21 Months

Is it really possible that the last time I posted here was 9 months ago?  Is it also possible that since I last logged into Blogger there have been so many developments - Doug and Bill have a baby girl, Jason & Adrian have twin girls, Meg is at 36-37 weeks, Mandy (third trimester), TJ (second trimester)...and more that I probably haven't gotten around to reading yet.  WOW!  Congrats to all of you.  Jag and Ajay will be 21 months old on Monday.

Before we had the boys I had so many people tell me that I would not realize how much free time I once had...they were right.  I had no idea how much free time I had!  The truth of things now is that we have little time for anything except the boys.  As I was reading through the blogs just now, I realized how much I miss keeping up with everyone's lives and celebrating all the miracles.  It really is an amazing community of people - all of you.  I will try and post again before 9 more months pass...

Life is pretty wonderful.  I still work constantly and Steve chases the boys around all day.  Weekends are all about the four of us being together.  The kids are very attached to Steve - he can't leave the room without a meltdown (x2).  I literally have to distract them so he can sneak out and mow the lawn!  We just Skyped (I am away on business this weekend) and the screams of DA-DA and the non-stop waving at the screen and saying BYE, BYE, BYE are all very fresh.  I miss them so much.  We realize we have to teach them not to say 'Bye' until someone is actually leaving!  'Bye' has become both hello and goodbye.  Steve and I are going away on a real vacation for the first time since 2008 - we are going to Thailand for 2 full weeks.  It is much needed.  Grandma and Nana are holding down the fort, the dogs - and most importantly the boys.  Yes, we are leaving them for two weeks.  I still can't believe it myself.  Steve is going to flip after a few days, I'm sure.  He's going to see how it feels to Skype with the boys - both amazing and miserable all wrapped up together.  Thank God for technology and thank God even more for our mothers!  They are the very best baby sitters in the whole world...

Here are some recent pics of the boys.  Jag was the bigger baby and he continues to be the bigger boy - he is about 3 inches taller than Ajay.  I hope all of you have an amazing summer!  Steve is very pleased with his landscaping - everything is maturing and in full bloom - he has been at it for two years and the results are pretty spectacular.

Love,
Terry, Steve, Jag & Ajay

Happy 1st!

What a great day!  On a day otherwise marked by tragedy, our little faces of hope celebrate the day they joined our family and changed our lives forever.  They bring us so much joy every single day...

Here they are in their 'birthday suits'!

I bought these Ganesha figurines in Delhi and they were perfect for our Indian inspired cake.

A Year Later

Ok, so it is not quite their birthday, but it is getting close...two weeks from today the boys will be one year old!  More pictures at that point, but I wanted to do a quickie update.

All is well.

We have managed to survive the HOT summer in Dallas.  We have had over 60 days of 100 degree (38 C) temperatures.  It has been the second hottest summer on record for Dallas...lucky us that we moved here, huh?!?!?!  We took a trip to LA to get out of the heat, show off the boys and see our dear friend Rita awarded her doctoral degree.  Of course, the weather there was amazing.  The boys screamed the entire flight - both ways!  We have become those people that I stare at on flights...the ones with out of control kids.  Yikes!  Even so, being back in LA and seeing everyone - and yes, the cool breezes, made the trip totally worth it!

Both boys have quite a few teeth.
They stand and squat without help, but no steps just yet.
Meal time is fun for all of us...we end up with more food on their face, our clothes, the walls, floor, etc than we do in their mouths.  Sometimes they cry in the high chair and sometimes they laugh as in this quickie video...Steve keeps dropping the spoon and that is just cracking Jag up!

Here are a few shots from our trip to LA...

Second Parent Adoption

The boys are 9 months old tomorrow.  Time really does pass so quickly.  All is simply wonderful. 

The Dallas Voice published an article today that does a really nice job of telling our story.  I would like to thank Tammye Nash, Senior Editor, for being so thorough and for telling our story with such honesty.  http://www.dallasvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/06-10-2011.pdf

Steve's adoption was final on June 1.  We went through the family court system in Dallas and it was really quite simple and the costs were minimal.  I will say that the quoted legal fees were vastly different from one attorney to the next.  The person we used had handled an adoption for some friends of ours (another same-sex, male couple) and he was efficient and his prices were very reasonable.  We went before the judge answered affirmatively to a series of questions and the judge issued the adoption decree - done!  We were in court for all of five minutes.

Here are some images from the courthouse on adoption day...

Much Love,
Terry, Steve, Jag and Ajay

Nana & PawPaw...and Jag's Bedhead

Quickie post.  The boys are 7 months old the day after tomorrow.  I had these pictures on my camera from last weekend and I knew my parents wanted to see them.  I am off to the airport in about two hours for an 8 day business trip to Europe.  I have been gone almost every week lately which is so tough on me - in terms of missing the family.  Really tough.  Gainfully, and happily employed so always smiling, but miss my family terribly.  The only consolation is that coming home is so special.  I returned yesterday from a two day trip and I have been with the boys non-stop for the past day.  They are so amazing...Jag is pretty much crawling...inching along, pulling his legs up and inching forward.  They are doing really well on solids and they are sleeping a full 11 hours a night without waking!  (insert big smile here)

Here are pics with my parents from their visit last weekend and a morning shot of Jag's bedhead!  I attempted to give him a haircut yesterday and he is looking a little like a punk rocker!

Hope everyone is well.  Maybe I will have some time on my flight to Barcelona today to catch up on blogs...that would be a treat.

Love,
Terry, Steve, Jag & Ajay

Ready For Our Close-Ups

So, now that the boys are eating some solids, I have resorted to feeding them in only a diaper.  It is such a mess with the pureed food - all over us, the table, the floor and their clothes.  So, feeding in a diaper is a beautiful thing!  By the way, they are getting quite good with the food - much more going down their throat and much less running down their chest...Ajay has learned a new trick which is to blow instead of suck...so he blows food all over everything...he has also found it is fun to do this with his bottle.  He sits and blows bubbles into his bottle rather than sucking.  Slightly annoying but look at these pics and tell me if you could honestly be too annoyed!

So, what are the odds that when I put them in their chairs for feeding that they both assume the exact same position - leaning to the right, attempting to climb out of their seats!  Had to grab some quick photos.  I did not pose them - they did this all on their own.

They are so much fun these days...need lots of entertaining (they bore quite easily), but they are pure joy to us. 

Hope everyone is well out there.  I have lots of 'blog catching up' to do - I just saw a couple of births and some positive pregnancy tests!  Congrats to all!!

20 Weeks

Whew.  Literally out of breath.  I have started nothing short of 10 times to write this, but the two little cuties in the pictures below would have nothing of it!  Steve is working outside because we finally have some warm weather (although we are back below freezing starting tomorrow according to weather.com).  So, with Steve outside, that means I am inside and that means I am POOPED!  Exhausted.  Honestly, hats off to all the full time mom and dads out there - it is (as many reading this know) the most emotionally rewarding and draining job on the planet.  All this said, I've had such a great time with the boys this weekend.  I have been with them non-stop...no work, no computer...just me and the boys. 

They are, as the title says, 20 weeks old.

Developments since my last posting - solid food (we love peaches, bananas, pears and really anything sweet), supported sitting (as you see in the photos below), rolling from tummy to back and vice versa (and across the room!).  Sleeping 6 hours between feeds :) and male pattern balding!  So all are cute developments except the idea that they want daddy's hairdo.  Hmmm.  Ajay went completely bald and now it is grown back like a military flat-top.  Jag is bald only on the back - we have somehow managed to keep those beautiful tresses in front - perfectly coiffed! They each sport a nice little round, bald spot right smack in the back of their heads where they lay all the time.  At their four month check up they each weighed around 15 1/2 lbs.  Ajay has pretty much caught up with Jag on all fronts - I suspect he will be the first to crawl based on his rolling expertise.  We left the room for a moment the other day and came back to find him all the way across the room!

All is well in Dallas.  Although winter is mild here, we've still had to get used to forced heat in the house (and the dry skin that comes with it).  My mom is coming next weekend so we are all excited about that!

Sorry for being so out of touch with everyone out there in blog land.  I miss the time to sit and read all the updates and miss the time to write myself.  I am shooting for at least one update a month...that seems totally reasonable.

We hope you enjoy viewing the photos as much as we enjoyed taking them!

Love,
Terry, Steve, Jag and Ajay