Ahhhh, the dating life...

Good morning peoples,

During the day I went to the chiropractor again (Dr. Grant is awesome) for my daily dose of bone-cracking fun and my neck is feeling better every day. The folks in their office wanted to see the babies so we stopped by on our round of errands later in the day. As always, the twins were well behaved and happy. Last night turned out to be a terrific "date night" for mommy and daddy. Our sweet neighbors Marsha and Mike came over to care for the twins while we went out on our own for the first time in a month or so. Kendra feels very comfortable with Marsha and they are getting to know each other more every week since she comes over to our house every Tuesday and spends the day helping and playing with the babies.

For our alone time we decided to go to El Paso BBQ for dinner and we pigged OUT! Kendra is eating extremely well and has been for a long time. It's good once in a while to put the healthy eating habits away and enjoy a meal.

Our budgeting is still a work-in-progress now that we've cut our income (Kendra not working) and increased our expenses (2 times the $$$ for everything!). But we've been doing a good job of keeping things in line and debt free. It's not like we went to Kai, the best 5 star restaurant in phoenix, but it was nice to just be alone. Alone was very weird... Not between us, but because we are so used to Layla and Easton being around! We did our best not to spend our night talking about the twins, but after dinner we went for a walk through the strip mall where El Paso is located and ended up in the child learning center store playing with Lincoln logs, finger puppets, and reading Dr. Seuss books. :)

We also went to Ross and said we were going to look for clothes for US... We wound up looking for a cute dress for Layla to wear during the baby dedication coming up on May 11th.

Kendra wasn't nervous about Mike and Marsha at all, but it was just a strange feeling for her to be away from Layla and Easton. We were able to hold hands and enjoy the nice evening weather as we did some window shopping and that was the highlight of the night for me. Having her full attention made me feel special. I'm sure she enjoyed me talking about something other than asking her to do things or telling her what needs to be done.

We were only gone for a couple of hours, but that felt like a week-long Hawaiian vacation on the beach. Speaking of vacations... my brother and his wife were in Cancun this past week and I'm very jealous because that's where we had our honeymoon 5 years ago! :) Hope they had fun.

Mike and Marsha did a great job and when we came home, Mike looked like a pro and the babies were happy in their company. It looked like he enjoyed himself and we appreciate them giving up an evening so we could have some alone time.

Getting a full 7 or 8 hours of straight sleep is becoming habitual and I gotta tell you... I could really get used to this!!! Every morning when I get up and take the babies to get their outfits I whisper, "thank you for letting mommy and daddy sleep so long!"

Gross story --->>> This morning was a little different because as Kendra fed Easton, I was still sound asleep. Then I woke up to what sounded like a water balloon hitting the pavement of a driveway. Turned out to be Easton's projectile spit-up, which was a really disturbing way to greet the morning for me. I was more grossed out by it than Kendra, which is another oddity in itself.

This morning Kendra went for a run and I spent a good 20 minutes alone with Layla and Easton watching Bloomberg and explaining to them the fundamentals of inflation, stagflation, and why the Fed should not lower interest rates anymore. Figured I better do it now while I have a captive audience who can’t crawl or run away!

I’m sure we’ll get some more close-ups of Easton and Layla this weekend so don’t think I’ve lost the focus of the blog and pictures so much as to leave out the stars of the show.

Some pictures are better left unposted

Good evening once again,

Life continues to drag us along this fun ride like a necktie waving in the wind of a convertible vette. Although I know we are special and blessed to have our boy/girl twins, I'm finding twins to be much more common than I thought. Kind of like when you buy a certain car or someone you know buys a certain car. Then you notice that every other vehicle on the street is the same brand and model. Well it's like that with twins also. We see twins all the time now when we're out and they tend to gravitate towards us. in the mall, at church, at the grocery store, and everywhere else. It's almost as if we are now a member of a really cool club that only families with twins can be a part of. I was able to talk to a boy/girl pair of 7 year old twins the other day and I asked, "What is the best thing about being a twin?" The girl (obviously the dominant, social one) smiled and said, "We have a best friend who is always there to play with!" I expect and hope our twins have the same great experience and outlook on being twins.
In other news...

The bad: Someone stole our identity and charged $500 to Macy's
The good: I saw the charge and suspicion early enough on our online account that the transaction was refused and we were issued new cards. We didn't have to pay for any of it and everything is taken care of!

The bad: I popped my neck out of alignment in the gym yesterday and wasn't even able to hold my head up. I woke up every hour as i attempted to roll over and it felt like shock therapy because the pain was so bad. Every hour I sounded like Homer Simpson, "Doh!... Doh!... Doh!" like clockwork.
The good: my chiropractor is awesome! He worked on me and I'm back to 80% movement with 80% less pain (you're opinion of chiropractors doesn't change how much better I feel right now). I'll expound some other blog on my propensity to seek chiropractic help before pain medication... and here’s my fitness quote of the day: Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness. -- Earl of Derby

The bad: I walked in the door this evening and Easton yakked on me twice, Layla once, and even my cat Kobe chucked his dinner on the tile. (pictures omitted due to the graphic nature)
The good: Not sure what to write here. There’s nothing good about runny, warm spit-up oozing down your leg and all over your short pants. Ditto for cat yak on the tile. Oh wait! I got it! Kobe was on the TILE instead of the carpet or our rug… that was a blessing. Thanks, big dummy…



The bad: Kendra and I don’t have much alone time and when we do, it is sometimes difficult to get out of “survival mode” where we are just trying to get everything done that needs to be done in order to keep Layla and Easton happy and on schedule.
The good: Tomorrow night is date night! Our dear neighbor Marsha is coming over to watch the twins while we go out for a few hours by ourselves. AND, we still have time for a little kiss and tell moment with the camera to show that we’re still loving each other and proud to show it to the blogosphere.



The bad: We miss our families more than ever and being in AZ means we aren’t close to California OR Missouri.
The good: Skype is wonderful and we can’t wait to get Nana and Papa Webb online. It is fun to put Easton up to the camera and allow him to smile and flail his arms around as the voice of Oma and Opa Burgess resonate from the speakers. AND Joanie will be here in three weeks to spend time with us (yea!).

That's enough of the good and bad. It is very therapeutic for me to talk through the difficulties and know that all things work out for the best. For those of you who just looked at the pictures and didn’t read a single word of the post, we both walk away as winners! I get a chance to think and write, and you get the chance to ignore the words and say, "Awwwwwe" about the cute pictures…

Which brings me to my next blog-worthy topic. While talking with my sister, she told me about a conversation Silas had that I must share. As Silas was looking at the birth pictures of Layla and Easton (the one with the twins in their little hats that have “A” and B” on them) Silas said, “I know why they have A and B on the hats! It’s because B stands for baby and A stands for adorable!” Then he explained that he knows that isn’t what it REALLY means (he's very smart). It was very special to know that their cousin thinks of the twins like that.

OK, one more good and bad:
The bad: Cousin Eli lost a tooth
The good: I hear the tooth fairy is paying over a $1 a piece now for a tooth! And he can drink through a straw without having to open his mouth. And he fits in the old hillbilly’s in the Ozarks that lost their teeth over the years. We love you, Eli!


In the famous words of Blaise Pascal: “I made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it short.”

Good night, good morning, and have a wonderful day.

Sunday funday with video

Good evening everyone,

I'll probably blog today's events chronologically so as not to miss anything since it was such a busy, playful day. The morning was restful only because we found out that our dual alarm clocks DO have a snooze button. it's called feeding and put back to bed. Layla and Easton woke up with the chickens and Kendra fed them and put them back in the Pack n' Play. That allowed us to sleep an extra couple of hours. unlike yesterday when our Saturday started at 5:30 AM. :( At least we were able to catch the good cartoons!

Kendra cooked french toast (yummy) and we went to church. The twins slept through the entire service even with all of the very loud music and speaking and clapping. I'm glad they travel well and are getting socialized early... After that we had Honey Bear's BBQ and barely made it home in time for another round of feeding. I enjoyed watching the LAKERS pound the Nuggets in Game one of the playoffs. THEN, I captured the following ultra rare moment on video...

Can you believe it? Everyone in the house was sleeping except me! I told Kendra to go lay down and take a nap, but she swore she didn't want to because it would make her miserable. Well, it was good for the twins and apparently good for Kendra to catch a little afternoon shut-eye. I'm sure my dad was reclined and snoring while pretending to watch Nascar at approximately the same time.

After everyone woke up we finally caught up with Neill and Jenny (our friends from Sacramento/South Africa) on Skype for the first time. We enjoyed catching up with them and they had a chance to be virtually introduced to Layla and Easton. Since we don't have a picture of them, I took this one of my monitor during our Skype chatting. We can't wait to see them in a few months!

OK Nana and Papa Webb. time to get your Skype working so we can see you also! As we were surfing the 651 TV channels I happened to find the 80's band Stray Cats on HDNET Concerts (I love this channel). Click their name to see the most notorious song from the concert. Man, they are awesome! They did all the old stuff, which is excellent, quintessential rockabilly. If you don't know what that is: think swing band( consisting of a double bass, lead guitar and drums) with a rock edge that is so good that it would make King Tut's toes tap inside his gold sarcophagus. Easton was grooving to the music with a little help from me. I he is enjoys music and likes to sing and dance as much as we do! I can't wait until Kendra is feeling up to swing dancing again... I miss that.

I have no idea why I wonder off to these bizarre topics, but the blog is truly a mind-dump of whatever is going on my head at the time, so there you go...

We loaded up Layla and Easton in their stroller and strapped on our rollerblades for a maiden voyage around the block.


We all did great and no one was injured so it turned out to be a successful journey I hope we can repeat again frequently. I'm sure you'll get a laugh out of this video clip:

The rest of the evening was low key hanging out and trying to get Layla and Easton on a good schedule to let us go to sleep early. Well, since it is 10:37 PM and they just went to sleep, it's obvious that didn't work out as we planned. Oh well! That's life with twins... having fun and being flexible.

Have a great week!

8 hours of simultaneous sleep and Megan's birthday

Hello everyone,

Kendra's friend Megan is one of the many friends and family who blessed us with gifts of clothes.  We have the everyday outfits, the church outfits, and then we also have a few "special" outfits.  Megan spent some extra time and hand made one for Layla and Easton.  They finally are growing into these outfits just in time for Megan's birthday coming up!  So here you go, Megan...  A chance for us to say, "thanks" and for you to see your creation at work.  I told Easton to give me his strong-man pose and Layla to give me "cute and cuddly".  OK, it was completely random, but still turned out well, right?

I have to post this other one because although it isn't as showy as the other one of the twins as they relax in their individual, comfy boppy, it is humorous to see Easton so happy and moving around while Layla is a little squished and unexcited.  "Baby Boy" Webb was showing his latest dance move and "Princess Webb" was just wanting her own boppy back.

Last night was a wild and crazy Friday night at the Webb house!  Lights out for the twins at 9:30 PM and Mommy and Daddy managed to cuddle and whisper for about 5 minutes before fading off to sleep.  For E-I-G-H-T hours...  that doesn't mean much to most people, but believe me...  with twins it is a milestone worthy of a trip to Disneyland.  Baby wise is awesome.  We're still working to get Layla to take good naps during the day, but as long as the night time is this peaceful, we'll consider it a success.  

Having twins brings out very unusual openness from random people.  It happens at least once every time we go out in public and sometimes 10 or more occasions.  When people see we have twins they just come up and start talking to Kendra and I.  Asking, "how old are they?" and "is it a boy and a girl?" (even though sometimes we put Layla in a pink hat, pink shirt, pink socks, and a big pink flower and Easton in matching blue).  

I think it's cool though.  Everyone is so nice and tells us they have a twin sister or their aunt was a twin or she wishes she had twins.  Anyway, it's fun and interesting to talk to so many strangers who otherwise would just walk by us without even looking up at our faces.   

Our big excitement for the day was going to Costco and talking on Skype with Oma and Opa Burgess.  Also, seeing my sister's itinerary for her trip to visit us in three weeks.

have a great weekend!

Easton's outfit is a size too big

Hi there happy people,

I thought it would be fun to show Easton in his first Lakers "fan" outfit as we prepare for the playoffs to start this weekend.  It doesn't quite fit yet, but he'll grow into it!

I just had to jump in here with a Lakers picture because I know those Kings fans need to find SOMEONE to root for since the Kings won't be in the playoffs...  :)  I also considered suiting up Easton in a AZ Cardinals outfit, but thought someone might call the child abuse hotline on me for such an act of cruelness.  

Today I discovered that gravity acts on pacifiers with twice the force of any other object on Earth.  Seriously, it's almost like the pacifier is made of metal and the flooring of my house is made of superduper magnets.  I thought for a moment that Layla was spitting it out, but come to find out, gravity was pulling it right out of her mouth onto the floor.  I've become a professional paci washer.  I can kind of tell what stage of parenthood I'm in because now i dry it off with anything laying around and don't worry about it.  my shirt...  a towel...  a blanket... a cat.   anything drier than the paci itself becomes a target.  On the other hand, I still can't manage to stomach the idea of putting the paci in my mouth to clean it, so that kind of tells me where I'm at.  

This same phenomenon occurs with cars.  When closing the garage door with a NEW car in it, most people hit the button and then RUN to the back to make sure it doesn't scratch the bumper.  After a few months or years.  You start using the screeching noise of of the garage door against the bumper to confirm the car is, in fact, pulled forward enough not to set off the retract mechanism.  That would force you to get back in the care and pull forward a little further.

I really digressed, so let's get back on track here for the blog purpose...  OK, at home today, Kendra went to the doctor and had a little minor work done for reasons I won't discuss here.  Needless to say, she has been in pain for the entire night and can't really take anything more than Tylenol.  I feel really bad for her, but she's already experienced this once before and expects that tomorrow will be much better.  

The twins did great today on their normal schedule and they only went out to hit Wendys and the pharmacy to get some meds.  That short trip was enough to put Layla Rae out for the count.  She's sleeping better all the time.    

One last picture for the night.  I just can't believe how tiny our little miracle babies were.  This is Layla Rae on her first day after being born.  It is amazing to look through the pictures in sequence and see such huge changes and growth in such a short time.  Just LOOK at how tiny she was!

Good night everyone.  Catch you tomorrow!

Warming up around here...

Howdy folks,

It's finally getting to that time of the year that I enjoy so much.  High of 92 today made for perfect AZ weather!  Going out to the mailbox in my shorts and flip flops late at night is about as good as it gets.  I even take Layla or Easton with me sometimes, which proves how many things you can accomplish with just one hand when you really need to.  I was able to hold Easton and eat a hamburger while talking on the phone.  Probably not a good idea similar to driving and doing those same things, but i'm very careful and becoming a pro.  It also helps that the twins are able to hold their head up fairly well now.  I was always having to be so cautious for the past few weeks when shifting them around or leaning forward because their heads were like a bowling ball on top of a broomstick.

Kendra is going to the doctor tomorrow to fix a minor problem (not a big deal), but she's looking forward to the pain relief much more than the cure, which is painful itself.  Anyway, keep her in mind if you would because the Webb household will be a little crazier than normal (if there is such a place).  

Last night we had our new friends, Preston and Sara over with their daughter Audrey.  It was really enjoyable to hang out and get to know them.  They were able to relate to where we are in our baby stage and it was nice to hear a fresh perspective on what our twins will be like in a few months.  I hope we're able to spend more time with them and become better friends.  they live very close to us, which makes it much easier to develop a friendship. 

If you are a Laker-hater, then skip this paragraph...  :)  I'm a big Lakers fan and just have to take this brief moment to give a round of applause to my boys who are first in the Western Conference!  Yee haw!  I'm expecting them to lose in the second round because most of them have limited playoff experience, but let me just take a deep breath and smile as I take in the 15 seconds of glory.  I'm looking for a tiny Lakers outfit for Easton, so if any of you know where i might be able to find one, let me know!

Tonight I sat down to do a little reading on my laptop for work and had Easton in my arms as he drifted off to LaLa land.  I took a picture that turned out fuzzy and hard to see because I didn't want the flash to wake him up so I turned it off.  However, I think it captured the scene well though because it is my point of view for what I sat here and stared at for minutes at a time while i pondered life and having a son.   Earlier this afternoon as I was sitting idle in the drive-through line of In-N-Out (yummy) I was humming a catchy country song that was on the radio a couple of months ago.  I turned the station and there was that SAME song playing!  I figured it must be fait so I'll add the chorus here to go along with the cute picture of Easton.

Rodney Atkins, Watching You <--- click on the link to go to a video of the song 

He said, "I’ve been watching you, dad ain’t that cool?

I’m your buckaroo, I wanna be like you.

And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are.

We got cowboy boots and camo pants

Yeah, we’re just alike, hey, ain’t we dad?

I want to do everything you do.

So I’ve been watching you."

Layla had a bit of a rough time going to sleep so I sat in our big, plush rocking chair in the living room and rocked her for about 30 minutes before she settled down and was ready for bed too.  I tried the Johannes Brahms song mentioned by my friend John in the comments of the previous post on March 30th.  I think it worked really well, but I butchered the words and probably sounded like a donkey giving birth.  The awesome part is that neither of the twins know any different, so I'm a rock star from their standpoint, right?  

I want to post a picture of my nephew Silas that Joanie sent to me.  Silas is 3 months old in this picture and from the first moment I saw Easton come out of Kendra's belly I've said he looks a lot like Silas.  Papa Webb (my dad) calls him, "Sylee P":

Have a great Thursday and we wish you many happy moments.

Kendra and Bronson baby pics

Good morning friends and family,

It's been another successful day at the Webb house.  What I mean by successful is:  The babies slept 6 hours at once (thank goodness), no one was injured, everyone bathed, and everyone ate.  We pretty much high-five each other at the end of the night if we can accomplish those things.  This morning started off well since Kendra cooked waffles for breakfast.  I sent her a "thank you" email this afternoon and included this picture, which she found humorous: 

Then we spent the evening just hanging out at home and preparing for our new friends to come over tomorrow night for dinner.  I'll have to get a picture of them and post tomorrow...  

I received a package in the mail today from my Oma Burgess and it contained two boxes with a pair of underwear in each one.  There are two parts to this story:  While she was staying her over the past few months, she noticed that my underwear had more holes than swiss cheese and decided to surprise me with a gift of undies.  I refuse to wear that Bill Blass junk they sell at Wal-mart!  It's like sandpaper inside and a burlap sack on the outside.  Seriously... what kind of caveman-era material are those drawers made of anyway?  I'd rather drill holes in my knee caps than wear anything less than Calvin Klein knit boxers.  The world could collapse into a global depression and I'll still find a few dollars to buy the "good" stuff.   OK, so now we've found my "high maintenance"  equivalent to Kendra needing bottled water.  Thank you Oma for the undies!  Any picture you see of me grinning like a possum from now on will be fully attributed to the fact that I'm wearing comfortable, new Calvin Kleins.  Anyone else who would like to help replace the rest of my holey wonders, feel free to join in the example Oma has given.  Look for Calvin Klein knit boxers... and uh...  well...  I wear small by the way.  If I hear ONE joke about that... NO more Blog for YOU!     

Yes, i know the last paragraph was about my underwear, but guess what...  I HAVE THE KEYBOARD and this is MY blog until the twins are old enough to write what they want!    muuuuuaahahahahahah!  If you DON'T like it, get your own blog.  If you DO like it, send underwear.

OK, on to the second, more interesting part of the package that came in the mail from Oma Burgess.  There were baby pictures of Kendra!  So now I have both of our pictures.  Unfortunately, I don't have time to do some photoshop magic for a side-by-side comparison.  you'll have to flip back and forth between the pictures we have of Layla and Kendra and then Easton and me.  SO without further delay, here we are in all of our babyness.  This one is me fresh out of the hospital:

Here's Kendra at three months:

See the resemblance?  Have a great Tuesday and we'll do this again soon!  probably tomorrow...  :)

Pacifiers and thumbs

Good morning everyone,

Hope you enjoyed your weekend and are rejuvenated for another work week.  I personally can't wait to get back to work tomorrow because the weekend with the twins wears me out!  The past two nights have been less restful than the past week, but we'll get it straightened out.  The "conversations" blog post I did a few days ago seemed to get a few laughs and I hate to over use that format, but I just have to share this short exchange between Kendra and I that we laughed about today.  We went out for sushi as a mini-date because the twins were sleeping well in their car seats when we were out this afternoon.  Kendra had a particularly restless night trying to keep little miss Layla comforted.  Here's how it went:

Kendra:  I just bit my tongue.

Bronson:  Did you know biting your tongue is a sign of being overly tired?

Kendra:  Really?  It does???

Bronson:  No, but the fact that you are gullible enough to believe that is a sign of being overly tired.

She has an incredible amount of common-sense so it was especially funny to catch her that way.  I sure hope Layla gets her common-sense and sense of direction...  

Anyway, today was a notable day for Easton in a couple of ways.  We hang his puppy doll from the bouncy seat thingy where he sits during the day and previously he and Layla would just stare at their toy and kick a little bit.  Today Easton was interacting with it and reaching for and taking swings at the puppy enough to move it.  Not accidently as before where he'd sometimes hit the puppy and sometimes hit himself in the head.  :)  The other accomplishment of the day was caught on camera while in church today. Easton found his thumb and was sucking on it for a long time.  Again, this was not accidental where he would sometimes end up with a few fingers in his mouth and sometimes jab himself in the eyeball.  I never thought I'd be "amazed" by the accomplishment of someone being able to suck their thumb, but here I am...  Taking pictures and feeling like standing up in the middle of church to say, "hey, check out my boy!  He found his thumb!" 

  

Kendra and I had a really good weekend with each other and the twins.  We did some mundane things, but we had fun doing them and that makes all the difference in the world.  Also, I was able to go for a great mountain bike ride with my new friend Brendon.  That was a much needed hiatus from all of the responsibility of life.  I love mountain biking because you must focus 100% of your brain power on the rock in front of you to avoid injury.  That means whatever else WAS on your mind is no longer there for a few brief moments.  

OK, so onto one of the other picture worthy moments of the weekend.  Layla Rae and what I'll call a paci mustache.  You know how they have the "got milk" commercials?  Well, Layla sucked on her paci so long and feverously  that she ended up with a ring around her mouth where the edges of the paci were against her face.  By the time I found the camera and took a decent picture, it had faded a little, but you get the idea...  I had a hundred ideas for captions to associate with this picture, but nothing seemed to fit because it is just too funny by itself without any explanation at all.  Gives new meaning to "bright eyed and bushy tailed".  

Layla and Easton are 9 weeks old now and growing an average of an ounce a day.  I on the other hand weigh exactly what I did coming out of college 12 years ago...  I never thought I'd be jealous of Easton's weight gain THIS early in his life!  Easton looks and acts like a mature, old man.  He's a real character already and still developing his personality from scratch.  I'll title this next picture:  "I swear those bubbles in front of me are from the soap!"

Bronson's Ramblings ---> For the most part they have been motionless and unaware.  It's interesting how much I love them and enjoy just staring at them doing nothing.  I wonder what it will be like to experience the love in return from them someday?  I hear that is what makes all of the difficulties worthwhile:  when you see and hear and feel the unconditional love of a child for you.  The twins do get excited already, but they have the same reaction to ball of tinfoil as they do to seeing my face....  I'm looking forward to them recognizing my voice and face and becoming visibly happy about my presence.  

Have a great week and check back often!    

Time to go buy a Tshirt!

Guess who survived for almost 90 minutes alone with the twins??? Me.  that's right.  Kendra went for a swim at the fitness center and I managed to survive all by my lonesome.  Just because they slept for 60 of those 90 minutes doesn't detract from the accomplishment.  well maybe a little.  Anyway, it was a milestone none the less.  I should go buy a T-shirt that says, "I survived an hour with the twins"...

Kendra snapped a rare photo of Layla sleeping.  it doesn't happen often so we need to capture the moments when they do!  We were taking a nap together and it's amazing to see that even though she was completely asleep, she still had the ability to keep her fists tightly clinched...

Here's a short video clip of the two babies kicking around as they play with their dolly and doggie.  hooray for toys, already.

More talking and sleeping than ever

TGIF!

The twins are becoming more vocal now with their babbles and grunts.  It used to be fairly quiet around here during "awake time", but lately all four of us are talking to each other.  Layla tells Mommy that she is bored and wants to be picked up.  Mommy responds and pretends to know what she is saying.  Easton sticks his tongue out and makes some caveman-like grunts.  Presumably telling Layla to stop kicking him as they play together on the mat.  The only two people that really understand each other are Kendra and I.  Even that could be debated.  :)   However, everyone goes on conversing as if we understand each other.  There seems to be a lot more leg flailing going on also, which is progress according to Kendra.  they sit in the chair and end up scrunched down in the bottom with their lower half hanging off the chair because they have wiggled down.  silly kids...  :)

I have some very specific poses and pictures that we will take and post this weekend, but today I wanted to share a cute picture of Layla and Easton's cousin, Daphne.  This is my sister's one year old and I'll have to work on getting a picture of all three of her kids onto the blog.  I think Easton looks very similar to his cousin, Silas...  Here's Daphne Rose and her official debut on the Webb twins blog: 

Kendra is heading to Target (our new favorite destination) and I'll spend the rest of the day working as usual.  As long as my name isn't showing up on the top 50 richest people in Fortune magazine, that means I need to keep working!  Last night at our life group study, one of the guys shared something his mother frequently said and I thought it was very appropriate for our blessings of twins:

A sorrow shared is half the trouble and a joy shared is more than double. 

Catch you later!

The conversations that make me laugh

Hello, hello,

It is still considered a victory when Kendra and I lay down to go to sleep and say, "yea! we survived another day!" This whole parenting twins experience is a lot like hanging on to an inner tube while being drug behind a boat. Yes, it is TONS of fun, but, "Hey driver! could you slow down just a LITTLE!?!?" Every day there is something new about how Easton and Layla are growing and I wanted to share a few conversations from the day that may give you a smile.

While at work during a meeting I was presenting to 16 people from around the world on a phone conference. Kendra calls my cell phone and I'm still paranoid about making sure everything is OK, so I put the entire conference call on hold and this is how our conversation went:

Kendra: {with some level of excitement} Hi honey! Easton was on his back and just rolled over on to his side!
Bronson: {after a long, long pause} ...ummm... is that good or bad?
Kendra: That is GREAT! he is getting stronger every day.
Bronson: {breathing a sigh of relief} Whew, well then I'm very happy for Easton! What about Layla?
Kendra: no she doesn't do that yet.
Bronson: uh, ok... I thought they were twins?
Kendra: That doesn't mean they progress on the exact same timeline, silly.
Bronson: oh, ok. I'll be sure to tell the 16 people on hold that my son rolled over, but my daughter can't do that trick yet.
Kendra: ok, good bye!

and that's seriously how our conversations go sometimes. :) I look forward to Kendra's phone calls and hearing about what's going on at home since I can't be there. She's always willing to tell me what the three of them are up to. Anyway, here is a picture of Kendra and the twins when I left for work this early this morning:


and here is a picture of Kendra and the twins when I returned home from work in the evening:

OK, I'm just kidding. This is the same picture shown twice in a row, but I'm sure Kendra feels like that some days. She honestly does look that happy most of the time and she honestly holds the babies like this for hours and hours a day.

As I sit at my computer working or blogging, here is the conversation I hear this occasionally as Kendra feeds the babies:

Kendra: ok, children. it's time to eat!
Easton: {as he is placed in the feeding position} Om, nom, nom, nom, nom... sigh, sigh... om, nom, nom, nom, nom
Layla: {as she is placed in the feeding position} snort, snort, snort, arrrrrggggg, chomp, chomp, arg, arg, arg, aye, aye, aye.
Kendra: Gaaaaah! Ouchy, Layla Rae, that hurts mommy. NO soup for you! Bronson? Can you... {interrupted}
Bronson: Yeeeeeees, I'll get a bottle ready for the overzealous monkey.

and that's called team work.

After a few minutes and a little retrospect, we can always laugh at ourselves and conversations that sound really funny just after they happen around our house.

Time for bed as usual. I send my blessings and best wishes to all who read this post. May your diaper stay dry and your paci not hit the floor where the cats sleep.

baby shots yesterday. looked like it hurt!

Good morning,

Yesterday was the 8 week checkup and that included Layla and Easton getting shots! Hearing them cry was so hard, I hated it. But the good news is that they are growing. Easton is now 10lbs 12oz and Layla is 9lbs 1oz. The nurse said that all is well.

The picture below is from Sunday outside of the church. This was the third time that we have brought them to our church, Christ Life Church. We are receiving a lot of attention from other members from the church. Our handsome Easton and Lovely Layla are making new friends every Sunday. I mean how can they not, look at them they are goregous and adorable.

As for the Mommy and Daddy we are getting along great and taking one day at a time. My first week with the twins has past and it was great! Even though Easton and Layla were not a a set schedule yet, everything ran smoothly, thank the Lord :)! And now because of Baby Wise they babies have adapted well and are sleeping wonderfully.

Well I need to kiss my hot hubby goodbye so he can go to work.....
Love you all,
Kendra

Land of the little people

Happy Monday,

Yesterday we went to church and the twins are finally big enough to fit into some of the cool clothes all of you sweet folks gave to us. They actually look like miniature people when they're dressed up instead of little WWF wrestlers in their onesy things. Layla was incredibly cute in her tiny white sun dress with flowers on it. Easton and I matched with our jeans and polo shirts (except I had to wear shoes...) I have no idea how Kendra was able to sneak them out of the house without Layla in pink and Easton in blue! I must be getting soft in my old age to not force the babies to wear their designated color. Or maybe they were just so cute I was dazzled by their little baby smiles. We should have taken more close up pictures, but i'm sure we'll have more opportunities.


My aunt Mary decided to come along with us and it turned out to be a great day. We all went out to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch and then spent the rest of the day helping Mary at her house with taxes and refilling the pool. At one point I said, "Mary, do you think Dave is in heaven laughing at us for having to do taxes considering he despised it so much?" Working on their taxes hasn't been as hard emotionally as I thought it would be considering how much the subject was a topic of conversation between Dave and I.

I think about Dave every day and miss him very much. This picture below is one that I look at often. Although it makes me sad to think this is as close as Easton will ever get to having Dave be a part of his life, at least I have this memory and special moment in time.

There is one more picture I just have to share from the photos I took yesterday of Layla and Easton next to each other on the changing table. As a disclaimer, we didn't move their bodies or arms into this position at ALL. It's obvious they are twins though. Check out how similar their left arm positions are!:

I saw that and thought it was great to finally see SOMETHING that made them look like twins other than matching outfits... They aren't necessarily opposites in areas of their personality and looks, just different in almost every way. Ok, their eyes are both grey, but every baby has grey eyes. :)

Well, i'm tired and ready for bed so I'll go sing myself to sleep with a lullaby from the list you've shared...

Two smiles are double the fun

Greetings,

Two days have gone by without a post and I'm starting to hear rumors of people checking their calendars because my faithful daily post didn't happen. Darkness abounds, dogs and cats living together! Mass HYSTERIA!

I have no reason for not posting other than last night was just good family time at the Webb house. The babies went to bed early {cheering, applauding}. Thank you... thank you very much, Baby Wise. That blessed event was followed by alone time for Kendra and I. Alone time consisted of... (don't worry... this a PG show, folks) going to bed at the same time (very rare), whispering quietly about the day as we lay face to face and then quickly dozing off to sleep after about 4 minutes of staring at each other with one eye buried in the pillow and the other struggling to stay open as we lay motionless in the glow of the closet light.

All of this BEFORE 9:30 PM. Ahhhhh, Friday nights... they ain't what they used to be! It's not that we don't WANT to stay up late and paint the town red. It's not that we CAN'T stay up and paint the town red. The reason we don't is because we used to have to go OUT to spend quality time together because we needed to shut all of our other hobbies and friends and events out. Now we stay IN because we want to spend quality time together knowing that our "Dual Alarm Clocks" known as Layla and Easton will be crowing like roosters at Oh-Dark-Thirty the next morning. And by the way... there is NO snooze button. :)

It's more like a fire department. We're lying there dreaming of pancakes and sausage as the sun breaks through the master bath window just enough to give the room some warmth and then... BAM! The dual alarm clocks go off and we jolt awake wondering how far from the epicenter of the earthquake we are. Both of our feet hit the carpet (Thanks, Kendra, for not pushing me out of bed) and we shuffle around half naked like "Night of the Living Dead" zombies grasping for diapers and nursing pillows to bring the twins down to down to a rolling boil. Remember Jack-Jack from "The Incredibles" as he is being hurled upwards towards the villain's spaceship? OK, it's not THAT bad, maybe I'm exaggerating... A LOT, but you get the idea, right?

Here's the good part. After the milk and honey flows (minus the honey), the twins transform back into their calm, happy, smiley, cuddly selves again and we sit and stare at the incomparable, extreme calm and peace that can only be seen in the eyes of a baby... or two. Easton giggled for the first time on Sunday and Kendra was right there next to him in the car to enjoy it. I captured one such moment just after cocooning Easton in a fluffy, white towel just after bath time this morning. Here he is... Mr. Cool himself.


I can't believe WE actually made him. He's half me and half Kendra. That makes us both 50% cool just for creating him.

Anyway, here's a top-notch picture that I hope to win an award with some day (just kidding). I present to you: The two happiest babies in the world finally showing some teeth at the same time ------- um. ok. maybe not teeth ----- But there WOULD be teeth showing if they had any because their smiles are so big.


From yesterday's list of accomplishments, I took a short video clip to show proof that Easton is progressing with the hand-eye coordination concepts. Before showing the video, I admit that I am still working on the hand-eye thing myself, which is obvious when you see my gashed and bleeding pinky finger from mountain biking...


Darn rocks... They're everywhere here in the desert. Here's Easton showing that not only has he mastered the air guitar, but the tambourine as well. Ignore the first few moments where he bashes himself in the side of the head with his own hand. :)




OK, I'm not sure how many of you are still reading this record-setting long blog with my outlandish sarcasm and exaggerations, let me say a big, "THANK YOU" for the lullaby ideas and help! We've been trying them on for size lately and there are some really great ones! Oma and Opa Burgess sung theirs live over skype and Layla fell asleep in my arms by the time their duet was done. Nice work you two!

As for Baby Wise. Please... go buy it. READ it. live it. love it. Our twins slept 4 hours straight, then fed, then slept 4 hours straight! It was the most restful night Kendra has enjoyed in over 10 weeks. We've been having some very good days lately with each other and the twins, but getting that much sleep at one chunk was priceless. The concepts are not rocket science, but following their concepts produced A-mazing results.

Enough for tonight. Hope you enjoyed the show. see you tomorrow!!!

printable pictures

Good evening Y'all,

It's Hillbilly Bronson here and we're busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. Our two critters are fine and dandy, but sure are a lot of work EVery SINgle DAY. We loaded up the wagon and went to the book store this evening. The Webb household is now under new law... A book called Baby Wise recommends a new way of sleepin' and eatin' for the twins and we're willing to try anything once that gets them babies to sleep more... Well, almost anything. Kendra aint gonna let me put the cats in the bed with 'em. I'm just foolin'... I would never do that to them cats. :) I'll be sure to let everyone know how well it works!

When we were at the book store, a couple of the ladies that work there were standing a few feet away as we sat and read. they were staring and saying, "awe, they are so beautiful". After a few minutes one of them asked if we get tired of people staring at us. I answered truthfully and said, "No, we love it when people talk, and look, and compliment!" I AM really proud of Kendra and the twins. I never get tired of the openness of others and their asking about them and staring at us four. It may be somewhat egotistical that the attention is enjoyable from my perspective... or maybe I'm a little co-dependent on other's "words of affirmation" and I bask in the happy, kind words people have for us. Whatever it is, I eat it up when we're out around town.

Anyway, we miss our family's presence VERY much, but everything seems to be running smooth enough for us to maintain our sanity without them. We've had requests for a more close up picture of both babies together so you can print a picture and keep it in your purse or wallet. I'm planning a much more official photo shoot this weekend, but here are a couple that turned out ok. one with a flash and the other was without since i'm trying to keep flashes out of their young eyes as much as possible. Easton has the silly grin several times a day, which makes us smile as well.

And this one shows Layla especially aware with her Michael Jordan tongue.





Today the twins are eight weeks old! People tell me, "it goes by so fast". Well, it sure FEELS like eight weeks to me. I'm sure i'll blink and they'll be 18 years old, but for now we are just enjoying the happy moments one day at a time while surviving sleep deprivation and repressing the memories of poopy diapers as much as possible.

Thanks again for the comments of the lullaby songs and please join in if you haven't already. :) The jury is still out so keep those phone lines ringing! We're enjoying trying them out to see what works and how Easton and Layla respond.

Good night all

Ideas for sleepy time songs? I need your help.

Hello friends and family,

You're not going to believe this, but Layla, Easton, and Kendra are all asleep and it's 10:00 PM!!! There hasn't been an eye close or drool on a pillow before midnight in the Webb house for two months. I'm so happy I could almost smile if I weren't so tired. This is a long post, but I need your help, so read all the way through and don't just look at the pictures. :) I'll have to try a red eye reduction process in photoshop so they don't look so devious. If you can, imaging Layla playing the drums and Easton playing guitar. Fits well, doesn't it? I call this masterpiece... Air Band!

The title of this post comes from a situation I encountered today where Easton was cradled in my arms after he finished a few ounces of the Human Growth Hormone I gave him (a.k.a. enfamil formula). That is NOT steroids! it's a protein shake... Anyway, as he lay there grunting and squirming around I really WANTED to sing or hum a lullaby and to start using it as a Pavlovian response (ya know, ring a bell and the dog salivates) so the twins will associate the same tune with sleepy time every night. One of the 94 books Kendra read in the past few months said that is a good idea, so why not try it? :)

IF you have an idea for a good one, please post it in a comment as I would LOVE to hear from you. The criteria for the sleepy time song are:
1. A common song that I may already know or can learn without having to take voice lessons
2. Can be sung or hummed in a low voice so as not to wake the neighbors or anyone else who is sleeping in the Webb house. (That rules out "Thriller", "Brick House", and all of James Brown).
3. Must be in English (No "Besame mucho", Nana)
4. Must have words (No "USC fight song", Opa Burgess)
5. Must be proven to have worked on you or sung by you in the past.

Here are a few that I thought of just now to get your creative juices flowing (yes, the pun in the names of these songs is intended):
- More than a feeling - Boston
- Winds of change - Scorpion
- In the air tonight - Phil Collins
- Dare you to move - Switchfoot

We'll see if this gets any traction based on your comments or if I'll be stuck with Elvis Presley... Here's what to do: post a comment with the song title, artist, and who sang it to you or who you sang it to.

OK, now on to the daily life journaling. This is work-day two for Kendra to be an official stay-at-home mom by herself. Well, sort of by herself... Our sweet next-door neighbor Marsha came over and spent most of the day helping and hanging out with Kendra and the twins. I am SO grateful she is able to do this and apparently every Tuesday she plans to come over and join in the fun. She loves babies and we have double the love at our house, so it's a great match. Kendra said they enjoyed each other's company and that Marsha is very good with babies (she probably knows a secret lullaby song).

Layla and Easton are holding their heads up stronger and stronger each day. Apparently that's a crucial step in the right direction towards becoming active and mobile. They are starting to make more noises and stick out their tongues as they try to get the language thing going as well. Layla makes about 100 noises and Easton makes one. To each his or her own, right?

Below this line is what I already posted on Monday:
************************************************

Kendra made it through the day just fine and the twins behaved really well. Since we are both completely wiped out for long days at work (her at home and me at the office), i'll have to add more content here in the morning. However! I've been saving this picture for a couple of days to show you what happy, happy, hot rod we have on our hands here. I can't believe i caught him on camera with such a big grin. All i can say is: everyone says he looks just like me... Do I really look like THIS???

Thank you for the comments and emails. we love to hear from you all in any form of communication! Sleep well everyone.

caught them sleeping

The Webb household is officially flying solo without the help any family. Layla and Easton were born 7 weeks ago and we've been so blessed to have at least one other family member in our house every single day so far. People ask me often how well I'm "surviving" with in-laws and grandma and parents around so much. I tell them, "We have a great time together and I'm counting down the days for any or all of them to return again!" Kendra and I get along with each other's family so well that having them around is fun and enjoyable every time, all the time.

My sister, Joanie, has agreed to come out for a little while next month and we're both excited to see her. Especially me since this will be Joanie's first visit to spend time here in AZ since I moved away from Missouri 11 years ago. Before Nana left to fly home yesterday, I took one final picture that turned out well of her with Layla and Easton. 99% of the pictures with Layla have at least one hand over her face, so this is no exception. Easton has his usual happy grin as he looked up at Nana. The 4 of us miss you already!



It's hard to believe, but i finally captured a good pic of both babies individually while they sleep. I had to do it at different times during the day. It would be WAY too easy if both of them slept at the same time (sigh). Don't expect a picture any time soon showing both of them in the same photo looking this angelic. Layla is extremely chatty and has her fists clutched tightly every second of the day that she is not sleeping and most of the time when she IS sleeping. She's just so excited to be awake and hates to go to sleep because she doesn't want to miss anything. When I hold her, I usually softly sing, "little lovely Layla" over and over. If THIS sweet picture doesn't get a comment or two, I'll start t wonder if anyone is viewing the blog anymore. :)

Easton on the other hand is calm and cool except for the occasional, "I'm hungry!" cry. He spent a good hour facing outward as he sat against my chest while we watched NCAA basketball this afternoon and never made a peep. Although he did smile a few times, which makes mommy happy to see from across the room. I've started to call him, "hot rod" consistently as a nickname for some reason.

Our big excitement for the day was a trip to church and a trip to Costco. I know, that sounds really lame to say that is "excitement", but for the next few months (or years) that's as much as we can handle for one day! Kendra pointed out a huge tent in Costco and I said, "yeah, we'll buy one of those in 3 years when we can actually go camping again... or do anything outside of a 3 mile radius of our house!" Luckily, the twins are plenty of entertainment for us and we could stare at them as they lay on their mat for many hour. :)

Hope you had a great weekend and we (especially Kendra) will welcome your phone calls this next week as we face it alone without any help at home. We have each other and know we'll make it just fine, but the mountain in front of us is kind of big right now. I have to remind myself of the old adage: How do you eat an elephant??? One bite at a time...

Paul Potts LIVE???

Guess who saw Paul Potts live in concert last nitght... me.


For all the long hours and help my mom has been over the past few weeks I decided to surprise her with 3rd row seats to hear Paul Potts live with his traveling orchestra and The Three Graces on their North American Tour. They stopped by Arizona for a one-night sold-out engagement and I was lucky enough to get last minute cancellation seats. In case you don't know, Paul Potts won "Britain's got talent" (think American Idol with better accents) where he stunned Simon Cowell with his first performance and ended up winning the whole thing. Here's a view from our seats at the end of the performance:


Anyway, we had a great time going on a mother-son dress up "date" with dinner and a once-in-a-lifetime concert. After one of most incredible performances of Ave Maria I've ever heard I asked Mom, "So what do you think?" Her comment -- "I wish he sang more songs in English." Is that awesome or what? Here's picture we took outside of the arts center during intermission:



Kendra was really bummed that she didn't get to go with us, but I appreciate her staying with the babies so Mom and I could have such a great bonding experience together. Especially since Mom is going home tomorrow! Kendra and I are scared stiff about being without help for the first time since the babies arrived 7 weeks ago. We have loved every minute of having our parents/in-laws at our house. I have absolutely no idea how a couple manages fresh-from-the-hospital twins without help live-in help. To make a short story long, we are sad to see her go... :(

OK, now for updates on the babies. One of the two usually sleeps 4 hours in a row at night and we have to celebrate the small victories around here. Layla woke up yesterday and Nana noticed she reached a new level of awareness with her eyes. She was looking all around making baby noises as if she was commenting on all of the new things she is experiencing. Easton's rash is getting a little better so it appears the socks on his hands and keeping a cloth between his face and our clothes is helping. They tend to have fussy times in the evening and at one point Nana held Easton and Kendra help Layla while I was sitting in the middle. When they both started to grunt and fuss, it was in stereo. Too bad we didn't have quadruplets or I could get the full effect with surround sound. :) Overall, the twins are doing great with growing, eating, sleeping a little more, and smiling once in a while! They are really well behaved and love to go places. Here's a picture of them getting ready for an outing and waiting patiently for us to get the kitchen sink in Kendra's purse because we seem to take everything in our house when we take the twins out...

Nana's noticeably short blog

It sure has been nice weather here in Phoenix and to think that it was 42 degrees in Missouri for Easter day while it was 70's and 80's here. We missed going to church on Easter because the babies had an especially restless night and Bronson and Kendra got very little sleep. I think it has been many years since I stayed out of church on Easter. It is starting to get close to my going back home and I'm already feeling somewhat sad at the thought of not being able to hug, kiss, rock, change diapers and watching the precious faces the babies make and hearing the grunts and cooing. The time has flown by and the days with Bronson and Kendra have been so special-my first time at being able to spend any length of time with them. They are so conscientious about the whole parenting adventure. Bronson asks so many questions and goes to the internet often to learn the hows and whys of nurturing the twins. Their litttle personalities are already so evident-Easton being the laid back one and Layla being the squirmy, vocal one.I do miss the other grandkids in Springfield lots and look forward to seeing them in a few days. I know God will watch over the Webb family but I will always pray for them daily.