February 20, 1999

I came to the realization this past weekend, that the babies don't live in our house, we live in theirs. Or, as Jill said, we live in their play room.

As you could probably tell by the front page, just a little over one year has passed since our beautiful babies came into the world. Watta year its been. Woowee.

We spent weeks in preparation for the Babies' birthday party, which is sad because I'm certain this will be the easiest birthday party we're likely to ever have for them. Perhaps we should start planning for next year's party now.

The babies have had their first year's checkup which just happened to coincide with their latest round of colds, ear infections, etc. I suppose we're lucky to have survived most of this first winter with as little health problems as we've had, but don't try to tell me that at 3 AM when all three are wide awake, cranky, and crying. I just might make you eat your words.

Everybody's just about better except me and I need a vacation.

Here's the latest numbers:

Carter: 19 lb. 1 oz, 29 1/2 in tall
Sara: 20 lb., 29 3/4 in tall
Zane 22 lb. 3 oz, 29 1/4 in

February 4, 1999

Diapers. As faithful readers of this site know, diapers are my life. Some of you may have noticed (see counter above), we have now passed the 8700 diapers changed mark and still have a good 2 plus years left on the clock.

That would be OK but it appears the dreaded day has come when the babies are learning what fun it is to take off each others diapers.

Day before yesterday, I went to get the babies to put them in their eating chairs for dinner, and while picking up Zane noticed that the leg of his jumper was wet. OK, its not unusual for diapers to spring leaks. However, as I was checking to see how extensive the leak was, my hand soon came to rest upon a bare and damp baby's bottom.

It was at that precise moment that I realized that he didn't just have a leak--he didn't have a diaper. Not only had he, or one of the others-- managed to pull off his diapers, they decided to hide it so that it took us a full day to find it.

The implications of this event stagger the mind.

While I suppose we may have to cover all baby areas with plastic or some other waterproof material, I wonder if we could get those spray on truck bed liner guys to do a whole room?

Last weekend the babies survived yet another complete day with me while Jill was teaching one of her famous weekend seminars. It is on occasions like this that I am reminded of the difference between men, women, Fathers and Mothers.

For example. Sometime around 8:30 or so, after the daily riot we call "breakfast," its time for the babies 2nd diaper change and to dress them in their day clothes. I certainly notice how cute the babies are dressed everyday, but its only on days where its up to me to dress them that I notice the process and implications of that process.

While the babies were happily finishing their post breakfast /riot bottle, I was faced with choosing 3 sets of clothes from the mind boggling array of onesies, twosies, dresses, overalls, jumpers, bumpers, and other baby things that Jill, my Mother, her mother,the babies 3 aunts, 18 great aunts, 4 great grandmothers, 53 cousins, and assorted friends (female) have acquired for our children.

It goes without saying that their wardrobe is several magnitudes larger than mine. But how does one choose among all the choices? I decided first to follow my manly instinct and go strictly utilitarian and pick something easy and practical--easy on/easy off.

However, it was kind of cold so I threw that idea away for something warmer. That meant that I actually had to pick combinations of onesies, twosies, dresses, overalls, jumpers, bumpers, and other baby things that were color coordinated.

Therein lies the difference between Jill and me and yet another eternal truth featured on this web site: Women care if babies' clothes are color coordinated. Men just want them covered in cloth of some kind.

1-13-99

Howdy Friends,

Thanks for all the nice things everybody has said about our Christmas letter. We appreciate your kind comments, words of encouragement, and, of course, interest in our family. Many of you have said you enjoy the humor--despite Jill's making me cut all the dirty jokes (which make ME laugh)--and that I should write a book. Well, since there are about 100 people a month who visit this website, and about 50 others who got the letter via USPS, I know there's a built-in audience. However, 150 is probably a few million below what one would need to attract a publisher. And besides, just where would I get the time to write a book?

I'm always complaining about the lack of time. The babies have caused such enormous time compression that the last year has gone so fast my head is spinning faster than Linda Blair's in the The Exorcist. I remember just a few short weeks after the babies' birth, my friend and mentor Dr. William W. Savage, Jr., told me that I would reach the babies' second birthday and wonder where the past two years had gone. At the time, I thought he was nuts because with Carter and Zane still in the NICU and Sara just recently home, I feared the days would pass slower than frozen molasses. However, now that we are approaching the babies' first birthday, I know that Dr. Savage was correct, as usual.

Enough crap. Now on to Baby News:

For those of you in the pool, the winner of the Baby Walking Contest is (drum roll please):

Sara! [Applause signs on].

My predictions that she'd be walking by Christmas have proven true. Although I'm not sure you can exactly call it walking. She is definitely standing, is able to stand by herself from a sitting position, and can take a few steps until she gets too excited, starts hopping, then loses her balance and falls down. I think this counts.

It is awfully cute and awfully thrilling to see these first tentative steps and how excited she gets. All we need is a gimmicky song by a garage band and we could start a 60s dance crazy right up there with the Fly, the Mashed Potato, the Jerk, and the Twist. What would it be called? The Sara Hop? The Baby Boogie? The Wobble?

My prediction is that Carter will be next to walk.

Speaking of Carter, he's got 2 new teeth and has added "Hi" to his vocabulary, which now consists of: Hi, Dada, Mama, good, and Carter. He is also the first to use a full sentence: Hi Da.

He was second to get a haircut from me (Its much worse than it looks).

Zane is still Mr. Big, weighing in at a huge 22 lb., 12 oz. The others are in the low 19-lb range.

The babies are continuing to stay one step ahead of our efforts to stay ahead of them. Recent adjustments made to the house include covering the baby gates with cardboard to keep them from climbing over, a plexiglass cover for our glass stereo cabinet door that the babies seem to love hammering with an assortment of baby toys, body parts, etc., and installing seat belts in everything they sit in.

Later.