National Cherry Blossom Festival

It was a cold WINDY day in the capital, but we braved the elements and took the boys to the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Luckily, we bundled the boys up. We were very unprepared for the cold wind. I just had a denim jacket and Javier only had a thin rain jacket.

But the sun was out and the flowers were in full bloom. It was a gorgeous day. Lots of tourists out and about.

We headed to Jefferson Memorial and walked along the waterway. We were able to get a few good photos. You can even see the Washington monument and Jefferson Memorial in some of the photos.

A kind passerby even stopped and offered to take our photo.

The boys turned 4 months old today. The time has flown by. They are so much bigger and funner and cuter than the day we brought them home. I love all their little sounds. I love how they hold our fingers while we feed them. I love how they stare into our eyes while they eat.

They are doing great. Healthy and growing. What more can a mommy ask for? I only wish I could report that they are sleeping through the night. Alas, that is not the case. They both still wake up sometime between 2am and 4am to eat a mini-meal. I'm hoping to phase this meal out sometime in the next month or two.

Next on the agenda is getting the boys to taste some real food. It's a little too early now. They are not showing any interest in anything other than milk. But pretty soon, maybe in a couple of weeks, we will give the boys their first taste of real food. Perhaps sweet potatoes or carrots. I'll have to try and remember to get it on video.

Prior to them turning 6 months old, the boys will mainly be tasting foods. Maybe a teaspoon here and there at meal times. After 6 months old, we will try to get them to eat a bit more.

This Saturday, Javier is scheduled to leave to 29 Palms for 2 weeks. We are working on getting me some help because the boys are still too much work for one person to handle alone. We only have a couple of days to find some help. I hope we get lucky.

After Javier returns, the boys have their 4 month well baby appointment. They are scheduled to get their first round of immunizations. I'm not looking forward to that one. AT ALL. I hope I don't cry.

Well, the babies are starting to get fussy, so I will close this post. I hope our viewers enjoy the pictures.

Video Montage

For your viewing pleasure, here is a montage of video clips we have taken of the boys since birth. It's just a peek at the footage we have captured.

Busy Days

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since our last post. The days sure do fly by when you have two little monkeys to take care of. I don't have any new pictures to post today, but I promise to get some up soon. Next week, we plan to take the boys up to Washington D.C. for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. I'm hoping we get some good kodak moments while we're up there.

So life these days are getting a tad easier. While I would not say the boys are on a schedule or a regular routine, they are becoming a little more predictable. Jacob has been taking 2 or 3 short naps throughout the day and Joaquin takes 1-2 short naps and at least 1 long nap. No, they are not at the same time. Nor do they eat at the same time. All my attempts to get them on the same schedule have failed. There just doesn't seem to be a way to make a baby eat that isn't hungry. So, I have stopped trying to make them eat and sleep the same. They are different boys with different personalities and traits, and they have made it clear that they will be treated as such.

Next week, Javier leaves for a 2 week training exercise. He'll be going to California. The boys and I will be holding up the homefront here. It will be hard, but I am confident that we'll survive. We will miss Papi and would have loved to have Tia Samantha out again, but things worked out differently this time. I do have someone coming to help me for a few hours everyday. It will give me a chance to take a nap and eat a good meal at least.

Our move to North Carolina is coming fast. After Javier gets back from his training, we're going to be up to our necks in getting ready for this move. I'm just hoping we can keep some routine for the boys and continue improving their night time sleeping habits. We haven't found a place to live yet. We'll be looking as soon as we get to North Carolina. So there is a lot of stress coming up for the both of us. Everything will work itself out somehow, it always does, but the time leading up to the move and actually dealing with all the transitional things is very stressful. I'll be glad when it is all over.

Well, I have to get back to the babies. Joaquin has been sleeping for more than 2 hours and I need to wake him up or he'll have a hard time going to sleep tonight. Either Javier or I will be back in a few days to post the latest pics of the boys.

UPDATE : Here is one we took yesterday (3-28-09) at the mall.


~Latrice

100 days and counting...

Here are our beautiful growing boys. They are 3 months now and they are growing like weeds. On May 10th we celebrated their 100th Birthday quietly here at home. Coincidentally enough, their halmoni (grandmother in Korean) also celebrated her birthday. It was just a cool coincidence but it is also something to celebrate.

These guys are amazing. I was gone for only 2 weeks and I came back to 2 different little ones. It really seemed like they grew a lot while I was away. While I was gone they discovered more use for their little hands and Joaquin and Jacob both became more vocal. Joa in particular loves to chat up a storm with his buddy the monkey that is hanging on his vibrating chair. It is the same chair that baby Jake is sitting on in the pictures.

Latrice is also amazing. While I was gone, she totally changed the boys night time routine and it is a HUGE difference from thier past bed time behaviuor. I was just shocked by the amount of time I got to sleep while I watched them the first night back. I got twice the amount of sleep and a lot less trouble during the night. Currently, Joa is adjusting to his bed time routine nicely while Jake is more trouble. He is more maitenance but a lot less vocal than Joa.

These guys are sure sleeping a lot more lately. The time also seems to fly by now with thier new routine. On average they are getting about 12 hours of sleep at night. During the day they get about 5 hours of sleep. So that leaves about 7 hours of playtime for me. But, during those hours I am also at work so my time is very limited with them. However, they are a lot happier now that they are getting plenty of rest. There are still times when we are challenged by their behaviour, but Latrice has become pretty good at interpreting thier cries, needs, and wants. I am still in the learning process but am good enough to be left alone with them for an extended period of time and keep them alive.

Our time here at Quantico is coming to an end. I am very excited to finish up my studies here and continue on my career. I look forward to getting back out to the operating forces and doing my real job- aircraft maintenance. I am also starting to realize that I have less time left that I have time served in the Marine Corps. I will be eligible to retire in 3.5 years and walk away from it all. My biggest challenge is going to be to take this remaining time and find a second career. I need to find something that I enjoy and am free enough to enjoy my family life with Latrice and the boys. My biggest problem is that the things I enjoy such as conjunto music, the accordion, and golf are all hobbies and not really career opportunities. Maybe Latrice can find an awesome job and I will be a stay-at-home dad. It could be in the stars for me...

~Javier


This is an unusual occurrence. Javier and I will both post on the same day. I can hardly believe that the boys are over 100 days old. They are beautiful and thriving. My heart is bursting at the seams with love and pride. I love love love when they start cracking up laughing at something not really funny at all. I wonder what their little minds must be thinking. It's truly amazing to watch them develop.

As Javier mentioned above, we are coming to the end of our time here in Virginia. The countdown has started for our move to North Carolina. I'm not looking forward to all that it involves. It is always a big challenge to move, and I'm sure it will be exponentially harder with the boys. I just hope we can make it as smooth as possible and avoid any traumatic experiences.

Until next time.....

p.s. We miss you Tia Samantha!

~Latrice

Papi gone, Tia visiting, and other happenings

So it's been a while since our last post. A lot has happened since then.

Javier left for a two week school in Athens, Georgia. You might be thinking..... "whoa, two weeks alone with twins less than 3 months old. That's a lot!" Yeah, I thought the same thing. So we searched high and low, for someone to help me. Many options fell through and didn't work out. Luckily, we found a way to make things work in the end. Javier's sister, Tia Samantha, came to the rescue. She was able to take some time off work and come help me with the boys. It's been great having her here to help me and keep me company. I don't know how I would have gotten through these two weeks without her. Thanks Tia!!



She has been a huge help, especially with the middle of the night feedings. I have been averaging 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours of sleep at night, which is a great improvement from the 2 1/2 hours I was getting without her here. Did I mention that I had to survive 4 days without her here? Luckily, I had some friends to stop by for a few hours during the days, but it was really rough to be alone all night. I must really commend Samantha for all her efforts. She jumped right in without fear or reservation. We walked in the door from the airport and I started showing her how to change cloth diapers and swaddle the babies. She listened and watched attentively and before I knew it, she was handling the babies like a pro. She was helping me feed babies even before she had a chance to put her suitcase away.

There has been a learning curve for the both of us regarding the nights. I was really struggling those 4 days and called upon my local friend for help. She has twins of her own and knew exactly what I was going through. She came over and helped me make a plan for the nights. It's a night time routine that helps the boys sleep for longer stretches. It has been working for the most part. Too bad it doesn't work for the day time naps.




The boys turned 3 months old on the 1st of March. They have changed so much since we brought them home. They are filling out and turning into little chunky monkeys. I love it. Joaquin is very active and getting in shape for his future endeavors in scooting and crawling. Joaquin really fights his daytime naps. It can be a 15-20 minutes struggle to get him to nap, but once he's asleep, he usually stays that way for an hour and sometimes up to 2 hours. Jacob lays down for a nap pretty well, but he doesn't stay asleep long. He likes to wake up after 20 minutes or so and fusses until someone picks him up or he finds his fist to gnaw on.

This past Sunday night, a cold weather front moved in. Monday morning, we woke up to a winter wonderland. Snowflakes the size of dimes and quarters were falling and all was covered in a powdery layer of snow. This was Samantha's first time seeing snow fall. So I dug out my cold weather gear from the garage, suited her up, and sent her outside to play in the snow. She had a great time kicking through the snow, throwing it in the air, rolling around, making snow angels, and even building a mini-snowman. She had hoped to make a big one, but alas, the babies were not having it.

I haven't been able to take her out for sightseeing or anything fun, so I was glad that she could enjoy something different. The weather is supposed to get a little better tomorrow, and so I hope to get her and the babies out. We might just spend a few hours at the mall. Perhaps, if I am feeling especially adventurous, we will drive up to Washington D.C. and have a quick look at some of the sights.





Javier should return this Friday and it couldn't come any sooner. The boys and I miss him so much. Tia Samantha will be leaving Saturday morning and we will be sad to see her go. It's been fun having her here. I think she will make a great mom some day. She's already a great Tia.