Long time no post..

Things are rolling right along. The twins are talking more. Since our last post we visited some family in NY. We saw Uncle Stanley and Aunt Louise, cousins Craig, Rachael, Joshua, Susan and Donna and of course GG. Uncle Stanley was recuperating from an illness so we visited him with the twins. We think the twins cheered him up. He did say that he wished we lived closer, sometimes we wish we did too. Zev loved the attention from the family, he was the pure golden boy, sweet, funny, cuddly, blond cherub baby. Orli was getting over a fever she had earlier in the week so we was not so receptive to all the attention and would rather cling to daddy.
The twins definately have face recognition now, GG had a collage made for her by cousin Noah of mommy and daddy's wedding. In each frame there is a picture of somebody they know, so we asked them "where is Uncle Todd?" sure enough they pointed to Todd. "Where's Papa, Grammy, Louise, Stanley, GG??" They know.
Last week Zev grabed a phone and heard Daddy's friend Lee on the other end and said "Papa?". We know they miss Grammy and Papa, it is a good thing we are visiting them soon.
Orli can sing "La-la-la, La-la-la, thats Elmo's World" now, Zev is getting much clearer in saying his A-B-C's, and so is Orli, they can finish the ends of songs. Tonight, Orli ripped off her gray socks when she found a pair of pink stripped ones in the laundry basket and tried to put those on her little feet. They have prefrences and they do their best communicate them.
Here are a few Pics, oh and here are a few more we picked up and scanned see how adorable GG and Papa are from a long time ago.

Let the festivities begin...4 days to 1 year

First birthday cards for the twins arrived on Monday. Thanks Auntie Jen!! There was a package of peg puzzles. We opened the "1-2-3" puzzle because the parts looked large enough. Zev and Orli proceeded to put them in their mouths and try to walk off with the puzzle piece in their mouths. They seemed to taste really good because the twins would not keep them out of their little bocas. We took some pictures of this enjoyment that we'll post later.

Wow 4 days until the big first birthday. Just three days until the big party. Grammy and Pappa arrive tomorrow and our favorite GG, Aunt Louise, Uncle Stanley and Cousin Donna arrive on Friday afternoon. The twins can't wait to see everyone!!

Babble

The babies are really starting to babble more.  Orli points at everything and seems to say a sound that starts with the letter of the object.  "la la la" for light.  She's recently taken notice of a white orchid plant that is blooming in our dining room.  She gets really excited when you show it to her.  She says "bha bha" and points to it.  

Zev has learned in the last week that he can manipulate the sounds from his mouth by placing his hand over his mouth and releasing it.  He'll sit there and slap his hand over his mouth as he goes "aaaaaaaaa".  Orli tried this but instead she kept hitting the side of her head and laughing.  Zev was making spit bubbles by saying "mah mah mah" with a pool of drool on his chest as these bubbles formed between his lips.  It must have felt interesting to him because he would go into a trance.  

The babies will make raspberry sounds back and forth to one another, then when they get tired of that they click their tongues.  We try inserting "ma ma ma" and "da da" in there, Orli will copy pretty well, Zev mostly says "da da", he will say it loud, but when Aunt Louise was on the phone the other night he would only whisper it softly "dah".

Both of them like to move to music, Orli tilts her little head back and forth when you or the music table sings "A-B-C" she manages to sway her little shoulders too.  Sometimes Zev joins in with his way of hopping to the beat.

Both of them are crawling and most of the time in two different directions, we are usually stomping after one baby or another.  They like to pause, look back at you and laugh really hard and squeal as they turn forward and launch into a scurried crawl as they try to get away from you.  They seem to be inviting the chase, even when you casually approach.

We think Orli will be walking very soon, she managed to take one very wobbly drunken step toward mommy the other day.  We updated the holding both challenge.