Jen came back! She really, really likes us!

Lilster loves to bury her head in my legs, which is about the coolest thing I think I've ever experienced as a father. That and the snuggling which is becoming more frequent.

Jen is upstairs sleeping right now, tuckered from her trans-atlantic passengery. She got back late, and had to settle for a clandestine peek at the wee idiots. My hope is that it only whets her appetite for a big long day of kids tomorrow; that would equate to a big long day of me not watching the kids.

However tempted I may be to try and pass the baton of parenting definitely and completely, I need to respect that she is also going to be pretty exhausted tomorrow.

We never left the house today, not once. The weather was a delightfully unrepentant gray and rainy blanket of moistness, all day and without cessation, although for one stretch just after midday it did slack off to just "heavy drizzle". So the bike ride I was considering: nixed. The walk with Amers: 86'ed The photo for Poho365: neh. Amy W. stepped in like a champ and took my photo for the day. I was quite eager to go out with the girls and get a shot today, but I looked outside at the rain, looked at the stroller, back at the rain, over to the dog, then to the camera, back to the rain, and it slowly dawned on me that there was just no way I could handle it.

Lily's been taking potshots at my jade plant as of late; I haven't seen it directly, but I have found the juicy leaves of said plant on the floor in a semi-masticated state. Ew. They must not be too untasty, as this is becoming a regular event...a big wet jade leaf with big Lily-shaped mandible marks. In case you're wondering, I've already checked, and jade plants are not poisonous. And they're delicious with cheerios and teddy grahams.

This morning I was sitting about 3 feet from the plant when she walked over and steered toward its tempting greenery. "Lily, please don't touch my jade plant," I said, half jokingly, but she looked at me and I swear she got the gist. So she turns and starts to creep slowly towards the plant, and I yell out, "Lily!" She jumped to a stop, her whole body leapt for a second; absolutely hilarious. Then she give me this half look out of the corner of her eye, a very stern gaze, just to make sure I was serious.

She's a sneaky one. I feel like I'm already being tested.

Day one hundred and eleven.

Abby with the kung fu grip on the lego container.

Self portrait with L.E.G.

A.E.G. doing what she does naturally with literature: destroying it utterly.

Welcome to Insomniaville; population: Abby

Nice little shot of Abby desperately trying to get Klocker's Twins hat off her head. She looked cute in it...sorry I didn't get a shot of it.

Another day, another time for me to trot out some friends and/or family and beg for help with the girls. Today: Erik Tobler and Aaron Klocker, good sports the both of them, and both came with the steely resolves that are requisites in the face of twinly adversity.

The twins were fine. They're always fine. Let's discuss Tobler and Klocker's kid care aptitude: it was off the charts. Somebody should get these guys some kids. No...someone should get them my kids. The girls seemed to thoroughly enjoy their presence at every turn. Thanks to both of them for the aid, and the cooking, and the beer, etc.

Abby decided that 8:00 was far too early a bedtime, and after 30 minutes of voicing her myriad displeasures with the arrangements, we went up and got her. We all went up, and someone pointed out as we crept upstairs that it was very reminiscent of "Three Men and a Baby", and I couldn't help but be sad that, if that metaphor were to be carried out to a conclusion, I would have to be cast as Steve Guttenberg.

Abby poured on the charm and happiness for the next hour or so; she was unstoppably cute and enjoyable, except for one moment. That came when she accidentally put her hand on a toy that made Elmo say, "Beep beep! Coming through!" Elmo said this. Elmo, the most beloved character of my kids' demographic ever. Abby's reaction was awesome: she just bawled, just lost it. I figured, 'Okay, she's getting tired, so we're almost ready for bed.' After 30 seconds she was fine and begging to crawl around the room. This went on until 10. I need to start getting them to bed earlier.

Day one hundred and ten.

Two-fisting.

The girls look to Klocker for some food related guidance.

The girls look to Tobler for applesauce. Applesauce now, Tobler, NOW!

I forgot hats. But I definitely remembered the milk!

History in the making. Rare is the opportunity when you can snap the shutter and capture a "first" moment. Here we were, having a lazy cookout at the Moores', when Lily spotted some kids playing in the park. Out of nowhere she laughs, babbles something in Lily-speak, then starts cruising over to check them out.

I've never witnessed her do something so brazen and adventurous towards other people. Of course, it was a long way and she never made it, but she was a good 30 yards away before she finally turned back. But it was as if she was just going to stroll over and partake in whatever sport they were playing. So cute.

Possibly the most satisfying moment of "logistical parenting" is when you can do something spur of the moment with the kids and have it work out. It's satisfying, most likely because it's a tiny glimpse of what it was like before kids, when you could do whatever you wanted.

Christy was going to come over today after work with Andrew and Matthew. Sometime mid-afternoon, the task of packing her life up for Seattle got the better of her, and she regrettably cancelled on us. No biggie. The plus: Chris and Emily had called and invited us over for a cookout. Hoo-ray! ...a boring night at home is narrowly averted.

Of course, I had nothing prepared for this, no diaper bag, milk, snacks, dinner...all the trappings of a normal night with the kiddos. (That I just called them "kiddos" was almost a subconscious and unintentional nod to David Carradine from Kill Bill) I really did not relish the notion of bringing the girls inside the house, getting stuff ready, then repacking them; I opted for the mad-dash of kid-preparedness.

I talked to myself the whole drive from day care to the house, listing off all the stuff I'd need to swipe: "Diaper bag, milk, tomato, eggs, spoons, pudding, teddy grahams, milk, water, sippy cups, camera, my sandals, feed the cat, turn on lights, toys, they'll need toys, no they won't, they'll have toys, yeah, but Abby really likes the cups, whatever, do what you want, milk, jammies, jammies?, sure, but we won't be there that long, *sigh* fine, leave the jammies, but don't forget hats, no hats their backyard is on the west side and the sun's going down, alright fine, then they'll need sweaters, oh for the love of god it's almost 80 degrees, milk, camera, dog, oh yeah, I definitely have to remember the dog. And milk.

I was in the house for 6 minutes. I would estimate that I looked out the window about 32 times, meaning I checked on the girls once every 11 seconds or so. At one check, I watched a guy bike by and unmistakably turn his head when he passed. What would I do if I biked by two toddlers in a car? Hmmm... well, the cops never showed.

My imagination played out just how loud they were screaming, left alone in the car as they were. Surely it was pandemonium. I bounded out the house and down the steps and got to the car and looked in the window to see: Lily, calmly working her pacimafier, not really caring about much of anything at all. Abby was on the other side, watching the sky pass by.

In the end, the whole event came together, and the Moores are awesome to hang with and all the kids were darling, and that's the kind of stuff I geek on now that I'm a parent. If I can only eat outside and drink a beer and have kids that are not crying for that entire stretch...then I've found a little happy place. And Emily, to no one's surprise, made killer burgers. I put no condiments on it, and it was just superb. mmm.

The one downside is that the sisters didn't get to bed until almost 8:45. Meh. Life is rough.

Day one hundred and nine.

Abby happy. Earlier, she did a little log roll down the hill in their yard, came to a rest on her side, and laid there looking at the grass for a good 15 minutes.

Lily found and kept sucking on this onion layer. These kids, they seriously eat almost anything. Little billygoats.

Making some kissy faces to nobody in general.

Video post...exciting stuff.

As promised, I finally got some video up. There was a lot, so I clipped it down to just a couple minutes or so.

It is not to be mistaken for Citizen Kane, landmark cinema though it may be.

As also promised, I'll just go with the video and quit with the jibber jabber. Enjoy!

Day one hundred and seven.

No pictures of the kids...sorry, but we all just need a break from that crap, don't we? It's agreed.

Jen and I, just 10 months (..and, ahem, 8 years) ago.

My hard drive is full. It is bursting...a geeky green goo spurts from the front of my computer with every picture I save, every mp3 I download. So, I've been going through our old folders and deleting large swaths of photos.

Here's one of the oldest photos of us that was already up on the computer. Anything earlier than this (and including this, which is scanned) is film. It's from Brazil, shortly after we were married. My hair is a gorgeous mop of brown virility, and that makes me sad because I'm losing it, and even sadder that I care.

Jen hasn't aged a day.

I figured there's got to be some burnout from all the kid pictures, so I thought I'd do a throwback.

I'm quite exhausted, which is inexplicable because my Dad has helped me out every night. Nevertheless, I wanted to bail on an entry here, so we took some very good video tonight, figuring that could do the talking for me. After an hour of trying and tearing some additional hair out (precious hair!), I gave up uploading the video. It just...wouldn't work. Maybe I'll buy one of those new fangled Apple computers, where everything works properly. White jumpsuit, nike sneakers, and free kool aid with every purchase.

Fine day. Kids were in great moods. Lily is quite enamored of her Papa, as she was with Grandma Marj and Grandpa Neil. That's a fun thing to watch.

I will spoil one cute part of the video: this happened yesterday as well (a repeat skill!)...I was playing the body-part-naming game with Abby, and she wasn't getting anything. Until I said, "Where's your bee bo?" and she went right for the bellybutton. Today I did the same thing, and she proceeded to try to rip her jammies off to get at the sweet sweet bellybutton. Our little girl.

Day one hundred and five? I think?

[no...one hundred and six..]

Coooooooonaaaan O Briiiiiiiiiiien

Sooooy Saaaauce!

Sorry, short one tonight, as it's crept up on 10:30 and I want to watch Conan's first monologue and then leap eagerly betwixt the sheets. Olly is already up there, waiting for me. So is Guinness, but I think he's just there to torture the dog.

Day two of "Daddy Screwing up the Girls for Life" went well. It's hard to mess a weekday up, busy as it might be. The morning went smoothly, but all because of getting up early, that was the keystone to my fatherly plan. I was showered, dressed, caffeinated, and even cerealed (oh yes, it's a verb now) before any peeps were peeped. The rest just came together; some dressedy-goop and milkedy-blah, and off we bounced into the morning.

Tonight, I skipped ECFE. I'm not sure why it took me so long to come to the conclusion that that was the right decision, because it is so apparent to me now. I just don't get anything out of it, yet I was feeling obligated all day, like I should go, like I owed it to the volunteers and parental peers. That it was the very last class weighed heavily on the decision. In the end, the thought of another hour spent sipping bad tea and munching mysterious snacks was too painful a fate to bear.

Instead, I called up my Dad, and he played a pivotal part in smoothing the fabric of the night. And I think Lily and Abby are starting to enjoy him a lot, so he gets a win for that.

I'm finding the very first few minutes of Conan to be solid. You go, Conan. But really, Will Farrell? Bah. Well. He's alright. They coulda done better, though. Off to watch the monologue..

Day one hundred and five.

Ahh! Oh, Abby, you scared me. Sheesh.

Lily likes to transfer the pacimafier in such ways.

Abby stretching/coughing.

Single parenting...day one.

Too tired to think of a caption. They're my kids...what else can I say?

I have no idea what just happened the last 12 hours. I must have blacked out.

I can't complain, it was a pretty easy day. Lazy morning, hung out a bit, they went down for a nap. Afterwards we got dressed, did lunch, took the dog for a walk, then went to Papa's for the rest of the night. No biggie.

It's the logistics that kill me, the unrelenting business that needs constant attention. I guarantee that is what will have me begging for the end of the week by Tuesday; not the actual moment to moment interaction with the kids. I love that junk. But what it takes to get them both dressed, fed, and out for a walk is not insignificant. (I should mention that I did the unusual configuration of Lily in the backpack and Abby in the stroller for the walk. Olly was on the leash, but that's normal. It worked fairly well, I thought)

I am finding that the naps are the real gut-check times. There's a tantalizing temptation to put them to sleep and evaporate on the couch with a book, but it's just not in the cards, not as a single parent. I was kinda tired for their first nap, but there was an enormous amount of general clean up and "stuff" to attend to. This essentially eradicates any relaxation that might take place during the nap. Tonight after we got home and I put them to bed, I was out and out exhausted, but the house was destroyed (again). The need to clean up after the past couple hours...the need to prep for the next few...these things rip my will to shreds. Arg. Not to mention the need to do the blog.

The morning should be exciting. I'm going to be getting up at 6, which damn well better be at least a half hour before they do, so I can get ready and prep for the day before they're rousted.

One point of strategizing: I'm starting to think that we should keep their clothes somewhere other than their room. Picking outfits for the day is a bit of a task sometimes, but it's impossible to find time to do it, because their room is occupied during nap time. I might just empty their dressers into the hallway for a few days, saving myself the headache. That's a guy solution.

Right. Off to bed...

Day one hundred and five.

She's smiling here. I am too.

Love those eyes, hope they stay blue like Daddy's.

Abbygator being thoroughly entertained by Grace.

Ahh yes, I forgot, big thanks to Grace (and Mark and Tracey) for helping with the girls. Grace played the part of the awesome cousin, and did a good job of entertaining the monkeys. Tip o' the hat to ya, niece Grace.