Today in Birthdays!

Happy Birthday, Daddy! This is the only picture I can find that has almost all my dad's immediate family. The only person missing is my dad's oldest sister, Pam-Pam. I'm assuming that she was taking the picture; too bad the guy in the plaid shirt and jacket didn't take the picture (that was one of the brothers-in-law). My dad is the youngest of 6, so the little kids are his oldest niece and nephews. There was 21 years difference between Pam-Pam and my dad. Since I'm an only child, my parents used to tease me that they were going to give me a brother or sister when I turned 21. Can you imagine?!

These next two pictures are some of my favorites. That's me with Daddy on his tractor on the left, and that's JR with him on the four-wheeler. I have these two pictures side-by-side on my refrigerator, and we had lived in China for a year before our Ayi figured out that one of them was me. She thought both pictures were of JR!

Daddy would be fine with me telling how old he is, but since my mom and I don't tell our age, we wouldn't want anybody trying to figure out how old we are from how old he is! Happy Birthday, Daddy! I love you!

Happy 30th Birthday, Kristi! My cousin Kristi (who is also Caleb's mom) turns 30 today. I love this picture of her because this is how I remember her looking when we were growing up...Humm, that's strange, since I'm only 25 I wonder how I can remember what she looked like when she was little? ;-) Kristi and I have a running joke about birthdays because our immediate families all have the same birthdays. Kristi and my dad have the same birthday. Her youngest son, Cole, and I have the same birthday. Her mom's (my cousin Lu) birthday is one day after mine, and Kyle and Reed were born one day after Caleb's birthday. Needless to say, we have lots of festivities going on at the same time.

First Trip to Church

The NICU nurses told us not to put the boys in the church nursery until they were a year old. Our doctor told me to wait until they were about 4 months or when RSV season was over. We'll, Jason and I made the executive decision to try it out this morning. JR was super excited about the boys going to "Baby Church" as he called it, and was insistent that he help us drop them off at Baby Church so he could see what it looked like. He kept saying, "I think they are just going to sleep at Baby Church." And yes, I believe there was a lot of sleeping going on at Baby Church. I fact, Reed never even woke up. Kyle, on the other hand, must have sensed that he was in a room full of rocking chairs and ladies who like to hold babies. His eyes flew open so he could be held the whole time. I know he also got his diaper changed because when I changed him he had a sticker on the front of his diaper that said, "Changed with love by Second Baptist Church"...I forgot that they did that, so it was a bit of a surprise to find. So, if neither of the little boys get sick, then the day will have been a complete success. BTW, this is the second day in a row I have typed this blog one-handed. Yesterday I was holding Reed, today it's Kyle. Oh, AND they slept til 4:20AM this morning....I think I'm going to call 6AM "sleeping through the night". They're getting closer!!

Kyle's First Girlfriend

Allison came over yesterday to hang out with me. When she got here I was changing Reed's diaper, and Kyle was starting to fuss. Allison picked him up and he didn't let her put him down the rest of the day. We were laughing that Kyle was taking full advantage of Allison's husband, Geoff, being out of town. As you can see, Kyle was the picture of contentment all day. And don't worry that Reed was neglected...that just meant he got me all to himself. Allison, I wish you were here now...I'm typing this with Reed in my lap, and Kyle's letting me know he needs some attention too!

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting...

JR is still enjoying his karate lessons. In fact, every morning while we are waiting for the bus he puts on a karate show for me. The show always includes some of the same elements...hitting the ferns, jumping off the porch steps while throwing punches and kicks, and a free style karate routine. His free style is pretty hilarious...As you can see from the video, it's pretty much a combination of Jennifer Beals' infamous Flashdance routine and a Jackie Chan movie. I guess he's trying to merge his inherited dance skills with his Chinese heritage. His karate teacher is really good with the kids(Can you imagine trying to teach a room full of 4 and 5 year old boys karate?!) and will occasionally show them moves that include a minimal amount of gymnastics. JR is now obsessed with me teaching him how to do a backward roll, a cartwheel, and a handstand. (He's got the forward roll down.) He was so excited yesterday as he's getting pretty good at his handstands. He's gone from just throwing one leg up in the air to actually doing a handstand (as long as his legs are propped up on me). I'm sure in helping him practice all these tricks, I'll be the one that somehow winds up injured....I'll be sure and keep you updated on the progress.

Yeah Little Boys!

Let me tell you how excited I am! The boys slept until 3:45 last night. Woo Hoo! That's their longest slept time ever. We feed them at 9:00 (I was asleep by 10:30) and I didn't hear a peep out of them til 3:45! I think they are getting the hang of it. I was telling Jason that I actually enjoy feeding them in the middle of the night more than any other time. I know you think I'm crazy, but....First, neither of them cries while I'm feeding the other. Reed always sleeps longer than Kyle, so he's snoozing while I'm feeding. Then when I'm feeding Reed, Kyle is full and has gone back to sleep. When I feed them during the day it always seems that one is mad that the other is going first...and then the one that was first gets mad that I didn't hold him long enough when he finishes. I think if they could talk they'd be saying, "But, Mama, I'm hungry too!" and "What about me?!" They are also REALLY hungry by the time their middle of the night feeding rolls around, so they always suck their bottle down really fast and never spill a drop. For some reason, both of them have a spitting problem if they aren't starving...I'm sure Jason is tired of seeing me with crusty milk in my hair. And finally, the phone doesn't ring with people trying to sell me stuff at 3:00 AM. Jason and I have learned that salespeople get off the phone fast when you tell them you have newborn twins. One actually had the nerve to ask Jason when would be a good time to call back. Jason said, "Well, I've got 3 kids under 5...how about in 4 years!" Well, there goes Kyle telling me he's ready to eat so I better run...

Baby Announcements

Okay, so I've done a really bad job in formally announcing the little boys' birth. Since I blog about them almost daily, I guess I feel like any more "announcing" would just be overkill. But, I have now officially announced them on the A&M website. (Sorry UT friends, I haven't paid my money to the Texas Exes in a couple of years now.) So, if you would like to check out the boys on Aggie Baby Central, just follow the links. https://www.aggienetwork.com/abc/babyinfo.aspx?bib=16555
https://www.aggienetwork.com/abc/babyinfo.aspx?bib=16554

Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny visited our house last night. JR came downstairs crying, "Mommy, the Easter Bunny didn't come!" He did the same thing about Santa at Christmas. I guess he just expects the presents to be right in front of his eyes when he opens them. After we assured him the Easter Bunny HAD come, JR quickly went off in search of his basket. As you can see, the Easter Bunny was pretty good to JR. (Check out JR's bed head in the picture!)

The Easter Bunny knows the little boys are still too small to understand Easter, but he was nice enough to leave them some matching onesies in their baskets.

Happy Easter!

20th Annual Family Easter Party

We all had a great time at the annual family Easter party. The food was dee-lish and we had a huge crowd (did we ever do an official head count?) JR had a blast playing with all of his cousins, they really wore him out!

The little boys found themselves with plenty of people to hold them, so they loved that. Here's Kyle with Jason and Reed with my dad.

My cousin, Lu, had a bouncy castle for the kids this year. JR screamed, "It's Scooby Doo!" when he saw it. The kids really loved bouncing, and you can imagine what a big, sweaty, mess JR looked like by the end of the day.

Now I know everybody is on pins and needles wondering about the Easter Bonnet competition. Well, as you will see from the picture there were some fierce competitors. But, not to worry, I was able to pull out the win.

I'm going to be eating candy for a month. JR came home with a truck full of eggs from the Easter egg hunt....good thing the Easter Bunny didn't get JR much candy!

The kids also had a few of the confetti eggs to crack on each other. Here's JR about to smash one on Caleb's head.

Since almost all the cousins are boys, they really aren't into the typical Easter pinatas...So this year it was the Red Easter Power Ranger. Look what the poor thing looked like after they were done with it!

We even had a slide show of 20 years of Easter parties. Thanks, Kristi, for doing that...I know how much work that was! What a fun day!

Good Friday

It was a Good Friday! The best part was that Jason was off from work, so he was home to help with JR and the babies...woo hoo! My parents and Sherry came over late Friday afternoon to babysit so Jason and I could go to the rodeo with our friends Mike and Emily. (If you were at our wedding, Mike and Emily's twin daughters were our flower girls.) We walked around the rodeo booths for awhile and we ran into Shelley (who looked super cute in her new cowboy hat) and my friend Nancy that I used to teach with at McMeans. The rodeo was fun and Pat Green performed; he was great as usual. We didn't get home til midnight and my mom and Sherry were giving the boys their bottles when we walked in. They said that Kyle hadn't closed his eyes all night. I felt bad for them, but it was great for us...the babies slept til 5:00AM...which was awesome!

Off to Work

Can I tell you how much I love my husband today! JR has been home all week for Spring Break (note to self: find summertime activities to sign JR up for). So just as I was about to start thinking up things to do with JR for today Jason says, "I'm thinking about taking JR to work with me after lunch tomorrow." Can you imagine how enthusiastic my, "Yes! I think that's a great idea!" was? We told JR this morning that Jason would come get him after lunch and take him to his office. JR was of course thrilled and got busy planning all the things he needed to take in his briefcase to the office. I believe we decided on crayons, scissors, construction paper, a couple of activity books, and the all important Leapster and Leapster games. JR also had to wear a belt (because Daddy wears a belt to the office) and he even got out his dress shoes. I picked JR up from "work" about 4:00 so I could take him to karate and he was very excited about his day at the office. He said Daddy got him a Sprite, he worked on his "projects" while Daddy worked on the computer, and some lady gave him a robot that made a lot of noise. Surprisingly, Jason's take on the day was pretty much the same, except he said, "That was long enough, it was about all both of us could take." And yes, I tried to get them to pose someplace other than in front of the garage, but as you can see, I was completely unsuccessful.

Hat Intimidation

This Saturday is our 20th annual family Easter party at my cousin Lu's house. For some reason we started having an Easter parade down the driveway every year (they live in the country and have a really long driveway). The parade included anything we could think to put in it...bikes, wagons, instruments, and of course...hats. Since this is our 20th year, Lu's got all kinds of fun things planned, but the best part is there is an Easter bonnet competition. Even better is my cousin, Kristi, (who is Lu's daughter) issued a hat challenge on her blog...In fact, she told us to bring our A-game...I told her it was like a Bobby Flay throw down, but with hats!

Okay, so generally, when it comes to cooking and crafting I can't even begin to compete with either of them...but hat decorating...now there's something I have experience with. I know my China girls are laughing right now because our absolute favorite party of the year in Beijing was the Melbourne Cup. It wasn't that we cared about the horse racing. We just wanted to win the hat competition!

JR and I finished up his hat yesterday afternoon and I finished up my hat last night (I have 3 hot glue gun scars to show for it). Now of course I can't post a picture of these hats until after Saturday since my competitors are loyal blog readers...but I can post some pictures of my previous hat decorating skills for pure intimidation...

This picture was in the newspaper and made it into about 3 local magazines in Beijing. Debbie, who is standing beside me, was the winner that year. You can't tell from the picture, but her hat was amazing. She had a battery-powered horse that ran around a track on the brim of her hat! Anita's hat is still one of my favorites (she's right below me). I even borrowed that hat and wore it out one night.

Pictures don't do this hat justice. The problem with this hat is that it was so big, you couldn't see my face in any pictures, so I had to hold it back. Of course our group had the winner again that year. Melissa and her pink hat won the big prize.

AND...I'm not scared to wear silly hats anytime of the year, for any occasion....

Chinese hat for out on the town in Beijing

Hawaiian Punch hat to a Shrimp Boil

And a pumpkin hat for Trick-or Treating

How scared are you now hat makers? See you Saturday! ;-)

Rodeo Houston

This is the last week of the rodeo here in Houston so we took JR and the boys out to the fair yesterday. It was so windy we could hardly function. We Houstonians aren't used to windy conditions unless we're having a tornado or a hurricane. The wind was quite annoying, and with all the port-a-potties and animal smells, I felt a bit like I was back in Beijing in the middle of one of their sandstorms. JR was not the least bit interested in looking at the animals, and in fact, said no less than a million times, "When are we going back to the fair?" while we were inside the Ag arena. JR isn't a good one to take to a fair. He wants to ride EVERYTHING, so getting across the idea that he can only ride until he runs out of tickets doesn't go over so well. The little boys slept through their entire first trip to the rodeo, which was great, except that they woke up at 2AM and didn't go back to sleep. All in all it was a fun day, and JR keeps asking me if I will take him back today!

Happy Green Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Ingersoll boys...Everybody's wearing green, so no pinching going on here!

JR's Western Routines

Rodeo Dancing

JR has been coming home and showing us his Western dances that they have been learning at school for two weeks now. They have been doing a big rodeo unit at school since it is rodeo time here in Houston. The kids were supposed to dress Western today, and it wasn't enough for JR to just throw on a hat and be done with it. He wanted full on Western garb (I can't imagine who he inherited the costume gene from), and kept asking me for spurs! Of course I looked for some, but I couldn't find any. I think he took his clothing inspiration from Woody from Toy Story, since he also had to have the sheriff's badge and chaps. JR had a big audience today as he had Jason, Granny Sherry, and me in his cheering section.

Here they are getting ready. Can you tell who's the most excited to dance?

Leave it to JR to get the prettiest partner in the class....he's such an Ingersoll. JR loves Asians, but I think Melissa made an impression on him too since he also seems to like the blondes.

The Mexican Hat Dance and The Chicken Dance

I took some short video of each dance which I'll post soon so you can see his routines.

The Easter Bunny is not Santa

After JR got home from school yesterday I told him we were going to see the Easter Bunny. Of course he was thrilled and immediately told me he was "going to make his list". I tried to explain that we don't make a list to go see the Easter Bunny, which he was fine with, since he had "his list" memorized in his head. He also decided that it was a special occasion and that he needed to wear his belt. I didn't know a child could get so excited about wearing a belt. The visit with the Easter Bunny was a big success as JR was telling me that "the Easter Bunny said 'yes' " to all his toy requests. Unfortunately, the "real" Easter Bunny has already gone shopping and was unaware of "the list". I told JR that the Easter Bunny might not be able to bring him all the things he wants since everything needs to fit in his basket. I was thinking maybe the Easter Bunny could leave JR a note to soothe over the missing "list items". The little boys didn't seem to even notice the Easter Bunny. Look how Kyle is laid out posing. Reed did open his eyes for the picture, but in general, the boys were busy catching up on the sleep they had missed all day. Speaking of sleep, Jason and I were convinced we were going to have a great night since I had a bad day...ummmm, not so much. We actually had one of the most sleepless nights yet. About 4:30 Jason finally got Reed to sleep on his chest, and I resigned to holding Kyle on my chest and sleeping in the chair. I know it was after 4:30 because Andy Griffith was already over. It's pretty obvious that you aren't getting enough sleep when you can tell the time by the late night TV programs. Thankfully they are sleeping peacefully in their bouncy chairs right now...I haven't heard a peep out of them since their last feeding. Woo-Hoo!

3/11/08

I've had at least one baby screaming at all times today. In fact, Reed is screaming right now. I just had to leave the room for awhile. They have eaten and have on new diapers. I have held them and held them until my arms are sore. I actually had to take both of them to get JR off the bus. You should have seen me trying to balance the both of them. I think they both fell asleep while waiting for the bus, but as soon as I got them inside and put them in their chairs, they both miraculously woke up. How is it that babies know if they are sleeping in your arms or not? And why are my arms so much more comfortable than their vibrating bouncy chairs or their swing? I sure wish I had a vibrating boucy chair! The other problem we have is that Kyle won't take a pacifier. Jason actually told him that to be an Ingersoll he needed to learn to take a pacifier. Reed will take his for awhile, but not like JR would. The pacifier was the solver of all of JR's problems...and I NEVER would have been able to fly back and forth from China without one.

In other news, we got JR's acceptance letter from 2nd Baptist yesterday. I still don't think it's a big deal to get accepted...but from the looks of the packet they sent us yesterday you would think he'd been accepted to UT or A&M. Here he is the other day hanging out in the "boat" he made. Of course he had to be shirtless...

I think we are going to see the Easter Bunny tonight since JR has hockey lessons. We had to hunt Easter eggs again yesterday. It's pretty funny to hunt when JR has hidden them because he tells you right where they are. He does the same thing when playing "I Spy". He'll say, "I see something yellow....and it's a banana!"

3/10/08

Jason got back yesterday morning and everybody was glad to see him. We had lots of running around to do yesterday with Jason back in town. Nothing exciting, just errands. It was such a nice day on Saturday that Sherry and I took everybody to the park. And when I say everybody, I mean everybody. We had JR, the boys, Hunter, and her dog, Pee Wee. JR was off playing while we sat on a park bench with the babies and the two dogs. We kept saying, "I bet everybody is wondering why those crazy ladies brought 2 babies and 2 dogs to the park." The little boys seemed to enjoy getting out, and JR actually had fun being outside! Here they are enjoying the pretty day.

It was nice having Sherry stay with me this weekend. I'm always happy to have an extra set of hands to help me feed and hold. When she came in on Friday it was like the boys knew there was a fresh pair of arms to be held in. They both acted like they needed to be held from the moment she walked in. Good thing grandmas like to hold their grandbabies!

Busy Friday Morning

Thank goodness my mom was here this morning as there was lots to do. First off, it's picture day at JR's school (that would be class picture day). Now I know I should just let him wear what he wants, and not fuss over him. But since I don't have any girls, I had to go buy him a new shirt, make sure he didn't have any food in his lunch that would stain his clothes, and gel his hair.(Yes, I even did a quick hairspray over it...I know! I know!) I even let him wear a belt today, which he was very excited about because he said he looked "just like Daddy when Daddy goes to work". Of course when picture time rolls around I'm sure he won't look anything like he did when I was finished with him. After going to the bathroom he'll never get his shirt tucked in right, and since it was freezing this morning he decided he had to wear a hat...no telling what his hair will look like. So, here he is before he left the house...

After JR got on the bus, we took the little boys to their 2-month check up. They are both growing nicely, Kyle is 10 lbs. 15 oz. and Reed is 9 lbs. 15 oz. It's amazing the difference a pound makes, Kyle is in the 40% for weight, and Reed is in the 15 %. The doctor said they both looked good. Today was also their first immunizations. Poor little things, they got one in each leg and they sure did scream. Although I did hear my mom telling Reed that he didn't cry as loud so he was the "tough one". My mom also got upset with the nurse for letting Kyle bleed. After Kyle had gotten his shots, I wrapped him in his blanket and handed him to my mom. When I went to hold Reed's hand, I had blood dripping from my own hand. We unwrapped Kyle, and there was blood everywhere. The nurse was like, "Oh, sorry, let me go get another band aid". If you know my mom, she gave the nurse that mean, scary, schoolteacher look that she does. I love that look...as long as it's not directed at me! So here are the boys at 2 months...they are really growing!

My mom left to go back home as soon as we got back from the doctor. Jason's mom is going to come and spend the weekend here since Jason won't be back until Sunday. It sure is wonderful to have help....and since the little boys both loved to be held, they like it when I have help too!

This Week in Birthdays!

Happy B-Day Sunny! Friday, March 7th

Since it is already Friday in Beijing, Happy Birthday, Sunny! Sunny was one of my very best friends in China, and she is also my most international friend. She's Bosnian, carries a German passport, and speaks 7 languages. One time she asked me how many languages I spoke. I said, "I'm American, I only speak English". I think that was after I told her that I wasn't really sure where in the world her country actually was. Yes, I now know where it is. Sunny and I became friends when JR and her daughter, Melissa, (or as JR calls her "Mei-Mei" or "Missa") became best friends. Sunny lived just a few doors down from us and Jason calls her his "Second Wife". Her husband worked later in the evenings than Jason did because of the time difference between China and Germany. So many weeknights, Sunny and her kids were at our house when Jason came home from work. That's one of the things we really miss about China is living so close to our friends. Happy Birthday, Sunny! We miss you!

Happy Homemaking-Cooking and Crafting

Allison came over yesterday and spent the day with us. We even snuck out for lunch and left my mom with the babies...unfortunately for my mom, the babies cried the whole time. Agh! Allison is quite the chef and made us homemade lasagna, it was so yummy! JR was eating it up so fast he didn't even notice the spinach and mushrooms! Woo Hoo...he ate a vegetable! Allison was even sweet enough to let JR help her cook...Thanks, Al!

Now I know my loyal blog readers are just dying to know how the yard art eggs are coming along. Well, you'll be happy to know that they're finished and displayed in the yard. JR is quite proud of his painting skills and that all the brothers have an egg.

This child loves holidays. He's always asking me what holiday is next (He's very upset that all you do on "Green Patrick's Day" is wear green...I think he's mostly bummed by the no present situation.) He had to practice hunting Easter eggs yesterday. He and my mom hunted eggs outside and inside for most of the afternoon...Caleb, you better get to practicing for the Easter Party...JR says he's ready!