James and Claire

Well...let me start by saying that last night is the last time I turn the reigns over to someone else. Comparing Pappasito's to Chili's is ridiculous. That is like comparing Fuddrucker's to Jack-in-the-Box. It is clear that Lauren is not a food connoisseur.

This morning, I woke up at 5:20 to take the Pappasito's blasphemer to the airport. Upon return, I went back to sleep. I was awakened a few hours later by Nicholas, who was saying 'Daddy, come play with me'.

Christy and I walked to church at 11:00. The birds did not poop on me today...but I was thinking about them on my way. Church was very nice. We are really enjoying going there.

After church, we all wanted some good ol' Texas barbecue. The nurses in the NICU had recommended a place called the Salt Lick. As we were walking in to the lobby of the hotel after church, there was a giant book on a table...opened to a page that had pictures and a menu from the Salt Lick. So we all piled into the car and I set the Garmin GPS for the Salt Lick. We drove for about a half hour only to find that the Salt Lick (at least this location) had gone out of business a few months ago. Somehow, this was determined to be my fault. In its place, was a new TexMex place. We are all about sick of TexMex by now, but we were in the middle of nowhere, so we decided to eat there anyway.

I could not go to the enchilada well again, so I actually ordered off of the kids menu and got a grilled cheese sandwhich. It was delicious. Mamaw ordered sopapillas for dessert, which Nicholas really liked.

After lunch, Nicholas and I went back to the hotel while the two women headed off in search of baby clothes. I am not sure where they were exactly, but they returned 5 hours later with several bags of stuff. During those 5 hours, Nicholas and I took a nap, played with Mr. Potatohead, played with cars, played hide and seek, played duck-duck-goose, ate crackers and watched a 13-inning baseball game between the Red Sox and the Cardinals.

When they finally got back, Christy and I headed straight for the hospital. We were informed that both babies had taken an entire feeding directly from the bottle with no ill-effects. This is good news. Still no real end to the NICU in sight, but a step in the right direction.

The cabin fever is beginning to set in. We have now been away from home for two weeks. It is looking like it will at least be another two weeks before we can leave. We love having Nicholas here, but he is definitely not thrilled with being cooped up in a hotel all day. We are going to try to make things a little better tomorrow by switching to a suite with an extra room. A second bathroom will help everyone...

I got to hold both of my new children at one time today. It is terrifying. I remember how hard one baby was. Two is pretty intimidating. I do not envy Christy's daunting task as stay-at-home-mom with the twins and Nicholas. If anyone can do it, she can though. She is a resourceful and skilled mommy.

After our hospital visit, Christy and I stopped in the hotel lobby and wanted food. We ended up on the outdoor patio all by ourselves with a very nice waiter. We chatted with him for a while and we each ate cheeseburgers. The waiter took a liking to us and brought us free tortilla soup, free bread, free cheesecake (two different varieties) and free Doubletree cookies. All of the dessert items were brought in a to-go box. He also charged me for only one of the numerous rum and cokes. A nice end to the day.