Tessa and Adam's new beds

After spending a day or two at the hospital, what better way to celebrate my return home than to haul two really heavy beds into our house and up the stairs. Actually, I probably shouldn't have decided to pick that exact time to get them, but the kids are very happy and I'm glad it's done with.

The hospital stay started with waking up in the middle of the night in extreme pain. Due to family history, I thought for sure it was my gall bladder. It may or may not be: more doctor's visits are in my future. I'm feeling much better.

Since the twins were able to climb out of their cribs (and Adam was able to climb into his too), we knew that it was time to get them beds. The Missus found nice beds at Costco. The beds were nice in two ways: the price, and the quality. Those suckers are heavy. Believe me, I know.

First I had to rent a truck, get all the boxes home, then lug the various pieces up the stairs. Finally, I had to put them together and if I never see an Allen wrench again, it will be too soon!

The twins love sleeping in their new beds. They are starting to really understand that they have their own bedrooms. And maybe when it's bedtime they hopefully won't give us as much of a fight as they have been. Hopefully.

Magic Hour

Saturday I was up and out before everyone else was awake. I had my trusty camera with me and my goal was to take some pictures. One of my goals, anyway. Another goal was to have a little peace and quiet, which has become more and more rare in my house.

In Wikipedia, the "magic hour" in photography is described as "the first and last hour of sunlight during the day when a specific photographic effect is achieved with the quality of the light during these hours." I was trying for something like that, and drove up to the Brunswick Bridge to take some early morning pictures of the Potomac.

I also took a few pictures in the town, before heading back home to be Mr. Mom while the Missus went to work.

Here are a couple of pictures from that morning.

The Cannon Book

"Are you done reading the cannon book, Daddy?"

"No, son."

"Are you done reading the cannon book yet?"

"No, son."

Adam loves books. So do I, of course. I didn't think a trait like that could be inherited. I can't quite figure out how that would be encapsulated by genes and alleles. But, there is no mistaking that both father and son love books.

The cannon book that he was bugging me about all weekend is a case in point. I had found a set of Bruce Catton's Pulitzer Prize winning series, The Army of the Potomac, at a used book store. (Yes, I visit used book stores. Surprised?) My dad has the set and I read the three volumes years ago.

I started reading them again over the long weekend. For Civil War history buffs, I highly recommend these books. Catton tells the story of the main Federal army and its ultimately victorious fight against "Bob Lee" and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. It's a story of bad generals and brave soldiers and it is told well, with an eye for the details, humorous and not, that made up daily life for the soldiers of the time. Here's a story I like, from the third volume, A Stillness at Appomattox:

There were the age-old attempts to wangle furloughs. An Irish private one day went to his regimental commander, explaining that his wife was ill and the children were not well and that it was necessary for him to make a short visit home. The colonel fixed him with a beady eye and said: "Pat, I had a letter from your wife this morning saying she doesn't want you at home; that you raise the devil whenever you are there, and that she hopes I won't grant you any more furloughs. What have you to say to that?"

Quite unabashed, the soldier replied that there were "two splendid liars in this room" and that he himself was only one of them: "I nivir was married in me life."

For some reason, Adam always wants what I am reading. "Cannon book. Cannon book."

Finally I was done and gave him the book. He took it to bed with him last night, carefully turning the pages until he fell asleep.

If only he could read!

Car Opera

This weekend we took one of our patented long drives into the countryside. It is so nice when the twins fall asleep!

We ended up driving out past the Antietam Battlefield again, through Sharpsburg and Shepardstown and back home.

The kids slept most of the way out until we had lunch at a diner near Sharpsburg. After lunch the kids talked most of the way home. They also treated us to a mini opera. The subject, as far as there was one, had to do with Adam taking his shoes off:

TESSA (singing)
Adam, don't take your shoes off, your shoes off!

ADAM (also singing)
I can take my shoes off
If I want to!

TESSA
Don't do it!
Mommy said nooooooo!

ADAM
I just took my shoe off!
That's one! One!

Quite entertaining, for the first half-hour at least.

Air and Space

Last week, the Missus started her new job. Actually it is the same job, different location. The twins' daycare hasn't caught up yet, so Daddy's day off became Daddy Daycare. So we went to a museum.

The Air and Space Museum in Dulles to be exact. Though Adam is more of an airplane and spaceship fan than Tessa, both of them were excited to go. They behaved very well, and stayed with their father at all times. It was actually a great place to take them. There's a lot to see, and it's big, so there's a lot of walking to tire them out.

And there's ice cream! Stopping at the museum's McDonald's was the carrot I held out to them for good behavior. It worked.

They loved every part of the museum, except maybe for the Flying Tiger plane. The shark's teeth scared Tessa, and she didn't believe me when I explained it was only paint. They loved the ice cream the best.