Dear Fellow American...

Well, the girls are officially US citizens. They have both received their Certificate of Citizenship from the US govt. This is a big step for us because living overseas has made this a little trickier, but we are done! Yay!

The girls had their second round of immunizations last Friday. They handle the shots really well, so let's hope that continues. Audrey, as I had expected lost about half a pound and hadn't grown, but Quynh had gained about a pound and had grown an inch.

Audrey -- 17.5 lbs, 27.25 inches
Quynh -- 15.2 lbs, 26.2 inches

Overall, they are doing really well. Quynh's cold has finally gone away and Audrey is gaining a lot more coordination. Both are jabbering the days away too. Nothing really understandable, but a lot to be said.

The news of the day is that both girls are now drinking juice and water out of a bottle w/handles all on their own. They love it and I have to say it is a huge help while I am in the car driving! Next stop is sippy cups I guess. As for eating, they chow down on food. And they love the biter biscuits (as do the dogs when the biscuit drops to the ground). We have been making a lot more homemade baby food lately, which has been interesting and fun. They seem to really like it.


More soon!

Teething Blues

Audrey is in the middle of the teething blues again. It will be her second top tooth. She is an incredibly fussy teether compared to Quynh. However, Quynh's seem to be moving really slowly compared to Audrey's. They both had a tooth come through at the same time and you can barely see Quynh's, while Audrey's is in full view. Oragel to the rescue.

Also, just posted some new pics in the photo album.

Update

The girls are doing great. In fact, both slept thru the night last night without a feeding. They both woke up about 12:30 and fussed for maybe 5 minutes before falling back asleep (on their own!) and not waking until 6 am. As for my sleep, I kept waking up thinking, when are they going to wake up and need to eat!! I know that by writing this they will probably have an absolute horrible night tonight, but at least we know it is possible to sleep thru the night!

Is Quynh ahead of the game? No, I am not one of those parents who thinks her children are gifted based on every little task they complete, but Quynh is definitely a mover & shaker with respect to motor skills. At not even 8 months, this girl is cruising on tables, chairs and anything she can pull up on. She has been crawling for a while, but now she is just fast and thinks the whole house is her playground. My house is moving up a level and things are being pushed out of reach because of her mischievous ways! If she sees me go to another room, she will try her hardest to get there too (stairs included).

Audrey, on the other hand, seems to get pretty pissed off because she lacks this skill. She is still scooting backwards (not forwards yet) and just generally hates when Quynh comes over and rips something out of her hands. I mean full tears, kicks her feet, pissed! I keep telling Quynh that when Audrey does learn how to crawl she better watch out!

The girls go for their 2nd shots on Friday, so I will know weights and lengths again. I think Audrey has grown in length and Quynh has definitely grown in weight. It will be interesting to see. In 4 weeks, do you think over or under 3 lbs?

As for Hong Kong, it is hot hot hot, but crystal clear blue skies. Where did all the pollution go? We are off for a short swim or float really, but at least something to cool off!

Day in the Life of...

Well, seeing how I just came up for a breath of air, I thought I would update everyone on the happenings in the Solberg house. We are completely over our jet-lag and settling into a routine, which is nice. It is so nice to actually have places for things rather than a suitcase. Also, we just now found a place for everything and all the boxes and suitcases are put away. Anyway, our day typically goes like this...

06:30 -- Audrey wakes first, chg diapers and go get in bed with Dad
06:45 -- Miss Q decides to make her appearance
07:00 -- Breakfast time -- usually fruit with oatmeal
07:15 -- Dad leaves (we are working on waving goodbye)
07:15 - 09:00 -- Playtime and change clothes
09:00 -- Bottle and nap time -- This has been about 1.5 hours lately
10:30ish - 12:00 -- More playtime or we get out (not happening too much seeing how hot it is here)
Noon -- Lunch time
13:30 -- Bottle and nap time again (This is anywhere from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours)
15:00ish - 18:00 -- Playtime (have been trying to get out at this time, either swimming, a walk, run errands, etc. Also, have juice and starting finger foods. The Gerber Little Graduates are great. Quynh is pretty good at getting them in her mouth, but Audrey would much rather you do the work for her (doesn't that sound like her?)
18:00 -- Dinner time
18:30 -- Bath time
19:00 -- Bottle & bed

Now, Quynh has been waking up around 23:00ish for a bottle, but then will sleep thru the night. Audrey has been waking at 03:00ish for a bottle. One waking per child isn't horrible and we are dealing with it pretty well right now. Plus, they are downing the bottles, so maybe they are hungry. I have tried feeding them more during the day, but they aren't too interested.

Anyway, Audrey cut her first top tooth a couple of days ago and Quynh just cut her 1st tooth! This is a big step because Audrey has been screaming about this tooth for about 3 weeks now! Still can't imagine what she is going to look like with 2 front teeth.

Whoever invented the ExerSaucer is a genius -- it is about the only way I can get some time to get things done around here. I am looking for a jumper, but no luck so far in HK.

Other than all of this, not much new to report.

I am trying hard to get pictures uploaded, but there are so many that I need to go thru and organize, so give me a break. I will post some teasers though...

I'm Back!!!

Holy Guacamole! We are finally back in Hong Kong! Some days, I never thought I would be saying that. It feels really good to be home. The girls are jet-lagged..again. They have met our other furry children and that has gone pretty well. Audrey loves the animals, but Quynh isn't sure about them when they sneak up on her. I promise I will post some pics soon. The furries are doing a great job with the new additions though.

Quynh has "dada" down but now sure if she really knows that when we say Dada, we mean daddy. Oh well. In time.

Audrey is losing some of her pudge, probably because of the increased exercise. She is on a strict workout schedule (just kidding!).

A lot of people have asked if sleeping has improved and I will say that yes, I think it has, but who really knows seeing how I change their environment about every 2 weeks. Now that we are back home, we will see how that goes.

More soon, happy to be home at the moment.

We have arrived!

We are here...after a LONG trip home, we have made it. It was rough for the girls, they were fine on the long flight, but the last leg from LA to Houston was too much. They had had enough. Quynh slept ALL day today and Audrey for most of the day. I am sure they will be ready to go about 10p tonight, but I am just as jet-lagged so not a big deal.

Everything else is good. Grandparents are spoiling them. Audrey LOVES my oldest brother (and he seems to like her too)! Quynh hasn't really opened up to all the new people yet. She is following me around the room though, which is a plus on the attachment front. Audrey is fine with just about anyone holding her. She loves to be held. Overall, they seem to be doing ok, but a little uncertain about meeting all the new people and my parent's pooch, who thinks they are about the scariest things ever.

More soon!

Good Night Vietnam

Well, we have visas in hand and we are D-O-N-E, done. Wit got into Hanoi this morning and I spent the most part of the day packing up. We had to run by the Cathay office to get tickets and then we met with our agency rep one last time to go over all the paperwork and double-check the visas. Everything looks good.

We leave the hotel around 8:30a Hanoi time and will be arriving in Houston around 6a on Sunday. My mom is meeting me in Hong Kong to fly the long legs of the trip, so that is a great thing! The girls have no idea what is coming, but doing well otherwise. They were both really happy to see Wit and just smiled and smiled at him. He is such a good dad already -- he even lets them play with his Blackberry. :-) I secretly hope they destroy the damn thing, maybe a little more drool would do the trick.

Next update will be from Texas. Good night!

Getting closer!

We have been approved by USCIS and have our visa interview Thursday at 2p. We have known we were approved since Monday, but because we live overseas, we have been trying to sort out which visa to enter the US with. We have chosen a path and we will see where that takes us. The most important thing is the ability to get US passports while in the States to re-enter Hong Kong. So, that is the goal.

If all goes well with visa issuance, we should be out of here Friday night (Hanoi time) and in Houston by 6am Saturday. 3.5 weeks in Hanoi!! It's going to be a long haul, but we will get there some way or another. For those of you wondering, Wit is going to see me to LA and then turnaround on the next flight back to HK. What a great dad!!

I will be in Texas for a week or maybe two visiting family and getting passports and then we are off again to see Wit's parents before heading back to Hong Kong.
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As for the girls...they are doing well. We had a great day today. Audrey is finally playing a bit on her own and didn't need me to hold her every second of the day. We'll see how that goes tomorrow. Quynh actually took a 1-hour nap instead of her 30-minute regulars and boy, did she wake up a happy girl!

As for night sleep, I guess bad habits are hard to break. I am going to ride out whatever sleep patterns they have right now until I get back to HK and then we will start the intervention!

Audrey did go swimming the other day too...it was about the same as Quynh's experience. Pretty flat -- no thrills, no cries, just neutral. Baths are getting a bit better though. I will post a few new pics tonight.

Sunday Funday

Quynh went swimming tonight for the first time. It was fun? She didn't cry, didn't smile, just sat and looked around like what in the world are we doing all wet. There were other kids splashing so she was definitely checking them out. All I can say is she looked damn cute in her pink polka dots and hoodie coverup. It was difficult for me to take pics because I was trying to hold her at the same time, but I did post a couple. Where was Audrey during all of this?? Sacked out. We will try her tomorrow.

Quynh is also turning into a blankie baby, well, more like a burp cloth baby. She wakes up and starts fussing because she can't find it...put it in her hand and back to sleep. She also sucks her thumb. Audrey likes the burp cloth too, but not as much.

Audrey is going to be the picky eater of the bunch for sure. Still dislikes apples and bananas, but Quynh will clean up the scraps.

Hoping to hear some news tomorrow.

Life with Two

It's almost 8pm and (gasp!) I am about to watch a movie. Today was pretty uneventful. I had to run some errands and get some food for the girls who are chowing down on baby food. Also had to get some more diapers -- you have no idea how many diapers we go through in a day (well, Jenn knows!). No news from the Embassy yet, so we wait into next week it seems. The girls are doing good, we are up to 3 meals a day and loving every last bite. Audrey wasn't too keen on apples and bananas, but loved the pears. Quynh only takes 30 minute naps, so she can get pretty crabby around bedtime. Bedtime is still around 6:30ish and they are still waking at 1a and 5a. It seems to be a pattern that I can live with for a while. Other than that, everything is going well. They are handling the baths a lot better now, not so petrified of being in water, but not quite sure they like it either.

Wit is feeling better, so that is good news.