Old Friends, New Friends

We have had the best week! On Tuesday, my good friend, Christi, and her son, Connor, came into town. Christi and I have been friends since the 8th grade (which we calculated was 18 years ago...how is that possible? Aren't I only 22 years old? Oh, I'm not?) and while we lost track of one another during college, we reconnected last year and realized that, even after all these years, we still have so much in common, including our three-year-old sons and reciprocal memberships at the Houston and San Antonio zoo.

And all of those points-in-common meant one thing: Road Trip.

Connor and Christi made their way from Houston to San Antonio, arriving in the Alamo City around 2:00 on Tuesday. We introduced the boys and while they got to know one another and play, Christi and I caught up on life in general. We email all the time and saw one another back in November, but there's nothing like being able to sit down on the couch and just talk.

That evening, Todd got home from work and Christi, Connor, Devin and I departed for our double date. We drove downtown to the Riverwalk and decided to party like rock stars -- we dined at the Hard Rock Cafe.

After dinner, we took a walk along the river and took a boat tour of the Riverwalk.

It was late, so we headed home to get a good night's sleep before our big day at the zoo the following day.

We woke up Wednesday morning and had breakfast - my very special Mickey Mouse waffles (this is where Christi said to me, "You all have a Disney problem around here, don't you? I love it!" She really is a girl after my own heart...). My across-the-street neighbor came to babysit Faith and Grace and the four of us were off again for another adventure.

Our zoo membership served us well as we just waltzed in without having to stand in line. Christi and Connor got in for 1/2 price because of their affiliation with the Houston zoo. Not too shabby!

We spent the day oohing and ahhing over all sorts of great animals -- from the pink flamingos and grizzly bears, to the bigest Gila Monster you've ever seen and a tent full of butterflies (Devin did not like that much...he asked to leave. Oh, and ZZ, beware...there is a picture of a big, blue butterfly below).

Christi even bought the boys some temporary tattoos...they thought they were the coolest.

We returned home hot, sweaty and hungry, so we had lunch and the boys played outside.

But all good things must come to an end and Wednesday afternoon, Christi and Connor left to return to Houston to see the rest of their family -- husband and daddy, Shawn, and brother and son, Foster.

We just had the best time. It was great to catch up with Christi and to see our little boys playing so well together was like seeing the circle of life complete itself. Christi and I were friends as kids and now our kids are friends. It was pretty amazing.

Here are some photos from our adventure. Christi is quite the scrapbooker and therefore sees photo opportunities that I would otherwise miss. Thanks for the fun, you two! We can't wait to come see you all!

The boys meet and hit it off immediately


Heading out for our double date


Connor and Christi at the Hard Rock Cafe. Dinner would not have been complete without swash-buckling hats and swords


The boys at the river. Check out Connor's awesome pants. I am going to run out and buy some for Devin. I love them!


At the bear exhibit at the zoo


It would have been better if we could have seen Connor's adorable smile, too, but I couldn't resist posting this one because Devin just looks so cute!


Connor and a gorgeous butterfly. I love this photo...


The boys on the giant Gila Monster sculpture. The live one we saw inside was roughly this big!



We found a really cool pathway of rocks over water! The boys thought it was great!


My tough guy


Connor's a tough guy, too!


Connor's bad-bottom face (c'mon...this is a family blog! What did you expect me to say?)

The Saga of the Size Nine-and-a-Half Foot...

Yes...it continues.

Yesterday, Devin spent most of the day in a Benadryl-induced nap. He dutifully kept his foot up on a pillow and I thought the swelling and redness were going down. I even felt confident enough to go over to my friend Meliza's house to practice for Mass on Sunday (I'm singing this weekend, soloing for the first time since high school. Wish me luck -- I'm nervous!). When I got home, Dev was still up, so I checked on his foot. I was astonished to find that the redness had spread a good half-inch to inch all the way around his foot. I'm no doctor, but I know this isn't good.

So I called Dr. Trexler (thank goodness she was on call last night) and she decided that Devin needed to go to the Emergency Room. I packed the munchkin, along with his favorite stuffed animal and his Buzz Lightyear toy, into the car and headed to the brand new pediatrics emergency room at our local hospital. I was very impressed! The place was awesome.

We were immediately taken to triage and then back to a room. Dr. Trexler had already called in to give them instructions for Devin, so it didn't take long for us to be seen by a doctor. He determined that we'd do just one round of IV antibiotics and be able to go home, barring only bad results from Devin's blood tests like a high white cell count or something of the sort.

Two nurses arrived to put the "straw" in Devin's arm. He was none-too-happy to be poked again and while he did scream bloody murder, he did not move an inch. He stayed perfectly still and they got the IV in easily. Then started the drip and we settled down to watch TV on the flat-panel, HDTV screen in our room. I told you this place was nice!

The drip lasted about 30 minutes and while we were relaxing together, the doctor informed us that D's white cell count was normal, meaning the infection was still localized just to his foot. That was the first good news I'd heard all day.

We finished the drip, signed our discharge papers and headed home.

This morning we saw Dr. T again and she's happy with the progress the foot-in-question is making. It's still a little red and swollen, but not like it was last night. We're going to continue on the oral antibiotics and keep an eye on it this weekend. Here's hoping against hope.

Of course, while were at the doctor's office, I noticed that Gracie had some red splotches on her neck. I looked into her onesie and saw hundreds of them all over her tummy. My question here was, "Are you kidding me???"

Luckily, Cheryl walked into the room and after she was done, she looked at Grace and determined that the viral infection she had was one that causes a high fever for three or four days and then manifests as a rash on the tummy and back. She had the classic sypmtoms and, luckily, there is no harm in this. In fact, by the time the rash shows up, it means that the period of time for being contagious is over. Whew!

So here's to hoping that we'll stay away from the doctor's office, the ER and other medically associated destinations. It will be nice to just "be" for awhile.

Have a happy, fun and safe Memorial Day weekend.

The Drama Continues...

Thought you'd heard the last of illness in the Pruetz house? Think again.

Yesterday was the girls' 12-month check up. Faith had started to feel better, but Gracie was in the middle of being as pathetic as any baby ever has. Sure enough, we spent a few minutes doing the check up stuff, like deveopmental milestones, height, weight, head circumference, etc. And then we moved onto the biggest problem at hand: infected ears and major fevers. I told our doctor about Faith's trips to the ER and to Good Night Pediatrics and about how only 24 hours later, Grace too came down with all the same symptoms.

Cheryl confirmed that there is indeed some nasty virus going around and that it was likely that both girls had caught it. She took a peek in Faith's ears to check on the status of the antibiotic. She said that Faith's ear drums were bulging, ready to burst, and that obviously, the Augmentin was not working. She looked at Grace's ears and while they were looking much better, they too seemed to be on their way to infection. So it was a new antibiotic for Faith and a first round for Grace. We went home with instructions to alternate Tylenol and Advil to keep Grace's fever down and to come back in a month to recheck height and weight (there was some concern that they are still so small, but their lack of recent weight gained may be due to the virus) and get their one-year shots. What fun!

Looking forward to getting back to normal, the three Pruetz girls returned home to greet Todd's sister, Jill, her boyfriend, Tom and Devin. It was great to see my doodlebug again.

I got to hear all about Devin's horseride in Concan and the slip he took on the rocks along the river's edge. He even showed me the cut in the webbing of his toes on his right foot. He was very proud of his war wound, but did complain that it hurt. I put some Neosporin on it and gave him some Advil for the pain. He ran off, seemingly fine.

This morning, he woke up complaining of the same thing. "My foot hurts," "It's hard to walk..." I took a look at the foot and, again, nothing was wrong. More Neosporin, more Advil. All was well.

But not really.

An hour later, I just happened to glance down at Devin's foot. It was enormous. It was swollen on top and around the toes. Jill also expressed concern because she had looked at it only an hour or so before, too, and it had seemed to have nothing wrong with it.

So off we went to Dr. Trexler's office. Again.

Cheryl walked in and laughed with me about how the Pruetz family is keeping Stone Oak Pediatrics in business. Devin took of his shoe for Dr. T and I was shocked -- it had suddenly become bright red and was starting to have striations around it. I looked at Cheryl and she did not look pleased.

She poked at Devin's foot, squeezed it and even had to touch at the wound (he did not like that). She drew a line around the red area to see if it would spread and how fast.

Then she broke the news: This was going to need some heavy-duty antibiotics, starting with a shot. Devin was not pleased to hear this.

After the doctor left the room, I talked to Devin about what was going to happen and why. He became very weepy and said he didn't want the shot. I asked him why and he said, "Becuase if I have to pull down my pants, everyone will laugh." Oh it just broke my heart -- my baby showed his first signs of embarassment regarding his "private" parts.

The nurse soon came in and I started to help D pull his shorts down. He fought and fought and fought me and when I finally got them down, he curled up in a ball and refused to get up on the table. I had to put him up there, get him on his tummy and sit on him to allow the nurse a good shot of his rear end (no pun intended).

And then the screaming commenced. It was so loud it reverberated off the walls. It made my ears ring. It was one of the loudest noises I have ever heard.

After a lot of struggle, the shot was administered and immediately a blue bruise popped up. The nurse brought an ice-pack and a popsicle for Devin. So there stood my little boy, shorts around his ankles, Superman underwear pulled down past one little red cheek and while I held ice on the site of the shot, the Doodlebug sucked on an a frozen confection. Can you imagine anything more pathetic? It was pretty sad.

Before we left, we were told that we would need to return tomorrow to see Dr. T again, in an effort to make sure that the antibiotics were working well. If they were not, Devin would need to be admitted to the hospital for IV drugs.

I'm happy to report, as my little guy snoozes on the couch, that the foot is already looking better. We haven't even picked up the oral antibiotic yet, but the redness has gone away and the swelling is going down. Devin was told to keep his foot up all day and stay in bed or on the couch. I told Cheryl, "Tell me another!"

I did give Devin some Benadryl, though, for the welt the shot left, and that put him down for a pretty good nap. He has his foot propped up on a pillow, so I guess we're doing pretty well, despite the difficulty my little one has with sitting still.

I'll post a report here tomorrow on the status of the puffy foot.

Me

A Baby No Longer...

Last Saturday, May 19, my twin girls turned one year old. On that day, one year prior, they were born by urgent c-section and whisked away to the NICU where they would be diagnosed with heart problems and a staph infection. In the NICU they leared the things that we take for granted every day -- how to breathe, how to eat, how to maintain their body temperatures.

They spent five weeks there and came home at barely five pounds each and attached to heartrate and breathing monitors that went with us everywhere. Luckily, we didn't go too many places because we were told to keep them home for awhile and Todd, Devin and I all settled into a routine of very little sleep and learning how to deal with constant crying.

Slowly, the girls settled down. The crying 18 hours out of the day decreased to 12 and then five and so on. The babies went from sleeping two hours at a time to sleeping five hours and then seven and eight. They started solid foods and learned to drink from a sippy cup. They rolled over, sat up, crawled, pulled up and cruised. Just this weekend they started standing on their own. Soon, walking will commence. Then running.

In a way, this has been the longest, most difficult year of my life. I've worried constantly about illness and over-exposure to germs and bacteria. I've lost sleep, wondered how I'd make it through the day and have stressed about the future. Everything from the first day of Kindergarten to shopping for prom dresses has crossed my mind and brought tears to my eyes.

I've also stressed about this year of anniversaries. The anniversary of finding out we were pregnant. The anniversary of finding out we were having twins. The anniversary of the twins having only a 30% survival rate. The anniversary of my admission to the hospital and the annivesary of my very small, very fragile girls being born. Every milestone brought back memories of the stress and emotion that ruled our lives this time 365 days ago.

In a completely different way, though, this has been the most amazing and fastest year of my life. My girls -- my flesh and blood -- were brought into this world by a community of friends, family and complete strangers. My faith was strengthened, as was my relationship with Todd. I grew closer to my family and I learned a love that I didn't know could exist. It's a different love than that I feel for Devin -- it's no less or no more intense, but it's different. I look at Faith and Grace with awe, wonder and a humble heart. I wonder what I did to deserve them, yet I know that I won't get an answer until I die.

I can remember everything about the twins' birth, hospital stay and homecoming like it was yesterday. I recently ran across the dresses they wore home from Methodist Hospital and it was a reminder to me just how far they've come.

So, according to the medical community, my now one-year-olds are no longer babies. They are toddlers, even if they aren't quite toddling yet.

But they are still my babies, in just about every sense. They are still so tiny and so baby-like. I get lots of looks when we go places because no on has ever seen a six-month-old pull up and cruise around furniture. I have to tell them that they are much older than they look.

They'll always be my babies, too. I'll always hold them a little tighter and a little closer, not only because of their remarkable and scary journey, but because they are my youngest. They'll always be babies.

Moving On...

This weekend we celebrated Faith and Grace's first year by going to Concan, TX on the Frio River. This is an out-of-the-way, tiny little town that sits right along one of the most scenic waterways in Texas. Todd and his family have been going there since he was four years old. We stayed at Neal's Lodges, also a family tradition in the Pruetz family. Todd's parents arrived with us on Saturday and Todd's sister, Jill, and her boyfriend, Tom, joined us yesterday (Sunday).

The trip wasn't without incident, though.

Todd, myself and the kiddos arrived at Cabin 21 before the rest of the family. I reached into the back and got Faith out of her carseat. Immediately, I knew something was wrong. She was burning up.

We got all of our "stuff" into the cabin and I found my digital thermometer. I took Faith's temperature and it read, "103.1."

Now when I mentioned that Concan is out-of-the-way, I meant it. It's nowhere near any large cities and we were at a loss for where to go or what to do.

Luckily, Todd's parents showed up soon after and advised us to take our little girl into the closest town-of-significance, Uvalde (pronounced you-VAL-dee). You may have heard of this town, as a man by the name of Matthew Mcconaughey makes reference to it every chance he gets -- he grew up there.

So Todd and I left Gracie and Devin with my in-laws and we trekked 25 miles to the Uvalde Memorial Hospital Emergency Room. Luckily, we were seen quickly and Faith was diagnosed with a double ear infection. We were given a prescription and instructions for care and we headed back to Neal's Lodges.

What a way to spend your first birthday, huh?

Back at the cabin, Todd's mom, Dorothy, had prepared a little party for the girls. Princess plates and napkins, a cake and some toys. It was very special and while Gracie dived into her cake like any self-respecting kiddo on her birthday, Faith dumped the cake on the floor in an effort to chew on her plate. She was totally unimpressed with the confection before her. I had to wonder, "Is this really my child?"

We continued alternating Tylenol and Advil through the night, trying to make Faith feel better. Her fever would seem to break and then come back with a vengence.

By Sunday afternoon, though, Faith really took a turn for the worse. She stopped eating and her fever wouldn't respond to any of the medications we gave her. About 8:00 last night, Todd and I decided I should take her home to see her own doctor while Todd and Devin stayed behind. I promised Todd that I would come back on Tuesday to retrieve him. Devin will return on Wednesday with Jill.

I left one of the car seats with Todd, just in case, and made the two-hour trek back to San Antonio. We arrived in our neighborhood around 10:00 and I decided to go directly to Good Night Pediatrics -- an after-hours pediatrician's office. This place is a God-send if your kids are like mine, who only get sick on the weekends or after 5:00 pm.

We were seen by a doctor very quickly and sure enough, Faith's ears were really infected. On top of that, it seems that there is a viral infection going around that is causing high fevers, decreased appetite and lethargy and Faith managed to get it, too.

Of course, there isn't anything that can be done for a viral infection, so while the trip was peace-of-mind for me, we didn't get any new information on my poor, sick girl.

So my baby slept all night long and napped all morning. Around noon, I got a phone call from Todd who said, "Grace has a 102 fever. Dad is driving us home." Thank goodness I left that car seat...

Sure enough, Gracie just isn't herself. She's not interested in eating, either (a big deal for her, since we sometimes fear that if she gets hungry enough, she may eat her sister), and is just kind of a slug. I guess we'll just wait for this to run its course with her, too. I'm wondering when Devin will get it.

Todd and Grace got here just fine and Todd's dad immediately turned around. After he left, I asked Todd why he didn't go back with his dad and he told me that he didn't want to leave me with two sick babies. I told him that this is when they are they easiest -- they sleep all the time. I urged him to go and he did.

So tonight, it's just us girls. I bathed Faith and Grace and had some play time with them. I put them down and am now enjoying some, "Erin time." It's nice, but I don't think I'd want this all the time. I miss my boys.

Well, this has been quite a post. I hope you had a snack nearby, because surely this took you some time to read. Thanks for bearing with me.

Take care and watch out for that virus -- it's a biggie.

E

Pruetz Family Goings On

I don't really have anything specific to write about -- just some fun little stories about the craziness we call the Pruetzes.

On Saturday night, we had some friends over for a dinner party: The Sauters, the Schaefers and the Miceks. They all brought their kids (seven in total, including my three) and we had a fantastic time drinking, watching the Spurs game and talking while the kids were up to no good upstairs.

And when I say up to no good, I mean up to no good. We knew they were playing and being loud and doing some strategic rearranging of our upstairs bedrooms. They're all good kids, so we didn't do much checking.

Luckily, they are good kids and no permanent damage was done. But imagine my surprise when, after the party, I walked into my bathroom to see every single toy Devin owns in our bathtub. And when I say every single toy, I mean it. Every toy. The shelves in his room and his toy chest were completely empty. Hundreds of Hot Wheels, stuffed animals, Disney action figures and miscellaneous paraphernalia was piled into my garden-sized tub. If I had stood in the middle of the bathtub, the mound would have come to my knees. No joke.

But who could be mad? It was totally revocable and the kids had a blast. We weren't mad in the least, although I could kick myself for not taking a photo before we cleaned it all up.

The next day was Mother's Day and my only request from Todd was that I would have a day of doing nothing. And while that's nearly impossible with three kids, I was given the best possible "do nothing" day. Todd fed the kids and put them down for naps and did stuff around the house while I relaxed. It was a great day.

It brought back lots of memories of last year's Mother's Day, when I was released from the hospital for a few hours to celebrate the day with Todd and Devin. I returned to room 142 having contraction after contraction. My doctor told me that we wouldn't be able to do any more day passes because of it, but little did I know that the next time I would return to our home, I would be a mother of three. The babies were born the Friday following Mother's Day.

As we approach the twins' first birthday this Saturday, I have a lot of weird feelings. 99% of them are good, but 1% of them are memories of the very scary first few weeks of their lives. I look at my babies and think, "They almost weren't. They shouldn't be." But they are. And I am humbled daily.

Getting back on track...

Yesterday, the kids and I took a trip to the San Antonio Zoo. Our city has one of the top-ranked zoos in the country and now that I have the time to do so, I plan on taking the kids there often. We even bought a family membership which provides us all with free admission for a year.

And going to the zoo here in San Antonio isn't like it was when I lived in Houston. In a city the size of Houston, going to the zoo was an all-day event. There was the hour drive downtown, the ridiculous parking situation and the crowds that flock to Hermann Park (where the zoo is located) every weekend. If you left at 10:00 a.m. and stayed for four hours, you'd leave the park just in time to hit rush-hour traffic. It was a no-win situation.

But in a city the size of San Antonio, getting to the zoo is no big deal. A 20 minute drive, free parking and free admission. You can stay an hour or two and go home without feeling like it was time or money wasted.

So anyway, we went with my friend Erin and her son, Colin, who is Devin's age. The boys had a great time running from exhibit to exhibit and they were thrilled by the wild animals, giant fish and various primates (that's for you, Aunt Jill. Otherwise, they'd all be referred to as monkeys!).

Here's the kicker, though...

When we got to the lion exhibit, one of the male lions was sitting close to the viewing area, but with his back turned. Devin took to making some noises at him...first a few soft roars, then a louder roar. Then he made his now-patented flamingo noise (learned from the flamingo exhibit at the front of the zoo).

When that didn't get the lion's attention, Devin took to a flat-out scream. A loud, high-pitched, can-hear-it-from-a-mile-away scream.

Note to self and all others: Lions do not like loud, shrill screams from little boys.

Apparently, Devin's voice caught the lion's attention because as soon as the noise left my child's mouth, the lion whipped his head around at lightening speed and stared directly at Devin.

Now this wasn't just some, "Hey kid, what are you doing?" look. This was a very quick, very mean look that caused the dozen or so people around us to all gasp collectively. For a moment, we were in the savannah and this lion had just scoped my three-year-old out as dinner. Before I could recall that I was in a very safe place and situation, I had a moment or two of panic. I truly believe that if he could have, that lion would have pounced on Devin and gobbled him up.

That's right, folks. You heard it here: My kid is loud enough to tick off a lion. The King of the Jungle. The most feared of all creatures. But my child managed to momentarily get the upper hand with him.

Proud? Yes, a little. Thinking I may never take him to the lion exhibit again? You better believe it.

Yesterday afternoon, Devin had his first gymnastics class. I was a gymnast for many, many years and when I got bored of that, I was a diver. So I have a vested interest in the sport and was thrilled when my friend and across-the-street neighbor, Susan, asked if Devin wanted to join her son, Reid (one of Devin's best buddies) in the gymnastics class.

Devin did really well. We had a couple of bumps at first when all he wanted to do was jump into the foam pit, but once he got the hang of doing the circuit, he did great. His teacher even commented that she really liked Dev and hoped he would continue. So I guess we've got plans for Monday afternoons.

Life with the girls is good too. As expected, shortly after finding Faith's two bottom teeth, Gracie's showed up too. They are doing great on their solid foods and seem to be going through a growth spurt, as they are taking 15 or so ounces of milk every night before bed. Yowza!

So that's about it for us. I have some pictures, but I'm trying to figure out how to get them onto the laptop without first putting them on the desktop. Hopefully soon...

Erin

Finally...PHOTOS!

I've been promising photos for awhile now, and just this morning I have gotten to actually tranferring them from one computer to the other. So, here are my kiddos...in all their glory.

We built a fort one day in our living room and Devin played and played in it. At one point, he asked if he could move the TV in there. Ummm...no. But nice try.


Happy babies! Faith is on the left, Grace on the right


Same babies...not quite as happy. Again, Faith on the left, Grace on the right


My little ladies

No Phantom Teeth This Time...

Back in January, I reported that Grace had sprouted a tooth. Turns out, babies often develop pockets of saliva that can look like teeth -- white little bumps on the ridge of the gumline. Looks like that is what it was, since Gracie is still as toothless as ever.

But Faith on the other hand...

Yesterday, Faith's Godmother, Linda, came over for lunch. We sat and talked, catching up after much-too-much time had past since our last, good visit. Faith sat on Linda's lap, mouthing everything in sight. Gracie was doing the same on my lap on the other end of the couch.

Linda made the comment that the girls are acting like they are teething and I answered, "They've been drooling and gnawing on things since they were three months old, but so far, no teeth!"

Now I have to interrupt myself here to let you know about my girls -- they love to make me into a liar. As soon as I say they can't do or say something, they immediately do it. For example, Devin swore that Grace was calling him a name in the car the other day.

"She's calling me a baby!"

"No she's not, Devin. She's just babbling."

Truth be told, I wasn't really listening. I've gotten very good at tuning out crying, whining and other noises that would otherwise send me to the looney bin.

As soon as I told Devin, though, that Gracie was just babbling and that she didn't know enough words to call him a name, she very clearly and very loudly said, "Baaaaybeeee..." Of course, I know that she did not intenionally call Devin a baby, but try explaining that to a three-year-old.

So there I sat, proved wrong by a child under the age of one. How's that for an ego-booster?

Anyway, back to my original story...

Just as I was telling Linda that there wasn't a tooth in sight for my twins, Faith guided Linda's finger into her mouth and, "Chomp!" down she clamped on Linda's finger. And out of Linda's mouth came a yelp.

"There's a tooth in there!"

Sure enough, Faith's lower left front tooth is budding through her little gums.

Proved wrong...again. I'm starting to get a complex.

So now we're waiting for Gracie to get her first tooth. It can't be too far behind, can it?

Expanding Horizons

Over the past week or two, we've been experimenting with finger foods for the girls. First we started with one of those little mesh sacks that you can put fresh fruit in and let babies suck the juice and pulp out. Then we moved onto the little melt-in-your-mouth puffs and some soft, diced fruit.

And now, we are starting to work on some real foods. For the firs time ever, the entire Pruetz family shared a meal together last night. While Devin, Todd and I dined on honey mustard chicken, chicken-flavored rice and green beans, the girls sat in their high chairs at the table and also munched on the rice and green beans. It was great -- I never realized how much I was looking forward to those kinds of experiences until we were all together. A perfect little family dinner.

This morning, after their morning milk, the girls ate their breakfast completely by hand. I didn't spoon feed them a single bite. Grace chowed down, but my sensitive little Faith was a little more resistant to doing it herself. She's also a little resistant to the sippy cup. Grace will drink anything from a sippy cup, but Faith is still partial to the bottle. I believe strongly in kids being off bottles by age one (or at least very shortly thereafter), and I have a feeling it's going to be a struggle with my little Roo. She reisists change -- just like her mommy.

Of course, the dawn of finger foods means gone are the days of pretty, clean dresses and perfectly scrubbed faces. The twins wake up looking shiny and clean every morning, but moments later they are covered in goo and schmutz. And all you mothers out there know that you can scrub and scrub with a washcloth or wet paper towel, but that nothing will get dried biter biscuit off the face until you actually submerge the kid in water and chisel it off.

And so goes the story of my gooey, schmutzy kids.

This morning we are going to enroll Devin in one of our local church's summer program. I think it will be good training for him, in preparation for Pre-K in September. Where did my baby go?

Looks like a nice day here in San Antonio, so we'll try to spend some time outside. We've had some killer storms (literally -- a number of people have died) in our fair city over the past week, with countless tornados and squall lines that have dumped nearly a foot of rain in some parts of the Alamo City. Lightening and thunder are just a part of our every day around here lately!

But hopefully we've got a few clear days, so we're heading outside to soak it up.

Peace.

NBC - Six Years Too Late

Last night, Todd and I watched one of NBC's latest shows - The Real Wedding Crashers. The premise is that a bride and groom allow four or five men and women to come and stage horrific events surrounding their wedding.

Last night's episode, for example, had a bride and a groom who set up their best man to knock over the wedding cake two days before the wedding and then invite a woman to the wedding who would, in turn, show up in a white, bridal gown. They also set up the bride's father to accidentally leave the wedding rings in a car that was being towed away. To get the rings and the car back, he had to give the tow truck driver a hug and a kiss.

And all of that was before the wedding actually happened.

At the wedding itself, parachuters crashed down into the outside ceremony, the disgruntled baker showed up very angry and the tow truck driver ended up at the head table.

Needless to say, the family and friends of this couple were dumbfounded by it all, until the "crashers" revealed their scheme and that the bride and groom were in on it all.

It was hysterical and as we watched with our jaws on the ground, Todd and I looked at one another and said, "Why wasn't this show around six years ago when we got married?"

I so would have done this. I'm not sure how it would have played out, since we got married less than three weeks after September 11. Our reception was on the 70th floor of the tallest building in Dallas -- a building which housed the headquarters of the country's 3rd largest bank and the regional headquarters for the FBI. Needless to say, there may have been some "issues," if we'd tried to have our wedding professionally crashed.

But we would have tried nonetheless. Talk about a memorable wedding!

Check the show out at NBC.com