September 2008
JR discovered the most incredible toy in the universe--the vacuum. This all began in August, when JR would see his Daddy vacuuming the house. Then one day I was searching the house high and low trying to find escapee JR and ultimately found him in the back of the coat closet--hugging the vacuum. The next day I was downstairs and suddenly heard the vacuum turn on upstairs: JR was vacuuming the house (with the big vacuum). We decided the big vacuum was a little unwieldy, so Toys 'R Us saved us with this toy vacuum. JR loves it and won't part with it (he even carried it home on his car seat from the toy store). Zoe has stolen the vacuum on a few occasions, once even jumping out of the tub early and vacuuming in the nude while I dried off a screaming and hysterical JR. Needless to say, the vacuum has its ups and downs, but it's here to stay.

Meanwhile, Zoe has been busy practicing the piano. She is starting with the primary songbook.


Grandma came to visit in September and we had a fantastic time visiting the Arboretum and running through the frog fountains, riding on the teacup ride at the Grapevine Festival, and dancing to our favorite musical, "Wicked."

Eighteen Months & Counting

August 2008

In August, the twins celebrated their 18 month birthday. Zoe said the cupcake was quite delicious.

They sported their swimming gear (goggles in particular) outside of the pool. Nanny Analisa helped JR practice his superhero skills. They also like to wear their goggles at church. As you can imagine, that's startling to many.

Summer was also an important time to practice computer skills and getting-into-trouble skills. Zoe found the pantry to be a ripe source of trouble.

JR thought Daddy's granola was delicious.

Little Swimmers

June - July 2008
The Texas summer was HOT and we took advantage of it by spending lots of time at the pool. I would hold one twin on each hip together in the pool but frequently Zoe would escape and then do a kamikaze dive into the deep end. Once she did this, I had JR in one arm, caught Zoe in the other arm, then we all sunk to the bottom of the pool (60 pounds of toddler and undisclosed weight of me and baby#3 did not lead to great flotation). We quickly resurfaced while I frantically kicked--both of my arms were full of baby--to the shallow end. The twins thought this was very funny and giggled forever, while I tried to recover from shock. As always, JR strikes a GQ pose with the garden hose.

Zoe & Daddy objected to getting their picture taken here. Zoe is holding her favorite stuffed animal toy--Dr. Seuss's Fox in Socks.

Zoe spent most of her summer reading books.

And they both selectively got into lots and lots of trouble. See the fruits of JR's labors below.

Bluebonnets and Meningitis

March - May 2008

Texas springtimes are fantastic and the good weather brought a great deal of happiness. In March, the twins learned how to walk. They also learned how to turn on the water at the bathtub, a very important skill.

In April, we were able to enjoy the Texas Bluebonnets. We also discovered (at the very end of April) that we were expecting a surprise baby #3.

In May, JR got meningitis to celebrate mother's day. This was the picture of the morning after his worst night. At the time, we didn't know JR had meningitis. We discovered this a week later when John was hospitalized after a spinal tap revealed he had viral meningitis. After everyone healed up, they spent lots of time climbing in and out of the doggie door.

Happy Birthday!

January - February 2008

The twins started the new year as ferocious as ever (though with a mild detour thanks to some RSV). This wildlife photography was taken by nanny Analisa.


In February, we celebrated their first birthday. Thanks to a very busy work schedule and three consecutive bouts of the flu, the party was kept very simple. They enjoyed their first cupcake. Zoe put the whole cupcake in her mouth. JR, always the epicurean, dipped his finger in the frosting before diving in to the rest.

Merry First Christmas!

December 2007

My feeble attempts to dress Zoe & JR as Christmas icons (e.g., reindeer) were thwarted, as they kept removing the antlers.

They were cooperative in wearing some awesome pajama-like love and kisses outfits and their growth finally slowed down so taht they could wear an outfit more than once without outgrowing it!





We took a trip to Utah to visit family and you will note that there are no pictures of this trip on the blog. Traveling with twins is a real challenge (an understatement) and traveling with twins with double ear infections was even more challenging. Hence, no pictures.

Nevertheless, we were able to celebrate the birth of Christ at home in Texas. The twins were quite excited about their new red wagon. It was the highlight of the day (since the rest of us were sick with the stomach flu). The next day, I flew out to Harlingen, Texas to represent an immigrant from Mogadishu, Somalia who was seeking asylum--leave it to the U.S. government to do such convenient trial scheduling.

Mushies and Sleep Deprivation

November 2007

The twins continued to grow in November 2007 and became expert eaters. I'd say about 85% of the "mushies" ended up on their face, their high chair, or the floor.

We were finally able to get out of the house with increasing regularity and our trip to visit the dinosaurs was a big hit (really, they just skipped their nap and we had to get out or they were going to tear the house down).
Zoe modeled a stylish black velvet dress with leopard print tights and JR sported a zip up sweater with cords. We have come a long way from the all-day pajama party.

And yet, thanks for the illnesses, we continued the all night parties. This aspect of preemie twin parenting was not the highlight of happiness.