Faith to Vishwas

ZZzzzzZZzzzZZzzz

2012-02-15T12:30:00.004-05:00

Our girls are champion sleepers at night. I'm probably doomed to sleepless nights at the mere mention of this but all three girls are usually down for the count by 7:15 and don't really stir again until 6:45 in the morning. There are, of course, exceptions to their routine, however they typically hit the mattress and are snoozing within minutes.

...and sleeping children are just simply gorgeous, don't you agree?

Their contented little breaths....snuggled up to their doll or stuffed whatever....often with their little rear ends pointing straight up in the air.

However, our girls nighttime slumber habits do not carry over into the daytime. For 6 weeks or so, they have transitioned to only taking one nap during the day, often for only 1 hour. This makes for an activity filled day and occasional over-tired melt-downs that could shake the grounds of Chernobyl!

Lately, they find a few minutes in the afternoon for a power nap. This could occur at any place and any time with little or no warning. Thus, the photo below.

I adore this photo. Not because of its undeniable cuteness, however it's the expression of the bear that tells this story. What do you think he is thinking?

"FAN-FRICKIN'-TASTIC...my leg has fallen asleep!"
- or -
"What a sad lump I have become! I used to live in the woods and could inspire screams by just walking by. Look at me now! - - BOO! - - Nothing!!!"
- or -
"Hey...little girl...how 'bout a freshened diaper before you get all comfortably snuggled up in my business!'
- or -
"Psssst - Goldilocks - look over there...PORRIDGE!'
- or -
"I cannot bear how cute you are...get it...bear...I said bear because I'm a bear....oh, forget it! I'm here all week ladies and gentlemen. Don't forget to tip your waiter.'

Any others?

A Valentine for Daddy Paul

2012-02-14T06:57:00.000-05:00

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

2012-02-11T21:47:00.000-05:00

They say higher the hair...closer to JESUS!

If that is true, bath time is like CHURCH at our house.

MMMMM...K!

I feel like a truly terrible parent this week. I mentioned last week that our girls were not feeling well and had fevers. Well, with a little rest and Tylenol, all seemed to be under control and slowly marching towards health. You saw the video from last week. The girls weren't really acting different, just a little more cranky.

Well, Thursday morning, Aria woke up with a cough that sounded like she was Kathleen Turner after smoking a pack of filterless reds. I had to go to the office so Paul made arrangements to bring her in to the pediatrician only to discover along with the coup, she had an ear infection.

Naturally, our Doctor inquired about the other girls and he told her that they were a little fussy this week as well and had a runny noses, but no fevers nor other symptoms. She suggested Paul go back home and bring Sidney and Vivian in for a quick check just to be safe since Aria's cough is likely contagious.

He returned and thankfully Vivian was given a clear bill for the coup, but it turns out she also had an ear infection.

URG!

Not to be outdone, Sidney has/had an ear infection in BOTH ears!

Dammit! 6 ears...and 4 infections!

We now have about a gallon of antibiotics in the fridge and a return appointment in two weeks to make sure all is fine.

The thing is....the girls had ZERO symptoms after their fever last week - no pulling on the ears - no redness - NADA - and I feel just rotten that they may have had achy ears for nearly an entire week.

Our little girls are funny little critters! These pictures were taken tonight before we tucked them in to bed. Either ear infections have changed since I was a kid or their threshold for pain is much greater than their baby-Daddy (that is their Daddy who is a major baby.)

How I amuse myself....let me count the ways

2012-02-05T20:57:00.001-05:00

Hello. It has been a busy time around our house. We found a fantastic new home and have been focused on a stranger-than-fiction real estate transaction over the last few weeks. I'll tell you more about that soon when we hopefully get over all the humps that ensure it is inevitable.

In the meantime, we had a weekend full of activities planned, however we sidelined everything on Friday when Paul called me at the office and said all three girls had fevers. Urg! They weren't really acting sick but they were definitely grumpy, drooling, and all clocking in at over 100 degrees with Aria peaking at 102.8.

She also had slight bleeding in her gums from some molars erupting from her mouth. We decided it was likely all due to a new round of teething but cancelled the weekend plans nonetheless, just to be safe.

By morning, the girls still had slight fevers but were not really acting any less goofy than a normal. So, what's a Daddy to do when he has no plans and an entire Saturday to hang with his girls?

Let's put on a show and act silly...NATCH!

My brother and sister-in-law gave us these funny little puppets for Christmas. We can't help but notice a slight resemblance to the Daddies that are raising our children and wonder if that was on purpose.

Hmmmmmm.....

Well, we decided to use them to teach our girls valuable life lessons about their two Daddies. I'm just kidding (sort of)....it's really just to give me an opportunity to do inappropriate things with puppets (...think 'Muppets Gone Wild') and give the girls some material to talk about in therapy someday.

To be honest, they A-D-O-R-E these puppets. Sidney has already found her inner skills of manipulation, trying to steal some of my best material. She is SUCH A HAM with no apparent need for an audience to make herself giggle. I can't imagine where she picks any of this up, but her shtick clearly has a fan in Aria!

Anyway, I had an entire day and a new memory card for my camera. So, just in case it was ever in question, I now have proof positive that I'm a giant child and need very little to entertain myself. Of course, our incredible little trio inspire even more regression in my maturity level on the weekends.

I'm doubtful I'll get an inquiry to host a children's show anytime soon and I can only promise that if you watch this video, I will be unable to give you your 8 minutes and 51 seconds back however, you can have a full refund of your admission if you don't giggle at least once. Heck, if you don't laugh at least 6 times, I kinda want to know my material ain't working. (P.S. Look for an appearance by none other than Paul in the last minute!)

Take a look....

The Best Nanny!

2012-01-25T16:56:00.002-05:00

If a tree falls in the woods but there is nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?

That is how I feel when I leave the house in the morning to go to work. Since I am not home, nobody is having fun...right? They are saving the good times for my return at the end of the day...right???!

WRONG!

Thankfully, we have the world's very best Nanny...and apparently every day is a party in our former living room. (These days, our living room is a makeshift holding pen - slash - collection of brightly colored toys that dare you to trip and break a hip!)

Paul works from home so he gets to peripherally enjoy all the girls various games and activities, stepping in during the day for the best parts. Me, on the other hand, I have to sit in traffic, then a chair, then traffic again, before I get to again revel in their smiles, 10+ hours later.

Anyway, Sabine made this little video for me the other day and sent it to me to watch while I'm at the office. They are just having too much fun without me...GASP!

See for yourself....

The Vishwas Heart

2012-01-22T20:39:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, I participated in an interview about transnational families created through surrogacy in India, conducted by a PhD candidate in Sociology from the University of Texas.

We have participated in a few similar interviews for other projects in the past and I know that many of my blogger colleagues have likewise been invited to be a part of this as well as several other sociology projects flirting with the Indian surrogacy topic.

Inevitably, I am reminded through these interviews of the extraordinary global, online community that has become an important staple of our shared, unique journey.

The conversations always include fond references to others who have blogged their way to family-hood with a predictable intertwined network of people in common.

I always think the interviewers are lucky to have spoken with many of us, hearing our stories in our own voices, reliving our extraordinary highs and sometimes monumental lows over an hour or two.

They get to assemble a through line of common themes or sentiments as well contrast those highs that nearly always succeed devastating lows. Personally, I don't know anyone who has some form of adversity or disappointment that preceded the birth of their child(ren).

It is ironic that at the mere mention of the Mikes or Meg or Terry or Lisa or Jojo or any number of others, I automatically assume that there is no need for further explanation of who they were or how we are forever connected in an abstract way.

I am confident that all of us who have found ourselves in India holding a newborn baby (...or 3) can trace the roots of our end-result to a particular pedigree of blogs that preceded our individual paths. As a matter of fact, if Paul hadn't voraciously read some of those blogs (along with his gifted-ness in persuasive nagging), I am fairly certain I would not be a parent today.

When I started writing THIS blog, I had no idea if it would ever matter to anyone outside of my living room. Paul still enjoys this blog more than anyone else I know. (Hi honey!)

My original plan was to just write down a few thoughts to see if it would help pass the time until our family arrived.

My keyboard found a LOT of words since September of 2009 (some 300 posts ago) and I discovered a few things along the way:

1) An enjoyment for writing that I had no idea existed - I was definitely a mediocre student when it came to assigned writing in school. I have kept personal journals over the years from time to time but never wrote anything with the intent of sharing with others. I would surely blush if any of those journals surfaced now. Why would anyone give two bits about our life? Somehow I found a rhythm that worked for me and remarkably, others seemed to care about what I had to say. The support and encouragement throughout has come from corners of the world that I really couldn't fathom would care about some gay couple creating a family in the suburbs of New York City. And I am grateful that you have taken the time to read my often wordy musings.

2) A deep seeded rooting to 'our' pregnancies - somehow, writing down the good, the bad, the terrifying, and the incredible, gave us a way to feel connected to this surreal thing that was happening 8,000 miles away, throughout all of the ups and downs. It helped mask fears and gave me the platform to share our genuine pride of what we did/were doing/had done.

Until the babies arrived, there was a very small part of us that wondered if it was really happening at all...or if the entire thing was some elaborate hoax. IMAGINE!?!?

This was especially difficult during a few sh*t storms, driven by wayward souls of judgement and skepticism that somehow confused me with someone who gave a hoot what they thought.

Does any long time reader of this blog remember when I was called a 'misogynistic little gay man' after a rabid group of Mommy bloggers ganged up on our story and insisted we were engaged in oppressive exploitation? Or, the feral pit bull who created his family in India only to become its loudest, most offensive critic, squarely focused on spreading misinformation, gossip, and ill-will to anyone who would listen to one of his many rhetoric-filled aliases? ....that was, until Meg finally got a firm grasp of his set and had his venomous words permanently neutered.

Sadly, the truth was that I did care and it hurt me deeply. I very badly wanted to go off the deep end and launch a profanity laden attack, showing off my much greater talent of unrelenting tactics to eliminate obstacles of unwarranted negativity. In the end, we always tried to find the high road and ignore the white noise borne of ignorance. It was all a bit coo-coo in retrospect but writing during that time helped ease the conspiracies and name calling.

And...

3) This journal has resulted in a very special gift for our children someday - can you imagine if your parents had recorded your personal history from before conception onward in a way that was framed with the unparalleled love that only grew stronger with each day?

When I have nearly stopped writing regular updates on more than a handful of occasions, this is what I have thought about. I may be tired, very tired, very very tired, or just convinced nobody cares anymore. However, someday, 15 or 20 years from now, I think our girls will cherish this VERY LONG story. Or, at a minimum, I'll have reference notes to share with them details that would have otherwise been lost and forgotten, regardless of their special-ness.

As a result of nearly 3 years of writing, I am very proud to be included among the roster of available stories that have caused a byproduct of our incredible fortune, hope.

To that end, the soon to be new Dads at LOOKING FOR BABY..., generously shared our blog with their readers recently as part of the Liebster award thing that is parading around many of the blogs that we read and enjoy. I won't repeat the genesis of the award nor share the rules for passing it on but I do want to acknowledge that we are touched by the appreciation. We hope that Doug and Bill know how special they have become as the poster children of persistence. It is somewhat incomprehensible that we started our quest of surrogacy at around the same time. We cannot wait to FINALLY virtually meet your baby girl in 4ish months. And since you live in Hawaii, I hope you have a spare room for someday visitors...something simple...that can accommodate 3 little girls and their doting fathers. :-)

Anyway, INSTEAD of passing on the Liebester award, I thought this was a good opportunity to acknowledge those - without blogs - who participate in this community in a different way.

Over the last few years, we have met former strangers who were somehow impacted by our story in a way that has subsequently impacted our life. Some traveled parallel with us on a path through India. Some just happened to intersect with our family through a form of lucky kismet. And some - incredibly - shared with us the greatest compliment of flattery and pride; that our story --- our experience in words --- has nurtured their own very personal story that now includes a child...or one on the way.

To all of our readers; former strangers and future former strangers....

I present to you the Vishwas Heart!

It is over-sized, plush, filled with gratitude, and readily available for sharing.

If you have made it this far in another wordy post, I hope you know that every word we have ever written genuinely comes from the heart and celebrates the joy that now sits right behind it!

Ironically, we may not have gotten here with YOU!

What I Did For My Christmas Vacation

2012-01-10T20:31:00.000-05:00

la la la la...and then we arrived home.

~~~ THE END! ~~~

This could be a long one so no offence taken if you skip this narrative and just wait for another fluffy post of pictures. However, I know if I don't write down some of the details of our little journey, they'll be lost into the corners of my ever growing forgetfulness. And I want the details of our first family vacation to be available to our girls someday. So, if you're on board, you can refer back to the photos in the prior post and apply where appropriate. Here goes.....

***

Christmas in Paul's family is a bi-annual event where they all converge on one home for a week long holiday/reunion on odd years. With a very large family spread across the country, it is usually a fun destination. The last few visits were in Las Vegas, San Diego, and San Fran. His eldest sister lives in Salt Lake City. This year, with the addition of our girls, they hosted 30 or so of us. It's basically like a suburban refugee camp....well, a refugee camp where every day there was turkey and pie!

We arrived at the airport easily 4 hours prior to our scheduled departure time. This was Paul's idea. As much as I protested, it was probably a good one to better navigate the pre-Christmas madness. We checked in 4 giant suitcases curbside and gave a little wink (and $20 bill) to the man who overlooked that at least one bag was WAY overweight and vaguely smelled of garlic from the 2 1/2 dozen fresh bagels stuffed in at the end.

I had to park the van in long term parking so I left Sabine, Paul, and three little ladies in the terminal and met them shortly thereafter to formally begin our steady decent into airport HADES. I mean....to begin our family holiday.

Truthfully, the entirety of the travel parts of our trip were not nearly as bad as we easily could have imagined. But it WAS a substantial effort that should have included an awards assembly coupled with a bouquet of fresh cut daisies at the end!

Once we all reconvened, we reassembled ourselves of what was not checked in our luggage and made our way towards the security gate. Admittedly, we must have looked like nomads from the rainbow village with our 2 strollers, 3 diaper bags, cooler bag, heavy coats, a few blankets, pillow pets, our own back packs and computer bags, and I'm sure there was some other saddles hanging from miscellaneous appendages.

I am always grateful in times like those for my tenure as a 16 year old youth, backpacking through the wilderness of the New Mexico mountains for 2+ weeks with the Boy Scouts; not for our prowess of packing - CLEARLY that merit badge has been revoked - but for my mule like ability to lug giant weighty bags and not fall over and die.

Anyway, off we went toward the security line. Being SOOO early for our scheduled departure definitely had an advantage in that there wasn't yet an army of rushed happy family members trying to reach their destinations. We approached the family line and when we arrived at the conveyor belt leading to the x-ray, we started a lengthy disassemble/reassemble routine....with babies on hips....shoes off, coats off, shoes and belts off, diaper bags, computers out, strollers folded, point out the cooler with the kids food...it was literally 18 feet of our stuff lined up as we waited to be summoned to pass through the metal detector. Thankfully anyone behind went to a different line at the site of us.

Sabine and Sidney fly through with no problem.

BEEEPP - Paul and Aria have to return back and take off his sweatshirt hoody and go again....who knows what's under those layers!?!?

BEEEPP - As I am passing Vivian throws up her hand and touches the side....back and return again

Once we are all beep-less and through to the other side, we were met with a massive pile up of our stuff to reassemble as we try to remain calm as the hordes of TSA workers watch without so much as a finger lifted to help. Why is the conveyor belt 1/2 the length on the receiving side as it is on the loading side?

Naturally, the girls have no interest in going BACK into their strollers after being carried through that last bit of excitement so we begin to wrestle wiggling - now whining and crying - girls back into position, pile the bags back on and wait as they do a thorough examination of the kids food.

We knew it was important to have the girls drink/suck on a bottle during the ascent so Paul decided to bring the leftover pre-made formula we had, despite the girls not having drank formula for 3 or 4 months. We could have found milk somewhere within the terminal I am sure but my husband - being who he is - was determined to use that last batch that was just sitting on a shelf at home.

The TSA worker examined every single 2 ounce bottle and after nearly 7 minutes, determined that we in fact were not al queda and could pass!

Seriously, I'm all for security, safety, motherhood, AND the flag...but the process of air travel has become so undignified. Standing half dressed in my droopy drawers and socks, dripping in babies, sweat, and bags, trying to get 5 feet further to the euphoric resumed anonymity of the terminal requires an amount of patience normally reserved for monks.

Alas, we made it to the other side.

Since we now had approximately 3 hours before our flight, our next step was the club lounge. After we checked in, we looked around the room at the mostly serious people, cocktails in hands, raising only one eye to read the circus act that is us. We wondered how long we'd be welcome.

After temporarily taking over the 'quiet room' within the lounge, we found a corner, blocked off the area with cushy arm chairs, and unleashed our hounds to explore. We took turns with the girls leading the way, holding our finger and walking around the entire lounge, looking at the planes outside (ironically an Indian Air flight was just outside the window), and waving to strangers trying to persuade pre-Christmas smiles out of complete strangers (with very little luck I might add - tough crowd!).

Next, we took a Financial Times newspaper and spread it all around the floor, laughed with excitement, and danced. Then, we placed cheerios deep into new found corners the cleaning crews would really have to work at to get to, and ate our weight in complimentary bananas.

Finally, our flight time was approaching. We left the lounge and went for a stroll up and down the long hallway waiting for our boarding call. Paul decided it was the right time to treat the girls allergies - ahem - giving them a healthy dose of children's Benadryl.

I was not really on board with drugging our children but I had already been beaten down by this point of our trip so I just stepped aside and hoped for the best.

We were literally the first people to board the plane, gate checking our strollers and snuggling in to our seats in 3 different rows, each with a babies planted on our laps for the 5 hour trip. The flight was completely full so the girls - in their pre-medicated haze - were a little loopy as people boarded. There was a sudden burst of energy from Vivian and I had to wrestle her into compliance several times in our window seat, trying to distract her with the things going on outside. After 20 minutes of this, she was getting down right pissed off at me and the water works started with flailing arms and yelps.

There was a very understanding woman who sat next to me. I offered to buy her a drink and she kindly smiled in return as she told me that she traveled with her toddler boy 20 years ago and she still remembers that trip. She poked him next to her and reminded him what a handful he was.

Vivian was standing on my legs at one point and waving to Paul on the other side of the plane. I said to her, 'Do you see Daddy?' My neighbor perked up and said with great interest, 'Oh....you're not her parent?'

I smiled simply and answered, 'No, I am. That's her other Daddy.'

She nodded, resumed her feelings of sympathy, and that was the end of that.

Like most same sex parents, we get the occasional, 'where is their mother' type questions but we really haven't had any ill feelings launched in our direction regarding our un-traditional makeup. I know it'll happen eventually so I always have 3 or 4 speeches prepared in my mind, ready for their passionate reading. Thankfully, they continue to grow dusty....

However, most of the time, when we travel anywhere with our au pair, she automatically assumed to be the girls Mom. Yup, she's our beard! When people approach her to chat - and COMPLETELY ignore Paul and I - just look right past us - we just sit back and giggle a little on the inside waiting for her to share our not so secret family recipe. She is a good sport and has a healthy sense of humor so we usually all get a good chuckle out of it, especially when people pry into how she carried three babies in her 4 foot 11 inch frame!

Once the plane started to taxi down the runway, we each popped a bottle into the girls mouths and within 30 seconds, they were all content and firmly on a path to a deep sleep. Unbelievably, they slept the entire
flight, only waking to shift or better secure their snuggle. That being said, Vivian is 25 pounds and, somewhere over Chicago, I lost feeling in my legs. The lap ride is like holding a sac of lumpy potatoes filled with molten lava so I am fairly sure our next plane adventure will include seats for everyone.

Now, if you have ever been to Salt Lake City - or any city in a square state between the coasts - you have likely experienced a level of overt friendliness that can be down right off putting. Maybe my Yankee boy sensibility is showing but after a long flight at the end of an even longer day, I just want to get into my rented car, strap in my E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D children, and move on with life.

However, there were countless 100-watt smiles and no less than 4 hands extended to me to shake, welcome me to Salt Lake City, and inquire about my plans before I could get in our overpriced rental minivan. I really wasn't trying to be unpleasant but I am fairly sure I came across as abrupt as I finally said, '...can you just give me the keys to the van I rented so I can get going...'

'But where's your luggage sir?'

'It's UPSTAIRS with my triplets....can I...'

'Oh you have triplets, how wonderful....girls or boys...'

YADA YADA YADA - GIVE ME THE KEYS!!!

By the time we arrived at Paul's sister's house, it was nearly midnight on our clocks and the girls were still a bit raw from our travelogue (and the post haze of a Benadryl hangover) so they all burst into tears when we walked in the house as they were greeted by a crowd of people reaching for them with a unison parade of 'AWWWWWWWWW.....'

We helped the girls get acclimated for a few minutes and found our room already set up with 3 pack-n-plays ready to receive some very sleepy occupants.

We were worried about the sleeping arrangement, essentially having 3 cribs surround the bed where Paul and I would sleep. The last time we tried this maneuver in a Buffalo hotel room, we caused some sleepless nights that went well past our walls.

However to our surprise and delight, they slept pretty comfortably and within a range of what is normal for them for the entire stay, even taking decent naps. Nevertheless, that first night had them awake by 4:30 in the morning. It was 6:30 at home and our attempts at explaining how to sleep off any jet lag went on deaf ears so we reluctantly were forced to begin our day.

The day was filled with meeting or seeing again their grandparents (Lolo and Lola in Tagalog), 10 aunts and uncles, and 10 cousins who were all eager to hang out and teach the girls new tricks - like a new fist bump thing that is Vivian's new greeting of choice.

Later that morning, I challenged some of the younger kids to teach the girls to say 'Merry Christmas' and the first one to achieve it would receive $100! Ha. The rosetta stone has nothing on these motivated kids! It was pretty funny as they started a rapid fire teaching technique that may have continued on to water boarding if we didn't intervene and explain that they couldn't take the children out of the room for their speech lessons. You should have seen their faces when I told them $500 if they can get 'Czechoslovakia' out of any of them.

It was soon going to be Christmas eve. Although I wanted to hunker down and be lazy, I finally got around to unpacking my suitcase and realized we were going to have to make a trip to do some last minute shopping. This is when my underwear drawer, despite being more than 2,500 miles away, taught me a valuable lesson that one should never put away laundry and pack for a trip away at the same time.

Urg. Off to the strip mall.

That night, the family planned on attending Christmas mass. So we ignored instinct, dolled up the girls (who were already SOOOO far beyond 'off schedule') and stepped into our first Catholic church in years. Once we were inside, it was apparent that we were about to have a squiggle wiggle festival of antsy little girls.

We decided to regale ourselves with sippy cups and cheerios to the room that at least a few people referred to as the 'cry room.'

I could riff on this for a while but I won't. However, I am curious if this is a Catholic thing or do other religions have rooms to sequester the potentially noisy families? It seems counter intuitive to me. The goal for us has always been to engage our children while in Church and help them feel at home during mass, trying to teach them how to behave in that setting...that has tended to work 90% of the time in our church. And the other 10% we don't apologize for because sometimes children don't listen. What's the point of getting dressed up to babysit in a separate room away from home.

We were not sure how sound proof the room was - or if it had a direct link to Rome - but it was a reasonable interim parking spot to let our girls zoom and scream for a few minutes as we judged the Catholics and their new incomprehensible mass parts that have forced every congregant to refer to a laminated card.

Did I just cross a line?!?! Well, according to the former Nazi youth in Gucci slippers, I'm probably going to hell on a slide lined with rainbows anyway. Don't believe me? Read here if you want to see how my little family is allegedly working to unravel humanity!

Instead of laminating new prayers and continuing to oppress women's participation in your boys club, how about an agenda of inclusion of values based on actual values not prejudiced on genitalia and where it goes!!!

Sorry...deep breath.

Suffice it to say, despite being a-la-carte Catholics for most of our lives, we struggle with some of the positions that the church takes as it relates to our family which inevitably taints how we would feel in their space.

In any event, we made it to the homily and decided that nobody was getting anything out of the service sitting alone, in a glass box in the back of the church, unable to see or hear much, feeling as distant as ever from the church that baptized me.

We returned home to an empty house where we could focus on getting the girls settled into bed for what would hopefully be a full night of sleep.

It was a Christmas miracle that they slept beautifully which allowed us all to get some much needed rest.

Christmas morning was a madhouse as could be imagined when there are 30 people devouring Santa's significant bounty. My favorite part of the day was when put the girls in their strollers and took a walk in the quiet shadows of the nearby mountains. Somehow, during our hike, Vivian lost a sneaker. Thankfully, Sabine back tracked our walk in reverse and naturally found it nearly at the first turn.

The next day we had a family photo shoot at a nearby park and then spent the afternoon in Park City, the famous ski resort town and host of Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival. The snow has been absolutely dreadful this season in Utah so it was fairly un-crowded on a sunny post Christmas day. Fine enough for us as we strolled the shops, found some bling, and had a filling lunch in a pizza place.

Sometime around Tuesday, we finally felt like we were on our first family vacation, getting to do and see things without sacrificing sleep. Driving my family around in a rented minivan to see stuff felt very Dad-like. That was a neat feeling.

There was a small aquarium nearby and the girls really liked seeing the creatures of the deep. The penguins were my favorite. Is it wrong that I always have a pang for sushi when I go to aquariums?

That afternoon, we were treated to a date night where we left the kids behind and went to a moving picture show in a cinema! IMAGINE...a MOVIE!!! Do you know how long it has been since we saw a movie? Add up the girls age and add a few weeks and there is your answer.

Anyway, what did we choose? The Muppets, of course. Paul and I have polar opposite tastes in movies but we can usually agree on the family friendly fare and having seen some old friends from Henson recently, this was an easy choice.

We got the largest bucket of popcorn offered, a giant box of raisinettes, and shared a coke the size of a small car fuel tank. I was particularly proud that I didn't fall asleep in a dark room for 2 hours ...but then again, it was 5:30 and my bladder was busting from the 7 gallons of coke. (Who's jealous of our life?!?!)

You may have seen the video I made of our tubing experience in an earlier post. That REALLY was a surprising highlight of our trip. We assumed we'd walk around and watch our nieces and nephews slide down a hill but never assumed we'd have a chance to stuff our babies in tubes and push them down their own mini slopes.

It was really the first time the girls got to see/feel snow. That day made us feel about 10 years old and full of excitement for the lifetime of new things we'd get to try all over again - - - but this time through the eyes of 3 curious little souls that light up our sky!

As the week went on, our list of tourist sites dwindled but not before we did a day trip to see the great Salt Lake, the Dead Sea of the United States.

And no visit to Salt Lake City would be complete without a stop at Temple Square, the Vatican of the Mormon church. If the Mormon Church was founded by Walt Disney, THIS would be his Disney World. It is a 35 acre plot that includes several museums, halls, libraries, visitor centers, presentations, and of course the Temple from which the entire city is built around.

We inquired about a tour in the main visitor center from one of the missionaries. The first person we met happened to come from Vienna - and lived in the same village that our Au Pair had come from. We of course found Sabine and pushed her over to chat with her countryman. While she was stuck talking to Sister Wienerschnitzel, we laughed at the irony of having such a far away, random connection.

We have always believed that, despite their baggage - especially regarding the gays - all denominations and faiths are created with the intention of spiritual goodness and worthy of interest and exploration. Clearly, that doesn't mean we agree with them (see comments re our Catholic baggage above!), but we are always pleased to have a look behind a curtain when it's gently raised and we are invited in.

With babies strapped to our chests, we proceeded to see the beautiful architecture in the assembly hall, which was the first built building in the complex in the late 1800's. My first thought was that this is a VERY young church! Nonetheless, the most interesting factoid we learned was when our guides stressed that although the columns within the space looked like marble, they were in fact wood painted to appear like stone. This was done because 'the very best should be in place to celebrate Jesus.'

I SOOOO badly wanted to raise my hand and say, 'Ummm, no disrespect intended, but who exactly are you fooling with the faux-ness? Don't ya think Jesus knows? ...and one other thing, wood is beautiful too!'

But occasionally, even I behave...so I kept quiet.

Next we saw the great tabernacle where the Mormon choir performs and then we arrived at the GIANT JESUS - a 20 or 30 foot impressive statue that was the beginning of the hall of ornate paintings from various scriptures and then the interactive film presentation that went through several rooms explaining the tenants of the Mormon church. It was very well put together and reminded me of the Akshardham Temple in Delhi with a few less animatronics.

After an hour or so, our guides presented us with their missionary cards to fill out if we wished to receive more information about their church. We all thanks them for their hospitality and politely declined. BUT, I did consider filling one out for the most wayward members of the family that weren't with us just for kicks. After all, a little mail-order religion followed by a visit from a man on a bike never did anyone any harm.

For dinner, we went to Moochie's Meatballs, a dive on the outskirts of town that was featured on a Food Network show. It was good. The girls had their first taste of sweet potato french fries. Those were a hit.

Our final free day brought us to the dinosaur museum where we let the girls run around and explore on their own. They were timid at first but then grew positively giddy with freedom as they literally ran circles around xyz-a-souruses.

The return flight home was largely uneventful. We did the same routine as going but in reverse. Vivian and Sidney had a harder time falling asleep this time but eventually succumbed to a long but wiggly nap.
Before falling asleep however, Vivian was busy flirting - HONEST TO GOD I'M SCREWED - with the 20-something boys in the row behind me. At first, she popped her head over my shoulder just to smile but that turned into full-on eye lash fluttering (thanks to a relative who taught her about her pretty eyes) and blowing kisses with a tilted head.

Give me strength when she reaches puberty!

We arrived back into the comfort of our own messy home at midnight last Sunday. Our first real family vacation was over. We survived the entire trip with a few missed hours of sleep in exchange for a mountain of new memories. It was a lot of work to travel but all in all, a pretty special holiday.

Now wasn't that fun?

P.S. The next family Christmas gathering is in 2013 - and it is at OUR HOUSE!

Happy 2012

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

Our holiday away from home has been an adventure to fill another volume of our accumulated memory books. We are returning home tomorrow on New Years Day with bellies and hearts full of goodness.

I am too tired right now to recount the many new stories that have been the crescendo to our 2011. It is 11:58 in New York right now. The ball drops in 2 minutes and the new year officially arrives on U.S. soil...I am 2 time zones to the left and fading fast so I'll try and last a few more minutes and whisper 'Happy New Year' as to now wake the girls.

In the meantime, here are a few photos from our trip. I was going to write captions but I'm too lazy right now and figure they are pretty self explanatory anyway.

Wishing you all the goodness you deserve for a 2012 filled with never ending new memories and dreams that burst into your reality!

Happy New Year!

A Day at the Slopes

2011-12-28T21:43:00.003-05:00

We have been enjoying our holiday in the Beehive state, surrounded by the sites and sounds of the season. I will write a proper holiday update of our adventures (which continue to pile up!) when I have some free time. Until then, here is a video of our tubing trip today.

I was skeptical that the girls would enjoy being put in an inner tube and pushed down a hill. But...well, see for yourself.

Enjoy.

Watch Us Grow - and - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-22T14:11:00.000-05:00

2011 will be long remembered as one of the most wonderful years of our lives. And well it should!

In years past, the end of December approached filled with memories of travel to far-away places, fantastic dinner parties, lazy weekends, and a growing appreciation for the fullness of our complacent life.

This year, despite never going anywhere, rarely eating a meal at a table, and no longer getting to have a lazy anything, our life definitely feels exponentially fuller.

On January 1st, three curious little faces were gazing at us. With their little heads acting like giant anchors to their ~25 pounds of combined body weight. They could not yet move independently however, they were poised to outgrow their entire wardrobe 3 times over the approaching year. When we look back and try to remember what those early days were like, the excitement of holding their head up without any help.... a first time rolling over...or a first smile....or a first tooth....

The heart-warming good stuff overshadows all of the hard work that prevented us from any meaningful time with our pillows. I guess that is somewhat cliche but it is truer than we would have believed at this time last year.

If it weren't true, who would ever have a second child?

February was a month filled with snow. A LOT OF SNOW! It was one of the worst winters in at least a decade in the north east. The thaw seemed to allude us until early spring was firmly on the calendar. But, it was fitting weather for us since it was our sequestered season of around the clock growing!

Even still, we did make an effort to leave the house whenever we could, just for a change of scenery. Our girls wanted to see a little bit of the world that waited to entertain them. Getting into the van was, and still is, a challenge. Of course, back in March, the kids were still closer to hand-checked luggage than the wiggly little people they are today.

It was also March when their new feeding station arrived! This has proved to be a very useful addition despite being wedged among the overcrowded furniture in our house (that started growing smaller by the day around this time). Their new menu of mushy rice and oatmeal was soon to cause shivers of delight as they began to give up their 6-daily bottles of formula.

We also spent the better part of the early winter getting organized for the bureaucratic hoops of completing the legal stuff that solidified our family. After the home study, zillions of reference letters, interviews with social workers, and plenty of attorney and court fees, we were deemed fit to be parents to our own children!?!?! (Insert sigh of frustration here.) Although it was somewhat infuriating at the time, we diligently navigated the legislative labyrinth that couldn't figure out how to fill out the paperwork for our children's debut in the world. In the end, we were formally minted a family and cross-adopted our children....finally and forever!!!

By the time April rolled around, we were on the cusp of having to build the cage that has eventually overtaken my living room. MY GOD, remember how easy life was when watching a pile of girls meant plopping them on the ground and letting them try and figure out how to roll?

Once we were in early Spring, the weather was a little friendlier. We started making regular appearance in Church. It was a major feat of achievement to get them gussied up and out the door. I think we nearly always arrived before the end of the entrance hymn. For me, that was good enough to be considered an on-time arrival! Even if the girls do not appear to be thrilled with this new weekly routine, it was an excellent opportunity to hand them over to a 'rent-a-granny' who would happily snuggle with them for an hour during mass. By this time, Vivian was wearing her first of 2 head-shaping helmets. When she didn't have a hat on, she looked like a storm trooper.

And who can forget that magical fairy-tale royal wedding in May? Our house is full of royalty with our Princesses (and at least a few queens), so it was only fitting for us to enjoy our front row seats to the affair. It was the crack of JESUS when the wedding started, but we still did our duty and dressed up with frilly hats as we watched William make someone else a Queen. Between the lulling overtones on the voice of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Beatrice's scene stealing topper, and Harry's Village People outfit, we all had something to enjoy.

By Memorial day, the trio was on the verge of crawling and their perfectly chubbed up faces were about to start to take their toddler shapes. The pile o' babies no longer worked when trying to contain them.

Getting ready for their baptism in June was fun. We did a special photo session with their baptismal outfits, given to us by our beloved doctor in India. I adore this photo. It's the one we show people who ask where we 'got' our children. We just tell them they were shipped from India in a fancy velvet lined box.

It was a good thing we had 6 Godparents to wrangle the ladies on their big day. Clearly, they were really into the service, especially Sidney. Among more than 100 friends and family, we celebrated with bright colors as their baptism was consummated with water from the Lotus Temple mixed with water from the River Jordon.

By July, we finally got to try on those bikinis that were purchased months earlier. This picture was taken right before their first dip in the blow-up pool. AND when Sidney discovered her hands could squeeze things. Our babies were now in a constant state of movement. (P.S. Isn't my foot sexy?)

I remember buying these little dresses in the mall in New Delhi. They were nearly the first things I ever purchased for my children. And in August, 11 months after they were born, they finally fit!

The end of the summer brought Hurricane Irene. We were stuck in the house for a few days but that didn't stop the non-stop party of little girls who now could walk, mostly unaided, on their mission of exploration.

I already miss summer. Don't you? This was Labor Day. The last hooray of warm weather this year.

September brought the anniversary of our girls being born. Their first birthday! How did that happen so quickly? As the weather started to change back to chilly, it was remarkable to see them and know that their baby days were nearly done and ready-or-not, it was full speed ahead to toddler-dom.

I think there is still some frosting in some corners of their hair but their first cupcake experience were a certified hit.

October brought us on a 6 hours middle-of-the-night drive to Buffalo to attend my little brother's wedding, we had no idea how much our girls were going to disagree with our hotel choice.

Repeat after me - if it's not a good time, it's a good story!

November is when we sold our farm house and realized we were busting at the seams at home. We have officially begun the hunt for a larger family home.....with a dedicated play room! AND, since life with teenage girls is not too far off, we're looking for a home with a lot of bathrooms!

It's amazing to see our girls now...dancing...singing...playing games...exploring...learning how to cast their spells of adorableness to get what they want!

Wasn't it was only a few short months ago that their heads kept them anchored to wherever they were placed?!?!!

We have literally accumulated over 3,000 photographs from the days of 2011, almost all of them featuring our growing gaggle.

Slightly obsessive? Maybe! ~ Thankful we did it? ABSOLUTELY!

When I was looking over some of them for this post, I came across my very favorites of each of our girls that capture their funny little personalities.

ARIA = our feeler

This was taken at a candy shop in Cape Cod while she was snuggled up to her favorite uncle. Aria is our sensitive, sweet, angel who deeply feels the world around her. She sleeps more than her sisters and rarely fusses unless she has a legitimate reason. Her laugh is the most infectious and she is the easiest to soothe if you have Flippy, Floppy, or Dolly handy for her to hug. But don't put her down before she's done being snuggled. She will arch her back and throw her head back with no regard for the inevitable thump that succeeds her protest!

SIDNEY = our comedian

Our youngest and shortest (by 2 inches) daughter started smiling somewhere around 3 months old and hasn't really stopped since. She is our overachiever who has hit pretty near every milestone before her sisters and literally ran circles around them until they caught up. She's sporty and witty, able to get the toys she wants by baiting her sisters with some other toy as she runs the other way laughing in victory. She moves the fastest but shifts between being the most independent and the most clingy. She loves her toothbrush and silly games equally!

VIVIAN = our flirt

Vivian has yet to meet a boy she doesn't like. She has bully tendencies but would flirt with the wall if she thought it would blow a kiss her way. She is definately the one who will be boy-crazy first - just like her daddies before her! But don't let her coy smile fool you. She is fiercely aware of what she wants and is unafraid to use brute force to get it. She can tackle one of her sisters (usually Sidney) with little remorse as she prances away victorious. The stage is already screaming her name.

******

If you have gotten this far in this VERY long post, THANKS for sharing a ride down memory lane. Could there ever be a more extraordinary year? I don't think so...but we can't wait to find out what 2012 brings.

In the meantime, from our family to yours, we wish you a warm holiday season filled with the reality that dreams do come true.

~ Believe! ~

Rockin' Christmas!

2011-12-20T21:02:00.000-05:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Alright girls, smile with the fat man....

2011-12-17T21:40:00.001-05:00

It had to happen!

It is practically a capitalist societal right of passage for any child to be exposed to the furry fatty who will shimmy down the chimney, eat our cookies, and leave a pile of things that need more assembly than the engine in my car! Right?!?!

We went to the mall today. Not for shopping but for an activity to get out of the house on an overcast, chilly day. We are done with our Christmas shopping. We just wanted something to do with the girls indoors that could encourage an afternoon nap. It was also good practice being in a cluttered, crowded place filled with new things to see/smell/hear. We are preparing for our trip to the airport in 6 short days where we will fly to Salt Lake City for 10 days - - - - that reminds me, let us all take a moment of silence to pray - - -

Dear GOD in heaven, please - please - PRETTY PLEASE - give us the strength and at the same time give the girls the will - to find that narrow, likely unfindable, path to a pleasant trip on our laps across the country on a airplane. Please grant us the luck to have an understanding flight crew and friendly neighbors in our rows (....yes plural - we cannot sit together. Only one baby on a lap per row! This **may** be helpful for deniability). Please help our kids find a way to utter exhaustion as soon as we step on the plane so they may be lulled by the giant engines into a sound sleep and slumber for at least 90% of the trip, only waking to show off their teeth to well-wishers who will pass by and admire their superior traveling ability. AND most of all GOD, PLEASE give them the digestive strength to not have a poopy diaper for 6-ish hours. (Don't judge - Have you ever tried to put a diaper on a floppy halibut in a bathroom the size of my left foot?!?!)

A-M-E-N!

Anyhoo.....back to the mall.

It didn't occur to us until we arrived that Santa would be there too. Well, of course he would...what self respecting mall in America WOULDN'T have a Santa set up to take money (starting at 'just' $21!!!) for mediocre pictures, all in the name of Christmas spirit.

Count me SIGNED UP!!! I immediately told Paul we MUST MUST MUST do this. Besides, I needed some fresh material for this blog.

My grinch of a husband demanded this was a bad idea. So I took this photo that looks like he was picking his nose as he studied the price options.

He wasn't...but that doesn't matter. He was whining about waiting in a long line while he tried to deny our children the chance to pay for a ride on the lap of a stranger that the good people of Coca-Cola carefully crafted nearly 80 years ago. I thought this may be as close as we'd get to Santa today.

As we gazed upon the mini wonder-land, the girls gave a wandering glance at the LOOOOONG line of waiting children dressed and primed with their lists of requests in hand. Darn! The cat is REALLY out of the bag now. We were planning on holding out on telling the girls about Santa for another year or so to save a few bucks on presents.

"Yes girls, tradition mandates that you sleep until noon and then rub Daddy's achy feet..."

In any event, I am a determined little fellow. So, I convinced Paul that I would wait in line and he could do a lap of the mall and return just in time to capture a blissful moment of our children's youth.

Well, let me tell you it was a good thing I made that executive decision at that precise moment. Just as I took my place in line, the photo-elf instructed me that we were the last ones for pictures today. I was told that if anyone approached the line to queue up after us, I was to tell them that there were no more chances for pictures after us. I basically had to tell people (and did)....

"I'm sorry, Santa is closed after us..."

The line moved surprisingly quickly...likely because Santa knew his break was coming up. Directly in front of me was a beautiful little black girl with her grandmother. She couldn't have been more than 6 and was dressed in her Sunday finest with her hair braided and done up with beads and embellishments that make me genuinely jealous. I thought about the best way to hide my girls tangled mops. Yup, going to put winter hats on the girls in the middle of the mall, I thought to myself. Even still, her pretty little dress made our girls-in-jeans look like the local riff-raff.

The little girl was absolutely adorable which is why I was more than a little thrown when she turned towards me, pointed with purpose and said somewhat excitedly, 'Look, a cracker...'

WHAT DID THAT LITTLE GIRL JUST SAY?!?!?

Her grandmother grabbed her finger and said, 'Don't point sweetheart...'

I was puzzled for a good 20 seconds when I turned around and saw a 10 foot nut-cracker standing directly behind me.

Whew...that could have been an uncomfortable incident of unintended racism.

20 minutes later, we were next. Paul rejoined us and the girls were all smiles as we released them from their strollers and shoved winter hats on their heads, proudly ready to claim our Christmas memory!

Next, there was a bit of a struggle...a few words were exchanged and then we plopped our normally all-smiles trio down and ran the other way.

I don't know...the entire exchange couldn't have been more than 30 seconds, but I have always thought that a picture is worth a thousand words. Don't you agree?

P.S. My favorite thing about this picture is Santa's seemingly plastic smile. Surely he is immune to the sounds of tears.... and besides, it was just about break time! What a pro.

Amphibian Reunion

2011-12-14T07:41:00.000-05:00

December always seems to be the busiest time of the year. There are simply TOO many things getting in the way of writing a proper blog update! But here's a quick one nonetheless....

Last week, I convinced Paul to babysit so I could attend a fantastic event hosted by my prior employer. I worked at Muppets as my first REAL job. As a matter of fact, I started with them as an intern in 1993 while I was still attending college waiting for my vast talent and charismatic personality to be discovered. (...do you hear those darn crickets too!?!?)

In retrospect, it was the absolute best job of my career for a host of reasons, not the least of which was the phenomenal people that surrounded and mentored my impressionable young mind.

Our office was a converted townhouse mansion on Lexington and 69th street in Manhattan - the richest zip code in the country. It was 4 flights of a grand spiral staircase that was topped off by a Muppet themed stained glass skylight. I am told that Jim Henson used the center hall as his personal intercom system. His office had a paper mache' moose head above the fireplace mantel (which lit up naturally!) that matched the fun and surprises around every corner in the place casually intertwined with Emmy, Grammy, and Oscar awards.

Just outside his office, my first job put me in a tiny space that straddled his office (then occupied by his eldest son) and one of his three daughters, now the president of the Jim Henson foundation.

What tremendous fun it was to work in that building...and for that company! ....and among people who spent their livelihood making funny, witty, sometimes irreverent, things that were intended for family consumption.

You haven't experienced life until you've attended a Sesame Street wrap party and strolled down that famed street, sat on the stoop of 123 Sesame Street with a beer in hand and chatted with friends! The cast famously does a 'current events' skit at the wrap party every year that sometimes features slightly less 'G-rated' content than is customarily on television. I remember one year when they did a bit about John and Lorena Bobbit which featured - - - wait for it - - - I promise it's worth the wait - - - - Slimy the Worm. SOOOO wrong..but VERY FUNNY!

I was too young and too stupid to ultimately know how special the place was when I left to travel around the world while building the Fox News empire (GASP!). Even still, the memories and friends made have outlived my 3 years there and I remain grateful for that experience being the foundation of my professional life.

It is ironic that this reunion was planned this year...when me and my girls religiously watch Sesame Street every morning at 7 o'clock. It is part of our morning routine, one that both entertains the girls and allows me a mini-morning-reprieve to enjoy a cup of coffee!

The girls all have their favorites characters that cause them to perk up and sometimes even spontaneously dance with delight. It gave me great pleasure to see old friends and share with them how much I appreciate their work. Rosita even offered to call our girls on the telephone sometime. I haven't seen some of these people in 15 years but it might as well have been yesterday.

As a parent - who carefully considers the vast wilderness of really bad television options, (some of which have largely paid for my mortgage!) it is a very special feeling to see Sesame Street and know it hasn't changed much. It is like going home.

Great fun!

Me, my 3 chins, & the man behind (or more appropriately below) ELMO!

Busy!

2011-12-07T21:21:00.001-05:00

'Tis the season! As the end of the year pushes closer and the 'to-do' list grows faster than items can be crossed off, I wanted to assure you that we are trying to keep up with the never ending adorable moments of each day to share with you!

I'll write more soon but for now, here are a few recent new memories to tide you over!

Eat your heart out Rahul - the traffic in Delhi has got nothing on the jam in our living room!

Learning to use a spoon: 2 out of 3 ain't bad....
P.S. Yogurt is an excellent moisturizer!

Sidney thinks she's hiding...but if you look closely, her smile gives her away!

One of my children has a flare for posing...I can't imagine where she gets her ham-i-ness!

Step right up! TEETH BRUSHING - in and out in 20 seconds or it's free!

'Seriously Dad...does that Vivian chick have an off switch?!?!'

'I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WHISPER!'

Helmet BE GONE!

2011-11-30T10:26:00.001-05:00

Some of you may recall that Vivian was diagnosed with Brachycephaly with Plagiocephaly WAY WAY WAY back in March of this year. Seems like a lifetime ago.

It basically meant that she had a flat misshapen head, in part as a result of torticollis - a condition that caused her neck muscles to tighten and turn her head to the right when in a resting position. Her neck was basically like a rubber band that didn't ever have a chance to go limp...which subsequently caused her head to rest naturally on one side. Voila...flat!

I didn't pay much attention to it at the time and assumed it would correct on its own, however our pediatrician thought it was significant enough to get an evaluation done. Aside from the flat head, her face was pulling forward on one side more than the other. Although treatment is mostly for aesthetics, it is debatable if this condition impacts the way in which teeth develop as well as meeting milestones.

Well, we didn't want our little girl to grow up with crooked teeth, lopsided eyes, and a flat head in case she ever went Sinead O'Connor....even if it could be a handy balancing trick if she were to ever join the circus.

For any new or soon to be parents, we were told that this condition can/could have been partially or wholly alleviated if we rotated her head and placed her facing a different direction each time she was put down for sleep in coordination with simple stretching exercises.

Oops.

The treatment for this was physical therapy twice a week for a few months and wearing a custom made helmet that helped Jello-mold her head back to round. The helmet is passive and didn't cause any discomfort nor pain. It basically catches the growth of her head and encourages it into a correct shape.

And for Vivian's benefit, she used it as a battering ram when a toy she wanted was being enjoyed by some other little girl!

Anyway, I've received several emails over the months with questions about her helmet and how (or if) it worked. As of yesterday, she's DONE.

She had 2 helmets and wore them 20+ hours per day for a total of about 6 months, with a 2 month break in between helmets. It was a big commitment and insurance only covered a portion of the cost of each helmet. I think you can definitely see the difference. The skeptic in me wonders how much would have occurred naturally but I guess that doesn't matter now.

At the final visit at the clinic, they gave us a photo study of her head from her first evaluation to yesterday.

DRUMROLL....Here is my little girl's first (and hopefully only) line up mug shots!

The Post Turkey Catch Up Post

2011-11-27T20:26:00.001-05:00

We have had an extraordinarily busy, thankful, but moments-of-cranky week.

Our au pair was on her well deserved vacation over the past week. While she was sunning it up in Miami, Paul and I flew solo managing the organized chaos of child care, work, chores, and child-friendly activities during a mini stay-cation.

Before I go any further - not that this was EVER up for debate - we have the most spectacular au pair on the planet. The girls miss her nearly as much as we do when she is not around. She has become a treasured member of our family and we genuinely miss her when she's not here to share in the day to day adventures, discoveries, and giggles. She arrived home last night and we're all happy she's home! The pups even missed her!

In any event, somewhat fortuitously, Paul's employer was recently acquired by a giant firm that has a pretty awesome benefit when you need an extra set of hands. If you need emergency or back up child care, they subsidize a certified pro from an agency and only charge its employees $6 per hour - - - regardless of the number of children! SCORE! We were giddy with fortune when we discovered this benefit and couldn't wait to try it out. This was the perfect week to do it.

Since Paul works from home, he was able to keep his eyes and ears alert for any coup d'etat that the ladies may have formed to take advantage of some poor newbie unaware of how to secure the borders of the play area. To our delight, they were mostly well behaved happy gals only fussing slightly more than normal.

BUT - on Tuesday, Paul noticed our temporary helper had a little cough. She assured us it was just because the air was dry. We still had a lingering 'ut-oh' moment and crossed our fingers that nobody was going to get sick right before a very busy weekend of activities.

Alas, Wednesday night just before midnight, Vivian was awake and crying with the sniffles. Well, not so much the sniffles as the flowing snots! She had to discover how to breathe through her little mouth only - which was a new and unfun experience for her. She was wheezing a bit and just had an overall sad look about her. She loves to point to her nose on command so it was sad to see her so frustrated with her red-around-the-edges stuffed up snout.

She didn't have a fever so we nestled her into bed with us, propped up her head on my arm and let her sit and watch TV with us for a little bit as she tried to work through the snottiness.

After her nose drained and dried up enough to manage, I placed her back in her bed and crossed my fingers. Thankfully, she slept most of the night and woke up early on Thanksgiving morning with only a slight cold. AND, better yet, Aria and Sidney appeared to be totally fine.

Whew! Crisis averted....or so I thought.

We hung out in our PJs for the better part of the morning and watched the Macy's parade on Thanksgiving morning, paying homage to the Broadway performers, marching bands, and floating balloons (which resemble most plump Americans post desert!).

We dressed the girls in adorable little tartan dresses, strapped them into the mini van, and off we went to my cousins house for dinner. This was the first time in 7 or more years that we didn't host Thanksgiving dinner. Despite the lack of left overs in our refrigerator, that was a welcome reprieve, especially considering the state of accumulated clutter and randomly hidden Cheerios in our home.

We even managed to get their hair to look a little less - homeless chic - for about 7 seconds.

We tried to coax a nap out of the girls on the way there but were somewhat unsuccessful, even after driving an extra 1/2 hour circling their neighborhood. Oh well. We decided the brave the afternoon sans nap and hoped for a happy ending to our day.

There were about 30ish people at dinner and our girls behaved like little ladies who lunch without a whole lot of fanfare. We set up a pack and play at the end of the table where Paul and I straddled them and shared our bounty of mashed this and that, stuffing, cranberries, turkey, and the like. They hung over the edge of their play yard and we fed them like goats at the petting zoo. It was funny but lovely despite being regaled to the kiddie table.

We were hopeful for lots of hands in wrangling the girls as their exploration of new spaces and faces was kicked into major high gear. However, as the tryptophan kicked in and Paul and I started to fade, we learned 2 things: 1) that the kids were not going to get drowsy after a giant meal AND 2) we RE-learned a valuable lesson of family gatherings filled with well wishing folks who want to help.

For anyone who currently has or is expecting children/toddlers, pay close attention.

Here's the secret: Your relatives ONLY want to HOLD a child when s/he is SMILING or doing CUTE stuff!

When this pout is present, the helper line gets awfully short and you can hear crickets chirping from the adjoining room blaring the football game.

Not that we're complaining. Frankly, it's our own altruistic short term memory to blame. We seem to always fool our minds into thinking that when we're in a larger group of people, we can take a deep breath and enjoy the day as others help entertain our mostly well behaved brood.

In reality, it predictably ends up feeling like we're chasing non existent tails to try and keep everyone behaving enough to fool our hosts into thinking we've got our life in control. HA! Even still, we do frequently get the comments of 'I don't know how you do it...' or 'Those girls are SOOO pretty AND well behaved...' and 'You guys are really excellent at handling those girls...'

Truthfully, those comments are genuinely appreciated and reaffirming but I sometimes feel like screaming back, 'YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT LADY!! HOW ABOUT I STOP CHASING MY GIRLS FOR 7 MINUTES AND LET'S SEE WHAT FREE RANGE CHILDREN CAN DO TO YOUR PERCEPTIONS OF OUR PARENTING SKILLS! NOW GRAB A CHILD AND START ENTERTAINING HER BEFORE THEY FIGURE OUT HOW TO COMBINE THEIR POWERS AND TAKE US ALL PRISONER!!!'

Anyway, I digress as usual.

We had a really lovely meal and after - when the beverages were starting to make the air a little silly for many in attendance - we decided the girls were nearing their scheduled late afternoon meltdown.

If there is one thing I have learned from my training in the theatre, it is to GET THE HELL OFF THE STAGE while they still love you!

So, we packed desert to-go and loaded the van with a tub of sweets as well as our loveliest sweets and backed out of the driveway to discover 3 little girls SOUND ASLEEP in the van for the ride home.

Paul commented that he thought the girls felt a little warm when we loaded them in the van. I chose to ignore it on the basis of the sweat rolling down my face from the post turkey acrobatics required to pack up and escape quickly.

We arrived home and had to wake the girls to change them out of their wrinkled dresses and get their tuckered little bodies tucked into bed. After they were soundly resting, I checked out of consciousness as well. It was a long day. I was exhausted and ready to disappear.

Paul, on the other hand, was lured into the brilliant light of 'Black Friday' by coupons that sang sweetly into his ear for door-busters set aside only for those precious dedicated souls who would go shopping at midnight on Thanksgiving night.

The appeal of going shopping to save a few bucks is wholly lost on me. I will gladly pay 3 times the price to not have to interact with other human beings in a strip mall. However, my beloved loves a deal and fancies himself the Braveheart of bargains, standing ready to liberate inexpensive miscellany.

GOD bless him for doing his part to revive the economy....I'll wait for him in a cozy dream about the minimalist home we will never have!

All was fine until 2:30AM when Aria began crying....LOUDLY! Aria is our most sound sleeper and rarely wakes at night so we knew she wasn't feeling so hot. Or, more accurately I guess, she WAS feeling hot. We brought her into our bedroom and I took her temperature to discover she was 103 degrees.

URG. DARN BABYSITTING SERVICE!!! - - - it was such a good idea at the time!!!! SIGH!

Once we changed her diaper and got her snuggled in with us, she had the most unusual reaction to being sick I think I have ever encountered.

I dare anyone to deny that our children are VERY SPECIAL!

She had giant tears coming from droopy eyes with real live bags the size of steam trunks underneath and then she about lost her marbles....she began to LAUGH uncontrollably. I nearly grabbed my camera because I was sure nobody would believe me but she was like, pee-in-my-pants hysterical with her head flailing, tears and snot flowing like the falls of Niagara, and the most infections laugh I have ever heard.

I was confused of what we should do. Can you imagine calling the doctor in the middle of the night and explaining a high fever coupled with uncontrollable laughter?!?!? Surely we'd be added to the 'crazy neurotic parents' list. We decided to give her a dose of medicine and see how she was in the morning.

Eventually, her good times ended and she exhausted herself into a baby-drunk sleepiness as we lulled her back to sleep in her crib.

When the girls awoke in the morning, Vivian was bright and smiling but both Aria and Sidney were down for the count with crusty stalactites coming out of their gross noses and sad little eyes wondering just what the heck happened to them overnight.

Our poor little girls were clearly pissed off that the day would be wasted with the frustrations of not knowing how to blow their own noses.

I could not agree with them more!

Friday and Saturday were pretty much a bust, filled with 2 extremely tired and cranky little girls and 1 take-advantage-of-their-weaknesses little girl. As Aria and Sidney jockeyed for position on our laps and wiped their never ending nose-flow on our shirts ALL - DAY - LONG, Vivian was a smiling predator who was deliberately mastering the art of being cute and getting away with anything.

REALLY! Check out this video and you'll see what I mean. (Beware: Poor little Aria is adorable but looks very sad in this video)

By Sunday morning, we rounded a corner and could see the bright horizon of our happy go lucky children coming back home. The timing was perfect for our very special visitors from Norway.

I've written about this before but the consequences of the friends we have found, largely as a result of this blog, in those who have shared our unique journey to parenthood has solidified a bond that will hopefully last a lifetime. We feel honored and blessed to have met - virtually and in person - new families as well as aspiring families literally from all corners of the earth. We are proud to be a part of this community and I bet if you are reading this, there is a good chance you can count yourself among a wayward branch of the ever expanding family.

I think (and hope) it will be an awe inspiring common experience our children can share with their peers around the globe as they grow up. It would be difficult to find a spot on the map where there isn't SOMEONE with a story that brought their family journey through India.

Anyway, our Norwegian friends visited our home and brought a shared history of the arrival of their little prince, a warm embrace of mutual affection, AND the most beautiful hand-knit sweaters I have ever seen!

By Sunday night, the girls were freshly bathed and nearly back to some state of normal. Sadly, this was just in time for me to return to work on Monday morning.

Despite the rough few days, I was missing my girls something awful today at the office....dried boogers and all!

We have a LOT to be thankful for.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Good Thoughts

2011-11-23T08:36:00.001-05:00

For those who have been following our story for a while, you no doubt recall our extra special, honorary Super-Nana, Loretta.

Today, she has to have a procedure done to remove a recently discovered bit of skin cancer. I am absolutely certain that she will be fine and come through it with gusto and the flare that is her signature.

However, I am a firm believer in the power or prayer, reflection, and Faith! So, I'd like to impose on you to think a few positive thoughts today for our dear sweet friend. Let us circle the globe with some unified love for an extraordinary woman as she finds her way over a bump in the road! (If you are inclined to write a message for her, I'll print comments and share with her.)

Below are a few pictures from last weekend - where we helped celebrate her 82nd birthday with 'her' little girls!

We love you Nana!!!

Thanksgiving History Lesson

2011-11-22T09:55:00.001-05:00

The Faith to Vishwas blog is not just here for pretty pictures and funny stories...we are committed to education as well! To that end, here's a short video that will explain the history of our THANKSGIVING holiday. ....2 days til turkey!!!!

ENJOY!!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

It's beginning to look like

2011-11-19T21:25:00.001-05:00

...our Christmas Card photo shoot!!!!

SO - MUCH - CUTENESS *if I don't say so myself*....
......SO - LITTLE - REAL ESTATE - ON - OUR - CHRISTMAS - CARDS!!!!

Snuffaluffabear is missing half his head but this is pretty darn cute.

This would be a good family shot
...but the girls look like they are waiting for the bus.

Our FIRST girl is wondering WTF! She used to be
the only one that got to wear the faux fur fringe!

Aria is our sweet little candy cane.

Vivian, well sure she's sweet...however, I am pretty sure she'd bust
the window out of yo' car if you crossed her!

SERIOUSLY!!!
This smile could send a diabetic into a coma!

I love this picture.

These are DEFINITE keepers!
But I have a feeling they'll REALLY hate
me for keeping them handy when they start dating.

In a good shoe, you can still taste the cow!

Poor, sweet Aria
...just smiling and cooperating
and then...
snap-snap-snap
Today's CUTE = Tomorrow's therapy!?!?

...and then apparently we thought we'd dress the girls for a night
at the opera or something.
EVEN I think this is a bit over the top!
MY GOD, HOW GAY ARE WE!?!?!

I guess it is never too soon to learn about
being a DIVA.
In any event, our dames
DO clean up pretty nice!

Sidney hanging at the Cheerio bar in between takes...

...and then catching up on her tabloids.
Seriously, I overheard her say something like,
'..can you believe that cow thinks she can pull off an animal print!'

Family!
(including Sabine - our Au Pair sent from HEAVEN!)

Alright...almost everyone is looking in the right direction and more than half of us are smiling.
I suppose we should just be happy we're all in the same frame!

MERRY MERRY MERRY wishes coming SOON!!!!.

Baby, it's cold outside....

2011-11-15T20:40:00.001-05:00

Aside from the freak snow storm a few weeks ago, it is not actually that cold outside yet. However, we got these fantastic winter hats to prepare for our upcoming Christmas trip to Salt Lake City and couldn't wait to try them out. The girls will look positively adorable as ever when we hit the slopes and stroll the shops of Park City.

AND, it turns out that in addition to the diaper box being a fun toy (see prior post), it can also be a smile educing magical sleigh to contain wiggly, giggly would-be models.

Is it really possible that Christmas is 40 days away?!?!?

Look how happy our girls are...AND THEY HAVEN'T EVEN HEARD OF SANTA YET!

BEHOLD the ART!!!

2011-11-10T21:40:00.001-05:00

Eat your heart out Jackson Pollock!

Home for a year...

2011-11-05T20:10:00.001-04:00

I just noticed that the calendar says today is November 5 and I remembered the remarkable fact that we arrived home from India 1 year ago today. All that hard work of getting our exit visas seems such a distant memory....I can barely recall it being inconvenient as I genuinely miss being in India.

Anyway, our trip home started with the best flight EVER - truly! We had fortunate luck to be fly home on Diwali. It was the equivalent of flying on Christmas night so the plane was much less crowded than normal. As a result, we had 6 seats in first class - clear from one side of the plane all the way to the other - just for us.

Each of the girls had a bassinet AND a first class seat. I don't think we'll ever be that lucky again on a long haul international flight but I'm glad luck showered us on that day.

Beyond the seats, the service and attention we received was bar-none THE BEST SURPRISE GIFT to help us find the end of that chapter of our journey.

As a matter of fact, one of those attendants has become friendly with us. She knit beautiful blankets for the girls for Easter and even sent us a Father's Day card on our first ever qualifying Father's Day! We remain ever so touched by her generous and kind spirit towards our family.

She was recently in India on a shift and posted this note on my profile on Facebook.

I have arrived in New Delhi this night and the signs of Diwali are everywhere and it brought back all the fond memories of your family last year. I remember sitting and holding Aria for more than an hour and I hadn't held a baby for that length of time since my daughter was a baby. I was mesmerized by my fortune of having your new family on my flight home, and how truly unique it was as well as being one of the highlights of my career. I swung back and forth in that cabin looking at every sleeping face and daddies as well. I just want you to know it was all a blessing for me and I look forward to every moment you share with us. Love, Sybs

We feel eternally blessed to have been on the receiving end of many of the gifts we have received from our amazing adventure, but the most surprising and wonderful side effect has been the people we've met along the way. From the hundreds of new-families who have shared our path to parenthood, to curious readers of this blog, to the extraordinary crew of that Continental flight....WE are blessed!

7,000 Diapers Later...

2011-11-03T17:10:00.001-04:00

I spent the last day on a furious packing kick at our farm house, trying to get everything ready for the movers and to close next week.
I really REALLY REALLY wish that we were minimalist people who lived in curtain less high rise with floor to ceiling windows with bean bag chairs for furniture. How did we acquire SO - MUCH - STUFF!!! I have created 3 main piles in the house...PACK FOR THE MOVERS, DONATE, and TOSS. Wanna guess which is the pile that is growing the fastest!?!?!

I already donated several bags of stuff to a woman who was collecting for her Parent-Teacher Association's fund raiser. Isn't it a sad state of worldly affairs when a well dressed attorney from a high-priced neighborhood is visiting me after hours to pick up my hand-me-downs for a garage sale to pay for TEACHER SALARIES and BOOKS!!!

Come to think of it, I should have donated that full encyclopedia Britannica set that Paul keeps adding volumes to despite the pages never seeing the light of any day! Maybe the kiddos could learn about the olden days and see what it is like to feel and read an actual leather bound book - gasp - outside of the reference section of the library! (Calm down Paul - I already packed them in the 'pack for movers' pile along with your 328 million back issues of National Geographic.)

I was in quite a mood by the time I got home last night. Despite the hard work of packing and organizing, I was deeply truly saddened by the state of my property after our snow-apocalypse freak storm over the weekend. I have a special kinship to nature. In a funny way, I look to my favorite trees as dependable pillars of predictability in an unpredictable world. I took a handful of photos but don't want to share. It's too sad.

When spring begins, the magnolia blooms in late April, followed quickly by the cherry blossom which blooms for a week and then drops a rainfall of fragrant white floating to the ground until you can almost not see the grass below. By May, the rhododendron blooms and there is a 20 foot spray that drips with poofy purple puffs. It arches my front door. Nobody could arrive at our house without being in awe of this one! Not to be outdone, the dogwood follows with its pinkish delicate plumes that seem to wave in the wind. And finally, in late June, the giant catalpa throws off 60 feet of little white buds that look like popped corn falling into the hammock. I always called this my Jiffy tree.

I especially enjoyed the cycle of the trees taking their turns as the featured flower maker, waiting for summer to arrive. Every single one of my favorite trees - and more - were damaged in the storm. None fell completely but MAJOR branches are down with sharp angles killing the symmetry that it had created over decades. Some of them will surely not make it in over this winter and I'm sort of happy I sold the house so I don't have to see. Their branches laid across the property like wounded soldiers, now naked with no leaves left...they were even robbed of their autumnal color show!!!

Anyway, when I got home, Paul showed me some photos he took of his own packing project of the day. Cheered me right up! All the fancy plastic toys that beep and light up cannot compare to the simple fun of sitting in a box! We are quite literally 7,000+ diapers into our parenting journey, so it's a funny reward to see the simple enjoyment our girls get out of the packaging!

For any newbies out there...this is how they 'special-delivery' those beautiful babies from India. Ha!

POSTPONED!

2011-11-01T13:44:00.001-04:00

Halloween was postponed from yesterday to Friday.

True! The governor of NJ has asked that trick-or-treating be movedin towns where it is just too dangerous to be out in the elements. The thoughtof postponing a holiday because of weather is just silly in my mind. What’s next? If it rains onChristmas, shall we wait for snow?

The last several days have been crazy in the Vishwas corner.At the end of the summer, we made a difficult decision to consolidate homes andsell the farm house. It was a bitter sweet decision since we love the sanctuarythat our 6 acres of privacy have afforded. However, the maintenance required tokeep up the accoutrements of a 160 year old property 55 miles away from homehave won the battle against my altruistic hopes.

Anyone with children can tell you that moving from point ‘A’to point ‘B’ can be an exhausting process, with little regard for well laidplans. Fridays felt a lot like work packing and unpacking the van withgroceries, pups, and infant girls…only to be repeated in reverse on Sundayafternoons.

By the end of the summer, we found that we were goingthrough the motions but never actually getting to the rest and relaxation partthat is a critical ingredient of a weekend home. All along, the garden becameovergrown, poison ivy had invaded, a family of groundhogs took up residenceunder the deck, the pool invited the suicides of multiple woodland creatures,and my hammock sadly swayed in the wind alone and unutilized. I feared we werewell on our way to becoming Grey Gardens since the girlspatently refused to help with any yard work.

Alas, we listed the property right after Labor Day and hoped that maybe we’dget a bite before the end of the year. As luck would have it, a family fell inlove with our property shortly after it was listed and they want to close assoon as possible.

Yippee!

The relief of knowing we could cross this off the long listof monthly ‘to-do’ items confirmed that we made the right choice to sell. We haveloved our ‘farm house’ but we love our girls much, much more. So, we willremember fondly the memories and keep on moving forward in search of ourCamelot.

….which brings me to the last week of packing, sorting,tossing, and selling.

Since it is a 2^nd home, pretty much everythingin the house is unneeded, not to mention the stored contents from my Cape Cod home which was sold a year earlier.

Packing up a house is right up there with un-anesthetizeddental extractions on my list of favorite things to do. And Mother Nature hasnot been cooperating in my efforts to swallow hard and get it done quickly.

In a freak debut of winter weather, our town received nearly a foot of S-N-O-W on Saturday!

It was pretty at first. And then the electric went off. The same electric thatpowers the water pump, furnace, refrigerator, and lights. Paul was safely athome with the girls while I manned an estate sale with a friend. Despite theweather, we still got rid of a solid chunk of stuff but when the power was goneand we realized we were running a sale by candlelight with blizzard likeconditions outside, we laughed at our bravery, called it a day, and started tomake our way back home.

As we drove out of my driveway, I commented on howabsolutely gorgeous the property looked covered in a fluffy blanket of clean,white snow. Unfortunately, part of the reason for the extra white-ness was thatthe leaves were still on the trees. Unfortunately, the pretty part was not forlong as the snow became heavy and wet, causing the untimely demise of thousandsof trees in the region.

To say the roads were treacherous is an understatement. Theywere literally becoming more dangerous by the minute. The municipalities havenot yet prepared for winter weather clean up so there were very few plows andsalt trucks on our hilly roads.

I have driven plenty in snowy conditions but never have Ibeen caught in a situation this bad in an ill equipped vehicle. Driving on the local roads was as if wewere in a video game that stared in a virtual tunnel of trees. The heavybranches bowed under the weight of snow to meet the middle of the road and dustedthe top of my van. The roads were a solid sheet of ice with cars spinning offin all directions trying to find their footing.

At one point, as I was approaching a medium sized hill andtrying to gain enough steam to make it up at a steady pace, I saw a good samaritanhunched over a car stalled in the middle of the road. I honked to indicate she shouldget out of the way and she decided to run from me…IN THE CENTER OF THE ICY ROADslipping and sliding her way to safety. Stepping to the side would have been amuch smarter move on her part. I was forced to slow down as a result andskidded nearly sideways until I was blocking the better part of the road withmy ginormous cargo van.

The good samaritan shot me a dirty look as I opened my window and suggested shenot run among traffic in the MIDDLE of an ice covered road! Urg.

This was the first time of three times that I was stuck ina precarious spot, worried that the tree limbs above may not hold. After slowly rotating back towards the centerof the road, I was able to inch slowly up the rest of this hill passing thegood samaritan who was now stalled with her car.

The next spin out landed me on the side of the road with my wheels spinning and going nowhere fornearly a half hour. Thankfully I hadthrown a leaf rake into the van so I got out and raked some snowy icy slushymess away from my tires in hopes of getting enough traction to find a path backinto the center of the road among the worn car tracks.

I made it! Whoop!

I kept going and hoping that the traffic ahead keeps a consistent pace as tonot lose momentum as we approached the final stretch leading to the highway. Itis a several mile uphill road lined with trees and a few traffic lights alongthe way.

Everything was going well until I see, in the nearlywhited-out distance, a fallen tree that covered the opposing side of the roadallowing passage of only one car at a time. The snow was still coming down,heavily in fact, and there really was no other place to go than forward. On theright shoulder between the fallen tree and a 20-foot drop was a spun outteenager and his shiny blue Mustang.

I floored it doing my best Italian tune-up that an 18 foot diesel van couldhandle.

VROOM, VROOM, ~ OH CRAP ~ SPIN, TURN, AHHHHH, BRAKE ~ BRAKE ~ BRAKE!!!!

I ended up nearly parallel with the fallen tree, nowblocking the entire roadway, and less than 8 inches from the driver side doorof the Mustang. I put on my emergency brake, got out and tried and assuage thefears of my new teenage friend that it was safe for him to back up his car so Iwouldn’t spin further, right into his lap (literally!). He resisted at firstsaying he’s too close to the rail. I walked over to the rail and showed him he hasat least 2 feet between his car and the 20 foot drop to a rapidly moving creekbelow.

He popped his car in reverse and I hold his passengerside to guide him. It occurs to me that I am a total fool and may end upswimming if he can’t hold his car straight.

Thankfully we got him pushed back 15 or 20 feet behind myvan in front of the 2 or 3 dozen cars waiting to pass the bottleneck. I getback in, turn off the safety feature that prevents my wheels from spinning outof control, and floor it again....allowing my wheels to spin out of control!

Move over Daisy May…It was the Dukes of Hazard without the cutoffhip hugging jeans, except I wasn’t screaming ‘ya-hoooo’ so much as ‘oh SH***********T.’

There is screeching, snow flying up and down, and wheelspinning that propels my van forward if partially askew until I get into afantastic rhythm and we start moving at a good pace in a straight line. Sincewe had stopped traffic for 10 minutes, there was nobody in front of me to slowus down so we chugged at a good pace until we got to the highway.

We got home in nearly 4 hours what should have taken 1.

The rest of the packing has been postponed.

The happy ending of the story was getting home - in one piece - just in time to give the girls their bath and tuck them in to a night of slumber. It would take a lot more than a few icy roads to make me miss THAT!

Our First Halloween Party

2011-10-25T20:01:00.000-04:00

We attended a Halloween party last weekend, hosted by a new parents group we joined recently. We decided to go as 'the 80's.' The girls were adorable and hilarious with just the right dash of ridiculous.

Paul wore a skinny tie with jeans that were not tight on purpose and felt that was enough to be called a costume. I, on the other hand, wore a few more embellishments including a hoop that I was surprised still worked in an ear lobe that had not worn an earring in nearly 2 decades, an old pinky ring, a chunky swatch watch, sideways hat, jeans carefully folded and tucked up at the bottom (to show off my socks?!? ...not sure why that look every took!) and an old jean jacket that still had a red ribbon pinned to the collar.

Paul told me that I looked like I was going to the party as 'a gay guy.'

Clearly he doesn't remember the 80's when pretty much every well coiffed boy looked like a giant 'mo!

Our other idea was to go as a pajama party. The girls would be easy and Paul bought these adult size footy pajamas with little ducks on them for he and I. But, they made me feel like a giant stuffed flannel sausage (And he though MY costume looked gay!?!?!). So, we went retro!

Anyway, we had fun and the girls were especially social working the room as vintage Lady Ga-Ga-Ga-Ga's. Some highlights included Vivian lunging for a pretzel already in the mouth of an unsuspecting little girl dressed as Winnie the Pooh, Sidney literally running circles around the place rarely even looking to see if anyone she knew was nearby, and Aria - our perfect and kind child - holding one of our hands the entire time as she gently explored her way around the room handing out free smiles.

Oh, one other thing. Did you know the finger of a curious little girl fits perfectly in a circa 1989 hoop earring? Yes...Yes, it does. And did you know that when she yanks on said hoop like she's starting a 20 year old lawnmower, it hurts like a mother-f***er? YES...Yes it does!

Maybe the pajama party idea isn't so bad after all.

Catch Me If You Can

2011-10-19T22:22:00.000-04:00

Class of ‘91

2011-10-17T14:52:00.002-04:00

I recently received a piece of mail claiming there was aweekend full of festivities being organized to commemorate a 20-year high school reunion.Within this piece of mail, covered with the maroon paw prints of the school'smascot, THEY ABSURDLY CLAIMED that I was worthy of the invite!

My hand to heaven, my first thought was: ‘This must bemislabeled. It cannot have been 20 years since I was in high school.’

Alas, I quickly did the math and as it turns out, 20 friggin’ yearscan pass rather quickly.

I did not attend. Despite it being 1,400 miles away, I had very little interest in attending anyway. Iwas among a graduating class of more than 1,200 young twangy Texas souls and have only kept in touch witha handful since defecting to a state that touches an ocean. High school was not a bad time for me - quite the contrary - but it was a time that effectively ended before I grew up to become who I became. Even if it shaped my goals, that era feels irrelevant to me now.

Losing touch with people was not on purpose. It was franklymostly because Facebook had not yet been invented, much less ‘blogging.’ Notthat I would have shared what was in my busy head anyway. I did keep a handwritten journal starting in my final year of high school through my first yearor two of college. I wrote in a spiral notepad that ended up a series of numerous volumes, documenting the drama, demons, and dreams of my young life in process.

Ironically, something so important at the time has slippedinto the oblivion of lost objects. I have no idea of its whereabouts but imagineI’d laugh and/or cringe with horror at the tortured thoughts of my 17 year oldopinions of the world that surrounded me. (Or, likely more accurately of any teenager, theworld I intended to surround!)

I went to a liberal arts college in New York while probably 90%+ of my peers whocontinued on to college attended football-centric schools in the grand United State of Texas!

Having moved to Texaswhen I was 12, and never quite fully fitting in, graduation was akin to parolegranted for good behavior. My 5+ years in an affluent suburban school district gave me tremendous opportunity cradled in a privileged system. But, I nevertheless yearned to get the HELL (or as they say in Texas - 'H' - 'E' - 'Double-Hockey-Sticks') out of dodge the moment a door was cracked opened! I was different, always was. I could not have had any idea how much more I would change in the coming years.

I remember distinctly boarding that flight toNew York City – leaving everything and everyone I knew behind - and thinkingthat my life was about to be mine. It was an exciting but incredibly intimidatingperiod of time. There were tears and terrors as I arrived at my apartment in a high rise on East 91st street. In retrospect, it really was quite an impressive show of confidence to walk away, or rather towards what I wanted at that impressionable age.

Maybe, 18+ years later, it was the same confidence that allowed us to become parents, trusting a wholly foreign idea that seemed implausible if not ridiculous when it was first suggested.

At any rate, because of this reunion letter, I have been thinking about this period of my life. As the world continues to learn about kids being teased and tormented by an increasing normalcy of accepted bullying, I am personally overjoyed that my high school days are far in the past. I would really really suck at being a 'different' kid today!

The media would have us all believe there is an alarming rate of suicide preceded by an insistence of self loathing hoisted upon the young men and women who do not fit the mold invented by some bully who will likely end up flipping burgers.

Bullies have always existed and scarred otherwise textbook rite-of-passage memories. However, in my generation, if you were the target of someone's physical or verbal acrobatics, it ended once you left his/her eye-shot. Today, it continues online among a 24/7 branding cycle, intended to ensure a message of unimpressed judgement.

In an increasingly transparent world, where people live out loud on social media, blogs, and a never ending flow of communication/texts/status updates, our youth have become incapable of spelling an entire English word while mastering skills of self entitlement and insensitivity. It is an unkind form of corporate politics without the pay day! Egos are crowned from afar while cowardly comments pierce the ether of a virtual crowd, doing much more harm that was probably intended.

I would like to think I've learned a lot in the last 20 years. However, the most valuable life lesson I hope to pass on to my girls is that the best ally in life is a sense of confidence combined with a healthy sense of humor.

Certainly, that was my recipe as evidenced by my high school photo!!!! You have to be confident to wear this style....I call it Vanilla Nice!

Then again, this was Texas....higher the hair, closer to GOD!

Shuffle Off to Buffalo (and Back)

2011-10-12T11:55:00.000-04:00

My little brother was married this weekend in Buffalo. Outside ofweekends at our farm house, it was our first overnight trip somewhere new since our Easter excursion to Cape Cod. Although that was still a challenging adventure, back then we stayed ata friend’s house. And, the girls still behaved a bit like luggage, albeit luggagethat wiggles, poops, pees, and wakes in the middle of the night.

With a house full of toddlers and a hotel at our destination,this was a different kind of trip. We are unsure if we were brave, naïve, or a little bit of both to take this on. However, we looked reason in the eyes and ignored her in hopes of enjoying a crop of new family memories.

The first step was to get there, some 393 miles away to be exact. The maps Iqueried all suggested that the trip would take about 7 hours. It might as wellbe 7 decades if we were to survive sitting still for a long stretch likethis! My only conclusion that didn’t endwith a meltdown on the highway was to skip town in the middle of the night when hopefully our passengers would sleep their way upstate.

On Thursday night, we got the girls into bed at their normaltime and packed (rather STUFFED) the mini-van with our weekend-away survival essentials:3 pack-n-plays, 1 double stroller, 1 single stroller, 3 car seats, the giantdiaper bag, 4 suitcases, freshly pressed suits and dresses, a few bags of toys,books, bottles, blankets, and a small cooler with mushy food, milk, and a healthy supplyof Cheerios. And of course we had to have room for Floppy, Flippy, and Dolly. I was pleased to have it all fit and still have the ability toclose the doors. I have always been good at Tetris.

I started the car just before 2 in the morning and wetip-toed into the girls’ room. There they were, asleep and soundly at that! Inthe dim night-lighted air, you could just make out their perfect little halos glowing above their perfect little heads. Thedevil on my shoulder whispered that this could be payback time for all thosetimes we were awoken suddenly without concern for Paul and me being in themiddle of some droopy dream. Should I get out the cymbals and do a big band parade to the car?

Alas, we scooped them up gently and swiftly slipped them intothe already humming van, playing their favorite lullaby CD that I downloaded onto the audio hard drive earlierthe day prior. We stopped to purchase the largest coffee I could find at the7-11 down the street and proceeded on our way. The girls were back into acontented dream land within moments.

Whew! That seemed much easier than I feared it would be. Cake!

Paul was stationed in the back. Sabine (our au pair) rodeshotgun and had to withstand many hours of my stay-awake-and-alert ritual (i.e. the Broadway sing-along channel on satellite radio). Outside of my all-night cabaret performance that included Rent, Carousel, and Sweeney Todd, there was nary a peep for 320miles. At 6:15, we stopped at a rest area to change the girls and offer amorning meal. The place was nearly completely empty except a few surly lookingtruckers. We set up camp and within an hour had completed our pit stop. With fresh diapers in place, we wereready to reload and carry on.

By 8:30 we arrived at our hotel. I crossed my fingers andapproached the reception desk to request an early check in. We were verypleased when we were told both of our rooms were ready. Whoo-to-the-hoo! That felt incredibly lucky at such an early time of the day. In any event, plan B was probably to station ourselves in the lobby and stare at them with sad and sleepy looks until that acquiesced.

We unloaded our stuff, pushed the beds up against the walls and setup three pack-n-plays. Next, we let the girls explore the room to help us findall the items that are not baby-proofed. Check! I clocked out of my shift and went tosit in the hot tub to try and wake up my very sleepy muscles.

We were trying tostick to as close of a schedule as possible so hopefully we could predict howthey’d behave throughout the weekend. The girls went down for their morning napsmostly fine and we prepared for more baby-meals, an afternoon visit withGrandma and Grandpa, and then mobilizing for dinner down town. We left dinner early in an attempt at getting the girls back into our hotel rooms and asleep before we ended up in the meltdown zone and were no longer welcome in an unfamiliar place filled with happy, slightly buzzed people.

At this point, I was feeling pretty optimistic that our planswere working. Notwithstanding, I’ve discovered that parenting on the road involvesa more intense element of strategic planning that can fatigue the mind muchfaster than the body. Anyone with 2 or more children can surely understand thisdynamic, especially when they are infants/toddlers. If you travel with one lone toddler, I do hope you enjoy allyour easy-breezy free time as you watch the passing unicorns leaping over therainbows of happiness. J

Most of dinner was spent clearing obstacles from the girls’immediate launching path (i.e. the radius permitted by their arms). We weresuccessful save for Vivian pulling a paper placemat off the table that causedher to be showered in a pint of her first sniff of beer. With her new eu de brewery coupled with her not-quite-stablewalking style, we prayed that she wasn’t pulled over by the cops and asked towalk a straight line.

After an exceptionally long day, we were tired as we made our way back to the hotel. Despite our pride in our girls being well behaved in public, it occurs to me how that can bea curse. Think about it. Wild children, perceived as rule-less, receive nokudos. However, bystanders stand clear of their parents too as to not offend.When the kids are behaving, I think it is easier for passers by to pinch a cheek,engage in small talk, admire some cuteness, and move along with a pint in theirhand. These folks likely never notice that the caregivers of these well behavedchildren are scaling Mount Everest in hopes of a pleasant night out foreveryone ELSE. I’m certainly not advocating opening Pandora’s Box of misbehavedchildren, but it is increasingly clear to me the frustrations behind unruly children in public. Or, why some people just never leave the house.

The girls were fussy overnight. They woke up at least 4 or 5times. At home, if they wake up, we just let them cry back to sleep whichusually works within a few minutes. However, they were set up a few feet fromour bed in a hotel room that is still strange/new to them. I’m very much awarethat the walls in a hotel are not the same as our home. If I were in the nextroom and paid good money for a hotel room, I could understand someone beingupset at having their sleep disrupted by what may sound like chipmunks being lowered into a cauldron of boiling water. Vivian slept with me in one bed for awhile and then with Paul in another bed for the rest of the night. I find itvery difficult to sleep with any of the girls in the bed in fear of rollingover and either waking (or smushing) them!

After the largest Starbucks the lobby bar offered the nextmorning, we made our plans to visit Niagara Falls. The weather could not have been more pleasantfor a mid-October day and the falls were stunning, magical, and oddly peaceful in their loud majesty. Canada was just across the river so we waved to all our maple leaf loving friends.

We were supposed to go to the church for a rehearsal andsubsequent dinner that night but opted instead for staying in our hotel andbrought all the girls for a swim in the indoor pool. I think they preferredthis as well.

We had another erratic sleep challenged night but this timeI did keep Vivian in bed with me all night. At 5AM, she crawled to theheadboard, stepped on my head, pulled herself up and started banging on thewall which prompted her sisters to rise at her call to play. And I was worriedabout waking HER!

At 7:00 or so, I made my way downstairs to get some coffeeand a muffin. When I returned, I noticed that EVERY SINGLE ROOM that surroundedus on both sides and across the hall all had the ‘do not disturb’ sign on theirdoors. They might well have been flashing neon signs pointing their fingers atme. I guess it could be a coincidence but I felt certain our little halo toppedgirls had some non-admirers.

I figured it would be best to sneak out of the hotelbefore anyone saw us that morning. I think this is the point of the weekendwhere the pendulum of power had swung firmly into the girls command. They knewthey had us where they wanted. We were exhausted and trying to still besensitive to those around us while we tried to plan for another busy day ofevents. The girls were over stimulated and under rested and not in any mood tobe negotiated with.

After lots of morning fits, arching backs of protest, andhigh pitched paint peeling screams, we left to search for a nearby park. Once in thecar, the screaming became more intense until we found a park…which was theprecise moment when all three girls fell deeply into a nap at least an hour beyond their normal time.

We went for a very slow driving tour of the University of Buffalo for the next hour and finallystopped at the stadium where there appeared to be a women’s soccer game inprogress.

Side note: The teams playing were the Broncos and the Bulls. I thought it oddthat two woman's teams were named for a male bovine and feral horse but what theheck do I know about sports.

Anyway, as we strolled the girls into the stadium, theyseemed very interested at all the stuff to look over. That is until a youngwoman on the field fell over and someone intercepted the ball as she rolled several times to land off the field. At thesame moment, a man leapt to his feet in the stands to scream in protest. Ariabegan to weep big sad soundless wails that turned into her very audibledispleasure. I picked her up and held her tight. I could see the thought bubble above her verysensitive head wondering why nobody helped the girl that fell…and why do theykeep stealing the ball when Daddies have made it perfectly clear that girlsmust take turns when playing. She is absolutely our emotional child who is very much in tune with the mood of everyone and everything around her.

We found a patch of grass for some barefoot fun beforereturning to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. There was little hope fortheir early afternoon nap so we wrestled everyone into their darling new dresses, tried to pin up their hair (unsuccessfully!!!!), stuffed the tips of their shiny new shoes with cotton balls to help keep them snug, and made our way back into the car just intime for another major meltdown.

Who's jealous of our life?!?!

Sidneywas so upset, we actually had to stop the car to try and console her. As aperson who has missed a lot of naps in my day, I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND how shefelt. By the time we arrived, they were again soundly asleep in the van so we gavethem another 15 minutes rest before the parade of pitching cute babies began.

Once inside the cathedral, a divine intervention began. They were total angels watchingall the activities with genuine interest and pleasure. Thankfully the smells and bells of church are not a new thing to witness. Believe it or not, it may have even been calming and familiar to our girls. Even still, Sidney prefers to run around the backof a church during mass so she obliged while holding the tip of my finger. We waved at people passing on thesidewalk in front, hugged the baptismal font (I think she liked the cool marble on her cheek), and enjoyed stomping on the airvents that kept her curiosity engaged for a good 10 minutes.

During the reception, the girls were positively giddy at the excitement of a party. Meltdowns, shmeltdowns! They were there to have a good time. There was a live jazz band and plenty of people to keep their eye candy bowls full! They danced and scuttled about flirting with strangers and friends alike. Sidney even chased a boy down who refused to dance with her. For us, it was pure bliss to dance with our girls and see their smiling faces as we twirled around.

Originally, we planned to go home on Monday evening at the end of the day when we could hopefully catch another sleep wave to get us most of the way home. However, Paul and I made a difficult strategic decision to leave that night after the party instead of getting another tepid night of rest ourselves.

So, after the party, we went back to our hotel and quickly packed up everything to reassemble the van for the journey home. The girls had to be changed so we woke them, to their significant protest, and installed them back into the snug safety of their car seats.

I drove home and we arrived back in my driveway at just before 3 in the morning. It was a VERY long drive and required a great deal of concentration on my part with everyone sleeping all around me as I sang another album or six of Broadway's greatest.

It was an exhausting end to an EXHAUSTING weekend but ultimately, it was the right decision. We arrived home and reclaimed our home court advantage!

It has been a few days and as I take a look at the pictures and think back on the newest memories we get to keep in the annals of our adventure logs, I must be crazy when I think to myself, 'I wouldn't change a thing about this weekend. What a great time we had!'

Hug!

2011-10-05T10:49:00.002-04:00

Hug a BEAR...it'll make you feel better. I promise!

Sidney simply adores her birthday bear. Who wouldn't enjoy a humongo plushy soft snuggle with this guy?!?! We've been referring to him as Theodore Bear (i.e. Teddy)....but that seems a bit cliche'.

Help us name the giant bear!!!!

Also, here's a photo of my birthday present from the girls.

P.S. Papa LOVES YOU TOO!!!!! xoxo

Week In Review

2011-09-30T22:11:00.000-04:00

She-Bangs: Vivian had her first hair cut yesterday. Well, it wasn't somuch a proper hair cut as much as I executed a covert mission to cut some of her hair. Her bangs were literally passingthe tip of her nose and subsequently, she looked like an ill-groomed English sheepdog.

We were very nervous about bringing scissors anywhere near her often never-stop-bobbing head but I was giving her a bath yesterday and she was sitting perfectly still chewing on a bath toy. So I quickly grabbed the utility scissors from the junk drawer and snip ~ snip ~ snip...lovely, slightly uneven bangs.

Vivian was smiling the rest of the night. She was likely rejoicing in the world she could see that didn't have lines running through it. And I swear her eyes seem bigger and more curious than ever!

P.S. I also cut a long curly piece from behind her ear to stuff in an envelope as a trophy of her very first trim!

On Your Marks, Get Set, FLY: Aria and Vivian have joined Sidney's mobility ranks this week and set themselves free from cruising along the furniture. Our play area now resembles last call at a pub as they bump into each other and fumble around like intoxicated mini ladies. Sidney is a major show off literally running circles around her sisters to make sure she's still getting praise for her superiority in movement.

Here's a glimpse at Aria's confident new skill.

Vivian is more definitive in her steps and moves with purpose with an objective to get somewhere. Aria, on the other hand, reminds me of that special breed of fainting goats. She will take a few steps and when she cannot contain her excitement any longer, with the widest grin imaginable, she will lock her legs and launch into a free fall (in any direction that is convenient) with an unfettered belief that she will land on something soft, resulting in a laugh. Her aerobatics could very well give these goats a run for their stiff leg money!

Book Worm: More than the others, Sidney likes to chew on things. ANY things she can get her hands on. The veracity in which she is chewing through the rails of her crib have convinced me that there must be some wood-chuck in her heritage.

Yesterday, as I left a hard board-book in her crib, I stepped away for a few minutes to return and find a hole in the book. My 3rd born sat chewing and smiling, enjoying a book....or as they will from hereto be referred: snacks!

I'm going to give her those unopened encyclopedias Paul insists on keeping (and updating with annual update volumes) and maybe she'll absorb some trivia and win a million dollars on Jeopardy.

Screamin' Ears: So, Paul was the champion - and persistent nag - about getting our girls ears pierced. Ultimately, I gave in despite my consistent protests over the last year. He kept assuring me that everyone who had it done was happy they did it, including a long list of nieces who provided witness that they didn't have to have a teenager trauma by having it done when they were aware of what was going on.

Fine. I gave up and agreed.

The girls were fairly nonchalant for the actual piercing which is less invasive than a shot in the leg. They cried for 2 seconds and did the I-wanna-scream-but-can't-remember-how-to-breath move that they do when they are really upset and then it was over and they were smiling and happy.

What they don't tell you on the brochure of how good it'll be is that you have to clean the darn things twice a day for 6 weeks. It's an understatement to say the girls hate this. Not because it hurts but because we have to hold their little heads perfectly still while they are lathered with a Q-tip of antibiotic gook and an alcohol swab before turning the earring 4 times. Let's do some math. We have 6 qualifying ears for this task * 2 cleanings per day * 6 weeks = 504 cleanings!!!

On behalf of my clients (i.e. my children), I'd like to reinstate my protest to having their ears pierced.

Bye Bye Formula: We are nearly completely weened off of formula and on to whole milk. Thankfully we have had zero reaction from the switch. We are buying a gallon of organic milk every 2 days to satiate our never ending demand. I am amazed at the cost difference between organic and 'regular' milk. In our grocery, it's $6 or $7 for organic as compared to the non (?) organic $3 variety.

To clarify, the clean stuff without additives and extra hormones/antibiotics/miscellany is twice as expensive as the stuff with all the extra stuff. Our world puzzles me where this concept of organic being offered at a premium even exists. When I grew up, we just had food.

Anyway, we are also well on the way to no more bottles. I'd be fibbing if I didn't admit that gives me a mixed reaction. While it will be nice to have my kitchen counter space back again, I think we'll miss it. A year ago, we had to feed 24 bottles a day to our trio. It was hard work. But, precisely because it demanded so much attention, it was very special individual time helping them learn to feed their growth and enjoy a meal.

Now, the girls are mostly using sippy cups for liquid. Before bed, they still get a bottle and I think than it'll be the hardest to give up for ALL of us. Paul and I and the girls always share that time together. We have a our end-of-day routine complete with a lullaby CD and dimmed light. When the girls finish, they get their aggregate of 12 or so teeth cleaned and sent off to dreamland with a kiss and a final snuggle.

I just love this time at the end of the day and don't want to change it. But alas, we'll soon try to swap the last bottle with an animated rendering of one of our many story books....unless Sidney eats them all.

Shuffle Off to Buffalo: Next week, we are off to my brother's wedding near Niagara Falls. I'm looking forward to another adventure but I am nervous about the 6 hour + car ride....all the stuff we have to bring with us just to sustain a few days....staying in a strange hotel room with the girls...the long days/nights of events....et cetera. Hopefully all goes well and we can arrive for a visit with family and friends without a twitch in our eye.
Stay tuned for that one!

***
And finally, tomorrow is my 38th birthday.

Earlier today, someone asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I told her that I had given it some significant thought. What I'd really really really like is (pay close attention Paul!)....60 minutes of extra sleep - divided into 3 installments of 20 minutes - an extra 20 minutes before I get up in the morning, a 20 minute uninterrupted nap in the afternoon, and an extra 20 minutes of bonus time before I got to bed.

That's all I want.

The truth is, despite the lack of sleep, sometimes I look in the mirror and can't believe that the person looking back has children....a family of my own. I notice little white hairs in my beard and am amazed that it took 37 years to find this euphoric feeling that is more special than could have been imagined. What an amazing gift my children continue to be
.
But, just to be clear, I'd still like that sleep installment thing!

Cupcakes!

2011-09-27T11:42:00.000-04:00

Our Au Pair just shared these photos with me that she took last week on Aria/Sidney's birthday.
They are pretty darn adorable, don't ya think?!?!?
P.S. I have a sudden urge for cupcakes!

Fun With Cups

2011-09-26T13:56:00.000-04:00

Our girls have a few favorite toys, but none they enjoy more than a set of stacking plastic cups. I love them too because they don't use batteries nor speak Spanish nor sing songs laced with lessons.
Aria was particularly smitten this weekend when we discovered a new game.
Nothing better than making your kid laugh!

And then there were three....

2011-09-21T12:15:00.000-04:00

The day after Vivian was born, amidst our far away celebrationof her safe arrival, I changed my flight to arrive in India one weeklater. It was positively eating me up on the inside to have to wait more than 4seconds to get on a plane....immediately.

Paul and I got in an enormous brawl over what day to travelas his practical side battled with my fully engorged emotions. I am pretty surethe house shook! My emotions were so raw at our new arrival that I’m nearlycertain I could have been lactating!!!

We both had work and dog care and Loretta’s schedule and amillion other items on our to-do list that needed consideration before weboarded a plane. None of that mattered to me as I was a new parent that wasbeing tortured by the 9 ½ time zones that separated me from our first bornchild. It was still nearly 4 weeks earlier than our original itinerary and Ifelt utterly hopeless standing in my suburban home while the apex of a lifetime had arrived on the other side of the earth.

I felt incredible pangs of guilt that I wasn’t at Vivian’sbedside immediately after her birth and wanted to do what I could for at leastone of us to be there for the to-be-determined arrival of the twins.

Here’s what we knew. Vivian was in the NICU and we were toldshe would likely remain there for at least 10-14 days more. Our other surrogatewas on full bed rest in the same hospital and seemed to be stable as weapproached 33 weeks of gestation. But, we knew of very few instances where 36weeks was reached, considered full term for twins.

It was the 15^th when we agreed that I wouldtravel on the 23^rd and Paul would join me 1 week later. I would hopeto arrive and receive Vivian’s release from the hospital and with a little luck,Paul would be with us by the time the twins would arrive.

However, like any plans since those fateful days, we nolonger had the luxury to set them on our desired schedule.

As we patiently and anxiously waited for the hours to passuntil my departure, I’d study every morsel of every image and update that we receivedregarding Vivian’s progress. Terry and Steve’s twins had been born a few daysearlier and since they were near the hospital, they graciously agreed to takemore photos and send them to us. Up until this point, every image we hadreceived had her face obscured by the oxygen hood. Imagine all this excitementand still not seeing a glimpse of her face.

Terry reported back to me that he chatted with thepediatrician who assured him that she was gaining strength, continued toimprove breathing on her own, and was overall doing very well. He also told methat Vivian had caught a very rare wave of in-between-births time where she wasone of only 2 babies in the nursery receiving constant care from the full staffof sisters (nurses). It was a great comfort to receive his message, more thanhe could probably have known.

After Vivian was born,what was previously one entity – and the sold focus of our good wishes andconcern - changed instantly into two. It was a frightening reality to try andkeep up with what was happening as they moved rapidly in separate directions.Our surrogate was still front of mind as we hoped for her well-being while shebegan to heal from an emergency c-section. However, she was no longer accountablefor the well-being of our baby. It felt surreal and confusing for thatconnection to be permanently broken with so little fanfare, especially since weweren’t there to assume our new role.

As the days passed, we went about life as best as we could,quietly supposing that we were savvy planners who would be present for thebirth of the rest of our trio.

AND WE WOULD BE WRONG….

On September 21^st, we received an early morning,somewhat ominous, email from Dr. Shivani’s secretary announcing that oursurrogate had been scheduled for her cesarean tomorrow.

WHAT!?!?! WHY? HOW? Did I say WHAT?

After an email catch up with Dr. Shivani, we were told thatour sweet surrogate had elevated billirubin and was jaundiced which elevatesthe inevitable next steps to pre-term labor.

She was administered steroids to try and advance lungdevelopment and Dr. Shivani said she waould try and delay the labor until Iarrived, still 3 days away. I received another request for names, ‘just incase.’

This time we needed to provide 2 boy and 2 girl names. Ifelt certain we were to have 1 boy and 1 girl. Nevertheless, we had 2 boy nameschosen and 1 girl name, if needed. Wedidn’t have a 3^rd girl name settled but had some doozies stillremaining on the list.

That night, we sat in the nursery among 3 empty cribs andwrote down our choices:

First boy was to be Sebastian Xavier and first girl was tobe Aria Belle.

Second boy, if needed, was to be Benjamin Phillip.

And then we were sorting through the bin of possible namesfor a 2^nd girl, revisiting previously crossed off ones includingHazel, Willow,and an early favorite, India Rose. Paul was pushing for Charlotte and intended to call her Charlie.

At our baby shower a month earlier, we had a name tree whereour guests could write some name choices on a little paper bird and tie it tothe tree with a ribbon. I found one that said ‘Sidney’ and we both thought thatwas a good possibility. Sounded sturdy.

We still needed a middle name too so we continued to searchand Paul thought of ‘Quinn.’ I thought that would be fitting if used becauseshe would be the 5^th member of our new family but I suspect Paul cameup with the name after watching an episode of Glee earlier that night.

So, after careful deliberation, the finalists were narroweddown to between Charlotte Rose and Sidney Quinn.

I could go either way but felt slightly stronger about Sidney. So, I said toPaul, ‘It doesn’t really matter….there is NO way we’re having three girlsanyway.’ We agreed.

Type up a short email and off to Dr. Shivani ‘just in case.’

With the benefit of a year in the rear view mirror, we nowknow with total certainty that we chose the right names. Our gregarious Sidney wouldn’t fit in a name like Charlotte, which seems somehow a little more fussy.

As I went to bed that night, I wondered if we would receiveanother middle of the night phone call but hoped everyone could hold on for afew more days until I was in India.

Just before 3 o’clock in the morning I leapt out of bedfully upright because my phone made a noise. We did get a call. But somehow,miraculously, the phone wasn’t ringing. The beeping from my phone was signalingthat I had a new voice mail.

How odd, I thought, as I went through the list of potential calls that could beplaced in the middle of the night. There was no caller ID since it went rightto voice mail so the race to find out was on.

Without my glasses on, my sleepy clunky fingers tried tofind the buttons to press to hear who called at that hour.

At the time I was very sad I didn’t have the chance toanswer this call to hear the words live. But in retrospect, how many peoplehave the exact words spoken when they found out about the birth of theirchildren?

At 33 weeks and 5 days, Aria Belle and Sidney Quinn wereborn at 12:15 and 12:16 in India.They were stable and healthy and moved to the nursery where they restedtogether in one basinet right next to their big sister.

As I played the message for a still half asleep Paul – whoconsiders sleep a hobby – he squinted his eyes towards me so I could confirm what was heard. He said, ‘…2 moregirls? ~ pause ~ Can we try for a boy next?’

I could have slapped him. We let the message sit in the airfor a few seconds as the reality fell on us that we were the parents to 3little girls!!!!

Wow!

I honestly could have exploded PINK! Truly, mynext thought was that we needed to move to a house with a lot more bathrooms!!!

We began to call everyone we knew and wake them up with ourfantastic news.

That morning, as I was driving to work, I was still callingpeople to share our news. And as luck would have it, I got pulled over by a cop for talkingon the phone while driving.

Oops. ‘Gotta go.’ Click. Think quickly Edward!

He walked up to my window and simply said, ‘It is againstthe law to engage a cell phone while driving…’

I looked up from my Smart car window, surely with still redtinted eyes, and interrupted him, ‘I just became a father….three little girls.’

He said, ‘Oh wow. Congratulation! Do you need an escort tothe hospital?’

I thought that only happened in the movies.

I politely declined.

However, I am sure I would have enjoyedhis reaction had I told him, ‘Sure! It’s right up ahead. 7,000 miles and makea left and you can’t miss it.’

The rest of that day was a blur as I packed a few finalthings before I got on a plane the next day to meet our girls. I still getchocked up watching the videos I posted here.

We had tickets to a Broadway show that night. We consideredskipping it but we did go and had a great time, being serenaded Burt Bacharachsongs by Kristen Chenoweth as I quietly mopped my never ending mist exudingfrom my blood shot eyes.

Our family is 1 year old. And so are our girls.

Happy Birthday Aria and Sidney!
You are among our 3 very favorite ladies in the history of women!

Paul @ 40

2011-09-20T08:04:00.001-04:00

We are in the midst of 'Birthday Alley' in our house. Vivian was the 14th...Paul the 20th, Aria/Sidney the 22nd and lonely old me picking up the rear on October 1. For anyone keeping score, that makes 4 Virgos (although the twins are on the cusp) verses my incredibly well balanced Libra-ness! That's a whole lot of fussy, independent Virgos to keep in check! Just sayin!

I am also the only one born in the same time zone in which I live today while the other 4 in my family were all born in Asia. ....which is precisely why Paul thinks his birthday lasts 2 days long. You see, when he was born, it was the 20th in The Philippians but it was still the 19th in the United States.

Personally, I think his 2-day birthday pitch is a ploy for more cake and kudos but nonetheless, this was a milestone year for my other half. He is now in the quadragenarian club (...which for the record is still 2 years and 10 days away for me...but who's counting? I don't actually care about age but fate did end up putting me with an 'older' man! ha!).

Anyway, to celebrate, this weekend I successfully surprised Paul with 20 close friends on hand for a spectacular brunch. Below is a photo from the morning of our wedding with our former only children.

Life sure has changed since this photo was taken. So much so that I made up this special little display for Paul to see when he arrived at his surprise party.

Blank Project Desktop Plaque

Browse our selection of modern graduation announcements.

View the entire collection of cards.

I'll share more when I can find a few more minutes. But for now, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my
very favorite Co-Daddy of my children.

Please join me in a celebrating Paul on the first of what will surely be many 40th birthdays to come. (But do it quietly so as to not startle him in his advancing years!)

Pre-Party Party

2011-09-15T11:09:00.001-04:00

We are celebrating all three girls birthdays on Saturday but couldn't resist doing a mini-party with the girls and a few mini-cupcakes last night before bedtime.

We questioned the wisdom of filling our girls with their first real taste of a full-on sugary treat right before our bedtime ritual, but thankfully it all worked out fine and they slept beautifully until 6:15 this morning. CAN I GET A HALLELUJAH?!

This morning, Paul treated the girls to HIS birthday present to all three....something which I was set against but my persistent other half made the appointment anyway...it involved a scream and a few tears at first but all seems to be well now. Yes, they have received their first tattoo...

Calm down people...just kidding...Stay tuned for pictures of their newly be-dazzled ears!

Family Photo Shoot

2011-09-14T12:54:00.000-04:00

We had a family photo shoot last week and just got the images back. It is always exhausting to try and dress up the girls, assemble something that resembles a hair-do, cluck/clack/clap or whatever is necessary to inspire smiles.....ANNNND REPEAT. All of this is done over the course of a few hours to try and capture the funny little personalities of our little ones.

However, as usual, the effort was worth it. I think we got some really fun (and funny) pictures to add to the 'we cherish this' pile!

(If anyone is in the area and interested...our photographer's website is here. She does a fantastic package of 4 photo shoots over 1 year and comes to your home for ~3 hours each time allowing plenty of time to feed, change, or cuddle to make sure everyone is in the right mood. After our first attempt at photos at a shopping center, we HIGHLY recommend this approach.)

Enjoy.

P.S. Thanks for all the birthday wishes for Vivian! We'll be sure and pass them along. The girls shared a piece of a cupcake this morning (well, mostly the icing). We are celebrating all three girls this weekend with a Birthday PICNIC at a favorite park. The weather says it will be sunny...and I'm pretty sure I could have told you that without a forecast!

~ THE END ~

(1) 1-Year Old

2011-09-13T15:23:00.000-04:00

A year ago today, literally moments after I pressed 'Publish' on this blog post about how all was well and steady in India, I received a phone call from Dr. Shivani to alert me that our singleton pregnancy had begun premature labor.

What? Our Singleton?!?!?!

We had received a report that morning, only a few hours earlier, showing everything was progressing normally. We had just passed 32 weeks of gestation and our scheduled flight to India was still four weeks away. It was early afternoon when I received that phone call.

We had always expected our twins would likely come early but....HOLY *#&%*!!!!!

Without any possibility of any control in what was happening half a world away, fear rushed into every corner of my mind. I worried about everything that could be worried about as well as some things that needed no worry. But I wanted to leave no worry stone un-turned!!!!

I called Paul to tell him we were about to be parents, started searching for flights and making a 'to-pack' list in my mind.

Moments later I had a meeting in my bosses office, the owner of my company, and he could plainly see that I was 7 shades of white so I offered, 'I'm about to become a father.' He laughed and quickly responded that if I was going to puke, I should do it outside his office.

Dr. Shivani sent me an email updating me on the progress of treatment and protocol and asked that I send her 2 names; 1 for a boy and 1 for a girl.

When I responded, here is what I wrote: "If it is a girl, her name will be Vivian Grace. If it is a boy, we still are making our decision and will get back to you soon."

We never did send a boy's name.

It seemed, despite all of our diligent consideration of name choices, we had a pool of about 437 names and had only narrowed it down to 436.

That night, we had a long ago scheduled baby CPR class. So, off to the hospital we went and sat down in a room full of pregnant people. The teacher went around the room and made small chit-chat learning about the attendees of the class and asked when everyone was due. I think we said something incomprehensible in retrospect...something like, '...one of our triplets is going to be born any moment now.'

I left my cell phone squarely in the middle of the table throughout the 3 hour class and there was nary a peep.

After class, we hung around to speak with the instructors and told them more about our unique family journey. We explained that we needed to choose a boys name and tried a few on and received tepid responses to our male finalists. They did like Vivian Grace.

At home, it was getting late so we went to bed thinking that maybe it would be morning by the time we heard anything. I didn't think I'd get any sleep and yet I fell immediately asleep....ONLY to be abruptly awoken by my phone at 12:30 with a call that simply started with, 'Congratulations, Vivian is here.'

Wow.

Vivian was breathing with an oxygen hood but was otherwise in great health. We let it all sink in for a few celebratory moments and called all of the new grandparents.

I stayed awake, sitting in the girls nursery, to stare at the few grainy first images while tears literally flowed freely down my cheek. I steadfastly watched the minutes of the clock tick by with the anticipation of a balloon filled with too much air. With each passing moment, I reconsidered what time of day would be considered too early to call and share this fantastic news with everyone I had ever met in my life.

365 days later and that precious little 4.4 pound little baby has grown into a big sister little girl, toddling about while singing songs and showing off her teeth. She is our bright light who flirts and fights the loudest.

Every day is better knowing that Vivian is our daughter. Love has become too puny of a word to describe what we feel.

Happy 1st Birthday to our first born....

Silly Things and Doppelgängers

2011-09-11T20:17:00.000-04:00

Just for fun...here's a silly, cheeky video that was recently sent to me.

Some days you need to search for something that will make you smile....and in most cases, you can find just what you need right beneath your nose.

I just love our little girls, truly and incomprehensibly more every single day. They really do guarantee moments of awe mixed with laughs and giggles.

I'm grateful for the life we have, for the freedom we enjoy, and the enrichment in life found from being a parent. We are lucky and proud to be a family.

9-11-01 ~ Never Forget!

Have you been to the zoo?

2011-09-10T21:06:00.000-04:00

We have!

The Very First Year

2011-09-07T17:03:00.001-04:00

In the early 70’s my parents had an 8mm film recorder and reel-to-reel projector. You know the kind. It was a little hand-held thingy that recorded moving images with that rapid-fire, hypnotic click-click-click-click. Today, those films still provides silent moving images that are clear if only slightly grainy.

They evoke a great sense of nostalgia of a truly simpler time gone by.Unfortunately, that camera broke when I was a young child. As a result, there are a few films of my infant-esque self but many many more of my three older brothers. My younger brother got nothing but still shots.

I have always been fond of those ‘movies’ as well as the photographs that help frame the fuzzy memoir-in-my-mind of a long ago childhood. It is unclear why my folks never fixed that 8mm camera but I was reminded of it when I was looking at some videos and photographs of our girls.

What will our girls think about when they look back 20 or 30 years from now at all the images created of them and their childhood? What will be the preferred media of the day then? Given the sheer number of photos taken, typical of our digital world, I wonder if there will be image fatigue. I wonder about the smart phone generation who take pictures and upload them to Facebook and move along in life. How will the people featured in those pictures and videos ever be able to treasure them someday?

Personally, I have always been diligent about printing pictures and immediately placing them in chronological albums. I literally have over a hundred photo albums accumulated through life and maybe eight or so from the last year alone.

I am sure we are typical of most first time new parents who record – literally thousands - of images of their baby's first year. Can you believe our little girls will be a year old in just a few weeks?

Well, I have tried to whittle down some of my favorites from the last 12 months into a slide show of 200-ish images that make me instantly misty. When I see how fast our girls have evolved and planted themselves squarely in the middle of the heart of our still new family, I can't help but wonder if I took enough!!!

Enjoy ...and if you are anything like me, have a tissue handy..sniff sniff!

Swing Swing Sunday

2011-09-04T14:46:00.000-04:00

A September Reflection

2011-09-01T15:01:00.000-04:00

Suddenly, the air was crisp.

Early this morning, as I took the dogs outside for their ‘responsibilities,’ I noticed a chill in the air. Nothing significant but after a hotter summer than those in recent memory, I sat on my bench in my PJs and tee-shirt and experienced a slight shiver. The sun was cresting over the trees, the Hudson, and the buildings of Manhattan on the horizon when I suddenly realized it was September. SEPTEMBER!

What is the big deal about that, you may ask.

Remarkably, in 13 days, Vivian will reach the first anniversary of her extraordinary debut as our child. And in 21 days, Aria and Sidney will match that significant milestone, turning the corner on their way to toddler-hood.

I was actually compelled to Google when a baby becomes a toddler this morning and found that the majority opinion concedes that when a child turns one, s/he is no longer a baby.

Gulp!

I found a quote that quantifies the transition: ‘…your baby will begin to realize he is a separate person from you. He will find it exciting to be able to move away from you but scary when you move away from him.’

Sometimes, late at night, when one of the girls has a moment of fuss, it sets off a three-act play in my head. Firstly, Paul and I have a wordless but intense negotiation to see who flinches first. The first one to move – even a little - must get up and try and regain control while the other ‘wins’ and can remain in bed. The unwritten fine print allows that nobody has to get up if the child in question settles on her own without having triggered a coo in the baby barracks.

For several months, we have been lucky with pretty solid sleepers that clock in 10-11 hours per night. When there is a stirring in the midst, the odds are probably 60-40 in favor of settling. However, for me the instinct is hard to resist helping her re-find her zzzz’s.

And truthfully, if someone is awake, we can almost guarantee that it is Vivian, our poorest full-night sleeper. As a compliment to her occasional insomnia, she is gifted in the sad-but-urgent-screaming-cry department, especially in the wee hours. She will just sit up in her crib, peer through the slats as if she were a sudden resident of Sing-Sing and wail. When she is REALLY unhappy, it pierces my ears AND my sleepy soul to quickly diagnose the reason. Did she have a bad dream? Gas? Did she see a ghost? Does she just miss us?

It normally works out that we end up equally sharing this duty. When we have to get up, one of us will drag an achy body into the nursery and immediately concede to the one item list of demands, a cuddle. Almost always, tears dry amazingly fast and she falls into a deep sigh of relief while dozing off nestled into the crook of a Daddy arm.

I usually crash on the chaise and enjoy the tranquility of the white noise makers and night light projecting stars on the ceiling. As I stare at a now quiet, angelic little girl and feel her contented warm breath on my arm, it encourages a woozy realization of just how tired I feel.

This is when I have to dig deep and strategize for getting her back into her crib. It is no time to fool around. Which tactic would work best for sliding them off the spatula that is my arm? Choices have consequences, namely whether I will get back to my bed in 2 minutes or 20.

Do I do the plop and run, the roll-off-the-arm and tip toe, or the rocking down sway which usually includes a shake and wiggle technique of her posterior that Paul discovered? (For that last one, more than once, I have been asked in a judgmental tone after a new round of crying, ‘Did you shake her hiney?’)

Despite being exhausted, I have lately found myself relishing the moment before I put any of the girls down. Soon, the instant gratification comfort I am able to offer will disappear, or at least evolve into something different. It is important to enjoy these precious infant moments, even when the clock is laughing at you, as they will soon be g-o-n-e. At a minimum, this mini-euphoria is a reliable trick to fool my mind into not being angry for being awake.

The reality is that our babies are growing up! Fast! The past long nights will soon end a surprisingly short year. I think we have to admit that we are about to be a household with no babies, only toddlers. Our little creatures, that needed us for everything a few months ago, are growing more independent by the day if not hour.

Is it too cliché to say that this has been the best year of our life? It has. Anyone who has read this diary for more than a few weeks probably realizes that I have a thing within me, an inner emotional sap, which loves reminiscences and nostalgia. It is in contrast to my everyday sarcastic, cynical, sometimes cantankerous personality.

For me, memories fuel the future. It was not long ago that I thought destiny had prescribed a childless life. The last 12 months highlight the joy and pride that consume my delight in being a father while giving me the strength to receive the unencumbered love of being a family.

Remember when they didn’t have teeth? When they couldn’t lift the giant anchor that was their heads, much less roll over, much less crawl, much less WALK!?!?! Remember when it took 30+ minutes to have them finish 2 or 3 ounces of formula? When they are hungry now, they can take a full 8 ouncer in 5 or 6 minutes. Remember India, the adventures that remain in our gut? Remember midnight mass on Christmas, Easter in Provincetown, and an unforgettable Baptism celebration, surrounded by friends, family, and friends who are our family? Remember their first smile? The first laugh? The anticipation and excitement in their eyes when I arrive home from work?

I have taken more photos this year than any year passed. I am certain if you assembled them in order and flipped them quickly, you’d see a live action movie of our year. The rich memories of the last year can fuel 2,000 more.

I can't believe it's September already!

Hurricane in the House

2011-08-29T14:03:00.000-04:00

Irene is a fickle lady. As anyone with a television probably knows, there was a giant hurricane headed straight for the eastern coast of the United States this past week. It finally arrived and departed over the weekend with much less fanfare than the all-wet weather personalities of every network had predicted.

Much of the region was lawfully demanded to evacuate. As it turns out - with exception to some localized areas prone to flooding - the warnings were largely for naught.

It is certainly better to be prepared than surprised, however, this storm was particularly intense in the messaging that was disbursed from government officials and round-the-clock news people who insisted that everyone be scared.

Despite some record water levels in our state, thankfully our homes were spared any real issues other than some fallen leaves outside. (....and of course the predictable swells in our tub at bath time.)

Maybe the ramped up rhetoric was a result of the post shake-up sentiments from the extremely rare earthquake we felt a few days earlier? Maybe the response was overkill because of the botched attention in a winter full of blizzards?

Whatever the reason, we buckled down at home, removed all outside patio furniture, ordered a lot of Chinese food, thought about a plan to load the van and head west if needed, and then patiently waited....and waited....and waited...to find out what would happen next.

I went to bed on Saturday night with a slight whistle of wind outside and woke up around 5AM to heavy rain and the promise of an ordinary day.

Here are a few highlights from our Hurricane Irene weekend.

BUZZZZZ

2011-08-18T22:10:00.001-04:00

Miss us? We'll beeeeee back soon....

Is it Rakhi ALREADY!?!?

2011-08-11T16:05:00.003-04:00

I know I said I was on a break from posting…I am….but I just realized that this weekend is Rakhi and I am about burst with the need to write something really quick.

Among the many festivals among my children's colorful heritage, Rakhi just may be my very, very favorite. To me, it is one that I want to make sure and keep alive in our family at home and among our global family of friends who have shared a similar path that journeyed through India to find parenthood.

We all have a version of Mother’s and Father’s days. But how many of us were party to a holiday that celebrates siblings?

Raksha Bandhan is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims in Northern India….oh heck, just watch this short cartoon to explain it:

It seems like just yesterday we acknowledged our first Raksha Bandhan in this post.

So, so, so much has happened in the last year. For many people who read this blog, it has been a year filled with the greatest joy never before known. I believe there is a significant bond when history occurs in common with others. We are proud to share this history and truly cherish the life-long friendships we have discovered along the way. Our children will always know they share their rich beginning with a community that spans the globe.

Sometimes I just want to pinch myself to be sure this last year has been real but then Vivian does it for me (she's in a phase!).

To that end.....

Dear,

Eros, Kamryn, Anaya, Max, Micah, Sarah, Harry, Maya, Brandon,Thomas, Rose, Hannah, Noah, Toby, Griffin, Emily Robyn, Leon, Matthew, Taj, Beau, Eva, Ajay, Alan(tbd!), Aedan, Neve, Jag, Alwina, Alex, Orion, Amalia, Oscar, Alice, Jonathan, Oliver, Harrison, Anastasia, Niklas, Maya, Neil, Lily, Elekra.....and the scores of others who have been born, are about to be born, or are still a dream:

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY RAKHI!

We all are the colors of a rainbow, fashioned wholly from dreams and love!
(I hope you watch this commercial and know exactly how we feel about you!)

We will be tying a virtual string around your wrist as we think of you all this weekend.

Love,
Vivian, Aria, & Sidney

Be Back Soon

2011-08-09T21:12:00.000-04:00

I am taking a little break from updating our blog.

I always loved the dancing refreshments cartoon that played in between the double feature at the drive-in movie theater in Cape Cod...dancing hot dogs jumping into buns with pop corn raining from the sky while a frosty cup of cola sauntered by with his candy friends.

Anyway, here's our Vishwas version....See you soon.

Back of the Closet

2011-07-31T13:58:00.000-04:00

I had forgotten about these darling little cherry dresses that we purchased in Delhi at Monnalisa at the mall. The girls have grown (just a bit!) since I showed off these dresses here and made Vivian model in her sleep.

The girls were very styling at church this morning! Now, if they would just sit still for a photo, that'd be grand!

Our Weekend: Berries, Drama, Kisses, Chickens, and Pool

2011-07-26T13:20:00.000-04:00

In the immortal words of that Irving Berlin classic, '...we're having a Heatwave!'

It was a HOT ~ HOT ~ HOT weekend. We have, like much of the country, been in the midst of a full-on heat wave over the last week with the weekend temps topping 100 degrees in the shade. And the humidity makes it feel like we were back in Delhi at the end of the monsoon season, sans the dirty air.

It is a challenge to maneuver around with our brood in normal summertime temperatures but we were determined to not sit in the air conditioned comfort of home when there is a world of adventure to share with our girls. So, we packed extra water and off we went knowing the added heat would make our very busy weekend a little more perspiration-filled!

But before we got going on Friday night, we had a little bit of drama. Our Au Pair was lifting Aria and she wiggled her way out of her arms so she instinctively grabbed her arm to catch her...and then there were tears!

I was still at work but en route so by the time I got home the tears had subsided but she wasn't moving her arm very much. There was no bruising nor swelling so I lifted her little hand and moved her fingers. She didn't flinch but she did whine a bit. So, we put the wrist in a cold wrap hoping it was just a momentary ache. After 10 or so minutes, I tried again and she was still not moving her arm so I called the pediatrician's office. They suggested we bring her in before the weekend started, just in case it was something significant.

Soon after all was fixed. Diagnosis: dislocated shoulder. Ouch!

Paul brought her while I stayed home with the other girls but he told me the doctor rotated her arm/shoulder, felt it pop back in, and voila, she was back to normal. She cried a little bit but nothing major and within the hour was acting as if nothing at all had happened, waving her arms and sucking on her favorite thumb. We were told that once this sort of injury occurs, it is more likely to occur again so we have to be careful to lift her by the armpits and make sure we have a good grip.

On Saturday morning, we made a 2 hour car trip to visit our good friends in Pennsylvania at their farm about 20 miles north of Scranton.

And more deliciously, it was time for our annual pilgrimage to Blueberry Haven, near their home. It's a pick-your-own place where the blueberries are sweet, plump, and abundant as they leap off the branches (right into my mouth!).

If there was a tree that grew candy, it wouldn't be as sweet as these berries. LOVE!

We arrived before 10 so the temperature was an almost bearable 90. I quickly fed the girls in the van as Paul and our friends started their picking shift.

Next, the girls were loaded into the wagon and off we went on a diligent hunt for blueberries! It was all smiles and happiness as we visited Daddy and our friends and continued to roll up and down among the rows and rows of bushes, testing out the occasional berry. The girls were just thrilled with our taste testing and all the new sights and smells that surrounded us.

But, it was hot and getting hotter. This Daddy was sweating from hauling a cart full of chub so I decided to go park them in the shade and sit for a little bit. Wrong! This is where the girls decided they'd like a lesson in science. We started with Newton's laws of motion and quickly moved on to a hard learned lesson about gravity and a close up view of the earth.

You likely remember Newton's laws whereas an object in motion must remain in motion until an opposing force stops it..

Well, the girls didn't think it was fun to just sit still in the shade. 'What about all the blueberries', their eyes seemed to say. I took out my camera to take a few more pictures of the girls.

And then, mere milliseconds after this photo, Aria decided to launch herself - with the commitment of Michael Phelps diving for his final gold medal - over the side of the wagon to land on her face, firmly smushed into the grass and dirt below.

I immediately scooped her up to comfort her and thankfully she bounced pretty well with nary a scratch. But, there were yelps of unhappiness at Blueberry Haven! I though the berries may fall off the bushes from her scream but we brushed it off and I placed her back in the wagon to receive comfort (in the form of odd looks - as if to say, 'duh!') from her sisters.

So, with everyone back in their resumed seats, we go up and down another aisle or two with me performing my duty as the family mule. It has got to be nearing 100 degrees by now so I decide (apparently I am a slow learner), with sweat dripping from all my unflattering jiggly parts, 'let's try that shade thing again.'

This time all three decide to try and stand, while smiling at me to dare me to catch them, and keep moving along on their adventure.

Urg.

So, I call it quits and start heading for the van having to stop every 2 or 3 feet to re-seat my ancy passengers.

'Sidney! SIT DOWN.' ~~~ 'Vivian, sweetheart you don't wanna....' ~~~~ 'Aria, have you learned NOTHING...'

The people we passed, who were originally thinking how sweet our little trio was, were surely shaking their heads and thinking, 'will ya look at that poor bastard' at this point.

Thankfully, we managed to avoid any more drama and got the girls into the air conditioned van where they had a sippy cup and promptly fell asleep.

So, listen up class...the lesson is to keep the wagon moving or the objects in the wagon will keep moving without you. Check!

Next up was a visit at our friends house where their 3 1/2 year old son decided to show just how much he loves our little girls....all of them received their first kisses on their little noses!

I am not entirely sure what the girls thought of their mini gentleman caller but I did remind them each that in the future, they should demand dinner and a movie before giving up a kiss!

Nonetheless, after all that excitement, we decided to walk to the ice cream place just across the other side of one of their pastures. We loaded up the girls and strapped them in the relative safety of the stroller - which for the first time made me giggle as it seemed to resemble an amusement park ride - maybe space mountain - as we launched towards an ice creamy treat.

By the time we returned, the girls were entirely spent....and Vivian was oblivious to her new friends lurking in the shadow of the stroller.

On Sunday, although we intended to make the effort, the heat got the better of us and we skipped church in exchange of a well earned a day of leisure. We just relaxed and hung around the house and lounged by the pool. We are going to need to start swim lessons for these little fishes as they REALLY enjoy a good swim (or float!).

Oh, I forgot to mention Nana Loretta was with us the entire weekend for a full-on dose of HER little girls.We are blessed to have her visit lots but this was the first overnight visit since we were in India. I have to say, at nearly 82 years old, she has the stamina of someone 1/3 her age! And HER girls just LOVE time with their special extra Nana!

We finished up the day by having their late afternoon snack al fresco before having to reload the van and return to the un fun house with no pool, no chickens, and no blueberries.

All in all, it was another adventure filled weekend that has earned a new memory in the corners of our mind.

Farewell until the next adventure....

Grandma's Gift Part 2

2011-07-24T20:17:00.000-04:00

I MEAN - SERIOUSLY.....THIS TOY CAR WAS DESIGNED BY SATAN, LUCIFER, MEPHISTOPHELES, & BEELZEBUB ON THEIR LUNCH BREAK!!!

Why not just mail me some plastic pellets and a photo of the intended result? There are more parts to this pink play thing than bones in my body! It makes me think Grandma loves the kids....but me...not so much!

What ever happened to items that didn't require assembly? No wonder I was left to play with hand me down sticks when I was a kid! If everything is made in China, couldn't we just have them fit the bits together instead of sending me instructions in 17 languages. (Is the piece for the left side when I'm facing the car or the left side as if I WAS the car?!?!) I'd gladly pay extra so I don't increase the size of my 'extra' parts pile from projects past.

Well, thankfully, after literally an hour and a half of wrestling plastic bits, screws, stickers, and bops, the intended audience seems to quite like the ride!

Of course, I still have to put together 2 more.....SONNNNNNUVA....

Delivery from Grandma

2011-07-21T20:42:00.000-04:00

Grandma is getting a jump start on the girls birthday....STILL 2 MONTHS AWAY!

Our collection of brightly colored plastic items continues to grow...as my house continues to look like a Babies R Us purged in our living room.

We are heading for a very special episode of Hoarders....but at least it will be colorful.

Friday Fluff

2011-07-15T09:56:00.000-04:00

If I don't say so myself, our girls get darn cuter every week! Vivian passed 10 months (!!!!) yesterday and her sisters will get there in another week. It is crazy how fast their first year is racing by. Have I told you recently how this has been the most wonderful, rewarding, funny, exciting - albeit exhausting - time of our lives? Well, it has!

I was thinking the other day how, although we are in our late 30's (one of us more late 30's than the other), in many ways it is the ideal time to have kids. We had lived a pretty full existence of leisure before children as the stereotypical DINKS* we were. Now, we are happy and content to stay home and just be a family.
*Dual Income, No Kids!

Anyway, here are a few updates on our girls development:

- 2 Girls can stand, 1 can cruise, and 1 still prefers the comfort that gravity offers on the ground.
- It is difficult to carry all 3 - nearly 60 pounds of babies - at the same time.
- Everyone smiles...a LOT! I am sure most babies are like this at this age, but I like to think we have especially happy kids.
- They can say Da-Da in about 437 languages, some of them human.
- They are all sleeping through the night after a recent re-Feber-izing few days that made my soul weep.
- We have had 2 ear infections, pink eye, and a cold in the last month. (Our house is a virtual petri dish of germs - visit at your own risk.)
- I'm pretty sure they have figured out how to flirt to get what they want. Truly - full on eyelash fluttering, chin tucked, and wide grins. I'm telling you right now...in about 13 years, they should expect Daddy to impose an early curfew!
- Their hair is a hot mess - nearly always - except for a few minutes after it is brushed. How do you keep baby hair in place?!?!
- They have a total of 4 1/2 teeth between them but someone still has the same number of teeth as my parents (i.e. none)
- Suddenly, they have become scared of their K-9 siblings. The dogs can't be bothered with crying kids. We are going to work on this over the weekend. Maybe the dogs can pull the wagon?
- Bath time is typically a happy time. But, they have all discovered that soap is not tasty.
- We have outgrown a LOT of clothes, chairs, swings, play mats, and miscellany. However, we are very excited that 2 good friends are expecting. We don't know the genders yet but we are hoping for more little girls!

Have a nice weekend!

Age of Aquarius

2011-07-13T16:33:00.000-04:00

Two years ago, a close friend and mentor of mine called me while I was at the office. When his number popped up on my phone, I hesitated for a second because I was in the middle of something, but my hand picked up before my mind could intercept it.

‘Well, hello there Bill,’ I said as I answered the phone.

He launched right into the point of his call, ‘I saw an ad on the bus today for hair and thought of you…’

Interrupting him, knowing that he has been mostly bald for at least a few decades, I replied, ‘I beg your pardon you old bitch….you want to talk to ME about hair?’

He laughed as he said, ’Oh, she’s feisty today,’ as he continued, ‘...the ad was for Hair the musical!’

We had a good laugh as we made plans to inquire about dates of when to see the revival which had gotten pretty solid notices on Broadway.

Bill was responsible for my coming to New York City 18 years earlier. He was the Professor in charge of recruitment at my alma mater and saw something in me that I wanted to believe existed and still can’t quite believe someone else could see. He was directly accountable for the nearly full scholarship I received to study at a school far from my Texas home after I declined their first invitation because I could not afford to move to the big city. Many years later, Bill told me he knew I could not afford to NOT move to New York.

He ushered me into a dream in New York City that was (seemingly at least) otherwise unattainable. But he didn’t stop there. As impressively, he guided me past the years of college and was a voice in pretty near every major decision in my life in the 20 years since.

Suffice it to say, Bill has played an important influence in my life. I counted him as an always reliable confidant, mentor, and truly good friend.

Bill and I never did make a date to see Hair.

But I was reminded of this story last weekend because Hair returned to Broadway for a limited engagement and Paul surprised me with tickets as an anniversary gift. He arranged for friends to babysit the girls and off we went for our first alone ‘date’ since our children were born. Okay, it was a matinee but still, a date is a date!

The last show we saw on Broadway was literally the day our twins were born. We had tickets to see Promises, Promises with Sean Hayes and Kristen Chenoweth on September 22, 2010. I was flying to India on the 23rd to meet our girls. And although we were swirling from 8 days of excitement, knowing that all three of our children were born, safe, and resting in a nursery 8,000 miles away, I cried my way through most of the show.

The funny parts – woo hoo. The dramatic parts – bawwwwl! The happy ending – bwaaa ha ha bwaa!

Crying in public didn’t matter because I was a new Dad for the 2nd time in 8 days and I was prepared to tell anyone who asked, even if it would be complicated to explain why I was at the theatre on the day my children were born.

The theatre has always been a band-aid for me. When it is good, it is easily able to reach deep into my heart and force me to find something to rejoice. This is TOTALLY sappy, but the exhilaration of sitting in a lofty space filled with an audience being taken on a journey driven by quippy, hummable music – sung by a stage full of performers who have achieved the destination of their performance nirvana, reduces me to the little vulnerable girl that apparently lives in my soul! Ha!

To be clear, while I cry, my tears-stuck-in-an-iron-box husband usually smiles. He has a very odd infatuation with me when I get emotional.

Anyway, I digress.

So, the beginning notes of the first number in Hair start to fill the theatre. We are sitting on the aisle in the orchestra section on the 3rd row. They are fantastic seats. The scrim rises to a hippy-dippy stage filled with a beautiful, dripping-in-color-and-fringe cast led by an out of this world black woman with a giant head of afro-to-the-sky HAIR, singing the first verse of the entre of this theatrical event.

When the moon is in the seventh house…
…and Jupiter aligns with Mars
The peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars…
….this is the dawning of the age of Aquarius, the age of Aquarius

This is a song that Paul and I have sung together on road trips in the privacy of our car a hundred times over…because that is clearly the best place to impersonate a diva black woman with pipes!

I find myself getting chocked up as I see the joy in the performers faces. I’m thinking about how I hope our girls reach whatever pinnacle they find in their dreams. More cast members arrive and flow onto the stage from the back of the house and my head gets rubbed by no less than 6 people as they begin their 3 hour story about love….while sometimes naked. (Did I mention we were in the 3rd row. Ruff-Ruff!)

It was moving, magical, sometimes silly, but always smile-worthy.

At the end of the show, the cast invited the audience to dance in the aisles and join them on the stage for a group fun-fest. While I briefly considered making my Broadway debut with the masses, I refrained when I remembered that I would prefer not to share. :-)

As we are walking out of the theatre, Paul says to me, ‘Bill would have loved this.’

It was at that moment that I remembered that phone call and our funny exchange. Unfortunately, as you may have anticipated in this story, a few days later, suddenly and unexpectedly, he died.

Have you ever thought about those crucial moments in life - where you meet someone, or encounter some intersection - and everything changes after that point? Had I not met Bill, would I still be living in Texas? Would I have gone through with that engagement? (long story!) Would I have been living in fear of the label that wanted to define myself?

Of course, I did meet him and a lot has happened because of him, directly and indirectly. He has been gone for 2 years now but I still think about our friendship a lot. I know he’d be tickled pink on how much pink is in our life now. It was in that same phone call that I told him of this crazy idea we had to create a family through a surrogate in India. We were still working out the many details of our first steps and hadn’t even booked our airfare for our first trip.

He simply said, ‘Another adventure…I look forward to hearing all about THAT!’

This photo was from our wedding.
Bill later told me, with a tear in his eye, it was the first time he danced in public with his partner...of 23 years!

Baptism Photos

2011-07-10T08:45:00.000-04:00

We finally received the photos from the photographer who shot our baptism a few weeks ago.
It was a colorful and very memorable day! Enjoy!

Our Church

Indian Scarves as Bows....Brilliant! (If I do say so myself!)

Sitar and Tabla Artists - Their Amazing Grace is still soaring in the rafters!

This is the candle that was last lit at our civil union - on a table covering we purchased in India

Someone has to toot a horn! This was the beginning call of 'Prepare Ye' from Godspell

Nana Loretta did a reading - She's gone native! And she's as sprightly as ever!

Water from the Jordon River, Lotus Temple, and the faucet!

Vivian goes first

I'm not sure who is blessing who here....but Aria smiled nonetheless!

In the next frame, Sidney grabs Father Smith's mustache!

The congregation is blessed - Father Smith is wearing a Coptic cross that we brought back from Cairo on our honeymoon.

Which is brighter? Sidney's smile or the candle?

Vivian is kind of over it at this point. She usually naps after a bath!

Aria looking as adorable as ever.

A few remarks

Lots of color!

Yum!

Did I say YUUUUMMMM!

Party Favors

Tired near the end of the day

The henna artist was a big hit!

Paul gets an idea...from our new friends!
(This is baby Neve from the blog Delhi Baby)
P.S. 3 beautiful ladies are keeping us plenty busy.....

God Bless Vivian, Aria, & Sidney

Special

2011-07-06T13:35:00.000-04:00

Happy post-4th of July weekend! Among the naps, hammock swinging, and grilled meat, we had a gleeful weekend of firsts as the girls showed us how to lounge in a two-piece and look positively adorable on a wide-eyed exploratory ride around the yard in their wagon.

Driven by infectious curiosity, their funny little personalities are evolving more and more as each day passes. At the same time, they are clearly refining a closer sisterly bond, creating a language of grunts, blurps, and coos. I suspect that someday soon they will band together to overtake the household but for now, it’s pretty darn endearing to see them figure out a method of seemingly classified communication.

Although Mother Nature was mostly kind, Sunday was crumby. So, we took a ride to the mall to push the girls around and exploit some rainy day energy. With the girls stacked in their triple-decker stroller, it is easy to become a minor distraction to passers by. Mainly, the comments offered by strangers is innocuous stuff even if it makes me scratch my head. For example, an older woman who stopped to fawn over the children and after about 30 seconds of giving them the once-over, she simply asked me, 'Three boys?'

Ummm...they all have frilly dresses drowning in pastels with matching bows in their hair....oh, why bother....

Mostly, people just pass on by and you can often see them count to three in their heads and either smile or mouth the word, 'Wow!'

But then I overheard a man as he walked passed us saying to his wife, loud enough for all to hear, “Better him than me.”

Feeling a bit sassy with a tint of annoyance, I turned towards him and yelled in return – with a gracious smile on my face “Better ME than you!” He chuckled for a second and then looked confused as he realized it wasn’t a compliment being hurled his way.

Obviously our kids don’t understand random comments of passing strangers – and certainly his was neither unique nor intended to offend as best I can tell - but what a tactless boob nonetheless!

I should probably learn (although likely won’t) to keep my instinctual smart-ass in check however, I would never want my girls to feel as if they were some enormous burden simply because there happens to be three of them.

Once our girls are cognizant of haphazard commentary, I hope we will have taught them enough about confidence, a healthy sense of humor and willingness to laugh at yourself, and a quick wit aimed to disarm the ignorant.

After all, all three of our children are very special.

And if you take a look at this photo, you’ll notice that one – at least as it relates to drinking from sippy cups – is especially more special than the others!

Silent Garden Safari - ENJOY!

2011-07-04T12:45:00.001-04:00

Wordless Swim Party - ENJOY!

2011-07-02T21:13:00.000-04:00

Our Bishop: The Rock Star

2011-06-29T14:39:00.019-04:00

This is from the blog of The Rt. Rev. Mark M. Beckwith, Bishop of the Diocese of Newark: Marriage Equality In New Yor k

I rejoice with our New York neighbors on the passage of a state law that will make it legal for gay and lesbian couples to marry. I ache for gay and lesbian couples in New Jersey, which came very close two years ago to passing similar legislation. By a close vote New Jersey chose to stick with civil unions -- which is a separate but unequal provision if there ever was one.

What the country is learning, slowly but inexorably, is that marriage for gay and lesbian couples and families strengthens marriage for all couples and families. Relationships marked by fidelity and life-long commitment, and which are protected by law -- as well as blessed by the church, weaves yet another important and necessary thread of support into the social fabric.

Same-gender marriage also exposes the inequity of so-called "traditional" marriage, in which a wedding ceremony was in large measure a contract between two men -- the groom and the father of the bride. When the father of the bride "gave away" his daughter, she surrendered her name, her property and her legal status -- to her husband. With the evolution of marriage -- and particularly with the advent of same-gender marriage, the only surrendering is that of two people giving their love and commitment to each other.

My hope and prayer is that the action in New York will serve as a catalyst for providing the same outcome in New Jersey. Many in the Garden State will redouble their efforts to promote marriage equality. I will join them.

I am reminded by an insight made some sixty years ago by Reinhold Niebuhr, a remarkable theologian who in many ways served as our culture's post-war conscience: the human capacity for justice makes democracy possible; and the human capacity for injustice makes democracy necessary.

I hope and pray for the continued unfolding of democracy, the evolution of marriage -- and the freedom and equality that are the hallmarks of each.

I am genuinely in awe of his words and willingness to stand tall when sharing them!

Not to get too chuch-y, but this is exactly why we greatly appreciate being a part of a church that so clearly 'gets it!'

Godspeed Bishop!

A Person…Can Develop a Cold

2011-06-28T12:29:00.000-04:00

Late Friday night, a certifiable bit of civil rights history was made. After a laborious legislative session of maneuvering pressure points for a handful of right leaning senators, New York has become the 6th state (plus the District of Columbia) to legalize same-sex marriage! My former home now joins the ranks of progressive states like Massachusetts ….and Iowa!?!?

The ‘win’ is significant for lots of reasons, not the least of which is a soon to be example of how the roof will not crumble when the gays get to throw a wedding. And throw weddings, they will.

I predict a healthy boom to the NY economy even if, during any gala (or should I say gay-la), you could look over your shoulder and find 44 states where no such event could be officially celebrated, not to mention the lack of recognition by our federal government.

Progress is fantastic! It is the inertia necessary to fuel a national dialogue, especially when the objective is to have something fade into the background as no big deal. But, it can also be an inevitable stark reminder of how much further our national compassion needs to travel on a crusade of equality. The very nature of a legislative body debating and voting on civil rights to be awarded to a class of Americans that still largely remains acceptable to discriminate is the stingy part.

Take a look at this map:

The dark blue states are where one can legally marry, the striped ones have a mixed bag of civil unions with laws that prohibit marriage, the solid pink and bright red states have constitutional bans on same sex marriage while the dark red states have bans on marriage AND civil unions.

Did someone call a BINGO? Look at that straight line (pun intended) of discrimination stretching from Mexico clear to Canada - - - right smack in the middle of our cotton-picking nation!

Nonetheless, the newly available rights to those who reside on the other side of the river, just below the cliff outside our front door, are certainly worthy of celebration and pride. However, I can’t help but wonder what our children will think of all this when a history class presents them with our national struggle with acceptance and inclusion, often in the name of ‘The Church.’ Or is it the convenience of discrimination afforded by the mighty shields of righteous and Godly people?

Anyway, wasn’t our nation founded on a premise of a separated church and state?

It just so happens that while all this excitement was brewing, I came down with a terrible cold and battle with strep throat. I have been a sad and cranky site! It was an awful few days of feeling deflated, defeated, and just plain exhausted after our event-filled prior week.

Stuffed up and perched on a cliff in New Jersey – with an unflattering conservative bulldog governor on record of opposition of any equal rights - I couldn’t help but look outside of my window at New York City in the distance and feel a kinship with Adelaide’s lament (and the incomparable Faith Prince!).

AAAAHHH- - - chew….and God Bless You!

Coincidentally, today is also the 3 year anniversary of our wedding/civil union ceremony.

3 years….3 dogs…and now 3 babies….I am at least 3 times as much in LOVE....and irrespective of any government view, I certainly feel married.

We have a messy house filled with children, we can't tell you what movies are out right now but can tell you what time Sesame Street is on, we rarely dine in public together, there is always a grocery and 'honey-do' list half completed, and we are excited to be in bed by 10:00....where we promptly go to sleep!

Happy Anniversary to my darling husband…no matter what any stuffy politicians say, we ~ are ~ married!

9 Months!

2011-06-22T16:36:00.000-04:00

In September of last year, all of our children were born prematurely, at 32 and 33 weeks to be precise. Their aggregate weight was 5.7kg – or 12.5 pounds to our non-metric minds. Our LARGEST child was 18 inches long and 4.3 pounds.

They all lost about 10% of their weight in the first days on dry land before starting their meteoric growth arc.

I had never held a human creature that was so delicate and yet perfect in tiny proportion. Like the memory of a fish swimming laps in a bowl, I honestly find it difficult to recall their diminutive stature.

How were they EVER that small? ...and how did we manage not to break them!!!!

This morning, we returned from our 9 month wellness checkup and if you lined up our little gaggle of girls, you’d see 84 inches of wiggle checking in at a whopping 57 pounds.

Vivian leads our pack at 29 inches and nearly 21 pounds. She is in the 86th percentile for her age, without any adjustment for her early arrival. That means that there are only 14% of babies that chart larger than our little growing giant. Sidney and Aria are smack in the middle of the charts at perfectly average weights and heights.

Incredible!

We were always assured that the babies would catch up to their ages but found it hard to imagine last autumn among a 3 hour feeding cycle, encouraging 2 or 3 ounces of formula at a time over 40 minutes of effort.

Now, the daily number of bottles has reduced from 24 to 9, however the number of solid food meals has increased from 0 to 9.

Happy 9 months to the now less-little ladies who charged our lives forever!