Somehow Joanne managed to wiggle to the edge of the bed while mommy went downstairs to fetch the bottles. She dropped about a foot and a half. Fortunately, she seems to be unhurt except some crying. We will watch her closely for any post trauma symptoms.From now on, we will not leave the babies unattended outside their crib.
Saturday, Mar 14, 1998 (7m+8d)
We had lunch in a restaurant and we took the twins with us. They were well behaving.
Sunday, Mar 15, 1998 (7m+9d)
We took the twins to Stanford Shopping Center. We bought the twins some hats and tights. The most expensive item from the whole shopping trip was a dress for mommy from Ann Taylor. The twins got a lot of attention from the sales people. We were window shopping inside Tiffany & Company and one sales lady tried to play with the twins. The twins were scared of the lady and screamed like hell. I wish the twins develops a habit to be scared of the Tiffany's price tags, not the sales people there. :-)After the shopping trip, we also took the twins for a walk in the park in our neighborhood. Then we went out for dinner with the twins, they were very quiet through out the evening.
Jasmine said "dad, dad, dad, dad" for the first time. Though she may not really mean what she said, she still made me a very happy father.
Monday, Mar 16, 1998 (7m+10d)
Day 222.
Friday, Mar 20, 1998 (7m+14d)
The twins have been eating different kind of baby food. They have already tried many flavors of the Gerber 2nd food product line, including Apple sauce, Banana sauce, sweet potato, carrot, pea, and even vegatable with beef. The solid food intake does not seem to affect their appetite for formula. However, mommy is not as eager to make sure they empty the bottles if they eat a lot of solid food.
Tuesday, Mar 24, 1998 (7m+18d)
While we were playing with the twins today, mommy made some "duc duc duc" sound, the twins laughed and giggled. So I got the idea and started making other sounds. When I said "ding", the twins giggled again. When I said "beeee", the twins laughed even louder. This went on for over half an hour, I tried every sound humanly possible. The twins stared at my mouth anticipating the next sound. I guess they were also observing how I made the various sound.
Wednesday, Mar 25, 1998 (7m+19d)
My mom comes back from Hong Kong. The twins accepts Grandma Chui very well despite her 6 months absence.
Saturday, Mar 28, 1998 (7m+22d)
We went to Oakland to attend Francis and Connie's (my wife's friends) wedding. We took the twins to the in-law's place. The twins are getting more selective on whom they are with. We were away for an hour and half at the wedding ceremony. The twins were crying most of the time before they fell asleep. Before the banquet in the evening, we took the twins to shopping at Costco. We fed them well and put them in bed before we went to the banquet. They were quite happy playing with Auntie Jun when we got back. We fed them again before heading back home.
Sunday, Mar 29, 1998 (7m+23d)
Joanne plays with her lips and makes a funny face. Just like Calvin in this picture. I swear I have not shown her my Calvin & Hobbes collection yet.We went to have Dim Sum for lunch, we took the twins with us and they again drew a lot of attention. We later took a stroll at the Great Mall of the Bay Area. We met a Chinese couple who stopped us and showed us the photo of their identical twin boys. Their boys are 10 years old. We joked that we could arrange a marriage and meet again in 18 years.
The twins like to play with me, but they become very fussy when I try to feed them. They keep turning away and spit out the formula. Recently, my success rate on the feeding is well below 50%. My wife has to take over after I struggle with them for awhile.
Wednesday, Apr 1, 1998 (7m+26d)
My Cousin Allen A. came to visit from Los Angeles. He was on a business trip to San Francisco and Campbell. He decided to stop by and visit our twins. The twins were happy to see this uncle for the first time. Allen has two kids of his own.We put the twins in the baby walker couple of times this week. Joanne would just sit in there quietly playing with the hanging toys on the walker. Jasmine however would keep kicking her feet to propel the walker backward around the room. And she would stop to check out various things along the way, such as drawer knobs, bed sheet etc. Jasmine will grow up to be a good driver because she already knows to turn her head and look over her shoulder while driving backward. :-) Jasmine can also stand straight up on the floor while she is in the walker. We will not let her stand unsupported until she learn how to crawl first.
Sunday, Apr 5, 1998 (7m+30d)
It was raining on and off this weekend. We didn't do much with the twins except we went out for dim sum lunch at the Great Mall on Sunday.
Monday, Apr 6, 1998 (8m)
The twins are 8 months old today. Joanne started to say "Dad Dad Dad".
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