So many great moments...

...so little time (and space) to share them. But here's a glimpse:




Evelyn--always the ham.





















And Jess--one intense little man.


I tell ya, with these two there is never, ever, ever, no never, a dull moment. Here, lemme show you some more.

I love this next pic--they look like an old married couple:

But it's not always like that, in fact, for the most part, they have a lot of fun together. They're really quite a team.












The next picture cracks me up: here we have Evelyn with the Legos box on her head (I don't know why but they love to dump the Legos out and wear that box around). On the floor next to her is Jess, throwing a brief and minor fit--probably because he wants the box for his own head.
Next we have two "naughty" children who have just climbed up on the furniture to grab books off the shelf. You can see how we have the pillows jammed in the book shelves to try to keep them away from the books. You can also see how effective this is. If there is a quiet moment, you can be sure it's because they've climbed up and selected some books to peruse...

I'll conclude with a few videos which capture Jess and Evelyn doing some of their favorite things. I just want to call your attention in the first to Evelyn's "talking"(they both babble like this all the time and at great length), to her saying at one point "yay" and then later "whoo" (so cute--she learned these words from Aunt Janice and her cousins Ellie and Lucy), and to Jess climbing and pushing around the bunny cart (and constantly getting stuck and wanting help). If you were at our house this is the sort of stuff you'd be seeing all the time. This is the stuff of daily life!

And here is one more. Again, it depicts them engaged in a customary activity.


(By the way, if you want to see a bigger version of any picture, you can just click on it...)

Jess and Evelyn want to say...

Happy Father's Day, Dad! You're the best!

When the dust settles

This post is all words. No pretty pictures or graphics this time (except the wild Kazakh stampede above). Looking back, the past year of our lives has been like a stampede. I have found myself reflecting a lot about what went on last year in Kazakhstan and right after we returned to life in the US. I can be a nostalgic guy, so I chalked it up to that at first. Nothing wrong with a bit of nostalgia, from my perspective. But the more I find myself returning to the events of the past year, to roll them over in my mind and wonder at them, the more I realize that it is more than nostalgia that motivates this new attention. If I think about it, this is the first time I have engaged in any serious reflection about what happened when we hopped on a plane to Almaty, KZ last year, because this is the first time I have had the energy and mental space to do so! It has been a wonderful but crazy year. To think that a bit more than a year ago today I was still a grad student, Susan was still an assistant professor, and we were just beginning to imagine what our lives would be like if we had ONE baby in our house! I could go through and enumerate the crazy twists and turns of the past year to illustrate why there hasn't been time for one stray thought, but most of you already know how it has been.

So, now that the dust has settled, you may catch me spending a bit too much time reminiscing about what has happened, and wondering what comes next. Humor me...I'm still new to all of this!

Musings on Fatherhood

Parenthood is, like so many things in life, something you leap into with the best of intentions and the vaguest actual idea of what you are really getting yourself into.

I knew that when Susan and I decided to start a family we were staring all sorts of new joys and demands and responsibilities in the face...but, now that I am in the middle of it, I am amazed at how all-consuming this new life is. I am finding out how much little ones depend on their family for virtually everything in their lives: from the bare essentials of food and diaper changes to complicated things like the provision of a stable environment for their emotional development. Before I knew what was happening to me, I was taken up in this whole new life of parenthood.

As amazed as I am at the all-consuming nature of parenthood, I am equally astonished by my own reaction to having all of my down-time and leisure time and extra moments and spare thoughts taken captive: I love it! Sure, I am tired more than I used to be, and all too often feel over-committed in the tug of war between home and work, but its all worth it. I have these conversations with other parents where they tell me how much easier things will be when the twins are four or eight or twelve, and I am constantly surprised that doing the math doesn't drive me to despair (such a long time to keep up the pace...) I am not on the outside doing an objective cost-benefit analysis on my life as Jesse and Evie's Dad, I am immersed in it and ready for what comes next, because these little people have captured my heart!

I can't wait to see what they will come up with next. Lately, they have begun to play imaginatively. Dr. Evie listens to everyone's heart (stuffed animals and humans alike) with her toy stethoscope. Both of them love to pretend they are leaving (bubeye! bubeye!) only to make a grand return seconds later (they deserve a welcome like the one they give us each time we come home). They both also enjoy mixing up pretend recipes with a bowl and spoon and feeding them to one another, and everyone else who is willing. What is next?

The whole experience of watching and being involved in the unfolding of brand new personalities is wonderful. You begin to appreciate the great process that is set in motion when a human being is formed...and to be given the responsibility of guarding that process...very exciting!

In short, I love my Kazakh gypsy twins, and am so happy to be their Dad. Fatherhood is great fun, but I know there are bigger challenges in my future as the father of Kazakh-American kids...

Due credit: Shirt design by KZBlog at Red Bubble

The Road Part of the Trip

Brent already posted pictures from our time in W. Lafayette. I thought I'd share a few memories of the road part of the trip. It's the second time we've made that trip (about 5 hour's drive). I must say, the drive was much more pleasant this time around. In fact, Jess and Evie did really well.

Still, I think 5 hours is the maximum I'd want to venture at this point.

Anyhow, I thought I'd share a few video's from the road.

This first one was taken right as we were heading out (about 6pm),
we're listening to a favorite sing-a-long CD:



Here's Evie about 5 hours later:



Here's Evie about 30 minutes after that--just before she finally went to sleep:

And here are a few scenes from the trip home.

Weekend in West Lafeyette

We had fun this past weekend visiting Susan's brother Jeff and his family in West Lafeyette, IN.

After a couple of serious (but fun) discussions with their neices and nephews, Susan and Jeff went to a philosophy conference in South Bend while the twins and I had fun with the rest of the Browers. I love the look on Jesse's face as he grapples with his Uncle's words of wisdom!

Jesse and Evie were very happy to find some things around the Brower household that were just the right size for them...a Jesse-sized chair, a toddler-sized dog, and a door step that was just perfect for toddler-sized legs to go up and down.

Of course, Evie and Jesse had great fun with their Aunt and cousins, who had lots of new toys to play with, including a doll house, and also took the twins on fun outings to the library and the playground!