2 x 6 = Tired

Our little boys are 6-months old today. I joked to some people I work with that with two 6-month old boys in our house, Jen and I have aged a full year. Mathematically it makes sense, but I don’t think that it counts. Either way, having twins has been such a blessing. We can’t even imagine our lives without Parker and Jack. It is a completely different experience than raising a singleton (that’s multiples lingo for only having one kid at a time). We tried to prepare for it, we read twin books, read twin blogs, and talked to twin parents. Note to everyone else: having multiples is something that you can never be fully prepared for. Jen and I have had to learn how to adapt along the way, take each moment in stride, and do the best we can. We were pretty freaked out at the mere thought of twins - How are we going to feed them, change them, pay for them? What about them waking each other up? What about going anywhere by yourself? Two of everything???? What about…you name it, we thought about it. God is funny that way, we were scared at first, but now that we have made it through the first half year, we know that we can handle any situation He can throw at us. God trusted us before we did (thankfully someone did!!) and we just have to sit back and laugh at His sense of humor. The first 6 months has been quite an adventure (filled with twice as many diapers and half as much sleep) but we are really looking forward to the rest of what’s to come.

PaRtY!!

We had Owen's 2nd birthday party this past weekend and it was a hit. Parker and Jack hosted a "Water Party" for the O-man and for two, not-yet 6 month old boys, they can really put a party together. We got a Canes Tailgate Pack and a monsterous cookie cake from The Cookie Company, so I am not sure how they could have gone wrong!!

We had about 20 people, 4 kids, and 2 babies (other than ours) over to celebrate with Owen. We basically had a water park set up in our backyard. Jen and I spent A LOT of time blowing up the pools that the kids were going to be playing in. Armed with a handheld pump, and the patience of a gnat, all Jen kept saying was "I am going to be here until the end of time."

It was a bit on the warm side for an 11am party, but it definitely could have been worse and I think everyone had fun. It was so great to see Owen enjoying the attention. I sometimes feel bad that he will probably be cast aside because everyone is always interested in "the twins," but luckily, he is the coolest dude ever and everyone loves him. He got some really great gifts that he has enjoyed playing with, especially his "Mike Tiger" book.

We are really blessed to have so many friends and family around to be able to celebrate with him (if only MawMaw and PawPaw could have been there too. They will be more than happy to have some one on one time with the big guy next week though). Thanks to everyone who came and made Owen feel special for his big day.

PS, I want to give a huge shout out and big THANK YOU to my lovely wife for "helping" the boys put this party together, they (we) certainly could not have done it without her. She is a fantastic host and even more fantastic mother/wife/person and I thank God for her everyday.

3/5 of our beautiful family

Apparently, someone likes cookie cake

Owen's big boy bike

mmm, delicious

You can call me Juan Valdez

Here is how every morning starts in our house.

Hi, my name is Brett and I have a coffee addiction. There, I said it. I feel better already. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not trying to change this habit of mine, I just wanted to put it out there and admit it.

Jen and I couldn’t function without our daily pot of coffee. Now, we have always been coffee drinkers; a daily morning cup, an afternoon coffee date at CC's or Starbucks, or a nightcap after a great meal at a nice restaurant. In fact, we probably should have taken a student loan at CC’s for Jen’s coffee consumption during nursing school, but that is another story.

It seems as though my addiction has reached a whole other level. There isn’t a time when I will turn down a cup of coffee; I want coffee all the time - every second of every day. We have a programmable coffee pot that we received as a gift from MawMaw and PawPaw and I was excited at the time for a new kitchen appliance, but I can’t express how important the auto-on feature is for Jen and I. I prep the pot each night with the grounds and water, and the smell of heaven fills our kitchen. It is a daily struggle to press the Program button instead of the glorious red On button. I want coffee right then and there, but my addiction must wait until 6:20am (recently changed from 6:40am since the boys are getting up earlier) when the heavens align, all the moving parts are put into motion, and deliciousness is brewed (queue the choir of angels - AAAAAAAHHHHHH). This programmable feature, which should be a requirement on all coffee pots, saves me about 10 minutes of brew time every morning. That means, each morning, we have coffee 10 minutes sooner than the average parent. I admit it is a bit uppity that I never want to go back to my old ways of waiting for coffee to drip in the morning, but you know what? I have an addiction and I don’t care.

The Dude is 2.

Owen is 2. 2 years old. He is no longer 1. Not uno, but dos. That is just crazy, I seriously can't believe it. I'm sure that every parent says that on every birthday, so I guess I'm getting the hang of this parenting thing... I won't bore you with the normal, this is what my kid did, learned, ate, threw up, spilled, over the past year, but I thought I would share just a few of the things that we have gone through as a family in the past year:

• 87,000 diapers. I think the people at Sam's just love to see us coming. Seriously, I don't know what we would without Mr. Walton. Thanks big guy.


• 416 Batteries, With technology where it is today, I can video chat online with my parents in another state, and yet cant seem to be able to keep working batteries in any toy that we own. The one in the remote seems to last about 3 years before I need to replace it, my parent's Toyota Prius runs on them, and I seriously can't go a week without replacing AA batteries in something.


• 26 Bethy (pronounced Betty) visits. Bethy cleans our house. Bethy does not speak English. She loves Owen and even gave him some wonderful smelling "childrens cologne." It just smells like baby powder, but the thought was there. Thank goodness for Bethy becuase our circus tends not to care what is on our floor before it goes in their mouth.


• 13 canisters of Folgers coffee (the big ones from Sam's). 6 pounds of Community Coffee-New Orleans Blend for our cold drip coffee. And who knows how many number of CC's/Starbucks/PJ's visits. Coffee is our lifeblood, it is part of our morning, and let's face it, it is part of our family. We love you coffee.


• 1 C-Section. I say we, because even though it was a cakewalk for me, I was there and went through part of it, and 80% of our family was present so I count it. I would post the video (yes, I took a video, and regardless of how much my hand was shaking from excitement/nervousness, it still came out pretty clear), but I don't want to "sweat from my eyeballs" as King says. I still tear up every time I watch it.

We have also gained the following items during the year that were not around when Owen was 1.

• Parker


• Jack


• 1 Swingset (that took WAY too long to build)


• Gigi and Pop's Suburban (now we are again minus the Suburban)


• Daddy's job with the State of Louisiana


• New tenants for our condo (who still owe us a babysitting service)

With all the things we have been through and the changes that have taken place over the past year, I am trying not to be sad about Owen growing up. It is part of the journey and we can only hang on and enjoy the ride. I can't help but look forward to next year with the O-Man, I can't wait to see what is next.

I love you buddy.

Wook (2 year olds can't say their "R's")

In Connisonville, after we do our little dance in the morning, two people venture off to work.

Dad leaves and goes to work for the great State of Louisiana. Mom stays at home to work for our family (love her and can’t thank Jen enough for that).

As a background, I have a love/hate relationship with work. I could go on and on about how the system is broken when people go off to a job for 40+ hours a week, where they probably waste a ton of time doing mindless activity to fill up that time because there is no incentive to get your job done as you are still required to be there for the same 40+ hours!!! Don’t get me wrong, I like work. It can be a challenge, it can be exciting to see your work help people (I help build software systems, I don’t save lives), but I like it on my terms. To put it differently, I don’t mind working, I just don’t like jobs. Anyway, back to my story.

Owen has gone through various stages when it comes to work. First, it was learning the sign for work. He would use this when PawPaw stayed at our house and worked from our computer nook. Then it was “Bye Bye!” where he didn’t give it a second thought that I was headed out for the day. In fact, it seemed as though he looked at me with an expression that read: you’re still here? I know that it wasn’t what he was thinking, but it was like I couldn’t get out the door fast enough. We then moved to the game where he would tell my “Bye Bye” but then watch me from out front window with his face pressed on the glass while I got in my car, and drove away. It is pretty heartbreaking to leave this sight.

We have recently had some minor (and major) meltdowns when it is time for Daddy to leave for work. As if it isn’t tough enough to leave the family and go to work (where I don’t want to be, where I am continuously working toward a solution of independent wealth so I don’t have to go) and I have to hear, “Daddy, work, don’t want to, don’t want to” as he gives me a leg hug and a kiss goodbye.

This is the stuff that no parenting book will prepare you for…or at least I haven’t written it yet.

...and they all axed for you.

This weekend "we went on down to the Audubon Zoo." It was the first time for Parker and Jack and about the 100th time for Owen. If you want a deal and live close enough to the zoo to make it worth your while, it is nice to have a place to go walk around (in the 100 degree heat) and get your butt out of the house. Plus the aquarium is included and especially nice on those extra hot days.

Jen and I packed up all the boys to head to NOLA for the weekend. It was an early Saturday morning as P&J decided at 6:15am that they were done sleeping for the day (Note to parents…sleep training is a must when you have more than one kid. The upside: all our little boys are sleeping by 7:30pm which gives Mommy and Daddy some nice quality adult time. The downside: it is like clockwork in the morning as everyone is up by 7:15am at the latest - and sometimes earlier). This early wake up call made the morning time interesting when we had to pack up the car and have everyone ready by the time they boys were on the downhill for their morning nap. It is getting easier as the days go by getting everyone out of the house and in the car, but it is still hard to coordinate with 2 little ones.

Our dudes were angels at the Zoo. They didn’t sleep too well in the car so they took turns snoozing in the double stroller walking around the zoo. The fresh air must have put them into a coma because I don’t think we heard a peep out of them the whole time! We have definitely noticed that they get super quiet if there is a lot of external noise around…restaurants, the mall, etc. Somehow, we need to replicate this in our house.

It is fun being in New Orleans because we are able to take Owen out while GiGi and Pops (and/or Sissy) are up for watching the boys. It is nice to spend quality one on one time with the O-man. He loves the zoo, especially the “el-fants.” Owen kept saying that the tiger was in the “cor-nah’ and called him a “yazy tiger” since they were both just lying around. He is such a trip.

Here are some pics of the weekend.

Chillin, chillin, minding our business.

Owen kissing Mommy.

Jack and Park at the zoo.

Mommy with Owen riding the elephant.