Mexico

I'm on my parents' Windows laptop. It doesn't have a simple, Mac-like facility for putting the accent on the 'e' in Mexico. Grumble.

So, the family is down here in Mazanillo at an all-inclusive resort. If you've never been to one, you pay one price on arrival, and all food and drinks are included. Well, maybe not all. The first day, I ordered Jack on the rocks, and was asked to pay 35 pesos ($3). The next day I went into town and bought a bottle of Jack for 267 pesos ($24). No problema!

But each morning we wake up, tend to the kids, go to breakfast, and then hang out in the pool. We have little floating boats for the kids to sit in. They both like it, though they're a bit sensitive to the cold. Some lunch, afternoon naps, and then a nice dinner. Pretty relaxing.

Happy Halloween!

You can't make it out, but Elise's shirt says "this time: TRIPLETS!" which was the scariest thing she could think of.

3 years

So this week, Steve and I are celebrating our third anniversary of meeting each other. (Oct. 1--first email, Oct 3--first date, etc.) We've packed a lot into a few years.

I can honestly say that despite his hundred or so frustrating habits, I love my husband now more than I ever have. And despite my equally frustrating hundred or so habits, he still loves me, too.

We celebrated by going to our favorite Italian place for dinner Friday night, where the owner took Meredith and held her while he sat people at tables and chatted up other guests. She was the hit of the place. Fisher slept through this entire event.

Now we are going on our first "full unit" outing. That is, to the coffee house/dog park in the Flame-mobile with the Sparks Five. Steve is recovering from his biggest BBQ gig to date, and we are all a little worn out. But happy.

Goin' Mobile

Going Mobile - The Who



We've been taking the kids out a bit here and there. Here we see the babes ready for brunch yesterday. We took them to Calavino's, a brunch place we like. Here is Calavino, and her partner Doria, holding a sleepy Fisher (who they keep calling "Fitch".)



And here's a picture of Meredith checking out the lattice work at Holy Taco.

The Trifecta

They say the three most stressful things one can do are (a) move, (b) add or lose a family member, and (c) change careers. You've watched on this blog as we built a house, moved, and added two family members. Well, Wednesday, I left Premiere. I've completed the trifecta. Do I get a prize?

Obviously there's a lot to say about the situation that led to my leaving, but I think I'm going to let time and distance have their effect before getting too much into it. But Premiere was VERY generous in their severance, and there are other people who want some part-time help with a few things, so the net result is that I will get to spend this holiday season with my new family. I'm tremendously happy about that!

I also want to start a venture, so stay tuned on that one.

Love and kisses! It's a great day!

Labor Day Weekend

Here's to LABOR UNIONS!

Around, say, 1870, work sucked. Six or seven days a week, twelve hours a day, horrible conditions, etc., etc., etc. Bosses could fire for no reason; workers had no power at all, and bosses routinely abused the situation. Over about a hundred years, the unionization of America fixed those ills and for the most part, the workplace in America is much better for their efforts. We got Saturdays off, too.

But we also got the spare day, once a year, tacked onto the end of this weekend. Woot! Our first family holiday together, we've got Elise's brother John and his whole family, plus Elise's mom. We'll be throwin' down some ribs and chicken and steaks and burgers.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day!

Kids update: All is well, nothing really to report. They're focusing much better these days, but still they're mostly scream machines.

Have a Swingin' Sunday Mornin'!

So sayeth The Meredith.

They are growing!

I sort of thought that they were getting heavier, and Meredith's legs seemed to be getting chubbier. When we went to the pediatrician yesterday, the scale told the tale:

Meredith: 8 lbs., 12 oz.; 20.9 inches long; 13.7 inch head
Fisher: 8 lbs., 9 oz.; 21.3 inches long; 14.9 inch head

So Meredith's bigger, but Fisher has the big head. They also got their first round of shots. That wasn't fun for anyone in the room. Meredith's cries invite more pity, but Fisher's cries (though short-lived) could wake the dead!

We have the best pediatrician imaginable. Three cheers for Dr. Sells!

All's well

Apologies for the lack of updates. We're all doing stuff like juggling babies a lot of the time.

I posted some pictures up on the Flickr site. Below are some of the best ones, click through to the photostream:

Elise calls me the 'Pied Piper' because I can usually calm them down pretty quickly. So we see scenes like this when they're both fussing.



This one, the light was funny, so I snapped the picture.


A montage of sadness:

All the parents are gone.

One one hand, that really feels great. For the first time tonight this house will be OURS, just Elise's and mine, and our children and the pup. And that's something we're both very excited about. Symbolic, but no less important for it.

But on the other, now we're sinking or swimming on our own. That's a bit of a scary prospect. Not because I think we have a chance of failure, but because we really can't hand a screaming baby off to a grandmother who has the magical power to chill a baby out. So tonight we might get pretty pissy, y'know?

For the moment, I'm enjoying being in my house with my family. It's a sweet moment indeed.

My parents are here

and they are enjoying their time with Fisher and Meredith. Dad and I built a little gate for the back porch which keeps Jilly from escaping. And Mom put together a little video while she waited to come see the kids. It's great!

Meredith is already standing up to The Man

... and then telling him what she thinks!



He is obviously listening closely to her input.

The Whole Family Is Here

Fisher came home today.



"You stay off my half, Fisher!"

I've uploaded a bunch of pictures to my Flickr stream. Some are real gems, such as this picture of Meredith just after I snapped her into the car (she's thinking "What is this stuff?")

Darlin' Daughter's Turn

Meredith is home!

Pics and videos to come soon.

A quick update...

... or, rather, another quick update.

Some of my friends have put together a meal calendar for us. Very nice of them, and the few meals we've had so far have been wonderful.

Fisher has sort of stalled a little at the hospital. Seems he's so relaxed that he forgets he's eating and tries to breathe, or falls asleep, or whatnot. Meredith, on the other hand, is coming along so well that the doctors have told us to come with a baby seat, we're going to need it soon.

The house is really coming along well too. Elise's mom has been tireless in her unpacking.

A new update

So, we moved into our house a couple weeks ago. Elise's mom, Elise and I have been unpacking the house (with occasional help from various other sources, including my Dad who flew in for a week) and it's beginning to feel more established. A few pictures are beginning to go up on walls.

Fisher should be home mid-week this week. He's doing really well, looks good. As you can see in the video, he's pretty much a normal infant now. Meredith is a little behind in her weight gain, but she'll be along very soon. It's all coming along well.

A video of Fisher

Fisher's doing well. Here he is playing around with Daddy and Aunt Sally.

Daddy and Meredith

When Elise said she got to see Daddy's heart stolen by a new girl, this was the scene she was talking about.

A Birthday Blogpost

I just spent my 35th birthday at Piedmont Hospital, and have lots to be thankful for.

Every time a baby is born here, some chimes play a few measures of "Turn, turn, turn" by the Byrds. So I woke up reflecting on my own June 17 early morning birthday, and my husband greeted me almost immediately with a yummy breakfast from the outside world. We spent some GREAT family time together with the babes twice. I got to witness daddy's heart being stolen by a new girl as he held Meredith for the first time.

My parents came with balloons, cake, and gifts. The nursing staff joined the family in serenading me with another small cake--compliments of Piedmont Hospital. Mom very proudly remarked that 35 years ago today, she was the one in the bed! It was fun having her take care of me today. Hopefully I will be able to do the same for Meredith one day, when time will "turn, turn, turn" to the next generation. It is a pretty awesome thing to realize your place in the cosmos like this.

I must give a shout out to all the nurses and practitioners who have cared for me at Piedmont. I hadn't ever given much thought to what nurses do, but it's incredible. A couple of times I was sure that I was on the way to meet my Maker. How powerful it was to suddenly have a team of seven or so lovely women at your bedside poised and ready to perform even the most unlovely of tasks. They were so vigilant, caring, and personable. They even help you through random fits of crying at lonely hours. Of course it's easy to revere doctors--OBs, anesthesiologists, and neonatal specialists. But nurses are truly incredible people. Actually, a NICU nurse gets the birthday surprise prize. When I went to visit Fisher and Meredith at 5:00, they (she) had left me a "Mommy, we love you!!! Happy Birthday!" card in one of their heated isolettes. It was signed with both pairs of their tiny, sweet footprints. I was instantly brought to tears. What a bummer to not have been able to gestate the twins any longer, but Meredith and Fisher are so lucky to have the NICU nurses to finish out the last trimester with skill and grace.

By the way, Meredith and her mom are both thankful for the gift of blood. I've not given enough in my lifetime, but realize now how valuable it is. It helped save her life and reboot my own.

Steve's dad has come to visit from Santa Fe. He's here to help get the house in working order and to keep Steve out of the Looney Bin, as that is my rightful place in our relationship. So tonight Sid got to begin the epic spoilage of his 3rd grandson, with the NICU nurse letting him stay way past visiting hours to hold Fisher and feed his 21 ml's of dinner! We practically had to drag him out of the NICU, which was another birthday present to me. I never had a grandfather, but these newbies have already gotten to be held by two of the best.

Then dinner from the outside, compliments of my husband, Candice, and all the wonderful team at Capozzi's (my culinary refuge). And from my doctor, a final dosage of birthday Percocet and an Ambien. It's true--I won't get too many good nights of sleep this year, but I'm positive it will be worth it.

Also, random thanks for wonderful blessings (large and small) that I've discovered anew this week: laughing, walking, hot showers, compassionate aunts, friends that pack and feed you, flowers, and the determination of life and the human body.

A time for sleep.

Auntie Candi

Candice is a woman I went to college with. She is in the movie business in New York, and has spent the majority of her life there. She spent a stint living in London. She's compassionate, smart, tough as nails, and has a great nose for bullshit and no reservations about calling it what it is.

Friday, when Elise told me "tomorrow is the day", I dropped Candice an IM with the news. She was just thinking that she'd love to come down when they're due next month, and was hoping she wouldn't be working when it came. Since she's between gigs right now, she packed a bag and headed to JFK.

The Atlanta weather had other ideas, and Candice ended up getting unceremoniously dumped in Columbia, SC. She and a few fellow passengers rented a car and raced through the night to ATL, and at 5AM I picked her up at a gas station out in the suburbs.

A few hours later, here she is chatting with Elise, before Elise goes in to deliver.

She is going to help me pull off this move. Thanks, Candice, you always come through in the pinch.

The family has grown!

And here they are.



Meredith Jane Sparks. 3lb 8oz. 6/13/09 11:03am.



Fisher Benjamin Sparks. 3lb 11oz. 6/13/09 11:05am.

C O Issued

We have a Certificate of Occupancy. It's legal for us to move into the house.

YAAAAAY!!!! I can't even express how happy that makes me. We have a new home!

Back to packin'.

New Pictures (interior colors)

So the house is just about done. Yesterday I went by and we had sod. This morning they were finishing the carpet and staining/sealing the deck. Here are the internal colors. The "neutral" colors are a sort of butter color and a sand color. We aren't picturing either of these here. But the main room with the drop projector screen has a red color to it:



The kids room is a bright blue-green, almost aquamarine; and the office and our bedroom is a deep chocolate brown. Here they are:






Jilly is taking right to the new house. Here she is digging a little bed in the pine straw.

Interior colors are done

No pictures, but it's gorgeous. We'll have pictures soon.

Really, everything's done but a couple inspections, then we have a walkthrough and point out the little fixes... and that's the game.

Tile with Grout

Kitchen Backsplash

Read the following post as if you were this guy.




Tile!



TILE!




TILE!!!

Let There Be Light

(first family photo in the new house)

and exterior color!



A banister for the staircase!



With lights in the shower, we can see what the tile should look like:

More Progress

Driveway!



Walkway!



Stoop!



Doggie door (below the color swatches)!



Fixtures with running water!!

More Progress

We have some landscaping!!



They did all the priming, too, so things like the mantel are all cleaned up now.

A quick dose of politics

Today is the National Day of Prayer. The right wing is angry that Obama isn't holding a power luncheon for evangelical Christians the way that Bush did. To those people I shall quote the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6:

⁵"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

ie. Stick it.

The trim is nearly done...

... and looks fantastic.



We also got tile in the downstairs bathroom.

Trim and Floors!

Northport Classic Homes

There's no amount of superlatives that we're able to apply to our builder, Northport Classic Homes. All our whole lives, we've heard nothing but horror stories, from both homeowners and contractors, about the pain of doing a renovation project. We've heard all about how terribly slow it goes, how everything jumps in expense, how difficult the process is. And in the software world, there's an axiom: "Good, Fast, Cheap. Pick any two."

Well, along comes Northport, in the person of Phillip Pettis. More than any other builder he was passionately aware of our frustration, and took great pains to put us at ease. Their references and letters of recommendation were glowing. Confidently, we hired them. They promised us dates for construction that were fairly aggressive. Their price was very fair, right down the middle.

At first we were held up by the permitting process. It took almost five weeks to get the permit. While we were all agonizing over this situation, Phillip and his project manager, Ford Hoke, were also lining everything up with all the subcontractors and whatnot. When we finally received the permit, they tore the house down that afternoon and began immediately.

As you've been following on the blog, it's happening FAST. What might not be so clear is the incredible level of detail and quality of components that they're using. Every part is the best part available today, put in correctly with craftsmanship and care. For the few changes we've had to request, they've been easily accommodated¹.

So if you have a renovation or new construction project brewing, consider these guys. They're just fantastic.


1. The biggest one was Elise upgrading to the super-king-mega jacuzzi tub, the expense of which will pay for itself roughly three seconds after she first sits down in it.

Cabinets!

The upstairs bathroom cabinets are complete:



The kitchen cabinets will be finished tomorrow.




And the bookshelves in the living room:



We also have tile in the master bath. Elise didn't like the picture so I stripped it. There's tile in the other upstairs bathroom too. This picture doesn't do the irridescence justice.

Tour of the House

The Deck

Trying to give you a sense of the size of this deck. It's the area shown in red and green below:



Here's the view from the lower left corner of the screened porch:



looking back at the house from the upper left corner of the deck:



Here's the passageway (the tight part of the green section):



The deck is VERY high up. This picture shows the support poles and the original "swing" deck: