Cold Home Visit

Our friends Al and Lisa Bell graciously helped and entertained us during our stay in Smyrna. We made plans for Daddy Dave and Al to make an Owensboro trip on Saturday while Sandy and the boys stayed in Smyrna with Lisa. Unfortunately, the Bells came down with our stomach virus and were unavailable, so we traveled home to check damages and get supplies. Driving along the highway we observed tree damage much greater than that done by Hurricane Ike’s 80 mph September winds. That storm broke 200 utility poles compared to the 2,000 damaged by this ice storm. Our home sustained light damage compared to others but was still without power. At 3:00 pm the nursery thermometer measured 40 degrees outside and 35 degrees inside. Low temperatures for that evening were forecasted to be near zero. We switched the car seats to the minivan, loaded supplies and headed back to Smyrna.

Big Tub Time

Mommy and Daddy have a big sink at home perfect for bathing babies. On previous travel stays we would wash them in the hotel room sinks, but our boys are way too big for that now. This situation allowed for Benji and Davey to graduate to the big tub. Fish couldn’t have met this water tank with more excitement. Their first big tub bath was in the Bowling Green Hilton Gardens, and Daddy joined them in the tub for comfort and security, but he needn’t have bothered. Both boys were neither scared nor unsteady in the big tub. The next night at the Smyrna Hampton Inn they squealed and squirmed with excitement when we started running the bath water. In the big tub they could bath together and splash all they wanted without rebuke. It was easily the high point of their adventure.

Refugees on the move

Owensboro was devastated by the ice storm. More than eighty percent of Daviess County had no utilities; even cell phones were down. The hotels closed due to the power outage. What few gas stations that had power for the pumps had long lines waiting. Daddy Dave filled the 4-wheel drive Jeep, transferred the baby seats and evacuated the family south. Bowling Green’s hotels were full of people from other parts of Kentucky who had lost power and southern utility employees traveling north to help restore power. We stayed Wednesday night at the Hilton Gardens near the Bowling Green Convention Center, where we did several loads of laundry and enjoyed a warm, comfortable night’s sleep. The next day we moved south to the more modestly priced Hampton Inn in Smryna, Tennessee, close to our friends Al and Lisa Bell.

Oh what a night

We didn’t sleep much Tuesday night. After the lights went out we moved two playpens into our bedroom and piled covers on everyone. Several candles provided our only light and heat. The house was extremely quiet without power, and every sound outside seemed incredibly amplified. Freezing rain continued to fall throughout the night and the additional weight overwhelmed tree branches. Another limb would snap and fall every few minutes or so with a loud crack, and then the falling ice would sound like breaking glass. Sometimes the house would shake when heavy limbs hit the ground. With each snap we worried that a large tree would fall through our home on top of us. It was terrifying. As temperatures dropped in the house, we moved the babies in bed with us. By morning, 4 inches of snow lay on top of the ice and the babies’ diarrhea had returned. It was time to leave.

Icely Done

We knew it was coming, but what do you do? The big winter storm promised lots of snow north of us and ice to our south. Sandy went to the store and stocked up on supplies, mostly diapers and baby food. The storm started with about 2 inches of beautiful snow Monday night. As temperatures warmed during the day the snow turned to freezing rain. The light shimmering off the ice covered landscaping looked like diamonds. As the ice accumulation grew, the plants and trees drooped excessively from the weight. By dark, tree limbs began breaking, often bringing utility lines down with them. About 8:00 pm a huge tree in our neighbor’s yard fell onto the power lines and snapped the telephone pole in our backyard taking our power and heat with it.

Sick Call Answered

Momma Sandy had been up all night heroically nursing her three sick boys, and she knew there was still much to do. She called the office and took the day off to nurse her family. We called our babysitter Carol and asked her not to come by that day so she wouldn’t catch the virus, then called Grandma and Grandpa Edds and asked for help. Grandpa took the stained couch cushions to the dry cleaners and went to the grocery store for us. He then watched the boys while Mommy cleaned and Daddy Dave slept. Grandma later relived Grandpa so he could go to work. Sandy washed load after load of laundry. Thanks to the loving care of Sandy and the Grands, the virus ran its course in 24 hours, and Sandy and her boys were able to rest the next night without interruption.

A night of changes

Daddy Dave didn’t feel well on Sunday and by bedtime his diarrhea began with a vengeance. Sleep was impossible on the toilet, though many efforts were made. Around 2:00 am Benji began crying loudly. We found he had vomited all over his bed and himself. Daddy bathed the boy while Mommy changed the bed. The smell eventually overwhelmed Daddy, and he lost his dinner too. Shortly after putting Benji back to bed, he heaved again requiring another clothing and bed sheet change. Trey Davey woke hungry about 5:30. His diarrhea had leaked onto the sheets requiring another boy and bed cleaning and changing. Ten minutes after finishing his bottle Trey projectile vomited all over the blue room, Sandy and himself. Between vomiting and diarrhea, we had changed outfits three or four times during the night and were quickly going through clean clothes and bed linens.

First Real Meal “Man Food”

Sandy decided it was time to introduce the boys to real food. Up until now their baby food diet has been nutritionally balanced and easy to digest. They have already advanced through each baby food stage, and real food is the next logical step. Others have successfully advanced their children to real food faster, so we feel confident that our boys will adapt to this cuisine just fine. For their first real meal Sandy prepared “Man Food”, Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. She chopped their meat servings into fine bits for easier consumption, and I insisted that we serve them from their own plate so as not to create a habit of feeding them off of our plates. The seasoning was a little new for them, but they happily adapted to real food without any problems.

Situation Imagination

It all comes down to this; the game, the season, and the national championship title ride on this last play. Only three seconds remain on the clock. Down by six points, nothing short of a touchdown will do. Benji Edds has had a spectacular game, connecting often to his favorite receiver and brother Trey Edds, who is making his own MVP bid by running after catches for three touchdowns. Can the brothers do it just one more time? Can they pull off one more miracle play? These twins probable started playing ball together in their living room as babies. They have probably tossed balls back and forth to each other a million times since then, but this one’s for all the money. Edds takes the snap, finds the pocket and eyes his receiver. “Go long Trey,” he whispers, “I’ll get it there.”

Sharing

Trey Davey is a people pleaser. Ask him for something, and he’s only too willing to give it too you. He generally values your approval more than he covets his positions. Now, if you take his toy from him, as Benji often does, he’ll get very upset and try to forcefully retrieve it, but if you ask him nicely for his toy, he will often hand it over gladly. The concept of possession usually doesn’t occur to children until around their second birthday. Once they make that cognitive breakthrough they begin understanding the language associated with playing together and taking turns. We hope!

Brushing Up on Teething

You may remember the fun we made out of the painful teething we experienced during the Presidential campaign. By Election Day both boys had all eight front teeth. A few weeks ago Benji began experiencing diarrhea without acting sick and we wondered if more teeth were coming. Davey’s diarrhea began shortly afterward. Both boys are past that now, but experiencing other teething discomforts including excessive drooling, gum swelling and sensitivity, irritability and fussiness, biting behavior, refusing food and sleep problems. Since they were chewing on toys and furniture anyway, we decided to introduce them to toothbrushes. This is a good habit to learn early, and they really like the feel of the soft bristles against their tender gums. A corner of one of Benji’s new molars popped up yesterday on the bottom left side. Hopefully things will now get better.

Librarians at work

Benji and Trey Davey have discovered books big time. They are constantly looking at their books or bringing them to us to read. Attention spans are short at their age so the best books have bold, colorful and interesting pictures accompanied by only a few simple words that often rhyme. Because they don’t yet know not to tear out the paper pages, these early books have very hardy cardboard pages. Both boys enjoy bringing us books, then settling into our warm laps to hear our voices read the familiar stories. We point to the words as we go and describe the pictures to them. This greatly boosts their development and early reading skills. Thank you to all the family and friends who recently gave us books for their birthday and Christmas. The library is growing.

Bubbles, Bubbles, Forget your Troubles

Benji was upset the other night and we didn’t know why. He was feed, changed and rested, and sitting in a room full of his favorite toys. Still, he was upset and inconsolable. Lately, both boys have begun suffering separation anxiety to such an extent that mommy and daddy can’t leave the room for even a minute to go to the bathroom without screams of twin sadness. But, on this occasion both of us were in the room with him, and still he was unhappy. In an effort to capture his attention and change his mood, Sandy started blowing soap bubbles. Anytime something new is introduced into the boy’s environment, they will immediately investigate it with curiosity. The bubbles did the trick and the difficulty was forgotten.

Say Hello to my Little Friends

Our friend Dawn Beckgerd loves the twins and reads the blog daily to follow their adventures. She came over recently with Christmas gifts. This one is a Fisher-Price Little People Racing Ramp Garage. It’s a three-story structure with a working elevator and ramp. She added a couple of additional cars to the ones included with the garage. There is also a tow truck and mechanic included for car breakdowns. Daddy Dave has been wanting automotive toys “for the boys” since Sandy’s pregnancy test turned blue, but most toys of this kind are intended for children at least 3 years old. Dawn found this Little People series age appropriate for all Sandy’s boys. Thank you Dawny B!

Happy Birthday Cousin Christine

Let me tell you about my only girl cousin, Christine, who turns 20 years old today. She is a sophomore this year at California State University Sacramento where her major is Business Administration. Daddy says she is the only family member who has ever received a full athletic college scholarship. Her sport is woman’s rowing, sometimes referred to as crew. It is among the oldest Olympic sports, and pits rower-propelled boats in races on rivers, lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the race type and the discipline. She crewed in high school and initially attended Murray State University near us in Kentucky to be on their rowing team, but the school dropped the sport last year so she transferred to Sacramento. Hopefully, she’ll show me and Benji how to crew when we get older.

Visiting the Hibernate State

Recent bitter cold weather has brought about our hibernation. Last night the temperature dropped to around zero degrees with much colder wind chills. Fortunately, we have no snow or ice and could venture outside if necessary, but instead we’ve decided to stay inside our warm house where we have plenty of food and toys for our amusement. On days like these, mommy and daddy are happy to be home based. We don’t miss those frigid commutes, long walks across windy parking lots and winter car problems. It’s great to be able to just stay home until the cold weather passes. There we can snuggle together in our comfortable chair under warm blankets until the spring thaw.

Poopy Days

We all have them. Sometime we do it to ourselves; sometimes others do it to us. For Benji and Sandy, Tuesday was their turn. We learned the hard way a few months ago that one side-effect of babies cutting new teeth is diarrhea. It’s back. At lunchtime Sandy picked up Benji and halfway downstairs that particular aroma attacked her nostrils like commandos on a shock and awe mission. She discovered hers and his clothes covered in milky poop froth. Somehow he soiled himself from head to toe and earned a midday bath. Today as I carried Davey inside from the car I met the same fate. Diarrhea had flowed out of his pants onto my shirt and pants, soaking my shoes and cell phone. It was a stinky day, but the late afternoon bath was fun.

Blanket Theory

Trey Davey has developed an affinity for his blanket, which he carries around and occasionally sucks. This activity brings to mind the Charles M. Schulz’ Peanuts comic strip character Linus van Pelt. Both boys have brown hair, usually wear a red shirt, and seem to always be carrying a blue blanket. In fact, the term “security blanket” was coined by Linus, who though young, is unusually smart. Often quoting the Gospels, Linus is quite the philosopher and theologian. Perhaps security blankets help little boys think better. While Linus is burdened with a dog, Snoopy, an older sister, Lucy, and grandmother constantly trying to rid him of his blanket, we’re hoping the blanket’s intellectual magic will work on our Davey.

Red Wagon Ho

It was warm enough recently to get the new red wagon out for the first time. This radio flyer model is very similar to the one daddy and granddaddy played with as children. Constructed of wood and metal, this model has removable sides like farm trailers. It was a first birthday gift from Grandpa and his brothers, Gene Ray and Richard. Back when they owned a hardware store, the Grandma and Grandpa Edds stocked several models of radio flyer wagons, so they knew exactly which model they wanted for their grandsons and spent an entire day searching most of Owensboro’s retailers for this Cadillac model of radio flyers. Benji and Davey enjoyed their first ride of many in their little red wagon.

No Grave Results

On our way home from Florida we stopped in Murfreesboro, Tennessee for lunch. This was my paternal grandmother’s (Kittie Mavis Burnett Edds) hometown. On a whim, we asked the waitress for the large old cemetery’s location. Then we drove over and looked for any ancestors, especially the boys’ great, great grandfather Robert Burnett. We looked for four Murfreesboro family names (Burnett, Rucker, Overall and Allen) and took 50 photos of potential family member headstones. It was a nice break in the driving and an opportunity for the boys to get out of their car seats and climb around the van for exercise. So far, not one of the people we found matched any of the names in our family tree. We’ll have to try another cemetery on our next visit.

Good Morning Sleepyhead

Trey Davey Edds certainly inherited Swiss blood from somebody, as he has always been very punctual for breakfast. Before he was born he would wake Sandy up every morning at 4:00 am, and the routine continued after he was born. Now that the babies sleep through the night, breakfast is at 06:00 a.m. and Davey never fails to wake the entire house for the event. So what happens when we travel to Florida and change to Eastern Time? Well, he adjusted to the new earlier time right away of course. We wouldn’t want to get off schedule. But maybe he was confused on the way home. We stopped at midnight in Dalton, Georgia to spend the night. Not certain where the time zone changes, Trey Davey must have decided to err on the safe side and made his morning call on Eastern Time, which was 5:00 am Central Time. Guess who is the least rested in the photo.

Where’s That Million Dollar Smile?

Benji has the biggest, brightest, most contagious smile around, but he’s often stingy about sharing it. While his brother smiles easily, Benji withholds his smiles for comfortable situations. Granddaddy Roe loves smiles, and he experiments to see just what he can do to successfully extract Benji’s big smile from his sometimes stoic expressions. Because smiles customarily are a sign of pleasure, happiness, or amusement, Granddaddy tried holding him, waving to him and feeding him to get a big Benji smile, but unfortunately found little success. One technique that did yield giant grins was lightly running fingers all around Benji’s head.

Boys Cheer Florida to Title

Sporting their Heisman-winning Quarterback Tim Tebow number 15 football jerseys, Trey Davey and Benji cheered on Grandma Karen’s favorite team, the University of Florida, to a dramatic victory over #1 ranked Oklahoma to win the BCS National Title bowl game. This is Florida’s third college football national championship in the last 13 years. Once appropriately outfitted, the boys ran around the living room floor carrying their Florida footballs and playing the fight-song repeatedly on their Gator mascots. Bedtime came during halftime, but Daddy Dave promised to cheer for them in the second half.

Happy Birthday Grandma Karen

Today is the day, but we had the party on December 30th. For the first time ever, Grandma Karen had Granddad, all three daughters, both son-in-laws plus four grandchildren in attendance for her birthday, and she was in seventh-heaven. Grandma Karen is a proud graduate of the University of Florida and she has been enthusiastically grooming the twins to become big-time Gator fans too. She has bought them Gator footballs, basketballs, stuffed animals, t-shirts, jerseys and more. So it’s only fitting that on her birthday her favorite school is playing The University of Oklahoma in the national championship college football bowl game. Let’s hope they win one for the Grandma.

Caught Red-Handed

You can see it in their eyes. They know they are cold busted. Everybody knows we don’t feed the boys off our plate. Their palates are not ready yet for adult food, especially ice cream and apple pie. Have we already forgotten how they hurled up their birthday cakes all over the minivan’s upholstery on the way home from the party? It’s nearly bedtime and Grandma’s providing a sugar overload. What were you thinking Grandma? Are you so easily seduced by beautiful grandsons with big smiles and sweet sounding baby talk that you willingly surrender your dessert in direct violation of the parental edicts? What liberties will you take next? It’s a slippery slope Grandma. It starts innocently with pastry, but before you know it they’ll be charming you out of your car keys.

California Cousins are Cool

These are Grandma and Granddaddy Roe’s four grandbabies. The older ones holding the twins are Christine and Tyler Cervenka, Aunt Susan’s children. Christine, who will turn 20 in a few days, was the first and only grandchild for eight years until Tyler was born in 1997. The Roe’s knew all about girls, having raised three (Susan, Sandy and Kristin), and little Christine blended right into the family culture. Tyler was the first grandson and suddenly baby boy stuff was introduced to the family. While they enjoyed the attention, the two yearned for cousins. With the addition of our twin boys, testosterone now dominates the new generation and Tyler is transformed from the sole boy to the cool older guy cousin. Christine remains the first and only beloved granddaughter….so far.

Birthday Benchmark Photo – 13 months

The boys grew very rapidly in their first year. The doctor’s office allowed us to stop by each month for official weights and measurements, and the results were always amazing. Starting around 6 lbs, the boys quadrupled their weight to over 24 lbs in just their first 12 months. Their height increased from around 20 inches at birth to over 31 inches by their first birthday. The twins were consistently ranked above average in weight and exceptionally tall for their age. In the coming year they will continue to grow, but at a slower rate. Skills, rather than size, will dominate their rapid development. Because we anticipate their total growth next year to be about 6 inches and 6 lbs, we’ve decided to schedule doctor’s office weights and measurements quarterly, rather than monthly.

The Bath Party

Trey Davey and Benji love to take baths, and they always seem to attract pretty woman. Our babysitter Carol gives them weekday baths and mommy usually handles the weekends. Both Grandmothers enjoy their opportunities to wash and massage the boy’s baby soft skin and powder those little bottoms. When we saw Cousin Christine and Aunt Kristin in Florida, they wanted their turn at bath. Grandma Karen has a big double sink with an outstanding window view. A baby could get addicted to this luxury spa treatment, unless of course they were modest.

Davey Flies Air Susan

On our first morning in Florida, I was toddling around the house exploring the forbidden zones when I found Aunt Susan in the kitchen. When she looked down and saw me she lit up brighter than the Christmas tree. She didn’t have any nieces or nephews before us, and I think she loves being an aunt. I flashed my bashful smile and lifted my arms indicating I wanted to be picked up and held. She immediately scooped me into her arms and raised me as high in the sky as I ever remember. It’s a good thing Grandma and Granddaddy Roe’s house has high vaulted ceilings or else I may have bumped the lights. I wonder if Granddaddy Roe laughed as much while flying airplanes as I did while soaring Air Susan.

The Prices Are Just Right

When we went to Grandma and Granddaddy Roe’s house this time a lot more people were there including Uncle Wes Price. He is married to Mommy’s little sister, Aunt Kristin, and they live in Utah and sometimes Arizona. He is a really cool outdoorsman, who hunts big game and lives in a log house. Uncle Wes and Aunt Kristin met as Grand Canyon white water rafting guides and got married on the edge of the canyon. In the winters they worked at mountain ski resorts. He is very kind and easy going. In this picture we are in the Grand’s backyard by the pool, and he is showing me Grandma’s cool palm tree that Granddaddy decorated with Christmas lights.

New Reader Poll: New Years’ Resolutions

Goals are important. We all need to set resolutions for the coming year, and then measure our progress as we work to achieve our targets. It was fun to watch Benji and Davey’s progress last year as they advanced from laying to sitting up to crawling to walking in 12 just months. In this coming year their skill level will rapidly advance. By year’s end it is likely they learn how to control their bladder better, dance to music, help around the house, kick a soccer ball, rearrange furniture, run fast, say 50 words, spoon feed themselves and undress themselves. Of all these skills, vote in the right hand column for your choice for their top 2009 goal.