Hazel Nut and Smilas (by Ben)

Until they start smiling I can't say that I really enjoy the company of babies.  For the first month or so, they scream, they cry, they poop and, when you're really lucky, they sleep.  So... at their best, they're knocked out and it's kinda like they aren't there at all.  All that changes when they start smiling.  A little reciprocity goes a long way in my book.  And I'm glad that our twins have good smiles and use them often. 

Hazel Nut

Smilas

(nearly) Eight Weeks later...

Yeah, we're slackers.

In our defense, having twins - on top of two other very busy kids - is unbelievably time consuming.  There are simply not enough hours in the day to do everything, not enough hands to do it all.  Something has to give, which is why I've been subsisting on a diet of Mint Slice biscuits and Diet Coke.  Also why the twins are almost eight weeks old and this is only my second time to document their lives, not just for ourselves but for their patient grandmas (sorry, Mom and Mom).  Finally, we've got a bit of time where all the kids are in bed, the dishes are done and lunches made for tomorrow, laundry folded and put away, and it's not even 9:00 yet!

Without further ado...

Pretty little girl - <1 week

Sleepy boy - <1 week

Chubby boy.  We know this is an early picture, because Sy is now a scrawny thing - a bout with jaundice and still not recovered, he's really struggled to gain weight.  It's actually kind of sad to see how chubby he used to be.

Hank wants to be right where the action is, every time.  Sometimes it's cute.  Usually it's stress-inducing.

Gives good face...

...unless she's fighting sleep.

Silas - 3 weeks

Hazel - 3 weeks

Baldies - 3 weeks

Hard at work.  Really - this is hard work.  (6 weeks)

Sometimes we smile, too.  It's getting better.

Snuggly Sy - 7 weeks

Abe is an unbelievably good helper.  He loves feeding the babies, talking to them, playing with them, and being on "dummy duty" (inserting pacifiers).  The babies love him.  (Incidentally, Sy always has a startled look on his face.  Hank says he looks "cross".)

Hank loves to help too, but again, it's not always, ah, helpful.  Luckily, he enjoys using his newly-developed reading skills on the babies.  I'd like to think he lulled Hazel to sleep here.

Today - almost 8 weeks.  Oh my - they are cute.

So not the most clever blog post ever, unless you count surviving eight weeks with twins clever. Which I do.

Silas Benjamin and Hazel Virginia

Boy, what a busy week.  Stephanie is still recovering in the hospital but she and the twins are doing very well.  We needed to get some pictures of the twins up on the internets for family and friends back home to see.  I was going to put these up on the facebook, but since some of the family is less facebook literate (myself included), I decided to throw some pictures on the blog.  The minimal explanation and formatting is an indication of lack of much spare time.  I'm sure that when Steph feels up to it, she will post a more detailed account with more pictures.
Cheers.

First non-gory, non-nude photo of the twins

Left, Silas Benjamin (about 7.5 lbs).  Right, Hazel Virginia (about 5.5 lbs)

The older siblings are at first cautious.

Hank is excited to hold his little sister.

Abe is a big big brother and he can hold two babies at once.

Despite her smaller size, Hazel does have a larger nose than her brother.

Silas takes a dummy (pacifier)

Hazel also takes a dummy.  She is the alert twin.  I don't know that I've ever seen Silas awake since he was born.

I took Stephanie to the Prom (a post by Ben)

Wilson's Promontory that is.  We locals call it "the Prom."

In anticipation of the limited mobility that will accompany the twins' arrival, we decided to have a little adventure.  We took a few days to visit Phillip Island (of penguin Parade fame) and Wilson's Promontory National Park.  We stayed in San Remo, which is the last bit of mainland before the bridge over to the island.  San Remo is famous for its pelicans.  A big tourist draw for San Remo is the daily pelican feeding.  Every noon, the fish and chips shop by the shore will take out their fish heads and bones and toss them to the pelicans waiting on the beach.  Huge stingrays circle the shallows trying to pick up any scraps the pelicans miss.  This was our first adventure: pelicans and stingrays. 

 

What doesn't show up in the pelican picture is that it was bitter cold, rainy and windy.  We didn't see any stingrays on our first visit on account of rough water and we had to return to see them in better weather.  But on the day of our arrival, we were determined to enjoy ourselves whether the weather cooperated or not.  So we took a tour of the local chocolate factory with a lifesize chocolate Michaelangelo's David.

 

 A tour of the chocolate factory wasn't enough adventure for one afternoon, so we took a short drive to Cape Paterson to visit the rock pools by the beach.  Such scenery!  However, it was here that the weather went from awful to a lot more awfuler.   The hail may have detracted from Hank's enjoyment, as evident in this picture.

  

The next day the weather was improved considerably and we decided to spend the day on the island.  We visited the Phillip Island Wildlife Park as soon as they opened their doors at 10 am.  For a good 45 minutes we were the only visitors in the park and the animals were all eager to visit with us and eat the Kangaroo food the operators provided us.  Everyone got to pet and cuddle a wallaby and/or kangaroo.  I fed a cassowary, which is a bird that is kind of like a cross between an emu and a velociraptor (picture not included).  

 

 This curious Eastern Grey was very interested in our camera.

 The afternoon was spent on the far side of the island where there is a network of walkways around the coastal cliffs.  Waves would crash against the cave in this picture sending ocean spray up on the pedestrians walking by.  Stephanie and Abe (little black specks in the upper right of this photo) got pretty damp from a particularly large wave.

 The following day we drove out to Wilson's Promontory.  First stop was Picnic Bay.  But we arrived too early for a picnic and so spent our time here running on the beach and climbing on the rocks.

By lunchtime we had reached squeaky beach and decided to have our picnic there, on one of the boulders.  The pleasant meal of PB&J sandwiches would have been all the better were it not for some pretty aggressive gulls. 

 "Hank, turn around and smile at Papa." This direction was translated by our 4 year old as "Spin around and smile."  Squeaky Beach is so named because the composition of the sand is such that it makes a squeaky sound when you walk on it.  Actually, you have to kind of stomp a bit, but it does indeed squeak. 

 Back to the rock pools at Cape Paterson.  This time, minus the hail.  Here's a picture of Hank following in Abe's footsteps.  Who loves his older brother?

 We all had a good time.  Hank threw a little fit when we arrived home after our visit to Phillip Island and the Prom.  When we told him that we were going to our real home, he thought that we were talking about our cabin (rental mobile home).

The Last Five Months

Due to many factors, there's a lot of stuff we've missed blogging about in the last several months. Here's a quick overview as to what we've been up to:

Abe turned 7, and we had a footy-filled celebration.

Steph won a bike (yeah, she really did!).

Ben's mom came for a visit, and we crammed a million adventures into three weeks.

We had a Ned Kelly and a Danny for Halloween,

And after two failed attempts, we finally saw the real thing (well, just the real Ned Kelly thing).

We met some idols (Jamie Bennell and Aaron Davey - our neighbor!).

Had a great Christmas,

And everyone got something they really wanted.

We saw some real Aussie wildlife

And some a little more exotic.

Took a fun ride,

Played some golf,

Slipped and slid,

Went hunting for crabs,

And flew a kite when we couldn't catch any.

We found a new favorite beach,

Bushwalked in one of our old favorite spots,

(Abe's favorite Demon, Jack Watts, resigning his jersey.)

And met some more idols.

LOTS more.

Believe it or not, we didn't get photos of everything. Steph's birthday and Ben's birthday were eclipsed by the news of a new brother and a first sister. Hank wears big boy undies now, just like Abe. It's been a very busy five months, and we're loving it here as much as ever. So much, in fact, that Ben accepted a promotion last week that will keep us here a little longer than we had originally planned. We sure are happy to have more time to have awesome adventures and create more memories in this amazing place.