Dad, Daddy, Papa?

We have our baby names, the nursery is done, our plane tickets are purchased - we are pretty much ready to go and get our kids!  The one thing we haven't decided is what we want them to call us.  The thing is this, when talking to a baby, you often (or at least we do with our dogs) refer to yourself in the first person - 'daddy loves you' - 'can you smile for papa?' - 'dad wants you to stop crying'.  Yes, I know you can't really control what your kids call you - as toddlers or as they grow up.  I have an Aunt Choo Choo (her name is Shirley) and I still call her that to this day!  Not sure how I got from Aunt Shirley to Aunt Choo Choo.  So, on the one hand, why worry about it - on the other hand, my obsessive nature wants this detail ironed out.  Thoughts anyone?  We talked about Daddy and Daddy T.  We are pretty sure Steve will be Daddy...he will be the primary caregiver. Papa sounds so formal.

I have been out of town on business much of the past two weeks.  Last weekend I was in LA and I developed a bad case of the 'I miss LA blues'.  It was 67 degrees at night (19 Celsius) - every night.  We had dinner outside with the air so still and so comfortable.  Just amazing.  I went through our Sunday 'routine' - gym, mass, lunch - but Steve wasn't there with me so it all felt so odd.  I text him 'I miss LA' and he text back 'just think about raising the kids here in Dallas'.  We moved primarily because we decided that raising kids in LA was not for us.  The fact is, Texas is a wonderful place and when I wrote a few posts back about leaving my heart there, it was true.  Texas gets a bad wrap.  Yes, Texas did produce the worst president in our lifetime.  Yes, Texas does have more than its share of conservative, absurd politicians and hypocritical, religious zealots.  Yes, it is hotter than hell in the summer.  But...and this is a big, important BUT...people are genuinely nice.  Case in point - a couple of weekends back, I was sitting at a stop light, waiting to turn left at a red arrow - the light turned from red to green and we sat there - the car at the light wasn't moving - the car in front of me and behind me sat quietly - 10 seconds later the light turned red.  What was odd about this?  NOONE BLEW THEIR HORNS!  It was oddly shocking.  In LA, not only would there have been an onslaught of honking horns, there is a strong likelihood that someone would have gone over to the driver's window and pulled the person from their car and beat them - OK, I exaggerate - but, there would have been honking, screaming and lots of waving middle fingers.  This is one example.  We made the right decision for us and for the kids - and we saw my parents more in one month than we had typically seen them in a year's time.  There is an enormous gay community in Texas, and particularly in Dallas - I have so many friends from over the years there, so there is no lack of 'community'.  I feel our stress level going down and I am quite certain we have added 10 years to our life.  Life in Dallas is - simply put - Easy. 

We received scans today and a report from Dr S.  The larger twin is up to 2167g (4.8 lbs) and the smaller one 1974g (4.4 lbs).  No signs of labor and we are 34.5 weeks.  We arrive in Delhi on Sept 7th - that is about a week and a half from now.  I fly home from the last leg of my trip tomorrow and will be home all next week in the event we get a call and need to leave for India earlier than planned.  I can't wait to meet these kids!!!!

Terry (and Steve)