Ava's First Cold

I had to laugh today when we got in the house with the babies and I went to take Ava out of her carseat, her hat was completely covering her eyes, poor thing.

She was a little congested with a cold, but was still in good humor. I had to put some saline drops in her nose and then suction it, which really seemed to help her, although she wasn't thrilled with the process.

Rielee and Papa started a puzzle this afternoon. She picked out one that is a picture of a zoo, and she found several animal pieces right out of the box to put together.

Calling for back-up

I watched the twins tonight while Steve, Kelly and Lexi drove up to watch the Union football team in the semi-finals. Luke rode up earlier with Charb since he is the ball boy. I was doing all right with the babies, had lots of company. Emmy came over right when they got here to help me feed them, and then the rest of the neighborhood (and James, too) filtered in. It was after they all left that things got interesting. It was 7:30 or so, I had them both asleep, Harper on the floor and Ava in the bouncer, sent Kelly a text telling her that both babies were sleeping. Then I made a big mistake, a huge one, and turned off the bouncer...Ava instantly woke up and started crying, Harper was right behind her. It wasn't long before they were both crying inconsolably, and believe me, I tried everything to get them to settle down. Finally, after about a half an hour of screaming, I called Laury and told her I needed back-up! She came over and we walked them and walked them and walked them...I had heard that they can be very fussy in the evenings, and now I really believe it! Ava did doze off for about a half hour nap, but Harper never slept for more than a few minutes at a time. I would get her to sleep and put her on the bed, so I could take Ava and let Laury go home, and she would wake right back up. Steve, Kelly and the kids got back about 11:00, and Ava was wide awake, Harper had finally crashed about 10:30.

12 hr. shift

Had a long day Tuesday with the babies since Kelly went home sick from work, and Charb couldn't meet us until after football practice. Our day went well, but it is funny how tired we can get just from taking care of them even though we aren't doing a heck of a lot.

Charb said the nutritionist from Kaiser called and said they could go ahead and change the formula, said the Kirkland brand was okay but they are going to try some Enfamil samples they have at home that are supposed to help with gas and see how that works first. The girls have a little trouble with gas.

Today we just had Rielee and she was her usual busy self, wanted to play Barbies first, then take a bath, make french toast, and watch a video. The kids were home early from school, so she got to go over and play at Auna's, too.

Check-up and shots

I usually watch the babies at home on Monday since we have Rielee all day, but today the babies had a dr. appt. so I went to Camas. I went shopping for a couple of hours while Charb and Kelly took them in. Ava weighed in at 11 lbs. and she looks every bit of it in this picture with her double chin. Harper weighed 10 lbs. 8 oz. They are healthy girls although Kelly did ask about Ava's tendency to look to the left so they are going to physical therapy for perhaps a pinched nerve in her neck. Harper is going too, just because her sister is, I guess. And they have to stay on the expensive NeoSure formula, which didn't make Charb very happy at all. Oh, and they can continue to swaddle them at night until they are 6 months old.

They were worn out from the trauma of the shots they received, and slept most of the afternoon, with a few cranky wake-ups now and then. It was the first time I ever had both of them over my shoulders, since I tried to put Harper in the swing (and she wasn't having anything to do with it) while I was changing Ava's diaper, and they were both all worked up and screaming. Kelly said she told the dr. that little Harper pretty much was the boss of the house. She is the more tempermental baby. Doesn't like the swing, likes to be walked, but not rocked so much, and boy when she hears her bottle being made, she lets you know she really wants it and now. But she did sit happily in the bouncer for a few minutes while I took her picture though.

Rielee made her Papa laugh today. She was on the way to the potty and a toy commercial came on, so she tells him "I want that Papa" and then as she is sitting on the toilet, she can hear another toy commercial come on and she's yelling "I want that, too, Papa!".

Yard clean-up

After all the wind we had this week, the yard was a mess of limbs and fir boughs. I recruited Parker and James to help me with the clean-up. They got their 4-wheelers and wagons and it didn't take very long to get most of it picked up. Then they got side-tracked by a couple of bigger limbs and decided they wanted to cut them up with my battery-operated chain saw... then they noticed that the ditch beside the driveway was backed up with debris and thought they should clean that out. Digging by hand got old fast, and Parker's idea of getting the excavator out was shot down fast by Gabe, too muddy. They were very wet and muddy by then so they headed inside. Later we took James and Parker to the Union football game, which was a lot of fun. They were so silly at the game,

though, oh my gosh, being cold and bored since the game was a blow-out, I guess they figured that pretend picking on each other would pass the time faster! Thankfully, we got to leave right after the 50/50 split was announced!

An all-nighter

I went down to Camas today to watch the twins. Ava was still asleep in her swaddle blanket, they had slept through the night, wow.
We had a good day, Harper was a happy girl, Ava a little fussy, she didn't want to nap in her bed, but finally took one in the swing. Harper took the pacifier for a little while, which is rare. They only had one short crying contest, which Harper won since she was madder and her face was redder.

Thursday with Jillian

Jillian came up today to play with Rielee after pre-school. They had a great time and in this picture are taking an ice cream cone break. I probably shouldn't confess this but occasionally I allow the Grandkids and nieces and nephews their "morning ice cream" if they want it, I think it does wonders for their disposition, and we eat pretty healthy the rest of the time. Well, except for that raw cookie and bread dough, but generally I try to keep their food healthy.

We had lots of company today. Laury and David came over for a baby fix and coffee this morning. Then Cathy brought Jillian up to play, and she and I held the babies and visited. Later in the afternoon, Linda came up to have Steve change the oil in her car, and we visited while he did it, and we held the babies. What a fun day.

Papa can't paint

Rielee came in today slightly grumpy and wanted to paint right off the bat, so we got out the easel. She wanted to paint a picture of "Pinkie Pie" her large stuffed Little Pony. Well, first the paint didn't quite match her Pony, which made her unhappy, and then she realized she didn't know how to paint a Pony, so she asked for help. I was feeding one of the twins, so Papa painted an outline for her to fill in. She looked at it and just started crying and said "that doesn't look like a pony". (We later decided it looked more like a pink camel)...Grandma to the rescue (like I can paint anything but a stick pony!), but I managed to draw a pony's head that appeased her, thank goodness, so she was finally a happy painter. All this before breakfast.

But she was so sweet later, after some food in her tummy, she was holding one of the babies, and whispered to me "Grandma, I wish I was a Mom".

I made some Cardamom bread dough for her today, since she loves to eat it raw (sorry Papa) and dip it in brown sugar. Then we made the dough into cinnamon rolls. She said she had never eaten them, and didn't think she liked them. But when Papa had some later, she changed her mind, of course, and ate two. She worked on her "homework" - writing the word "turkey", piece of cake. She is really writing well now, is going to be a perfectionist in her printing, if a letter doesn't look just right, she will start over. Much like Macee was at that age. We also played Barbies today and dominoes.

As for the twins, they were good today, did not sleep well last night, so they slept quite a bit. Steve was holding Harper when he called me in to take this picture of her, she looks so thoughtful.

I was rewarded for my very rainy, windy drive down to Camas this morning by two very happy little baby girls. They entertained me for the longest time with their smiles, coos, and frantic kicking and arm waving that they do when they are excited. They had slept from 10 p.m.-5 a.m. so they were well-rested and it showed. They grinned at me, at the clock, and the ceiling fan, which never ceases to fascinate them (as it did James, too, when he was a baby). I thought this was going to be a perfect day, and it was a perfect morning anyway, the afternoon proved otherwise. They took short naps in the morning, but after that, I could not get them to settle down for any length of time. So it was a cycle of one in the swing, hold the other one, rotate-then try the bouncer, then the floor, then the Pack n' Play...oh my gosh it was crazy. And they weren't just a little unhappy either, they were tired, it was the "screaming like their hair was on fire"-as Charb describes it, their special ramped-up scream. Like they go from regular crying for about 1 minute ("pick me up please Grandma, I'm a little unhappy") to this beet-red faced scream ("GRANDMA, PICK ME UP NOW I'VE TOTALLY LOST IT!!"), kind of unnerving, to say the least, especially when they are both doing it. I can't ignore them, since they just want to be held and they are infants, after all, I just need a couple more arms! Finally about 2 p.m. Harper laid on the floor long enough for me to walk Ava to sleep, then I did the same with her. I'm afraid these girls might be just like their Dad, who hated to go to sleep and managed to airmail himself out of his crib at 8 months, and kicked the bars out of his crib at a year...he still fights sleep. Thankfully, Steve came down to drop off the van at the dealership in Vanc., so he drove home, I fell asleep.

Monday

We thought the girls looked like they had grown since we saw them last week, they are getting quite "roly-poly" now. They were eating every 2 hours today, then I realized maybe they are needing more formula, and sure enough, Kelly said she is offering them 4 ounces, although sometimes they don't finish it. I had given them 4 this morning and when they didn't drink it all, just made them 3 the other feedings, and while they seemed full, it didn't hold them for long. They have a dr. appt. next week, and Kelly said she is curious to see if the dr. changes their formula, and hoping he will, since they are still on the Neosure for preemies, which is over $15 a can, and a can only lasts a day and a half. Twins are expensive, that's for sure. We had Rielee today for the afternoon, and she and Papa took their nap together, so I had the twins and they got kind of fussy. So I managed to get both of them in the recliner with me and we rocked until we all went to sleep for a bit, Harper lying beside my legs and Ava in my arms.

Now it is evening, and Auna is here to watch "Dancing with the Stars" with us. We pretend we are the judges and score each dance!

State V'ball Tourney

The girls got 4th place! It was awesome! After dropping a 5-game heartbreaker to Cascade Thursday night, they came back Friday and swept Lynden Christian. We were really worried about that match, as LC has a player 6'1"and two that are 6'2", but the girls got it done. Then they beat Freeman in 3 to take 4th.

Emmy came down from Ellensburg Thursday to watch their first match, then came back Friday night to watch them finish. It was so fun to have her there with us, and I know how much her support means to her cousins.

One day

Today is the only day we will have the twins this week since tomorrow is Veteran's Day and Thurs. and Fri. we will be in Yakima for the Volleyball State Tournament. This picture is what we get to see every morning when we get home with them, and sit them on the floor, then hurry to get bottles made since they are usually starving. This morning when we pulled off the freeway, we could hear Ava loudly sucking on her knuckles all the way up the hill.

I tried today to get a picture of them with some little Santa hats on for a Christmas card. It didn't go well, it seems Harper really hates hats. She would start squirming trying to get it off and that led to getting really mad and screaming until I took it off. Will have to try again another day. Kelly told me later that the nurses in the hospital had told her that preemie babies often hate wearing hats since they had to wear them in the NICU.

We had an easy morning (the girls were really good once I quit trying to photograph them), until Rielee got here, then she wanted to play right away, made a bee line straight to the playroom, and if either of us said we couldn't play with her because we were taking care of a baby, she would say, "just bring her in, too", and she would include which every twin we were holding in her pretend play saying she would be their Mom also.

We get such a kick out of playing with Rielee, and although she runs us ragged sometimes, we don't care, she is growing up so fast, soon she will be in school and these days will be gone. Steve said we are "the Bobble-head Grandma and Papa" because we are always nodding "yes" or saying "ok" to everything she suggests we do! She isn't spoiled, just well-loved...

Papa's birthday

Today is Steve's birthday, so after we picked up Rielee, she wanted me to sit in the back of the van with her, and I suggested we pretend Papa was our bus driver. Rielee directed him how to drive to the bakery, where we went in and bought him a tiny cake, and Rielee got herself a maple bar. Then we dropped Rielee off at Aunt Cathy's house so she could play with Jillian for an hour. After lunch, we let Papa open a present and have his cake. Then he and Rielee took a nap.
I asked Auna to bake him her "checkerboard" cake, which he loves, as a surprise for later in the evening.

Volleyball fan-atic

Yesterday the volleyball team won the District Championship and are headed to State. It was an easy match, too, which was such a relief because we were so nervous. Macee played great, as did Tierney (she is such a powerhouse) and the entire team. We are so proud of "the girls"-Macee, Tierney, and Maddie. They have been playing together for so long, and they just get better every year. We always knew they would do well in high school, but to go to State as freshmen is more than anyone would have predicted, I think. Steve was over at the high school at 10:30 to watch all the matches being played. He is totally obsessed with volleyball and just can't get enough. If our girls aren't playing, he will go and watch any other team in the area. Doesn't matter if he doesn't know any of the players, he just loves the game. His birthday is tomorrow, and he said all he wanted was for the girls to make it to State, and he got his wish.

Afterwards, we all had pizza at Des and Gabe's, Charb and Kelly came up, actually they tried to make it to the match, but it was over so fast they didn't make it. The kids all had so much fun playing together, until I heard Charb downstairs saying "I don't want to have to take anyone to the hospital!..." he said that Parker had Lexi on his shoulders, and Luke had Rielee on his, and they were jousting or something, good grief, typical boys, asking for an accident!

Sleepy girls/Mom & Brother

When I got to Charb and Kelly's this morning, Charb told me he thought the girls would probably sleep all day because they had been awake so much during the night. He was right, they were probably awake maybe 20 minutes all day. I called home to see how Steve and Rielee were doing, she answered the phone and told me they were playing "Mom and Brother", it was a short conversation and she wouldn't give the phone to Papa. She is very good now at screening our calls so she doesn't lose any valuable playing time with us. He later told me that they played for over an hour, that she pretended that company was coming, a woman she worked with and she was bringing her little girl with her. He asked her how long she had worked with this gal, and Rielee said "ten years". It gets quite involved, this pretend play, and she likes to do a lot of cooking and serving meals, too.
He took her to the book fair at the school after he picked her up today. It took her awhile to find a book that Papa was willing to pay for, but she finally did find a $5 Barbie book. But then he made the mistake of taking her over to look at a display of pencils and pens, and he got stuck paying another $3 for a pen with an animal on top of it...

A dedicated Papa

Today after school Rielee wanted Papa to play with her since I was busy with one of the babies. She suggested "Mother and brother" but she actually she pretended he was her son. She said his name was "Steve", although she calls him "honey" and he was 9 yrs. old, just like Parker. She had him napping on the floor, which he said was really pretty comfortable. She pretended she drove him to town for ice cream, and even remembered his seatbelt. She loves to play pretend, but usually it is just with Auna playing Mom and Sister, and Auna is the Mom.

Wacky Wednesday

Our Wednesdays are always interesting since we have both Rielee and the twins. First thing this morning, Rielee wanted to play her Maisy game, and insisted that Ava had to play, too. She would say "A-vee, it's your turn!" and Ava would have to pretend to spin the arrow and take her turn.

Ava was asleep long before the game finished, and then Papa rescued me by suggesting a game of "dots" as they call it. The game that Rielee was bored by yesterday, she was happy to play again this morning, and also happy because for some reason-she always wins...

We ended up keeping the twins all day since Mom and Dad decided to come up to watch Macee and Tierney's district volleyball game. Papa had to go over to the game early just because he was so nervous about it, so I took the babies over later. The plan was that I would call him on his cell and he would come out and help me pack them inside, which would have worked better had he remembered to turn on his phone. The babies were really good at the game, there was enough noise and action to distract them from any fussiness.

That is Ava with Daddy.

The girls WON both matches, and are headed to State. "The Girls" as we refer to Macee, Maddie and Tierney played great, it is so exciting that they are going to State as Freshmen.

Shot day

Harper sleeping

Ava smiling

I went down to Camas today to watch the babies. Kelly had to take them in for their first RSV shots (they will get one each month until March to protect them from the virus), and Charb was busy, so she asked if I would help her take them. They weighed them first, and Ava weighed a little over 10 lbs. and Harper 9 lbs. 6 oz., and they are 13 weeks old now. They were a little fussy the rest of the day so I gave them some Tylenol. Oh, and Charb said that last night they slept for 6 hours, which made him very happy.

Steve was home with Rielee today. They called me, and Rielee gave me the following pre-school news: a girl in her class had to sit in the "red" chair today because she picked her nose and wouldn't wash her hands! Papa said that Rielee wanted to color today, so he colored with her. Then he taught her how to play that game where you make the dot grid then fill it in line by line and put your initial in each square, it must have a name but I don't know it. They played 3 games then she told him it was boring...