A Trip to Montgomery and back (literally)

There are many wonderful things about living in a small, college town. One thing that is not wonderful is that there is nowhere to have your twins' six month pictures made without spending a small fortune. I wanted to have some cute little pictures made of them in these adorable outfits that they were given as a gift. So, I had heard good things about Portrait Innovations. For those of you not familiar, it is a chain portrait place for kids. Well, they have one at Eastchase which is only about 45 minutes from us. I called and made an appointment for the babies over a week ago, and I had been planning and preparing since that call. I believed that Portrait Innovations was also planning and preparing for our 12:30 appointment as well because they called not once.. but TWICE to confirm this appointment. I also believed that all of my hard work and planning would pay off with the perfectly timed appointment that didn't conflict with eating or sleeping schedules. Cute outfits..check.. cute babies.. check..cute diaper bags packed and ready.. check. even a refluxy baby that had not spit up ONE time all day.. check. Phil even seemed game to play along with my little adventure. It should have been perfect, right? As we pulled into the parking lot, I told Phil I would go in and check things out before we lugged the car seats, cute diaper bags, cute babies.. (you get the idea) into the "studio". AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (That is the voice inside my head that immediately began to scream as soon as I walked into this place.) I entered what I consider to be my version of Hell. It was CRAWLING with people. And.... there were public toys... Yes, I was raised by my mother, and we don't do public toys. I started sweating immediately. Not good... not good at all. I told the girl at the counter that we were there for our 12:30 appointment. She said, "OK... just have a seat and we will be with you as soon as we can." What do you mean?.. I have a perfectly timed appointment.. was my next thought. I then asked if having an appointment would make any difference in the wait time. (They also take "walk-ins".)She said, "Yes, it will.. if you didn't have an appointment, we wouldn't be able to take you at all." Well.. I feel very special then. I am so glad that you called to confirm that I would be here at this specific time TWICE!!! Yes, TWICE!!! So, we actually brought the babies in (not sure why), and we stood awkwardly by the door. One very nice lady offered us her chair. She said she had a brother and sister that were twins, so she "knows what we are going through." I think she could see from the look on my face that I was about to lose it. She kept smiling as if to say "it will be OK." She was nice. Thank you so much, kind lady, but no chair is going to help this. Next, Phil goes to the counter and asks very politely how far behind they are running on this fine Saturday. She says at least 45 minutes. She then proceeds to remind us that they work with children and often don't know how long a session might take. OHHHHH... I see... you work with children! Now it makes sense!! As a block from public toys whizzes by, we decide to chalk this one up and head back home. It is OK, though, because SF cried so hard on the way home that we had to resort to Baby Mozart CD just to get her to zip it. (Ivy.. you know this CD well from beach trip.)So, the pictures probably would have been bad anyway, right? We'll try again another day... :-)Perhaps we could reschedule it for 9:00 a.m. on a Monday or Tuesday as suggested by the "helpful" girl behind the counter. You know.. because 9:00 am on a weekday is a perfect time for people who WORK!!!

On a more positive note...6 month checkup went exceptionally well. SF weighs 13.12, and Rush weighs 13.4. They are both the same length now.. 24 3/8 inches. The best news of all is that Dr. Jones told us that we do not have to go to CCAD for the neurodevelopmental evaluation scheduled for them in April by the NICU. All premature babies that have a NICU stay are scheduled for an evaluation to check for developmental delays. He said that he thinks they are doing just fine! Rush rolled over on the table and pushed himself up on his hands just to show off for Dr. Jones whle he was talking about motor development.. cute stuff. It was like he was saying, "Look at what I can do,Dr. J. We don't need no stinkin' developmental evaluation."


One of my students gave SF some dress up items for V-Day. Thank you, Shakara. SF already thinks she is the queen!


Sweet babies! They love each other!


Sweet,sleepy boy