James and Claire

Happy 4th of July.

This morning, the three amigos vacated so I could get some work done. They went to Whole Foods and got some groceries...the plan was to make a nice homemade meal tonight.

Later, they dropped Nicholas off with me while they went to the hospital. Nicholas and I had ham sandwiches and jelly beans while we rooted for Joey Chestnut to beat Kobayashi in the annual Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest. It was an exciting event to watch, and Joey Chestnut and Kobayashi each consumed 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes, forcing a dramatic 5-dog overtime. Joey Chestnut managed to eat the 5 extra dogs a half second faster, so he is the winner for the second year in a row. The broadcast was actually pretty fun to watch, as one of the TV announcers had a dry sense of humor and was mocking it the whole time. After the contest, Nicholas took his nap.

When Christy and Mamaw finally got home from visiting the babies, Nicholas was waking up. The three of us left Mamaw to her adult videos while we walked to the Capitol to get some exercise. We started out in the shaded park, where we were racing between trees and rolling down hills. Nicholas was running all over the place. We felt a few raindrops, so we headed into the Capitol for shelter. Inside, Nicholas caught sight of this giant wooden stair case and insisted we all start climbing. We ended up going all the way to the top of the Capitol and all the way back down...and Nicholas did not need any help. As we were heading back to the hotel though, I had to carry him the whole way.

When we got to the hotel, Christy got hit with a migraine. We shut all of the light out of the room and she laid down to fight it. With our lead chef out of commission, I had to make an extremely important family decision. Mamaw, Nicholas, and I would go to Fuddrucker's. For those who do not know me well, Fuddrucker's is my favorite restaurant on the planet. The meal was spectacular. I took a picture of my plate for your enjoyment. After eating, Nicholas and I quartered up and played some arcade Mario Kart. Nicholas went against my better judgement and selected Princess Peach as our driver. Despite Nicholas' tendencies to fire weapons at inopportune times, we managed to win our race.

When we got back from dinner, Christy was still zonked. I decided to go visit the babies earlier than usual so I could be back in time for fireworks. I had a very nice time visiting with James tonight while the nurse was feeding Claire.

I got back to the hotel just in time to sit out on the balcony with Mamaw, Nicholas, and Christy to watch the fireworks. We had a perfect vantage point from our spot on the 14th floor. It was a good show, and Nicholas loved it. Afterwards, Nicholas went to bed.

As of Sunday morning, we will have been here for 4 weeks. We are all very tired of being cramped up in this room and the stress of everything is getting to us all. It is becoming very clear that Nicholas, though he has been a trooper, is ready "to go home". After a long discussion, we have a plan. On Sunday morning Mamaw, Christy, and Nicholas will fly home. Mamaw can go back to her patient husband. Nicholas can be returned to his home, friends, dogs, and routine. Christy will have a few days to prepare the way for the twins (who we are hoping will be out next weekend). I will stay here to visit the twins, work, work, and work. I am also going to eat healthy and work out in an effort to deflate myself a bit before coming home.

This was a tough decision. Christy does not want to leave with two of her babies still here. The main focal point of this is Nicholas. We concluded that he is the baby who needs her the most right now. He has not had normal life in a month and is beginning to get a little down. Plus, Christy can get a lot done now that would be really hard to do if she waits until the twins are there. We only had two days before we flew down here to start planning for the twins and there is much to be done.

Once we get word of release, Christy will fly back down alone. If both are released at once, we may summon my mother...

We are ready for our little adventure to be over and be home with our three kids.

Note to Oskar and Frances -- we are still on for Monday night meatloaf.