To sum up the personalities of my children...

Eli always wants to be the center of attention, wanting everyone to look and pay attention to him. And Emerson in the background just wanting some quiet time, and to be left alone. She's shy just like her dad. It will be interesting to see how they continue to develop. 

The day after...

we made it home and we're all exhausted. We all slept in until 9:30 which is unheard of for the babies and I only woke up at 9 because my friend was knocking on the door (I forgot that she was dropping a book off for me). Marcus skipped his morning class and the babies basically napped all day long. At one point Emerson took a four hour nap. My poor tired babies.

I also for the first ever since having babies was able to do the whole, "nap while the babies are napping" thing. It's never really worked before because they don't usually nap at the same time. I was attempting to do some reading while the babies were napping and instead woke up an hour later sleeping on top of my book.

I also didn't go to my afternoon class but that's more the result of not having a baby-sitter since he was sick this morning.  But I honestly didn't mind having an excuse to stay in out of the snow.

Overall it was just kind of a lazy day. Tons of snow and lots of napping babies who just whined when they were awake. They did so amazing on the trip all things considering, but I'm so happy we don't have any plane rides in the near future.

It's snowing in Pittsburgh...

and I praying, hoping, wishing, crossing my fingers that we do not get stuck here for the night. We're so close to being home and after the ridiculousness of a cross-country weekend trip with two 9 months old that included 7 different airports and two hotel rooms I just need to be home. I'm glad we made the effort, I wanted to be there for my sisters wedding, and we made it and it was beautiful and she was so excited we made it, but I'm over this flying thing. No more snow, no more airports, no more hotel rooms, and no more conversations with strangers about twins.  

Just in case you were wondering when flying across the country with twins one may encounter: 

1.) One man who has a twin sister and also younger siblings who are also b/g twins, plus an extra surprise 5th baby even though his dad was suppose to have had the big V. 

2.) A man sitting next to me on the plane with two year old twin boys who was incredibly kind when Eli was kicking and yelling at him for some attention. 

3.) A man in North Carolina with 26 year old twin boys. 

4.) A woman at Chili's in Phoenix who has a twin sister, and is the mother of two kids who are 18 months apart. She thinks that I have it easier, I think she's nuts, but I just smiled and nodded and said okay. 

5.) Another man a Chili's who is the father of 17 year old twin boys who were sitting at the table with him. I got to see photos of the boys when they were 2 and then their recent 17 year old pictures. Not sure what to say when looking at photos of two 17 year old boys. Saying, "how cute" seems inappropriate so I just smiled and nodded while he kept on talking. 

6.) A man in Denver who has 21 year old b/g twins and an extra "accident" baby 18 months younger (the word "accident" is his not mine). 

People tend to over share and talk to us when we're out with the babies. Being in busy airports we got more comments than usual. 

And in addition to all the twin friends we encountered we also got the random questions from people about how we tell them apart. One women suggested that maybe I had put different colored socks on them as a means of identification. I gently informed her that they look nothing alike and weren't even the same sex. 

Fun times. Please let us get home soon.

Deep thoughts at 4:00 am....

Me: You finally gave up on the pillow?

(*Side note marcus hated the pillows at our hotel*)

Marcus: It rolled away.

Me: How could it roll away?

Marcus: To tired to explain.

Me: Ok

Marcus: Thanks for understanding.

**End scene**

3 hours of sleep in North Carolina. We're now awaiting our final flight in Phoenix hanging out with Marcus' brother. Almost there kind of.

Off to the West Coast... by way of North Carolina...

The first stage of our trip went incredibly smoothy. We got to the airport early expecting it to be a madhouse due to all the cancelled flights from the day before, but it was surprisingly empty. Both babies have been delightful moods all day, especially Emerson and neither baby has cried since we left our apartment at 3:30 (it's now almost midnight).

While waiting for our flight Eli got a little restless and attempted to escape from his car seat where we had set him so we could make a bottle. And he tried to get the attention of anyone near us so he could show them something. We also met a man who had a twin sister and then also had another set of twin siblings four years younger than he and his sister. I so pray that two sets of twins is never my reality. God bless that guys mother. 

On the flight we held the babies on our lap and I have to say given any kind of an option I would much rather they have seats. They both did amazing but they are heavy after awhile and it's really awkward to try and make bottles and move in a small airplane seat with a kid in my arms. Marcus was also stuck in a middle seat which is not ideal in even the best of circumstances but is even worse with a wiggly baby in his arm. 

After landing we got our hospitality coupon for a discounted rate on a room (since the airline is the cause of our need for an overnight stay and the shuttle picked us up). Both babies slept briefly on the plane but for the remainder they were both wide eyed taking everything in. 

The funniest thing is when we finally got into our room, both babies just went nuts. It reminded me of when I was younger with my 5 siblings. Whenever we stayed in a hotel we thought it was the greatest adventure ever and we all got hyped up, wanted to jump on the bed, didn't want to sleep, and basically all six of us went crazy. 

I had no idea this behavior manifested itself in infants. When we laid Eli and Emerson in the hotel bed they just went nuts. Laughing, clapping, Eli doing his backbends. It was hysterical and unlike anything either of them have ever done before. They should have been exhausted since it was 10:30 and way past bedtime but they didn't act like it at all.

They're just nuts.

They did eventually calm down and as I type they're both sleeping peacefully. 

Hopefully part II and III of this trip tomorrow will go as well. Especially since we have to get up in 4 hours and do everything again on a longer 5 hour flight. 

(And it's still so strange that we're making a random pit stop in North Carolina in order to get to Nevada. I almost feel like I'm in the movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles). 

Stupid Snow...

The Nor'eastern they call Barbara (I still find it so strange that they name snow storms on the east coast) has not been very kind to our travel plans, and for the past two days I have been woken at 6:00 am by airlines informing me that my flights have been cancelled.

My sister is getting married on Saturday in Nevada and we booked our flight long before we knew about Barbara. Tuesday morning we got a call that our flights for Wednesday were cancelled. We expected that and immediately called the airline to reschedule (and after over an hour on hold) they had nothing to offer us until Monday. Meaning we would miss the wedding.

So we frantically searched for flights on another airline which were all crazy expensive and disappearing as soon as we clicked on them. We bought our second set of tickets for Thursday only to wake up this morning to another phone call that those flights were cancelled too.

So back on the phone with the airline. This time we had the nicest woman who spent over an hour trying to figure out a way to get us to the wedding. The flight plan is way less than ideal and includes an overnight stop in North Carolina but desperate times call for desperate measures. She went to the extra effort of helping us find hotels in the area.

So baring any other strange issues we should arrive in Nevada friday evening just in time for the wedding. Wish us luck because this is going to be an exhausting travel experience.

In other snow news we took the babies outside briefly when there was a brief interlude in the snow. Eli had never been in the snow and we wanted to see if he would react better than Emerson and her first snow experience when she glared and screamed her head off.

Emerson did a little better. While not thrilled she didn't cry.

Making snow angels. 

And in usual Eli fashion he loved every second of the snow. He laughed and smiled...

And attempted to do his backbends in the snow.

OT and doctor appointments...(last friday)

I'm a little behind in post this but better late than never I guess. Last Friday Emerson had her first session with an occupational therapist to look into her continued and persistent resistance to bottles. She has been incredibly hard to feed since coming home from the NICU and the problem continues. She just won't eat. She'll eat an ounce or two and then refuses the bottle, she can go hours and hours without eating, and she's just not getting enough ounces in a 24 hour period. The whole cycle is frustrating for everyone involved me, Marcus and Emerson.

We don't force her to eat but she wakes up at night crying because she hasn't eaten all day. She seems to only be hungry at 9pm every night (3 hours past bedtime). While the occupational therapist didn't have any magic solutions I was relieved that I wasn't imagining all the difficulty.

As I started reviewing Emerson's history I was shocked that every single thing we have tried and experienced was common with babies who have similar issues with the bottle. I mentioned that often Marcus will hold up his cell phone while she's eating so she's distracted and doesn't remember that she has a bottle in her mouth. According to the OT that's pretty typical in these cases.

She asked if Emerson puts toys and things in her mouth and the answer to that is no. I've always been fascinated by the fact that Emerson can hold toys/cell-phones/objects and just study them without ever putting them in her mouth. (Eli instantly puts every thing in his mouth).

She also reviewed our eating log. Marcus and I still record the time and amount that each baby eats everyday. We do this for many reasons. 1). It's just easier with our schedules to be able to reference when they last ate. 2). We are of course worried about the amount each of them eats and it became a habit after coming home from the NICU when we were really working to make sure they were eating enough. As it is Emerson still is not eating as much as she needs to.

But I was relieved that when she looked at the log and compared Emerson's eating habits to Eli's the problem was immediately evident. (I always have this strange fear that I'm imagining things or being a worrier for no reason) so it was nice to have my concerns and experience validated.

Then she watched as I tried to feed Emerson. The timing worked out that Emerson hadn't eaten for over 3 hours so she should have been hungry. But in true Emerson fashion she ate an ounce and then refused the rest of the bottle. The OT then wanted me to feed her some solids which was complicated by the fact that Emerson has stranger anxiety and anytime I set her down or put her in the highchair she flipped out. I had to try and feed Emerson oatmeal from my lap. She did a little better with the oatmeal and then the OT watched her play with objects without ever putting them near her mouth. (Maybe this is why we didn't know she was getting teeth she never ever chews on anything and then one day teeth hmm...)

The OT mentioned that many times babies who have been in the NICU and start out with tubes in their mouths sometimes continue to be resistant to things in their mouths. While we will never know if this is the root of the problem it is one explanation. We are also lucky because Emerson will put the bottle in her mouth (most of the time), she just stops eating after an ounce or two usually.

So we were advised to do several things:
1). Play with toys and other objects around her mouth to encourage her to experiment with having other things in her mouth.
2.) Introduce a mesh feeder
3.) Give her more solids if she's not as resistant to eating them in order to get more food into her.

So no huge revelations more validation and some advice. We'll see next week at their 9 month well baby check-up how Emerson's weight gain has been. The OT is coming back in a month to check in on things and see how it's going.

:::
This same day Eli sounded congested, had a little cough, and a runny nose. Marcus and I always fear the worse (RSV or something) and so after talking to a nurse at the pedi. office she decided we should bring him in to have him checked out. The problem with this was:

1.) The OT was literally suppose to arrive any second
2.) Marcus was in class and had our one car

I attempted to explain this too the nurse and asked if we could have an appointment 30 min. later and she   basically yelled at me. "You're telling me that your son is sick and you want to wait? You probably want him seen sooner than later!" OK... I wasn't suggesting we wait a week but I had a woman coming to my home, no car, and Marcus was in class. I wasn't intentionally trying to be difficult and I appreciate that they could get us in so quickly, but geez she made me feel like I was being incredibly irresponsible for needing a later time than 20 min. from the moment of our phone conversation.

So I had to text Marcus and he left class in the middle and literally ran across his campus so he could get home to take Eli. I tried to call the OT and reschedule but as I called she already at at my door, so I couldn't exactly turn her away.

Fun times. So Marcus took Eli, I stayed with Emerson, and we compared notes later. (Another joy of having twins I suppose to many babies/appointments/ without the ability to be in multiple places at the same time).

Eli was mostly fine he has a cold. The doctor told us it wasn't yet in his lungs and to let her know if it got any worse or he started wheezing, so ultimately probably another case of paranoid parents but better safe than sorry.