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The party came together much better than I thought. We had a pretty good turn out and another confidence builder is behind us. We may actually be able to maintain some sort of social life.

I was so pleased that my folks could join us. The twins have changed so much since the last time that they saw them and photos just don't do it justice.

Kari seems in much better spirits now that it is all over. She was a little stressed about the cake, but it turned out wonderfully.

I will add the rest of the pictures to the slide show here soon.

And to Papa and Grandmom,

You should know that when I was putting Rylee to bed this evening she looked up at me and said "I love Papa...and I love Grandmom." I think that unsolicited "I love you's" are the best.




















Jordan dug right in.














Madison got a slow start, but got the hang of it quickly.




















































We felt bad that we didn't get around to opening the presents. We got to the gifts this morning. Rylee and Reagan had to show the twins how it is done.










New Pictures

There are a couple of new pictures posted. I need to figure out how to make separate albums. The new pictures are in there somewhere.

All is well, but I feel too beat to type a lengthy post at the moment.

The twins went to see the GI specialist again. They have not gained the weight that he hoped they would and we were told to feed them as much high calorie food as possible. He said that we should be able to switch to a less expensive formula now and to whole milk in 6-8 weeks. Overall they are doing great.

It is still overwhelming...

Trying to find the time and energy to clean, on top of chasing kids, is difficult.

Looks like our "return to a social life/birthday" party is fizzling. That is the trouble with associating with pilots and flight attendants, they are never all off at the same time. However, we are looking forward to Grandmom and Papa showing up for the festivities. I guess we really don't need many extra people to make a party anymore, we have 6 without even lifting the phone.

Scatter Brained

I have been feeling a little scatter brained lately. While the twins are doing excellent, the task of watching four little kids and taking care of the house is overwhelming for Kari and I. I find it particularity difficult to complete any household task without getting sidetracked onto at least one other task. For instance, I was just going to wash the dishes that were in the sink, but the drying rack was full. So I started putting clean dishes away. When I opened the cupboard where we keep all the sippy cups one fell off of the top shelf and landed on a half full glass of iced tea that was resting on the counter, sending the tea glass to its doom on the tile floor. It shattered into about a million pieces. So I start to clean that up, but have to pause to fend off all the barefoot children, who as you know are very interested in loud crashing sounds. Once the kids were dealt with I got out the vacuum to get all the bits and pieces. I might as well vacuum the rest of the floor while I'm at it. As I am putting the vacuum away I notice that the washer is done, so I move that load to the dryer and start putting another load in the washer, but the kids are hungry, so I stop to fix breakfast for the big girls. Then I wonder "Where was I?" Oh I forgot to feed the dogs, oh the twins are crying, look how dirty that is -I should clean it, what was that crashing sound, where did I put my coffee?, how are we going to get this place clean enough for a party? Oh its trash day - I better get the trash out.

You get the idea. It is a little crazy around our house, there isn't much time to sit and relax.

On the positive side I got to see Jordan take her first steps. They weren't much, but she stood up, took four shuffling steps, sat down, stood up again and took four more steps. I was very pleased and Jordan looked like she had just conquered Mount Everest. You should have seen the grin on her face. Madi is not far behind. She is also now standing up without having to steady herself on some other object.

A couple of other things that I am writing just so I don't forget them:

Rylee finally got the concept of "tag". So now instead of just me chasing her, she will turn around and chase me when she is "it". Even though I am horribly out of shape I wasn't having too much trouble keeping ahead of her and after several minutes of her not catching me I thought that I would slow down a little and let her get me, so that she wouldn't get frustrated with the game. Apparently she likes a challenge, because as she was running behind me, giggling and gasping, starting to catch up, she yells "Run Daddy!" You probably had to be there, but I was quite amused.

Whenever I sit on the floor, within seconds I am mauled by children. This means that whichever kid makes it to my lap first gets equally mauled by the following mob. Yesterday Rylee was enjoying the choice spot on my lap when Jordan decided that she wanted to occupy the same spot. Jordan is not gentle and she shrieked with joy, displaying a big toothless grin, as she grabbed two fistfuls of Rylee's hair and yanked. Rylee skwaked a bit, "My hair! My hair! Jojo! My hair!" After I untangled Jordan from Rylee's disheveled hair, Rylee looked at me with a grin then turned to Jordan. Jordan stood there unsteadily, teetering back and forth, grinning from ear to ear, drool dripping from her chin, trying to remain standing with out support. Rylee put her right index finger squarely in the center of Jordan's chest, held it there for just a moment, and then gave her just enough of a push with that one finger to topple her. They both found this very amusing. Jordan stood up again and Rylee pushed her over again with on finger. I said to Rylee, "Thats not nice. How would you like it if I did that to you?" and I pushed her over. She toppled back onto my legs, looked up at me with a surprised look and then grinned and said "Again!"

Getting the big girls, especially Rylee, to eat good food has been a challenge. The other night Rylee wanted marshmallows or candy or something that was less than nutritious, right as I was getting ready to cook dinner. I told her "No... I am about to make dinner. We are having chicken."
"No shickin." she said with a frown.
"Yes, chicken." I said.
"No, shickin." she said, with her head hung low.
"Yes, chicken. I have already started making it and we are having chicken."
Reagan walks in the room and Rylee turns to her and says "Shicken, Reagan?"
"Yeah!!" says Reagan.
"Shicken yummy!! Shicken!" Rylee says to me with a big smile.

Where to start?

Lets see...

Where to start...

Lots has happened since I posted last.

Rylee our oldest, accident prone, daughter injured herself again. Kari had just come home from the grocery store and set many of the bags on the kitchen floor. Among the items purchased was a case of toilet paper. That package of toilet paper was exactly the right size for Rylee to straddle and scoot around on the kitchen floor while we put groceries away. Sounds harmless, right? I was facing the cupboard putting something away, so I did see exactly what happened, but I heard it. Apparently while she was pushing forward the package of toilet paper stopped moving forward, while she continued on. Since she had a pretty good grip on the plastic wrapper she didn't have time to throw her arms out in front of her to break her fall and her face took the brunt of the impact with a sickening thump. She landed right on her front teeth and upper lip and immediately started bleeding. I took a little while to get her calm enough that we could look in her mouth. I was expecting to see missing or chipped teeth. The teeth were very, very, loose, but she didn't manage to knock them out. Her top lip swelled up to about five times its normal size and her gums turned black and blue, but other than that she doesn't seem too much worse for the wear.

Reagan is still incorrigible. She tests us every day. We really need to start working with her on the potty training, she is ready. However, we are dragging our feet. There just isn't enough time in a day to add that to our schedule.

Jordan is now standing up by herself with out having to pull herself up on something and standing for the better part of a minute. She has not quite figured out how to take a step once she is up, but it won't be long.

Madison is not far behind. I think that she has the balance now to stand on her own, but just doesn't realize that she can do it.

Boy will we be in trouble when they are both walking.

Nana and Grandpa Wayne came over for Father's Day and we had a very pleasant visit. They left this afternoon. We have spent the rest of the day making a cake from scratch. This is a practice cake for the one that Kari wants to make for the twins. She wanted to do something special for them.

I have more to say, but it will have to wait.

Jordan is now standing unassisted for several seconds without holding onto anything and Madison has figured out how to clap her hands. Its not much, but these are big deals for us. I am sure many of you are tired of hearing it, but ever since we were told to expect to lose at least one of these babies that thought is never far from my mind. They really are our little miracles.

We spent the last two days cleaning and chasing kids for the most part. Today we have set aside for playing. So far today we have done arts and crafts, Reagan still has paint in her hair, spent quite awhile playing with the "sit and spin" and matchbox cars. We plan to hit the pool this afternoon.

Rylee and Reagan continue to be "entertaining."

Regan is a little devil. You can catch her red handed doing something that she knows that she shouldn't be doing and she will just smile. She has also found it hugely amusing to run away from me anytime I am trying to change her pants. Any time her diaper is removed she becomes a world class sprinter. I is funny to see a little neckid butt running through the house, accompanied by shrieks of delight, but it starts to lose its charm when two or three other kids are crying and you just want to get some clothes on her.

Both Rylee and Reagan have developed a little bit of a rebellious side. We knew that they would test us at some point, we just didn't expect the testing to come so soon. We have not had a chance to study.

185.22

I know that I am preaching to the choir, but...

It cost me $185.22 to fill my truck with gas today. I can shake this sense of dread, our economy is going down the tubes. I am sure that many of you know that Continental is laying off 3000 workers. The price of fuel is killing us. Presently I am not afraid of losing my job, but something needs to change.

The twins are doing well and we are in the planning stages of the birthday party. The first birthday is quite a milestone for us considering that the doctor told us to expect to lose at least one of the twins. Kari is planning on making the cake from scratch, she wants it to be special.

The doctors said that we should wait till after the first year before exposing the twins to other people and we have to the extent possible. Now that that year is up we are hoping to reestablish our social life.

The kids need attention, more later.

M

Wrecking Crew

Our two oldest are quite destructive lately. They usually wait till one of us leaves to be sure that they heavily out number the parent before putting any of there devious plans into effect.

Last week I called Kari from some hotel, somewhere, and learned that Rylee and Reagan had gotten into the bathroom, where they know they are not supposed to be, retrieved the fingernail polish, which they know they are not supposed to get into, and preceded to paint their nails, toenails, lips, arms, legs, and most disturbingly the couch. Fingernail polish doesn't come off of leather couches, encase you were wondering. In their defense, they did try to clean it up with a paper towel, which didn't improve the situation.

This morning when I called to check on my wife's sanity she was fuming mad. While she had been trying to feed Madison and Jordan, Rylee and Reagan moved a chair, climbed on top of a counter and retrieved a couple of indelible markers. They know that they are not supposed to touch those either and we thought that they were out of reach. They took said markers upstairs, where they wouldn't be interrupted, and proceeded to make wonderful designs on the walls and carpet. I have not yet attempted to undo that damage, but I don't have high hopes for the outcome.

I think that we are going to have to tie bells around their necks.

We are also having trouble with Bunker sneaking out into the dinning room at night to empty his bowels. It is not a nice way to wake up. You remember "Daddy...Dog poop." We thought that maybe his food was the problem and he has been on a new diet for a couple of weeks that has helped. And he has been fine if we keep him locked up in the bathroom, but when Kari allowed him to sleep in our room the night before last he did it again. That is the fourth time. I am pretty sure that it is a behavioral thing at this point. I'm not sure what we are going to do. We like having the dogs in the house for security. They don't do much good if they are locked up, but I don't want to have to deal with any more poop in the morning than I have to. And I mean that both ways.

Our house is a disaster.

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