The last time I wrote a blog post was around Halloween of 2014. It’s been too long. I’m pleased to give it another shot. Our fall was eventful, celebrating Halloween with our friends and watching the twins run around in Super Audrey and Super Andrew caped superhero outfits. They were just getting good at walking, which means Dave and I had to get good at chasing, as they went in opposite directions seemingly by pact to make life difficult for their parents.

November brought Thanksgiving, which we decided to spend in Ponce Inlet, FL at my parents’ place. We took the twins on a plane for the first time. Because they were 1 year old, they were still able to qualify for a lap child, which means that you don’t have to buy a ticket for them, but you must contain them on your lap. Containing a toddler is never easy, but it becomes more difficult on a plane for many reasons. Thankfully both of our children can be bribed with chewy fruit snacks and animal crackers. Thank God for those. And thank God for the kindness of other people. Right after takeoff on a flight, Audrey began to pitch a tantrum, the likes of which was new to me. She was wrestling, screaming at the top of her lungs, and hitting me. I was sitting in an aisle seat, but could not get up because we were still ascending. I was trying to keep it together, feeling close to tears myself, when a man behind and across from me tapped me on the shoulder and said very kindly, “don’t worry about it. We’ve all been there. Every single one of us.” It was such a simple thing to say, but made me feel so much better. I look for opportunities to pay it forward with a kind word when I can. Sometimes it really makes a difference.

We also traveled for Christmas, going to visit Dave’s parents in Pasadena, CA. This trip went smoothly, as the twins were travel pros by this point. When you have twin infants, you cannot sit together as a family in a row because two infants cannot sit in a row together. There are not enough oxygen masks to accommodate two infants. We sat across the aisle from each other and passed the screaming toddlers back and forth to each other based on whichever of us was better at pacifying in that given moment. Our Christmas visit was really nice. We were able to go on several hikes in sunny California. The twins got to go to the park, play in the backyard, and go out for pizza. Christmas presents are not something that Dave and I have gotten all that into in the past, but this year, I decided to put some thought into it. I got him a watch that is silver and has math equations in place of numbers. He loves it and it really suits him. He got me a necklace that has three circles intertwined. There is a small circle, a medium circle, and a large circle and they are all linked together and then attached to a chain. It is simple and I love it, as it represents the past, present, and future. I love the idea that the past, present, and future are all connected.

We returned from California on New Years Eve and arrived at our house around 9PM. We put the twins down to bed and then grabbed some blankets and went out to the front yard to ring in the new year in our lawn chairs, wrapped in blankets, looking at the stars. One of my more favorite new years celebrations.

Next was my birthday. Normally, I don’t get very excited about my birthday. It is January 10, so it’s three weeks after Christmas. Everyone is sick of partying and is not really into eating cake. It usually feels like kind of a letdown. Not this year! My best friend decided to come down to visit us from Nashville. She brought her nearly 3 year old son and husband. I hadn’t had a chance to meet her son yet and I was SO excited about seeing all of our kids together. We spent the weekend eating out, visiting the Childrens Museum, a brewery tour, and playing cards, board games, and running around after our kids. It is hard to explain, but it truly felt like home. My parents moved away from my childhood home when I was about 22. Since then, I’ve not really felt like I had a physical place that I called home. I believe home is more a feeling that you create with the people who make you feel like home. My best friend is a kind, funny, wonderful person. I’ve been proud to call her my best friend since 6th grade. We share a similar sense of humor and a comfort with each other that is indescribable. We even married men who have very similar personalities and interests. I hadn’t seen her in several years, but it felt just like it always had from the minute they walked in the door. This visit left me feeling really happy and peaceful in a way that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I can only hope we will visit more often in the future.

Two days after they left, the best birthday present I’ve ever received arrived in a giant box. When I was visiting my parents over Thanksgiving, they took me out in the car on a rainy, cold day saying they had a surprise for me. Audrey was with us as we drove up to a store called Florida Keys. I was a bit confused, wondering what we were doing. I pulled open the door, and there sat a brand new piano with a giant red bow on it. I was in disbelief that this was for me! What an incredible surprise. I spent some time learning how to use it and then was told it would be shipped to Houston to arrive around my birthday. It was really difficult to contain myself from November until January while it shipped across the country.

I have played the piano since I was 12. I took lessons for about a year. Lessons didn’t work well for me, so I quit. I didn’t quit playing the piano though. I played for sometimes several hours a day, teaching myself Beethoven, Mozart, Pachelbel, Christmas carols, and lots of Andrew Lloyd Webber. I played when I was happy, sad, angry, stressed, or bored. I was able to lose myself in learning a new song, memorizing it, recording it. The piano I played on was a birthday gift from my parents for my 12th birthday. I played for 10 straight hours when I got it. I cherished it through the years, moving it with me to Texas and dragging it through 5 moves to different apartments and then finally to our house.

My new piano is similar to my old one in that it is an electronic, full sized piano. It is up to date with the newest technology, including a USB input to record my songs and weighted keys so that it feels like playing on a traditional piano. It sounds great. I absolutely love it. I had become somewhat bored with my old one and hadn’t played much in the past 5 years. This new piano has re-inspired me in ways that I didn’t expect. I love it. What a truly touching gift. The twins have inherited the old piano and they love banging on it and pushing the buttons.

The twins turned 18 months in February. They are very mobile, running around everywhere. They love climbing on things, playing outside, riding their bikes and pushing toys around. They enjoy balls and toy cars. They laugh a lot. They carry on full conversations with each other that only they can understand. They are beginning to speak a few words that we can understand too. Andrew struggles with ear infections. He will be getting tubes in his ears in the next few weeks.

On Monday night, he was battling a double ear infection and was incredibly upset all night long. We could not get him to sleep and he ended up staying up most of the night, as well as waking up his sister, who sleeps in the same room with him. Dave and I were both up all night. The only way to console him was to distract him with his favorite TV show, Winnie the Pooh. So, there I sat at 3AM, holding him on my lap, watching Winnie the Pooh. I felt exhausted and stressed with worry about how I was going to manage to catch my 9AM flight to Tucson after no sleep for either Andrew or myself. I made a decision to postpone my trip by several hours to take him to the doctor. He finally fell asleep for a couple of hours around 5AM in my bed. I slept also. When he woke, I woke. I expected him to begin fussing because he was in pain. Instead, he looked at me and smiled. I felt my exhaustion and stress melt away as I smiled back. Then he farted. The fart lasted for 10 seconds. I said “MY!” and he said “HI!” and waved at me. I laughed. It was all made good again. I took him to the doctor, got medicine, took him to day care, packed my bags, and boarded a flight to Tucson, exhausted but pleased.

It has been many years since I have visited Tucson. I have fond memories of traveling there during a couple of family trips when I was a teenager, so I was excited when my travels brought me back. There is something about the mountains and the desert terrain that I have always loved. On Wednesday, I finished up with my work around 4:30 in the afternoon and had a couple of hours to kill before dinner, so I decided to go for a jog around the University of Arizona campus. The University of Arizona is a school that I applied to in high school and I was accepted. I decided not to attend, as it was very far away from my childhood home in Pennsylvania and I was not ready to live so far away. I ended up attending Virginia Tech and completed about half of my chemical engineering curriculum before deciding that I wanted to find a smaller chemical engineering program. I once again applied to the University of Arizona, and was accepted. Instead, I decided to attend the University of Wyoming. As I ran through the U of A campus, finding the psychology and chemical engineering buildings, I thought about these two times that I had almost attended school there and began to wonder what my life would be like if I had. Would I have had a completely different life? Would I have loved different friends, different men, different activities? Surely I would have. Would I have found myself in Texas, Dave, twins? Who knows? I was lost in these thoughts as I jogged. Suddenly I found myself in the midst of a beautiful circular monument surrounded by a vibrant shock of red and white pansies that stands in the middle of the U of A campus. It is dedicated to strong and influential women of the state of Arizona and honors their past, present, and future. Just like the necklace Dave gave me for Christmas that I wear almost every day. The past, present, and future are linked together and cannot be broken apart. They cannot stand alone, separately. They are all connected to make a beautiful whole. I decided to sit down at the monument for a moment. I read the names of the women to myself. I closed my eyes and smelled the sweet pansies and the nearby orange trees. I felt the sunshine warm me. I had spent most of the run contemplating the past. I decided to spend the rest of the run thinking about the future. Who knows what would have happened if I had gone to the University of Arizona. Who knows what will happen in the future?
All I know is it will be a beautiful whole.

Yesterday I was running errands around town in preparation for being out of town for a couple of days. I went to the grocery store, dry cleaner, and ran Audrey to the doctor for a quick checkup. She takes special vitamins as she is a bit anemic, so I stopped at our local pharmacy to pick up a new bottle. As I waited to be helped, the woman in line in front of me began to shout at the pharmacist because she was upset over a mistake with her prescriptions. She yelled loudly enough that the entire store could hear it and she shouted over and over again to the pharmacist helping her “you are as dumb as a box of rocks!” She continued to yell, refused to listen to any of the attempts to satisfy her, and then physically grabbed her prescription bottles from the pharmacist, shouting about how they were making her late again because they are dumb as a box of rocks. I stood there behind her in silence, not really knowing what to do. In the end, I did nothing, and I felt really bad about it.

I deal with customers regularly in my own job. Sometimes they are upset over a mistake that has been made somehow. I thought about how awful I would feel if someone shouted at me that I was as dumb as box of rocks. In this case, I don’t think anything I could have said or done would have calmed the shouting woman. In fact, it probably would have made it worse. But after she left, I wish I had said a kind word of encouragement to the pharmacist. I failed to do that and I wish I had.

Ever since Andrew and Audrey were born, I’ve noticed how much difference a few kind words here and there can make. A year ago, we were really struggling, not sleeping much, dealing with Audrey’s reflux issues, as well as all the tasks that are associated with two infants. We both worked full time at our careers as well. It was exhausting. Many people took the time to tell us that we were doing a good job or to keep up the good work. Sometimes those were just the words we needed to hear to give us the patience we needed to continue on our way.

The power of a few kind words goes a long way. Sometimes it makes the difference between giving up and fighting harder. Sometimes it makes the difference between a good day and a bad day. Sometimes it changes someone’s whole perspective. Sometimes it changes someone’s whole life. I’m going to work harder at kindness in all forms, but especially the words that take just a few seconds to say.

As for us, we are all doing well. Andrew and Audrey are both walking with ease and are beginning to enjoy playing with balls, playing on the playground, chasing and being chased, knocking things over, and wrestling with anyone who will lay on the floor with them. They are a lot of fun. We walk them around the neighborhood in the evenings and take the dogs with us also. Both twins do a lot of babbling and noisemaking in general. We keep listening intently for words, but so far the only one is “UH-OH!” from Audrey. She says it over and over and then guffaws with a maniacal “HA HA HA!” There is nothing like a good maniacal laugh.

It is the wonderful part of the year in Houston where everyone comes out of their houses and walks around in the neighborhood. It is still in the 80s in the day, but it drops to the low 70s in the evening and is very comfortable to get outside. It’s finally fall and my favorite part of the year in the south.

I’m writing this post from an airplane, so I won’t be able to add in any pictures this time. Hopefully I will have some after our Halloween events.

Have a happy fall!

August has been a powerful month for me. Andrew and Audrey turned 1 on August 6, and we celebrated with red smash cakes that left their high chairs looking like a scene from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was all in good fun. Aside from cakes and birthday parties and presents, it was a true blessing to me to celebrate their lives and to celebrate the love that we’ve all four developed for each other as a family.

As a parent, it is my job to teach Andrew and Audrey the things they need to know. But they also teach me things all the time. Andrew has this way about him where he works really hard at learning something. Right now he is working on learning how to walk. He will stand and look at you, and then carefully take a few steps before losing his balance and careening into your lap. He almost always then stands back up with a big smile and has a clapping celebration for himself. He is so proud of those few steps he took and he doesn’t let the fall at the end get to him. A couple of months ago, a new job with more responsibility came open at work. I thought about applying for it, but I was filled with fear and doubt. I thought and thought about it and doubted myself that I had enough experience to do it. But the more I kept thinking about it, I realized that I was letting fear be a factor in my decision. Throughout my life, I have refused to bow to fear. This would be no exception. I applied, I waited, and I was granted an interview. I learned that two other much more experienced, slightly older men from our team had also applied. I went through another round of doubt and fear. And then I decided that I was tossing doubt and fear out the window. I was going to go for it with everything I had to give, and I was probably going to fail, but I would learn something about myself in the process. Last week I flew to St. Louis to interview with 7 different people, and when I walked out of the last one, I thought, “WOW, who was THAT girl?” I had no idea whether they had loved or hated me as a candidate, but I found that I loved the effort I had made. I had never been so open, so driven, and so real in a job interview before. It was an empowering day, and I learned a lesson about what I’m capable of when I put my mind to it. Ultimately, I did not get the job due to my lack of experience. What I did get was a whole new realization about myself and where I want to go with my career. So instead of wallowing in rejection, I’m having a clapping celebration for myself and the things I learned as a result of putting myself out there and really owning it.

On a completely different topic, when we were on vacation in July, I learned about the drowning death of a 3 year old boy. His mother and I had a mutual friend on Facebook. His mother began posting updates about his death publicly, and they showed up on my feed. I began to think about her and pray for her a lot. She has the most incredible writing talent and she has written some of the most beautiful, sad, amazing things about her love for her child, her family, and her faith. She wrote about how she felt in any given moment. Her ability to express herself so truly and so publicly has changed my life. I’ve begun to hug my kids tighter and more often, to take the time to sit down and play with them instead of loading the dishwasher. I’ve begun to think about how happy I am to have them in my life, especially in the moments where they scream and cry and I’m frustrated. I’ve begun to think of their birthday as not just another task to do to plan a party, but a true celebration of their life, a year lived healthy and happy and together. I’ve begun to realize that if she can lose her child and turn to God for strength, that surely I can build a stronger faith within myself.

As most of you know, I’m a very determined person. When I was 20, a good friend of mine died in a tragic way. I went to his funeral and looked into his parents’ eyes and I decided that I couldn’t find a way to believe in any God who would allow such pain on this earth. I turned away from religion with a fierce determination. As part of that determination, I looked for every flaw that exists within the church, within any Christian I knew, to help support my case. And, of course, because no church and no one person is perfect, I found plenty of flaws. I spent most of my 20’s feeling disappointed by people claiming to be Christians, sometimes I was downright angry over their seeming hypocrisy. I continued along this fault-finding path, noticing Christians being judgmental, hypocritical, downright nasty, and unethical. I believed that you can be a good person without a God in your life. I still believe that. But, during that time period, I reached my own low point in life and I decided to give up my struggle against religion. It was a conscious decision. My husband walked into my life the next day. That was five years ago, and it is almost as if love has multiplied exponentially in my life ever since.
While I made a conscious decision to turn my face towards God, it has not been an easy decision. I do not have a religious background to fall back on and I find myself, even now, uncomfortable with some of the aspects of Christian faith. None of it comes smoothly or easily to me. It is hard work, during which I often feel awkward. Which brings me back to the grieving mother. When we came home from our vacation and went to church, I wrote out a prayer request for her family and submitted it. I have never done that before. I decided to sing the hymns in church, hoping her dead son was up there somewhere listening. For the first time, I cast away my insecurity about how truly awfully I sing. It didn’t matter, because I wasn’t singing for my own self. While I have been taking steps for the past five years to attend church, to reach out to others, to read about religion and the Bible, to ask questions, and to even get baptized, I have struggled to really feel faith deep down inside. I have struggled with doubt and with questions. All of the sudden, a complete stranger has shown me faith greater than I’ve been able to reach on my own. If that isn’t God at work, I don’t know what is.

This brings me to Audrey’s lesson. When I watch Audrey playing with her toys, she picks up these small pieces and she turns them over and over in her hand, really studying them. She looks at all the pieces of them and really takes it all in. Some of the small toys she discards as she crawls away. Others, she likes what she sees and she keeps with her as she moves through her world. I’ve begun to see others in that way. Everyone on this earth is imperfect and they (and I) sometimes do things that set bad examples. I want to work harder at taking my time to inspect each person and to find the pieces that really mean something good. I want to carry those pieces with me as I move through my own world, instead of discarding an entire religion because of the flaws of a few imperfect humans or an imperfect church.

In early August I began running again. I’m now about 30 pounds overweight, and so running is a fair bit of work for me, but it is slowly getting easier. I keep reminding myself of Andrew’s lesson, to keep at it with hard work and celebrate the successes. I’m able to run 3 miles now without stopping. I look forward to sticking with it this fall, because if Andrew can stick with his hard work, then his mom can too. The other day, I hopped on the treadmill at the gym and cranked up the speed to my usual running pace. I got about 2 minutes in when my zip-up sports bra came unzipped rather suddenly and my “girls” came blasting out with violent force. Thankfully, I was wearing a tank top, but it was a bit awkward as I tried to thrust my purse in front of me and get downstairs to the womens’ room to put myself back together while laughing to myself rather maniacally.

Our summer has officially ended and we are all back to work and day care. It’s been a beautiful summer of family time. My parents will soon return from their adventures in Alaska and we look forward to seeing them as they stop here on their way back to Florida. Fall will soon be upon us with the joy of cooler weather, Texas fire pits around the pool, pumpkin patches with the kids, and general fun. I can’t wait!

Our vacation at Ponce Inlet, FL was really and truly wonderful. After much debate as to how best to manage a 16 hour road trip with 2 babies, we decided to leave at 7PM and drive all night.  We figured either this would be a brilliant idea or a terrible one, and we were prepared for either scenario.  It turned out to be on the brilliant side, as the twins both slept all night and we were able to get in about 12 hours worth of driving only having to stop for gas a couple of times.  The only fussing that really occurred on the whole trip was in the last 30 minutes of the drive.  They were excellent travelers.

Upon arrival at my parents’ condo in Florida, we unpacked all of our baby gear and put the twins on the floor for some exploration.  They crawled all over the place, checking out everything and really enjoying themselves smearing baby handprints all over my mother’s glass coffee table and doors.  We spent the rest of the day unpacking, grocery shopping, and settling in. The next day was July 4, and we got to watch from the balcony as there were a few brilliant fireworks shows over the beach.  It was one of the better Independence Day celebrations I’ve enjoyed.  Here is a daytime view from the balcony as a storm approaches, which seemed to happen most afternoons:

The next several days were spent hitting the beach and pool, golfing, reading on the balcony, and generally relaxing. The babies really enjoyed practicing their swimming skills in the pool, although I think some of the other people at the pool thought we were insane.  They kept asking “how old ARE they??” We really appreciated it when finally a person calmly said “oh, ISR lessons huh?” and smiled at us.  We also let them float in rafts from time to time:

Vacation was going so smoothly and I was feeling myself relax in a way that I haven’t relaxed in over a year. I was truly enjoying the time to just BE with myself, my kids, and Dave.  It was so nice.  We went to visit an old sugar mill where there are some concrete dinosaur statues and we took some pictures there. Andrew is wearing a dinosaur tshirt too:

We went out to eat at a couple of our favorite restaurants, we rented movies that we hadn’t had time to watch yet, we spent some quality time with my aunt and uncle, who live in neighboring Daytona Beach.  Dave took the babies to watch a sea turtle release.

Audrey and Andrew enjoyed getting in the ocean a little more each time we went. We put them down on the sand and let them explore, which they didn’t love at first, but were really enjoying by the last day of vacation.  Both babies got their first suntans!

On the last day, we took them for a walk to the ice cream shop and gave them their first sample of vanilla soft-serve. They both hated it! There were tears and screaming!

After 2 weeks of ultimate relaxation, we packed up the car again and headed back home, stopping in New Orleans for the wedding of a couple of friends of ours. I was nervous to take 2 unpredictably loud babies to a wedding, but they were both very good.  The only sound to come from either of them was a very excited squeal from Audrey when the groom kissed the bride.  We then went to the reception, where they took a little nap in their strollers while we ate dinner and we enjoyed a bit of dancing and drinks before we returned to our room for their bedtime.

We finished the last 6 hours of our return trip the next day.  The best parts of returning home were seeing our pets, and seeing the new mural that was painted in the baby room while we were gone.  Our friend painted it and she did an excellent job!  It is just so sweet and perfect.

Our first family vacation as a family of 4 was a complete and total success. We can’t wait for the next one!

June has been a really busy month for us. The twins have been taking daily swimming lessons all month, early in the morning, which means that the tasks that I typically would accomplish in the morning before work get pushed to the weekends. This explains how I repeatedly find myself at the grocery store on Saturdays, which is a time I would usually avoid due to the crowds. Often I will take the twins on outings with me, because they enjoy taking in the sights of the world around them, and Dave enjoys an hour or two to himself to fit in a run or work on one of his various hobbies. This past Saturday, I had both twins at the grocery store with me. Andrew rode along in the top basket of the cart, while I wore Audrey on my chest in a baby carrier. We slowly made our way through the store, Andrew helping to hold red bell peppers, Audrey grabbing at my shopping list, and me keeping an ongoing conversation going with them while selecting various breakfast and dinner options. We found ourselves browsing the cheese aisle, when one of my favorite songs, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch came on in the store. We all 3 decided it was necessary to have a little dance party there in the cheese section, and all 3 of us were quickly laughing. Many of our fellow cheese lovers around us were laughing with (at?) us, and a guy came over and said to me “I think you need a couple more sets of twins…you are just having way too much fun!” I laughed and went on my way, thinking that it was a nice exchange for once, instead of the typical comments I get from strangers about how hard things must be.

I write this post from Tulsa, OK. Although its not the most glamorous of travel destinations, I find that the locals are refreshingly friendly and kind, the city feels safe to move about, traffic is easy, and the food is fantastic. Believe it or not, there is a wonderful seafood restaurant called Bodeans in Tulsa, a landlocked state. I’ve eaten at this restaurant at least 10 times and have had some of the best pieces of fish I’ve ever had in my life there. They fly it in fresh twice a day. Yesterday, I had a piece of fresh wild Columbia River salmon.

Speaking of fish, the twins are doing fantastic in their swimming lessons. Audrey and Andrew can both float for about a minute, unassisted. This week will be the last week of lessons, so they are learning how to float wearing full regular diapers and winter clothes. This trains them to deal with more lifelike situations where they would end up in water. Although the lessons have been a very big commitment, we are pleased with the results. Also, in case you’ve ever wondered, a regular diaper weighs about 2 pounds when completely saturated with water! Of course I felt the need to weigh one with our baby scale.

My parents continued their motorhome adventures this month, celebrating their 44th wedding anniversary in Glacier National Park in Montana on June 4th before heading north to Alaska. I remember when I was a little girl, I was beginning to learn about relationships and “best friends.” I asked my mom who her best friend was, and I was shocked when she said that my dad was her best friend. I thought “why would she be best friends with a guy?” Especially a guy like my dad who is always picking on her! It didn’t make any sense to me at the time. It’s been pretty awesome to have the opportunity to witness 35 years of their relationship. They have truly set a wonderful example of the commitment of marriage and all that it entails. My parents reached Alaska around the 15th of June, and are continuing their adventures in exploring Alaska, together with their border collie, Daisy. If you are not already following my dad’s rather entertaining blog, you can find it here:

www.avisfamily.net/alaska

Dave and I will be undertaking our own adventure next week, by packing our car, and driving 16 hours to vacation in Florida. I have no idea how the twins will do with a 16 hour car trip, but somehow we will make it work. I look forward to showing the twins the ocean, beach, and whatever other sights life throws our way. Hopefully I will have some pictures to share at my next post.

I was lucky enough to start off the month with a visit from my parents, who were with us over Mother’s Day. It was really wonderful to spend my first Mother’s Day with both my mother and my kids. We had a really nice day, spending some quality time together at home. When my parents come for a visit, they typically hand out a detailed agenda of the favorite restaurants that they intend to visit while they are here. Houston, while not a beautiful place, is what I might call the restaurant capital of the US. There are all kinds of interesting, diverse, trendy, ethnic, non-ethnic, and just fantastic restaurants in Houston. When you come here, you are going to eat. A LOT. All the time. So, my parents have embraced the culture here by making a list of their favorites that they frequent, one of which is called Big Daddy’s BBQ.

Big Daddy’s is a cafeteria tray style dive in a run-down strip mall with an ugly parking lot out front. It does have some pretty fantastic bbq though. We still had Big Daddy’s to cross off the list, so we headed over there on Mother’s Day. While we were in the car, partway there, I looked down and realized that I was accidentally wearing my bedroom slippers. Oops! I decided I didn’t care and we continued on our way. We enjoyed chopped pork sandwiches, brisket po-boys, mac and cheese, green beans, and fried okra to excess. Audrey and Andrew went along for the ride in their new double umbrella stroller, which they like because they can see and reach each other to swipe each other’s toys and pacifiers when the other isn’t paying attention. My feisty girl Audrey got particularly fired up and managed to grab my dish of green beans off the table and hurl them onto the floor in an almost frisbee-like motion. We all stuffed ourselves to bursting and rolled ourselves back out to the car. At that point, my mother and I looked at each other with horror as we realized that we both would have to climb into the third row of our SUV with only a few inches to squeeze our bellies past the new and giant convertible car seats that the twins are using. We managed to do it, but it wasn’t pretty.

We got home and spent some time relaxing on the back deck with each other and the twins, until I had to go sprinting to the restroom with the onset of a fun little stomach virus that knocked me out for the next few days. Let’s just say I won’t be eating any more Big Daddy’s for awhile. Each of us ended up getting the stomach virus, with the exception of my mother, who always gleefully proves herself tougher than pretty much anybody else on the planet. Aside from the stomach bug, my Mother’s Day was wonderful and I was so thankful to spend it with all of my family.

Audrey and Andrew turn 10 months old this week. Sometimes it feels like the time has flown by, and sometimes it seems to drag, particularly when someone is screaming. They are both crawling, laughing, playing, and enjoying each other’s company more and more each day. I love to watch their relationship grow stronger over time. Andrew pulls himself up to standing on pretty much any structure he can find. Audrey has not yet managed to pull herself to standing, but she is actively working on it. It is neat to watch their development.

One of the things that we decided we wanted to do as soon as possible was to get them Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) lessons. If you have not heard of these lessons, they are survival swimming lessons for infants to train them how to float in a body of water until they can be rescued. The intent is to teach them to save their own life if they fall into a pool, lake, river, etc. We have a pool in our backyard, so we felt very strongly that these lessons were needed. Infants can start them at 6 months old or greater, as long as they are crawling. Audrey and Andrew began ISR lessons about 2 weeks ago. The lessons are 10 minutes long for each of them and are private lessons with a certified instructor. We attend lessons at 7:24AM and 7:36AM every day for 6-8 weeks. When you add in the 30 minute one-way drive and the fact that we both work full time jobs and I travel a lot, it is quite a commitment. However, it is something we feel very strongly about, so we are making it work. It has been interesting to me to watch them learn how to float. Audrey is doing fantastic and is rolling, on her own, from a face-down position in the water on to her back and floating. Andrew has missed a couple of lessons due to illness, so he is a bit behind Audrey at this point.

The ISR lessons are rain or shine, as long as there is no lightning. I’m not sure how many of you have experienced a “rain shower” in Houston, but it’s pretty intense. A normal Houston rain shower is basically a torrential downpour, the likes of which, I had never seen prior to moving to Houston. You are completely drenched, sopping, dripping wet within seconds of being out in it. One of these deluges happened during the middle of lessons last week. It goes from nothing to extreme rain event in seconds. The sky just opens up and POURS. Audrey was in the pool at the time, and I stood there at the side, greatly resembling a drowned rat. Everything I had brought with me was sopping wet. I was wearing running shorts and a running shirt, along with running shoes. I removed the shoes and walked around barefoot. All of this was fine and not a big deal, until I went to drop them off at day care afterwards and I realized that I was going to have to walk into the daycare with the other professionally dressed and dry parents while soaking wet from head to toe and barefoot. It was a Parent of the Year moment as I pushed my somehow dry twins down the hallway in their stroller with my wet hair plastered to my face and my sopping dripping clothes leaving puddles on the floor. Oh well. At least the twins were dry.

May wrapped up with a nice quiet Memorial Day weekend, followed by a trip to Galveston with some of our church group. All was a lot of fun and the twins had some new adventures.

Speaking of adventures, I’m writing this post from a hotel room in Vegas.  I’ve just arrived for a 2 day business trip.  I should quit typing and get out there for some fun.  Until next time…

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: