We had our 6 month checkup with the pediatrician today. The babies got a clean bill of health and a few shots of vaccine.

Chloe weighed in at 13 lbs 10oz

Gabriel weighed 14 lbs 13oz

As we were finishing up with the doctor, I was holding Chloe’s hands as she sat up on the examination table she decided to throw herself back and her butt slid forward on the paper covering the table. Since I was holding her arms, her head went back into the wall with a thud. For a second she looked at me and seemed to be stunned. Then she broke out into cries. It was very sad, but she was fine. Unfortunately, it’s probably just the first of many head-bumps.

I used to love these Presto Magix playsets.

Hours of fun spent using a pencil to rub off the dry transfer onto comic book-like backgrounds. I remembe having a superhero set, an underwater scene and I think I might remember a couple of Star Wars ones. In fact, I managed to find a link to someone else’s blog where they [url=http://seventyseveneightytwo.blogspot.com/2006/01/presto-magix-undersea-world.html]actually have a photo of the underwater one[/url] that I remember.

As I type it is 73 degrees outdoors. There are birds chirping and I can hear kids talking loudly to each other as they walk down our street in little groups. They’re wearing short-sleeves and some of the more daring are even sporting shorts. The ice-crusted snow that’s been in our yard for several weeks has melted away leaving the ground soft and muddy. We’ve opened the windows and doors to welcome the warm air. Of course, I’m working today so I haven’t spent much time outside, but Robyn took Chloe and Gabriel for a walk around the block. They’re all badly in need of some fresh air and an escape from the house.

Weather like this reminds me of those heady days of early spring when I would be so happy to be home from school so that I could spend some time outdoors. Jumping off the schoolbus, I’d hurry home to drop off my stuff and then back outside to do…whatever! In my younger days, I would probably have my mom take me to Stephen Robert’s house where we would play Star Wars or explore the river behind his house. Later, I could probably be found shooting my bow and arrow or practicing my rolls or walking through the woods.

The spring air is so clean and fresh on days like today. It truly makes one happy to be alive.

Have I mentioned that I [i]HATE[/i] [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polystyrene]styrofoam[/url]? The stuff just drives me nuts and everything these days seems to come packed in a box filled with some sort of styrofoam. In addition to it’s effects on the environment, it seems to get everywhere while opening whatever cool gadget I’ve just purchased. These little white ball seem to be attracted to the static electricity of our feet as we walk around and then get deposited in some corner of the house farthest from where they were first released, only to be discovered weeks later. The other thing that always annoys me about this stuff is that it’s difficult to dispose of properly. I usually end up just throwing it in the garbage because there is not easy way to recycle it. So, into the garbage bag it goes and since it doesn’t crush easily, it can take up almost a whole bag to itself. Oh, and try to break it up before putting it into a bag and you’ll have a million little styrofoam nuggets to clean up….Don’t get me started!

Some cuteness from the last few weeks:

I’ve been married to Robyn for five years today…well, I guess it’s really five years [i]yesterday[/i] now. What have we done in the past 5 years?
[list]
[*] Lived in 3 different places
[*] Got a new job
[*] Bought a house
[*] Furnished a house
[*] Got pregnant
[*] Made many trips to the hospital
[*] Had twins
[*] More trips to the hospital
[*] Two Las Vegas vacations
[*] One Carribbean cruise
[*] Spent a week on the beach in Punta Cana
[*] Went to Japan
[*] Robyn stopped working outside the house
[*] Opened an “official” [url=http://www.happodojo.com]dojo[/url]
[*] Bought a new car
[*] Got rid of an old car
[*] Got in shape…
[*] Got fat again
[*] Made new friends
[*] Said goodbye to some old friends
[*] Several trips to Omaha
[*] Been happy with our families
[*] Been upset with our families
[/list]

Back when the babies had both been home for only a short time, Robyn and I were getting up at all hours of the night to feed them. Like all new parents, we were sleep-deprived. It was not unusual to be up for something like 20 hours day – especially once I returned to work since I was not napping during the day.

One night, I think it was about 4AM or so, we were sitting down to feed both kids. I had just finished burping someone and was settling them back down to continue their bottle. My goal was to say something like, “step up to the plate” to whichever child I was holding, but in my delerious state, what came out was”

[b]”Step up to the podium, Secretary of the Treasury…Life Cycle Team.”[/b]

Now, I understand where I was going with that, but Robyn just looked at me like I had completely lost it. I think I was so tired that, for just a second, I had actually fallen asleep and had begun to dream. Apparently this dream was about both the Secretary of the Treasury and a team that I deal with frequently at my work. I really don’t know….In any case, Robyn asked me what I had just said and I was just annoyed that she didn’t get my meaning and had the gall to ask me about it at 4AM! I think I kind of came out of my stupor for a bit and we were able to laugh at it.

We had another laugh about it tonight as we were reminiscing about some of our “adventures” over the past 5 years.

February 12th was my 17th anniversary with the company I work for – you know, the one with the Death Star logo? So, what does one get for 17 years of service? A nice email from my boss’s boss. That was it. My last anniversary gift consisted of binoculars and some money with which to throw a party in the office. That was decent and the binoculars DO come in handy, but I thought 17 years would get me some kind of “official” correspondence!

[url=http://www.google.com/reader]Google Reader[/url]

Try it. You’ll like it.

I’ve been watching and really enjoying [url=http://www.hbo.com/extras/]Extras[/url] this season. I caught the end of last season without really knowing who was who, but I still enjoyed the show – especially how the guest actors were portrayed generally as assholes or as rather extreme caricatures of themeves. The episode with Patrick Stewart was what really got me interested and ones like the [url=http://www.hbo.com/extras/episode/season2/episode09.html]Harry Potter episode[/url] keep me coming back.

Another of my favorites is [url=http://www.hbo.com/rome/]Rome[/url] which is enjoying an excellent third season, although there seems to have been a change in the direction and pacing of the story lines in recent epiodes. It could be that the writers are having a hard time wrapping up all the many sub-plots. In any case, it’s another great HBO production that I would strongly recommend.

Between work and taking care of babies, I don’t seem to have much time for TV and movies. Robyn tries to get out of the house one or two nights a week, so that is when I get in whatever TV I can. Feeding times are when I do most of my watching. Sometimes I feel bad about not giving the babies all of my attention, but they don’t seem to mind.