This week I took a business trip to Louisiana. Louisiana is a place I regularly travel to, and it always is interesting, amusing, and colorful. This week was no different. Upon arrival at the hotel in a small town in between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, I was being checked into my room, when I noticed the fingernails of the woman checking me in. She had at least 1 inch long nails with multiple swirls of reds, greens, blues, blacks, and silvers. Each nail was completely different. I commented that they were “really something!” and proceeded to mention that I was impressed because I would accidentally rip those things right off if it were me wearing them. Her response to me was “honey, I use ta wear MUCH longer nails than this here nails, but dang if I couldn’t wipe myself down there properly!” At this point, I was in the process of taking a swig of water from the water bottle I had with me, and I came dangerously close to spitting water all over the check-in counter at the conclusion of her statement. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not, but I tried an empathetic response of “yes, I could certainly see how that could be of concern.”

Following this, I got to my room, went to the gym, did some work, and then decided to head down the street to Outback for dinner. I sat down in a booth, placed my order, and began reading a book. At one point, I looked up just in time to witness two guys, probably in their 30s, getting up to leave the restaurant. As they were leaving, one woman abruptly shot backwards in her chair and plowed into one of the guys’ bellies with quite a bit of force. He doubled over and his buddy shouted “DUDE! She hit you right in your DONG! Your DONG, DUDE!” While I appreciated the anatomical specificity and the empathy existing between these two men, I haven’t heard a grown man use the word “dong” in public in quite some time. I once again almost spat my drink. Why I am always swallowing a drink when these things happen is beyond me.

The rest of my trip was uneventful, and I made it home in time to feed Audrey and Andrew and spend a couple of hours with them before bedtime. They will turn 8 months old this week. They are both sitting up, and Andrew is very close to crawling. Both eat solid foods now and Audrey, in particular, seems to love to try different foods. We are beginning to experiment with yogurts and mashed up foods that we eat. They are beginning to enjoy toys such as jack-in-the-box and things that give them exercise. We purchased two packs to carry them on our backs and are hoping to get out to do some trail walking soon. Audrey weighs in at 14 pounds and Andrew 20 pounds. So, I’ll take Audrey, thank you very much! Both are laughing, giggling, interacting with other, and just generally fun to be around.

Dave and I are getting increasingly good at getting the kids out of the house and taking them places. Wherever we go, we get a lot of attention from almost everyone that is around. Everyone wants to ask about whether they are twins, how close together they were born, why one is so much bigger than the other, and on and on. And then, almost without fail, the person says “wow, twins must be SO HARD!” I typically respond with a cheery “it’s a lot of fun!” To which, the person usually looks at me as if I might be mentally insane. And, maybe I am mentally insane, but honestly, SO WHAT if it is hard? That is irrelevant. If you look back through the past 35 years of my life, you will see that when there has been an option called HARD and an option called EASY, I ran right smack dab towards the one named HARD, enthusiastically leaped on, grabbed the horns, and hung on for the ride. Call it pride or masochism, or some combination, but I LOVE a good challenge. Having twins suits me just fine.

I believe that doing things that are hard will reveal to you who you really are. You will learn about your ability to persevere, to face difficulties, to fail, to get back up and try again anyway, to problem solve, to be flexible, grounded, and strong. I believe that truly hard work is good for us all. I believe that the choice to have children is a beautiful one, and once you choose it, you are choosing some really hard work in your life. That’s a good thing. It’s good for you. A colleague of mine has an email signature that I particularly like. It says this: “Labor Omnia Vincit–Hard Work Conquers All”.  This motto is part of the state seal of Oklahoma, which is the state he lives in.

I believe that the people who speak to us in public are really just trying to be empathetic of what they perceive as my struggle and I appreciate the connection they are trying to make. I appreciate the kindness. I don’t get sensitive, offended, or upset by this. I just quietly realize in my head that I see things differently than they do. I see the hard work as a blessing. It is all just part of a beautiful relationship that is unfolding between the members of my family, testing us, challenging us, making us better and stronger people. I enjoy the tasks and challenges, as they are completed with and for love, and for the most important relationships and people in my life. Even in the very hardest moments, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Here are some recent pics:

March in Houston is awesome.  The weather is in the low to mid 70s all month, trees and flowers are blooming almost overnight, and it is rodeo season!  For those of you unfamiliar with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, it is 3 weeks long and is HUGE.  There are a complete list of rodeo events such as barrel racing, chariot races, mutton bustin, roping of all sorts, and of course, my favorite, the bull riding.  There is a concert every night following the rodeo, with performers such as Zac Brown Band, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Reba, George Strait, etc.  The whole thing is held in Reliant Stadium where our football team plays.

Whether or not you go to the rodeo, you can’t help but get in the spirit during this time of year.  Everyone all over town busts out their cowboy boots and sometimes cowboy hats and wears them all over the place, including to work.  The twins had a rodeo theme day at their school on Tuesday where they were in a rodeo parade with their stick horses that Dave made for them.   He had to go to Michael’s craft store for the first time in his life!

Audrey and Andrew turned 7 months old last week.  We completely forgot about it until a couple of days later.  Oops!  Andrew is working hard at sitting up and also trying to learn to crawl.  Audrey seems possibly capable of sitting up when you work with her, but refuses to do so and instead stubbornly straightens her legs to stand up.  That’s my girl!

We have recently been struggling with a bit of the stomach flu in our house.  Vomiting is nothing new for us, so we didn’t think much of it.  However, last night, Andrew was fussy and had us up about once every hour of the night.  We finally got him down around 2AM for what seemed like it was going to be a good stretch of time and we happily settled into bed.  About 2:47, we heard a retching sound coming from right in between us!  We both simultaneously discovered the cat gagging and lurching in our bed, about to puke on our brand new sheets and our pillows.  In a miraculously quick-thinking and strangely athletic movement, I somehow managed in the dark to locate and grab a box of tissues off the floor and frantically rip the tissues out of the box.  I shoved them under the cat’s head with less than a second to spare.  We caught all the puke on the tissues, sparing the sheets and saving us from a 3AM sheets changing event.  Not to worry though, we were up again at 3:30 with Andrew, changing his sheets shortly thereafter.  Ah well.  You win some, you lose some.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Rodeo Parade at Audrey and Andrew’s school, complete with the stick horses Dave made.  What a rock star dad!

I realized that its been awhile since I’ve provided an update on the twins, so its time to get after it!

The most important news I have to share is that Audrey and Andrew both have become incredibly skilled at making fart noises with their mouths and they talk to each other in this language while rolling around on the floor together.  I find fart noises of all kinds particularly amusing.  Sometimes they throw in some gobs of drool for an extra wet touch.  It’s really funny.

Audrey and Andrew turned 6 months old on Feb 6.  As a special birthday treat, they got to go to the doctor for their 6-month checkup and shots.  I imagine that checkups with one baby are not much fun, but checkups with two babies are damn near impossible.  It’s a gauntlet of screaming, flailing, vomiting, smiles, giggles, needles, bandaids, tears, screaming, screaming, screaming, hair pulling, and did I mention the screaming?  I have learned to never go to the doctor by myself.  Most of the time the 2 to 1 ratio is manageable, but at the doctor’s office, this is NEVER the case because when one hears the other cry, they start to cry also.  Thankfully, Dave or a friend accompanies me and I am so appreciative.

Andrew weighs in these days at a strapping 19 pounds.  He is beginning to open up a bit and smiles often.  He has this great belly laugh that he will share with you if you tickle him to death.  I personally hate being tickled, and yet I feel the need to do it to my kid as often as I can.  He has 2 teeth and is able to somewhat sit up until his giant head sways to one side and then he face plants.  He likes to eat fruit purees, particularly bananas.  He makes gross faces when you try to feed him green veggie purees.  He is just like his father.

Audrey weighs in at a small but healthy 13 pounds.  She is such a spirited kid.  She squeals, grins, laughs, and truly just hams it up for whoever will smile at her.  She is still just as feisty as the day she was born and I think it’s awesome.  She still struggles with reflux and eating and she vomits often.  However, she has begun to enjoy solid food purees as well.  She got teeth several weeks before Andrew did and she smiled at him as much as possible to let him know about it.

Both babies are happy and healthy and are on pretty decent routines now.  They both are capable of sleeping through the night, although they hardly ever do it.  Typically Audrey wakes up to eat in the middle of the night, but on the rare night that she sleeps all night, Andrew will usually wake up instead.

Dave and I are doing so well.  We are so excited to have made it through the first 6 months with our sense of humor intact.  Our marriage has always been awesome, but it has been made stronger as a result of the teamwork that is required to get through the weeks.    We are still managing to find time to exercise somewhat sporadically, to read books, and to sit outside in the evenings and chat, which has always been one of our favorite ways to spend time together.  I am back to traveling for my job, which I love.  And, recently, I’ve learned of 3 different couples I know who are expecting twins.  I couldn’t be more excited for them.  It’s a beautiful life.

Here are a few pictures:

Audrey and Andrew are 4.5 months old and are beginning to enjoy holding small toys, rattles, and stuffed animals.  They giggle when you tickle them and imitate sounds and tongue movements.  They are beginning to be pretty fun to be around.

My parents came to share in the fun of Audrey and Andrew’s first Christmas.  They drove their car from Florida and brought Daisy, their border collie.  On Christmas Eve, mom and I attended the beautiful candlelight service at our church and then we went home to enjoy some eggnog and the annual viewing of Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story.  We all laughed a lot and enjoyed each other’s company as we navigated the wild terrain of ever increasing baby equipment that has taken over our living room, combined with three lounging dogs sprawled about on the floor.  The ease of such navigation is inversely proportional to the amount of eggnog one has consumed.  I know because I’ve done the research.

Christmas morning started off with delicious bowls of oatmeal straight from the crock pot.  This is a great way to cook oatmeal.  My dad likes to use a basic crock pot which requires a special plug timer to set it to come on at 3AM.  Strangely, the only outlet in the house that works for this purpose is located in his bedroom.  So, at 9AM on Christmas morning, he emerged from the guest bedroom with a giant pot of oatmeal and Christmas day had begun.

After breakfast, we put Andrew and Audrey on the floor in the middle of the living room and went to town opening presents.  The twins got lots of clothes and books and a few small toys.  My dad felt certain that they needed a set of SPAM onesies to match his SPAM tshirt, so we spent several minutes on a SPAM related photo shoot, of which Audrey was not really a fan.  SPAM is just not her thing, apparently.

The twins had made some Christmas ornaments at day care and they were wrapped and under the tree for Dave and I to open.  It was a pretty neat surprise, as we had no idea they had done this.

Dave began working on a turkey for dinner, which he decided needed to be cooked via spatchcock.  My dad spent some time amusing himself by convincing all of us that spatchcock meant “spread eagle” in German.  We began giggling and Googleing at the same time, as “spatchcock” is a pretty awesome word.   I was glad to have the opportunity not only to eat the delicious turkey that resulted, but to walk around the house saying “spatchcock” all day.

My mom felt compelled to buy some luminaries that she brought with her and insisted that we set up in the driveway.  She thought that she had bought 3, but it turns out that she had bought 33.  The luminaries consisted of a white paper bag, a cupful of sand from the beach where they live, and a tealight candle.  We set them all up in the driveway and they were quite pretty after dark. I spent the next hour digging sand from under my fingernails.

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas!

The major street near our neighborhood has been in the process of being repaired for some time now. The repairs involved some pretty major road destruction and then reconstruction. In order to do this, traffic has been rerouted to the other side of the street, turning a 4 lane road into a 2 lane road. As you can imagine, traffic has a tendency to back up during the busy times of the day. A couple of days ago, as I was driving through the construction zone, I noticed a sign that read “Thumbs Up for Progress!” and it proceeded to list the total cost of the project ($5,135,672), the number of jobs that the project had created (50), and an estimate of the progress on the project so far (75% complete). Because I don’t often drive in that direction on that road, I had not noticed the sign before, and I decided that it was a great idea. Construction zones tend to create a fair amount of annoyance to everyone who has to live near them or drive through them. We typically spend so much time thinking about how the construction zone is creating an inconvenience in our own lives that we forget that these projects are good for the economy and good for the neighborhood after the work gets completed. The road will be smooth, less likely to flood, and will look better overall.
I decided that given our current situation of dealing with reflux, weight gain, two sick kids and two sick parents with full time jobs, that we needed our own Thumbs Up for Progress analysis to think about. So, here goes…
1. Audrey and Andrew are both happy and calm babies most of the time.
2. Audrey and Andrew have both doubled their birth weights of 7 lbs and 5 lbs by around 3 months of age. They are now 14 lbs and 10 lbs. Andrew is a regular porker, like his momma!
3. Andrew sleeps 8-10 hours at night. Audrey sleeps about 5 hours at night. She would sleep longer, but we make her wake up to eat. Makes me look forward to the teenage years.
4. Our daycare is fantastic. They love our kids. They all have so much experience at working with babies that I have learned valuable knowledge from them.
5. Audrey still vomits almost every day, but she now seems to be able to lie on her back and feel comfortable most of the time. This is a great thing and is definitely progress!
6. Dave and I are now absolute rock stars at changing diapers and cleaning up messes. Between four pets and two infants, someone is always puking, pooping, or blowing other fluids out of themselves.
7. Audrey is stubborn as all get out. Wonder where she gets that?
8. Andrew is close to rolling over.
9. They seem to enjoy “talking” to us and to each other.
10. They enjoy each other’s presence and become calmer when the other is near.
11. They both have great smiles that make your day. I love to see them first thing in the morning!
12. We have learned how to manage a schedule of caring for twins and each working full time jobs. We do need help from time to time, particularly when I travel. We are very tired, but so far we maintain sanity. Well, at least as much as we always have.
13. We are almost 1/3 of the way through the first year already!
14. We’ve both learned how to push a double stroller holding 2 kids with one hand and drag a shopping cart behind.
15. We are experts at swaddle, shake, swing, sway, shush, standing sway, standing swaddle sway, standing swaddle sway shake, and standing swaddle sway shake shush, all of which are sometimes required to feed Audrey.
Two thumbs up for progress!