There is No Place Like Nebraska: Part 1

1 full week and 331 pictures later there is too much to share! In an attempt to share the highlights without overwhelming, I'm going to divide our trip into parts, and mostly show pictures. We have been able to have some quality time with my extended family. Seeing them was the main purpose for this trip, and the time (which is never enough) was such a blessing. Here are a few pictures:

Ryan has a heart-to-heart with Great Grandma

4 generations standing by the sign for our family business. 1 generation started the business. 3 generations have worked there (2 work there currently). 1 generation will work there someday!
Their first ride on the merry-go-round with Papa, Gigi, and my cousins (who you can't see in this picture).

(L-R, back-front) Cousins Courtney, Christina, me, Ashley, Brandey, Brother Nic, Uncle Jon & Aunt Phyllis

2 generations of twins (I have changed the diapers of both!)

Ryan enjoys some time playing with the big boys (pictured here with my youngest cousin!)

Allie takes a break from reading with my cousin H to pose for the camera.

My cousin D was quick to bond with the babies.

Ry-guy makes sure Great Grandpa is watching.

Allie & Great Grandma

I have (no joke) a hundred more pictures, but these are a few of the highlights. It was truly a joy to spend time with my family, and to introduce my babies to them. Hopefully, we will see them much more often in the future! We love you guys!

Giddy

We are here! It has been roughly 2 1/2 years since I have been to Nebraska and I am completely giddy! It's so exciting to see my parents' house and the church where Lucas and I were married (which is across the street). I cannot wait to see my extended family (and hopefully a few friends) who I haven't seen in years!

The twins with Gigi & Great Aunt Jan

And I'm giddy from the trip out - not only did it go well, but we stayed the night with my cousin who lives halfway. She and her family lived in Maine when we moved to MA, and we loved seeing them and spending holidays with them. Then they moved back home. We hadn't seen them since their move, and it was so great to catch up and see the kids. A few pictures of our stay...

Pushing the shopping cart

Loving on the dog

Riding in the shopping basket

Hanging out with the big boys Rides in the Tonka truck

Snapshots

A few snapshots (and 1 video) of our last few days:

Trying on our helmets

Our first bike ride

Look who learned to turn!

Helping Daddy practice guitar

Playing while Mommy packs

Enjoying the pieces of cake that stuck to the pan

We leave first thing in the morning for Nebraska! Exciting adventures and pictures to follow, I'm sure :)

Evidence

Because I know that the pitiful pictures will (and did) break their grandparents' (and great grandparents') hearts, I made sure to take lots of pictures of our events today - as evidence that the twins truly ARE better.

We always tend to hit the ground running after we've been sick, and this time was no exception. Today we started with our normal Monday morning event - grocery shopping. I have no pictures of grocery shopping - because with me pushing a stroller, pulling a cart, handing the twins snacks to keep them happy (which didn't work today...so throw a screaming ry-guy into the mix), racing through the aisles grabbing the items on my list as if I were in a game show...there are no hands left to take a picture!! We also had 2 stop at 2 stores today...and with an unhappy little man who screamed through both it was an exhausting adventure.

But I apparently hadn't had enough because I decided to take them to the park again today.

They love the swings and cannot get enough...

Then we had a picnic by the water where we watched the geese (they very quickly showed that they were afraid of us, so I wasn't too scared...). Then we went to meet daddy and played in his study...

They checked out the books on the bookshelf

Picked out a few to read

Ryan was generally more interested in reading than Sis...

Allie did some work with daddy

They cruised around the furniture

Allie was generally more interested in cruising than brother...

And somehow, daddy managed to actually get some work done!

On the trip home we stopped by for a quick ride on the swings (because I had sort of bribed ry-guy with another ride on the swings when I took him out the first time...and even though the bribe wasn't effective, I didn't feel I could rightly say, "I PROMISE we will come back and swing again a little later," over and over without following through). There were some high schoolers who were playing basketball near the swing set and Ryan was thrilled. He watched them like a hawk! Allie, in the meantime, enjoyed having daddy swing next to her.

On the walk home, we bumped into a gentleman from the community who we had met in passing before, and stopped to chat. The babies enjoyed meeting his dog Ty (a giant black dog...we were unsure of what kind...almost like a lab mixed with a st. bernard). Allie liked Ty as long as he kept some space between them, but Ryan had his hands out reaching for Ty whenever he wasn't near, and he liked Ty right up next to him licking his hands. One would think I would have been nervous having such a gigantic dog next to my babies, but this dog was so chill - he just exuded calm!

It was a full day - and we have no end to full days ahead of us as we (the babies and I) are preparing to leave for NE on Friday! There is so much to do before then...so you might not hear from us again before we go...but hopefully I'll be able to update from there!

Only 1 Week Late...

This post was SUPPOSED to be full of pictures from our Easter weekend - the kiddos dying eggs at the church on Friday, the big Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, our Saturday reunion with a few friends from college (and their kiddos), the twins in their Easter outfits, with their Easter basket, going to their first Easter service (they were too small to go last year)... This post was SUPPOSED to be full of stories and descriptions from said events, but also of the services (Lucas' first passion week on his own!), the wonderful dinner (the first time we were going to stray from our usual Easter pizza), and the bunny cake that was going to be our new tradition...

The twins in their"Easter Outfits" (a.k.a. what they actually wore instead of their church outfits)

Yes, this is a picture of Allie taking an un-aided step!

We were so excited about our first real Easter (because last year they were so tiny - only home from the hospital for a few weeks). I was so excited to go to some Easter services (I was SUPPOSED to take the twins to Good Friday and Easter morning) because last year I couldn't go. There were so many plans.

Until we got this nasty plague. ALL of us. And so the twins and I stayed away from the egg dying and service on Friday (in an attempt not to pass along the nastiness), and we didn't go to the Easter Egg Hunt or the picnic with our friends from college. We cancelled the Easter dinner, and I chose lying on the couch and moaning over making bunny cake. Lucas is, of course, at the services (since they wouldn't exist without him), but I am missing yet another year :( And I decided that the Easter outfits can wait for another Sunday (partly because no one wants to be dressed up when they are sick and partly because I don't want to get the massive amounts of mucous all over their nice outfits!).

Ryan playing with his sister's Easter bucket from Papa & Gigi

Allie loving on the soothing seahorse Nana got her

I do have a few pictures from today, so we can chronicle this Easter. Because, ultimately, it doesn't matter if we participate in all of the fun events, or celebrate with friends and family, or attend all of the services. The general merriment of this holiday isn't what makes it so wonderful. What makes it wonderful is that HE IS RISEN!!! And despite the runny noses, barking coughs, and other cruminess we are all feeling, I take great joy in remembering what my savior has done for me.

An enthusiastic Easter meal...

Note: While they look terrible in these pictures, know that we all went to church this Sunday. Allie looks perfectly fine (still has an occassional cough), Ryan still has a hint of a runny nose (and the persistent cough), I have a cough and sound terrible (although I felt better today than I have in a l-o-n-g time). So don't feel too badly for us because we really are better!

Coming Out of the Fog

As I was signing in to add pictures to my Easter post (and then realizing I haven't downloaded them from the camera yet...), a sentence from the "Stroke of Brilliance" post caught my eye...I believe I said that the babies were definintely on the road to recovery...HA!

We had a brief interval, a day, where the fevers ceased and they seemed energetic, and then we all plunged into the depths of disease - eye infections, ear infections, and bronchitis to be exact. Because the doctor had warned us about the viral infection going around (and told us the symptoms that should - and did - follow) we hesitated to go back, thinking there was nothing they could do (i.e. antibiotics wouldn't help). At the insistance of the grandmothers, I called and went back (and took my pitiful self into the local walk-in clinic). Turns out that they (we) DIDN'T have the viral infection that was going around! Bad news because, if we hadn't known anything about that viral infection we would have gone back to the doctor sooner. Good news because what we had was perfectly treatable with antibiotics (Hallelujah!).

I am now trying to keep track of our myriad of antibiotics and dosing schedules. I have actually started writing notes on the calendar (who got what when), and today had to count my remaining pills because I could not remember taking my antibiotic when I drank my glass of water (I HAD, but thanks to my Nyquil hangover - God bless the makers of Nyquil - my brain was a little fuzzy).

And so we have been living in a fog of infirmity. I will dramatically claim that the key to our survival has been Lucas, who (Thank God!) managed not to be taken completely down like the rest of us, and has contributed tremendously to our care (like taking the babies on a walk for fresh air, so mommy could take a nap or doing the dishes after I collapse on the couch in the evening). Our days have been full of napping, crankiness (the babies and me...and occassionally Lucas, but who can blame him when he's put up with a house full of sickos for so long!), and medicine. The real excitement of the day comes when we have to give the twins eyedrops - you don't realize how strong your 20 lb. 1 year old is until you have to hold them down and pry their eyes open just enough so that you can squeeze 2 drops in...3 times a day.

I will refrain from tempting fate once again by claiming that we are "on the road to recovery." But I will say that the twins are coughing less, oozing from their eyes less, and playing more...granted the mucous oozing from their nose has remained at the same level...but they are beginning to refuse their naps again so something must be changing! And I...well, I am not getting better as fast as I had hoped. I had high expectations of my antibiotics being miracle drugs that would have me playing, cleaning, and clicking my heels by the next day. 3 days later...I am looking forward to another night of Nyquil induced sleep, and praying that tomorrow is the day I will be well enough that I can take the twins down to their playroom without my legs feeling like jelly and me breaking into a 5 minute coughing fit just from going down the stairs (and when I take both babies down by myself, I sit and scoot down...so you can imagine how little activity that actually is...).

There have been some fun moments...the Nyquil has erased most of them from my memory, but one that stands out was yesterday. Just as the twins and I were looking out the sliding door to our deck, 2 (yes 2!!) bright red cardinals landed just a few feet from us. Thanks to the reflective glass, they did not realize our close proximity and stayed for several minutes. Why was this so cool? Because in Ryan's favorite book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?" Brown Bear sees...a RED BIRD!!! I got all excited and started yelling, "It's a red bird! Just like in Brown Bear! Brown Bear sees a red bird! What do you see??!!" Ryan got all excited and started saying "Bur, Bur!" which usually stands for Brown Bear, but I decided also could have been him trying to mimic "bird." And then Allie decided the excitement had passed and dropped to her hands and knees to crawl away...the vibration from which scared the birds away...and Ryan (who hates to be left behind by anyone...even the census volunteers) cried. But what an exciting few moments we had!

And sorry for the lack of pictures. I have an Easter post with pictures coming (as soon as I find the chord I need to get them from my camera...). But other than that, I literally have not felt up to taking pictures...and thought the amount of snot and boogers those pictures would have contained would have been so gross that you wouldn't have wanted to see them anyways!

A Stroke of Brilliance

As you know, the twins were pretty sick yesterday (Wednesday). Normally, a day where they are both sick is pretty stressful because they both want mommy, neither wants to share mommy, and mommy ends up leaving them in their exersaucers most of the day because if she tries to hold them they fight each other (and the guilt just flows because I want to cuddle and care for them). But yesterday I had an epiphany...

Ryan, tired and miserable as he was, refused to take his morning nap when Allie did...but 20 minutes after she woke up he was ready to go down. Usually I'm pretty strict about keeping them on the same schedule (for my sanity), but I realized that, if I staggered their naps, they would both be able to nap in their cribs (I usually separate them and one has to nap in a pack n play...which I feel guilty about when they are sick), and I could give the awake baby my undivided attention. So we tried it and it worked perfectly! While one baby peacefully slept, I was able to devote myself completely to the other - cuddling, reading, playing (although play was minimal as they were both pretty miserable), and then when the sleeping baby woke up we switched (they both took 3 naps roughly 1-1/12 hrs. long - they really didn't feel well!). I didn't have any down time for myself, but they were so happy to get so much undivided attention that they cried much less than they usually do when they are sick - which made me much less stressed - and the lessened guilt at the end of the day was totally worth it!

Another bright idea...Ryan is overflowing from his eyes, his nose, his mouth, but not drinking as much as he usually does (I think the stuffiness makes it hard). After a diaper that was not as wet as I would like, I started putting water in a medicine syringe to give to him. He LOVES taking medicine and always gets upset that I won't give him more, so he is really enjoying being able to come to me any time he wants, open his mouth, and get some "medicine." Granted, I can only give it 5 ml at a time, but it's better than nothing! Bonus: Allie got jealous and now she is taking the "medicine" too! Extra fluids for all!

We did go to the Pediatrician today (I was having trouble getting Ry-guy's temp below 101.7... they wanted to check him out). Apparently, there is a viral infection going around where they run a fever between 102-104 for 2-3 days (which they have done), and then the fever leaves and they develop a nasty cough (which is most likely coming in a day or so). But the doctor said we are doing everything we should be doing, and they should be fine. Also, having a chance to go to the pedi office, see how it runs, and meet one of the pediatricians (their primary physician was out of town) was very comforting. I'm actually very pleased, and think this practice was a very good choice. What a relief!!

And for the Grandparents' peace of mind: the twins are doing MUCH better. They slept better last night (Ryan woke up once and we were able to get him back to sleep within 10 minutes. Allie slept until 6 am!), and their fevers have been much lower today (in fact, I just checked and Allie was normal and Ryan was only 99.6!!). Plus, they are playing today (which is a HUGE difference from yesterday). They are definitely on the road to recovery :)