Comparing the Twins to Hayley

More then once I've said "why can't these twins have the temperament Hayley had when she was a infant?" I know a parent shouldn't compare their kids against siblings but it's tough not to. Especially when they are so different. Hayley was so easy going and she was always smiling. Everywhere we went she'd smile at strangers prompting comments such as "she's a keeper" and "what an awesome baby". Hayley was the only baby out of 10 that did not cry at her baptism. By four months Hayley was sleeping through the night most of time. When she started teething she would wake up a here and there but for the most part a quick comforting and she'd be back sleeping. When Hayley was born she had to go to the ICU for four days to monitor her for a possible infection. Having this IV in her head didn't bother her a bit.

Anyway, since the twins were born they have been in constant need of attention. It's so stressful to take them anywhere because it's inevitable they will end up crying. Especially on long road trips. Since they seem to sleep better in the truck we'll even bite the bullet in gas money and drive it instead of the car. They aren't too bad during the day, but around 7pm they start their usual cry fest. One or the other is always in need of something and they do not enjoy laying on the floor like Hayley did. It drives us so crazy. When we had Hayley we didn't know what to expect. It was such an awesome experience we couldn't wait to have another one. Now we sometimes question having more then one. Which makes us feel terrible. There's a couple across the street from us waiting to adopt another child and here we are complaining. Hopefully now that they are closing in on four months old things will get better.

Wally Worst

After about a year of procrastinating getting our hallway painted I finally got to it today. It's been a major pain in the butt. It started a few years back when the wall paper started pulling away from the wall. When Hayley started crawling she tore a bunch more of it off. Eventually I tore off the wall paper when I was home last Christmas which caused a chunck of sheet rock paper and mud to get ripped off as well. I tried skimming the wall but after I sanded the wall I primed the wall only to have a bunch more sheet rock paper come loose. Finally I just started ripping a bunch of the sheet rock paper off and I tried priming over that. Needless to say it looked terrible. I finally gave up and decided I'd spend some time on it to do it right. Since Jen was in Little Falls this week I skimmed the wall again with mud and sanded. I repeated the processes a few times until I got the desired result.

I got up early today (9:00am) to get some more primer and paint from Wal-Mart. I was the only person in the paint area for 10-15 minutes or so. I had picked my color out so I waited for the employee behind the counter to finish putting away a cart full of stuff. Clearly one could see I standing next to the counter waiting for help. Then a couple came walking up looking for paint and they asked a question and the guy started helping them. When he was done I asked if I could get some paint mixed. He said "I was helping them first, I'll get to you when they're done". We'll this is fine but they were picking out a color. So this guy couldn't help me quick and while they were picking out their color. At first I was just going to wait but after thinking about it for a sec I said screw it and I left my cart in the isle with my grocieries that I'd picked up and left. I went to Home Depot where the paint guys behind the counter were more then happy to help me.

I really can't stand Wal-Mart. Why people continue shopping there is beyond me. (Myself included) They've basically undercut all their competitors to the point where there is no competition anymore in many towns. Luckily I live next to a Super Target, it's to bad they don't sell paint.

The Car Seat Dilema

A couple weeks ago we drove home from Little Falls and the Twins fell asleep in their car seat. We brought them in the house and just let them sleep instead of trying to move them into their crib. They woke up about 8 hours later. Whenever we put them in the crib both twins generally wake up once a night or about every 4 hours. Two nights ago they both got up twice and woke up super early. So being super sleep deprived we decided to try letting them sleep in their car seats last night. Braxtyn fell asleep at 9 and Elliot at 9:30. It's 6:30am now and both of them are still sleeping.

When they slept for 8+ hours last time in there car seat I mentioned it at work. I thought maybe we should use their car seats all the time. A girl overheard me and stopped by my cube to tell me that her doctor said that it causes the back of their heads to become flat. I wonder if there is a way to prevent the flat head thing in a car seat. In the crib we use a blanket to prop them up on one side or the other but that's difficult to do in a car seat.

Hayley's First Time Fishing

Sunday Hayley's uncle, Matt, wanted to take Hayley fishing. We were planning on heading home early so my dad could meet the twins for the first time. We tried to sneak in a quick fishing trip, but as it always turns out a quick trip turns into an excursion. The fish were biting within 10 seconds of casting so it was a ton of fun for Hayley. Hayley's grandpa caught a fish and after to unhooked it, he dropped it on the dock and it bounced up into his drink. That was pretty funny. So needless to say we missed my dad. Sorry dad. Anyway, hopefully they'll get to see them soon like over the 4th of July. In the mean time here's some video of Hayley catching fish.





Head on over to the photo gallery from the day if you're interested as well these videos are in full resolution too. Although taking video into the sun didn't work so well.

Unpacking More Boxes

I've basically been on baby watching duty as Jen is going through boxes. She's about half way. I can see outside the porch windows now. It's starting to look promising. Here's some pics of my big helper and the twins.

Headache

About mid afternoon yesterday I started getting a small headache. I took some Advil but that seemed to work for an hour or so but then it came back pretty strong. By the time I left work my head was pounding so bad that my commute home was horrible. I couldn't get home fast enough. After I got home I took a nap that lasted 12 hours. I felt bad cuz Hayley was so excited to see me and then she started crying when I went to take a nap. I was hoping for a quick turnaround so I could play with her but it wasn't happening this time. Normally after a long rest my headaches are gone but it's still there today, just not as strong. Headaches are one of the biggest pains in the arse for me. I get them about once or twice a month. Lately they are more frequent and they're getting worse. Last time I asked the doctor about it he said it's just stress. Maybe I'll try a different doctor cuz if it's just stress, then I've been stressed since I was a kid. I remember getting headaches as far back as 10. Hopefully I didn't pass that trait onto the kids.

The Porch

Boxes piled to the ceiling and a small walkway through it. This would be our porch. Now this is normally not a big deal if a house is empty, the problem is our house is currently fully furnished. So where the heck did all this crap come from. I'm hoping it's just a bad packing job and maybe there's just one or two small items per box. With 2 month old twins and Hayley we don't have a lot of time to find out.

Unpacking

I finally got my computer up and running at home thanks to Janel watching Hayley and the twins this morning. Jen and I got all our bedrooms organized and most of the bedroom stuff unpacked. Now its on to organizing the living room, kitchen, basement and porch. Looking at the porch now I don't think it'll ever be livable again, there are so many unpacked boxes in there. I have no clue how we accumulated so much stuff.

Now that I have a computer working I'll try and blog again more often. In the mean time here's a slide show from my last day in CA during the 17 mile drive.

Last Day In CA

Last Saturday was my last day in CA. I haven't had a computer to blog with since then so I'm blogging about it now. Friday I left work early to hit the 17 mile drive. Jen has taken a few guest on the drive and the pics she has taken are awesome so I wanted to see it before I left. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. Pebble Beach golf course is on the route as well so it was cool seeing that. I was tempted to pay the 600+ to play 18 but a 2 month advance notice tee-time is needed. Other then that it was mostly just cliff and rocks. We saw some historic bridge too. Had I had a coat Chad and I would've climbed to the bottom. It was very cold out. We turned about at the bridge and headed back to Sunnyvale. It was kind of sad leaving CA. Getting another upgrade to first class took some of the edge of leaving though.

Mountain Biking

I never got to capture video from my mountain biking excursions but Ben over at studio711 made a great video of him biking in Washington. From the video it looks like the trail he's on is similiar to the trails here in CA. Check it out video, it's pretty cool.

Mario Kart

Well I just finished whooping up on Mario Kart. I beat all but levels but he easiest. I beat a few series on the easy level and it was too easy so I moved up after a few races. There's a medium level that is motorcycles only, a hard level that mixes both karts and motorcycles and another hard level that mirrors all the tracks. I met my goal of beating the game before the movers came tomorrow morning. I would've been tempted to keep the big screen here had I not finished the game. Mario Kart is all about luck. I had so many races where I was winning for two laps and on the final lap I'll get hit with blue shell that blows me up and the a bunch more shells and before you know it I'm in last place. That part of the game kind of sucks but it adds a chance factor to the game. One can't just master the game and beat it every time they pick it up. I love the Wii Wheel. It'd be so awesome to have the wheel for Forza or Burnout. No wires or mounts to worry about just hold up the wheel and race away.

Upgraded to First Class

I went to check in yesterday and I wasn't assigned a seat when I purchased my ticket so I was expecting to have to select a seat. Well low and behold I was upgraded to first class. That was a pleasant surprise. At some point I accrued enough miles to make silver elite but I'm not sure when. The breakfast was great even for plane food. (Either that or I don't eat good otherwise making this breakfast seem awesome) Hopefully I'll be upgraded to first class on my flight home.

The only complaint I could muster on this trip was the vehicle I got from Avis. You'd think they hate me or something torchering me with a Hyundai something or other. It's a cross over and it's the most awkward driving thing and it's super uncomfortable to sit in. But I only need to drive it for a week so I'll live with it.

Hayley Flying

iFlickr
Originally uploaded by ksetrum

Hand her a Video iPod with Cars loaded and all is good. Actually she had an older lady sitting next to her that played with her the entire flight except for the last 30 minutes or so that she slept in my arms. It was great having that lady play with her as I was able to catch a nap with the twins sleeping.

The Twins Flying

iFlickr
Originally uploaded by ksetrum

We headed out for the airport and I was thinking we had plenty of time. We actually ended up being lucky the flight was delayed since we probably would've missed our flight otherwise. Security was a major pain with the twins. We had five bags 3 carseats, my laptop and a stroller for twins. It probably took 15 minutes just to get our stuff through.

When we got to the gate the twins started screaming and we could see the eyes looking over at us thinking "We don't have to deal with that on do we?" But we got on the plane and got everything situated and after feeding them they slept the entire flight. If they would sleep on every flight I'd probably buy tickets just so they'd sleep.

Heading Out

Well this is our last night in CA together as a family. The twins got immunization shots this morning so they were kind of crabby all day so Jen couldn't get much packing done. We ended staying up pretty late packing and we still have more to do tomorrow morning. Hopefully we have enough stuff packed to hold us over until the movers get everything to us. I'm looking forward to being home and taking a long nap when Jens mom gets to the house. It gets even better when I get to come back to CA by myself next week and catch a ton of sleep without interruptions. I might just take a couple days off from work to sleep. It'd be nice if I could bank some sleep while I'm out here. Oh and I can't forget the Mario Kart either. Between sleep and Mario Kart it's going to be a great week next week.

Picasa Slideshow

Picasa is my favorite photo management tool. It has built in editing capabilities and it's one of easiest and best tools I've used, it's free and it's available on both Windows and Linux via Wine. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a photo management tool. Tonight I was going to upload a bunch of photo's to the blog but I thought that it would clutter the site so I thought it'd be cool to embed a slide show of photo's instead. Although it's been a feature forever I just found it when I searched for features on Picasa Web Albums. So here's a slide show of recent pics of the twins. (many of the pics haven't been rotated... I blame Jen) We had guests over tonight an they all agreed that they look like they've doubled in size. So far they've gained about 4-5lbs.



And just an FYI - if you use Flickr you can get the same slide show feature.

Weekend Recap - Harley, Toys R Us, and Ikea

This is our last weekend in CA and it pretty much went out with a thud.. but what do you expect with new born twins. The weekend was one of the best weekends we've had this year weather wise. It was close to 100 Wednesday and Thursday so the 80's we got on Friday - Sunday felt pretty good. (Actually the 100 degree days weren't bad since there is zero humidity here) Friday after getting the twins feed and what not Hayley and I hit the pool. She spent close to two hours there. It was pretty fun as she's gotten really good with her arm floater's.

Saturday we took Hayley to her favorite park where they have a water fountain. I was kind of nervous since they are so water conscious when the weather is hot. I figured they'd have it turned off. But they didn't which was great for Hayley. After spending a couple hours at the park we went to Harley to pick up some Harley shirts with some local logos for Mike. It was pretty comical cuz as we were leaving Harley Hayley said "Toy's R Us". I didn't see a sign for it but I new it was around there somewhere. (I miss the GPS already) So I drove around a six block radius and it was right across from Harley. I swear I looked all over for the sign when Hayley said it but I figured she just new it was around there or something since we mentioned it earlier. Toys R Us is a great store for Hayley to run around in. It keeps her occupied for hours. One interesting toy we saw there was a back yard water slide. This thing looked awesome.

After Toy's R Us we went to Ikea to get Sven and Sandra a gift card for watching Hayley so much. While we were they we ate some Swedish meatballs and potatoes. I've never really thought about Ikea as a restaurant but after eating there we're going back there more often. The food there was good and cheap and the portions were huge.

We wrapped up the weekend taking Hayley swimming again and hanging out with Sven, Sandra, their daughter and their twins. Moving back home is going to be a bummer cuz we won't be able to hang out with them. Hayley and their daughter Simera get along really well. They've given us plenty of advice as well since they have twins and a daughter Hayley's age. I get a kick out of their stories, but then it's not so funny cuz now we're living it.

Anyway, it's 4 days and we're back in MN.

Conflicting Advice

After we had Hayley, Jen and I got a lot of conflicting advice from Doctors and Nurses on how to best care for her. (Read Post) Whether it be holding them while they sleep or putting them in their crib after feedings, almost every nurse had their own opinion. Basically it boiled down to what works for you. It was almost comical with the twins as one nurse insisted on swaddling them with their arms down while another nurse commented that in the Nic U they swaddle them with their hands by their face cuz it makes them more comfortable. Almost every parent has an opinion on how best take care of a new born. All this is not all bad either as we give anything new we hear a try as long as it doesn't sound harmful.

Braxtyn and Elliott started out of the shoot eating a lot. Especially Braxtyn, who was eating double the suggested amount at each feeding. He was eating so much that Jen and I were concerned about it, but we figured as long as he wanted it that it was ok to keep feeding him. When they had their first checkup at three weeks they were up to 6-7 oz at most feedings. The doctor said this was way to much. She said eating that much was bad for their small stomachs and that we risked frequent spitting up and obesity. She said to try and use a pacifier to satisfy them after they've eating 4oz. (The twins rarely spit up) So we fought for the next three weeks trying to feed them less only to have to deal with them crying and crying. It was getting frustrating to say the least.

At our doctors appointment last Thursday we saw a different doctor since their doctor was on vacation. She asked us how they were eating and we said good. Then I asked what was the max they should be eating and she said there was no max. Just feed them until they're satisfied. We told her what the other doctor said and she just said "she flat out disagreed with that!". She said as long as we weren't force feeding them we were fine. She said they don't worry about getting to much food at this age. We were relieved to hear this as we could feed them until they were happy and maybe they'd stop crying so much. In most cases hearing conflicting advice has confused us but in this case I'm happy we saw another doctor. We'd still be fighting through this had we not. In the future I'm not going to hesitate getting a second opinion if we're having issues with the kids.

What Works

Lately we've been trying everything to get the twins to sleep. A while back Jen said that they stopped crying when she vacuumed. So I download an mp3 of Ocean waves and burned it to a CD. The CD sat on the desk ever since then. I kind of thought it wouldn't work so I never bothered with it. Well last night we couldn't get them to stop crying for anything. I put Braxtyn in the playpen to see if he'd cry it out for a few minutes, it wasn't working. Finally I grabbed the CD and put the player in their play pen and cranked up the sounds of the ocean and it took no more then 5 seconds and he stopped crying and went to sleep. Jen at the time was holding Elliott, trying to get him calmed down. She saw this work for Braxtyn so she put Elliot in the play pen and they both were soundly sleeping for about a half hour. They woke up because it was feeding time but after we fed them they went back in the playpen and slept. They woke up once during the night which was great. Last night was also the first night the twins didn't need their car seats to sleep. We're pretty excited about this, hopefully it continues to work.

Mothers Day Recap

We didn't do much on Mothers day. We were both pretty shot from Saturday. We brought Hayley to the park with the water fountain that kids can play with. She can spend hours playing in wet sand. Other then that was just sat around the house and Jen took a nap. The twins did us a favor though and slept from 10:30-5am. That was pretty cool, hopefully that trend continues. They've slept for 4+ hours the last three nights now.

We also watched the Twins on TV since they were on the ESPN. What a great game. Pitchers duels are great, but once in a while it's fun to see a game that's dominated by offense.