Best sick baby

Siena is a much better sick baby than Mila. I wish I didn't know that yet!

When we got back from out trip, Hyrum was recovering from an awful cold.  (Not a coughing/sneezing cold, but a laying-in-bed/dizzy/can't-eat kind of cold.)  The girls were stuffed up and couldn't breathe well, and Tiago was getting sick, too.  Fortunately, within a few days it seemed like we were in the clear.

And then Mila started vomiting evvvvvverywhere.  I always *hope* it's just a fluke, so we kept offering her bottles.  But she couldn't keep anything down.  I think I did about 20 loads of laundry over the next few days.  The worst was when she puked across the crib, onto the wall, and then onto the floor.  She was lethargic and needed to be held constantly.  On the third day, we were worried she was getting dehydrated and not improving, so we took her to the hospital.  (It was the weekend and our doctors office was closed.)  She got some zofran for the nausea and was then able to keep down some pedialyte.  We gave her more over the next few hours and she seemed to respond okay so I took her home, where she continued to get stronger.

Almost a week passed.

And then Siena started vomiting.  But she first crawled over to the hard wood (actually, laminate wood) floors, and didn't get anything on her clothes.  I didn't have to wash anything.  And she did that 4 or 5 times.  She wasn't nearly as needy as Mila, and played with the other kids almost like usual.  The biggest change we saw in her was that she was acting like Mila: more sweet, less aggressive, and pretty laid back.  And ironically, Mila started acting like Siena.  She was stealing her toys, pushing her over, and climbing on top of her.  We were always slightly confused who was who because their behavior was the exact opposite.

This is Siena when she's sick: still racing to the top of the stairs.

They both had 3 days to prove themselves, and Siena came out victorious as our best sick baby.  Sorry Mila.  And don't feel the need to prove us wrong.


[This is only the second time in my life I've been to an Emergency Room.  The first was in Germany when I messed up my back and couldn't move.  I was pleasantly surprised.  They saw us quickly, and communicated what was wrong and what they were doing about it.  And the parking was free. Two thumbs up.]

Christmas part 1: travel

We spent a wonderful 2 weeks in Utah for Christmas.  It was relaxing and filled with a lot of fun things, but the trip started and ended with me getting a cold sore.  Is that a good indication of how things went, or what?  Traveling with kids is something else.

We almost didn't go, because tickets were really expensive and the thought of traveling with all three kids makes me a bit crazy.  But - we found slightly less expensive tickets and it was a direct flight out of Charlotte, which I thought I could handle.  When we pulled out the credit card to buy the tickets, they suddenly weren't available anymore.  Fast forward a few hours, and we were able to get 2 tickets for the lower price, and the third one for slightly more.  It all worked out in the end, and we're glad we went!  If we'd spent all of December here in South Carolina, alone, I might have become depressed.

The flights were overall smooth.  I realized a few things from our traveling.  First, direct flights trump all.  There's really nothing better.  Because, second, the absolute worst part of flying with so many little kids is getting on and off the airplane.  Inevitably, they always seat us in the last 2 rows, and carrying suitcases, stroller parts, diaper bag, three kids, and a really heavy carseat is really difficult.  (And wouldn't you know, American Airlines doesn't always let families board first, because, "if we did that the whole plane would try to get on, because everyone has kids."  Seriously?!)

It's quite strategic.  We strapped the babies to our chests, stacked suitcases on top of each other, slung bags across our shoulders, and ushered a toddler down the aisle without (hopefully) hurting anyone sitting in the aisles.

On our first flight, a nice guy who boarded before us offered to carry one of our suitcases to the back.  Then I handed one of the girls to the flight attendant while I strapped in Tiago's carseat.  There was quite an ordeal about where we could sit; the carseat had to go in the window seat, although none of us were assigned to a window seat.  And we couldn't all sit together because you can't have two lap babies in the same row.  So Tiago, Siena and I sat in one row with Hyrum in front of us, and luckily no one was assigned to that window seat and we had an extra seat next to us.  Hyrum was able to come sit by us most of the time.

On the flight home, I asked a stranger to hold the baby while I dealt with the car seat.  She looked nice enough, and of course said yes.  However, I think she was a bit passive aggressive.  I think she was sick of the kids crying so much, and when I tried to put my seat down mid-flight (it was the middle of the night) she pushed it forward so fast.  I didn't really know how to respond.  Then she smiled at us when we were off the plane.  hmmm

And the actual flights?  Siena has way too much energy, first of all.  She was bouncing all over the place.  On our first flight (departing at 6:30 pm), Tiago fell asleep right after take off.  We had to put in a lot of effort to get the girls to sleep in our arms.  Then turbulance woke everyone up about an hour before landing.  It's such a good feeling to get off an airplane and have grandparents waiting to take the kids from you!  On our returning flight, Tiago cried/screamed for the first 30-40 minutes, and the girls weren't much better.  The reason: we woke them up mid-sleep for a midnight flight.  They were so disoriented.  I partly felt bad for everyone around me, and I partly felt bad for the kids because they were so tired.  But eventually everyone slept and next thing we knew we were back in Charlotte with a 1.5 hour drive home.

We got off the plane, assembled our stroller, and wheeled it down to baggage claim.  Hyrum had to go pick up the car from long-term parking (there was no way we could all get there with our baggage entourage) so I waited for him right by the door.  Once he had the van, they would only let him pull up along the curb if his party was outside waiting for him; so the plan was for him to call me a few minutes before and I would lug the stroller/suitcases/children/etc. outside.

Luckily I was keeping an eye out for him, because he pulled up without calling first and I hobbled outside looking like a circus.  Turns out: he lost his phone somewhere between leaving the airport and picking up the car.  We couldn't really separate at that point for him to go look for it because we had no way to get in touch.  While I loaded everything in, he ran over to the shuttle buses and started looking for it.  We were afraid it might have fallen out of his pocket in the parking lot and possibly been run over.  I kept calling the number but no one answered.  And I was worried they'd make us move our van.

I saw him leave the shuttle bus empty handed. But it turns out the driver radio-ed to the other buses, and someone had found it. We just had to wait there until the bus returned to the airport again.  Crisis averted.

With all limbs phones and suitcases inside the van, we made it home to our cold house. We cranked the heat, and took a nap for as long as the kids would let us.  (Not long.)  Hyrum had to go to work in the afternoon.  (We arrived home Monday morning.)  And just like that it was all over.

The travel aspect was definitely difficult, but not quite as bad as I'd anticipated, and was definitely worth it. Next up: the good stuff that happened in between the two stress-induced cold sores.

We flew out of Charlotte, and got to drive around downtown before heading to the airport.

There are a few Colombian restaurants in Charlotte, so we ate yummy food before our flight. 

While waiting for our flight, we built a corral out of our stuff.
Side 1: a real wall
Side 2: my legs
Side 3: the stroller
Side 4: 4 suitcases
We received a lot of comments and laughs on our little set-up... but it worked!

Mila & Siena: 10 months!

Siena (L) / Mila (R)

I get more and more excited about the girls approaching their first birthday!  Only 2 months to go!  There are a lot more fun milestones as they get older.  In the last week, they've started actually crawling, and Siena can climb up the whole staircase.  Siena is a pro at sticking her tongue in and out, and Mila is so proud of herself when she clicks her tongue.  Soon, they'll be walking, and I won't have to carry them everywhere.  

There's still a pound difference between them.  At their 9-month check up today (yeah, whoops) Mila weighed 17 lb 3 oz (5-10 percentile) and Siena weighed 18 lb 5 oz (10-25 percentile).  Both were about 28" long.  Over the holiday when we were with family and friends, several people asked if we thought we ever mixed them up without knowing (like switched their names for a day or two, or permanently.)  At first glance they do look the exact same, but that extra pound Siena has is quite evident when comparing their thighs.  So no, we've never accidentally switched their names.

They can both pull up, and are starting to walk along furniture.  Siena usually leads the way with developments like that, and Mila follows her example.  Below, Siena is trying to play a game with me by sticking her tongue out.  Above, you can see Siena's tooth.  There's a second one coming in on the bottom.  Mila still has a toothless grin, which she flashes happily any time someone gives her attention.  They're both pretty flirty.

 Their hair is getting kind of crazy-- it curls up around their ears.

Mila is still so sweet.  She'll sit and let me hold her, and is always quicker to respond emotionally to things.  I don't think she gets mad, just sad.  And she's mostly happy.

Siena gets mad, but is also more likely to brush things off.  Sometimes she falls and hurts herself, but if we smile at her she'll ignore the incident and move on.  She has endless energy; she spent the first 45 minutes of our flight to Utah bouncing on me like a trampoline, even though it was well past her bedtime.  She also has a growl that she likes to use occasionally.

It's fun to see their size in comparison with Tiago.  No one likes to sit still.  And Tiago still likes to steal their bottles.  He has more fun playing with them as they get older, but he's also mean to them now and then.  Earlier today, for example, he was mad I took away the Ipad, so he kicked Siena in the face.  I was also holding Mila at one point, and he wanted to sit in my lap, so he pushed her, then just sat on top of her.  Yesterday, he was happy to see the girls when they woke up from a nap, so he came over and kept hugging one of the girls.  He calls them "hermanas", which usually is shortened to "manas".  He talks about them, and is very aware of where they are and what they're doing. 

Staring at something -- definitely not the camera. 

Here's Tiago at 10 months, for a fun comparison.  I'd say they look like siblings, but not all that similar.  He was about the same developmentally-- crawling, pulling up, no talking.  However, re-reading about him at 10 months reminded me that he took MUCH longer to sleep through the night and take two regular naps.  One blessing of having twins is they get on a regular schedule quickly because a mother loses her sanity otherwise.  The girls wake up around 6:30, take a 1.5 hr nap at 9, and another 1-2 hr nap at 2.  They go to bed around 7:30.  It's awesome!