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So we rolled in today around four to the Center in Myrtle Beach. Jess was especially happy that we arrived when art and lew were sleeping--she has fond memories of magically arriving at her family's cottage after a long car nap. We saw a small alligator tonight swimming through the dark lake, something art was especially excited about. His bright red eyes lit up when our fashlight beam hit him. After we saw it Art immediately wanted to go home and tell mama who was having some time to herself. "Let's go Papa, come on," he said as the thing swam in our direction--I wanted to get a closer look but art just wanted to go tell mama. "I just really like to tell mama about the things I see," he explained. Meanwhile Lewis was scared of the loud secadas and wanted to be held. "ascared uhbugs, Papa." Wimp!!! There are so many spiders here. We stopped to watch one as it built its web. Amazing, really amazing. He looked chaotic and unfocused, barely holdi...

After the baby girls are born we will have 80 finger and toenails to trim, not including our own, of course

All threats made in the mealtime crazies post were empty and super funny. We werelaughing the time. But we still want him to eat the sandwich.

Stir crazy and still 6+ hours of road time to go. Art, the picky eater, happily ate his self-designed subway sandwich yestersay getting a good dose of protien for the long haul, so wee ordered again today. "I don't want the meat. Just the cucumbers." Says Ben, holding head in hands, "fuck!" We will have to endure whing, impossible to tolerate humgry Art if we don't get him to eat the sandwich. Says Ben when asked to help Art clean up a spill, "if ytou eat your sandwich." Art, "can I have some pop?" Ben, "if you eat your sandwich." Art wanted to back to the car and Ben said, "you have toeat your sandwich. I'm going to force you to eat that sandwich and stuff it down youtr throat."

Ben: "I just wanted to let you know that there's some blood in your bathroom." Attendant: (a little annoyed) "oh yeah.  I know." --Sent from my handheld device.--

Says me, "well, that was a nice diversion." Adds Ben, "cup of coffee, some peanuts and a car fire." (Not our car...we were held up one car away from three fire trucks putting out a roadside car fire.)

I am writing from ben's phone to reprt that in gneneral this LONG road trip is gping really well. We stopped in Chicago to visit and stay with my cousin staci and her husband and 2 1/2 year old son. Had fun with his toys and a great breakfastt beforwe heading off to the Field Mueseum for dinosaur bones. Then we went to Millenium Park to see the fountians and the Shiny Bean. When Art saw the bean he stopped in his tracks and said, "whoh. I can believe it" and just stared at it, mumbling to himself. Then it was back to the car with our tired, cranky children to head for Ben's grandma's in IN. We are managing the road time with books on tape, which Art is loving, a big coolor of snacks and sandwich materials and frequent rest stops for pee breaks and frizbee throwing. Have you ever seen Art throw a frizbee? He may still collapse into a tantrum if his food spills on the floor but he can throw a frizbee better than most grown ups. Now we're in the long ha...

So, tomorrow we leave on a big trip heading east across the country to South Carolina. Along the way we'll be stopping in Chicago overnight with Jessica's cousin (in Chicago we're planning to see a museum with Dinosaurs (!) and the giant 'bean' at Millennium Park as Jess likes to say). Then we'll head to Wabash, Indiana , where my grandmother lives and where my mother is currently visiting (that would be TWO birds with one stone). Then, we'll try and finish the rest of the trip over a couple days through Kentucky and West Virginia and finally arrive at the Meher Baba Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, SC (Jess and kids are flying back one way, I'm driving back with lots of books on tape...) The Baba Center is a retreat for followers of Meher Baba , an Indian spiritual master who died in 1969 (I wrote more about him in a post from last year after our visit there). I often went there with my family growing up and last year was the first time our new f...

"Papa, this is weird. I'm half naked, and Lewis is all naked."

Jessica's cousin Cait took this lovely photo of Lewis on his second birthday at her house. Jess and I love it!

We hosted a lovely brunch Sunday with family, in part to celebrate Adria's birthday (I won't tell you her age, but she's in her 65's). These first three photos were taken by Dick and his new fancy Nikon camera (thanks, Dick!). Mmm, poblano quiche (recipe from epicurious): We all walked to the 'egret's next', a beautiful pond (rather, drainage ditch) a couple blocks from our house. Zach with Art and Lew.

Last night Lewis was calling out every few minutes from about 11pm to maybe 2am or so.  His eyes would still be closed, he didn't need anything and he wasn't soothed by having his covers or gackoo or bear rearranged.  He was just dreaming, I guess.  Lewis  wasn't waking  up , but he was just waking  us  up.  At one point Ben got in bed with Lewis and that helped a bit but Ben must have pet Lewis the wrong way or something because he said, "No do that, Papa!"  Eventually Ben got back in our bed hoping the distress calls were over.  A little later we heard Lewis again, "No do that, Papa!" to which Ben replied from his spot next to me, "Ok, Lewis!  I won't do that!"  After a little while Lewis was calling out again so we put Lewis in bed with me and Ben slept in Lewis's bunk all alone.  I found that if I had even just a corner of my body touching Lewis he stayed quiet, so I'd just lay a hand on his leg or scoot my back to his.  But t...

So, of course I have already done a lot of reading about healthy twin pregnancy and managing/surviving that difficult first year and one source recommended getting all your preparations at home done by the time you are 30 weeks.  After that point you will not only be at increasing risk for early labor but you will be getting larger and more uncomfortable and tired.  You will be glad you got everything in order before then.  Now I'm feeling the pressure. I'm about 21 weeks along now, give or take a few days, and I am getting to that hard-to-bend-over-to-pick-up-that-sock stage. After cleaning the kitchen last night I was so exhausted I couldn't wait to put my feet up and when I brought up a load of laundry I was audibly winded.  I'm starting to panic!  The clock is ticking and I'm only getting bigger!  So tonight I worked on the baby room, organizing the boxes of Art and Lewis's hand-me-downs and stashing crib sheets and blankets in the bin under the crib....

Here's a photo of the new swing set we just bought for $25(!) on craigslist (we'll be moving it later this week). On the way there to give it a test ride we explained to Arthur that a family is selling it because their kids' bodies grew too big. He asked if they would be sad that someone else was going to take it. Which is a good question in my opinion. And in fact the little girl was a apparently bummed to see her beloved swing set go. But after watching Art and Lew play on it her mother said she was lots happier that others kids would be playing on it. so that's good. On the way home Arthur said, "I think that's a good swing set."

We got bunk beds a couple months ago, which has been a huge hit with the kids. Here's a horrible photo with my cell phone:

The whole family, along with Art's good friend Si, took the light-rail train downtown to the fancy Central  Library to get some books. They watch the train go away before a quick stop at Dream Girls. Art and Si have this weird tendency to lock hands or arms and start yelling and flailing about. It's inspired and fun to watch.

I can't quite remember who gave me this little book, but I just rediscovered it and found some of my favorites. From Haiku Mama by Kari Anne Roy: http://www.assoc-amazon.com/s/link-enhancer?tag=follo05-20&o=1 Sniffing newborn's head, a primal urge takes over - try not to eat him. Stabby curtain rod poorly hidden in closet is toddler's new toy. Awake so early, small boy rises with the sun. Can't snooze a baby. Tennis ball in sock: sad yet apt description of post-nursing boobies. Making a playdate: Why does it feel like high school? Fear of rejection. Red leaves on trees, glitter poop in the diaper - it's the holidays!

Ben's schedule of late has been all nights, all the time.  So that means that five nights a week it is just me and the boys for dinner, which has completely relaxed my cooking expectations.  I was still trolling recipes for the grocery list or cooking up a batch of this or that, but after getting burned by "I don't like it" so many times or just have so many leftovers even after we all had eaten our fill I have decided to most often to slap something together.  We have a lot of salads with balsamic vinegar for our veggie, we some kind of pasta probably twice a week, which is more often than Ben would tolerate, and occasionally we just have chick-patties with veggies and toast.  But tonight Ben did an early morning assignment so he would be home for dinner.   Home for dinner!  What on earth am I going to make?  I'm not saying I have to make something fancy, but cooking for me, a toddler and a four-year-old is basically like cooking for me.  The two of them don...

Ben took Art and Lewis for a walk around the block after dinner and when they got back Art was really excited to tell me about what he saw.  "We saw so many cool things!  We saw a THOUSAND mushrooms, or maybe eighteen...I don't know..."  Concept of 1000 apparently has not been internalized.

Today Art and his friends from school all gathered at Evva's house for their last day of 'school'. Here are some photos of the fun times: http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

Last night we went to a Twins game with some family (I got cheap tickets through work). Started at the Red Cardinal for beers and greasy food, then trained to game. The view from our seats.

I love Jessica's belly button. I remember a few years ago when she was pregnant with Art I took a little video of it bouncing up and down as she laughed, which of course made her laugh even harder. She's always had an outy, but when she's pregnant it turns into a MEGA OUTY!! If you see her make sure to tease her about it, ok?

Lewis is a Potty Pooper. A potty animal! It's potty all the time at the Parker Garvin house. Lewis is potty trained.

Today Art and Lew and I biked to Bubbe's house for lunch. I asked ask how many (not if) girls clothes she had bought. "Do you want to see them?" she asked brightly. I'm so excited about the idea of having girls that seeing a bunch of cute clothes was actually really fun. Adria has superior taste in clothes and rarely spends more than a buck or two for something, so I don't see the harm in it (although Jess and her sister Emily, who's also pregnant, have little interest in supporting their mother's habit of buying clothes for as of yet non-existent kids). In fact, I think Bubbe had bought quite a few baby girl clothes before there was even a girl on the way for sure. She knew her chances were good, though. One out of three... Anyway, towards the end she held up this pink tutu and said, "And here's the Pièce de résistance!"

Today was the last swim class for the kids.

At the farmer's market last weekend.

Art and his friend Si at school: Art (no hands!) and Lew at the park:

Well, now we know. Twin GIRLS! We found out this morning. Jessica and I both felt twin girls was the least likely scenario, and there they are. I have to admit, I sorta wanted a girl or two, but was trying so hard not to take sides... My mother (a mother of two boys) is thrilled, and Jessica is already fearing the avalanche of cute girls clothes from her mother. I say bring them on!

We recently moved the train table to it's summer location on the front porch and Lewis is pleasantly obsessed with it. When dinner was ready he said, "A-play a train, Mama?" I assured him he could still play with the trains after dinner. Being agreeable as he often is he just said, "Ok," and came to the dinner but not before asking if he could bring the trains to the table. Trains also work on the road! He amused himself with one piece of track and one train while in the car and here he is playing with some trains at a restaurant last night. While Art took his after school nap today Lewis played for over an hour and a half at the train table. That's more than ninety minutes! I actually started to get bored! I cleaned the kitchen, checked my email and surfed the net, ran some laundry, made and ate tater tots (Delivered some to Lewis, too. He ate while he worked at the train table and then said, "More 'tatoes, please!") and just putzed. ...

Recently I had some help vacuuming the boy's bedroom. With Dirt Devil Junior, a bubble lawnmower and a standard Kenmore upright we got that rug clean and well cropped!