James and Claire

We have now been in Austin for three weeks. The babies are doing very well. Claire has actually overtaken James on the health-o-meter. She is up to taking her feedings on a bottle-bottle-machine basis, which means that the majority of her meals are coming via the bottle. James is still on 3 bottle feeds a day. Claire seems to be getting a lot stronger every day. We are beginning to worry that she will be released before James, which would make things really interesting. But there is no sense even thinking about it until next week.

Today was pretty normal. Church, hospital visit, etc. Christy and I grabbed a quick dinner at Manuel's Downtown, which was very good Tex-Mex. We brought some home for Mamaw. Nicholas polished off the left-over pizza from Friday night.

When we got back from dinner Christy, Nicholas, and I took the stroller out and headed to the Capitol (which is 3 blocks away). Nicholas refers to the Capitol as 'the building with the cake on top'. It was a mild evening (by Texas standards) and we were the only people there. We wandered around the outside and inside and then back outside again. There is an oval track that runs around the perimeter and Nicholas loved racing us. He would trip and fall every so often and quickly get up and say 'I'm alright. I am tough.'

After that, Christy and I visited the babies.

The only mildly, and I mean mildly, interesting thing that occurred today was that Mamaw was watching some local Texas beauty pageant on TV. I was amazed at what I saw.

In the segment I saw, the entire group was just singing the awful chorus to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough' that made the American Idol kids look cool. The choreography was just sad. Meanwhile, the cameraman (who must have been drinking because the camera was wobbling all over the place) was giving us isolated shots of each contestant as they were announced. I must confess that I have noticed that the girls in Austin are very attractive. You would think that in a beauty pageant of girls from this area, they would have a lot of beauties to choose from. There were a few cute ones...but most of them were on the scary side. It was hard to tell where their actual faces ended and the caked on clown makeup began. I am pretty sure I saw a few men in there too. And there were a fair number of them that had the ol' crazy eyes...you know...the eyes that indicate that this pageant is everything to them and if they don't win they are going to hurt someone...or if they do win they will hurt someone...I guess down the road, with eyes like that...you are going to hurt someone. I can't imagine sitting across the table from someone like that. "Honey, can you pass the peas? Why are you looking at me like that?...." It's sort of like the old Seinfeld episode where Uncle Leo's eyebrows got singed off, so Elaine drew them on for him...but she drew them on in such a way that he always looked angry.

It was probably one of those 'you had to be there moments', but I got on a roll watching this thing...but most of my comments are too offensive to post. Where is TIVO when you really need it?

And speaking of Mamaw, I want to take a moment to comment on how wonderful she has been over the last two weeks. She has been the target of many jokes and has taken it all in stride, laughing heartily at each blog. For those who are worried that we are abusing her, I want it known that we are providing her with free lodging, free transportation, free food (and lots of it), quality time with 3 of her 7 grand-children, and all-you-can-watch adult videos. But seriously, she has been a true blessing and we could not be doing all of this without her. Who among you (men, especially) could not only tolerate, but enjoy a multiple week stay in confined quarters with your mother-in-law. I am truly lucky. Thanks Mamaw! By the way, I am the target of many of her jokes, but her jokes are not made public. She is a saucy one.