[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17073]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, the Democrat leader and I were visiting a 
few moments ago about our Fourth of July break and what we were doing. 
That is one of the reasons I am speaking this morning. I thank the 
Senator from Nevada for that courtesy.
  We all went home during the Fourth of July break to celebrate a 
birthday, the birthday of our great Nation. We gathered with family and 
friends. We set off fireworks. Some Members were in parades. It was all 
about a birthday, the birthday of this great Nation.
  My wife Suzanne and I were also home in Idaho because of other 
birthdays. On May 31 of this year, our daughter Shae and her husband 
David had twins. Two new grandchildren entered both Suzanne's and my 
life, a boy and a girl, born on May 31. The little boy's name is Drew 
Calvin Howell and he weighed 5 pounds and 3 ounces. His sister, I am 
sure always to be called the little sister, is Peyton Shae Howell, and 
she was born at 11:54. Drew was born at 11:32. She weighed 4 pounds and 
1 ounce. They are twins and were premature so they stayed the first 3 
weeks of their lives in intensive care in a Boise hospital before they 
were allowed to come home.
  Here we are, Fourth of July, and they are really home for the first 
time. It is the first time grandpa had a chance to hold them and love 
them and see them and be around them. It was a treat for our family but 
especially for Suzanne and myself to be with our grandchildren.
  This Fourth of July in Idaho with our family took on special meaning 
as we celebrated the birthday of these grandchildren, these twins, with 
our daughter Shae and her husband David. It is always an important time 
in families when grandchildren enter them. Drew and Peyton are the 
sixth and seventh grandchildren, so we feel very privileged by that.
  Often we come to the floor to talk about momentous and meaningful 
events. The Republican Senator from Nevada just spoke about a critical 
issue of reforming health care in our country, and malpractice. But 
probably there is no more important event than when grandchildren enter 
our lives.
  I yield the floor.

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