A very special visit for us and the boys . . .

Adam and I feel incredibly fortunate every single day to be able to have the family each of us had always dreamed about . . . when we began evaluating surrogacy back in 2008, who would have thought that we would have met such an amazing person that would help us usher the Ethan and Noel into the world. Kim is a Navy wife and a mother of two children over her own . . . she's funny, honest, straight-talking and was as dedicated to the process as we were. Over the 15 months or so that we were activitely pursuing surrogacy, Adam, Kim and I shared a lot of meals, a lot of bad television and a lot of laughter, which made the process incredibly fun, even when it wasn't easy.

As our delivery/birth complications are fairly well-documented on earlier blog entries, I won't go into them here, but an unfortunate side effect of those complications was that Kim didn't get to spend much time with the boys while we were in California. We'd been working on a trip for her to visit us in Dallas and it finally all came together in mid-May.

Ethan and Noel loved getting re-acquainted with Kim and the sentiment certainly seemed mutual . . . we stayed pretty low-key so that we could all get in some good bonding time, but we did make time to introduce Kim to a mambo taxi (or two) and our favorite Sunday brunch place, Kathleens.

We're looking forward to many future trips with an incredible person without whom our current lives wouldn't be possible. Thanks, Kim and we'll see you soon!!!

Noel's New Vocal Range

Noel discovered his new vocal range and it seems to scare Ethan and delight Noel. Check out the clip below and Noel's pure delight in his screech.

Memorial Day in Austin

We had a lovely trip to Austin this past holiday and it was essentially our first trip with the boys and Bruce and I were really excited about it.  However, with recent developments among Ethanol - including, but not limited to their dislike of their car seats and the beginning stages of teething - we were worried about the drive down.  My solution was to let Bruce drive and for me to take a Tylenol PM while Weezie took care of the boys.  Bruce's solution involved me at peak alertness and "contributing to the creation of our first family vacation memories" or something like that.

Well no-one was more surprised as me when we made it past Waco, then past Belton, Temple and into Round Rock before the boys needed to stop.  All credit goes to Weezie and her magical fingers in the fine arts of pacifiers.  We were joined by Avo, the Waid Family, David, Shawna, cousin Paula and cousin Anna and her husband Andy.

The boys loved the water, despite it being colder than what they are used to.  After a long day at the pool they needed a bit of a nap.  Overall, a great trip surrounded by friends and family:

After a long day at the pool and a quick nap, the boys cleaned up and looked quite dapper in matching seersucker shorts, courtesy of Avo.

The drive back was even better as we made it all the way back to Dallas without stopping.  Quite a lovely experience and we can't wait for the next trip with the boys!

Noel Month 5

And we can't believe how Noelly continues to grow and grow.  Two pics of Noel...the second one one is just cute as it looks like he's saying something like, "But WHY can't I eat again until lunchtime?!?!?"

Month 5

Month 4

Month 3

Month 2

Month 1

Ethan Month 5

We just got back from our first trip in Austin where the boys hit the 5 month mark.  More to come on the trip soon, in the meantime, here's the latest monthly pic of Ethan:

Month 5

Month 4

Month 3

Month 2

Month 1