Tuesday, December 17, 2013

When The Stars Align

All of the stars have aligned. When we started our job search we never dreamed that we would be presented with such an amazing opportunity. All of our wants and a few bonus features for our next home have been met. The city is clean, they had jobs for both of us, and our marriage will be legally recognized!

We are happy to announce that in August 2014 we are moving to Amsterdam in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Here is a flash back photo from when we first went to Amsterdam in 2008!


Smiles ear to ear!

Chad & Douglas

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The Changing American Family

I don't know if we're "exemplars of domesticity," but this article is well worth the read. Scroll down about half way for the portion entitled "The Baby Boom for Gay Parents."


Can you imagine what the statistics would look like with full marriage equality?

Can you imagine how many more same-sex parents there are now versus 2008?

What incredible, wonderful changes will we see over the next few years?

Happy Tuesday!
Douglas


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Heading into the Unknown

Searching for a job internationally is complicated. Especially when dependents, housing, and visas are factors to be considered by your prospective employer. There are not many places in the world that offer both Douglas and myself a position in the same location where it is not illegal for us to live.

It has been sixteen years since I came out of the closet and since then I have never faced any sort of discrimination because of that (that I know of). I suppose I have just been lucky; however in our job searching we have found that the world is much smaller that we originally thought. We only have two requirements of a country; clean air, and not illegal to be gay.

The unknown is really scary. The fact that we don't know where we will live starting in June is frightening. Even if we move back to the United States we still don't know exactly where we will live.

Whatever happens happens... Everything will work out in the end.

Chad

Monday, November 25, 2013

Two


Cedric and Ezra are officially two. Actually they turned two several days ago, but we have just been too busy to talk about it. In the last month I have been to Las Vegas and Douglas has been Denver and back. Our house has been a revolving door of activity.

Language development has reached a new level. The boys are becoming easier to communicate with which means life with twins is starting to calm down. Of course it is still wild, but once your children understand what you are asking of them it feels more like a partnership.

In other news we are heading to Prague for Christmas this year. We are super excited about this trip. Cedric and Ezra will get their first taste of genuine cold weather.

Another blog post is coming with updates about leaving Delhi and the search for new jobs.

Chad

Monday, October 28, 2013

Leaving India

This year will be our sixth and final year living in New Delhi. We decided last May that it is time for a change, and we are sticking to our plan. I say that jokingly, but we call India the golden handcuffs. We have great jobs, great salaries and live in a great community and therefore it is hard to give it all up for the unknown. Our number one choice would be to remain abroad, but we are also looking at moving back to the United States if that plan doesn't work out.

India has changed tremendously in the past six years, but India is a still tough place to live. I look back to the first time I arrived at the old worn down Delhi airport. It was the first time I had left the United States and my emotions were high. I remember coming down the stairs into passport control and bursting into tears. "What in the hell am I doing?"

India is a crazy place. Most people come for short stays and click pictures of the chaos because it is so wild it is funny. When we first arrived we felt the same way. It is interesting to look back at those first time experiences and compare how I felt then and how I feel now. I think we progress in waves. Our feelings have progressed from this is wild and it is funny, to this is wild and it is normal, and now to this is wild and it annoys me.

Our time in India has been wonderful. Our lives have truly changed because of this place. It is an experience we will never regret. India is full of firsts for us and it is a place we will never forget.


Chad

Monday, October 7, 2013

Overdue Update

The boys are keeping us really busy these days. Their day runs from 8a-8p with a one or two hour nap after lunch. Most days with the boys are a lot of fun, but it isn't always gum drops and lollipops, as you can imagine.

Every day Cedric and Ezra are learning something new. Sometimes good things... sometimes bad things. We have made momentous progress on manners recently. Their skills of reason have also started to develop. They now understand what we want, however it is still a toss up if they decide to comply or not.

They are learning new words daily and will repeat anything you say. Anything. It has been a lot of fun watching them grow. They have such different personalities it is hard to believe they are twins.

Ezra is a runner. I can already anticipate phone calls from his teachers saying he ran away. He gets this look on his face and you can see he is testing how you will respond.

We have had a few problems with our ayah. I came home the other day and she was letting the kids dance on the coffee table. We have been working hard on keeping them from climbing on it... now we know why they were not listening. It is also culturally difficult for our ayah tell the twins "no". It is a different way of looking at it but it's as if the she works for the kids. So we are working on boundary issues where she has to tell the boys no and enforce the rules while we are gone.

We have also had our fair share of illness. Everyone has had coughs, running noses, and fevers. Cedric has had a few terrible reactions to bug bites. Some that have led to skin infections with very disgusting looking boils on his legs. I could never be a doctor. I had to stop trying to diagnose the issue using Dr. Google after seeing the search results for skin rashes. People are nasty!

We are still trying to get Ezra to pack on the pounds. Cedric is gaining weight like normal, but Ezra just can't seem to gain a pound. He is a good eater, but must burn calories at a much higher rate. He never stops moving so maybe he will always be a skinny mini.

Eating out with twins is going quite well. Once in awhile we have to end dinner a bit quickly, but most of the time they are perfect gentleman. We have noticed they seem to eat better when we all eat together as opposed to having a kids meal time and then an adult meal time.

The weather is still quite hot in Delhi. We have been swimming most weekends and sometimes swim during the week. Ezra is a little fish and will jump from the side of the pool and blow bubbles and all sorts of fun stuff in the water. Cedric also loves the water, but he has always been a little more reserved and leaves the show boating the his brother.

We have also joined a very diverse play group. There are kids from Norway, Germany, Brazil, Spain, India, and Czech Republic. Our ayah has been coordinating with several other ayahs to have regular play groups at a different house three times a week. Once a week we host at our house and there are nine children and nine ayahs all in our house. I stuck my head in the door once. It was toddler overload.

Cedric and Ezra are really good at sharing with other children. However sharing between themselves is another story. I find it very interesting how they interact with each other. Ezra will take things from Cedric just for fun and then run through the house as if it is a game. Cedric subsequently is chasing him through the house screaming for his toy back. We have a lot of work to do in this area. Maybe a life long task.

I am heading to Las Vegas for a work conference in two weeks. I am looking forward to learning something new and excited for the networking possibilities. It has been a few years since I have been in Las Vegas. I can't wait to see if I can still win at black jack. My mom and dad are also going to meet me there for a couple of days.

Sorry this post turned into a novel. I guess that's what happens when you are terrible bloggers and forget to post anything for two months!

Chad

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Dear Mom, . . .



Dear Mom, 

Whew!

We're back in Delhi. And what a trip it was! It's good to get back in the swing of things and to be in our own place.

The plane ride was about what I expected it to be. The boys did awesome on the first leg of the trip, and then we used the family room in the United Club for our long layover (it pays to be Premier Access Gold Members). It was great! We had a private room, two couches and a TV. Cedric napped and Ezra played. 


Cedric was definitely not himself at all yesterday. Of course, I took the thermometer out of our diaper bag (we've never used it during a flight before, so no need to keep it in the diaper bag, right? WRONG!). So, I'm not sure how high his fever got during the flight, but I'm pretty sure it was up there. He slept or laid down for the entire Delhi flight. Ezra, however, made up for his brother's lack of energy especially during the last four hours of the flight. Wowsa! He got so frustrated towards the end that he cried for about 20 minutes (seemed like 2 hours) because he couldn't get down and run around the aisles. Then he finally fell asleep again as we landed. Chad assures me that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. Still, it stunk pretty bad. I hope that this was the worst of it and that when they're 2 1/2 they'll be able to understand a bit better why they can't be free range on the plane. Maybe I'm fooling myself.

We got in at 8 and were out of the airport by 9 with three trolleys of luggage plus two strollers and diaper bags. Arjun, one of the school drivers, was waiting for us outside with the van near by. So, we loaded up and headed for home.

The boys were shell shocked by then, but Ezra was really happy to see Jyoti and kept running around trying to give her a hug. What a happy labrador. It looks like she did a lot of comfort eating while we were gone as she's a bit thick around the middle. Cedric, meanwhile, wasn't having any of it, happy lab or no!

We sorted a few things out and then had the boys in bed by 10:30. At that time Cedric's temperature was about 101. I'm pretty sure it had been higher than that during the flight. The boys went down without any fuss at all. World-weary travelers.

After they went to bed, we sat down for a few minutes, but then got up and hauled all the luggage (8 bags, 2 strollers and a carry-on) up two flights of stairs. I opened a few pieces of luggage, but only the essentials in order for us to go to bed and get started again the next morning. Sleep came fast, but was not long-lasting. The boys woke up in a fit at about 1:00 AM. Fortunately, they only needed bottles and went right back to bed until 3:30 when they woke up again. I fed them breakfast and they played. They were in great moods and Cedric's fever had vanished. At about 6:00, their wheels started to fall off and so they had another bottle and went back to bed for what I thought would be a two- or three-hour nap. No sir. They slept from 6:30 AM until I woke them up at 1:00 PM. Jet lag is a nasty beast. While they were sleeping I unpacked our luggage. It's good to have that done and out of the way.

Chad went to work at 8:00 and Sheela had came in at 8:30, so I took the opportunity to take a nap myself. I slept until about 10. Then I got back to work organizing what I had unpacked. Chad and I had lunch with some of the returning faculty. It was nice to see our friends. We'll be doing a lot of "Remind me what your plans were this summer..." over the next week. Familiar, and mostly jet-lagged, faces are slowly starting to reappear. New faculty has been here for about three days. I don't officially start back until Tuesday.

They boys and Sheela (our housekeeper and nanny) have been getting reacquainted today. Vineet (the dog walker) came in this morning while they were asleep and was visibly devastated when I told him that the boys were asleep. He missed them so much over the summer. He came back this afternoon and he's now playing with them. I think Cedric is getting tired again. I'm not sure what the rest of the day will bring for him. I think that he might need a nap. This is going to be an interesting evening. Pretty sure they'll be wide awake when Chad and I are dragging to a halt and begging to go to bed.

The boys have been asking about Grandma and Grandpa and Meme and Papaw. We'll need to skype soon.

Love you!
Douglas