iPod Babies

A couple weeks ago I submitted our twins' photo wearing iPod shirts to enter a contest for the 'World's Cutest Baby'. Ok ok ok it may sound pathetic for me to be entering our twins in a contest but couldn't help it; Simon and I being very techy, loving our iPods and all... oh and not to forget the very cool prize - a family of iPods!

Unfortunately, we did not win. Oh well, it was so much fun trying to get Samuel and Audrey pose with their cool iPod shirts and my iPod anyway.

Babies' first swim

Finally managed to bring the babies to a swimming class highly recommended by our pediatrician. My mom and I took the twins to the indoor pool inside the Ambassy Court's clubhouse this morning. Samuel at first was not very happy though he did not really cry. I think the shock of the lukewarm water made him panicky at first. With Audrey, it was different. She cried really hard when she was brought into the pool. She cried some more as she was being taught how to swim. Unfortunately photos I took did not turn out well... :-( Hopefully I will have better pictures to share in January when the class starts again.

It was a lot of fun watching them learn from the teacher. The teacher only spent about 5 minutes for each of them as they were still too small to stay in the pool too long. She taught me how I can further help her prepare the babies for the next class which is great. So now, I've to 'train' them in our bath tub.

2-month milestone

Just realized that my blog has now been occupied mostly with news about the twins... I guess there's not much of news around Shanghai these days, or maybe it is mostly due to being limited to only home and office these days.

The second month for the twins went by in a blur. First, we celebrated Simon's birthday with Indian curry. Angie, my older sister now living in Canada, was in town visiting for a couple days. You'll see photos now found on my online photo album.

Next came a visit from my in-laws. We had a great time with them here in Shanghai, unfortunately, I was busy with work. They enjoyed spending time with the twins. Unfortunately they couldn't stay longer than a couple weeks. While they were here, we have the baptismal of the twins at St. Peter's Church. The ceremony went smoothly I would say... we managed to get everyone into the van including the 2 Stokkes on time, the babies were well-behaved, no crying even when the priest poured water on their respective heads. Lunch after the baptism and mass also went well. Everyone kept glancing at the twins' prams. I think they were interested not just in the twins but also with the Stokkes. A guy even stopped Simon's Dad on the way into the restaurant to ask him where he bought the prams as they were cool. Again, photos from this occassion can be found on my online photo album

Apart from doctor's appointments for well baby checkups and getting their vaccines, we haven't really taken the twins out around Shanghai that much. Whenever I do take one of them out, they only end up sleeping and wake up once we get home. So my plan of getting them interested in going ons around them hasn't worked so far. Maybe now that they have started being more aware of their surroundings, they will be more alert when I take them out... :-) I'd planned on getting them into a swimming class last Tuesday but due to the sudden drop in temperature, I decided to try next week instead.

Yes, temperatures have dropped to below O°C since Sunday. Even inside our home the temperature is very low in spite of the 3-5 heaters we already have turned on to the hottest setting! Fortunately I managed to make pesto sauces out of my basil plants before they started dying from the cold temperature in the conservatory. We've kept the twins in our bedroom where it is warmer than the other rooms in the house. Hopefully the weather will be slightly warmer soon...somehow this drop in temperature is way colder than same time last year.

Christmas is coming up soon...this year we will have a 'merrier' Christmas since my Mom and Adeline are here and plus the twins of course. Putting the Christmas decors in our home is still on my list of things to do...