I decided to do a robot themed birthday and sent out an email to my very talented family looking for robot graphics. Souther’s fiance Monica brought it in spades. Yes I took the image and went overboard. What can I say, I LOVED her drawing.

The gift bag had robot bubbles, wind up robot and robot sucker

Here they are sitting with Meemaw Lisa in their robot shirts that Uncle Iain made.

Boom is really in DA HOUSE!

We’re ready for our drum solo now

Loen’s speciality dish is cinnamon pecan pancakes. This morning she added dried cranberries to hers. There is a lot to stir with that recipe.

When we were in Oakdale my mom made turnovers with the twins and cousin Iain while I took a nap. When I came to check on them later there was sugar in Loen’s hair and ears. They enjoyed it though. Derby on the other hand just likes to stand on the step stool. He is isn’t big on eating his creation unless it is chocolate.

I went to check on my sleeping babies the other night and realized that they aren’t….babies. They are (gasp) kids. They are getting lanky, stinky and they say the word ‘no’ more often than I would like. I am totally, unbelievably in love with those two, which is why they drive me so crazy at times.

I took them to the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum for the first (and possibly last) time. I was excited to share an experience with them that I had taken the boys on many times. I dont remember the boys taking off in all directions and yelling. Then laughing at the fact their voices echoed loudly throughout the aviary hall. Ah culture and twins.. what was I thinking? Derby wanted to look at ducks while Loen wanted to see the baby barn owls. Guess what, they were in separate areas of course.

• Loen: Weighs in at 22 pounds and is 32″ long. She is in her sponge stage where everything you say she will repeat. She watches us intently and I will find her mimicking our moves. Both of the twins love a drum line called Boomchaka. Fauxbro John is a member and we have gone a few times to see them perform (they are also socially conscious as all donations go to the SB Unity Shoppe). It is so funny to watch them dancing, clapping and yelling. They both say “Boom caca”. Derby will break out into this Shaka Zulu dance of joy when they start getting loud. Yesterday Loen had two wooden knives from her play kitchen and I was watching her do what I thought was a ninja attack move. Then I realized she was imitating the drummers moves. I tried to get the camera in time but she caught on to me. Loen loves to boss ‘help’ her brother and gets annoyed when he doesn’t want the help forced upon him. She is still my super girly girl. She loves tea parties, dolls and pink. I try to show her other outfits but in the end I realize I have to choose my battles. If she wants to wear a pink top and python leggings (again) so be it.

Loen really likes Trader Joes noodle soup

Derby trying to use his super cuteness to distract me from the fact he threw food against the wall.

• Derby: Weighs 20 pounds and is 30 inches long. He could care less about what he is wearing and I’m sure he would rather be naked. He is my little man and I love that he just wants to cuddle me. But at 2 am when he wants to sleep on only my pillow and wrap his little arms around my neck till I cant breathe, I would rather he was in his own bed. Loen favors her daddy while Derby is a mamas boy. He was casted on 11/19 to restart his constraint induced therapy. It lasted a whole 9 days as he puked on his cast and we had it cut off rather than leave him in a super stinky cast all weekend. He kept checking his right arm because he couldn’t believe the cast was off. Even though it wasn’t on for the full amount of time we have noticed a difference by how much he now uses his left hand. I got him to eat a noodle with a fork and he picked up a cheerio and ate it! Im sure that doesn’t sound like much but for a boy he rarely used his left hand it was a very exciting for us to see. He was to stay in the cast till we left for Michigan on the 19th but unfortunately the puke incident was on Thanksgiving weekend. Do you realize this is a time when the doctors office is closed? Urgent care states they don’t have the tools to remove a cast so we were sent to the E.D. Did you also know that a stinky cast soaked in vomit is not considered an emergency therefore you will be bumped until they have time to fit you in? Yeah, that was not a fun day. So the casting will not resume till January as the ortho office, therapy and ourselves all have conflicting holiday schedules. I’m glad because the thought of Derby in a cast at his Mima’s invoked visions of a bull in a china shop. He was whacking our furniture, I don’t think her Waterford crystal animals would have fared well. In other news Derby is now running, talking a lot more and has a wicked sense of independence. If he doesn’t want to do something it will not be done. It is frustrating but also nice to see he has a will of his own. He loves to try to hug and kiss Loen but she often doesn’t like being held down and given slobbery kisses. It is funny to watch them interact now. They start getting into things they know they shouldn’t and will do a mad giggle if you catch them. They are often in cahoots.

I WILL show you some love!

Moooom, she likes when I hug her like this.

On their actual birthday Souther was part of an opening at the Japanese American Museum of Art for Giant Robots Biennale. Like I said before we are big on exposing the twins to culture…… During the award presentation Derby is walking through the crowd yelling “MOVE!” and Loen is of course going in the opposite direction. We mainly got to see Souther’s installation then decided the twins were going to have a major meltdown if we didn’t get them home. I still want to go back and see the whole thing but don’t know if that is going to happen. Below are a few pics of the evening. You will notice they got to meet Sulu on their birthday. I’m pretty sure I didn’t meet any celebrities by the time I was 2. Below is a video clip of the opening, Souther’s segment starts at 2:30 (if you squint Loen & I are in the background)

I’m pretty sure we were the only ones to arrive with a double wide

Meeting George Takei (Sulu). I like Derby’s one shoe look

Just to reiterate the point they have met more celebrities as a toddler than I, here they are with Kirk Douglas

Best Buddies (Lil & Big Iain)

Derby telling people to move during the reception

Checking out Souther’s amazing art

Souther and Monica in front of the museum

There are so many photos from their party that I decided to make a photo montage versus posting just a few. Enjoy

Tadd in his tux. Loen was in love with the patent leather loafers

Hanging out with Aunt Mary

The twins went to the zoo with Mima and Papa Don while we were at the wedding.

Obviously they were taunting a bear with yummy looking toddler legs.

Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral in Toledo where Heath and Christine were married. That is such a mouthful I wonder what the abbreviated version is, The Holiest or Queen Bee?

I was horrible with taking pictures so I added a few from Photo Booth Live. At the reception rather than have disposable cameras on the table they had a photo corner with props where you could take self portraits. Since it was digital the picture would come up instantly on a big screen that played a slide show throughout the night. It was such a neat idea. Doesn’t mean the pictures weren’t getting crazy as the night went on but still a great idea.

Christine and Heath

MKM wives with the newly added Christine Maser

All in all the night was a lot of fun. It sounds as the twins also had a wild night as their grandparents took them to the outdoor fashion show in front of the hotel and let them dance on barrels. Loen changed into a more appropriate flapper dress for the occasion. These are the cell phone pictures that were sent to us during the reception.

I was exhausted and we were leaving the next morning. We got to our room and shut the door between our suite and Tamie’s. We checked the kids then quickly fell asleep. I should go into length how Derby woke up and cried (as he does every night) and we tried to let him get himself back to sleep. He ended up in our bed (again). The next thing I knew my mother in law is hovering above my head asking if everything is all right. Now I was dead asleep and a little groggy. I told her yes, the twins are asleep then I went back to sleep. The next morning the questions started to arise like “How did she get in our room?” “Why was she in our room?”. Turns out she woke up when she heard Derby crying and got up to get him. She didn’t realize we were back from the wedding and noticed the adjoining door was shut. She tried calling our cells but since they were on vibrate we didn’t hear them. Then she started to panic thinking the twins were locked in there alone and called the front desk to explain the situation. They let her in hence my awakening to her head over mine. Good times in Ohio!

Here is the part of the story that gets really good. Remember in part 1 I was SO upset over losing Derby’s angel pin? Well in the morning Tadd walked out of the hotel room but came right back in. He had something in his hand. He walked over and handed me Derby’s angel pin. It was on the carpet right in front of room. How had we missed it all the other times? How did it get there? It was amazing. It looks a little more traveled than Loen’s but I’m so happy we got it back. I guess it missed my little man.

]]> http://thetadpoles.com/2009/10/20/toddler-travel-take-2/feed/ 0 http://thetadpoles.com/2009/10/15/toddler-travel-a-new-type-of-terrorism-part-1/ http://thetadpoles.com/2009/10/15/toddler-travel-a-new-type-of-terrorism-part-1/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:54:14 +0000 Hava http://thetadpoles.com/?p=1096 Since we are such seasoned travelers with the twins we decided the whole family would fly into Detroit for our friend Maser’s Ohio wedding. Obviously we weren’t thinking clearly. Getting up at 4 am the day of departure wasn’t bad and the drive to LAX was smooth sailing! Then Tadd dropped us off at the skycap with luggage, car seats and stroller while he went to park the car in long term. This is where things started going downhill. Our safe yet incredibly heavy Recaro car seats had to be checked in a special area and the sky cap informed me he couldn’t help me just point me in the right direction. Considering I had twins in a stroller, backpack, carry on and two 25 pound car seats I was going no where when it came to checking things. So we sat on the bench and waited for Tadd. Not bad, just a little blip in the road. Then we got to security. My insulin pump beeped so I was pulled aside along with our cooler full of milk bottles. Tadd had to contend with the other luggage and wait for it…..a child that peed not only through her outfit but the seat of the stroller. How does this happen?? So I get the extra special wand of security then they checked every single bottle of milk. I told her I would take a drink to speed things up but nooooo there was special strips that had to be waved over the open milk bottles checking for fumes then another test involving droppers. I didn’t pay that much attention as I was watching Tadd wrestle 2 screaming kids. We got through and in true dad style Tadd plopped Loen on the floor of LAX to change her. No pad or blanket, just down on the carpet that millions of dirty travelers walk upon. I started to get annoyed then realized it wasn’t worth it. We got to our gate and sat down. Well the adults sat down, the twins took off in opposite directions. Do you know there is no longer special boarding for families? Just one more level of hell when traveling with kids. Lets speed this story up shall we. On the plane, screaming, me wishing they still took binkers, more screaming. Then we resorted to all the things we say we wouldn’t; M&M’s, DVD’s, iPod, stickers, cookies, crayons. I would have given them booze and cigarettes to get them to be quite (not really). Finally after singing the chorus to a Veggie Tales song about a 100 times I got Derby to sleep. Loen my little resilient darling stayed awake the whole time. Did I mention there was a senior citizen trip on the same plane and many were seated next to us? From the looks on some of their faces we did not bode well for them. Finally we landed and got our luggage. After getting our car seats I noticed that one of the pins on Derby’s car seats was missing. Yes, I know it sounds like we put flair on the seats but 1 was the guardian angel pin that they’ve had since their birth. It was on their incubator in the NICU then on their car seats ever since. The other pin was a hummingbird that belonged to Tadd’s grandmama. Well Derby’s angel pin was missing. I had a lump in my throat as I looked all over and Tadd pulled the plastic bags they wrapped the carseat in out of the garbage. The pin that had been through the ups and downs, the surgeries, the periods when he stopped breathing was gone. Now it had been a long trip so far and I think we had eaten half a bagel and maybe an airline cookie so Tadd & I weren’t at our best. Tadd was snappy and asked why I hadn’t sewn on the pin like he told me to weeks ago. You all should be glad that there was no bloodshed at Detroit Metro right then. Remember this scene because it pops up later in the story.

Loen only slept for 10 minutes while waiting to get the rental car and what? Did she just pee though another outfit? This never happens at home! Finally we are off to Ohio. By now I’m starving and Yelp is useless in finding food where we are. I see a sign for an Arby’s. I haven’t had Arby’s in years and I believe there was a reason for that…ugh. I gave the twins a french fry and went back to my ‘meal’. All of a sudden I hear gaging noises so I turn around. Derby is about to puke so I cup my hands under his mouth and catch the most insane amount of vomit I’ve seen come from my kid. I’m disgusted and gross and I have a handful of puke. I’m kneeling backwards in my seat with said handful of puke as Tadd is tearing down the highway weaving between semis trying to get to the exit. We change yet another outfit and realize that a fair amount of puke had gone down the straps and into the lock. That’s fine I already have to wash 3 outfits and a stroller why not a car seat as well. We are off to a great start and it is only the first day. I should stop and say that the trip really went back into an upswing after this. We got to the hotel where Tadd’s mom was waiting to greet us (really just the twins) and we were able to get everyone cleaned up. The hotel had a laundry area so that was a feature. Since Tadd was a groomsman in the wedding he had to leave to get fitted for his tux. We were lucky enough to get a suite and Tadd’s mom had the adjoining room. That made life SOOOOO much easier.

The twins were loved and spoiled and loved some more from their Mima and Papa Don. Tadd and I actually went out to dinner with friends without kids (gasp!). I missed the babies but enjoyed getting out. Tadd was gone a lot due to his obligations in the wedding. Where we stayed in Perrysburg, Ohio was like a citywalk. With the hotel at one end and shops, theater, restaurants, bars all along a long boulevard. So there were things to do once you walked out of the hotel.

Since this post is already ridiculously long I’ll finish part 2 later. Until that time I’ll throw in some pictures of why it took me a day and a half to pack. I wont even get into how they wouldn’t take naps that day or when they decided that taking everything out of the suitcase was a great idea.

“Mom, it was Derby who unfolded all the clothes. NOT me, I swear”

]]> http://thetadpoles.com/2009/10/15/toddler-travel-a-new-type-of-terrorism-part-1/feed/ 1 http://thetadpoles.com/2009/08/04/im-lumping-them-in-togethertheyre-sisters-so-they-wont-mind-hopefully/ http://thetadpoles.com/2009/08/04/im-lumping-them-in-togethertheyre-sisters-so-they-wont-mind-hopefully/#comments Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:27:57 +0000 Hava http://thetadpoles.com/?p=1016 I stopped posting after a freak accident took off at least 4 MONTHS worth of post pictures. I have slowly been uploading them again and cursing under my breath. It makes me so weary that I just walk away from the computer and work on something else. Now that the twins are down for a nap and I don’t have any new books to read I guess this will have to do……

Mima T and Grandpa Don came to visit in June (I know that was months ago) and spent a long weekend hanging with the babies. Loen learned how to say meemaw very clearly. She has learned that tilting your head with a coy smile gets you things you want, as well as screaming your head off. Derby just waits till Loen gets something then kindly rips it out of her hand (insert screaming child here).

I figured it would be easiest if I just posted pics then try and explain what happened. There was lots of cooing, kissing and spoiling of children. On the adults part we ate a lot of BBQ and drank beer. A very laid back vacation.

The bubble maker was mind boggling to Loen

She wasn’t sure why the ‘ball’ wouldn’t stay

Derby just wanted to attack. He has turned into ‘Destructo-boy’

As you can see this was pre hair chop

Trying out his ‘prize’ face. It seems to be working so far. Heck when I see those eyes I want to buy him a dump truck

Loen hanging out with Grandpa Don

Bedtime kisses

Derby likes to give open mouth kisses

They’re proud recipients of Kettler Happy Navigator trikes form Mima T & Grandpa Don

We originally only got a seat belt for Derby because I thought Loen got on and off the trike so well she wouldn’t need one. I didn’t think it through that she got on and off the trike, without warning when we were pushing her.

They love the trikes though. We took them to the park and they had a blast. Though Derby got so tired he feel asleep on the ride back to the car.

She is one tough mama!

Ring that bell

This pic is totally unrelated to the in-laws but it is of their first time on the carousel

Then last week Tadd’s Aunt Tracie (Mima T’s sister) and Uncle John came to visit. Loen is so funny that she seems to like men better than women right now. She was drawn to Uncle John and had to keep walking over to see what he was up to. As you will see by the following pictures that my new M.O. is to forget about the camera until 30 minutes before our guests leave then I take 200 pictures and pray something comes out!

]]> http://thetadpoles.com/2009/08/04/im-lumping-them-in-togethertheyre-sisters-so-they-wont-mind-hopefully/feed/ 2 http://thetadpoles.com/2009/07/07/pinta-party/ http://thetadpoles.com/2009/07/07/pinta-party/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:04:09 +0000 Hava http://thetadpoles.com/?p=943

At the end of May we went to Oakdale to celebrate lil Iain’s 4th birthday. What a difference traveling with the daddy makes. Someone to pack the car, do the driving and help with the twins. I can do it on my own though I prefer when Tadd is with us.

We arrived on Thursday and immediately took over with our gear! Set up of cribs, highchairs and clothes then trying to get the twins down for a nap. Not to mention it was a really hot day. The twins were sweaty and had flushed little cheeks. They are such Santa Barbara babies, 100 degree weather is a challenge for them (me). It all worked out as we had a couple of days to recoup before the big PINATA PARTY. (Isn’t that every 4 year olds dream?)

You could tell that Iain thought his party was AWESOME.

Uncle Guy getting into the spirit of recycling (re-gifting) his old Peter Pan hat.

Fiesta! (Notice the Hello Kitty purse the Meemaw got Lo. She LOVES it. How did I end up with such a girly-girl???)

Uncle Iain pondering the merits of a wooden sword, baseball bat or broken yard stick for pinata destruction

The baseball bat was sufficient

The twins were wondering when they could have some pinata candy…

“Meemaw will you give me some candy??”

Derby was not feeling the party hat

Like I said Derby HATED the hat

Cupcakes were another story entirely

Lil Iain and Grandma “Bon”. He loves her so

The Meemaw got Iain a puppet theatre for his birthday.

Bianca made awesome handmade puppets for Iain

Not being as crafty I just ordered some Melissa and Doug puppets

Uncle Iain and Aunt Nanci decided to show us all up by getting him a bike..

The daddy decided a birthday party was the perfect time to do circus tricks..(and you wonder why I don’t leave them unattended for very long…EVER)

Once again I’m not in the picture because I’m the one taking it!

Well here is a very sweaty looking picture of me trapped under the Meemaw’s plethora of grandbabies

Derby showing some love to his little cousin

The next day we went down to the Stanislaus river and the boys tried their hand at fishing. My husband thought he was ‘River Runs Through It” style…..

Checking out the river with Meemaw

Loen relaxin in their new ride from the Meemaw

“We might need to pimp these wheels mom. 220…221…whatever it takes..”

In the end Tadd caught a fish but of course it got away

As always we enjoyed the trip but happy once we were back into our own beds and schedule. It is amazing how much the twins rely on that.

]]> http://thetadpoles.com/2009/07/07/pinta-party/feed/ 1 http://thetadpoles.com/2009/06/25/stopgap/ http://thetadpoles.com/2009/06/25/stopgap/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:52:49 +0000 Hava http://thetadpoles.com/?p=945 As usual I have many posts in the works. Lil Iain’s birthday party in Oakdale, Mima & Grandpa Dons visit, tricycles, etc, etc etc. Until all the pictures get adjusted and I actually do the writing here is a little snippet of our day today. I should add that I am tired since we went to a neighbors “Wine Wednesday” last night and I didn’t eat beforehand (bad idea on my part).

The twins are a wonderful case for nature in the nature vs nurture debate. Loen has been acting very girly, down right prissy, prima donna and dare I say it a drama queen. Derby only has to look like he is going to crawl her way and she will start this annoying fake wail. I have seen her hold her own with older kids but she just gives up with Derby. She will actually lie her head in his lap to let him pull her hair. Perhaps it is an attention thing I don’t know. Rather than rescuing her every time I tell Derby to let go of her hair and for her to stand up. She can walk away for goodness sakes but she seems to forget that. Loen loves her baby doll and gives it a big hug and will feed it a bottle. I gave Derby the doll and he proceeded to beat it over the head with the bottle. He loves trucks, hammers and the wooden knife that came in our Melissa and Doug chopping veggie set. He will actually throw the veggies out of the box till he gets to the knife then crawl around with it in his mouth like a little Jack Sparrow. Speaking of throwing the child loves to chuck toys, balls, shoes, bottles and food behind him.

Loen wants to put on hats and tie scarfs around her waist. I pulled out her Halloween pixie costume and she doesn’t want to part with it. She wore it for a couple of hours last night then it got left on the floor. This morning I took off her PJ’s to dress her and she ran to get the tutu. I put it on her and she immediately did her “so cute” pose (where she puts her hands on either side of her face and smiles) then she ran to our room to look at herself in all of the mirrors. Where did this little girl come from??

She had to check herself in ALL the mirrors

Trying to wear the ball on her head

We also have been climbing on everything just to give their mother a heart attack. I have no clue how Derby gets himself into precarious little spots sometimes. Before lunch Loen decided to climb the high chair which unfortunately fell on her. I am going to have to pad my kids in bubble wrap the amount of times they have gotten hurt lately.

High chair tray mark on Loen’s forehead

God forbid Derby is left out from the bruised forehead club, he went over to the wall and started banging his head and laughing. It was like a scene from the movie Parenthood except he didn’t have a bucket over his head.

Perhaps he was looking for studs?

They are SO BUSY and SO MESSY lately. We have been getting out more with other moms which I love. I get adult conversation and the twins get to play with other kids but man I am tired and OVERWHELMED at times. Yet all I have to do is look over and see them trying to kiss each other through the kiddie korral to make it all worthwhile.

I apologize for the terrible quality of the pictures but they were taken on a cell phone

One last note, the painting my younger brother Souther made for the twins birthday was featured on the cover of the Portland Mercury. You can see the twins likeness on the back of the dino/dragon. Very exciting!

We only got 2 pictures of us in our Sunday finery. This is the one that turned out. I was too lazy to grab the tripod so I put the camera on a chair but we had to crouch to get in the frame. You can’t tell by this picture but Tadd was muttering under his breath how annoying the whole situation was. So very Tadd…

After we went to church the twins took a nap. Then Tadd went back to work and I took the kids to Fauxma and Fauxpas for dinner. That was fine because I ate enough ham and homemade rolls for the both of us!

Loen loves their dog Henry. And no, we will not be getting a pet lest you forget Derby is allergic. That is my answer and Im sticking to it.

Derby decided to drink his bottle like a baby goat

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

I started by making a list of every conceivable thing I would need to pack then threw it all into the guest room (AKA staging area). I had Tadd go with me to Costco to purchase a portable DVD player. Yes, I was going to break our “no tv” rule. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Since it is tax season and we never get to see the daddy I had to pack the car myself. (Side note: the kids think Tadd lives in the phone now. Because he usually leaves when they are still asleep or just waking up and comes home after 11 pm they haven’t seen him much but we talk to him a couple of times a day on the phone. The other I asked Loen where was dada and she went to the phone, even though he was in the other room) I think I packed enough stuff to survive Armageddon. I packed up the kiddie korral, the foam floor mat, a duffel full of toys, clothes, bottles, baby food, DVD’s, phone, camera and DVD chargers, water, snacks, diapers, wipes…..am I missing anything?? I was proud of myself until my father in law asked “What are you going to do if you have to use the bathroom on the road”. Didn’t think of that little scenario. I guess no fluids for me for 6 hours. I got up at 4:30 am and we were on the road by 5:30. It turned out well because the twins slept till 8 am. We stopped halfway to use the bathroom and change diapers. Derby had gotten a yucky cold from hanging out with some kids a few days previous. After watching him wipe his nose with his hand then lick his hand I decided to give him a little benadryl to dry him up during the drive. Added bonus was he slept almost the rest of the way, downside is his car seat is behind the drivers side where I cant see him. He was so quiet I kept freaking out and putting my arm behind to shake his leg to make sure he was still breathing. He didn’t like that. Toward the last 30 minutes of the ride Loen was getting crabby so I just started tossing all these things in the back. Like a ton of graham crackers and a cup of milk. I knew she would make a mess but I would deal with it later if it meant she was happy. The DVD player was a hit with Loen. She didn’t pay rapt attention to it but got crabby when I turned it off. I think it was like background music for her.

We got to my moms and it was excitement all around. Little Guy and Iain have grown so much since January. Iain was especially intrigued with the kiddie korral. We got out his Fortamajig and made it into a hidden hideaway. Loen liked that too.

Iain was helping my mom plant herbs….in the gravel. Cilantro is hearty, right?

Little Iain and Guy. Iain has been practicing his side smile

Guy has gotten so big and so cute!

Iain would pretend to be shy whenever I got the camera out

Nanci and lil Guy

My cousin Brandy came to visit. This was the first time she saw the twins. Unfortunately her kids were with their dad so I didn’t get to see Emma or Andrew.

She is letting him sniff the bouquet

Derby’s cold got worse and I got worried. I don’t trust my nursing instincts when it comes to my own child. So many things will run through my mind: “Is it a bizarre presentation of SARS, plague, pneumonia……” I called the advice nurse and I felt better / stupid all at the same time. I had to answer yes to all of the questions slowly realizing I was a hypochondriac when it came to the twins.

“Are they eating, sleeping, playing?”

“Ummm, yes”

“Is there trouble breathing, wheezing, high fever, constant green discharge”

“Ummmmm, no”

“Well I would keep an eye on them and call us back if there is a change. Remember plenty of fluids”

This is when I was glad that I didn’t mention I was a nurse. I would have lied and said I was a CNA! The day before I was going to leave Loen got really sick. The nice thing is it was the same symptoms as Derby. So he was getting better and Loen was getting worse. I was pretty sure in a couple of days she would recover. Unfortunately when I put her in the car to go to Target she screamed the entire way. A bad sign for a long car trip. I gave her an additional day to recover before we got on the road. My mom wanted us to stay longer but we had already been there 8 days and we were all missing home (and our own beds).

We took them to see the fountain down the street. I thought they would have liked it but they seemed a little afraid.

Before we left we tried to get a picture of all the cousins. Can you tell who the loud ones were in the group?

I love how Derby & Iain are both laughing

The car trip home was unremarkable. The twins did well and watched the new Baby Beethoven DVD that Brandy brought for the kids. I was SOOOOO happy to be home and see the dada. I don’t know if I will be doing that trip alone anytime soon.