2007

Our babies continue to do well. Sophie’s hair is finally growing out and now she is sporting the “Mia Farrow hairdo during the Frank Sinatra period”. A very cute do. I was trying to explain who made the haircut famous but she seemed to lose me when I got into the she started to see Woody Allen, adopt a bunch of kids, got a bad perm story and then he started to cat around. Oh well. I know I’m biased but I would say our Sophie is as beautiful as Mia was if not prettier. Not many chicks can be bald and really short and still carry it off–but Sophie has really done it.
The babies still think it’s Christmas though. Every morning Trent runs out and asks if Santa has come back. It’s hard to say “No” but he takes it all in stride and goes on to play. This morning he led Sophie in a rousing round of “Ye he” dancing around the house for over 20 minutes. It was so funny to watch and reminds me of how blessed we are with our two little people. They are so sweet and find happiness out of everything- including something as simple as just being together in the morning.
They continue to thoroughly enjoy their new toys. Both are beyond thrilled with the play stove and Trent is especially thrilled with his train set and trucks. He’s such a boy with a renaissance flair.

It’s been a very busy week but all good. Last Friday we had our annual neighborhood progressive dinner. We started at Lisa & Jose’s for appetizers and drinks. Tons of kids and ours hand the time of their lives. Although not in his own home, Trent of course found the dustbuster and insisted that he be able to vacuum. Lisa, always one to go with it- took it in stride and just let him go- vacuuming the downstairs portion of her house. Our next step was Jean’s for the main course. Poor Grandpa Bobby was on the run chasing them both us Jean’s stairs. The last stop was our house for presents, dessert and dancing to an iPod. Disco of course was the music of choice and both Trent and Sophie thoroughly enjoyed to dancing to “It’s Raining Men” with the neighbors. It was such a nice evening and both babies enjoyed their gifts. Trent got a tool kit (hours of fun) and Sophie got a laundry basket with writing on it and total chick boots. The laundry basket say’s “Sophie’s Ride “ on one side and “Trent’s turn” on the other side, The very perfect gift. Everyday the laundry basket provide hours of fun- being pushed around the house.
Christmas eve was our annual cracked crab/ravioli fest with my folk’s .my sister Liz and her family and Aaron’s folks. It was such a nice evening.
Christmas day was the be all end all for the babies. They were beyond excited. Sophie girl got a kitchen (we’re working on fine motor skills), dolls, books, guitar and a tricycle. Trent got lots of trucks, a guitar, books, a blower, scooter and a tricycle. All were hits but the guitars, kitchen, tricycles and Trent’s scooter were definitely the immediate hits. The books though and brought daily enjoyment. Trent was so into Santa and immediately tried to figure out how he came down the chimney. It was really something to see and we all thoroughly enjoyed the day. Watching them enjoy Christmas just reminded us of how lucky we’ve been this year and how much we’ve got to celebrate.
Our Sophie girl continues to play hard but seems to need more and more sleep everyday. We’re assuming it’s just growth but Aaron and I have agreed that should it continue- it might be a good idea to get her a work up just to make sure nothing is going on.
Our big boy too has his moments. He is SO two. Major fits that require every part of Aaron and I to be adults and just buck up. We have noticed though that he’s gagging when he eats. We’re assuming it’s nothing but we’d been told that gagging could signify that his reflux was not controlled so we’ve made arrangement for Trent to be seen at Packard next week just to have him checked out. [[Image:the_kids/CKOKit.JPG]]
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I know lots of people have a hard time with the holidays (this year in particular for some reason) but for us- it’s just a time of celebration. We are having so much fun. The babies are so excited about everything and are so full of joy. All the decorations, the music, the lights- they are so excited about it all and everyday seem to become more and more aware of it all.
The last couple of days have been the cram to get in as much therapy sessions as possible before the end of year. Sophie had early intervention on Monday, Trent on Tuesday and Sophie had PT and speech- rounding out today with one more session of speech today. I think we may do EI next week but beyond that we’re done until early January when we have our long awaiting meeting with the county, our therapists and the school district to decide a plan for the turning 3 milestones. At 3 the school district takes over services and although we are pretty sure Trent will be given his walking papers, given Sophie’s recent medical crisis and her seizure disorder- she may still qualify for continued services post age 3.
They’re both doing so well. Speech has been tough for Sophie but everyday we see progress. More sentences, more words we can understand and clear improvement. Her therapist Lisa is so amazing and clearly can be credited to Sophie’s progress.
Trent is becoming such a little man. He has so much to say and so funny. He’s definitely two- and the king of pitching a fit- but we’re working to try and minimize the fits.
Grandma Judy babysat them all day yesterday (typically I work at home in the Am and Tia comes in the afternoon) and apparently it was quite an adventure. Somehow Grandma got locked out of the house and for at least 20 minutes it was high stress. Somehow along with lock out they were able to get one of the baby locks off a large cabinet and it was just a matter of time until the whole thing (including our printer) was in a giant pile on the floor. Poor Grandma, she got out several tools from the garage to try to jimi the lock, tried to show Trent how to unlock the door (he couldn’t reach) and ran next door to Tia’s for help but nothing worked. After deciding to cut through front screen door, she finally decided to try give the rest of our doors and windows a try and found that the screen door into our master bedroom was open. Woohoo she got back in with minimal damage to the house by the babies and the screen door was is still intact. She said she just had to sit down and laugh at the whole thing. Should it ever happen again, we’d told her to go to our neighbor Jean’s house. In all crises, Jean is the go to person. We know she’d be the one to pull a MacGyver move and parachute in through the skylights if necessary- that’s what makes her the go to person in the neighborhood.

It’s been a busy couple of days for the Keene family. We’re doing our best to make the most of the season and are enjoying everything that comes with it.
On Friday night we took the light rail down to downtown San Jose with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Bobby to “Christmas in the Park”. We had the nicest evening. The babies loved all the lights, music and decorations. We’d taken the last year but this year they were so much more into it. We rode the carousel, watched the skaters at the outdoor rink and overall just had a wonderful evening. Trent wants so much to be a big boy. He saw the skaters and was just beside himself wanting to skate too. We just had to keep telling him next year, next year when he’s bigger. After our visit to the attractions, we wanted to get a bite to eat but downtown was just packed with people and so we ended up the San Jose bar and grill (emphasis in bar). No high chairs but plenty of big screen TVs and cool music to distract them (and keep folks from getting annoyed at us with fussy children). We had such a great time!
On Saturday we took the kids to get our Christmas tree. They had such fun running in and out of all the trees. So many choices and so much to look at. The men at the lot laughed at us and when one of them realized that we had twins (running in different directions) he said “hmm- good for you”. I think he was relieved when we left. Love to see you come, love to see you go as they say.
Saturday afternoon we spent at the Elk’s Christmas party. Sophie was under the impression she was part of the entertainment program and did her best to fulfill her charter. She crashed the puppet show, danced around in front of the other families and rolled on the floor in the bar – pulling her dress over her head. Wow- such a Keene. The Elk’s lodge as a ton of rooms and just screams – “the best place to explore as a two year old”. Thank goodness for Grandma & Grandpa. It took all 3 of us to chase them around. So much to see and do. Trent loved every moment as well but was more interested in the decorations than entertaining the other guests.
We’ve finally decorated our house and the kids are just over the moon with excitement.
They refer to the tree as “Christmas” and every time they wake up from their nap they both say, “I want to see Christmas”. It is so sweet. [[Image:the_kids/SKTKSKE.JPG]] [[Image:the_kids/TKSKCP.JPG]] [[Image:the_kids/SKWT.JPG]] [[Image:the_kids/TKINT.JPG]] [[Image:the_kids/SKTKCar.JPG]]

The couple of days have been filled with a restart of our therapy schedule. On Monday Sophie had Early Intervention, on Tuesday Trent had Early Intervention while Sophie had Physical Therapy and today – Sophie had speech. They are both doing so well.
Karen, Sophie’s physical therapist is beyond thrilled with her progress. She has more focus, is willing to participate, stays on task and continues to push herself more than achieve what she’s asked for. She’s almost like a totally different child from the girl getting therapy prior to her illness. Karen truly feels that something has been off for a while with Sophie and given the remarkable progress she’s made over the last month- we’re all wondering if the infection/shunt issues were the cause. Whatever the reason, we are thrilled that she’s now moving up and to the right.
In the next several weeks we will have our meeting with the county, the therapists and a representative from the school district to talk about services after the babies turn 3. We’re almost sure Trent won’t qualify for services going forward but are hopeful Sophie is approved for additional speech and physical therapy. If not, we’ll just have to figure out a plan “B” to ensure she gets what she needs to continue her progress.
They are both so funny. Sophie is such an am gal. She runs up to our bed in the morning and say’s “ I want a bottle and watch Dallas”. She knows that every weekday morning starts with her sitting in her high chair while I run – and we watch Dallas during my run. I hope they come out with season 8 soon or we’ll need to figure out another series to watch. She’s also doing her part for global warming. She is forever turning off lights and makes of point of running into our bathroom in the morning when she hears the shower. Needless to say, my mornings are dark and my showers are quite quick. Not ideal but at least we’re helping the environment.
Trent is a big sleeper is happy as long as he has his blanket. He also loves to cuddle, be read to and play. He is so in love with Sophie- watching him with his sister is so, so special.

Our little ones continue to struggle with their colds. Sophie is definitely on the tail end and takes it all and stride but Trent …. Mr. Cranky pants. He is beyond grumpy. Everything is “NO”. We’re not sure if it’s just being two, being a guy who is sick or both but Wow…. We can’t wait to get through this phase. This morning I was trying to wipe his nose with it’s snot fest and he just wanted no part of it. I can tell it’s pretty raw (bright red) from being wiped so much but he just lost it. I had thought I was so clever to give him a cereal bar to distract him but he definitely showed me. Before I knew it- there I was all dressed for work with strawberry cereal bar hanging in my hair. Very sticky. All I could think was “hmm- look at that”. Needless to say I stuck half of my head in the sink and celebrated the fact that I have tons of hair so I could easily hide the large wet patch.
Sophie is back to her old self and more. Now that we’re on the other side of her illness we can definitely tell that something had been going on in her little body for a long time.
She’s shown so much progress over the last month. She’s so happy and enjoys life so much. Watching her progress just reminds me what a strong little lady she is and how much she wants to catch up to other children her age.

Like most folks this time of year, life continues to be busy for the Keene family. It’s funny though- even though Aaron and I have been at the parenting thing for 2 1/2 years- everyday continues to be an adventure.

Last Thursday night we had a significant rainstorm and had our first experience with a psycho toy. The babies have these little motorcycle riding toys that play this very annoying 80’s song. Our therapists, Tia, as well as Aaron & I, have all spent more days with that dumb song is our heads. One of the motorcycles got a short in it and reacted to the recent rain- making the song play and play. Poor Aaron thought he was losing his mind at 2am and finally went outside to try and turn the dumb thing off. I slept though the entire 2 hour concert but when Aaron told me about the psycho toy on Friday morning we both realized the “dream” I thought I had with the toy’s music in it wasn’t really a dream at all. The thing has now been relegated to the garage when forecasters predict rain.

Both babies continue to struggle with stuffy noses but I’m hopeful the end is near. Today was all about enjoying the season. This morning Aaron, Grandma Judy and I took them to downtown Willow Glen to see Santa. It’s so nice. He’s a great Santa and the line is nothing like the incredible mall lines for Santa. We worried that Trent would freak out (he got really clingy while he we were waiting in line) but once he saw Sophie run to Santa – I think he realized it was ok. Sophie has absolutely no fear and was thrilled to sit on Santa’s lap. We put a Santa hat on her for the occasion and Santa was great about holding both of them. They were both excited about seeing Santa and they were so excited to finally meet him.

This evening we took them for a carriage ride around Willow Glen. They were SO excited. We’ve been telling them about going a horse ride for the last two days and all day long after Santa- they just talk on and on about going for a horse ride. They were both transfixed. Both kids were given cookies just prior to the ride and Trent was so focused on the ride and the experience that he held his cookie through the whole ride just watching the horse and enjoying the whole experience. Sophie acted like she was queen and waved at everybody and the carriage pulled us around Willow Glen. It was a very special experience.

Sophie girl finally seems to be on the other side of her sleeping issues. She’s still not a crib fan (will only stay in it for 3-4 hours without crying) but is more than happy to go down in the bed in our extra room. She’ll just curl right up and sleep for an entire night without moving. We know this means it’s time for real beds- I just don’t know if I’m ready. Getting rid of their cribs really acknowledges they’re not babies anymore. Trent is now very comfortable climbing out of his crib, but he’s just as comfortable climbing it in when he’s tired.

This week I’m hoping we can get on our therapy schedule and get Trent to a pediatric dermatologist. Poor little guy. He tells us when he needs some cream to help him, but we need to get a diagnosis. The cream we have calms it but it’s all over his body and we just can’t seem to get rid of it. [[Image:the_kids/PLTKSK1204.JPG]] [[Image:the_kids/1207WS.JPG]] [[Image:the_kids/CRTKSK1207.JPG]]