Has it really been a year?

Hi all,

There are new pictures and videos posted below. If there is anyone left reading this I would be surprised. Okay, let us go back in time. It is approximately 7am June 28, 2006 and I hear "Mike WAKE UP..." With that call to action, the Adventures of Lily and Addison began. Let me be clear, I had ten more days to prepare...but Addison had enough of Lily taking up all the room, and apparently the food as well. This week Teresa and I went back and re-read the beginning of this blog and I was struck not only with the clarity of my memory of events, but of emotions as well. For the record, I panicked...running about the house seemingly aimlessly until Teresa told me to CALM DOWN and take a shower. Now my vast knowledge about birth comes from TV where once the water breaks you have approximately ten minutes, including the commercial break, until children appear, thus the panic. I now know differently, but surely someone should have told me this. I was so sure we were going the full 38 weeks that it never dawned on me that I needed to practice what to do in the event the girls came early. By the way, I still believe panic was the appropriate response.

This year has been full of silly, scary, joyful, absurd, laugh-out-loud, cry, hope, dream, pray, and proud moments. Under Teresa's guidance, the girls are growing independent, smart, funny, strong and loving...in other words, just like their mother. I taught Lily to laugh when she farts and I taught Addison to chase the dogs. We both bring different skill sets to the parenting table.

To start developing our keen sense of competitiveness in the girls, we have been having baby races (you can see some pictures below) with the walkers. Addison tends to cheat sometimes, scraping tires with Lily. We are still trying to teach Lily to finish the race as she will get a big lead and then stop and applaud herself. Addison, on the other hand, has a maniacal laugh when she takes the lead, stopping occasionally to stick rocks in her mouth.

We are off to a Sheppard family reunion in Park City, Utah...then to my parent's house at Ocean City, Maryland in the coming couple of weeks. So there should be plenty to discuss once we get back from these vacations...with an lots of expected tales, pictures and videos. Thanks to all who visit this blog, whether you post a comment or not. With one year in the hopper, the Adventures of Addison and Lily have just begun...stay tuned.