Helloooo!

Sorry, it has been SOOO long since my last post. What's going on here? We are crawling in 2 different directions and general chaos has taken over our house. We are having a blast though. The girls have moved to the "big girl" bath meaning we have no more lounge chairs and are free to roam in the bath. Quynh loves the bath because she is a much better crawler/climber, but A-train is learning quickly. They are much more playful and crawling after one another. I am posting a few videos soon. Also, will be posting in the photo album very soon. Should be there in a few hours, waiting for everything to load.

We are taking our first family holiday in a week. Going back to Vietnam, beach town called Phan Thiet. Wit and I have been there before, but are totally excited to go back.

I think the girls are going to be a ladybug and a bumblebee for Halloween. Will be having their costumes made in Shenzhen, so who knows how they will turn out. We'll post pics after I get them back.

Video #1: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4586879545049186669

I've been tagged

I was tagged by E at Fajitas & Pho to write a meme and of course, I have the longest middle name ever!

You have to post these rules before you give the facts:

Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged & to read your blog!

E -- Extra busy lately, the girls are starting Kindermusik and Water Babies this week and I am trying to babyproof the house.

L -- Lake house -- we are in the market for one, anyone got anything interesting?

I -- Ideas on what my kids can be for Halloween?

Z -- Zero words come to mind.

A -- Audrey has learned to crawl in the last week and now has decided to pull up in her crib, but she is not quite sure how to get down yet.

B -- Balance --all about trying to find it.

E --Quynh's first name (Elizabeth) -- lots of ppl in my fam have that name.

T -- Toys. Everywhere.

H -- Holiday -- looking forward to the last week in September when we will take our first family holiday -- going back to VN to an area called Phan Thiet. Looking forward to some beach time!

Ok, that was hard.

Now, seriously, tagging 9 people just sounds wrong. I will tag anyone who has or plans on visiting Hong Kong (you can include yourself if you only stopped at the airport).

Busy days

Sorry, it has been a while since I posted. I try to do once a week, but my weeks seem to be running together!

The girls are doing great...we have some good days and some not so good days. Luckily, I don't seem to be hit by both have a bad day at the same time. Mostly the problem has been teething lately. We've had some strong storms in HK lately and sometimes the wind wakes the girls up, so sometimes they are just grumpy from being tired.

They are both clapping and playing pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo now. We still say dada, no mama, but indiscriminately. I just found Audrey sitting in her crib, so she has somehow found out how to sit up on her own. Still waiting for that to happen so I can see exactly how she does it. Quynh is trying her best to balance without holding on to things. She is getting better. She can now climb down the stairs -- climbing up was never an issue, it was getting down. She is cruising on all furniture and I am trying to baby proof this apartment quickly. They are both eating well, but not gaining much weight. I just moved Quynh up to a 6-9 month sleepsuit because of her length, but the size swallows her. She is just so tiny. Audrey should be getting tooth #6 soon, and Quynh is still working on #2 which I see, but it is moving very slowly.

In September, we start Kindermusik and swim lessons and playgroups, so life gets even busier.

More soon hopefully!

Update

Nothing too big to report this week. Audrey and Quynh both tested negative for TB, so that is good news. Audrey has her 5th tooth coming in and Quynh has her 2nd that just broke through. Quynh is running a slight fever that I am assuming comes from the teething, because she has no other symptoms besides being clingy.

Audrey has become the rolling queen. She can get to everything by rolling and quite honestly, she has stopped trying to crawl because of this newfound talent. Quynh is still trying to master the steps and standing without hands.

Hong Kong is in typhoon season, so its been raining for the last week. Looking forward to starting the fall, we've got Water Babes and Kindermusik lined up at the Amer. Club and lots of playgroups to look forward to.

Below is a video...for those of you who have met Audrey, you will know what a ham she is. Quynh is much more serious, but both LOVE the biscuits. Have a good week!

Hook 'Em!

For all the Texans, you knew this was coming. Hook 'Em Horns! (onesie courtesy of Gumpa)

I am posting some more pics in the Photo Album now, so they should be there shortly.

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.