Okay...keeping this one quick....a much longer post is brewing. Last weekend was a trip and deserves its very own post. As for now...
Emma Jane is (drum roll please) 8 pounds five ounces.
I know
let it sink in for a moment. And it's a heavy 8 pounds 5 ounces. Everyone who held her this weekend commented on her "heft" and said something about her being "solid"
Parker (trumpets please) broke the 8 pound mark tonight. Took her exactly one week longer than her sister to do it but she did. Good job Parker.
This weekend also marked Mary Jane's triumphant return to work. This was obviously not her favorite thing to do. She like her job a lot, but...well the babies were here. Any mothers reading this will understand, likely even better than I do. All that said, Mary Jane did a great job. She works 12 hours shifts at the hospital and has gone back part time, which means she will be working two twelve hour shifts a week. Since Friday is my day off she will be working almost every Friday, and then a large number of Saturdays, because I have a decent portion of Saturdays off. This means we don't get to see much of each other, but unfortunately this is the way the schedule is going to have to work for a while.
Well, that's all for now. We now return you to your regularly scheduled aimless wanderings on the internet which started as a "I'm just going to check my e-mail really quick...only be five minutes" and has turned into, "I wonder what the weather is going to be like tomorrow, I wonder what the poll question of the day on IMDB is, and I wonder what new movie trailers are out there, I wonder what I can learn from howstuffworks.com, and what's new on MSN.com, and if any of my friends have new blog posts, and oh sure...I might as well check the broge blog as well.
Blessings,
PS Emma Jane has suddenly sprouted a bit more hair and has this adorable fluffy chicken head thing going. Love it.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
A Little Perspective... Part III.2
As promised, another stunning look at the growth of the girls...this time Emma Jane.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
A flurry of blog activity
After a veritable drought in the posting department there has been a sudden flurry of activity. To what do we owe all this excitement and cuteness? It's hard to say. It could simply be a growing sense of guilt fostered by those who still check the blog on a regular basis. It could be due to a little extra time given to the blog, rather than sleep. It could be because we have had a couple of good eating days, although I definitely hesitate to attribute it to this, because if this were the case, and I by no means am suggesting that it is, but if it were the case, and little ears were to be listening in, why, then they might get it in their wee little heads to start stinking up their feeds again (meant in this case in a metaphorical way, however they are quite good at doing that in a literal way).
It could also just be the fact that there are suddenly a whole lot of people in town for what is sure to be an exciting, yet busy weekend (speaking of which...if you want to see an example of a sudden blizzard of blogging activity, head over to Marcos and Hannah's blog {Emma Jane's Godparents} They have had nearly half a dozen posts just since they got into town this morning!). Whatever the cause, we here at the home office hope you a) have noticed. b) haven't quite given up on us yet. and 3) enjoy
(pictured above...Emma Jane lounging around)
Parker, getting ready to make her social debut. While her sister was at the nephrologist the other day, Parker decided it was time to go meet some people. She took a quick trip to the church during non peak hours so she could meet a few people, without being overwhelmed or exposed to a lot of germs during flu season. This was so successful that she headed over to the school. The germ factories...er...students...were gone, but she was able to meet a number of the teachers. Parker was pretty excited, and pretty nervous about this whole trip. She was constantly worried about how her hair looked, but with her comb in her back pocket she was ready for any needed last minute fixes.
In an attempt to spread good will and harmony throughout the world, Parker and Emma Jane sat for together for a photo shoot. "If we can get along, so can all of you"
It could also just be the fact that there are suddenly a whole lot of people in town for what is sure to be an exciting, yet busy weekend (speaking of which...if you want to see an example of a sudden blizzard of blogging activity, head over to Marcos and Hannah's blog {Emma Jane's Godparents} They have had nearly half a dozen posts just since they got into town this morning!). Whatever the cause, we here at the home office hope you a) have noticed. b) haven't quite given up on us yet. and 3) enjoy
(pictured above...Emma Jane lounging around)Parker, getting ready to make her social debut. While her sister was at the nephrologist the other day, Parker decided it was time to go meet some people. She took a quick trip to the church during non peak hours so she could meet a few people, without being overwhelmed or exposed to a lot of germs during flu season. This was so successful that she headed over to the school. The germ factories...er...students...were gone, but she was able to meet a number of the teachers. Parker was pretty excited, and pretty nervous about this whole trip. She was constantly worried about how her hair looked, but with her comb in her back pocket she was ready for any needed last minute fixes.
In an attempt to spread good will and harmony throughout the world, Parker and Emma Jane sat for together for a photo shoot. "If we can get along, so can all of you"Personally, I am thinking that if you just brought this picture to Israel and passed it around to all the Israelites and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and...presto...problem solved. How can you have fighting and violence when there is such cuteness in the world?
"Can we stop being cute yet?"
"Just keep looking at the camera."
"Can we stop being cute yet?""Just keep looking at the camera."
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Listening In
"Psst. Hey Parker"
"Whadaya want?"
"Look at this!
"Hmmm. It looks like a tongue"
"Whadaya want?"
"Look at this!
"Hmmm. It looks like a tongue"
"It is a tongue...moron. But I can stick it out. I've been working all day on that. Getting pretty good at it. But anyway...that's not what I wanted to talk about. Have you been keeping an eye on the 'rents?"
"Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on them. They've got me a little worried. Did you see the other day...last Friday it was. Dad was going to go into work for a meeting because he had taken a part day on Thursday in order to take us to the doctor. Then he got the bright idea of bringing his afternoon meeting over to the house so that mom can take a nap while he met and kept an eye on the kids, and you know what ma did when he asked her if she would like this idea? She broke down into tears of joy. Yep...getting worried about her."
"Oh that's nothing. Sure...mom's crazy tired, but dad...he might just be plain crazy. You should watch him during those couple hours we give him to sleep. He's been getting up and walking around in his sleep every night. He goes into our room to look for us when we're out in the living room with mom. He walks around the house patting his chest like he's burping one of us. And the other day he walked out with a bottle of Chloroseptic cradled in his arms like it was one of us. I'm telling you...the guy has gone loco!"
"Chloroseptic?!? Well if that's the sort of silly games he's going to play with the sleep time we're giving him, than I really wonder if we're giving him too much time. Tell you what, tonight let's split up the shifts. If you scream for the first 4 hours, I'll get the next six."
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
To Hold You over on a cold winter's day/night
As has been mentioned before, time is a premium commodity for us these days. I hope to post a longer post, time permitting, later this week, but I wanted to leave you with this little bit of cuteness in the meantime. Enjoy.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
A Little Perspective... Part III
Are the girls getting any bigger? You remember this picture (taken back in October)? I used it to show how much bigger Parker had gotten. Well, that was then...
...this is now!!! (as you can see not only are we proud of her, but she is pretty proud of herself too)
Believe it or not, that's the same monkey in there. (or maybe I should say those are the same monkeys)
...this is now!!! (as you can see not only are we proud of her, but she is pretty proud of herself too)
Believe it or not, that's the same monkey in there. (or maybe I should say those are the same monkeys)Sometimes we are simply stunned by how big our girls have gotten. If you think this change is impressive you should see Emma Jane. I need to get a picture of her next to her owl to compare, but Emma Jane is huge. I will take the picture and post it first chance I get. All in all our girls look like giant monsters to us...that is until we see any other babies. Some friends came over yesterday with their baby girl, born just a couple of months before ours. She looked like she could eat our girls.
But...as the photos show, they're getting there.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
A couple of exciting things
It is currently 10:45 and the broge girls (all three of them) are asleep. It is my “shift” and so I valiantly keep watch and will drop the laptop like a sack of vicious-rabid-toothless cobras-who-cannot-bite-but-will-try-and-gum-you-to-death if anyone needs me, but for the moment all is calm and while trying to get an hour nap in before the midnight feed would be wise, I will use this unexpected, but cherished, gift of time to munch on a tasty brownie while I fill in all of you with what is happening in the lives of me, my beautiful wife, and my two little beautifuls. (Yes…that was a long sentence)
Where to start, where to start?
Well, how about here…Emma Jane has hit the 7 pound mark!! She is actually a couple ounces over it. The girl hit a turning point about a week and a half ago where she really figured out a) how to eat and b) that she really, really likes eating. And it is showing. She is visibly bigger than her sister. I was looking at her last night, while idly waiting for the TV stations to replay the ball dropping in New York and just pretending that it was happening live (further evidence that we live in a fake time zone) when I suddenly realized…she’s a little chubby. Her face and fingers have that…well…baby look to them. Naked you notice her tummy still looks a little slimmer than you would expect, but other than that this four month old baby finely looks like a newborn!! God be praised! It was all I could do to not wake her up and tell her.
You can really see it when you look at her face and compare it to Parker’s. Both of them have an adorable cheek thing going on, but while Emma Jane now has this nice round baby face with ample cute cheeks, Parker has this narrow face that suddenly juts out in these huge (but cute) jowl like cheeks and then shoots back into narrow.
Now the question I seem to get asked the most these days is…how is Parker eating. The short answer is ehhh. Things are better, but we seem to move in such small bursts that sometimes it is impossible to realize that she is getting better without going over our notes for the past week/week and a half and going…oh…she does eat more before being tubed now.
And both girls can and will still throw big ole fits come nine. My parents got to see a few good ones while they were in town over Christmas (thanks again for coming and helping and…well…seeing your grandchildren. We loved having you and are really thankful for all you did). Christmas Eve was an especially fun one. Christmas Eve was a work night for me. We had three services at Church. 5, 7, and 11. I went in for the 5 and 7, then rushed home after the 7 to help with the 9 o’clock feed only to rush back for the 11 service. When we first planned this we didn’t think it was going to be a rush getting me back to church but the girls were in rare form. I guess it got started a during the 6 o’clock feed. Parker wasn’t in the best of forms for it, but things didn’t really get cooking until closer to 8 when both girls were screaming bloody murder. You know your wife is at the end of the her rope when she calls your cell phone and instead of asking when you are going to be home, just lets the babies scream into them. Luckily I was about at the door when I got that call, so I was able to swoop in like a hero and be there at the moment she was thinking…if he’s not here in the next…of course I really would have been a hero if I could have magically fixed everything, but no….they continued to scream…a lot.
Even singing Christmas Carols was not the magic cure all that evening…although it definitely helped.
On that note, I’m still doing the singing thing. It’s really quite funny. Parker doesn’t seem bothered by it, but it isn’t any type of magical cure for her, however for Emma Jane…she loves it. Frequently screaming will just stop when I start. It’s weird, but I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
(Uh oh…both girls making noises…this might be the end of blogging. Oh, come on Parker…50 more minutes till your third dinner…you can make it…you need the sleep).
I’ve been trying to wean Emma Jane off of the Christmas Carols. She will take a lot of different songs, but she responds best to hymns. The irony is that I am horrible at memorizing. I never know the lyrics to anything, so 90% of the time I am just making words up. I have finally gotten sick of this and have begun bringing home my hymnal from work, just so I can have the words to sing…but of course this can be hard to read when you are doing deep knee bends. (trying to phase those out too)
Speaking of exciting…today the Good Lord dropped a minor miracle on our door step. At the six o’clock feed both girls were done in under 20 minutes. That’s right…both girls. Emma Jane has been eating faster and faster, so while this was particularly fast it was no shocker, but Parker…Parker?!?!! The girl who we have to force to finish her bottle? Yep, she just chugged that sucker down like we had never offered her food before. It was awesome. The next feed was good, but not nearly as good as that. We have no false expectations that a switch was magically flipped, but boy did it give us a sense of hope…this is what it could be like…this is what it will be like…one day.
Okay…natives are getting restless. Really need to take care of that. Sorry, typed before uploading pictures, and now there’s no time. I’ll get some up soon…ish.
Blessings, and thanks again…to all of you. For the many ways you have helped, for your prayers, and for caring.
Where to start, where to start?
Well, how about here…Emma Jane has hit the 7 pound mark!! She is actually a couple ounces over it. The girl hit a turning point about a week and a half ago where she really figured out a) how to eat and b) that she really, really likes eating. And it is showing. She is visibly bigger than her sister. I was looking at her last night, while idly waiting for the TV stations to replay the ball dropping in New York and just pretending that it was happening live (further evidence that we live in a fake time zone) when I suddenly realized…she’s a little chubby. Her face and fingers have that…well…baby look to them. Naked you notice her tummy still looks a little slimmer than you would expect, but other than that this four month old baby finely looks like a newborn!! God be praised! It was all I could do to not wake her up and tell her.
You can really see it when you look at her face and compare it to Parker’s. Both of them have an adorable cheek thing going on, but while Emma Jane now has this nice round baby face with ample cute cheeks, Parker has this narrow face that suddenly juts out in these huge (but cute) jowl like cheeks and then shoots back into narrow.
Now the question I seem to get asked the most these days is…how is Parker eating. The short answer is ehhh. Things are better, but we seem to move in such small bursts that sometimes it is impossible to realize that she is getting better without going over our notes for the past week/week and a half and going…oh…she does eat more before being tubed now.
And both girls can and will still throw big ole fits come nine. My parents got to see a few good ones while they were in town over Christmas (thanks again for coming and helping and…well…seeing your grandchildren. We loved having you and are really thankful for all you did). Christmas Eve was an especially fun one. Christmas Eve was a work night for me. We had three services at Church. 5, 7, and 11. I went in for the 5 and 7, then rushed home after the 7 to help with the 9 o’clock feed only to rush back for the 11 service. When we first planned this we didn’t think it was going to be a rush getting me back to church but the girls were in rare form. I guess it got started a during the 6 o’clock feed. Parker wasn’t in the best of forms for it, but things didn’t really get cooking until closer to 8 when both girls were screaming bloody murder. You know your wife is at the end of the her rope when she calls your cell phone and instead of asking when you are going to be home, just lets the babies scream into them. Luckily I was about at the door when I got that call, so I was able to swoop in like a hero and be there at the moment she was thinking…if he’s not here in the next…of course I really would have been a hero if I could have magically fixed everything, but no….they continued to scream…a lot.
Even singing Christmas Carols was not the magic cure all that evening…although it definitely helped.
On that note, I’m still doing the singing thing. It’s really quite funny. Parker doesn’t seem bothered by it, but it isn’t any type of magical cure for her, however for Emma Jane…she loves it. Frequently screaming will just stop when I start. It’s weird, but I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
(Uh oh…both girls making noises…this might be the end of blogging. Oh, come on Parker…50 more minutes till your third dinner…you can make it…you need the sleep).
I’ve been trying to wean Emma Jane off of the Christmas Carols. She will take a lot of different songs, but she responds best to hymns. The irony is that I am horrible at memorizing. I never know the lyrics to anything, so 90% of the time I am just making words up. I have finally gotten sick of this and have begun bringing home my hymnal from work, just so I can have the words to sing…but of course this can be hard to read when you are doing deep knee bends. (trying to phase those out too)
Speaking of exciting…today the Good Lord dropped a minor miracle on our door step. At the six o’clock feed both girls were done in under 20 minutes. That’s right…both girls. Emma Jane has been eating faster and faster, so while this was particularly fast it was no shocker, but Parker…Parker?!?!! The girl who we have to force to finish her bottle? Yep, she just chugged that sucker down like we had never offered her food before. It was awesome. The next feed was good, but not nearly as good as that. We have no false expectations that a switch was magically flipped, but boy did it give us a sense of hope…this is what it could be like…this is what it will be like…one day.
Okay…natives are getting restless. Really need to take care of that. Sorry, typed before uploading pictures, and now there’s no time. I’ll get some up soon…ish.
Blessings, and thanks again…to all of you. For the many ways you have helped, for your prayers, and for caring.
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