Monday, 5/17

It was Rob's first day of his 3-week paternity leave, and isn't it nice to be able to spend the days with such a cute little bean?

I even got my first chance to hold both of the babies. Don't mind the look on my face, I wasn't quite ready for the the picture. As Mandy said after holding both of them, it's kind of like a tennis match - you find yourself turning your head towards each baby in rapid succession to make sure you don't miss anything.

Simone likes to spend most of her time on some one's chest, as evidenced by this picture. It's quite wonderful, until she just won't let you put her down, ever. Who can blame her, though. With all that she's been through I think its only natural that she should want to be held as often as she does. Perhaps she is afraid that if we set her down for too long they'll poke her with some medical device. She handles being changed and bathed much better than her brother, hardly putting up any fuss at all. I'd like to say that I have a picture of him being bathed, but his scream is so piercing that it really makes photography an afterthought.

We had our first family outing today, an excursion to the park. It's a whole new existence for us, as it takes almost an hour to get ready to walk out the door, and even then we forgot to bring the bottles of milk. Lucky for the kids, we brought their mom, who was able to give them some supply while resting on a park bench.

We brought both strollers, but as I popped open the first one I realized that it was probably the right size to hold both of them. They fit in rather snug and didn't mind being so close to each other. They have been very good about that lately, as it has a calming effect on them - even if one of them inadvertently whacks the other in the head.