gigglers

Happy Saturday and I’m glad it is finally the weekend! That applies to everyone except you retired folks and those of you working in the school system (now that it's summer). For you, every day is Saturday so congratulations! Being a working class guy, the weekend means more now than it ever did "BC". Guess I should spell out terms as I go so when I refer to timelines using BC and AD you know what I'm talking about. :) Here are your new "acronyms of the day":

BC = before children
AD = after diapers

Our defining date was February 7th, 2008 when the twins were born. Anything prior to that is BC, anything after that is AD. I hope there is no blasphemy comments or flame emails that come from using this reference...

Anyway, weekends "AD" are much more important because Kendra gets much needed help from me to hold the babies and an occasional chance to be alone. This morning she went to the gym and maybe she’ll go to a movie this afternoon. I get big chunks of time with the twins on the weekends instead of a few kisses and smiles goodbye in the morning and then a short few hours at night, which is what happens during the weekday. The bottom line is we all make time for what is important no matter what your job is or what other responsibilities you have. The biggest shift is that during a "BC" weekend I'd take a little time to do what NEEDS to be done and then prioritize the rest of my weekend with what I want to do. "AD" weekends are spent prioritizing what NEEDS to be done and figuring out who is going to be disappointed because there's no way we're getting through that list completely. Then whatever small slices of "what I want to do" time are forcefully injected into the days and balanced with a dash of together time for Kendra and I. I've said this before, but it's really amazing what you can do when you have no other choice. That reminds me of this picture from a few months ago when Oma Burgess was double feeding the twins with bottles! Thank goodness she's so good at multitasking...

This brings me to a point of clarification for the poopy diaper section from the last blog. Apparently the way I wrote that section implies I've been able to avoid changing ANY messy diapers since the twins were born (Thanks Dustin for the comment and helping me realize how poorly worded that section was). If I were in fact able to have a PERFECT track record, I'd write a book and make a few million because every father would want to know my secret. :) However, the reality is that I've changed many messy diapers in 4 months. It's just been several weeks since I had the misfortune of having that experience with just one baby, let alone both. The difference is we had at least Kendra plus me plus one other person (and sometimes FOUR other people) in our house for the first few months. It's kind of like playing hot potato because whoever is holding the baby when the proverbial music stops (and the odor starts) is the unlucky winner who is required to change the baby. The odds went something like this: Two babies that only did their messy business once per week on average because they were breastfed, then factoring in the number of people around who are potentially holding that baby when it occurs, then factoring in the likelihood that I happened to be the unlucky one holding the baby at that moment. Odds are pretty darn low. Kendra and Oma and Nana and GG and Joanie and everyone else who's spent any amount of time here all have had as high or higher probability than me. So there you have it… No special secret to avoiding poopy diapers except to have so many loving people in the home who hold and change the babies that your odds are lowered.

And now on to more pleasant topics: This year for Kendra's first official Mother's day I was on a mission to find the perfect ring. Again we go back to the over-researching disease that I’m cursed with. I wanted to find the perfect ring made of white gold with TWO amethyst trillion stones and some diamonds. I wanted a ring with two amethyst stones to represent Easton and Layla. Amethyst is their birth stone so that narrowed it down pretty quick. Since pink and blue amethyst don’t exist (believe me, I looked) I had to go with the purple ones. I also wanted a small diamond or two or three on the sides to represent us as parents surrounding the babies, metaphorically. I can’t tell you exactly how many jewelry stores I went into because I lost count, but it was a boat load. Anyhow, here's a picture of the ring I gave Kendra for mother's day and she loves it. I may not be the best husband in the world, but at least I didn’t get her a cooking pan or a vacuum AND I put a few minutes of thought into what to get her.

Before you pat me on the back or give me a virtual high-five, you should also know that for her birthday two weeks later I gave her a gift certificate and two nights off in a row from feeding the twins at 10:00 PM (so she could go to bed early). Oh yeah, and the insanely expensive jogger/stroller. I forgot about that, but I’m not sure if it counts as a birthday gift. The timing worked out close enough to where I can call it a part of the birthday gifts. And I also surprised her with a special water cooler dispenser for when she came home from her spa treatment. Wow, the more I write, the better I feel about what I did for her birthday. This is REALLY great therapy for me.

I should probably write fewer, shorter blogs instead of trying to paint a Mona Lisa and only posting every other day or so. I know how much you people like videos and pictures, so here’s our latest one of little Easton. Kendra found the “hot button” that makes him giggle. Now he can do more than just sit there with his smiling mouth gaping wide open to show how happy and excited he is!



Last night (Friday) was relaxed and mostly spent at home hanging out. Our big outing of the evening was roller blading to Starbucks together with Easton and Layla. We rolled right into the store and hung out until closing time. I enjoyed a green tea and Kendra had a whipped white chocolate mocha frappuccino latte macchiato something something. The barista ran out of breath just trying to tell Kendra’s order to the other barista. I still have no idea exactly what it was, but it tasted good. I’m sure we’ll get our money’s worth from the jogger since we both have such a good time being active like that. Here’s a picture of our outing to prove that we actually rolled INTO the starbucks and hung out in our roller blades.

It’s time for me to go to Tae Kwon Do class so I’ll catch up with you all tomorrow. Bye bye!