We are ONE!!

I can't even begin to talk about this incredible first year with my babies.  So I won't.  Josh will.

Austin and Summer,

As I sat down to write this 12-month post, I was in a reflective kind of mood.  That shouldn’t be at all surprising considering this marks the one year anniversary of your birth, and first birthdays are kind of a big deal.  So I went back and read each of the 11 previous posts to remind myself of the journey we’ve taken as a family over the last year.  As part of that, I also went back and looked at some of the congratulatory emails we received last December.

As you can imagine, when you guys were born we heard from a lot of people that wanted to tell us how excited they were for us that you had arrived.  Lots of those emails included messages about how those people had felt during their kids’ childhoods.  One such note really stood out to me because the author mentioned that he didn’t really remember much from when his kids were newborns.  At the time, you were so young that I practically remembered every second of your lives.  I knew every inch of your bodies, every mannerism, and every sound you ever made.  The thought that I might ever NOT remember every second of your lives seemed preposterous. I literally couldn’t imagine ever forgetting any of those moments we shared together in the first few weeks of your lives.  But as more time has passed, obviously some of those moments have been forgotten.  Sure, many of them are etched in my memory, but the picture of your lives broadens every day.  I obviously cherish all of the individual moments we’re able to share together, but now there’s also a more collective view of you that I see.  That view includes knowing that when Austin is upset, he’ll invariably find his puppy, put two fingers in his mouth, and grab puppy by the ears that are soaked from being sucked on all day, or that Summy is our expressive little girl who wants to tell us about everything she sees, so she points to it and says her famous “duh” sound.  While I sometimes wish I could capture your entire lives on videotape and just watch it over and over, I also know that if I were to do that, I’d be missing everything that you do each day, which would be the worst crime possible since every new day with both of you is somehow even better than the previous day.

And then another thought struck me.  What if YOU guys don’t remember these times.  The reality is, you won’t have any specific memories of anything for your first few years, and that just seems so cruel and unfair to me.  These are the sweetest days, where we can spend hours just playing on the floor together, kissing you guys into giggle fits, holding and hugging you for as long as you’ll let us until you’re ready to go play again.  And sure, all of this will be implanted into who you are and who you become, but it does seem unfair that you won’t share the same memories of this first year that your mom and I have.  So, since you might be moody teenagers when you read this, let me take this opportunity to remind you of a few things: 

Austin, you are just about the sweetest tempered baby possible, and you’re a major daddy’s boy.  When I come home from work or even just downstairs after being away for a few minutes, the first sound I hear is your big hands slapping the wood floor as you come crawling over to me.  I hope you never lose that sweetness about you because, even if you want to have a tough exterior, having a sweet interior will allow you to love and be loved in a way you otherwise wouldn’t be able to experience. 

Summy, you’re our sweet, shy baby out in public but our silly little girl at home.  You always make new people work hard to earn your affections (if you’re reading this as a teenager, that better still be the case), but when it’s just the four of us, you’re always smiling and giggling up a storm.  We can tell that you have a bit of a wild side to you and you definitely like to make your own rules.  I already know that you’re going to push our buttons every now and then, and that’ll be part of your process of becoming a grown up.  But I also hope you know that sometimes when we make rules for you, it’s because we want the best for you, unconditionally.  And sometimes your parents really do know best.  

All of these amazing things you do, tendencies you’ve formed, and personalities you’ve developed have really created the people you’ve become.  I can’t wait to see if Austin stays the happy-go-lucky kind of kid that always has those eyes that tell you that he’s in on the joke.  Or if Summer will keep her poker face as the serious façade that covers up that huge smile when she knows it’s ok to let loose a little.  Whether those things change or stay the same, always know that your mommy and daddy love you all the way, every day.

In other news, we have to give a report on your first birthday party since your mom is quite the event planner.  The theme was hair bows and bow ties, and you guys were both adorable in your outfits (Summy, you were in a ridiculously poofy pink dress; Austin, you were in a collared shirt with a sweater vest and a bow tie).  You guys will never remember it, but there will be a ton of pictures to memorialize it, and they will undoubtedly show how much time and energy your mom took to make the day amazing.  There were all kinds of decorations with a coordinated color scheme, handmade hair bows and bow ties as party favors, cookies in those same shapes, lots of fun activities for you and all of your friends, and incredible chalkboard artworks that mommy made for each of you detailing some of your favorite things.  When we brought out your smash cakes, you guys were very neat with how you ate it, probably partially because you had never eaten cake and icing, but also because you are such experienced eaters.  For right now, it seems that you prefer goat cheese and portabello mushrooms over butter and sugar, but that probably won’t last for very long. 

So, that’s all for this note.  There are literally a million more things I could write, but at some point every writer has to decide when to put down his pen.  The last thing I’ll say is thank you so much for making the last year the most incredible and memorable of my life.  I love you both more than even seems possible, and yet somehow I really do love you more and more each day.  I’ll check in again next month, and hopefully I’ll be in a much less sappy mood by then.

Love,

Daddy 

One Month Shy of One Year Old!

So here we are.  Almost one year into my babies' lives and I'm posting for like, the fifth time.  Maybe in their second year I'll make it a point to blog more.  Or maybe I'll use all my free time to sit on my ass watching Gossip Girl and Dawson's Creek on Netflix.  There's always that shiny new year excitement before Auld Lang Syne slowly fades way to a more crowded workout establishment and shorter lines at my local Krispy Kreme.  Luckily I have almost a month until I have to make my new year's resolutions or the resolution to make no resolutions.  Obviously I have a lot to think about.  Without further ado... the hubs.

Month 11

Austin and Summer,

When I was growing up, and for most of my life, I’ve been full of ambition.  As a very young kid, I went to work for your Papa in the Variety Sales warehouse during the summers, pulling orders off the shelves in 100 degree heat because I loved the idea of getting paid at the end of the week.  A few years later, I started going to sleepaway camp during the summers, but that didn’t limit my entrepreneurial spirit.  I used to borrow a few comic books from a friend at the beginning of the summer, play poker for comics with my fellow campers, accumulate hundreds of comic books, and then sell them back to the other kids when their stashes were getting low.  In high school, I always had a job or other gig that was bringing in some money.  College was mostly the same, typically through the stock market, which was exploding at the time (though you should know that the stock market doesn’t always go up, and I wasn’t always a winner).  And then after college, I took about the most ambitious job I could possibly find, becoming an investment banker and working over a hundred hours a week most weeks.  Then about a year ago, I joined a startup company because I loved the idea of participating in something entrepreneurial and the thought of hard work trying to build something from the ground up was always exciting to me. 

I did all of those things because they either furthered my career, or because I liked money, or both.  And the truth is, I still want to further my career and I still like money, but since you guys came around, I’ve found myself wanting to be with you and your mommy more than anything else.  Even with my flexible hours, I’m still gone from the house most days from about 7-5.  You go to sleep at 7, so that only leaves about 2 hours that we get to spend together.  Some days it’s even less if traffic is bad or I have a conference call that starts late or some other similarly lame excuse.  My best salvation those days is the texts from mommy of photos or videos of you guys that at least give me some pseudo-interaction with you while I’m gone.  But that severely pales in comparison to when I get home at the end of the day and open the garage door and mommy says “Daddy’s home” and I hear both of your little hands pounding on the floor as your crawl your way over to me with those huge smiles on your face. 

This month, we got to spend lots of extra time together when your mommy took her first trip out of town since you were born, heading up to New York City for a long weekend with NaNa and Aunt Aimee.   Being home alone with two 11 month olds probably would have made a lot of dads in my situation a little bit nervous, but honestly, the thing that I was most concerned about was picking out your clothes (that is strictly a mommy job unless it’s a Saturday during football season).  Knowing that was my biggest fear, mommy laid out your clothes before she went and left the rest up to me.  It turned out to be such a fun few days for us.  We had some great help from your Nana, Aunt Aurora, and the first visit from your Uncle Greg.  But for the most part, we just spent the weekend together hanging out.  We played together in the playroom, ate tons of your favorite foods, took some long walks together in your stroller, and even did bath time every night (though you bathed separately instead of together).  And as much as you guys became even more attached to me during those few days (Austin, you are definitely going through a major “daddy” phase right now), the reality is that I also became so much more attached to both of you.  I didn’t even think that was physically possible, but somehow it was. 

We had lots of other fun stuff happen this month, too.  You turned 11 months on Thanksgiving Day, which brought with it a bunch of visitors to Atlanta.  In addition to the whole in-town crew, you got to spend a lot of time with your Sabba, Aunt Shira, Uncle Ari and his girlfriend Lindsay, who all stayed with us, and your NaNa and Papa were back in town, too. 

Summer, I think Thanksgiving was probably the best day of your life so far.  To say that you are a good eater is the biggest understatement of all time.  You literally grab your food by the handful and shove it into your mouth.  It doesn’t matter the food or the combination, you just love to eat.  It’s extremely adorable, especially since you’re such a dainty little princess.  Austin, the gruff linebacker, likes to eat his meals bite by bite, making sure he knows exactly what is going in his mouth, but Summer just piles it in without any regard for, well, anything. 

Other newsworthy items from the month:

·       You’re both sort of saying words.  Austin, you’ve definitely said “ball” quite a few times and you even occasionally say “hi” as you wave hello.  Summy, every morning coming down the stairs, you try to say “cat” when you see Eden.  Your pronunciation isn’t perfect, but it’s the effort that counts.

·       Speaking of the cat, you’re both pretty obsessed with her.  You crawl around the house following her wherever she goes.  It’s pretty cute, and mommy and I are glad that at least someone loves her.

·       Summy, you absolutely love books.  When mommy picks out a book and asks you guys if you want to read, you coming crawling right over with a big smile on your face and sit and listen for a really long time.

·       Austin, you got your first ear infection.  You were pretty unhappy for a couple of days but once you went to the doctor and got on medicine, you went right back to being yourself.

·       You both have your bottom two teeth, with Austin’s top two really starting to come in and Summy’s just peeking through.

A few other things to document, just so we make sure to remember them and see how you change over time:

•       Austin, you have the sweetest, most pleasant demeanor.  You have this incredible smile and way of lifting your eyebrows that makes it seem like you’re always in on the joke, if not the one making it.

•       Summy, your demeanor can depend on the day.  You’re definitely a bit easier to please than Austin.  But when we get you going with a tickle attack, you have the most incredible giggle fits of all time.  And even when you’re not being tickled, your smile with those two bottom teeth is as great as it gets.

•       Austin, you’re also an extremely sensitive sleeper.  When mommy and I come to check on you guys before we go to sleep, Summy barely ever even stirs.  You, on the other hand, almost always let out a big breath, sometimes rolling over and even opening your eyes at us.  It’s really cute, but most of the time it leads to mommy and I running out of the room before you really wake up.

•       Summy, you are the best 11 month old eater of all time, but your manners could use some work.  You pretty much love anything we put in front of you, to the point of grabbing a huge handful all at once and stuffing it all into your mouth.  You rarely swallow before stuffing more in.  Austin eats very neatly, always picking up a very specific piece of food before gently dropping it into his mouth.  At the end of most meals, Summy looks like she just finishing rolling around in garbage while Austin looks like he just came out of the bath.

It’s hard to believe that this time next month I’ll be writing about your FIRST BIRTHDAY, but amazingly that is the truth.  Time really does fly.

Love,

Daddy

Month 10

I suck at blogging.  But my kids don't suck at being babies.  They're sort of awesome at it.  As told by my husband, Josh.

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Month 10

Austin and Summer,

These monthly notes I write to you are, in many ways, the baby book we are keeping for you so we can look back and remember how we were feeling and what you were doing at different stages of your first year.  Since some months can feel pretty similar to the previous one, certain entries are harder to write than others.  You may be doing different stuff and of course our love for you grows every day, but to simply write about that can feel really repetitive.  And honestly, monthly love letters would be kind of boring for you to read about in the future.  So, I think I’m going to take a slightly different approach this month and write about an experience that I had. 

On October 7^th, I ran the Chicago Marathon, which I’d been training for over the past 6 months or so.  This was noteworthy for two main reasons: 1) I ran a marathon, and 2) it was the first time since you were born that I went out of town over night without you. 

This was third marathon I’d run, and I trained harder for this one than either of the previous two.  In my first two marathons, the results were mixed.  I finished my first marathon (the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC) in basically 5 hours due to some unforeseen circumstances and a really bad day.  Right after that race ended I thought I’d never run another marathon.  But months later I realized I still had unfinished business to tend to, so I started training again and ran my second marathon (the Atlanta Marathon) the following year.  My goal was to break 4 hours, but I finished in 4:00:04.  It was a huge improvement, but I still had more to accomplish.  That’s why this year I trained even harder, with lots of long runs, plenty of speed training, and even giving up dessert for the two months leading up to the race (which is not easy to do around your mommy).

On race day, the first 20 miles went amazingly well and I was on pace to finish in 3:30, which would have been an incredible time for me.  But the last 6.2 miles, I got a ton of cramps and really had to battle through some serious pain to keep going.  I ended up finishing in 3:41, 19 minutes better than my last race. 

So, why give you all of that detail?  For a couple of reasons.  First, you should know that while it is easy to want good things to just happen, more often than not you have to work really hard to achieve things that will make you proud of yourselves.  And sometimes even when you work incredibly hard for something, the results still aren’t exactly what you’d hoped for.  And you know what?  That doesn’t even mean that you’ve failed.  It just means you experienced a journey along the way.  And if the goal you were trying to achieve still seems appealing to you, you should use that experience as motivation to get right back up, try again, and succeed the next time around. 

I also wanted you to know that during those last few miles, when it got really tough, I thought about you guys and was able to keep going because I wanted to do my best for you.  Your mom and I talk all the time about how proud we are to have you as our babies.  And as you grow up and your list of accomplishments gets longer and longer, we’ll only grow prouder.  But something I’d never really spent much time thinking about was the other side of things.  And the reality is, I want you to be proud of me, too.  I know you’re much too young right now to understand what that means, but hopefully when you’re old enough to read this by yourselves, you’ll understand and you’ll even think that your dad has done some pretty cool stuff in his life. 

As for being out of town, I had a great time on my trip and I was busy for most of it, but I was definitely very excited to be back home with mommy and my two little monkeys.  We talked via Skype a couple times a day, so I was able to see you guys eat and play, even if you were confused about why daddy was inside of mommy’s computer.  Of course mommy had no problem at all being home alone with you.  But this month mommy is going out of town for a few days, so hopefully I’ll be able to report back with the same level of success when she gets home from her trip. 

As for this month…Austin, I think it’s always kind of up for interpretation as to what a baby’s true “first word” is, but we’re pretty sure that you said “ball” this month.  I was at work and mommy was holding a ball when you made a “ba” sound.  I’ve seen it happen several times since, so we’re pretty convinced it’s for real.  I don’t know if this means you’re going to be some kind of amazing athlete or if you’re going to walk around with your hands in your pants all day (you already like to do that in your bath every night), but we’ll find out soon enough.

In other news, you also got your first haircut this month.  Your sideburns were starting to look like payos and it was driving your mom crazy, so we went to some fancy salon and you got to sit in a firetruck and get your hair cut.  It was actually pretty uneventful, so rather than describe the whole scene, I’ll just let you watch the video.

Summy, you finally got tired of seeing Austin move and shake all over the house while you sat and watched, so you decided to start crawling too this month.  Now you’re all over the place, too.  You also started dancing to music.  Mommy has been taking you guys to music class and it seems to really have resonated with you.  Anytime we put on music from one of your toys, particularly the ABC’s, you start moving back and forth to the music. It’s pretty damn adorable.  And you also starting clapping your hands this month, so whenever we say “Yay, Summy!” in a real excited voice, you clap your little hands and give us a huge smile. 

Can’t wait to see what you guys do next month!

Love,

Daddy

8 Months!

Happy 8 months to my drooly, snotty, lovely monkeys!  This month has been their sickest month yet and they've totally rocked it with hacking coughs and 2 foot strings of snot.  But through this all, they've remained geniuses, continuing their work with Einstein's Theory of Relativity and DVF's new fall line for New York Fashion Week.

Heeeeeere's Josh!

Month 8

Austin and Summer,

For the first time since you were born eight months ago, the biggest excitement was actually about someone other than you guys.  This month (actually last calendar month), you became older cousins for the first time when Aunt Rhianna and Uncle Jason’s baby girl Scarlett was born.  Just like you guys, she came out happy, healthy and perfect.  And now you’ll always have a cousin that’s just about your age for you to be best friends with.  Family get-togethers are officially now taken over by baby insanity.

Speaking of always having best buddies, it looks like the love affair between you guys is starting to take shape.  You now absolutely interact with each other, laugh at each other and talk to each other pretty much all day.  It’s ridiculously cute for your mom and I to be sitting on the couch while you guys are in your bouncers and to hear you start laughing because of something the other one did.  I don’t think anything is better than the sound of you guys laughing at each other.  You also started this adorable game where Austin will start squirming towards Summer and just when he gets within reach, Summer rolls the other direction.  Austin pursues, Summer rolls, you both laugh.  Over and over.  It’s pretty freakin adorable.

You also officially became international travelers this month.  You went on an airplane for the second time, and this time you made it all the way up to America, Jr.  We went to visit family in Toronto and you got a chance to see your Sabba, Aunt Shira, Uncle Gilad, and lots of other great-aunts, great-uncles and second cousins.  I think it’s safe to say that everyone instantly fell in love with both of you, and you have a lot of fans up in the Great White North.

In other news this month, Austin, you have officially gone mobile.  I wouldn’t exactly call it crawling at this point (it honestly looks like you’re doing The Worm), but you can definitely get from point A to point B without much trouble or hesitation.    Especially if there’s a cell phone or computer that you’re trying to get to, you can move really fast.  I’m not sure if that means you’re going to be some kind of tech genius or if you’re just going to be the kind of kid who is always distracted, but both are definite possibilities at this point.  Summy, unless you’re playing the game from above, you like to just sit on your ass and watch Austin wiggle his way around the room.  No crawling on the immediate horizon for you.  Like father, like son; like mother, like daughter.  

You both also ditched your bottles this month in favor of sippy cups.  It’s actually pretty impressive that you guys are capable of holding the cup, deciding when to drink from it, and feeding yourselves.  This is also important because it allows your mommy and me to ignore you for a few extra minutes a day so we can do really important stuff like text people and/or look at Facebook/Twitter.

Other stuff to memorialize from this month:

·       You now both have two teeth

·       You both now talk up a storm.  Your favorite sound is “da” which is nice because when you say it repeatedly, it becomes a series of “dada’s”

·       You’re still fantastic sleepers

·       You both went to your first visits to the doctor for being sick.  You’ve had a cold that won’t go away, but besides the ridiculous amount of snot, it doesn’t seem to affect either of you

·       I wouldn’t say Summer’s stranger danger issues are officially gone, but you seem to be dealing much better with new people and crowds.  You’re well on your way to becoming the social butterfly we all know you’re going to be

Seven Months of Diapers x 2

Another monthly post from Josh for your reading pleasure...

Austin and Summer,

When I was a kid, I used to have a recurring dream.  It was the only one I ever had, and I could never figure out why I had it.  I would be running (which was odd, because I never ran any distance longer than a fewer hundred feet at a time back then) and my legs would get so tired that they essentially stopped functioning and I would have to grab only stationery objects and propel myself forward in order to keep going.  If I had a psychic with a crystal ball analyze those dreams, she probably would have told me that it meant I was stuck in a rut and desperately trying to work my way out of it.  But I was like 12 years old, happy as can be, without a problem or worry in the world, so clearly that wasn’t the case.  What’s odd is that ever since I started actually running, that dream has never made a re-appearance.  I guess I’ll never know what those dreams meant or if they meant anything at all, but I’ve been reminded of them watching you two recently.  You’re just on the brink of crawling, but instead of actually being able to move yourselves along the ground to wherever you want to go, you’re still in that stage where you lie on your stomachs, push with all your might with your arms and legs, but the only thing that happens is you flop around like a seal going nowhere.  It’s pretty damn cute, but we know it’s not going to last for long and any day now your mom and I are going to be chasing you around the house as you crawl in opposite directions from one another, wreaking as much havoc as possible.  Ahh, good times on the horizon. 

Onto other news from this month, you’ve both become champion eaters.  Summy, you even eat the green stuff at this point, although every so often you do some really dramatic gagging motion/noise combination to let us know that you’re ready for the sweet stuff now, please.  You’re just like your mommy, except that she’s old enough to just skip straight to the Krispy Kremes without having to fake it on the veggies.  Austin, you’re pretty much like daddy.  You’ll just sit there quietly awaiting your next bite, not really caring so much what it is as long as it’s going in your stomach. 

You’ve also become experts at sitting up.  Watching you guys “play together” while you sit up and grab different toys is an amazing treat for me and your mom.  The best part of it is how your personalities shine through.  Summer, since the day you were born, you’ve been our sweet, soft little princess.  I literally used the word “dainty” in the email I sent to everyone to announce your births only hours after we met you.  I don’t think there’s a word in the English language to better describe you.  When you pick up a toy, you’re like a girl from finishing school picking up her afternoon tea.  You hold it ever so softly, as if it might break if you grabbed it hard.  Austin, you’re a boy’s boy.  You’re like a wrecking ball, smashing and grabbing everything in your path with full force.  Your intentions are sweet as can be, but it’s pretty funny to watch you both sit with the same bucket in between you and have Austin grab it out of the way and dumb everything everywhere while Summer sits sweetly across from you and can only watch it all happen. 

And the newest phenomenon in our happy little household is that our beautiful, sweet baby girl now wakes up in the morning with her face smelling like a combination of urine and sweaty old shoes.  It’s subtle enough that you can’t smell it unless you kiss your face, but when you lean in for that kiss, man it hits you like a ton of bricks.  Somehow it hasn’t stopped me from kissing you a million times a day, but if this keeps up we might have to start you on the perfume a few years earlier than anticipated. 

One last thing about our smelly little princess.  This month, you developed some serious “stranger danger” issues.  Unless you are very familiar with the people around you, you tend to cling to me or your mommy, and there have been a fair amount of waterworks when new people are around.  One really sweet byproduct of this is that every time we leave the house, right when we walk out the door you bury your head into whoever is holding you.  It’s kind of like you want an extra bit of protection as you go out into this big, new world.  Hopefully soon you’ll realize that we’re here to protect you, but every once in a while it’s nice for us (read: your mom) to get a break from holding/watching you all day long.  We promise to keep you safe if you promise you keep us sane.    

I’ll check in with you guys again next month.  Thanks for keeping us feeling young. 

Love,

Daddy

P.S.  You both also started to get teeth this month.  Austin, you currently have one and Summer has two.  There’s not much exciting to write about teeth other than that they exist, so this is really just meant to document something important that happened this month.  And that’s all.  Goodbye again until next time.

6 Months

And here we are again with Josh's monthly post or as I like to call it, ruining my blog with a bunch of sappy crap.

Month 6

How is it possible that you guys are 6 months old today?  It’s cliché to say, but it really feels like just yesterday that we were bundling you up in clothes that were twice your size to bring you home from the hospital.  I remember driving about 10 miles an hour the whole way home, freaking out over every speed bump in the parking lot at the hospital, every car that was in our general vicinity on the road, checking on you at every red light and sometimes in between, and generally learning what it feels like to be so in love with two tiny little people that you can’t even fathom it.  It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come since then. 

One of the highlights of this last month came when we fed you guys “real” food for the first time.  The theory goes that you should start feeding babies with the worst tasting stuff (vegetables) and then improve it (fruit) over time to ensure that you guys learn to eat your veggies and don’t get hooked on everything that tastes like pure sugar before you even have teeth.  But you both came from your mommy’s tummy, so to even attempt to program your taste buds to enjoy a nice bowl of squash and green beans is basically a lost cause.  In any case, on a casual Sunday afternoon in early June, we strapped you into your chairs and broke out the pureed peas.  Summer, given your bloodlines, I guess we should have known better than to start you off with something green.  Needless to say, you were not amused.  Describing what transpired next with written words would only due it a disservice, so here’s the video evidence of the whole scene. 

Speaking of taking after someone, the other night at dinner we were all sitting at the table.  You guys had been fed and mommy and I were eating.  Summer, I looked over and realized you hadn’t stop talking for at least 10 minutes straight.  Austin was sitting next to you, silently playing with a toy.  It was pretty much exactly like dinner every night – the woman doing all of the talking about mostly nothing while the man sits quietly by - only with the participants about 30 years younger.  It was obviously very cute but was mostly just a glimpse into the future, when we’ll have two females at the table talking aimlessly and endlessly while the boys try our best to tune out the noise and eat as much as we can, as fast as we can so we can finish dinner and go shoot hoops outside or something.  Austin, don’t worry buddy, I’ve got a huge stash of earplugs hidden away for both of us.

One last thing before I sign off…in the last few days/weeks, the coolest thing has started to happen: you smile and laugh when you see me.  Those things occasionally happened in the past, but they were more coincidence than true reaction.  But now when I come back from a run in the morning or get home after work, I see you look straight at me, let me know that you recognize me and know who I am, and then give me a huge smile, like you are so glad I’m finally home.  I’ve known that I loved you since the moment you were born (actually since the moment we found out about you), but it’s just about the coolest thing ever to know that you love me right back.  Everybody in the world should get to experience that feeling because there’s really nothing better. 

These first 6 months have been beyond amazing and we’re so lucky to have you as our babies.  We love you!

Love,

Daddy 

Vital Stats

Six month weight: Austin – 16lb, 1oz; Summer 14lb, 8oz

Six month height: Austin – 26.25 in   Summer – 24.75 in

Month 5 Fun

Ok, so I officially suck at blogging.  But I promise to blog more.  Because I know the five people who read my blog are really missing me.

So here's Josh's monthly post...or the only post of this month.  Which is sad.  Because he's so not as funny as I am.

Month 5

Wow, what a month.  In the last 30 days, quite a lot has happened.  President Obama supported gay marriage, Facebook went public, and most importantly, The Bachelorette’s new season began (Emily Maynard, woot woot!).  Oh, and we bought a new house, went under contract to sell our current house about 3 days later, dealt with the million things that come with buying and selling houses (packing, getting a mortgage, ending all of the services at your existing house and turning them on for the new one, finding someone to fence in a pool, finding someone to child-proof a house because now there’s a lot more space and areas for you guys to cause trouble, etc, etc), took your first ever plane ride for a trip to Miami, and celebrated mommy’s first Mother’s Day with lots of family, including a visit from NaNa and Grandma Fritzie. 

I’m tired just reading that paragraph, so hopefully this next month will be just as good but a little less eventful.

My favorite thing that happened this month is that you guys are starting to notice one another.  It’s not like you’re playing together yet, but there are these really sweet moments we’ll see when you guys looking at each other, sometimes holding hands, and mostly smacking each other in the face.  It may not seem all that interesting to the casual observer, but it makes your mom and me think about the days, weeks and months ahead when you guys will be talking to one another in your cribs, speaking gibberish that no one else can understand, and being each other’s best friends for life.

Tomorrow we’re all off to Folly Beach, SC to celebrate mommy and daddy’s 3-year anniversary.   It’s hard to believe that we’ve already been married for 3 years because in a lot of ways it feels like our wedding was just yesterday.  But, in other ways, it seems even longer ago because it feels like ages ago that your mommy was pregnant.  It feels that way because the reality is, our lives have now been split into two distinct periods: BAS (before Austin and Summer) and SAS (Since Austin and Summer).  I was alive for exactly 400 months before you were born and now you’re 5 months old, so SAS is only just a little over 1% of my life, but in a lot of ways I kind of don’t remember BAS.  In the literal sense, I still have all of those memories, but it does seem hard to remember a time when you guys were not in our lives.  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.   

Something else also happened this month.  You guys kind of became real people.  While your mom and I have felt like you were real people since birth, that’s just because we’re your parents.  But now other people are starting to notice it, too.  You smile when you see us, you laugh at the right times (not just when you fart), you are reaching and grabbing for things, starting to get a bit more mobile (mostly via rolling over, but you’re also starting to push a bit on the ground, which is a precursor to crawling), and any day now, we’re going to break out the real food so you can stop eating that formula stuff.   As always, we’re so proud to be your parents and we love every minute of this crazy adventure.  Until next month….

Love,

Daddy

4 Months

Happy 4 months babies!  You rock at life.
Because I'm too lazy to blog and because it's sweet and stuff, Josh's monthly post...

It’s 5:16 am on Sunday morning.  I’m awake.  You’re both asleep.  This is both really weird and very good at the same time.  It’s weird mostly because it’s 5:16 am, I’m awake, and I’m not even tired.  And that’s totally the norm at this point.  That’s what happens when your bedtime suddenly becomes 9:00 at night.  It’s good because you’re both asleep, you’ve been asleep since 7:45 last night, and I’m hoping that you guys might sleep for another hour and a half before waking up.  And that’s even pretty realistic.  We’ve come a long way, babies. 

As you can imagine from that first paragraph, this month has been a lot about your sleeping.  A couple weeks ago we stopped swaddling you in the middle of the night.  We really thought this was going to be the hardest thing we’d had to go through yet, but it was actually pretty painless.  Austin, you loved it from day 1.  You used to battle that swaddle like you were in a street fight.  No matter how tight we wrapped you and no matter how many blankets we wrapped around that sleep sack, we’d come check on you in the morning or the middle of the night and you’d have worked your way out to the point that both blankets were almost entirely off of you, your arms were loose, and the sleep sack was all but unzipped.  And you’d worked so hard to accomplish this that you were basically 180 degrees from where you started.  With the exception of a few nights, you’ve been sleeping through the night since we set you free.  SumSum, you’re a different story.  We actually think you loved being swaddled and the adjustment has been a little harder for you, probably because you’re a little smaller than Austin and you liked the coziness of being wrapped up like a tight little burrito.  You had a solid stretch of days (weeks?) where you’d cry out at 2:00 for a while and then again for a longer stretch at 5:00 before we got tired of listening to you cry and put you in the swing for an hour until it was time to wake up.  Getting you to go back to sleep really sucks because you have trouble keeping your paci in your mouth, so you can’t soothe yourself back to sleep with it.  What does that mean?  We can either stand over your crib holding it in your mouth or we can let you “cry it out” until you fall back asleep.  Either choice really sucks when it’s the middle of the night and we are exhausted, but the doctor told us that learning to cry it out was best for you, so we’re doing it.  If this is somehow scarring you emotionally, please don’t take it out on us during your teenage years.  In any case, you’re still sleeping right now (5:29), so maybe you’ve turned the corner. 

Aside from all of this sleep stuff, you guys have had a really busy month.  With play dates, playgroups and play classes every day, you guys are playing your asses off.  Mommy has you guys doing all kinds of cool stuff, and I’m pretty sure you’re going to be officially named the social prince and princess of the Atlanta baby scene.  In the picture gracing the magazine cover, Summer will undoubtedly be wearing a ridiculous bow as if she was attending a Royal Wedding, and Austin will likely have on some skater outfit covered in drool. 

As part of your social calendar, you guys are so lucky to get to see your family so much.  Your Nana comes to see you every Monday, your NaNa and Papa come to see you about every three/four weeks from Miami, and we see some combination of your aunts, uncles and cousins a few times a week.  We love that you’re surrounded by so much love, and we can’t wait for a few trips this summer to Miami and Toronto so you can see so much more of your family.

In terms of what’s new this month, Summer, you taught yourself how to roll over from your back to your tummy this month.  You worked and worked and worked, and then finally got yourself to flip over.  Austin, we’re pretty convinced you’ve started to teeth.  You are drooling enough to fill a small pool, you have moments where your freakouts are so intense that you have to be going through something traumatic, and we even think we see the signs of teeth starting to poke through your gums. 

You are both amazing at “sitting” and “standing.”  If we hold your arms or torsos, you can stay in a sitting or standing position for a really long time, and you seem to love it.  We’re not sure if this means you’ll be early walkers, but maybe you’ll be able to join me on marathon training runs earlier than I originally planned.  You are also both “talking” up a storm.  Sometimes you make sweet noises that are adorable and perfect.  Other times we’re not sure if you’re screeches and squeals mean you’re talking or yelling at us.  But regardless, lots of sounds are coming out of those adorable mouths.  And when sounds aren’t coming out of your mouths, thumbs are going in them, at least in Austin’s case.  Thumb sucking has become a favorite pastime this month, and it’s pretty damn cute.  I guess we just have to pay attention and get you to stop when the time is right so you’re not still doing it when you’re 12.

You also went to your first baseball game this month.  It wasn’t professional, it was 8 year olds, but it was baseball and you were there, so it counts.  Your cousin Brandon went 4-4 with the game clinching hit, so pay attention, you guys, learn from him!

As always, we are loving watching you grow and figure out all this cool new stuff every day.  By this time next month, who knows what you’ll have done.  That’s the amazing part of this whole parenthood thing.  Every day is filled with laughter, smiles and surprises for me and your Mommy.  It’s a bittersweet thing that each day that passes you get another day older, but we have so much to look forward to that we can’t help but be amazingly excited to see what each new day brings. 

Oh, and by the way, it’s now 5:51 and I still haven’t heard a peep.  Did I mention how much I love you guys?

Love,

Daddy  

Vital Stats

Four month weight: Austin – 13lb, 2oz; Summer 12lb, 4oz

Four month height: Austin – 23.5in   Summer – 23.5in

Month 3 Courtesy of the Hubs

Based on the fact that my two-month post and this three-month post are separately by exactly zero posts by your mommy, I think it’s safe to say that you guys are keeping her busy.  Or that she’s busy shopping and eating out for lunch every day.  It’s one of those two.  Our credit card bill kind of points in a certain direction, but who says undeniable evidence in black and white should lead to a certain conclusion?  

In any case, you guys are three months old today (actually a couple days ago, but we were tired and didn’t publish this on time), so I’m back again to memorialize the day.  You guys are getting so much more aware of yourselves and your surroundings every day, and it’s so much fun to watch you grow, learn, and experience all of these new things for the first time.  Here are just a few of the momentous occasions from month #3.   

·       Your pediatrician, Dr. Pip, told us that we need to keep you up between 5:00-8:00 so you sleep better at night.  That has been loads of fun, and usually our house sounds like this during most of that time.  

·       You both got your two month shots so now you’re allowed to be out and about.  This means your mommy takes you to lunch with friends every day and then to the mall.  See opening paragraph for clarification on what that actually means.  I’m just hoping we’ll have enough money to pay for college when the time comes.

·       At the beginning of the month, our time with your night nurse Grace ended and mommy and I took over the night shift.  Our bedtime is now 8:30 at night.  It’s a little glimpse into the future, when we’re 80 years old, eat dinner at 4:00, live on Miami Beach and are asleep before the sun sets.   

·       We went to your friend Gavin’s house on St. Patrick’s Day for your first dinner out.  You were both pretty well behaved.  Probably had something to do with all the green beer we gave you. 

·       You’ve both started to drool and blow bubbles.  Everywhere.  All the time.  We don’t wash your clothes anymore.  You do it for us.

·       Austin, you’ve started growing a mustache.  I don’t even know how to make that funnier than it already is, so I’ll quit while I’m ahead:  having a 3-month old son who can grow a mustache.

·       Summer, you’re usually just a couple days behind Austin, but right when we think he’s getting way ahead of you, you surprise us and start to catch up.  That’s great with most things but hopefully it won’t apply to growing mustaches.

·       Summer, you’re talking and cooing a ton now.  I suspect most of what you’re saying has to do with what you’re learning the most about at this stage in life (shopping), but who knows, maybe you’re spouting out mathematical theorems or theories of evolution?

·       Austin, you started to laugh.  Words can’t describe how amazing that sound is so I’ll let this video do the talking: Austin laughing

·       Nothing can top that, so I’ll end it there.  I’ll be back with more next month.

Love,

Daddy