A Long Time Gone

Wow it has been a long time! So much has happened since our last post I don't even know where to start. The long and short is that we are officially residents of the Netherlands now. 

It was definitely a crazy end to our six years in India. Without going into detail in regards to the India-United States drama that transpired, we really couldn't bring ourselves to blog in the final months in India. We loved our time in India, but we are very happy we made the decision to leave when we did.

We moved two adults, twin two and a half year olds, a labrador, seven suitcases, and one hundred and two boxes from New Delhi to Amsterdam. The actual moving was painless thanks to wonderful relocation packages from our employers. 

Our new house is fantastic. We rented with only seeing photos and are very happy with our selection. We are about a fifteen minute walk and a five minute bike ride to work. Also we are only a five minute bike ride away from a giant shopping center, and a massive forest to explore in.

In our first few weeks in the Netherlands we have met several new people and are having a great time. We were greeted with fantastic weather the first week. Lately though we have been experiencing the normal rain that is typical for the region.

Amsterdam is refreshing and clean, and just all around easy to navigate. Cedric and Ezra are loving all of the public transportation... trains, trams, busses, and bikes they love it all! 

Our family is in love with our new home. We look forward to getting to know this place as we get settled in. 

Oh and we also plan to get back into regular blogging now that life is a bit more calm.

Here are a few pictures since we last posted.

Chad & Cedric in Mauritius

Mary, Douglas, Cedric @ brunch

102 boxes enroute to The Netherlands

This is our life

Ezra - "Jet lag stinks"

Grandpa's story time

Quick trip through DC 

Douglas & Ezra giant slip and slide fun

Chad & Cedric giant slip and slide fun

Fried everything at Columbus Pride 2014

Ezra surfs up in Outer Banks NC

Douglas & Cedric go to Ivanhoes!

Cousin play time

Fresh haircuts

Cedric - "Take my picture!"

Baltimore MD

Our first family bike ride

Playing in our new back garden

Kitchen singing time

Cheese!

Chad

Summer Is Over

It is the saddest happiest time of the year. It is sad that we have to go back to work, but we are happy to settle back into our own home. This summer has been more relaxing than usual. We have taken it a lot easier this time around and done much less running from one place to the other.

We have spent the majority of our time in Indiana and Ohio visiting family. It has been wonderful for the boys to have huge yards and pools to play in. The weather has been perfect for outside time during our entire visit.

We took a couple side trips also. Our first trip was to visit our long lost friends in Atlanta. We learned that in the south just about anything will fit into a bikini, and that too much fast food can put me in the hospital.

Douglas and I headed out to San Francisco for a few days. Cedric and Ezra got to hang out with my parents while we were gone. The twins love their Mimi and Papaw! SF was so much fun. We did some touristy things and then some relaxing things. It sure was nice to have a few adult meals where we could enjoy a bottle of wine with dinner instead of asking for the check after appetizers.

We had a little visa scare that anyone heading to India should be aware of. We needed to get "fresh" visas this year since we have been in India for more than five years. This can only be done in your home country so this summer we had to send our passports out for new visas. I don't know the background behind the switch, but the Indian Consulate has changed the company that processes Indian visas. My advice is to apply early since it took us four weeks to receive our passports back. Also I recommend using Travisa to walk your passport through the process. It costs a bit more but if there is a problem they handle it.

We head back to Delhi on Tuesday night. If anyone is passing through Newark keep an eye out for the circus!

Chad

Are We OK?

One of my closest friends from high school and college is now a psychologist in the air force. He deals with all kinds of patients with many kinds of mental health issues. Due to his deployments and our living in India, we haven't seen each other in three years. In those three years a lot has happened (like the birth of our twins, and the birth of his daughter). So, we met up in Atlanta over the weekend.

More about the trip later.

For now, suffice it to say that every time I'm around other parents (and certainly around the children of a psychologist), I'm constantly watching them and asking myself, are we OK?

Yesterday, I made an appointment with the pediatrician, not because anything is wrong, just to check in and see if we're OK.

Today, I did a google search--my first mistake of the day--for 18-24 month developmental milestones. Yes, my kids are doing most of the things on "the list." But they're not doing all of them. Are we OK?

My sister's kids were around last week. Her son is two months older than my kids and about 10lbs heavier. He's a better eater, and says more words. Crap. I mean, I'm happy for her. But all of that only leads me to ask, are we OK?

Chad and I have often joked that we'd be EXCELLENT parents if we had a singleton instead of twins (any other parents of multiples know this feeling?). But we don't have one, we have two! Which, of course, leads to the question; are we OK?

And then there's pinterest and all of the parents that have time to enrich their children's lives with neat activities, and then have time to create how to's for the rest of us underachievers. Yikes. We may not be OK.

And, oh goodness, there's the fact that we're same sex parents, and I constantly feel like people are waiting for us to fail so they can say "I told you so!" Are we really OK?

I'm not panicky. In my own estimation of myself and Chad, I think we're pretty calm parents. But it is a daily task to stop asking whether or not we're OK and really focus on my interactions with my kids. And, I guess that is the point of this rather rant-like post. I want to spend more time in the moment with my kids, and less time worrying about whether or not we're OK.

Bounce Time

Doug and I made our last circle around Delhi today picking up some last minute items. We also stopped by the spa to treat ourselves to a massage, mani, and pedi! It is way too hot this time of year to be running around... but it was worth it.

We apologize in advance to anyone who forgets their headphones on the United flight to Newark tonight. Keep an eye out for a traveling circus... it will be us!

Both boys are having troubles with their teeth right now. Ezra and Cedric are sprouting teeth (6 and 4) respectively simultaneously. So it should be an interesting flight.

Looking forward to family time and cool temps!

Here we come America!

Chad

Countdown Season

We are in the home stretch. It is odd to say that since technically India is our home, but nevertheless we are about to bounce out of the hot box for the summer holiday. Our ayah asked this morning who was going to take care of the twins over the summer. I suppose she is concerned that we are not capable, but I think we will manage.

The temps are hitting 115 F or 46 C daily. It is so hot that when you go outside you can feel your skin retreating and your eyes start watering. Our daily routine includes air conditioned playtime and swimming.


It is 10am...

I noticed a few days ago that Jyoti (our labrador) was getting a little thick around the middle. The vet has been forever telling me that she was getting too heavy, but I was in denial considering some of the dogs I have seen. She always tacks on a few extra pounds when we leave for the summer, but she might drop a few pounds since she won't be cleaning up after the boys.

Time to starting making to-do lists...

12 days until we are in the states for 9 weeks!

Chad

Oh Geez

I love it when the boys talk. If I have Cedric's attention I can get him to try to repeat just about anything. He has been picking up new words daily. His most recent vocabulary addition is "oh geez". I can't stop laughing when he says it, and he gets so tickled by himself.

Another funny thing Cedric says is "teek hai". He learned this from our dog walker who has lunch with our ayah everyday. The boys just love Vineet and when he arrives they are over the moon excited. Teek hai is a common Hindi saying meaning yes, no, maybe, and ok depending on the way you say it. It is almost always accompanied by a "head bob". The head bob can be on the left, on the right, or back and forth. Cedric walks around our house bobbing his head and saying teek hai all the time. It is so cute.

Chad

Baby Proofing

Our house is 99% baby proof... leave it to Ezra to find the 1%.

While I was getting dinner ready the boys were free range throughout the house. They were having a good time laughing and playing with their toys. I ran into the bedroom for a minute and when I came out Ezra was in his crib. Doug asked me if I put him there and still in shock I said no.

I took him out and put him on the floor to see if he would demonstrate his new found ability and off he went. A few minutes later he was back in the nursery again so I watched him from the hallway. He knocked the pillows off the couch, used them as a step, climbed on the couch, climbed up on the arm rest, and did a swan dive into the crib. I gasped because I was sure it was my turn to go to an Indian emergency room, but up he jumped with a smile on his face.

Ezra is going to make my hair grey.

The couch has been moved.

Chad

Too Hot for Shoes

It is officially too hot for me. I am being a wimp this year (5 years in Delhi), and starting to complain earlier than usual. Thirty-five more days until we are up and out. The temps are reaching 105 daily now and will continue to increase until about 115 through the end of June. Yesterday I declared a moratorium on shoes and socks. It is sandal season in Delhi.

Twins twins twins!

Both boys are walking (Ezra running). They are growing very fast. Cedric is tall enough to grab things off the kitchen counters. The boys are tons of fun and full of energy. Play time has become much more fun as their skills are developing.

Our lives have changed so much. Our house is also changing. We have dismantled our guest room and created an entire room dedicated to play time. We painted all the walls blue and put down a padded floor of letters and numbers. We love it right now, but are quite aware it might turn into more work down the road when they figure out it comes apart in a million pieces. Our dvds and books have been removed from twin level. No matter what we tried they couldn't resist the temptation.

The boys also like dancing on the coffee table. We are working on getting them to stop table dancing, but this is going to be an ongoing battle. I won't say if either father has danced on a box before...

Everyone in our house has been sick. The twins and I recovered within two days, but Douglas has been out of commission for the last two weeks. We all hope he is better soon since single parenting is no fun. It is easy to forget how much you depend on your spouse when everything is normal, but when one of you is missing you quickly realize how much help you need.

Chad

Spring Break

The temperature is rising in India, but it is still in the manageable nineties. That can only mean one thing. It is time for our last trip out of Delhi for the school year. Doug's mother is enroute to Delhi. She was due in last night, but as usual Newark was a cluster $%#@ and she had to reschedule for one day later. Thankfully United also let her change her return date by one day so she didn't cut any time off her trip.

Climbing is the newest event in our house. The higher the boys get the happier they are... chuckle chuckle. I am considering removing the couch from the nursery as I am afraid one of them will either jump or get pushed off which will lead to another trip to the hospital.

Dinner time continues to stress us out. It seems we can't make the boys happy. They refuse to eat things they loved five minutes before, they throw all the food off their trays in protest, and scream for more. We have tried so many things, but it seems nothing will suffice. This phase needs to pass.

Cedric is very clingy, and he wants to be held most of the time. I think this problem was created by having two ayahs at his beck and call. We are working on strategies to calm him down, but he gets so worked up we have to let him cry it out. This phase needs to pass.

Ezra is basically running around now. He is a busy boy and usually has on a big smile. Cedric has started taking a few steps here and there, but only when he wants to. He is a very effective crawler so he is content with his mobility. Plus every time he stands Ezra makes it his mission to push him over.

We are all looking forward to Goa. Our family does beach vacations well.

Chad

Research: 12-18 Month Behavior

I often joke with others that we're running our own little twin experiment, and usually leave it to them to figure out which twin is serving as the control group. What would happen if we only let one listen music performed exclusively by Dolly Parton?

Ever feel like things are getting away from you?

In all seriousness, here are some things I've been reading about development and behavior from 12-18 months.

Here is a brief summary of what play looks like at various ages, including 12-18 months.

Here are some behavior management strategies for pre-toddlers.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has a quick two-pager about eating habits, behavior management, growth development and vocabulary development for this age.

And, a bit about non-violent communication just for good measure.

The Problem Solver & The Freaker Outer

You can tell at a glance when Ezra is planning something. His wheels are always turning and he is looking for something to get into. When something stands in his way it only takes a few seconds for him to manipulate the situation and overcome.

Last night we were all playing in the nursery. The couch sits against the wall and part of the window is behind the couch. Until last night neither of them could get on the couch unassisted. Ezra decided that he wanted to look out the window and quickly realized that he needed a boost. So, he used our makeshift drum (a.k.a. an empty Trader Joe's coffee container) as a stepping stone. He was elated with accomplishment and smiled ear to ear from the top of the couch. King of the mountain!

Ezra has always been a bit more independent, whereas Cedric has always been more aware of the people around him. He's not scared by large crowds or loud noises and will sit through an hour-long concert. He loves being with people.

And Cedric is definitely our freaker outer.

When something stands in between him and what he wants, he spirals into a tantrum, going from zero to sixty in two point five seconds. He has never been very independent, and he will often cry when he is not getting enough attention.

We have observed Cedric playing both with Ezra and alone, and he takes things very personally. A few nights ago he was pushing a toy car around the nursery. Keeping in mind that a car only does a few things--i.e.,  forward, backward, turns on side, and turns upside down--Cedric was getting visibly frustrated at the toy car, but we don't know why. It would appear the car was doing something "wrong" since his reaction was to scream and bite the car in retaliation. We have witnessed said biting on several occasions and nothing is immune. He'll bite coffee table for bumping his head, the door stop for keeping the door pinned open, and the blanket for getting twisted around this legs... all things that need to be told to behave, I assume.

We do our best not to react to these outbursts as to not encourage the behavior, but we are not sure how the nannies are responding when this occurs. When we stopped reacting to Ezra's head banging it went away on its own, but my fear is this will take longer to disappear and will advance to biting people.

Chad

Happening Now

Ezra and Douglas are on their way to the hospital to get stitches on Ezra's bottom lip. Mark your calendar for tonight as our first trip to the emergency room!

A huge thanks to Auntie Mary for co-piloting the mission across Delhi to Max Super Specialty Hospital.

Update with pictures tomorrow!

Chad

Spoons!

Cedric and Ezra fed themselves with spoons for the first time today. Daddy, of course, helped load up the spoons. But, you can tell from the video that they are quite content (and even a bit proud) of their accomplishment.

Bon apetit,

Douglas 

Up and Out: Thailand

We are leaving for the airport in thirty minutes. Douglas did a great job at the last minute packing, and I managed to doubt him only once. We are close to being professionals... I think.

This should be a quick, easy, and painless trip. The only bad thing is the overnight flight being four hours and we land at sunrise. So it looks like a short night and a long day ahead. It will all be worth it after spending two weeks on a private beach with each other and our boys.

Happy Holidays!

Chad, Douglas, Cedric & Ezra

First Haircut

Oh my! It's amazing how quickly these kids are growing up. In witnessing the new things they're learning, seeing them take their first unassisted steps, attempting to form words, eating new foods, and by almost everyone who lives in our community and has known the boys since they're birth, we're reminded daily that our babies don't stay babies for long. Yesterday, in preparation for some major beach time coming up, we decided to bite the bullet and get the twins their first haircut. And, wow! I think they suddenly turned into little boys right before our eyes.

Playing Catch Up: First Birthday Party

Our last day in Istanbul was Cedric & Ezra's first birthday. We enjoyed carpet shopping, apple tea drinking, purchasing a great painting, and of course hopping on a plane. I sat down today and calculated how many flights the boys have been on in their first year and here is what I came up with.

Delhi-Newark-Indianapolis
Indianapolis-Houston-Frankfurt-Delhi
Delhi-Goa
Goa-Delhi
Delhi-Istanbul-Paris
Paris-Chicago-Indianapolis
Indianapolis-Newark-Delhi
Delhi-Hong Kong
Hong Kong-Delhi
Delhi-Istanbul
Istanbul-Delhi

So there you have it 17 take offs and landings and 46,530 miles in their first year of life. Not many babies can say they have been in six different countries (seven if you count Texas) before the age of one.

My mother came back to Delhi with us and we had a great two weeks hanging out around the house and exploring Delhi-lite. While she was here we had a proper celebration with our overseas family. Thankfully the boys are not all that into sugar and messes... yet.

We are off to Koh Chang Thailand next week for winter break. We get to spend almost three weeks with our asses in the sand and beers in our hands!

Here are a few pictures from the party.

 Chad

Playing Catch Up: Turkey Trip

Hello blog readers! I'm not sorry for the long pause in blogging. Life is as busy as hell and the blog gets put on the back burner.

Turkey was a great trip despite me declaring a moratorium on all future travel on the flight to Istanbul. It all started around 2a. We packed the boys up and headed to the airport where they slept through check-in, immigration, security, and boarding. We took our seats and life as we knew it changed. The boys kicked it into high gear, and since it was morning time it was play time. Under normal circumstances this would be fine, but Douglas and I had been up since 2a and were approaching exhaustion. Just an FYI holding two almost one year olds still for six hours on three hours of sleep isn't pretty. So we learned that timing is everything, and in the future we will be taking overnight flights when we travel.

Although it started out a bit rough our trip to Istanbul was great. My mother flew in from Indianapolis the day after we arrived, and we had a great time eating street food and touring the city. The streets are clean, the people were nice, and the buildings are beautiful. Istanbul is now on my list of top cities.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Chad