New Ink

Another month gone by and no new posts. Our camera broke and we sent it for repair, and what good is a blog with no pictures of the babies. So we got a new camera...one of those fancy digital SLR types, so there will be plenty of great new pictures. We are still trying to figure out how to get them uploaded, but in the meantime, here is a picture of my new tattoo that I got last Friday.

I'm really please with how it turned out. The artist took my vague concept and ran with it. It spells out Sara and Julian in ancient Norse Runes. It does NOT say Nerf Smurf, as Melissa thought it did.

Excuses, Excuses

Yes, it has been a month since our last post, but I have some very good excuses.

1) Neonatology Board Certification Exam

2) 2 Weeks (14 straight days) of clinical service

3) House hunting in Asheville and a visit with Mike and Holly in Baltimore

It has been a hectic month, but we found a house in a wonderful community called Biltmore Lake. Here are a few pictures, and there will be plenty of room for people to come and visit. The biggest problem we found was that houses built in the mountains rarely have a flat piece of land to call a lawn. We have 1.4 acres for S & J & Tela to run around in.

I pulled these pictures from the realtor's website. Our camera broke a few weeks ago and is curretnly getting repaired, so no new pictures of the babies.

A Sweet New Ride

S and J have a stylish new stroller. Now all we need is the weather to improve so we can cruise the neighborhood.

The Shirts Say it All

Melissa is feeling much better and returned to work today. I am getting progressively more stressed about the upcoming Neonatalogy Board Exam on April 7th in Chicago. Sara and Julian do new and fun things everyday. They are definitely getting more needy and don't like it when mommy or daddy leave the room (unless Tela is standing there to keep them occupied).

A Fun-Filled Easter Sunday!!!!!

Sara and Julian's first Easter was not filled with Easter egg hunts and visits with the Easter bunny. We spent the day in the emergency room with mommy. Melissa started with a head cold early last week...the standard stuffy nose, fever, cough and sore throat. By the end of the week, all of her symptoms had resolved except for a severe left-sided sore throat. It worsened over the weekend and early Sunday morning she was unable to drink even a sip of water. So, off to the emergency room we went. She had a peritonsillar abscess (a rather classic presentation) and was admitted overnight for intravenous antibiotics, fluids and monitoring of her airway. Thankfully, she felt much better Monday and I brought her home. Although we couldn't spend Easter with grandma and grandpa (here from Virginia to see the babies) at least I had help getting them to sleep. Bedtime is probably the hardest time to manage twins by yourself, so I was grateful for an extra set of hands.

Here is what the house looked like after dad had S and J alone for an entire afternoon.
Sara is really enjoying the jumper on loan from Aunt Courtney. She gives it the thumbs up! She has been spotted perfecting such classic moves as the "running man" and the "roger rabbit."Julian really enjoys his exersaucer.


Well, except for one toy. There is this turtle on the exersaucer that is his arch nemesis. It is just out of his reach when he tries to put it in his mouth, and it elicits such an anxiety attack (if 5 1/2 month olds can have anxiety attacks) that we often have to distract him to another toy when he sees the dreaded turtle. Pictures don't really capture the full emotion of his interactions with the turtle, but here is a glimpse.
Julian enjoyed watching March Madness with daddy. Just like daddy, he can't believe that Davidson beat Georgetown.

A machine gun and a lion!!!

I thought we had twins, but we actually have machine gun and lion imitators. We woke up this morning to Julian's staccato vocalizations and Sara's growling. Actually, Sara's growling actually sounds more like some kind of possessed hissing noise straight out of The Exorcist.

We have been sleep training for the past week. After a lot of anxiety and apprehension, and armed with earplugs, we made a pact to let the babies cry themselves back to sleep at night. Now, there are a lot of methods, but we chose the "cry it out" technique. Basically, you let them cry until they go back to sleep, no matter how long it takes. If you go in after 1 hour, then they learn that all they have to do is cry for an hour until mom and dad come in. This was really aimed at Sara. Since she doesn't want anything to do with a pacifier, she has difficulty soothing herself back to sleep. The first night, she cried for 30 minutes before she went back to sleep. Several hours later, she cried for about 15 minutes before going back to sleep. She has now slept through the night for the past 4 nights.

Where are my clippers???

We finally have some hair growth. Sara has some spikey blonde locks, and there are 5 or 6 really long hairs growing out. Julian is still bald. Is it too early for a toupee?

Daddy's little hippes.

Smiling is fun. Sara and Julian are really becoming interested in their environment. They really like to play with toys. They also like to hit and scratch each other, as well as mommy, while tandem breastfeeding.

Tela really enjoys sleeping on the couch. Doesn't she look comfortable?