1st visit to Grandma Jane's and Papa Mike's

I guess this isn't the first visit technically but it's the first visit to our home without Alyssa and Olivia's mom and dad, Doug and Julia. We went on Tuesday, July 1, to Doug and Julia's house to pick up Olivia and Alyssa to give Doug and Julia a little break and also to give us some Grandma and Papa time with the girls.

We had a ball but every grandparent should do this to remind us how much time raising kids take. Of course we had double the work with twins. The first night the girls woke up once around 2:00 am for a feeding but the rest of the time they slept the night through! Hurrah! This should help Doug and Julia out and hopefully they will start sleeping the night through consistently.

I was under the assumption that I could watch the girls during the day while Mike got some things done around the house during his weeks vacation. Boy was I wrong. The trouble with twins is even tho they are sleeping at night, and they are on the same feeding schedule, no one has told them they should be on the same napping schedule. It was hard to get anything done because there was always one of them awake demanding our attention. Of course we were trying to plan our kids visit and the 4th of July celebration with the rest of our family and friends the week we had them.

We took them out once so we could go grocery shopping. Once we had them fed, diapered, in the car, and got to town it started raining. We decided not to get Alyssa and Olivia out of the car in the bad weather so we picked up lunch for Mike and I to take home. I'm glad we picked up sub sandwiches to eat because once we got the sandwiches the weather cleared and we decided to go grocery shopping after all. The trick was to get the shopping done and get back home before the next feeding, diapering, and crying jag especially when we were constantly stopped by people who wanted to talk to us about the twins. That's a double edged sword, as grandparents we love talking to people about our grandkids but sometimes we need to be in a hurry. We finally got home but never got to eat until 2 pm. I've decided If we had the twins on a full time basis I would be skinny. We ate lunches late almost every day and two nights we didn't even have time to eat supper. Of course, we made up for it with late night snacks!

We had bought one swing that we thought Alyssa and Olivia could share but once we realized how much they loved their swings, Papa Mike just had to go out and buy another so both would have their own swing. It was about 3 weeks since we had seen them last and they seemed like they had changed so much. They were holding their heads up a lot better, and had discovered their hands and toes, were grabbing for toys hanging in front of them, and really using the pacifiers more. Alyssa loves her pacifier and her thumb for that matter and Olivia seems not as fond of her pacifier unless she is tired.

Altho I'm usually a photo bug I've discovered that I'm so involved with the girls when I'm with them that It's hard to find time to take the photos when they're both awake and in good moods. I've got to get in the habit of taking more photos but given the choice I'd much rather spend time with them than be the person behind the camera. Doug and Julia and Alyssa and Olivia's Uncle Tim and Aunt Stephanie got to our home on Thursday night, July 3, and it was nice to have a few more hands.


Oliva and Papa Mike

Alyssa in her new swing

Olivia in her old swing that Papa replaced

Little Miss Olivia, nothing like baby tummies

Leaving for home from Grandma and Papa's house