Thanksgiving, 2009

Thanksgiving was great! Bill's sister and brother were in town from California and Wyoming, with their families, and his sons and their women joined us, and we all went to Bill's niece's house (west Houston) for turkey dinner. Bill had to leave early to fly a charter from Galveston to College Station for the game, the crew wore A&M jerseys! I stayed ate Chris's house and ate turkey dinner, then got home in time to watch the game on TV. Bill didn't get as much time with his family as he would have liked, but Friday he did take nephew Donny and fiance Jodie, and son Brent and friend Laura, flying in the Archer. I watched from the ground with Bill's sister Susie and her husband Sid. Bill had to fl y out again Saturday-Sunday, his work is really interfering with my retirement!!
Saturday morning I worked for the slave driver JanMa and provided technology training to a client, then babysat for the twins in the afternoon and evening. Jeremy and Jennifer wanted to go out for a "last" supper before she goes on a strict no iodine and no thyroid pills diet in preparation for her radiation treatment Dec. 17. This was their first time out together without babies since coming home from the hospital. They have earned it!

Some musings about holidays. Some families have traditions, and everyone goes over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house. I have yet to figure out how grandmother gets them all to come!! My extended family is split by divorce and distance, and since I am single, it seems easier for me to go somewhere rather than make the boys with wives and babies come to me. Plus their wives have families also, plus Bill has his own family, with married son and in-laws. And as much as I enjoyed Thanksgiving with Bill's family this year, some of the best Thanksgivings I have had are traveling with him. Last year in London, an earlier year was in Dallas at a restaurant on the way to Oklahoma, and another time returning from Tuscon. We pulled off I-10 in Columbus, TX to stop at a Denny's I figured would be open on Thanksgiving Day and serving turkey. Eureka, across the street from Denny's was a local restaurant, Schobel's, with a packed parking lot, serving a fabulous turkey day buffet. What a treat!

Christmas this year will be taking care of the twins, helping Jennifer get through her radiation treatment, and visiting with my Mom and driving her to Dallas to my sister's house on Christmas Day. Then a night at Jason's house in McKinney, Christmas with grandson John, then back home. I debated on whether or not to put up a tree, and decided to do so. I like looking at it, and that's what counts. Just like I wear my UT shirt when I watch the A&M game, and play Christmas music, and go to the mall, even if I am not going to buy much, and even if I am all by myself. Some traditions are just mine to keep as I wish. I am happy in myself, defined by what I think and do, not by anyone else, and not by any concept of what "traditions" I should be engaged in.

Lastly, the one who hosts the holiday events has to do a LOT of work! Better to travel!

Bill and Sid in back, Jody, Donny and Susie on the couch.

Thanksgiving dinner buffet line at Chris's house, Bill's niece.



Bill's brother Pete and his grand-daughter, Jocelyn, from his daughter Jennifer who lives in Wichita, Kansas.Jake and Claire just about fill up the cradle now.
I tried Claire in the bumpo seat, she's not quite ready for it, and lets me know!

My neighbor, Andrea Lambert, is a professional photographer, and she set up a studio in my house for pictures before Thanksgiving. Jennifer brought up the twins, and we should have some professional pictures to post here soon!


Brent and Laura get ready to go up with Bill in the Archer.
Bill and I spend Thanksgiving Eve at Chuy's eating Mexican.
My Christmas tree!

Four Generations

Claire and Jake had some visitors, Great Uncle Jim and Great Grandma Robin. I stopped by Sunday afternoon to see them, and got some pictures. Of course the actual picture of 4 generations together seemed to not happen, since Grandma and Jim were so content to hold babies.

Jennifer looks great after a c-section, twins, and thyroid surgery.
Great Uncle Jim holds Claire, she was quite content.
Grandma Robin shows she hasn't lost her baby touch, Jake snuggles up for a nap.

Overcoming Frustrations

Sunday morning was clear and cool, a perfect day to go flying. And after I had done SO WELL last week, I had great expectations. These were quickly dashed on the first landing, I was high, fast and tried to correct by doing the wrong thing, (nose up trim, instead of just pulling the nose up with the yoke) which made it harder on take-off, and so on. After another rough landing and take-off, I was frustrated, didn't know what the problem was, and couldn't begin to use the "correct" terminology to explain it to Bill. I managed to recover some composure, but my confidence for flying suffered a setback.

I now have more sympathy for students, whether in the classroom or teachers learning technology, when frustrations set in. If a learner has a limited understanding of the concepts, very little functional terminology and there is a lot going on that needs to be attended to or is just a distraction, frustration takes over. Not only is nothing learned, but previous understanding may be lost!

Later on Sunday afternoon, Bill was fixing the faucet in my bathtub. After the necessary two separate trips to two different hardware stores, (which results in another 2 trips in the future to return items that weren't used), the faucet was replaced. I have learned that any work in the bathroom involves caulk, which requires a caulk gun, which of course I did not have (but I do now). Caulk is the stuff that gets smeared in the corners and hides the joining of tub to tile, countertop to backspash, that kind of thing. It's pretty awesome stuff, and since the caulk in my tub is getting old, pulling loose, and somewhat grungy, I decided to try to replace it. That requires another little pointy tool that scrapes out old caulk. I got to work.

I have learned that:
-old caulk might come up easily, but there is still some gunky residue that is hard to scrape away
-new caulk is NOT easy to apply, it does NOT come out in a smooth bead, and it gets all over and makes a mess
-clear caulk doesn't hide the yukky stuff, get white caulk to cover up a multitude of growing things
Finally, and most importantly, you can pay someone to caulk for you.

So while I plan to continue to overcome my flying frustrations and keep at it, I don't have to learn to caulk.

My new tub spout that FITS and doesn't have a gap between it and the tile wall.
My new caulk gun and old caulk scraper tool, and assorted tools necessary to change the tub spout.
One hardware stop.
The other hardware stop, remember these were two SEPARATE trips, not just 2 stops out on the same trip.

Another firepit evening

Last Friday night as the weather turned colder, I enjoyed another firepit evening, with Bill and Amy and Rich Mayer. If you are reading this, you know I worked with Amy in the CISD technology department, and she took my job when I retired. Amy is the best work sister I have ever had, and still a treasured friend. So we sat around the firepit together, ate the best jalapeno/cheese sausage ever from Lawson's meat market, and drank adult beverages. I have referenced Lawson's and the jalapeno cheese sausage and my most favorite Head Country BBQ sauce in a previous post, and my friend Lillie has now introduced that tasty treat at her house. Also, after my sister was here last weekend and enjoyed the adult beverages, she has called for the recipe and is partaking of Jan's Special this weekend also. (Recipe to follow at the end of this post!!)

Rich and Amy at the firepit.

Jan demonstrates the technique of keeping the fire going by carefully blowing onto the embers using a tube to direct the air to the "hot" spots. Unfortunately, this tube was way too long, and I mostly just got winded.
Rich drying off after a quick dip in the pool. Not on purpose, but in the dark the misplaced lid to the firepit (all my fault) grabbed him, and although he manfully hop-stepped-jumped and windmilled his arms, alas, into the water he went. But I have to admire his record-breaking exit from the pool.

Bill surprises Amy with Jan's special homemade Mexican cake, complete with enough candles to cover all the years of her life! A special card was also given to Amy to commemorate her special day, which was actually nearly a week ago.

The cake complete with numerous candles!!

As promised, here is Jan's Special, my drink of choice when given a choice. I can drink two of these, three is more than enough, and however many I had when Rich and Amy came over was too many.

Some amount of vodka, 1 shot, 2 shots, whatever you can handle, I use 1 and 1/2 shots.
A splash of cranberry-pomegranate juice, I get the light kind. Just enough splash to make it red.
Ice, to nearly fill the glass.
Top it all off with some kind of lemon-lime soda, I actually prefer Diet Sierra-Mist.

I feel this is fairly healthy, alcohol lowers the blood sugar, and pomegranate juice is healthy, and using the diet/light versions eliminates excess sugar.

Life Goes On

I am so thankful for the opportunity to be involved with the twins and so fortunate to develop a bond with my daughter-in-law that very few mothers of sons have with their wives. Nevertheless, for the past month or so, I feel like my world has shrunk down to two people, Claire and Jake. So on Sunday, when my sister Diane and I spent time away from the twins, it was like coming out of isolation into the real world, where people go shopping, eat in restaurants, and can just jump in the car and go somewhere on a moments notice. Things I used to do... :) And will do again ... someday...

Diane works on a jigsaw puzzle that has been on my dining room table in a partially completed state for about a month. She finished it!
In an effort to capture the spirit of Christmas, I shopped here for John's present. I knew what I wanted to get him, I had seen it on-line and it was available in the stores. Alas, not in this store, so I ended up buying it on line anyway.
Diane and I made a pilgrimage to Houston to see a house my parents had lived in, that I had gotten married in. What a surprise, this was NOT the house. Apparently, a residential lot off of Silber, just outside the 610 Loop between Memorial and I-10, is worth a whole lot more than the 1950's ranch house that was on it. The old house was gone, and this was in it's place.
We visited my nephew Blaine and girlfriend Erin in Blaine's new apartment. He has relocated from Dallas to Houston, and has the biggest TV I have ever seen outside of Gallery Furniture, or Reliant Stadium.
Bill and Diane and I had lunch at Mamacita's, a great Mexican restaurant on I-45. Bill and I had our first Mamacita's experience in Kerrville, and were thrilled when one opened up in Houston area. Well now I have found out that the Mamacita's in Houston is NOT the same Mamacita's that is in Kerrville.

The Family Gathers

Jason, Ashley and John came to visit this weekend, and spent time with the twins. Then my sister Diane came in also to visit and help out with twins. Later, her son Blaine and girlfriend Erin showed up, so the twins hosted a lot of extended family on Friday and Saturday. John got to show off how grown up he is. After leaving the twins' house, Diane and Bill and I enjoyed a favorite pasttime, sitting around the fire pit eating burgers and drinking adult beverages. Blaine and Erin joined us later, to show off Blaine's new car. It was a great weekend, Jennifer is feeling stronger, and Diane is hanging around to help me with the twins on Monday while Jennifer heads to MDAnderson for quick check up.

John doesn't seem to even notice baby Jake.
Great Aunt Diane takes the twins for a walk.
Two at a time is nothing for Uncle Jason.
Uncle Jeremy with John.
Jason shares a twin with Aunt Ashley.
Jason gets both babies back.
Jake, John and Claire pose for the camera.
John loves his Aunt Jennifer.

Check out the videos below. John is almost ready to read. Then John plays with the twins' bouncy seat.

Passing the time with twins

Probably anyone who actually reads this has done some kind of childcare in their lifetime, either with their own children or babysitting for others. And probably most will agree that sometimes taking care of babies can be mind-numbingly boring. Sure there are hectic moments when you need 4 hands, especially with twins. And you sure can't multi-task very well, at least not when feeding twins. And when a baby is fussing, all you can do is turn your undivided attention to that little person to soothe them. If you try to check email, or do laundry, or heaven forbid, JanMa's Digital Memories work, they just fuss louder.
But there are other times when they are napping, just long enough for a sigh of relief, but not long enough for a good nap yourself, or to get involved in something complicated. And you sure can't run to the grocery store or anyplace else out of the house. But there are always things to do around the house, like laundry, dishes, preparing bottles. Sometimes a mindless book or sudoku can occupy a few minutes between replacing pacifiers and re-starting the swing.
But at the end of the day, it is still pretty much mindless activity, and that can be the most exhausting kind of work any normal adult can do. And we all know that's why young people have children, and old people can be grandparents. I am however, finding lots of ways to interact with the twins, thus actually creating a kind of mental stimulation, whether bath time, floor time, going for a walk, or just watching their eyes look around at their new world and seeing how they react to different stimuli. And in doing so, I am find a whole new world of delight and wonder as a JanMa to Claire and Jake.

Teddy Bear the cat naps on the couch with Jake.
JanMa supervises the twins' "floor time".
Taking the twins for a walk. This involves a longer preparation time, swaddling, putting on hats, clean diapers, getting the stroller ready, etc, than the actual walk. The mosquitoes were out, and we dashed back to the house. But once back, they pretty much stayed asleep and napped for a good while longer.
Jake naps through the walk.
So does Claire.

Jennifer Surgery Update

Jennifer had her surgery on Monday, Nov. 9 and came home from the hospital Tuesday, Nov. 10. I stayed with the babies from early Monday morning til Tuesday evening, and then had to bail for a good night's sleep. Even with daytime friends helping out (thanks Lillie Durst, Kathy Boyle, and Bill) and the night nanny, I didn't sleep well and was pretty puny by the time Jennifer and Jeremy came home. I was back on the job early Wednesday morning.
Jennifer has a very sore neck, like from a car wreck, all the muscles are irritated and stiff from the surgery. The surgeon removed additional lymph nodes behind the thyroid that looked "suspicious". Pathology will be back on those next week. She was also nauseated and so on, and went back to MD on Wednesday afternoon for further bloodwork. There is certain drug balance that has to be determined after thyroid removal, and that may take some time also. But hopefully, she will be much improved by this time next week.
Below are some of the things that go on while I am on granny nanny duty.

I sometimes have to feed two at the same time. Another dual feeding technique on the couch, with babies on boppy pillows on either side.


Claire promptly fell asleep during tummy time. Jake prefers his back, and no napping.
Claire is a good napper.
Jake isn't!!
Preparing for bath time, Snuggles likes to help.
I wash a lot of bottles...
and a lot of clothes.
Maybe they are identical?
Naw, Jake looks like Jeremy, Claire looks like... her greatAunt Diane.