Just Because I Love This

I Won

Me.

I did it.

The girl who doesn't know where Villanova and Cornell are.

The girl who doesn't follow sports.

I was the first place winner in a game with ten players.

I did all of the research myself and went against the crowd who chanted Kansas.

I chanted Duke.

I find myself walking with a bouncier step.

I find myself smiling randomly.

Some may say it is not that big of a deal.

To me, it is.

I did it.

I won.

A Very Sad Day

Last Wednesday Cameron had a runny nose. That was no big surprise to me because Dallin had contracted a small cold and his nose had been running for a few days.

It was a different story on Thursday.

I woke up to a sick baby. He was fussy and it seemed like his breathing was unusually fast and wheezy. It seemed like as the day wore on his breathing became more and more labored. I called Darin and told him that he needed to come home so that we could take him to the urgent care. We loaded up the babies and after an hour wait, Cameron was seen by the doctor. She told us that she didn't like how he was breathing and that we should take him immediately to the ER. She recommended that we take him to a children s hospital in the middle of Jacksonville. She told us that it probably wasn't serious enough to take an ambulance, but we needed to get him there right away.

We finally arrived at the hospital and after an initial examination they quickly begun breathing treatments. Those treatments weren't as effective as they would have liked and so they x-rayed his chest and tested him for RSV. Thankfully the chest x-rays didn't show pneumonia the RSV test came back negative. After waiting there for hours they diagnosed him with bronchiolitis.

Since we are away from family and don't know anybody in Jacksonville we had to not only take care of Cameron, but look after Dallin and keep him occupied as well. After being at the hospital for hours, they told us that they would need to keep Cameron overnight to give him more treatments and monitor his breathing.

By the time that we actually got to the hospital room it was after 11:30. Dallin was asleep in his car seat and Cameron was very miserable and did not want to be put down. We finally decided that Darin and Dallin would go home and try and get as much rest as possible and I would stay with Cameron.

They left to go home and the nurse hooked Cameron up to all sorts of little monitors. Much to his enjoyment and my dismay there were "fun" cords all over him. It took a substantial effort to make sure they were not all promptly ripped off. By the time the nurses left us to sleep it was 12:30ish. Cameron actually slept fine and he enjoyed all of the attention from mommy and the other nurses and doctors at the hospital.

I was especially grateful that he didn't need an IV. I was concerned when he didn't really seem interested in breakfast. I tried to breastfeed him and he refused so I tried to feed him some mashed bananas. I only got him to eat a couple of spoonfuls. He was coughing a lot and when I was holding him he threw up all over me. I changed Cameron into the outfit he was wearing the previous day but I didn't have any extra clothes to change into. I just had to wait for Darin to come and bring me some extra clothes. Nasty. After he cleared out his stomach contents on me, he was once again interested in eating.

Darin called in sick from work and came with Dallin as soon as he could. They continued to monitor him and make sure that his breathing was stable. It was really sad for us to see him hooked up to all of the monitors, but we were relieved that he had improved a great deal.

Thankfully that evening we returned home and he has continued to do a lot better. He and Dallin are back getting into mischief and enjoying life. That was so scary. It really makes you realize how blessed you are when your kids are healthy and happy. Sometimes I take that blessing for granted. I know that there are some people whose kids are in the hospital for days and months at a time. That would take a lot of faith. My heart really goes out to those parents. I am so grateful for my beautiful boys and am so grateful that my sweet Cameron is well again.

Karma

Last Monday marked a special event. It was the first time we flew on an airplane with twins! It was an all day event because we were flying from Salt Lake to Atlanta to Jacksonville, Florida.

It was a very interesting experience to travel via air with two babies. First came all of the packing. It seemed like we were trying to shove things in every nook and cranny of our luggage. We took: two pack and play's, two high chairs, two car seats with the bases, two large blankets, toys, diaper bag, stroller with canopy, baby food, a boppy, our two bags, and two bags of the babies clothes. Unfortunately we choose to fly on Delta so we had to pay for all of our luggage. We spent a grand total of $120.00 on the luggage (After that little expense I made an internal pact to always fly on Southwest because they don't charge for the first two bags of luggage).

As we walked around the airport we got a lot of the usual comments. We heard a lot of, "Double trouble," and "You must have your hands full." We have become accustomed to comments like this and most of the time people are just being friendly. We ran into one woman, however, who had a different agenda with her comments...

It was a middle-aged woman with bleach-blonde hair. She had a couple of little kids with her and her husband. At first she started by saying, "Look at those cute babies. Twins!" She then looked down at her little girl and said, not in a soft whispering voice, but in a loud voice, "I sure hope that they aren't sitting in the back of the plane because that is where we are sitting. I hope that they are sitting at the very front of the plane. Far away from us."

I then had an incredible urge to turn to her and say a nasty comment back to her. Instead of succumbing to my desire, I ignored her and focused on boarding the plane.

As luck and fate would sometimes have it, we were sitting in the back. Right in front of old bleach-blonde.

I am happy to report that throughout the entire plane ride the babies were fabulous. They ate their snacks, played with their toys, and both took a long nap. Old bleach-blonde's kids were the obnoxious ones. They were whiney, cried out really loud, and had strewn food and toys all over. Such is karma.

In their defense, the husband was actually really nice. But at one point on the plane ride Cameron was sleeping peacefully in my arms and he actually asked me if we drugged our kids. I answered no and he informed me that when his kids were younger they would hop them up on benadryl and then they would sleep through the entire plane ride. I didn't agree with that and for the second time that day, I bit my tongue to that family.

The babies did really well that day and we made it to Jacksonville without any major catastrophe's besides old bleach-blonde, a poop out in Atlanta, and the absence of the bottom part of the car-seat base (another reason I will try and always fly Southwest).

As the babies' first plane ride ended we snapped these photos (as I got the camera out and was taking the photo old bleach-blonde had to mutter a final comment of "Give me a break.") As their family exited the plane with kids crying, the only thing on my mind was: Karma.




P.S. I would like to give a big shout out to the family that was seated in front of me. They traded seats with us, were very polite to us, helped us with our luggage, and even shared some of their treats with us. Thanks.

Now I Know

Darin and I were so grateful when we were expecting the babies because there were always people who would give us nice hand-me-down clothes. Some of the babies' most used outfits came from other peoples children. Most if not all of the clothes were between the ages 0-6 months. I always wondered why there weren't very many of the larger sizes? Know I know!

When it is Quiet....

I have often heard people say that when they don't hear their kids making a lot of noise, then they are doing something they shouldn't. I find this to be true. Already.

Darin and I have been staying in a hotel suite in Dallas the past week. Today the babies and I woke up and after they were fed and contentedly playing on the floor I decided to take a quick shower and wash the grime out of my hair. While I was in the shower I heard a clunk. I figured it was Dallin playing with Darin's belt on the tile floor of the vanity area. I didn't really think too much of it and quickly finished my shower.

Much to my horror when I stepped out of the shower I encountered this little disaster. The other child had fled by that time. It was the both of their doing.

To make matters worse, there was old gunky hair hanging out of the exposed pipe and dirty water all over the floor. The babies had tons of hair in their hands and Cameron started coughing like he had something caught in his throat. We are in a HOTEL. You never know who was here before and what people put down the sink. Needless to say I almost threw up just thinking of all of the details. I immediately got the kids out of the crime scene, made myself presentable, and called for backup (hotel maintenance). I scrubbed the kids hands and tried to see if there was anything in Cameron's mouth. I was very relieved to not find anything.

On the kid's behalf, they didn't really intend to break the sink and really if it was secure enough and put together well enough, they wouldn't have been able to pull it apart so easily. Nasty.

Somehow even though this was so horrible, I have this terrible feeling that I am just at the beginning of a path that will lead me to experience many more of these disasters and some that are probably worse than a broken sink. Please pray for me to have a stomach made of iron and ears that are able to detect every quiet moment especially when trouble is lurking around the corner (or under the sink).

The Tongue Clickers

The babies have learned a new little skill - to click their tongues especially at meal time when they want to be fed.
I was not even aware that babies could click their tongues. How funny.