April 25th

Hello again,

All is well here. We have enjoyed being home. My sister (blondie below) visited us for two weeks, and then some of my college friends, Yeen & Will, Liz, and Andy were in town as well.
The girls are growing a ton. They are both around 19 lbs now, about the 60th-70th percentile! They LOVE to eat. So far they have had sweet potatoes, squash, peas, spinach, beets, broccoli, prunes, apricots, blueberries, apples, bananas, avocado, and lately we have added few dairy products, like yogurt and cottage cheese, "O's," and just today we tried a little sandwich meat. It has been a blast watching them experiment with new foods and textures. Sadie loves eating time, especially when "O's" are involved (they maybe get 10% into their mouths).
Erick is buckling down for his last four weeks of med school. Talk about senioritis! We are very excited for his impending graduation. The fam will come to town to help us celebrate.

We have a few videos below - Erick singing with Emma, the dualing johnny jump ups and Meera being Meera. Enjoy!

First Tooth!

Hello fam and friends - We are back from our great adventure in Kauai. We had an amazing time (thank you Nana Sue and Grandpa Kris!). A vacation with two 7 mo olds is very different than any other vacation we have had, but we had a great time. Emily came from Maui for a few days, it was wonderful to see her again and have her spend time with the girls -- she is an incredible auntie. The girls adjusted amazingly well, especially considering they were just on Central time in Chicago. We were able to go to a few beaches and the Kilauea light house. Meera loved the ocean (see video below), but Em was very timid and unsure of the vast blue, moving liquid. We ate outstanding fish that we were able to grill at our timeshare. The week went by too quickly; we swear we will stay for two weeks if we ever go again.
After returning home we saw our friends Josh and Jen and Ashwini, Yatin, Sanaya, and their twin 16 month old boys. There are a few photos of the kids below. Shaunak especially loved the babies and kept kissing them. They are all such sweet children and we can't wait for them to move back to Portland.
So our big news is that Meera and Emma cut their first tooth! Emma was especially fussy last Thursday night, so on Friday I felt her lower gum line and found a sharp ridge of a tooth poking through. Oddly enough, I found the same tooth poking through in Meera's mouth. It is just like how they lost their umbilical cord stumps within 45 minutes of one another. We will see how long this pattern persists. They both seem more comfortable now and are back to being our sweet happy babies.
Here are a couple videos - Meera's first experience with the ocean, them swinging in a park, the girls hanging out, and Emma in the johnny jump up (she has finally figured it out, she gets some real air!)
We are happy to be home and to know that we will be staying here for good (or at least four years). Erick starts his second-to-last rotation of med school in Emergency medicine tomorrow. My sister is coming out for a few weeks from Minneapolis. I will continue to juggle taking care of the babies and working part time for the University.
Sending you all love and our best wishes,
team MEENS.
p.s. both babies are about 17 lbs!