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.