Finally checking into the blogosphere after a long hiatus, and Austin and Malia's 15 month milestone seems like a good reason to do so. To cut to the chase, everything with the kids has been going well. July 11th was Austin's "preemie birthday," marking a year since his discharge from the NICU. It turns out to be a more accurate birthday than anything else, since their development always seems to hover somewhere between their chronological age and their corrected age. Now at 15 months, Austin is a moose. We're not quite sure what his weight is, but it's somewhere north of 27 pounds. His feet are big, and hands I describe as "lunchboxes," when curled into the fist position.
 |
| A birthday collage Cheryl threw together for Austin. A smiley boy from the start! |
 |
| Austin's stat sheet from the NICU, with his original footprints. The quarter was for size relativity |
 |
| Handsome little NICU grad |
 |
Austin's birth announcement flag, discharge outfit, and a cap knitted by the NICU doctors' wife. Hard to remember when he was that small!
|
 |
| One day we ventured up to Signal Hill for a long walk, stopping along the park mid-hill. The kids were amused. |
 |
| It always puzzled me, the 4-legged bucket swings. It all makes sense now! |
So Malia's preemie birthday and discharge milestone fell on July 23rd. Always diminutive, the footprints remarkably small in the photo, pulling out the mementos gave us pause. Glad our little peanut is doing great!
 |
| Malia's stat sheet and footprints... Man, those feet were tiny! |
 |
| Malia's collection, the picture doesn't do justice to the dress size... super tiny! |
 |
| What a difference a year makes! |
 |
| Here's Malia's collage, she's also come a long way in a year and a quarter! |
 |
| Loving the Signal Hill playground |
 |
| Austin and Malia's favorite toy of the week has been their caterpillar crawl tube. |
 |
| We make it to the OC Fair last week, pretty fun times for the twins |
 |
| Austin has been growing hair so fast, he needed a second haircut. It wasn't all fun for him, but didn't delay the smiles for very long either. |
 |
| All smiles, once again |
 |
| Water babies: Belmont peninsula edition |
 |
| Pictures don't lie, that was a full bite of beach sand. And he couldn't be happier about it! |
 |
| Malia was also a fan of sand. |
 |
| Little wahine. |
 |
| Heritage Park fountain in Irvine. Chilly water, but still fun. This is Randy, who many in the family says Austin is the "white" version of. You decide... |
Malia started walking just about 2 weeks ago. We had wondered when it would come about since all the precursors were there. By now she's quite adept, but here's a quick video of the early day when we could officially call her a "walker."
 |
| The family acquired an RV recently, and we had some fun down at the Newport Dunes. Malia thinks she's ready to drive already |
And finally, made it up to Claremont to celebrate my dad's 66th birthday. With it being their 15 month milestone, I broke out the good camera and got some good ones.
 |
| Double the fun |
 |
| Love this smile |
 |
n |
