4.5 mths and growing fast

The girls are now 4.5mths old and are becoming more and more fun to be with each day (not that they weren't before!). Both of them can roll from lying on their backs, over to the fronts with ease now. So we've gotta keep a sharp eye on them.

Chinese New Year saw us doing lots of visiting - which meant the girls were amply entertained over the 3 days of visiting. Only about a week ago they became very aware of their surroundings, including people. Which meant at Chinese New Year, everytime they came across someone new, at least one of them would start crying...it was actually quite amusing as you can see their faces turn from happy and smiling, to sad and 'pouty', and then the crying starts...

Katherine seems intent on trying to participate in our conversations. Just tonight Grandpa had a friend over, and while we were all talking, she kept on trying to add her own 2 cents into the conversation. Such a cutie!

Katelyn is quite strong now, and loves to lie on her front, watching the world go by...

Anyway below are a few recent pics. The first is of both of them lying in their cot one night. Katherine scratches her head a lot (maybe she's already thinking about the world), and below she is scratching her head while trying to touch Katelyn's face!


Another one of Dad teaching Katelyn how to fly. Notice how she strategically lifts her legs up, and also lifts her arms into an aerodynamic position - no training required here...she learnt this possie herself!

This one is Happy Katherine after her bath. She loves bathing and on this particular night she was happy to pose for us on her towel after a nice relaxing bath...

The very last one is of Happy Katelyn after her bath - she was in a real good mood on this particular night!

Lastly...if you haven't seen the movie "Happy Feet", go and see it - we bought the dvd and have watched it twice already! The cute baby penguins in the show remind us of our girls!

Bumbos!

We took some nice pics of the girls sitting in their Bumbo's...so cute!

And here's one of grumpy Katelyn with her pink footy (courtesy of Derek!)

Tiring

Man these girls are tiring. Today Katherine wouldn't stop crying in the afternoon, so Mum and Jeanette had to carry her for most of the afternoon. Fortunately, Katelyn was a little better.

They finally went to bed just after midnight tonight. Phew. Shortly after putting Katherine down, she woke again (maybe from a nightmare), yelling and screaming. "Wah lauie" as they say here - meaning "oh my goodness"....so tiring.

Anyway it's 12.30am and both mum and dad are awake...Dad's eating his dinner and mum is having her snack. Although Dad's eating dinner late because he took Galvin out to the pub (he's only here in Singas for 1 night!!!) for a drink....dad's first drink at the pub since the babies arrived! Woo hoo!

Good nites....

4 Mths old now! Crawling...

Well the girls are now 4mths old and are really starting to accelerate in their development. Katherine regularly flips onto her front, while Katelyn loves us to pull her arms so she can move from a lying into a seating position. Here's a picture of both of them after about 10mins of being on their front at 9pm at night...both are a little tired!

Both are frequently chatting now, and we pop them into their Bumbo's (a little seat for infants) now on a daily basis, to encourage them to look at each other and chat to each other. Here's a picture of Katherine just after her feed. She usually is very chatty, and of course is very happy after eating (just like a normal person!).

Both girls clocked a record for feeding last night - they went 9.5 hours between a feed - they fed at 9.30pm and didn't feed again till 7am the next morning! Amazing! (If you told us about such records 6mths ago before the babies arrived, we wouldn't have given 2 hoots...but now, little records such as these are the highlight of our day!).

Egyptian queen

Grandpa and Katelyn - middle name Cleopatra.

Cuddles

Daddy having a cuddle with Katelyn. She is just the right size for cuddling now - just like a big teddy bear!

Visit from Oz

Jon's parents and Derek came to Singapore to visit the girls for the very first time. And we think they all fell immediately in love with the girls!

Check out all the action here:

From Dad, Mum & De...

We miss Mum, Dad and Derek...wish they could have spent more time here. 8 days is not enough!

A whole new meaning to an early start

Jon teaching Katherine how to ride a bike so that she can soon join him on his mountain biking expeditions.

Bumbo Babies

Katelyn and Katherine modelling their new Bumbos. Katelyn sitting pretty in lilac and Katherine looking funky in cool lime.

Grandpa and Grandma at work

This morning the proud grandparents were both busy entertaining the girls! Notice Dad relaxing on the couch behind?!! Jea's parents have been a great help since day 1. We always wonder what we would do without them. Thanks Mum and Dad!

Heads up!

Katelyn enjoying tummy time. She can now lift her head and push her upper body up using her arms. Just 2 nights ago she rolled over from her back to her front for the first time. We are so proud of her. Katherine can also lift her head up while on her tummy. Stay tuned for a photo of her doing that.

Milestone Achieved! 3 months old!

The girls have now hit 3months old, but we took the pics below when they were 11 weeks old. They are becoming more adorable by the day, as they have begun baby talk, and Katherine especially loves to talk.

We find that both of them talk most after a good feed or a nice bath, and more often that not, both will be very chatty at 10pm at night. Looks like they are gonna be night owls!

Last week we took Katherine to see the Doc cause she has (had) very bad eczema on her cheeks, chin and neck. The poor girl had extremely dry skin, and had a lot of problem sleeping. We've been giving her a very mild steroid cream, and it has helped a lot - and she seems a lot happier now. It seems that Katherine really has all the genes from dad - it turns out that not only does she have eczema, but is highly allergic to dogs and dust...which means she most probably also has hayfever! So i guess she can thank the Lau family for that....in contrast Katelyn seems to be doing fine. She's eating well and is very good natured.

Oh the other big news is that they are sleeping quite well. They usually go to sleep between 11 and 12am, and will wake around 5am for a feed, and then around 8.30-9.00am for another feed. So it means that mum and dad are getting a bit more rest these days. Phew!

From 11 Weeks Old ...

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From 11 Weeks Old ...

The twins' very first teacher.

Mrs Wong, or Aunty Wong to the girls, is the senior lactation consultant where the girls where born. She taught them how to breastfeed. Katelyn and Katherine are now 3 moths old and more responsive than before. They smile at you, laugh when you make funny faces and coo and gurgle and make the cutest of sounds! Katelyn is now 5.5kg and 56cm while Katherine is 5kg and 57cm. They have basically doubled their birth weights and grown about 10cm since they were born.

Lesson topic: How to be a kangaroo

Katelyn enjoying a little playtime with daddy getting an education on Aussie culture as well - 'this is how a kangaroo hops'.

Devoted Grandpa

It is midnight but Grandpa is still going strong after 3 hours of carrying Katherine. Little Katherine has eczema and her face gets really itchy, so the only way she gets a good rest is when someone is carrying her.

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...