Update

Here’s the run down after six weeks; having twin boys equals no sleep for daddy and even less for mommy since she is the source of food. Honestly, she felt like she had them strapped to her chest for the first few weeks until we could get them on a schedule and alternating some bottles in there. Even now they don’t always follow the schedule. We have been peed, pooped, and puked on, sometimes all at once. We have gone through a hundred of loads of laundry, a thousand diapers, and cleaned so many bottles that I could do it with my eyes closed, which I’m sure I do at 4am anyway. Our lives now revolve around these two little poop factories. We have no alone time, no time to collect our thoughts, just when we think we get to sit down and relax, maybe have a beer, glass of wine or scotch, a blood curdling scream comes from the nursery and the process starts all over. And that’s just the times I am home. Amber gets an extra nine hours with the twins of terror while I am at work.  IT IS EXHAUSTING. There is nothing I’d rather be doing. As I write this I glimpse over at the little 3 inch monitor that shows Theodore sound asleep in his little Rock and Play (we call their space ships) while Amber and Oliver are snuggled up on the bed and I couldn’t be happier.  They have this way that frustrates you so much when they don’t want to sleep or won’t stop crying then all of the sudden they smile or give a little sigh that just makes your heart melt and you forget not only that you are frustrated or even why but any concern you had, it’s gone. Poor Penny pup stares at us waiting for just the slightest bit of attention even though she likes to get in the way sometimes and makes the frustration worse. “Patience,” I tell here. “Soon you will have a pair of young bucks chasing and tugging on you, soon pup.” She doesn’t understand, she just wants to play with here ball. Just looked over, yep still sleeping as I should be but hey like they say, “I’ll get enough sleep when I’m dead.”

Speaking of Scotch, from above, I need to update you on the bottles I’ve put down and let you know what I think. So my list will is soon to come with three scotches, a bourbon and a irish whiskey. 

They're here

I became a dad Friday night to two beautiful baby boys. Hands down the happiest moment in my life. Theodore (left) and Oliver (right).

36 Weeks,Fish, Running

Here we are at 36 weeks now and the boys are weighing in at just around five pounds each, giving Amber a grand total of just over ten pounds of baby in her belly. Needless to say, she is uncomfortable, feet swollen, babies are kicking her in the ribs and she still has 4 weeks to go. Our baby monitor, the one with the camera, can be connected up to four cameras so we bought a second camera (one for each boy) and of course after we had to test it out. We played with it for an hour or so taking turns talking and standing in front of the camera. The camera units even play music. We also strapped in the bases for the car seats in the cars, packed our hospital bags, and charged the camera, now we wait.

I took advantage of the warm weather and went fishing a couple of weeks ago and caught my first sauger. I wasn’t fly fishing just regular fishing, wading up Big Walnut Creek when I caught the toothy bastard. It was the only fish I caught that day but I did find a canoe, wedge up in some old tree branches and beat up pretty bad so I decided to leave it instead of trying to get it. If you know me, then you would know for me to find something is not uncommon but for me not to drag it home, no matter the condition, is a rarity. I spent my childhood dragging things home from the woods such as chainsaws, motorcycle tires, and creatures of all species.  Things that are junk to many really was a treasure to me. But it wasn’t all junk, some pieces of history as well such as arrowheads, a dog tag (army issue not veterinary issue), even a musket slug (bullet) with a little research told me it could date as far back as the 1800s.

The weekend before my fishing/canoe searching expedition I ran my second half marathon. The cap city half, same one I ran last year, finishing at one hour and fifty three minutes one minute slower than last year. A couple hours after the race I got an email with all my stats one of which being how many runners passed me versus how many I passed and it was depressing. I was passed by three hundred runners, but in my defense I started in the elite runners section… by accident. At the starting line they organize runners into corals, I was registered to be in “A” coral but instead of getting in “A”, actually should have been in the back of “A” almost in “B”, instead I lined up in the elite runners section just in front of “A”. Needless to say I was passed, a lot, especially at the start people just whizzed by me.  It wasn’t until I got my stats that I realized what happened. Even though I was slower this year, I was still satisfied that I finished in the top thirty percent of over 7,000 runners that ran the half. Some 15,000 runners, walker, and a few wheel chair athletes participated in the days’ events which including a 5k, quarter, and the half marathon. After the race a bite to eat and a few victory beers, then home to crash on the couch. It was a good day.  

First Hard Decision of a new Dad

My first hard decision of a new dad of twins... who wears Batman and who wears Superman.

Update and Hiking Red River Gorge

Here we are coming up on 32 weeks of pregnancy, Amber’s belly is getting big and she claims it can’t get any bigger. Every day we take a look at the basketball looking hump where here flat washboard stomach used to be, just to see if the belly button has popped out like the little things on turkeys to see if she is done, so far it’s still flat. The boys have fallen into a routine taking turns playing kung Fu fighter during the day. It’s so weird to feel the little guys kick or push their butts up against the belly and sometimes I swear they know it’s me by responding to something I say or when I touch her belly. The nursery is 99% complete and we have all the things we need, I think.  Everyone asks if we are ready and our usual answer is, “is anyone ever really ready?” I think we are. Amber for sure is ready to get them out.

Ryne, the same friend from the West Virginia/Virginia AT hike from October, and I took another hiking trip a couple weeks ago. This trip took us south to Red River Gorge in the heart of Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky .The weather was sketchy the week leading up until the Friday morning we left but the weather couldn’t have been any better, sunny with a slight cool breeze the rest of the weekend. The trail, muddy in areas from the weeks’ worth of rain, started with a long steady climb up a ridge and then down totaling 6 miles before having to cross two very cold, very flowing creeks less than a mile from each other. At the first creek crossing we met a couple other guys and their very happy dog, Ellie, who had her own pack. Ellie, a Rottweiler/husky mix, was mostly black with one brown eye and the lightest blue eye that really stuck out because  her black face. Ryne and I shed our boots prior braving the creeks barefoot moving slowly over the smooth rocks while using our trekking poles to brace us emerging on the other side just as our feet were numb from the cold water.  After 5 hours and 9 miles we made camp in a bowl (area surrounded by cliffs; like a bowl) below Indian Stair Case next to a cold water stream. For dinner, freeze dried meals (Mountain House’s beef stroganoff is the best), oatmeal cream pies for dessert, and a few sips of bourbon to take the soreness out of the days hike on our legs. The next morning after sunrise we made our way another 4 miles on the trail down the mountain, crossed a road to a suspension bridge that no matter how careful I was or slow I walked it bounced up and down.  The trail then follows another crystal clear stream with two crossings, this time on fallen logs before a long, very muddy climb up to a small park road. After the road the trail cruises along a ridge where our second camp was before dropping down into another bowl. Setting up camp only took us a few minutes before we took turns hiking down less than a quarter of a mile to a couple of water falls to fill our bottles and wash our faces in the ice cold run off. It was only two in the afternoon giving us plenty of time to kill before dark, which was spent wisely by gathering wood, hanging a clothes line for wet clothes, building a fire ring with rocks, a bench from logs, and playing homerun derby with sticks, acorns, and pine cones. We also invented a game Ryne called “Mountain Man Golf.” Basically took two short sticks tied together by a piece of rope and threw them at a log to try to get them to wrap around it. Around dusky dark Ryne and I cooked our dinners, when I say cooked  I mean boiled water over a small pocket stove, poured into the dried food bag, sealed and let stand for the absolute longest 8 minutes of my life. We polished off the bourbon by the fire before hitting our bags for good night sleep. Well, as good as it can get in a sleeping bag and tent.  Both mornings freeze dried granola with blueberries and milk was for breakfast before sunrise followed by packing up and more hiking. The last few miles of the hike were filled with a moss covered rocks and trees along a stream in a deep gorge then finally up unto a road for last two miles to the car. 

Creek 1

Hiking in Kentucky, gotta drink bourbon

Looking across the gorge. 

One of the arches the area is known for.

Looking up at the rim of the bowl we camp at on night 1.

suspension bridge crossing Red River

mountain man golf

Trail blazes (markers)

Moss covered rock with trees grown on top. 

Sunrise form the first morning.

tents

One of the many waterfalls we passed by. 

Chicago

Some pictures of our recent trip to Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago;

Us on the River Walk

The Chicago River dyed green for St Patrick's Day celebrations

"American Gothic" Grant wood

"Nighthawk" Edward Hopper

"Picture of Dorian Grey" Ivan Albright

"Old Man with Gold Chain" Rembrandt

16th century German armor

16th century English armor