4 weeks

The girls are exactly 4 weeks old today. It is amazing how quickly time is passing. It seems like we just brought them home from the hospital.

In things to report, we have been very spoiled by our friends over the past week. Jeff and Drew came over to make us dinner last week. Laura and Cristin stopped by to deliver an extra rocking chair, and we had a very nice bbq with the Berkeley grad-school crew on Sunday. Everyone finally got to meet the babies. Its so much work to get out of the house that it was great to have everyone come to us. Plus, they came with beer and food. What more could new parents ask for! Cristin stopped by again yesterday and gets special status as the first non-relative to change a diaper. Way to dig in!

In baby news, we scored a major victory as the twins have moved out of our bed and into their crib (in our bedroom). With two babies, two parents and a cat in a double bed, it was just getting too crowded. Plus, Mark's back was going out from sleeping in a contorted position for 3 weeks. Mark used the techniques in the book "The Baby Whisperer" to get them to sleep in the crib. It involved placing them in the crib and reassuring them everytime they got upset, then putting them down again. He only had to pick up the babies less than 10 times before they went to sleep. Every night it's been a little easier to put them down. I am very impressed. We had been doing mainly attachment style parenting before this (feeding, carrying around mainly on demand). This isn't really practical with twins, especially when I'm home alone. Yet, the whole "Crying it out" style seems quite harsh. This way seems like a good compromise and practical solution for twins. Self-soothing is a good thing. Now, I need to work on their day time patterns.

Well, Elsa is stirring so I must go. Here are their latest pictures.




Elsa (lt) and Lily (rt) in their thermals, dad's favorite outfit. Notice Elsa's new fuzzy hair.



Lily looking at her mom.


Elsa in yellow