On the Road Again

A good friend is getting married, and so we are leaving on Sunday morning for our first real vacation in five years. It is also the first overnight trip and the first long car trip with the boys. We are excited. And nervous. And about to begin a crazy game of Tetris.

This is our car.


In it we have to put five people, two infant car seats,


one toddler car seat,
two pack and plays,

one portable baby swing,

an Elmo potty,

and our luggage, snacks, formula, water to make formula, cooler for food and breast milk, breast pump, toys, blankies, a mountain of diapers, and other things that we could potentially need for a week away. Yikes!

The thought of entertaining the kiddos for all those hours in the car is overwhelming, but my inner nerd is excited about the challenge of fitting everything in the car. (In an effort to avoid washing things by hand, I also excelled at putting the most things into the dishwasher as a kid.) As we get ready to leave tomorrow, hopefully the reality of loading the car is not the most exciting part of the trip!

The Wanderers

Our new house has a split floor plan, and the master bedroom is located on the opposite side of the house from the kids' bedrooms. We only have one baby monitor. When we finally get the crib assembled and the boys moved into their room, it will go there. So, in order to hear R, we have been letting her sleep with her door open.

This has actually gone pretty smoothly, but I am still adjusting to having a little person running around the house in the morning without me getting her out of bed. She often surprises me in the kitchen or bathroom when I am getting ready for work. Last Sunday morning I woke up to find her at the side of my bed. We were practically nose-to-nose as she exclaimed, "Good morning, Mommy!" It's a good thing I'm a morning person!

This week she learned a new skill which will further enhance her ability to roam our house at will. She learned to use door knobs to open doors. From a developmental standpoint, this is great. She has mastered pushing and pulling while turning her wrist (and reaching way over her head, since she still is a little munchkin). From a practical standpoint, it kinda stinks. No more closing her door and knowing that she will play safely in her room. No more closing the door of other rooms knowing she will stay out.

I had forgotten about her new skill Saturday morning. The chaos of the past month caught up with me, and when the boys went down for their morning naps, I laid down too. Not too much later, I heard the bedroom door open. I figured it was Jeff sneaking in to get something out of the bathroom, and I ignored it. A couple minutes later, I felt the bed jiggle. I looked down and realized R had brought in a step stool, and she was climbing on the bed with all her stuffed animals and blankets. She wanted to have a sleepover! (And her "sleepovers," much like the real things, involve everything but sleep.) So I tried to quietly get her out of the room. She protested. Loudly. Which, of course, woke up L. The sound of L crying woke up M. And then we were all back up...

R was not the only one mastering new skills over the weekend. Yesterday, after days of trying, M mastered rolling from his back on to his belly. He's been going the other way for weeks. Adding in this new trick means, if he sets his mind to it, he can roll all over the place. How exciting...and scary. Another one can take over the house! Thankfully for now, he mostly prefers to pivot in a circle like a boat with one oar. We're hoping this keeps up at least long enough for us to get unpacked.

M has also decided that he should talk too, like his brother and sister. So he spent ALL weekend talking. It was constant chattering. But unlike L who has a cute baby sound to his chatter, M sounds like a dying whale. Seriously! It is the strangest noise. But he is happy and communicating.

M is also getting close to being able to sit unsupported. He really wants to sit up. The boys' little plastic bathtub has a seat where they recline. Two weeks ago M started grabbing the side of the tub and pulling himself up to a seated position whenever in the bathtub. Given his rolls of fat, this makes bathing him a bit of a challenge, but it's so wonderful to see him trying so hard to master a new skill.

As seems to always be the case, when one boy's development is out of control, the other slows down a bit. Not much to report on the L front other than two teeth that are thisclose to popping through. This week he started talking in his sleep. (I didn't know babies could do that!) After weeks (months?) of sleeping in his swing, he's also back to sleeping in his bed for at least part of the night. And his new development is kicking in the bath tub. He kicks the whole time he is there. I still haven't figured out whether it is intentional or it is him struggling for balance, but it seems to make him smile. And given all the tears we've had lately over ouchie teeth, we will gladly support anything that makes him smile!

Teeth

In life, there are quirky little things that scare each and every one of us. For some people it's flying in airplanes. For others, it's being alone. My man and I happen to share a fear. The fear of teething babies.

The afternoon we found out we were having twins, we stumbled around the mall shell shocked on our way home from our ultrasound. Other couples in that situation might have discussed the risky nature of the pregnancy or worried about having two kids in college at the same time. We looked at each other and said, "Oh no! Two babies teething at the same time!"

And that is exactly what has happened this week. One hears tales of parents who suddenly notice that their little one has a tooth or twenty. "It just appeared!" That is not how teething works in our house. Teething is this hideous, dramatic process. All week the poor little guys have been miserable. They are producing gallons of drool. (And we still haven't found their bibs. Maybe this weekend...) Their cheeks are red and puffy. Even eating hurts, and they struggle to finish bottles or finish nursing. Because they are so miserable and cry so much, they often spit up the food that does go down.

Teethers do help, as does Tylenol. They are actually pretty funny about 45 minutes after getting a dose of Tylenol. They turn into the happiest little creatures. You can just see them thinking, "I feel good! This is great! No more ouchies!" This is the time they spend happily playing on the floor. And "talking." They have become soooo noisy lately. R never made this much noise. L is especially a chatter box. It doesn't even stop at night. He woke us up at 4:00 a.m. yesterday morning because he was babbling in his sleep.

Nights are the hardest, both on the little guys and us. We have been lucky so far. All three kids, when they get up at night, just eat, get clean diapers, and go back to sleep. But, since their eating is erratic right now, both guys get up a lot to eat. Tuesday night set the record for worst night ever. We got up with them seven times between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. I'm not even sure how that is mathematically possible, and I prefer not to think about the short little bursts of sleep I managed to get between the cuddles and feedings.

We hope the teeth come in soon, to end the misery of everyone in the family. At this point, I'm pretty sure even the dogs are suffering. At the very least, we don't have time to play with them outside in the evenings, and they have to listen to the crying. (Because if the boys aren't crying, it's because they are being held, and then R is crying because we are holding the babies. The joys of sibling rivalry!) Then we can move on to unpacking and trying to find our stuff. I'm hoping to at least find the bibs before the next round of teething!

Moved!

We survived moving! As of Saturday, we are now sleeping in the new house amid a vast forest of boxes. But we made it! It helped that R has been incredibly mature throughout this process.

Friday was the big packing/carting day in which we got everything but the furniture out of the old house. As we were finishing breakfast, I told R that while she ate, I was going to start packing. She thought for a second and then told me very matter-of-factly that she would need two boxes - one for toys and friends and one for her books. (This is how Brother Bear packs in The Berenstain Bears' Moving Day.) When she finished eating, I got two small boxes and figured she would be busy "packing."

What I didn't realize, was that she really was packing. She quickly needed to upgrade to two large boxes. With help from her dad, she actually packed her entire room, and we were able to move her stuff to the new house. It wasn't until nap time that we realized that she had packed her valuables first. Her blankies (she sleeps with three of them) and all her favorite dolls and stuffed animals had been the first things placed into the first box. Amazingly, our mature little girl didn't mind. She knew her stuff was safe, and she settled down for a nap with just her comforter from Baba. (Most of you will fully understand the comfort of a Baba blanket. For those of you not in the know, Baba is my Ukrainian grandmother, and Baba food and Baba blankets, and really all things Baba, just have this wonderful, innate level of comfort about them.)

That afternoon, we rescued her other blankies and friends from the new house, and returned them to the old house for one last night. After dinner, we all ventured to the new house, and R took her Abby doll with her so she could show her the house. Poor Abby got left at the new house and had to spend the night there alone, but again, R didn't mind. Apparently it was just part of the moving process.

The best moment of the day with R came on the drive from the new house back to the old that evening. The quickest route is through a park rife with speed bumps. I have never counted, but I bet there are 20-25 speed bumps along the way. L was not a fan. He protested each and every bump with a little cry. About halfway through the bumps, R announced, "Bumps frustrate L." It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. I just had to agree, and I told her, "Yes, bumps frustrate him." I was still smiling over that one as I tucked my big girl into bed that night.