Sunday, March 2, 2008

To Great Grandmothers house we go! (part 1)

Laura would be a better person to write this blog but I doubt she would ever get around to it, so I will try to have her add what I miss if it is not up to her standards....

She and I took the girls to Columbus Ga to visit Grandmother and Granddad once again. They had not seen their great grandparents, which we have named Nina and Da since Thanksgiving, and although it is difficult traveling with two 5 month olds, we survived the trip. (barely)

We thought we timed it well and left shortly after their noon feeding. Unfortunately after getting my oil changed and lunch, we were going through Auburn around 4 and decided to stop for another feeding/changing. (We were not in the mood for screaming during the last hour of the trip.) So we were back on the road at 5pm and did not arrive at the assisted living until 7 their time. The girls were tired, but since grandmother had laid out food about 3 hours before I figured we had better drop off the things in the room we rented for us and make our way to their place. Before I go any farther I must say that it took 2 shopping carts, plus our double stroller to get everything up to the room, and I still rolled a suit case. We had 2 pack n plays, 2 bouncy seats (for feedings), 2 cameras, a computer, a play mat, 4 pillows (thats all Laura), a blanket, a suitcase for the girls clothes, bibs and burpcloths, another for their diapers, wipes and bottled water, and their every day diaper bag, plus my sisters toiletry bag and her suitcase, and my suitcase. We looked like we were moving in instead of staying there for 2 nights. We threw the stuff in the room and went down the big hall, down the elevator, and down the other really big hall to Nina and Da's. And I have to say that old people kind of flock to babies like seagulls to crackers... so this trip took a while.

When we finally arrived at our destination I knew we only had about 30 minutes before we hit meltdown mode. But grandmother and granddad were just so excited (though they didnt know why it just took so long for us to get there- agh). The look on granddad's face as he watched the girls play on the floor was one of pure joy and grandmother got a kick out of kissing their faces and seeing the girls laugh.

Da and Hannah

Nina and Hannah

Da, Laura and Leah

Nina and Leah

Once the crying started I knew it was time to return to our room for the night. We made it back down the halls rather successfully but when we hit the room all heck broke loose. Both girls started screaming. I mean blood curdling. Laura described it as 18 pigs squealing in terror in a tiny little room. In the midst of the screaming, Laura and I are throwing things out of the shopping carts we had yet to unload, trying to move furniture into the closet to give us some room, find their stuff for their baths (which we should have just nixed the bath thing given the severity of the situation), put the pack and plays together - and one of those was not cooperating... I was calling Matt making sure I was doing it right as the babies screamed. Laura started bathing one of them in the sink since we had no bathtub, just throwing their wet diapers anywhere. I was trying to find the bath soap, sheets, and sleep sacks for them, get their bottles made... It was mass chaos. Hannah and Leah were just so tired even their make shift bath didn't calm them down. After 30 minutes of uncontrollable screaming we finally got the bottles in their mouths and they fell asleep. Laura told my dad on the phone later that night that he had best enjoy these 2 grandchildren because he wasnt getting anymore! I took a video of the mess we made in the first 10 minutes of being there.


Untitled from matthewmccay on Vimeo.

We took a deep breath after they went down and picked up the room by the light of the small tv. They slept well that night though, even though Laura and I were laughing pretty hard AFTER they fell asleep! (see part 2)

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