Look Ma! No Hands!!

What do you call a girl with no arms hopping in a door swing?

Too Darn Cute, that is what you call it!

Little Rowan was armed to follow in her Pa's line of bad puns... but she just refused to give me a hand.
Well, I guess she doesn't think it was a knee slapper.

Surprise Visit

Isabella and Austin drove up this past week with their Abuelita due to the hurricane in the valley. We had a great time together.

We started off the day at our neighborhood park, then we went downtown to the Children's Museum. After a few hours there we went for gelato and then visited Uncle Andy at the fire station. Then later that evening Abuelita took the kids to the movies. Needless to say, little Austin passed out that night without even changing into his pajamas.















The next day the kids went with Abuelita to church then we all went to my sister's house and the kids swam, played video games, and generally ran around like little monkeys. My mom and grandmother came over as well.

We tried out the swimming pool with the babies again. They did much better this time and even kicked their little legs in the water.

Mr. Mono and I left the babies with the grandmothers and went to see
Hellboy II at the movies. It was awesome! So we had an all around great weekend.

Rowan Laughing

This is a little video of Rowan laughing for the first time. Our friend captured it with his digital camera. She laughed for quite a long time, this is just a bit of it. She was laughing at two dogs playing together. My baby's laugh is the most beautiful sound in the world.

Pictures

Grandma and Evey in her clown pajamas.




















Abuelita and Evey















Chilling and Relaxing--that's "Chillaxing"

Poor Little Ro

Rowan appears to be teething. Poor girl. And yes, I do realize the irony of a crying baby in a onesie that says "smile." If only she could read!!(shakes fist at sky dramatically).

Seriously though, she has all the signs: drooling, crying, low grade fever...and you can see two little vampire teeth starting to push through.

Its early, she's only 3 months; however, my mom said that I had 6 teeth by the time I was 6 months--so maybe its hereditary. She's miserable and wants to be in someone's arms constantly. Luckily, Evey has been easy going and catching up on her sleep. Needless to say, a baby in the arms makes posting on the blog a bit difficult. Such is life, eh?

Business Cards

I'm working on revamping my business card and can't help thinking...and laughing about this scene from American Psycho.

Our New Mexico Trip

Mr. Mono, Evey, Rowan, and I went on our annual fishing trip--this time to the San Juan river in New Mexico. Neither of us caught any fish. Alas, I will have to pass on the Big Fish trophey this year to Chris. We had a wonderful time though.

This was a big adventure for the girls who turned 3 months on the 10th. They went on their first plane trip and were very well behaved. They didn't cry on the plane at all. Taking them both in public is like going out with movie stars, everyone wants to look at them and talk about their twin-ness or their baby-ness and everyone says how beautiful they are.

Traveling with twins is not that bad; although there is really no way to fly with two babies alone. Each of us had to carry a baby through the security check point and then each of us had a baby to hold during the flight. We gave the girls pacifers and bottles during take off and landing to pop their ears and they didn't seem to have any problems.

All of our friends loved the girls and they were constantly in someone's arms. This is Evey with Bybee.














Rowan surprised all of us by laughing loudly for the first time. She has cooed and smiled and giggled before, but this was a huge belly laugh. On the last day we were all taking a group picture together and Abby & Esau's dogs began to wrestle and play the way dogs do. Rowan saw them and started laughing for quite a while. She would calm down for a bit then start laughing again. It was so beautiful.This is a picture of her laughing. Our friend video taped it, which I'll post as soon as he sends it to me.

Abuelita Carmen comes to town

Abuelita Carmen has been visiting the girls this week and will be staying with us for a couple of months. Its been so wonderful to have her here and the girls adore her. She has a special way of caring for the babies and they love to fall asleep in her arms. She's been a great help to us as well. Thanks Carmen for everything!

Grandpa Vance

Today we met my dad for lunch. He was very happy to see his little grand- daughters. I only wish we could see him more often.

Baby's First Swim

The girls' Tia Ivette gave them the cutest little matching bathing suits. So this 4th of July we decided to take the girls for their first swim. The weather was warm, but not too hot and the water was nice and warm too. My sister has an awesome saline pool (so there isn't any chlorine).

We put them in water babies diapers and their cute little suits. We then carefully applied baby sunscreen. Well, after all of that preparation, the girls enjoyed maybe the first two seconds of being in the water and then promptly began to cry.

Oh well. We'll have to try it again in a another month or so. Lucky for us, summer lasts a long time around here.

Cute Baby Pictures

Rowan (bottom left) and Evelyn (right). The girls are really starting to smile and coo a lot. They are so cute.

Get Dos Monos by Email

I added an email subscription to our blog. (Its on the right hand side and says "Subscribe via email" and enter in your email address). If you subscribe then you'll receive an email when the blog is updated.

Growing is hard

I was laying on the floor in front of Evey saying, "you're doing great Evey," and "come on girl you can do it." She's on a blanket on her belly: "tummy time," and her little legs are kicking and she's trying to push up or turn over. Its not working out very well and she's really mad about it. Mad, frustrated, and ready to not be doing "tummy time" anymore, she begins to cry.

Growing is hard. And its easy to forget all the difficulties we ourselves once accomplished. Learning to turn over is just the beginning of many frustrating challenges that lie ahead. Learning to walk, to ride a bike, on up to the first day of school. How scary that was! I remember my first day of Jr. High and being so incredibly nervous. I thought nothing would ever be so traumatizing. Like Evey, I was (at least on the inside) kicking and screaming. Yet, how simple it all was looking back now. Now, having completed many, many, many years of school.

But it never really goes away, does it? There is always another challenge that lies ahead. And though they don't call them "developmental milestones" once you reach a certain age, they are just that. And along with each milestone comes that maddening feeling of doing something you've never done before. Of trying to accomplish something new and scary that is no less as important as being able to roll over, and no less upsetting. There have been so many in my life. Traveling to a new country alone, going to law school, getting married, and most recently, having a baby are just a few that come to mind. Each one bringing its own set of kicking and screaming (sometimes literally).

And so, looking ahead at this year and all the things I so desperately want to accomplish with my career and ultimately my life... Worried about making the transition to private practice and all that that entails, I am no different than my two and half month old daughter. Yes, growing is hard.

I know she will eventually roll over. Then she'll do it all the time and we will have to constantly be on guard that she doesn't roll off of things. One day she'll play with other kids and do things like roll down grassy hills. She won't remember how much she cried trying to learn how. And I know that although difficult, each step we take, each developmental milestone in our lives is worth it. Even when its hard and we want to cry.

Rowan Rolls!

Rowan rolled over by herself today! She's such a strong baby. She's not even 3 months yet! She rolled from her belly to her back and once she had done it she did it every time she was placed on her belly. It was so cute. I'll try to capture it on video tomorrow.

Rowan and Evelyn on the move

Untitled from Mrs. Monkey on Vimeo.
This is my first attempt at making this kind of video. The video is kind of dark because I only had natural light on. That's Rowan in the beginning and then Evey in the end (she takes the bumbo from Ro-ro [complex plot, I know]).

Oh and you can click on the four arrows on the bottom of the video next to "Vimeo" and make the video full screen.

Last Week

This is my last week with the girls before I have to return to work. My time off has just gone by so quickly. I have loved every moment I have spent with them. They are both such incredible, wonderful children.




Rowan and I this morning. She fell asleep in my arms.

Father's Day Pictures

Evelyn













Rowan and Andre






















Christine, Patrick and Nathan

1st Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Mono!!

Shots!!

The girls had their 2 month doctor's visit today and got their first round of vaccines. Rowan weighed 10 pound 4 ounces and Evelyn weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces. The girls are really growing fast, its not our imagination after all. Both girls did remarkably well with the shot and only cried for a few seconds. The rotavirus vaccine was a little drink, so the girls only had one shot today of the DTaP. They don't seem to be having any side effects except for sleepiness which doesn't seem like a bad thing to me.

We're following the vaccine schedule recommended by Dr. Sears instead of the schedule recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. I thought our doc may give us some grief over that, but their office follows Dr. Sears schedule too for the most part. So instead of having their HIB, Pc, DTaP, Rotavirus, and Polio shots today, they only had their DTaP and Rotavirus. They'll receive their Pc and HIB next month, and their polio shot at 1 yr.

According to Dr. Sears, the schedule delays shots for diseases that a baby is extremely unlikely to catch during the first years of life and gives them after the more important shots are done. And it gives live virus vaccines one at a time so that a baby's immune system can deal with each disease separately.

The benefit of spacing the shots is that we can cut down on the amount of aluminum the girls are getting in each dose. Aluminum is added to the vaccines to help them work better. Its fine until it reaches toxic levels and then it can accumulate in the bone and brain. The FDA and AAP have documents that say aluminum can be a problem and even lead to neurological problems, but no one has studied the amount of aluminum in injections and specifically vaccines. We have healthy full-term babies with healthy kidneys so most likely they wouldn't have a problem, but why take the chance when we can just delay some of the shots.

The second benefit of spacing the injections, is that if the girls do have a reaction it will be easier to pinpoint which vaccine caused it. And its a reasonable precaution to limit potential side effects by not combining so many vaccines.

Our doctor's office said they follow this schedule for the most part, only exchanging the DTaP for the HIB vaccine during HIB season (which is not right now).

Eddie Izzard

Andre and I went to see Eddie Izzard's new tour "Stripped" last night. He is by far the funniest comedian I've ever seen. We had a fabulous time. Thanks Laura for watching the girls.