A day of milestones.

The day started out with a moment Billy and I have been awaiting for some time. After the babies morning bottle they always hang out in bed with us and we have family fun time with lots of laughing and playing. Then we take it downstairs to start the day and the babies hang out in the baby einstein for their usual pre-nap party time. This is the babies special time together and they are very active and a lot of cooing and "bicycle riding" goes on before they fall asleep. I'm usually cleaning up during this time and in the kitchen and I'll check on them from time to time. Well, I popped in on them to find Daila and Kai chatting it up. Kai was cracking up as if Daila had just told the most hilarious joke. This was so precious because we have been waiting for this moment that they really connect. They have always been aware of each other, but had yet to give each other the eye contact and reaction that they each do with Billy and I. Well, it was very apparent at this moment that the link is now on!

Later in the afternoon we decided it was time to try the long awaited Rice Cereal experiment. Both babies eat bottles like champs now and are maxing out with the amount of formula a baby should get in a day. So we sat down on the floor l and I put the Cereal in the antique "Bunnikens" bowl that my mom brought out when they were born. This is the bowl I ate out of, my mom and my grandmother ate from as a baby, so it is very special. I think Daila knew something special was happening because she was so alert and excited to be a part of it. Kai on the other hand seemed to care less and was practically asleep as we started this big moment. Well, the roles quickly changed after the first bite. It turn out that Kai LOVED every bite and couldn't wait until the next one. Daila would approach each bite with optimism, but then quickly turn her little face to a frown, only to eventually spit up all 5 bites she took...:( Oh well, there's always tomorrow. Kai ended up washing the whole thing down with a few ounces of remaining formula and even insisted on holding his own bottle. After all he is a big boy now who eats cereal and we even suspect he is teething already!

Oh how the time has flown in 4 1/2 months, they are already getting so big!

Babies first weekend get-away!

The babies and I just spent a wonderful 3 day get-away with my Mother-in-law Sallie in palm dessert. Billy has been out of town for work, so Sallie and I decided to head out to the dessert to just relax and take in a new scenery. The babies must have known they were on vacation because they were so great the whole time considering this was their first overnight in a different place, and they slept until 7:30 a.m. both days!

Sallie and I realized once we were there that it was exactly this weekend last year that the babies were "conceived" at the very same place. That trip was the last time Billy and I were in the dessert. We took a few photos of the babies in the Casita, where Billy and I always stay while there. Even though we didn't use the Casita on this trip, we thought the babies would like to see the place where their existence began. And an interesting side-story; another family friend conceived triplets the year prior to us while staying in the Casita... Now, I'm no fertility expert, but I'm thinking there might be something to that cozy little nook...:)

Thank you Pamela and Steven for letting us have the run of the house, and little Kai and Daila want to thank you for their first mini-vacation in the dessert. I mean it's really tough being a baby, and they needed to get a little R&R before getting back to a tough week of goo-goo and
ga-ga-ing...:)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Here are a few out-takes from this mornings official St. Patty's day photo shoot. They are sporting the cute little PJ's that Gigi (Grandma Sallie) got for them. They are extra excited today, I think they know they're Irish!

Silly Songs.

Now that the babies are becoming more aware we have started singing songs to them. So now our house is constantly ringing of sillyness. If you know anything about Billy, you know he made most of them up himself. My favorite Billy Deans original goes like this:

Here's a little story about a Monkey in a tree

He grabbed some bananas; maybe one, two or three

He took them all back to his whole family......

Hey Kai Boy can you peel one for me?

Hey Daila Sue can you peel one for me?

The babies just love it. I wonder sometimes if they have any idea of how much fun they're in for...:)

Let the rivalry begin.

So after Kai heard about all of the fuss about Daila rolling over and trying to crawl before she was 4 months old, he decided he couldn't just sit on the sideline and let her take all the glory, he wanted to show the world he is amazing too. As I was changing Daila's diaper Kai flipped himself over, and two minutes later decided to try and make his break from the play mat. So now, still 2 days shy of 4 months they are both on the move. In all honesty I know these mini-milestones don't really mean anything, as all babies develop differently, but a proud mama I am. Billy and I also now have realized our days of relaxing "at all" are numbered. Ahhhh, let the lifelong sibling rivalry begin...:)

Play Time.

Each day the babies are becoming more and more their own little personalities. The one thing they do have in common is they are both really happy. We have been very lucky so far to have such good happy munchkins. They manage to turn every moment now into playtime, from eating, to getting their diaper changed to even sleeping. They are starting to sleep at night a little better and now don't wake up in such a "code red" panic to get a bottle in their mouth. This morning we were happily awakened by the sound of them cooing and giggling at the mobile above their crib. Playtime = Good!

Best buddies.

It has been such a wonderful gift to get to witness the bond between Kai and Daila grow each day. As if it isn't exciting enough to watch a single baby grow and learn new things, Billy and I acknowledge constantly the bond between them is as exciting to watch as each of them separately. We truly have been blessed. They share the same crib and spend each day side by side, except when in their swings. Then they just sway back and forth looking at each other. Their newest thing has been holding hands and playing with the back of each others heads. Daila is always the first to reach out and cling on to Kai's arm while they gaze at the star on the top of the Baby Einstein. Kai likes to yell at the star while they both coo and gaga their little heads off at it.

Kai Boy.

Kai (named by Billy meaning "Ocean" in Hawaii) is quite possibly the happiest, most content baby we could have hoped for. He is constantly smiling from ear to ear and he's already decided that everything on this planet exist purely for his enjoyment. If he even catches you glancing at him from across the room, he will immediately grant you with the biggest smile imaginable.' He is Billys little "mini-me" as Daila is mine. If you look at a photo of Billy as a baby you would think it was Kai. He's the strong one who likes to test his strength with daddy every night when he plays baby pull-ups. He has been trying to stand up since practically birth, and is always riding his "imaginary bicycle" kicking his legs all around. It's no mystery that he is the one who kicked he and Daila right out of the womb 5 weeks early.

Dai-dai girl.

Daila (pronounced Day-la) is our little chatterbox who as of a couple of weeks ago has been babbling non-stop. She was born with a full head of red hair and everyone says that she looks exactly like I did when I was a baby. I don't know if this is accurate or how it is possible that I was as cute as she is, but we do bear resemblance. The babies are 4 days shy of the 4 month point, and she is already rolling over and trying to crawl. The doctor seemed quite impressed by this as he said considering they were 5 weeks premature this is an amazing accomplishment. Go Baby Dai!

How we got here.

photo by Adam Campbell


Billy and I met skateboarding in 2003 not long after I moved to California from Colorado. We became great friends and then began dating around Christmas of 2005. Well, we made things official on October 21, 2007 in Laguna Beach on a sunny, magical, Sunday afternoon.

We spent the next few months being newlyweds and getting use to our new life as a "married" couple. We had always spoken about having children, and we both had grown up in family's of 4, and had thought in a "perfect" world, we would like to eventually have a boy and a girl.

By the time May of 2008 rolled around we were in full swing of being married and mapping out the rest of our lives. We were so happy to have found a "partner in crime" as we like many of the same things. So one Sunday evening after skating our favorite skate spot "Channel Street" in San Pedro, we stopped at the local Chili's to have a little dinner and a cocktail and milk the last few hours of a perfect weekend before getting back to the grind on Monday. Well for some reason everything I tasted was making my stomach turn, which was unusual considering I hadn't really eaten all day. I told Billy that due to my "unusual" feelings we would be taking the E.P.T. test when we got home. We pretty much laughed it off and carried on. Well, we got home and broke out the test and sure enough... A plus sign revealed that we were indeed expecting!

We scheduled a visit with my doctor for the following Tuesday to confirm the test and get a little direction on what we were to do next. After doing a test she mentioned that were "very" pregnant, meaning that her test took no time at all to confirm. We didn't really know what that meant, so we thought maybe it meant we were further along than we had thought. She suggested we get an ultra-sound asap to give us an idea of how far along we were. So we scheduled it for two days later.

Billy and I met up after work to go to our first ultra-sound, both very anxious to have confirmation that everything was A O.K.. We were excited to see what this little bean inside of my belly looked like on the monitor. As the technician moved the wand around my stomach we both remained quiet waiting for the tech to tell us everything looked good. Well, neither of us had ever seen an ultrasound, so we didn't know what we were seeing, and just waited patiently to be reassured things were on track. Well, finally the tech looks at us and says, "congratulations, you're having twins!" We both just about fainted.

We walked out of the imaging center in a complete fog, not knowing what to think. I mean, we were very excited, just completely overwhelmed by the news that our dream of a family of 4 was much closer than we thought. When we had learned that we were pregnant we had said that while we originally wanted 2 kids, that the point we were both at in our life may only make room for 1, as we weren't getting any younger...:) Well, it turn out the universe had us covered, and blessed us with a 2 for 1 deal!

After an unusually easy pregnancy for twins, Kai and Daila arrived into the world on November 14th 2008. I was 35 weeks and 1 day pregnant, and Kai decided that was long enough to wait and kicked Daila's water sack in the middle of the night causing Billy and I to rush off to the hospital at 4:00 a.m. By 10:22 and 10:24 a.m. Kai and Daila were welcomed into the world...:)

Welcome to the Deans life.

photo by Adam Campbell


Well, the time has come to finally breakdown and give in to this thing called "blogging" (or maybe it's pronounced "yogging" with a soft "bl". A little joke if you've seen the movie "Anchorman" a Deans family favorite!) Anyways, this blog has been created to keep everyone apprised with the latest happenings of the Deans Crew, with the emphasis on our newest additions Kai and Daila. This will be a way to appease all of their adoring fans, rightfully so. We will be doing our best to post cute photos, video clips and document as many goo-goo's and ga-ga's as possible as we want the world to enjoy all of the happiness they have brought into our life in the last 4 months. We have been blessed with 2 of the worlds most adorable creatures and we want to share the wealth.

Enjoy!