County Fair

I love the Fair.

It's strange, because growing up I don't recall going to the fair that often, maybe once or twice.

In college, UCLA had an annual carnival called Mardi Gras, that raised money for UCLA's official charity, UniCamp. I was involved in UniCamp every year, so I helped out with Mardi Gras. Maybe that's why I like the fair so much.

In any case, I love the smell of popcorn, cotton candy, and deep fried dough permeating the air.

I like to browse the agriculture and cooking displays and see what entries won the blue, red and white ribbons.

I like to find out what 70's or 80's down-on-their-luck, one-hit-wonder band has sunk so low that they are relegated to performing on the county fair circuit (This year: Tower of Power and REO Speedwagon).

Each year at the county fair I allow myself my yearly corn dog, and man, is it good!

This year my annual trip to the fair was obviously more exciting because Katherine and Caroline came along for their first experience with the fair.

I actually set my expectations fairly low for the girls. I figured they might be overwhelmed by the noise, the bright lights, the crowds. So I told myself not to be too disappointed if we ended up having to leave within 15 minutes of arriving.

Turns out I needn't have worried. These are my girls, after all.

Caroline and Katherine LOVED the fair.

The crowds, noise, and lights fascinated them. Carloine leaned forward in her stoller seat for most of the time, trying to take it all in. Katherine, more relaxed, nonetheless swiveled her head in all directions, looking from new experience to new experience.

In the home arts exhibits, which was held in a giant convention hall, the girls got a kick at the acoustics generated by being in such a large hall. The girls yelled and laughed just to hear their own echos bound off the walls and ceilings. They also loved the multi-colored patterns on the quilt exhibits, and kept trying to reach out and touch the various exhibits.

Terri and I shared a funnel cake, and I had my corn dog, or course.

But the best part of the night was at the carnival games, where Terri utilized her skills in throwing a ping-pong ball into a fish bowl to win a larged teddy bear for the girls. It was perfect, as now the girls will have a momento of their first trip to the county fair!

The Lim Family at the Fair.
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Caroline enjoying the sights and sounds of the fair.
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Mommy Victorious! (The girls are distracted by some other game and wouldn't look in my direction)
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Uh-oh!

Does an exclamation count as a first word?

The girls have picked up their first meaningful expression. The expression is, "Uh-oh!"

The girls say it beautifully, with the right intonationPerhapsps even more impressive, they use it in the proper context.

Drop their bottle on the floor? "Uh-oh!"

Pull a pile of newspapers off the table? "Uh-oh!"

Fall on their butt while trying to walk? "Uh-oh!"

Katherine and Caroline both started using the word at exactly the same time.

We can only guess that the girls picked up the exclamation in day care, because Terri and I don't use the expression at home that often. I'm ashamed to admit that our expressions, despite our best efforts, tend to be, shall we say, more "colorful".

We should be grateful, then, that "Uh-oh!" is the only exclamation they've picked up.

So if you come to our house, you are likely to hear the following sounds in order throughout the day:

1. Little feet on the pattering on the floor; then
2. The sound of plastic cups or wooden chairs or margarita bottles or [insert any common household object not bolted down and standing less than three feet off the ground] crashing to the ground; then
3. "Uh-oh!"

First Birthday - Whose Party Is It?

Katherine and Caroline turned the big ONE last Friday, and to celebrate, we threw the girls a birthday party on Saturday.

It was a big affair, with over 30 friends and family in attendance. My parents came from out of town. We had Hawaiian food, punch, cake, and a “Hello Kitty” theme for the party.

The girls had a good time. They took a forced nap from 10 am to 12 pm to minimize the risk of “melt down” during the party, and for the most part they were very well behaved during the party.

Although let’s be honest here. The girls are not ever going to remember this party. They will look at some photos of the party when they are older and ask, “Who’s that?” when they see who attended, but they will not have any personal recollection of their party.

No. This party was really for Mommy and Daddy. To celebrate the fact that WE MADE IT THROUGH OUR TWIN GIRLS’ FIRST YEAR!

In fact, if you look at this video, ask yourself: Who is smiling more, Mom and Dad, or the girls?



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Happy Birthday Katherine and Caroline!

P.S. – For you parents out there, Safeway gives you a FREE birthday cake for your child’s first birthday. For twins, we got TWO free cakes. What a deal!

Walking!

While I didn't catch the actual "first steps" on video, here is a short clip of the girls working on their walk last night:




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Family and friends, be sure to view Katherine and Carolines other videos by clicking here.

TWO STEPS

Katherine took her first two steps this evening.

She stood up in front of me, and before I knew what she was doing (and quite possibly before she knew what she was doing!), she took two tiny steps towards me, before taking a third step and lunging toward me.

There can not be a prouder father in the world tonight.

Two small steps for Katherine!
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Walked today!
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Heat & Sausages Don't Mix

Last week, beginning with last Sunday July 23, made for a long week. I kept telling myself that I would update this blog with an individual entry for each event, but as the week wore on, I found myself just keeping my head above water, with no time at all to update this bloc.

So now, here it is Monday, and the long week is over. Rather than try to make an individual entry for each event (which would kill me at this point), here is the CliffsNotes version of:

"The Long, Hot Week"
(or, "The Week in Which it was Really Hot, and Daddy Learned that Babies Shouldn't Eat Sausage")

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Sunday, July 23 - HOT, HOT, and more HOT.

Sunday dawned bright and hot. The heat wave California had been facing reached its high point. Terri, the lucky woman that she is, headed off to work at the hospital, leaving Daddy and the kids in a house that was 85 degrees at 9:30 a.m. Are you kidding me?!?

If I had been a man with no kids, I would have been off to the beach on a day like today. However, with two kids, my immediate concern was for their well-being. Eighty-five degrees at 9:30 a.m. did not bode well, especially for two infants who can not yet verbalize when they are experiencing early symptoms of heat stroke.

I racked my brain furiously trying to think of a baby-friendly locale with air conditioning

My work office? Nope - they turn off their A/C on weekends.

The movie theatre? Not nearly baby friendly enough.

The beach? Not when the girls will just sit there and try to eat sand.

Finally, I found myself on pricline.com, looking for hotel rooms in the area. I ended up paying $50 for a four-star hotel. $50 to get out of the heat? DEAL!

I packed up the girls, brought along some bed sheets and blankets to spread out on the hotel floor, and by 11:30 a.m. the girls were playing with their toys in their makeshift play room on the third floor of the Hyatt Regency in a cool 72 degrees.

Outside and at our house, it got up past 100 degrees. Inside our house would have been an oven, so my $50 was well spent.

The heat did not ease up that night, so Terri came over after work, and we had a fun night on "vacation" in our hotel room!

I forgot to take the camera to the hotel, but here are the girls playing in the dining room.
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Monday, July 24 - Easy on the sausage!

Monday it was back to work. The girls were in daycare that day, so they got a break from the heat at the air-conditioned daycare.

At 11:30 a.m., I got a call from daycare. Caroline had thrown up her breakfast and lunch. No fever, but she was fussy, and not holding down any solid food.

I left work and headed off to daycare (My work is much closer than Terri's work to the daycare), while Terri got a hold of our doctor. Our first suspicion was that the vomiting was due to the extreme heat we were still experiencing.

Once at the daycare, Caroline was fussy --crying and inconsolable. I held her, but she didn't want to be held. But as soon as I put her down, she'd cry to be picked up.

The day before, at the hotel, I had introduced the girls to a new food -- these chicken/apple sausages from Costco. 100% chicken with apple in them, they are low-fat, low sodium, and pre-cooked. Perfect, I thought, for the girls.

And at the hotel, the girls loved them. Caroline especially. She shoved down 12 bite size pieces in under five minutes, and really seemed to enjoy the taste.

However, at 12:30 p.m. the following day at daycare, I learned that the sausages don't love Caroline as much as she loves them.

At 12:30 p.m., after much fussing and crying, Caroline had a HUGE bowel movement. I mean, this poop would have made a male construction worker proud!

And embedding the poop? All 12 pieces of sausage Caroline had eaten exactly as she had swallowed them. Caroline was obviously unable to digest the sausage casings (Katherine's stomach does not seem to have this problem, as her sausage pieces digested nicely).

Within five minutes of her bowel movement, Caroline was like a new baby. She was crawling, laughing, and most importantly: Eating.

Crisis averted, I headed back to work.

Caroline: "I'll pass on the sausage, thanks."
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I end this blog with a gratuitous photo of two out of the three best ladies in the world:

Mommy & Katherine: 11 months.
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The girls are standing, but it's too hot to walk!

As I predicted, Caroline stood on her own last Saturday, almost a week after seeing Katherine stand on her own.

As luck would have it, I was holding my camera right at the moment Caroline stood for the very first time. Here is Caroline in her moment of glory:

I did it!
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The look of joy on Caroline's face says it all, doesn't it? I don't need to write anything else.

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This past week, like the rest of the country, has been H-O-T where we live.

Last week it gave us a chance to try out a small wading pool we bought for the kids at a garage sale earlier this year.

Caroline was down for a nap, so only Katherine got to play in the pool with grandma, who was visiting from Los Angeles.

Katherine in her bathing suit with grandma.
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Katherine was hilarious in the wading pool. We sat her in it, and she just sat there.

That's it.

Just sat there.

She didn't move, didn't play with the water toys, didn't splash around.

I realized after about a minute she was waiting for us to start wiping her down with the wash cloth, as if she were in the bath tub!

Katherine kept looking up at me, as if to say, "What are you waiting for? Aren't you going to clean me? And why the heck am I wearing clothes in the bath tub?"

Only after much prodding by grandma did Katherine finally loosen up and start playing in the water. But it took a good 5-10 minutes!

What the heck am I supposed to do in this thing?
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Later in the week, Caroline and Katherine visited their friend Leo, and got to play in his wading pool.

The girls' first pool party.
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Unfortunately, I was at work while this pool party was going on, but I made sure that Terri knew to keep Leo at arms length from the girls.

There is to be NO sitting side by side in the pool with my girls and any young boys until the girls are at least, say, 25 years old! :-)

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It is really hot tonight.

It's so hot in our office where the computer is located, you could fry an egg on the desk -- and I'm not kidding.

We have the girls' bedroom window open while they are sleeping tonight. And since our neighbors also have their windows open, we can smell the faint odor of cigarette smoke wafting through the open window of our neighbor's house and into our girls' room.

Ugh. What a choice. Close the windown and overheat our girls, or leave the window open and expose them to second hand smoke. I'm seriously considering going next door and asking them to move to another room when they smoke.

Hopefully tomorrow will be cooler.