James and Claire

Tonight, I will put the baby news first. Both James and Claire are making great progress with their bottle feeding. At tonight's session, they both easily took down their two-ounce bottles. The doctor came in and told us how great they were doing and when we pressed for an answer, we got 'two more weeks'. The real answer is that there are too many variables for them to even predict when they will be released. However, over the years, they have found that 'two more weeks' seems to be the answer that satisfies most of the people most of the time. So two more weeks it is...

We were all really dragging yesterday. So, in an attempt to boost morale and keep everyone fresh, I devised a new schedule. Christy and Mamaw had been doing everything together, from running errands to taking Nicholas on excursions to visiting the babies. They both move at different speeds, and both seem to naturally exhaust each other in times of extreme being-together-all-the-time-ness.

So I proposed that Christy take Nicholas in the AM while Mamaw reads a book, watches wierd sci-fi shows or do whatever it is Mamaw likes doing. Then, I will take Nicholas from 12:00 - 2:30, which includes lunch and a nap while they both go to the hospital. From 2:30 on, Nicholas and Mamaw get to hang out while Christy has some down time. I will be working all day except for my lunches with Nicholas. At night, rather than take all 4 of us to dinner, I suggested that we rotate -- sending two of us to a child-less dinner every night and leaving the third to have dinner somewhere near the hotel with Nicholas. After dinner, we reconvene and Christy and I will prepare Nicholas for bed and read books with him. Then Christy and I will go to the hospital for the night visit.

Tonight, for example, Nicholas and I walked three blocks to Pizza Hut and sat down for dinner there. We were the only two human beings there, so we commandeered both of the big screen TV's...one with sports and one with cartoons. We then sat in silence eating pizza. It was great. Mamaw and Christy went to some steakhouse (Austin Cattle Company or something) and had a very nice evening together. On Day 1, the plan worked well.

Like any good plan, there are holes. For instance, we are not really sure what to do when it is Christy's night for dinner with Nicholas because Mamaw and I really have no interest in going out to dinner together. We both find it degrading to be seen with each other in public. So we may just end up rotating who gets to go out to the adult dinner with Christy every night. Although I love my Nicholas nights because we eat a more manly variety of food.

Heading full steam into being parents of three, we were reminiscing a little tonight. Pre-children, Christy and I used to enjoy vacationing at ridiculously nice places. Those days are over now. Thankfully, we did sneak away for a childless vacation in February with our friends Bill and Janice, who gratiously hosted us at their ocean-front villa in Nuevo Vallarta. We will be holding on to the memories of that one for a while....

For those world travelers out there that might be reading this, check out THIS WEB SITE. The link takes you to Bill and Janice's web site. They own the place outright, and the pictures on the site are from their actual villa. NOTE: Christy and I can be found in one of the pictures on the site: a very special prize to the first one who finds us. They are interested in responsible renters when they are not living there in January, February, and March. It comes with the Greg and Christy seal of approval (two forks up). For more details, look for the Trip Advisor comments from someone named the Hamburglar (who could that be?).