First Flight

I booked Frick and Frack's first flight this evening. In March, we're all flying down to Puerto Rico so the twins can meet their other set of grandparents. By that time, they'll be 10 months old. Dad (that's me) is not looking forward to the flight all that much. The trip altogether will be fun, but the travel is going to be a nightmare. I hate airports at the best of times, I can't imagine how it's going to be with the twins, and all of their junk, in tow.

I've hated airports ever since my first flight, which did not come at 10 months for me, but rather when I was 22 years old, during the summer between my last semesters in college. (I graduated in December.) It was a flight to Raleigh, North Carolina for a job interview with IBM.

My dad gave me a lift to the airport and was patient with me as a bought a magazine and candy for the flight. "It's quarter-to-one," he reminded me.

"No problem, Dad, it's a 1pm flight," I said. He just nodded.

Of course when I got to the gate at 5 minutes of one, the attendents went on red alert. "He's here!" shouted one lady into her walkie-talkie. "Run!" she shouted at me. "Sit anywhere!" So I ran down the access gantry and sat down where the irked stewardesses told me to sit. The plane pulled out of the terminal right way.

I realized I'd almost missed the plane which would have been hugely embarrasing, and, I'm sure, would have caused me to be blackballed by IBM and maybe all of the other Fortune 500 companies.

My dad wanted me to learn my lesson, and I did. I've never been late for a flight since. Actually I'm uncomfortable unless I'm at the airport two hours early, so maybe I learned the lesson too well.

Luckily for me, the Missus understands. Most of the time.

Gas

I paid $2.59 per gallon for gas this morning. That was the lowest since Hurricane Katrina went through a couple of weeks ago. I think the highest I paid was $3.35, though I saw it as high as $3.69.

Now that Hurricane Rita is about to do more damage in the gulf, I wonder how high it's going to go this time.

UPDATE: This morning (Thursday the 29th) I paid $2.79 at good ol' Costco in Leesburg. Could be worse, I guess.

Busy Weekend

Busy weekend, and a busy week.

On Sunday, Tessa and Adam were baptised at St. John the Apostle Church in Leesburg. We had pretty much the whole family out. So, of course, the preceding days were full of cleaning and planning and putting up curtains and cleaning.

The day was a success. The twins behaved beautifully, defying all odds by not screaming bloody murder during the ceremony. Godmother Diane, sister to the Missus, braved dripping hot wax from the baptismal candle for Adam. Tessa rested comfortably in the arms of my brother, who will from now on only be called the Godfather.

The rest of the week we've been cleaning up and eating leftovers. I managed to catch a cold/bug of some kind and am trying not to pass it on to the twins. It's hard: they are both very kissable.

Here's the latest set of pictures. Enjoy.

Tough Weekend

Kind of a tough weekend at Camp Gleason. Both twins are teething away, even Tessa, normally calm, cool and collected was bothered by her gums. Adam was crying alot, especially in the afternoon and evening. The Missus and I were driven somewhat insane by the crying and spent parts of the weekend atypically arguing. The cry of a baby, I believe, works on the nervous system like fingernails on a blackboard. But enough with the science!

Saturday night, the Missus, her sister and some friends went to see one of their favorite Latin singers, named either "Julio Anthony" or "Marc Inglesias" or something like that. I think it might have been the guy that's married to J-Lo. Anyway, Tessa, Adam and I hunkered down for some Daddy time.

Around six-thirty, the babes were napping and I was enjoying a show I'd TiVo'd approximately a year-and-a-half ago when suddenly Adam started screaming. Then Tessa started screaming because Adam was. I started screaming when I saw the blood. Though we've tried our best to cut their nails, both teething twins have been sucking on their thumbs, fingers and hands, scratching their beautiful little faces in the process. Adam had a pretty good scratch on his cheek that had scabbed over. While sleeping, he managed to pull the scab off. It bled pretty good for a couple of minutes--while my heart bled for him.

It stopped, and he was fine. I'm still recovering.

Doctor's Visit

Poor Tessa and Adam got four shots apiece today at the doctor's office. They're sleeping now, after a very stressful day for them. The Missus is pretty stressed out too after taking them.

They're in good shape though--no problems.

Here are their new heights and weights:

Tessa: 14 pounds, 24 1/2 inches.
Adam: 15 pounds, 25 1/2 inches.

Their next appointment is in two months. They may be getting some more shots. I would take them but I'm sure I'm busy that day. Whenever it happens to be.

Shopping and Teething

We took advantage of the beautiful weather over the weekend to pack the kids up into the M1 Main Battle Stroller and go for a couple of nice walks. On Sunday, we actually walked the half-mile up to the Target/Costco shopping center and back. The twins did really well, except that the Missus and I miscalculated and neglected to bring them any food. Luckily our Super Target has everything, so we bought them some premixed formula and a new bottle. We fed them while enjoying some Costco pizza.

Saturday night, their Aunt Diane watched the twins while the Missus and I went to one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate our fifth anniversary. We enjoyed ourselves (I highly recommend Zeffirelli's veal chop!) and the twins were just fine.

Not all was happiness though. Adam has started to teethe and is pretty miserable about the whole thing. He's been crying a lot, and it's hard to calm him down. Tessa is teething too, we think, but she doesn't cry that much. She just drools. A lot.

All in all, a pretty nice weekend so far. Today is chore day--the Missus has a whole Honey-Do list.

Personality

I've added some more pictures of the babies. They are starting to show their personalities a little bit. Check out the Baby Pictures Index to see them.

Doppelganger

Doppelganger is a German word that means "double walker" and refers to a ghostly double or counterpart of a living person. It turns out the Missus apparently has a double, though this one isn't a ghost. My friend Ray recently saw a Disney movie called Sky High with his daughter and noticed this actress, who looks very much like a teenage doppelganger of my Missus. It's downright spooky!

Sleep, Glorious Sleep!

The twins are consistently sleeping through the night now and it is wonderful! We usually put them to bed before 8pm, and most of the time they'll sleep until after 6am. It's a great feeling to actually be alert when driving to work. Some days in the past few months I was so exhausted, it felt like I was underwater. Though I won't be out of the ocean for another eighteen years, it's nice to be on the surface again. I'm probably doing my job a lot better now too.

It's always a treat when the kids wake up. We have a separate monitor for each baby, so at first you hear them playing with the rattle that is attached to the mirror we put on the side of the crib. This is the best time to go get them, because the crying comes next. And who can blame them? They're hungry.

When you go to pick them up, they grin, they laugh. They're so happy to see you. Seeing their faces is like a smack of joy. It does a heart good.