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もうやった！構えがすごいよ！

A perfect little 怒虎の構 (doko no kamae)!

Another year has come and gone…. As usual this last year went by even more quickly than I can ever remember time passing before. It was an exciting, daunting and sometimes scary year filled with hope, worry and stress. But it was also one of the best years for us. So much has changed and it all feels right.

It seems appropriate that the last week or so has been very busy. My mom, my sister2, my brother-in-law and my two nieces came down with my other sister and her partner on the 28th. Robyn had wanted to make a really nice meal and have the house looking really nice for thir arrival. She accomplished her missions! It was really excellent to see my mom finally holding the babies!

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On our doctor’s suggestion, we decided that Chloe and Gabriel would try to sleep through the night on Thursday, too. We took a chance and they did great! Neither made much noise all through the night and we got to sleep for more than 4 hours in a row. This was very exciting.

You can see the craziness that is our kitchen sink area strewn with bottles, nipples, forumula, rings, binkies, caps, etc:

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The family visit went very well. They all left on Saturday morning. Later that day, we had more company when Robyn’s close family friend Joe came over with his son and daughter, son-in-law and grandaughter. It was nice to see them since we really only get together once a year or so. Joe has been involved in tae kwon do for several years, so we always make time to talk about training and its place in our lives.

On Sunday, we had our Hanukkah celebration with Robyn’s family. Since it’s more difficult for us to travel this year, we hosted at our place. Although we did not have the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah#Traditional_Hanukkah_foods]traditional foods[/url] (especially latkes), there was plenty of other stuff and we ate and opened gifts.

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Hopefully, this year will seem to linger a bit longer than the last…but I doubt that it will. It’s a cliche to say that each year seems to pass more quickly than the last as you get older, but it’s very true. As Chloe and Gabriel get a little older each day, we find that we want to hold onto those days and yet, the more we wish to hold on, the more easily they slip away. It’s a very [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen]Zen[/url] kind of idea.

Here’s a list that I compiled had last updated last year sometime. Well, I ran across it while cleaning up some old files, so I thought I’d revisit it a bit.

[list]
[*]Robyn Houle
[*]Jennifer Connelly
[*]Scarlett Johansson
[*]Kari Byron (Mythbusters)
[*]Rachel Weisz
[*]Kristin Davis (Sex and the City)
[*]Jennifer Anniston
[*]Jewel Kilcher
[*]Paige Davis (from Trading Spaces) – dropping to the bottom of the list
[*]Nigella Lawson – Haven’t seen her in a while and I caught her new show the other day. She looked a little older and a little more haggard than I remember. I guess it was her attitude on her Nigella Bites show that attracted me!
[/list]

So, now that we have kids, Robyn and I had to get serious and get our acts together and think about getting a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_(law)]will[/url] drawn up. Robyn has free legal services as a benefit of her work, but they were due to expire at the end of the year, so we needed to get on top of this and get it done. She called a local attorney who was covered under the plan and we met with him a week or so ago.

It was sort of a surreal experience. We don’t have such a huge estate that we needed to divide things up. This was more about who would take care of the kids should something happen to us. What made the whole thing even more odd was that we had to think about what would happen if the designated caretakers were to perish as well. Or what if one of them passed away…or got divorced…would we want the kids left with the surviving partner? Lots of potential scenarios to consider. When do we give the children access to their inheritance (not that there would probably be much to access at this point in our lives!)?

This is weird…. Robyn took Chloe and Gabriel to her place of work to show them off and I am actually alone in the house. It’s almost completely silent. There is no television. No bouncy seat making noise. No googooing babies. I think this is the first time that I have been alone in the house since Chloe was released from the hospital. I should cherish this while it lasts, but it’s a little lonely and I find myself missing them all and worrying for everyone’s safety…heheheheh. There ARE a lot of dumb drivers out during the holidays!

On an entirely different note, I was able to see the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle (they’re currently docked) fly overhead last night. It was a pretty cool sight! It’s supposed to be visible overhead again tonight so I’m going to try to get Robyn outside and to capture a photo.

“You pay”??? What the hell does that mean? I’m not sure who put this commercial together, but it’s obviously created by some scared CEOs from billion dollar cable and telecom companies….like the [url=http://www.att.com]one[/url] I work for!

I think Henry is referring to the anti-[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality_in_the_US]Net Neutrality[/url] bills that, for the time being anyway, have been dropped by Congress as well as the progressive attacks against privacy and free speech being made by the US and other governments around the world.

Henry’s still got it!

To our surprise, Chloe began cooing and making babbling noises on Monday. You can talk “to” her and she “responds” when you stop talking. It’s very cute. I was quick to grab some video of her in action and get it out to everyone. Not to be outdone, Gabriel also made some very speech-like noises later in the day. Besides their growth, this is one of the first milestones to which we can point and say “Our kids are growing up so fast!”.

In addition, Gabriel and Chloe both slept for more than six hours the other night! What a shock it was to wake up after sunrise having not gotten out of bed all night. Of course, we were immediately concerned that Gabriel had gone too long without being fed, but he was fine and seemed no worse for the wear througout the day.

No time for anything…that’s the way I would describe the last month or so. Well, I should rephrase that…there’s really no time for anything outside of caring directly for these two babies and keeping the household running and working (which I guess is related to keeping the household running!). Since they’re eating about every 3 hours during the day, we’ve got only about two hours between each feeding after we’ve prepared the bottles, changed the diapers, fed, burped and cuddled one of the kiddies. It’s great. Don’t get me wrong, I love the time spent with them. I love looking into their little eyes as they stare up at me. I love when they tightly grasp my finger with their little hand as we’re holding their bottle. There is absolutely nothing better than a drowsy baby sleeping on your chest.

It’s really hard to make time for everything that needs to get done. Getting out of the house (with or without the babies) takes about twice as long as it used to. The housework remains undone, the leaves remain unraked and any extranneous stuff takes a backseat to everything else.

Chloe began to smile about a week ago in response to our silly faces and funny noises. Gabriel has followed closely behind with some big smiles over the last few days. He particularly likes when I make motorboat sounds with my lips, while Chloe enjoys high pitched “boops” and kissing her nose. Each baby now takes time to stare at our faces at each feeding and seems to respond to our voices – at least, they look in the general direction!