And the winner is....

It looks like the oranges have it, by a whopping one vote (11-10). Wow! We will be placing our order tomorrow (hopefully). We appreciate everyone who took the time to vote in our very scientific survey. Steve originally selected the orange one, so I'm sure I'm going to have to listen to him bragging about being the winner for quite some time. Lucky me. I must admit, after talking with some of the people who voted for the orange one, I can see some benefits to it that I had not thought of before, so I'm really not too disappointed about being the (dare I say) LOSER.

Today was a typical Monday, except that it was really Friday. Zach had a nutrition appointment scheduled for 10:00. I received a phone call (at 10:15) from the Nutritionist telling me that she was ill and wasn't going to make it. This is her third missed appointment, but who's counting? At least this time I received a phone call. **SIGH**

For lunch today, Emily and I shared a can of Chef Boyardee's Cheese Ravioli. She didn't seem overly enthusiastic about it, but she didn't refuse it either. Zach even tried two very small bites, and I was met with his usual gagging reaction, but he managed to swallow and keep it down. For a special treat they had some chocolate pudding. Emily really liked it, but what girl doesn't like chocolate, especially when it's being served to her? Such a mini-princess. Zach even had several small bites of the pudding, and this time there was no gag reaction. Quite an improvement from the time I served him vanilla pudding (we ended up wearing that).

Naps are becoming a little more difficult. It seems no one around here wants one but ME! I put them in their cribs at nap time and just listen to them blabber back and forth to each other on the monitor. It makes for a really long day, because then they want their nap around 4pm, and there is no way they are going to take a nap that close to bedtime. So they generally become pretty fussy, but how do you reason with two 15 month olds? Telling them that they should have taken their naps doesn't get much accomplished around here. Stubborn little monkeys!

Steve has to work this weekend, so there are no fun plans scheduled. Just another typical day at Cub Central! Probably a good thing, we spend less money that way!

They really are mine!

Steve had an after-work function to attend, so he got home much later than usual. I had planned on cooking dinner, but Steve brought home food from Taco Bueno (my favorite fast food eatery) instead. Since we did IVF, Steve and I sometimes light-heartedly joke about whether the cubs are really "ours". It's pretty obvious that Emily is mine (especially her eating habits, not to mention her hair). Zach on the other hand, is sometimes a mystery. He doesn't really look like us (although several people tell me he looks like my Dad, and he does have Steve's blond curls) and he certainly doesn't share my love of food. Tonight, Zach proved that he really was mine by eating five or six small bites of refried beans from Taco Bueno. He also tried the queso and the guacamole. It is so exciting that he is making an effort to try some of the smoother adult-type foods. PROGRESS!! Emily deserves mention as well, tonight she ate some bites of her very first burrito. That's my girl!! I always swore that I wouldn't feed fast-food to the cubs, especially at this young of an age, but if Zach will eat it, I'll give it to him. Before anyone alerts the "food police", Emily had already had her dinner, so her small bites of burrito weren't her main meal.

Today was a big day for Zach in the eating department. Besides eating food from Taco Bueno, he also ate several bites of the Raspberry and Pear YoBaby yogurt this morning. I was a little hesitant to try it since he didn't do so well the last time, but today he did much better. Again, PROGRESS!! The Nutritionist comes tomorrow, so hopefully we'll see some progress on the scale too.

We've been keeping an eye on the stroller survey (currently tied at 7 votes each on the electronic count). We have been informed of some technical difficulties with the survey. For example, two people from the same household may not be able to both vote (not to mention that it is currently showing 107%). What can I say?? -- the survey post was free, and you get what you pay for. Grandma Shirley (who we affectionately call Granny Nanny, even though she really hates it) has some votes from her co-workers to add manually, since they couldn't all cast their votes electronically. We need to add 3 for green and 2 for orange, which currently puts the green ahead by just one vote. When Steve and I agreed to do this, we never imagined that the votes would be so close. It's been fun checking the tally every morning to see if anyone has voted. (We lead very simple and boring lives -- ha ha.)

The cubs woke up super early this morning. I swear it must be a full moon. Today has been totally off schedule. I had to move breakfast, lunch and dinner up to accommodate their nap, which they didn't really want to take, even though they woke up before the roosters. YIKES!! So exhausting! We had another bad Tuesday this week as well. This will be the second bad Tuesday in a row. I'm going to start referring to them as Temper-Tantrum Tuesdays because Emily Bear was in rare form on the tantrum front. Just one after the other. Even Steve was unimpressed.

We did not receive any rain from Hurricane Dolly, which hit the Texas coast on Wednesday as a Category 2. My Director's daughter lives in Corpus Christi, so I've been thinking about her and her family and hoping that they are all safe. It's been dreadfully hot here, and we haven't received the rain we need. It's horrible that parts of Texas are dangerously overwhelmed with water, and we can't seem to ever get a drop up here.

I'm getting excited for my trip to Vegas. I can't believe it's only three weeks away! I don't want to seem overly anxious, but is it too early to start packing??

We need your help with our stroller dilemma....

After much research and debate, we have decided on the brand of double stroller we are wanting to purchase. Now we can't decide on a color. There are no retailers here that carry this particular stroller, so we can't see it in person before we order. We have narrowed it down to two, but it just so happens that Steve wants one and I want the other, so Steve suggested we put it up for vote. Please help us by voting for your favorite (the poll is located at the top of the right hand column). Voting ends Friday, July 25, at 9:00pm CDT.