Caden's Video Montage

Caden still loves his guitar. Here is a quick video montage from tonight containing, "My God is So Big," some self composed songs about firetrucks, kitties, and puppies, and finally, the ABC song.

 

Singing Happy Birthday

We sang "Happy Birthday" and blew out candles many, many, many times during the kids birthday week. Here is one of the times the kids sang to themselves. I think this was actual number ten of twenty on this particular day. By the time we finished, the candles were pretty much gone.

 

A Few Quick Videos

Here are a few videos that I took right around Christmas.

Here is Caroline practicing her walking. Caroline became a full fledged walker not long after this video was taken. She now uses walking as her main mode of transportation.


The twins love playing in our driveway. We have a great drive way for that. It is large and enclosed on all sides other than the entrance.


One of my favorite games to play with Caroline is saying, "I'm gonna get you," when she is crawling or walking somewhere. Caroline gets very excited when I do this and typically starts laughing and speeds up to go as fast as she can. Then, when I get really close and she does not think she can get away, she typically falls to the ground laughing and waits for me to tackle her.

Christmas in Austin

We spent Christmas in Austin with Amy's side of the family. Her brother and his family were in town from Seattle. We spent several days hanging out with the family and eating a ton. The Baker 5 had a list of places they wanted to eat at while in Texas so we knocked out a lot of those including Pappasitto's, Rudy's, and Phil's Ice House.

After the kids did so well sleeping in Dallas, Amy wanted the four of us to sleep at her parents so we would have more time to hang out with the family. Grammie and Poppa have a room with two cribs in it and Amy and I slept on an air mattress between the cribs. Overall, the kids did a pretty good job sleeping. They woke up a little earlier in the mornings and struggled to nap but it went better than we expected.

The kids received some great toys. The highlights include a couple of toddler shopping carts and a gigantic indoor playscape from Grammie and Poppa. The Baker 5 gave the twins a cool wagon (which Ella was very excited about giving).

Here are a few videos I took over Christmas. I'll post some pictures later. You might notice most of these videos are of Caden. Don't think I'm playing favorites. :) Caroline was sick over Christmas and did not want to do a whole lot of playing. She is feeling better now and has been playing will all her new toys.

Here is Caden playing on a recorder. Thankfully, this was a gift given to one of the Baker kids. Just in case anyone is wondering, we never want Caden or Caroline to be given a recorder. :) We heard this sound a lot at Grammie and Poppa's. If it was an older kid making this racket, we could have told them to stop.


Caden also had a lot of fun playing on an electronic drum set that was given to either Will or Cal.


Here are a couple clips I took of Caroline being a bully. I thought they were funny. On account of being sick, Caroline got away with just about anything she wanted. :)


Here is Caden pushing one of the shopping carts. The other cart was for Caroline and is pink and white. But for some reason, Caroline currently shies away from pink toys. With her being the more aggressive of twins, Caden is typically left with the pink shopping cart, or the pink chair, or whatever else Caroline didn't choose. :)


Here is Caden playing on the indoor slide/playscape. Both he and Caroline love it. They can climb up and go down the slide all by themselves. They are pretty good about taking turns and going from the slide back over to the rock wall. But sometimes, one of them wants to stop and hang out on the top or tries to climb back up the slide.

Christmas in Dallas

We spent the weekend before Christmas with my family in Dallas. I have not yet pulled any pictures off of the camera (I'll share those later) but I did download the videos.

On our trip to Dallas, Amy and I got the best gift we could have possibly asked for--the twins were great in every possible way! And I'm not talking about the Grandma version of "great" where her grand kids can do no wrong. The kids were in great moods during the entire trip. Part of this might be attributed to this being the first trip to Dallas in awhile where we didn't need to take one of the kids to the doctor. This trip, both Caden and Caroline slept through the night even better than they do at home. To make this more impressive, before this trip, neither kid has ever slept through the night when we were away from home. Not only did they sleep through the night but they even took good naps.

While in Dallas, the kids got a ton of presents. Aunt Angela insisted the kids open a lot of their presents early. We tore the tape on the presents making it easy for the twins to open. Caden and Caroline had a lot of fun opening their gifts.

Here is a video of us opening presents at Grandma's house. The kids favorite presents were the puffs that were inside their new lunch boxes, a cardboard box, and some tissue paper.



One thing the twins love doing at Grandma's is pushing their walkers all around the house on the hardwood floors. Here is a quick video of the twins pushing one walker together. Normally, they each push their own but here, they were having fun (mostly) sharing one.



The next day, we went over to celebrate Christmas with Grandpa. Sadly, a lot of the people who were going to be there ended up being sick. But the few of us who made it had fun. Once again, the twins got a lot of really good stuff.

Caden got a bus that he loves pushing around. While we were opening presents, he pushed this bus all around the house. At one point, I yelled, "Caden, are you okay?" The funny part is he immediately responded with a very cute "AAAAHHHH" from wherever he was. I wish I had that on camera.



Another thing the twins enjoyed doing at my dad's was playing with the dog, Chloe. At Thanksgiving, they (especially Caroline) were a little rough with Chloe. Something changed since then and this time, both Caden and Caroline were very good with Chloe. Caden chased Chloe around Caroline for like five minutes. I finally pulled the Flip camera out as it was all wrapping up.

Caroline Taking Steps and Dancing

We finally got Caroline taking a couple steps while the camera was on her. She is still a ways from actually walking but she is definitely trying. She starts with her lame little wave and then takes two steps. We were very proud.

A funny thing happened during the filming of the above video. As you can see in the video, the kids have two chairs next to one another. Caroline was taking steps from the blue chair and Caden was playing in the pink chair. Amy and I were cheering Caroline on so much that we didn't notice Caden had climbed over the side/back of the chair and then toppled over head first onto a pile of toys and the floor. Thankfully, he didn't seem to mind. Amy held him for the remainder of Caroline's step practice.

Here is another one of Caroline. In this video, she is sitting on her pink car "dancing" to the music. Every time the music stops, she pushes the button to make it go again. She even knows when the song is almost over so she can start the process of pushing the button. This went on for several minutes before I even started filming and continued for several minutes after. The video is a little long so I doubt anyone other than grandparents or Aunt Angela will make it all the way through. :)

Another quick story about this video. I was holding Caroline in my lap at the computer and decided to play this for her. Every time the song started up in the video, Caroline did her sway dance in my lap.

Daddy's Birthday Present for the Twins

We mentioned the playscape that Jason built in a previous blog, but, I didn't think that post gave you a full understanding of the playscape...so, I am dedicating a full blog post to it. I was the official photographer of the project and tried to capture each step for you to see.

Here are the plans that Jason drew up for the playscape....he seriously drew them out himself, calculated all the angles and even used a protractor for the sketches and angles. Seriously impressive!

After drawing up the plans and figuring out what supplies he needed, Jason and his dad made a trip to Home Depot. They bought a ton of wood, bolts, screws, and even splurged on a new miter saw. There was so much, they had to rent a truck to get it back home, carried it into the backyard, and made this stack.

Ok, well, the stack doesn't look at big in pictures as it was in real life. On Saturday, August 21st, Jason started the construction of the playscape with the goal of completing most of it by the twins first birthday party. It took a few weekends of hard work during the hottest time of year, but Jason was able to get it built.

Here he is cutting wood with his new miter saw.
The first thing built was the tower base. This was the hardest part and took a lot of math. With our yard being no where near level, Jason had to survey the area and figure out the elevation of all the points where the swing set would touch the ground. There is more than a foot difference between the corners of the tower and two feet between the highest and lowest point in the swing.

I helped in this part of the project by holding the two sides up while Jason added temporary supports. I also helped by frequently telling Jason it was not level despite his level saying the tower was actually level. :) Also, you can see our fence blew over during this time, it's fixed now!
Jason standing on what would be the top of the slide and rock wall.
Rock wall, minus the rocks, is up!
Caden enjoyed being up on the tower with Daddy.
Here is the first time down the slide.
Caden's first time down the slide by himself.
Poppa helped put the roof on. He also helped with the 4x6x12 crossbar that holds the swings. Thanks for spending hours in the heat dad!!
Here is the what the swing set looked like before the party. It is not quite finished. Jason still plans to make a rope ladder (behind the slide in the picture), build a ladder to get up the back side of the tower, something for the third swing location, and someday, we plan to add a tire swing underneath the tower.

This is the twins first time on the swing. Daddy had been working on the swing set and just finished hanging two swings. This was the weekend before the twins first birthday party.
Caden LOVES, LOVES, LOVES swinging. He is so excited and loves going as high as you are willing to push him.

Caroline was not quite sure what to think her first time on the swing. She was tired an needed a nap but she did enjoy watching Caden. Now, Caroline really likes swinging...just not as much as brother.


Here are the grandparents pushing the kids in the swing the night before their party.
Here is a video we made of the twins first time swinging on the swing set.




So far, the swingset has been a HUGE hit with the twins! I am sure it will continue to entertain them for years to come!

Caroline Pushing Lightning

Caroline loves pushing Lightning McQueen around the house. Here is a quick video of her maneuvering it around the entry way of our house. She will push this thing all around the house. She frequently gets frustrated when it gets stuck but after a little whining, she normally she gets it out by herself.

Caden Smiling for the Camera Video Montage

Earlier, I wrote a post about Caden smiling for the camera. We managed to get him doing this on video a few times. He never does it quite as well when the video camera is going but I think it is still pretty cute.

Caden Sure Likes to Drive

Our little man sure likes driving. We are not sure how he came about this so early and naturally. I recently up a post on his little red car "Lightning". Well, here are some more car things.

Here is a picture of the twins at HEB in one of their fancy car carts. Amy, Aunt Angela, and Grandma all swear Caden thought he was driving the cart all around the store.
Caden never took his hands off the steering wheel during the entire trip. Just check out these pictures Angela took. In every one, Caden was holding onto the wheel. Caroline, on the other hand, was just along for the ride.
I like the one in the lower right where it looks like Caden is backing the car up.

Here a video of Caden playing with one of his favorite toys. Normally, he plays with the steering wheel more than he did here.

Caden also has a little plastic car that Grandma gave him. He likes holding it. Caroline doesn't understand why Caden likes it. If she steals the toy from him, she quickly loses interest and drops it on the floor.

I'm sure Caden is already counting the days to when he can get a learners permit. That is a little more than 14 years from today. :)

Splashing in the Bath Video

Here is a short video of the twins splashing in the bath tub. They love taking baths and get water everywhere in the process. We need to keep a couple extra towels on the floor to soak up all the spilled water.

A Couple Videos of Caroline

One of Caroline's favorite games is peek-a-boo. She loves getting behind some of her larger toys and hiding until Amy or I say "where's Caroline?" At that point, she either stands up or pokes her head around the side. Either way, she has a giant smile on her face. (I don't think our little girl knows how to give a small smile. She only knows how to give an ear-to-ear smile.)

Caden even enjoys the "where's Caroline" game and will giggle when she pokes her head out. Sometimes, when we start saying "where's Caroline", Caden will point at her and/or look below the toys at her feet. Thankfully, she doesn't know he is giving away her hiding spot. :)

Caroline has become a pro at crawling and can get around the entire house with ease. I love how loud she is when she crawls. She really pounds the floor as she gets around. There is no way she can sneak up on anyone.

Thankfully, Caden is starting to get around better with his awkward crawl. We know Caroline will love it when he can get around as well as she can.

Dad Life Video

I'm probably one of the last people to see this video, but I thought this video was great. It was made by "Church on the Move" for Father's Day.



They also made one for Mothers Day.

A Couple New Videos

The first one is of me making Caden laugh. He is such a little boy cracking up at fart noises. :) Caroline just doesn't find it funny like Caden does.

This video is Caroline playing with a rattle that is part of one of her toys. She is very enthusiastic about shaking stuff.

Crawling Caroline

Caroline has started crawling! She is not great at it but can definitely get around. I bet she will be a pro in just a few days.

Here is a quick video of Caroline "kinda" crawling. She was crawling really well and then we finally thought, "hey, we should video this." By that time, she was tired and was not crawling anywhere near as well as she was before. In this video, she is crawling towards her "Baby Boo" book. I like how she sits up after getting the book and acts like she is going to read it.

Some Videos of Our Talking Twins

Here is Caden's motor boat (aka raspberry) sound. Caden makes this sound all the time. He makes it when he's tired. He makes it when hes board. He makes it when he is ready to get out of bed. He makes it in the middle of the night when mommy and daddy are trying to sleep. He makes it when you talk to him. Seriously, ALL the time.

Caroline and Grandma were playing together and Caroline talking very loudly to Grandma. This went on for five or ten minutes before I picked up the camera. I got there a little to late and Caroline got a little upset towards the end.

Here are a couple videos of Caroline talking with Daddy.

It almost sounds like Caroline is saying "hello" in this video...yeah, I know that's a stretch. :)

The Twins in Their Cribs

The first video is what it is like to get Caroline out of her bed. She is always so happy to see whoever is coming to get her and she gives them the biggest smile. Amy and I fight over who gets to go get her out of her crib. :) Here is a video I made after she woke from a nap. Normally, she gives an even bigger smile but she always seems to tone it down for the camera.

Here is our little man enjoying his mobile. He got it for Christmas from Grandpa and Mimi.

Caroline likes hanging out in Caden's crib watching his mobile and Caden loves having his big sister with him. He spends a lot of time just staring at her.

Ones, Twos, and Threes

My friend Russell put this link in a comment of one of our blog posts. I thought it was too funny to not promote to the front page.

A Couple Quick Videos

For my birthday, I got a cool little camcorder called a Flip Ultra HD. It is really easy to use and lets you quickly take videos. It only takes one second to turn it on and start recording so it perfect for capturing all the cute/funny things kids do. We keep it on the coffee table so we start it up whenever is necessary.

Here are a couple short video montages of the twins over the last couple weeks. Nothing special...just a few things they've done that I like.

Caden

Caroline

The Twins First Baths

Last week, Amy Baker helped us give Caden and Caroline their first baths. Both kids hated getting their bodies washed. This was not surprising to me since they both hate being naked and normally scream whenever their diaper is off during a diaper change.

The part of the bath both kids enjoyed was getting their hair washed. We held their head under the faucet and used a soft brush to massage their head.

Here is Caden in between his screaming sessions.

Here are a couple videos I made of their baths.

Caden's first bath

Caroline's first bath