Christmas Fun & Daddy Time

I just wanted to share some fun pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The picture of my Nana, my Mom, myself and all 3 babies was taken on Christmas Eve at the Dutra party. It's a great picture because it shows 4 generations and we truly didn't plan to all dress alike! Great minds must think alike! :)

The picture of all 3 babies being fed in their Christmas outfits was taken on Christmas Day. My aunt Jamie, cousin Stefanie, and cousin Kayla were the lucky feeders!

On Saturday afternoon, Eric and & I were home alone with the babies. I decided to start sorting through their drawers to make room for the tons of new clothes they received for Christmas. So, Eric decided to take all 3 babies for a walk! Quite a feat, I must say! What a Dad! :)

Bath Time Fun!

The babies seem to really love their bath time. The water is warm and they always really mellow out and give lots of great smiles! One of the greatest pictures is of Alexa "sitting" on the side of the sink waiting her turn while Josiah lounges while finishing up his bath...the look on her face is priceless! :)

Moving on up the street

We are pretty stoked to be moving to a house on 36th Ave near Judah. It is only 12 blocks away from our current flat so we get the benefit of knowing the neighborhood but a major increase in space. The new palace is a four bedroom three bath so there will be plenty of space for visitors. We are taking reservations already. Our Moms have been alternating staying with us during the week and they will now be able to actually have a room with a closet and a BATHROOM! This is a major upgrade from sleeping in the dining room.

We are especially sad to leave 24th Ave. We have lived here for nearly 4 years and there are many fond memories of parties and events here. The kids won't remember their first home but Rebecca and I will be sure to bore them to tears when we go out of the way to drive by our first flat 10 years from now. Moving day is Jan 3rd. We are planning to pack on Jan 2nd and hire some hands to help move the big stuff. Volunteers are welcome to join us next Friday. If you don't come, I completely understand as helping pack or move is like changing a poopie diaper. It might need to be done but it is not a fun experience at any stretch.

We had a very wonderful Christmas with lots of family. The kids were super good and it was surprising to see how well they handled being held by 20+ people in one night. The Dutra party in Antioch was an exceptionally vivacious one with at least 40 people enjoying Christmas eve together. The kids got lots of time with all of the relatives, ate and were off to sleep for 5 hours while the party continued until about 1am! We had more family on Christmas day and now are back at home with a loot of gifts and clothes that barely fit in the minivan.

We will be getting back into the normal routine now which will be good for both us and the kids.

Christmas Photo Shoot

We had a professional photographer take some pictures of the babies a couple of weeks ago. We had finally made a "birth announcement" and decided to combine it with our Christmas card this year. My mom bought the babies some cute Christmas outfits and so we decided to do a little photo shoot of our own. Isn't Joe the cutest Santa ever?

Chris Corbin Photography

We met Chris through Rebecca's Mom. He is a young photographer that is really skilled and affordable. I would highly reccomend anyone with a child to have him come for a shoot. His sitting fee is small and he will come to you if requested. He does a great job of having the patience to wait for the best time to snap the photo. His website is below:

Chris Corbin Photography

Flying solo at 1am

We recently have been trying to stretch the kids between feedings to eventually get them to sleep through the night. In this process, we have decided to stop using our night nanny. For those of you not aware, a night nanny is a high priced method for us to try to sleep through the night even when the babies do not (although Rebecca still has to get up to "pump"). For most families this is incredibly valuable if the babies are fussy at 1am and won't go back to sleep after a feed. For us the value was great at first but as the babies have been more regular in their sleeping and feeds, there is a lot of downtime for a night nanny. Recently, ours was providing a little white noise for the kids, catching some zzz's and snoring right along with them. We decided that we could cut back after trying a few nights on our own. With great success, the kids are now sleeping for 5-6 hours and then 5 hours so only one feed is needed at around 1am.

A few nights back, I woke up to help Rebecca and she was in feeding Alexa. To my surprise she was already done feeding the other two! Flying solo, she started feeding Alana thinking that I would wake up when Joe got a bit fussy. I missed my internal alarm clock and she kept feeding. By the time I was awake it was way too late. Recently, we were able to feed all three kids with just two of us in about 45 minutes.

Our favorite expressions come at these early morning feedings. I'll get some video up soon of how big their smiles are in the early morning.

Jardine Family Thanksgiving

We have always been the ones to travel to Colorado, until this year. For obvious reasons, we probably won't be doing too much traveling in the near future. Therefore, Eric's family decided to come to us this year. His mom & dad, sisters, brothers-in law, and nephew all came to San Francisco to celebrate Thanksgiving and to meet the babies. It was such a treat to have his whole family here together. Sheri & Jose even volunteered to stay one night with us and to help with the 1am feeding...what troopers! Thanks guys for a fun weekend!

Note the Smile on Grandpa's face













Jose smiling with all three














Sheri with Alana













Jeremy and Alexa












Joe with his pants expanded post Turkey milk