New Galleries!

Ok well its been a long time waiting but its finally here. I've worked out how to create an online gallery that has a huge free storage space (250mb in this case), has zero advertising and loads quickly.

So check out our latest pics here...don't forget to bookmark it
http://picasaweb.google.com/jonjea

I've placed some links below to some of the more interesting galleries. Click on the pic to transport yourself to the gallery!

Sleepyheads!

10 Weeks Old! Sleepy!

7 Weeks old and looking cute!

7 Weeks Old! So Cute!

And the long awaited...the Baptism photos!!!

Baptism

Birth of the two "K's

Birth of the Girls!

9 Weeks and Counting!

The girls will be 9 weeks old this week, and when we look back over the past 2 months (which has been a complete blur in our minds) they've really changed.

Katelyn is bubbly baby, always looking around and is constantly making faces - she makes good use of her eye brows, mouth, nose and chin and make funny faces. You'll often catch her smiling in her sleep - as Grandpa says "she's so sweet"!!!

Katherine is probably the more sensitive baby - since day 1 she's been the less fortunate one, requiring more 'princess' treatment. She has very sensitive skin, requiring us to be extemely careful when it comes to feeding and any other skin contact. However she loves it when people to talk to her. She can't stand being held all the time, and much prefers to be lying on a bed, or on someone's lap, and for people to talk to her...and quite often she will respond in her own way with a little "hmm hmm" or nodding her chin - and as Grandpa says "she's sooo sweet"!!!

Both babies have really come a long way. Initially they were feeding every 2 hours, and its now stretched out to about 3 hours, but sometimes at night they can go 5 hours straight without a feed. Both are now becoming more aware of their bodies - Katelyn especially loves to suck her hand or her arm...and loves putting her slobber all over whoever is most fortuate to carry her. Katherine loves bathing, and can't stand getting out of the bath - she'll kick and scream almost everytime we take her out of the bath. Dad thinks she's gonna be a super swimmer - in fact when lying on her front in the bath she has already learnt to kick by herself!



Each baby is quite unique, and have taken features from both mum and dad - including their personalities. Dad thinks Katelyn will be a girl who is very easy to get along with, but will take a stand whenever she needs to (she has that hint of feistiness in her), and Katherine will be the refined girl who loves to talk. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Lastly, mum has been a superhuman over the past 2 months - she is constantly feeding the girls, and quite often will feed them together at the same time...yes, we have a tandem breast feeding pillow! Despite all the sleep deprivation, and the physical demands on her body, plus the adjustment from being pregnant, she is really going on strong! Her mother has also been a pillar of strength with cooking, washing, changing nappies, nursing the babies...the list goes on. We had a maid arrive 2 weeks ago, and things in the house have really changed. Mum and Grandma are less stressed, and with the girls becoming a little easier to handle, things are looking up!

Cwazy bunnies

This mobile is Katherine's favourite toy at the moment. She can lie there for a long time just watching them go round and talking to them. Mummy loves the mobile too because it gives HER a little bit of quiet time!

A full night of sleep

Wow! 2 nights ago I had my first full night of sleep. Well apparently I thought I did - although Jeanette tells me I did get up to change Katelyn's nappy. Maybe I did it sleepwalking!

Anyway the girls have hit 8 weeks this week and are beginning to sleep longer. They are starting to become quite fun, as their eyes have started tracking movement. Katherine loves lying on the bed, and for people to talk to her. She even makes little grunting "ummm ummm" noises sometimes to acknowledge when we talk to her!

Fantastic stuff...

Proud godparent, Vince, dropped over 4 colourful toys yesterday for the girls to play (from his workplace, Ikea) and the girls love them...will post pics soon. Apparently he couldn't decide on 2 toys, so he bought all 4 (by the way, this seems to be a common problem with our friends...so the girls are fast amassing a toy store)!

Yello Mello

We took some great pics of the girls when they were just chilling out on our bed one night...

Big sista Katelyn looking all serious at the camera (this will make a ripper shot for her passport photo!), while little sista Katherine is all happy!
Katelyn having a nap on her sister's shoulder...good to see some cute sisterly love!
Katelyn making funny faces...while Katherine gives us the "I'm a tough dude from the mafia so don't mess with me" look...

New look!

Well the Aussie has decided to update the look of his blog - it now has a more contemporary look, rather than the previous more corporate look. Let me know what you think...

Furthermore, I'm in the midst of setting up a photo gallery, as we've had heaps of requests for more pics of the girls! Stay tuned

On a lighter note, we got out TWICE on the weekend! Amazing! Now i know this sounds ridiculous to non-twin people, but we went shopping on Saturday, and we had 5 helpers (Grandma, Grandpa, Wifey, Maid and Me) to look after the 2 girls. So it was kind of smooth sailing until they both started getting hungry.

Then on Sunday we went out again to another baptism - this time it was Kiran's son, Kael! It was going well, until Katherine decided she was hungry...thank goodness it happened on the way to the reception at Kiran's house, as she was screaming so loudly that I could even hear her while I was parking the car...and she was upstairs in the apartment block on Level 4!

Some baptism pics

Well we've finally got our pictures organised from the Baptism. Many thanks to cousin-in-law Samuel who took some fantastic pictures (over 300 pics!) with his super duper Canon SLR camera!

Proud parents! Definitely a Kodak moment!

Katelyn being baptised, with the help of godparents Jo & Vince.

Katherine being baptised, with the help of godparents Clarice & Francis.

Katherine doing her morning exercise with little miss monkey.

Zzz

Katelyn is wide awake and ready to play, but daddy is sound asleep after an exhausting night of feeding.

Bath-time for Katelyn

Both the girls love having their bath, especially Katherine. She always gets into the bath without a whimper, and loves to get wet. Katelyn usually wiggles her arms and legs like a cockroach when she first gets in, but settles down quickly. Both of them love to be on the front in the bath...and they've already both tasted the water...a few times!

Here's Katelyn bathing!

Noisy Katelyn

She may be small but she sure knows how to cry! You can hear her crying all the way down the street! Katelyn has a very cheeky smile and after a good feed can burp as loud as you know who!

Sleepy Katherine

6 weeks old now, Katherine is starting to smile more now. She still regurgitates almost every 2nd feed but is still managing to grow very well. She passes some really smelly wind sometimes!

Proud grand parents!

Mum and dad proudly standing with their grandchildren :-)

The babies are out!

Another pic of us at Dad's work family day! Before long the kids will be jumping on castles just like the one behind us!

First outing

Katelyn and Katherine enjoying their first outing at East Coast beach at Dad's Keppel Company Family Day.

Baptism

Another short update. The girls were baptised last Sunday at 4pm in the afternoon. There were about 10 other children being baptised, and it was a beautiful celebration. In her usual style, Katelyn was fretting in the church, but as soon as she was baptised, she feel asleep, and continued sleeping for a few hours! Amazing!

We had about 80 guests join us afterwards in the parish hall for some tucker...friends and family, and we even had a photographer - thanks Sam! Photos will be posted up soon...

Well it was our first big outing with the girls, and it went quite well. Just one nappy change, and one bottle feed over almost 3 hours! Now thats a record!

Mmm...cake...mmm...

In celebration of the girls hitting 1 month old, the tradition over here in Singas is to buy cakes for everyone you know. So we picked up these fantastic little gift cakes from a shop called Gobi (what a weird name...sounds like something that has fallen out of your nose). Check it out...we actually have 2 letter "K" cakes in each box, but in this particular box, it looks like the cookie monster must have already got to it!

Kaboom!

Aha! Katherine cops a right hander from cheeky sister Katelyn!

Growing fast

The girls are now 5 weeks old and starting to become aware of their surroundings. No longer can they sleep while the TV is blaring...now we must either watch the subtitles or sit 10cm from the TV to listen to the low volume (which is a bit of an issue as we have one of those huge widescreens - which was obviously bought BEFORE the kids came!). Their appetites are as ferocious as wild boars who haven't fed for days...each time they feed they will scream and yell the house down until they are fed...we are starting to see them becoming quite impatient. I wonder who they take after?

And here's a picture of Katherine quietly trying to get some sleep, while cheeky looking Katelyn is up to something...

Quietly sleeping...

For once there is some peace in the house...

Record!

Well until last night, the girls have never slept more than 3 hours straight. But we've got a new record...Katherine hit almost 5 hours last night! So despite all the heartache she's been giving us with her nappy rash, almost constant regurgitation after every feed and now skin rash on her face, we were sooo happy!

This Sunday both of them will get baptised at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour church. We attended some 'baptism parenting' classes on the weekend at the church, together with Katherine's Godparents (Clarice & Francis) and Katelyn's Godparents (Jo & Vince). I must say, the discussion was pretty disappointing....out of a group of at least 20 people, there were only about 3-4 contributors - and most of them were from our group! I was almost thinking...what is the point of turning up if you don't contribute to the discussion?!!! Maybe this is the Singapore style?!!! Anyway Sunday is the big day, and we've organised a 1mth celebration for the girls afterwards in the Parish hall...there should be lots of great food for everyone. Its almost gonna be like a wedding celebration...I think we've got almost 90 people invited!

Stay tuned for the pics!

Making headlines already!

Our babies have only been on earth for 4 weeks now, and they have already made some headlines! The local Twins baby group send out their welcome to Katelyn & Katherine! Good job girls...now we just need to find that lucrative modelling contract for them (then Mum and Dad can retire quickly)....Ford Models New York you better watchout!

http://www.twinsplussing.com/news.htm

Biking? Not for a while

Well proud Dad got up this morning - and on most Saturday morning's he would be hitting the track on his mountain bike. Well no more of this...at least for a while! Now the usual Saturday morning activity is changing nappies, cleaning bottles, feeding the babies....well before long i'm sure the girls will be riding the trails with dad.

Romain, Collins and Bernard - see you again in 15 years time!

Little Katherine

She has a little hankie under her head because she tends to regurgitate after feeding.

Little Katelyn

At 3 weeks of age, she is starting to stay awake for longer periods now.

Grrr

What?! Bickering already?

Sisterly love

A rare occurrence when both Katelyn and Katherine are awake at the same time AND not crying!

Comfortable Katherine!

Mum and Katherine enjoying some nice quiet time together :-). Notice the time? Its just the start of a long night!

Siesta time

Katherine and Katelyn enjoying their afternoon nap.

Katelyn sunbaking on Dad's lap!

In true Aussie style Katelyn has already learnt the art of relaxing :). And she's only 11 days old. We guess it must run in the family!

Katherine asleep with her angels

Little Katherine asleep with her angels! She's very different to her older sister...she's very patient and placid. Even her cry is timid compared to her sister. Right now she's in hospital with getting photo light treatment for her jaundice. She'll be there for 3 days so hopefully she'll be discharged tomorrow. Mum, Dad and Katelyn miss her a lot!

Katelyn asleep with the angels

Katelyn is fast asleep with her angels! We are starting to see her personality developing. She is very impatient when it comes to feeding and has a temper when it comes to changing diapers. Jon has already been hit by her golden spray while giving her a bath!

The twins are home!

On day 5 we brought the twins home. Here they are sound asleep in bed together! One of the rare times they are sound asleep together...amazingly when one cries the other won't wake up!

Proud Grandma!

Despite the prospect of 2 wailing baby girls living in her house, Jea's mum is one proud Grandma! Here she is holding Katelyn on the day we are leaving hospital. Looking comfortable there mum!

Welcome to the world Katherine!

Little sister Katherine pondering the mysteries of the world.

Welcome to the world Katelyn!

Here's a closeup of big sister (by 1 min) Katelyn!

The twins have arrived!

This morning our babies were born! On the left is baby 1 who was born at 8.17am, weighs 2.535kg, is 47cm long and head circumference of 32cm. On the right is baby 2 who was born at 8.18am, weighs 2.570kg, is 48cm long and head is 33cm. Mum and the babies are healthy and the babies even started feeding on the first day!

Twinnies are on the way

Our last dinner together before our baby girls arrive tomorrow morning! :-D

There is a mountain in Singapore?

Of all the places in the world, I've finally discovered the 'sport' of mountain biking in Singapore! So for the past couple of weeks I've been going to the one and only hill in Singapore to go mountain biking. And because its the only decent hill, every other Singaporean who likes biking is also there! So of course, like everywhere else in Singapore, even at this ulu (malay for 'remote') place there are squillions of people here!

Anyway I bike with some guys who have got some whizzbang bikes. The value of their bikes could buy a small crappy car back in Oz (like a pathetic old Holden Commodore). So i turn up to the Bukit Timah Hill in my 14 year old mountain bike which cost AUD$369 (back in the day), with no suspension, rusted wheels and rusting seatpost (cause its been shifted up and down so much that all the paint has worn off and its all rusted) and everyone around me first of all stares at my bike (cause its so old and has no suspension) then they look at me to see who is this crazy guy who comes to ride around the one and only hill without suspension on this dodgy looking old bike?!!! Little do they know that people who work Aussie's who work in Banks don't earn that much.

So anyway enough of my ranting. Just wanted to report that I've found a new sport using my old bike and having heaps of fun (like blasting down a huge hill through the forest at 30kmh and then having to carry my ancient rust pile up a huge hill cause i'm so unfit). Woohoo!

Snaggers vs. Spaghetti

Tonight is the big game. Australia vs. Italy....

So who is gonna win? Of course, a snagger on the bbq is always more delicious than spaghetti bolognaise, cause its not as fattening!

Anyway the Ozzie is proud to be supporting his team into the quarter-finals. He will even have some money on the game tonight...although he didn't win on the last game, the Ozzie is confident of this one.

Let the games begin!

Preggos

Well the Aussie's wife is finally pregnant. I like to refer to her as "the Preggo". Anyway its kinda fun as she's pregnant with twins - and its even more remarkable given that neither of us have any sort of history of twins in the family.

Anyway just like weddings, anything to do with babies seems to be exhorbitantly (however you spell that long word) expensive. First of all, the gynae costs are rather expensive. It'll cost about 20bux to see a normal doc, but a gynae will easily cost 2 to 3 times this (its a good payoff for them, given that they only have to do 2 more years of med school to become a gynae).

Secondly any physical objects to do with babies is expensive - like prams, strollers, clothes blah blah blah. And all our friends keep telling us how doubly expensive its gonna be for us cause we are having twins. So at least for the next few years, the Aussie cannot spend money on his number one passion - modifying cars. Although I managed to get a one-off exception purchase from my CFO, and she allowed me to buy some chrome rims for our new station wagon (at least i don't look like such a boring family man cause now I have some pimped out rims to make our car look half non-family).

Anyway off to bed now,
The Aussie