Picture Tuesday, week 33

This week has been a little rocky.  And by rocky I mean covered in flaming diarrhea.  Both girls were quite sick, especially over the weekend.  Every day started out so ridiculous that it was funny and then by the end of the day it was just plain exhausting.  With two babies who were pooping constantly it meant that every 10 minutes or so Glenn or I were running one little girl to the bathroom to rinse her bum under the faucet and then we tried to let them air dry a bit before slathering with the latest cream we were trying and diapering again only to repeat with the same little babe or the other little babe just a few minutes later.  It didn't let up at night either.  For a few nights one of them was up every few hours needing a change.  It was nuts.  T and K were such sweeties.  They didn't seem to be sick at all unless they had just pooped and then they were screaming in pain.  They finally turned a corner a couple of days ago and are doing better.  Still not all the way better.  They still have very very loose poop and more frequently than they normally would, but it's so much better than it was that it's allowing their little bummies to start feeling a little better.  Poor little babies.

Kenna has started moving just as fast as Taryn this week when she wants to get at something.  They're both getting up on their hands and knees and sometimes even their hands and toes in this darling little shaky downward dog pose. Then they look around trying to catch someone's eye as if to say, "Are you seeing this?! Look what I can do!"

I'm just so glad this week is over and that they're doing a little bit better.  Hopefully that trend continues before our Eid trip next week!

Kenna and Taryn, 33 weeks old.

Picture Tuesday, Week 32

It's been a crazy week at our house.  Tate starting school, getting our house painted, cabinets rearranged, shelving built.  It's been a dusty, wet painty mess this week and the kids have weathered the storm very well.  It's almost all finished and we're excited to get everything put away, sell or give away what doesn't fit, and then get settled in our new place.

We tried my new baby food steamer and blender this week.  It was a repat purchase and I LOVE it.  Unfortunately, either the apples or the sweet potatoes, or maybe both, did NOT agree with poor Taryn's tummy and she's had flaming poops for days leaving her poor teensy bum so burned and raw.  It's so sad.  She's not feeling well but she's still quite pleasant.  She is really moving now and can get across the room pretty quickly if there's something she wants.  She's such a cute little mover.  Finn likes to play fetch with her and put toys just out of reach and make her crawl to them.  If he puts them too far away though, she's not interested in the least.

Kenna has just started to scootch forward this week and you can see the light in her eyes when I put something just out of reach.  It's like I can see her brain working trying to figure out how to make her body work the right way to get that thing in her hands and then in her mouth.  It's so cute how excited she gets when she finally gets where she wants to go.  Most of the time, though, she's still very content to just be and watch her crazy brothers entertain her or sing sweet baby noises to herself.

Here they are, my little sweeties.  At 32 weeks old.  Showing off my new wall color!

Picture Tuesday, 29, 30, and 31!

Taryn and Kenna have been such sweet babies, as usual, for the rest of our repat adventure.  Their last week picture Tuesday in the states was due the day before we left and I just couldn't quite get around to uploading pictures and writing a post.  So here they are a few days later in Barcelona.  It's hilarious to me that they happened to be wearing the same bibs three weeks in a row for these pictures!

Here's T in a front pack at the Sagrada Familia

 And little K asleep on the way back to our flat.  Love those squishy cheeks!

 And one more of K laughing at Finny while in her stroller later that evening.

 Here are the little ladies int heir stroller at Park Guell.

When the girls reached 30 weeks old they were in Rome, Italy.  More to come on our amazing trip soon.  I was worried about how they would do on this trip because they had such a hard time in London.  They were much younger but it was really hard to have them just scream when they were tired or hungry but they were so overwhelmed by all of the noise and the tube that they couldn't relax.  This time they were in front packs or their stroller every day and they were awesome.  When they were hungry they'd fuss and we'd feed them.  And then they would be happy, smiling, kicking babies again until they were tired at which point they'd just fall asleep wherever they were and wake up happy and ready to play again.  It was miraculous and SO helpful to have them be so happy and easy.  They slept pretty well too and adjusted to the time change much easier than I expected.  They woke up and fussed a bit some nights and every few days Glenn and I just gave in and fed them so they didn't wake everyone up in the tight spaces we were staying in but otherwise it was a pretty smooth schedule shift.  They did have a few epic blow outs and we lost a couple of outfits along the way, but nothing too horrible.  I was worried about what a mess it would be to have one of their epic blow outs while squeezed in a front pack but luckily that never happened.  

Here is week 30, Kenna and Taryn at the Vatican!

Today is week 31 and we have been in our new Dhahran home for 2 days now unpacking furiously and trying to get things cleaned up and settled.  We are really missing the soft carpet they loved to play around on at Aubry's house but we do have a couple of rugs for them to roll around on so that will have to do for now.  Taryn is getting even faster at her little scoot and Kenna is getting really good at a backwards scoot which is really frustrating for her when she backs up into a corner or gets her legs under the entertainment system or couch.  I'm so grateful that T and K haven't had a hard time adjusting to different schedules or different sleeping arrangements.  All of the changes could really have rocked their world but it doesn't seem to have phased them much.  Yesterday they slept through the night and took two great naps at the same time.  It was wonderful.  Here are our little ones, already 31 weeks old!

Picture Tuesday, week 28

This week was the first week on our own after Glenn went back to Saudi.  It was a busy and fun week for us here and definitely a busy week for Glenn as well.  He got home and the next day he had to look at a bunch of houses on a bid list on main camp.  He placed a bid that afternoon and found out that we got a house.  The whole bid process didn't go as we expected.  Glenn had contacted everyone on the list above us and basically knew which house we were going to get.  It was the type of house that we wanted and seemed like it was going to work out perfectly.  But then one of the guys on the list above us didn't get his bid processed by the person he left it with while he was out of town so we ended up with a four bedroom modular.  It is not the house I wanted.  Not at all.  But we are stuck there now so I am trying to turn my attitude around and look on the positive side...because there's really nothing else to do.

We are excited to be on main camp and poor Glenn is doing a ton of paperwork and trying to get some work done on the house before we move in.  Built in shelves in closets, maybe some paint, things like that.  He's already packed most of our stuff and moved over quite a bit of it with help from several guys in our group and has the movers scheduled to move our furniture over next week just a couple of days before he flies out to join us for our cruise.  I'm so grateful that he's able to get so much done while we're here.  It would be so much harder to do all of the moving with the whole family there.

Our week here has been filled with errands and playing.  I've had a great time being with my kids all day long.  By the end of the day we are all getting tired and worn down but otherwise we are doing really well!

Last Saturday I took my kiddos to the outlet mall by myself.  We were gone for four hours and we had the best time.  Everyone was so obedient and patient.  We found some great deals on things that we needed for the next year, there were some booths with simple games and prizes that the boys really enjoyed and they even had a radio station doing a little runway walk which the boys participated in in order to get a free chapstick prize at the end.  It was awesome and so so fun.  It felt like such a confidence boost, realizing that I can be a good mom in the real world.  That I can get out with all of my kids, stop to feed and snuggle babies when they need it, play hard with my boys and keep everyone happy.  It felt like such freedom to have what would be a real day together if we lived a real life.  I loved every second of it.  Wish Glenn was here with us, but being with my kids in the states where there is so much to see and do and I can get us everywhere we need to go is such a freeing, recharging feeling.  

We hit up Thanksgiving point museums twice this week.  The dinosaur museum and then last night we went to the museum of natural curiosity and it was amazing.  So amazing.  We probably need to try to go back one more time.  It's one of the best if not the best museum for children that I've ever been to.  There is so much to see and do and all brilliantly themed and catered to our kids different energy levels, physical abilities, and interests.  So so awesome.  They had a huge tree house that you could climb up into several really cool obstacles.  A room with all sorts of optical illusions and brain tricks which had Tate fascinated.  One had a funny shaped basketball hoop and some glasses that were supposed to impair your vision and train your brain to see it one way and then when you start to shoot after taking the glasses off you can't make it anymore.  The whole glasses thing was not for Finn, but he LOVED shooting the basketball over and over.  Then there was a little city with several different buildings where you could explore different industries in a fun kid-friendly way.  We were there for just a short 2 hours after a dinner out and it was not nearly enough time!  

This week has also been filled with lots of shopping and errands.  We're almost there.  Just a few more things to buy and our extra duffle bags are rapidly filling up.  It's going to be a bit of a juggling act getting all of the bags to Barcelona but hopefully Mal and I can manage because I'm SO excited about all of my little treasures.  

The girls have been great this week.  They're still waking up a bit at night and fussing on and off from around 4am on and usually wake up for good around 6.  They're napping great as long as they're in their cribs and they are so happy to be rolling around and crawling around on carpet!  They are absolutely adored by their cousins.  Mya and Sadie are always asking to feed them their bottles and help with bath time.  And Hayze will sometimes bring his blanket and snuggle on their blanket next to them on the floor.  

Taryn is getting faster at her little scootch.  It's not quite a full crawl yet but she can really move where she wants to and does so pretty quickly now.  Sometimes it's a toy across the room, sometimes it's her sister's hair or headband.  Kenna is still not very interested in moving around.  She rolls around but she doesn't seem to be in any hurry to crawl.  They are really good babies.  They get fussy when they're tired or hungry but usually if they're tired and we put them in their beds they fall right to sleep, and occasionally when we're out and about and they're tired, they just fall right to sleep in their stroller.  I'm a little worried about how the whole skipping nap time thing is going to go on our cruise but hopefully they'll just nod off when they get tired in their front packs and not lose it too often.  

Here they are, asleep in their stroller this morning during a little shopping expedition.  

Kenna and Taryn, 28 weeks old.

The Plague in Denver and Picture Tuesday, 27 weeks

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to document this summer repat mess.  There's much to document and I don't want to forget anything but I don't think there's any way I could thoroughly document it all without all the pictures from my camera.  And I really don't want to get behind on picture Tuesdays so I'm just going to try to keep things updated the best I can and then do some more detail and pictures of all of our adventures when we get home.

This week was an adventure to say the least.  We had tons of appointments.  Dentist for Glenn and I, dentist for Tate and Finn, which was amazing by the way.  Their pediatric dentist was hands down the coolest dentists office I've ever seen.  A toy train running around the different exam rooms on a track on the ceiling, a whole wall of different prizes for after your exam, movies in the ceiling so you can pick something to watch while your teeth are cleaned.  The boys were thrilled and both left saying that they love going to the dentist.  It was so great.  Then we had fillings for Glenn and I, unfortunately.  Then on Wednesday we had an EKG and an echocardiogram scheduled for Taryn at Primary Children's just to get a second opinion in the states.  Nana offered to watch the boys for the morning so we could do get Taryn through her appointment and then she was going to bring them up to meet us so we could show them temple square.  After we got out of Taryn's appointment we called Nana and found out that Finn had thrown up.  He seemed to be doing fine afterward but he did throw up once, at my Grandma Nina's house, no less.  Awesome.  At least he made it in the toilet, but still.  Yikes.  So the boys couldn't come up to SLC since Finny wasn't doing well.  Glenn and I ran a couple of errands at City Creek Mall and then headed back to pick up Tate.  Finny was napping and mom brought him back to Aub's house at dinner time so he could finish resting.  Poor boy.  That night was kind of a mess.  It was our last night with Adam and Cami and we ordered pizza and the kids played so nicely together.  Glenn and I had to do a rough run at all of our box packing to see what sort of space we had left.  It was pretty tight and I still had things on my list that I hadn't gotten to yet!  We were both pretty stressed and distracted and didn't spend the kind of quality time with Ad and Cami and Abby that we would have liked.  The whole week they were in town was just stuffed with appointments and errands and shopping and we were hardly around at all.  It was so sad to miss them so much of the time but we just had so stinking much to accomplish before Glenn left for Saudi since he was taking most of our boxes back with him.

The next morning we had planned to get all packed up and go all together to the girls' 6 month well check but Finny woke up, had a drink of water, and promptly threw it up all over the couch.  Awesome.  Glenn cleaned it up while I got the girls ready and then I took them to their appointment.  They had been acting a little sad.  Both Kenna and Taryn had been waking up crying at night, mostly from around 3 or 4 am until around 6 when we finally cave and feed them.  Both girls had been really snotty and drooly and Kenna had had a fever on an off.  We just assumed that they were teething and gave them tylenol and extra snuggles but didn't know what else to do.  The pediatrician still gave them their shots and didn't seem to phased by any of their symptoms so we sort of wrote it off too.

This is the first time I've been to an American pediatrician for my little girls and I really appreciated all of the questions and printouts that they gave me.  It was nice to feel more informed as to where they stand and what I should expect next.

Here are their 6 month stats:

Kenna - 15 pounds, 7 ounces, 41 percentile

length: 25.25", 23 percentile

head circumference: 16.75, 60 percentile

Taryn - 15 pounds, 1 ounce, 30 percentile

length: 25.25", 23 percentile

head circumference: 16.25, 24 percentile

After their appointment I called Glenn and we decided that we still wanted to try to get to Denver.  We called the Wilsons who we'd be staying with and they said it would be okay if we came to visit even though we might be carrying something awful with us!  That's the mark of a true friend!  Finny threw up most of the way there.  We tried giving him tiny sips of gaterade every twenty minutes or so but he would just throw it up.  The drive took 10 hours with all of the stops and we were exhausted by the time we finally arrived.  But alas, sleep was just a dream.  Tate woke up at 1 having thrown up all over himself.  We got a carpet cleaner from Devony and cleaned up the mess and then made up a little towel bed for Tate and held the bowl for him while he threw up every half hour or so for the rest of the night.  Geez!  Glenn took both of the boys to urgent care in the morning and they were both diagnosed with strep throat.  They gave both the boys some zofran, which we were SO grateful for, and then we had to wait a couple of hours for them to get the antibiotics ready.  Tate felt better right away but Finn had a rough few days trying to get on top of the nausea after a few days of throwing up everything he put down.  After Glenn got back from the pharmacy Devony and I took off for a couple of hours to run some errands.  We had great conversation while we wandered around Joanns and Target checking things off my repat list.  Devony is one of the most kind-hearted people I know and it was just wonderful to spend time with her and her family for a few days, in spite of the little plague we brought with us!  We picked up Indian food from Monsoon on the way home for dinner but Glenn called and told us that Kenna had been screaming like she was in pain for about an hour and that he was going to take her in to urgent care when we got home.  He took Taryn and Kenna in just in case.  Taryn had the beginnings of an infection and Kenna had strep throat and a double ear infection!  Mom fail big time!  I thought the poor little one was teething but she must have been in so much pain.  I felt so badly for her but I was so glad that we had some medicine to get things turned around. It was amazing how quickly Kenna and Taryn became their old selves.  Smiling more easily, sleeping more easily, and crying so much less.  Poor little girls.  It's the first time they've really been sick and it was a doozy.  I still can't believe the odds that the one weekend we get to go to Denver and visit our friends and see places we used to live and visit, all four of our kids get strep!

On Saturday we had arranged to meet the Cluffs at the science museum but Finny was still throwing up everything he took down even though by this time he had had a few doses of zofran.  So I took Tate and the girls while Glenn took Finny to instacare again.  They said he just needed more time and that he wasn't dehydrated so there was nothing to do but wait.  While we were gone he turned a corner and started doing much better but he was still really weak from almost 4 days of no eating.

Tate, Taryn, Kenna and I had a great time with the Cluffs at the museum.  It was amazing to see how much their girls had grown, especially little Katie.  We just love the Cluff family.  They are those friends that no matter where you go or how long it's been since you've seen each other, you still just get each other and have such a good time catching up.

Our visit at the museum could not have been more perfect for Tate.  We hit up a couple of our old favorite exhibits and then had to check out the two new ones as well.  They had an exhibit on poison; plants, animals, poison in literature, solving mysteries involving poison, it was fascinating and Tate was very intrigued.  Then we wandered next door to check out the mythical creatures exhibit.  They had displays about mythical creatures of the land, air, and sea.  Tate is very into mythical creatures right now and it was just perfect for him.  I also loved seeing him reading all the signs for each exhibit.  He couldn't do that last year.  It's remarkable what a different experience it was this year taking him to the museum and seeing him read and gather information from each sign we passed.  So fun.

Our visit with the Cluffs was much too short.  But any visit with the Cluffs would be much too short. We sure miss being able to hang out with their family.  We headed back to the Wilson's for lunch and the girls' nap time before we needed to pick up pizza and go to Centennial park where we had arranged to meet up with a bunch of old friends.  It was SO fun to see so many people at the park and to introduce them to our little girls.  I don't know how to explain it, really, but Denver just feels like home.  We didn't live there very long but the ties we made with members of our ward there are so meaningful and so lasting.  It felt so good to be around people who know me.  Really know me.  And love me and my family so entirely.  It was wonderful to have so many friends come to see us and to have conversations with them that just felt like picking up right where we left off.  Even some people who I didn't spend a lot of time with before we moved but I have become really close to since.  People who just get me.  Man, I am just so glad that we went to all the effort to get up there even though all four of our kids were sick and so many things didn't go as planned.  Being there felt like a deep breath for my soul.  Such a relief.  That night a couple of my favorite young women came over to the Wilsons and talked with us for hours.  We just had a blast telling stories and catching up.  What great girls.  It's so nice to know young women who make me think, "maybe having twin teenage girls won't be too bad."

We attended church with the Wilsons on Sunday and had fun catching up some more friends and then we had to pack up and head out.  As we drove out of the valley it started to rain and it rained pretty much all the way home.  It was beautiful.  I really miss rain storms.

We were able to meet up with the Garlocks for dinner about half way home.  They were coming back to CO from UT and we were headed the other way and it worked out perfectly to meet in the middle really quickly.  Again, so many great friends.  It was so nice to catch up with them even just briefly and I'm so glad we made it happen!

Now we're back in Utah with Aubry and Cody's family.  It's been a busy couple of days trying to get everything packed and settled for Glenn to leave today.  Luckily the kids have all completely recovered and are doing great.  Aubry had to work last night and Glenn and I got to watch the kiddos.  Really we just watched them play together for hours.  They are the sweetest little cousins and I hope that they don't get too tired of each other over the next couple of weeks because watching them love playing together is so wonderful.  Kenzie came over after we had all the kids in bed and Glenn and I got out for a late date night.  It was so nice to be alone together and nice of Kenz to do that for us.

Glenn left in a taxi this morning with four big boxes of our repat treasures.  The kids and I still have a bunch of stuff to take with us to Barcelona, but he was able to take most of it with him.  It was really sad to watch him go.  We miss him so much already.  Just two weeks without him and hopefully it will go quickly.

Here's a little update on the girls this week:

As of a couple of weeks ago, actually, swaddling is no more.  They're such little wiggle worms now and swaddling makes them cranky.  So now we just lie them down in their cribs when it's time for their naps, put a blanket on top of them, and they fall right to sleep.  How did we get so lucky?

It was so nice to see them perk up a bit after they had a couple of days of antibiotics in them.  They started to smile and coo so much more and sleep a little better at night.  They're still not making it solidly until 6 or 7, but hopefully that will come back!

Taryn is a big fan or Kenna's hair.  Or maybe she just loves to torture her sister.  She's too young yet to be able to read her intentions.  Every time we lie them down next to each other Taryn rolls and reaches and scootches to Kenna's head, grabs a tight handful of her hair, and yanks hard over and over.  Kenna just screams in pain and everyone in the room knows that Taryn just pulled Kenna's hair again.  Such a little stinker.

This morning Taryn started scootching forward across the carpet to get to a little yellow ball.  It was so crazy to see her lock her little eyes on it and work her little body so hard until she could get her hands on it.  So exciting and so terrifying all at once.  I'm in so much trouble!

Well, I think that's it for now.  I'll fill in the gaps and post more pictures once we get home.  But for now, here are Taryn and Kenna at 27 weeks old with Glenn right before he left for the airport.

Weeks 25 and 26

I missed a week for the first time ever!  It's going to be really hard to keep track of all of the weeks during repat but I'm going to do my best.

Last week I was in NYC for picture Tuesday.  It was the first time I'd left the babes overnight and it was heavenly to get away for a few days.  Glenn had a crazy weekend and Amy, Gregor and company helped him out so much.  Glenn ended up catching strep so he wasn't feeling great for most of the time.  I was so glad that he had plenty of help loving our little kids while I was away.

I need to post an update on NYC, New Hampshire, and Boston but that will have to wait until I get home and upload all of my pics from my camera.  For now here's an update on our little ladies.

Kenna and Taryn have been such good travelers this week.  Last Wednesday after they turned 25 weeks old Glenn drove the kids down to pick me up in Boston and we stayed with Brendaen and Jill for our last few days on the East Coast.  They slept really well and were so adored by their cousins.  It was such a great stay with the Makechnies.  They were all so kind and helpful, as always, and just loved all of our little kids.  It's so endearing to be around people who love our kids.  And to see our kids love them back.  It's such a recharge for the soul to be around family like that after being away for so long and living in difficult circumstances.  

Here's their picture Tuesday for 25 weeks.  This is a picture that Glenn sent me while he was feeding both little girls at once.  He's amazing.  Which I knew.  

 And one with Grandma Heather and Grandpa Arthur.

Taryn and Kenna have been a little more out of sorts this week.  Taryn has been a bit stuffed up and extra drooly and Kenna has been fevery on an off and just generally not feeling well.  It's sad to see them not feeling their best but we think that they're teething and hopefully after those little teeth poke through they will be feeling better soon. Taryn is starting to scootch around a lot more.  She can turn around on her little belly and roll around like crazy.  Kenna can get around more as well but she generally chooses to just hold still and watch what's going on around her. Auntie Cami and Auntie Aubry lined up all the Hansen girl cousins yesterday and took this cute picture of them all.  Man, we make cute little girls!

Taryn had her EKG and Echo-cardiogram today at primary children's hospital and she was a champ and held very still.  They told us in Saudi that when she had an echo she would need to be sedated!  I'm so glad we came and got some tests done here.  The cardiologist was very sweet and explained everything really clearly.  Her heart murmur is really slight and shouldn't affect her life at all.  We just have to keep an eye on it in case it gets more severe.  Right now it's in the lower end of the mild zone so she's not very worried and that makes me so happy.  I love my little girlies.
Here are the girls 26 weeks old!

Picture Tuesday week 24. And a LoNg journey home!

This week was our big trip back to the US. And what an epic trip it turned out to be.  We left our house at 11:30 Sunday night and took a taxi to the airport in Bahrain. We didn't have any idea what to expect on the causeway so we gave ourselves plenty of time but it ended up being a breeze and we got to the airport with two hours to kill in the middle of the night before our flight boarded to Dubai. All of the kids did so well. They stayed awake and they were happy and sweet.  It was remarkable really. We kept them awake on the flight to Dubai hoping that they would then sleep a lot on our 12 hour flight to Boston. The layover in Dubai was pretty rough. My head had been hurting but it got a lot worse and I ended up throwing up a couple of times at the airport. Tate did just fine after a whole night of no sleep but Finn was a bit of a zombie. We didn't have our strollers since they were checked straight through but emirates airlines had some that the let people use in the airport so we got a couple of those for the girls. But we didn't have enough hands to push one with poor Finny.  He was exhausted and had to walk. He kept crying "I just keep getting so much tired!"  Poor boy.  We had a bit of time to kill so once we got to our gate we sat the boys down with an iPad to keep them awake. Taryn and Kenna were such troopers. They fussed when they were hungry and fell asleep when they were sleepy. We got on our flight and the boys were both out by the time we took off. We got the girls little bassinets set up which was so convenient for us to have somewhere to put them down but not super convenient for the people sitting next to us as it made it difficult to get out and get their tvs out too. Everyone around us was so patient. Taryn and Kenna only cried a few minutes the entire time. We fed them and played with them for a bit and then we'd put them in their bassinets and they'd fall asleep. It was miraculous. Tate and Finn didn't end up sleeping for a long stretch like we had hoped.  They both conked out for a few hours but then they were mostly awake the rest of the time.  Meanwhile, my headache kept getting worse and I kept taking Tylenol but it wasn't helping at all. A few hours into the flight I was checking the clock and wondering how I was going to make it for 9 more hours. After about 6 hours and a few trips to the bathroom to throw up, Glenn asked a stewardess if they could do anything. They ended up calling a doctor on the ground so he could prescribe some pain killers that they had onboard. I took those and they helped a bit but honestly not a lot. I felt kind of foggy and dizzy but the pain wasn't lessened like I hoped it would be. They also gave me oxygen a couple of times as the doctor said that might help too. I felt so sorry for those sweet stewardesses. They couldn't just leave me with the oxygen tank so one of them had to hold it and stand there for about half an hour each of the two times I had it. They were so wonderful and I felt so bad! I don't know if I've had a headache that was worse than that one. And at such an inconvenient time!  Glenn was amazing, as always.  He was so great with all the kiddos and so attentive and worried about me.
Tate and Finn started to get a little antsy at the very end of the flight. And we were all so so happy to land in Boston. Customs was a breeze. Getting all of our luggage took about half an hour and by then I was starting to feel pretty awful again. We got on our shuttle to the car rental place and while we were waiting for Glenn to get things settled I was  watching Finn walk along a low ledge by the window and jump off. I thought to myself, " I should probably tell him not to do that" but I was too sick and tired to do it. And then he slipped when he was taking a jump and hit his head on the leg of one of the chairs. He was screaming pretty hard so I knew there was sure to be blood. Aaaand there was. People rushed over to offer napkins and tissues and bandaids. It was so sweet to have so many people be so helpful so fast.   He had a cut and it bled down his face but it wasn't very big and seemed like more of a deep scrape than a gaping slice so we ruled out a rush to the hospital.
We got little boy bandaged up and got in our car and started driving to Brendaen and Jill's about 4:30. A lady at the car rental place had given us a cup of ice for Finns head. I ended up throwing the ice out the window and throwing up in the cup. Good, good times.
When we got to B's house I went straight downstairs after Glenn set up the bed and went to sleep. The boys were both zonked so Glenn got them bathed and in bed quick too and then he stayed up with Taryn and Kenna and Brendaen and Jill until they were ready for bed. Seriously, Glenn is amazing. I'm so grateful he had the patience and the energy to step up and pick up the slack even after a night of no sleep while I was completely out of commission. Taryn got up in the night but Kenna slept really well that first night. They were up once a night for the first few nights we were here but last night they finally slept until 6:30 again! The adjustment was much smoother than I anticipated as far as the night time sleep is concerned. Their daytime naps are a complete mess but I hope we'll get it figured out eventually.
We ended up at urgent care on Tuesday morning and found out that I have strep throat. I'm so glad it was something that could be treated very easily! And luckily no one else has caught it!
What an adventure. I'm so glad it's over. I think the kind trip would have been surprisingly easy had it not been for me feeling so terrible because the kids were all so wonderful.  I sure love my little kids.
The little ladies have been absolutely adored by their cousins and Aunties here. It's darling and so wonderful to see them love my little miracle babies.
Here's the girls' picture Tuesday for the week.  We've not been great at taking picture of our trip so far.  This one is of the girls playing on the floor of our room.  Sweet, happy girls.
Taryn and Kenna, 24 weeks old