Great adventures

Monday we made a shopping day trip to Lubbock, the second time with the twins. It was a little easier to go this time because we are fully on formula feeding now so I didn't have to mess with the pump in the car. It is about 1 hour 40 minutes to the shopping areas of Lubbock from our house. So we left at nap time and they slept for the first hour of the trip.

We spent 2 hours at Kohl's taking turns pushing the babies around in the stroller while the other tried on clothes. They like going for walks, so they were content for a while. Barry ended up feeding both of them while I tried on clothes. Then we went to lunch at Olive Garden, and went to Retool, a shop where they buy and sell used tools. Barry bought a couple specialty saws that he wanted for a project he's working on. The next stop was Target for baby items, and then we walked a few stores down to Burlington Coat Factory to try out double strollers for babies who can sit up. The twins are almost at that stage, and since the seats in the strollers we're looking at recline, I think we could even start using them now. I'm going to do some more comparison on Amazon.com this week. After a gas stop, we headed home.

15 minutes from home, the engine of our 11 year old Chevy Blazer started making loud knocking and whirring noises. We made it home okay, and took it to the shop Tuesday. The mechanic said the engine probably needs to be replaced, and after a second opinion next week we'll decide what to do with it. We were already planning on buying a minivan in March so we'll just have to change out which of our current vehicles we get rid of. Hopefully our 10 year old Buick won't shut down on us too.

The babies did well on our long day, though they didn't like being in their car seats for that long. Fortunately, they napped and got fussy at different times, so we usually only had one baby to hold at a time. They missed their long naps that day, and you could tell, but they napped enough to make it through. When we got home they were tired but I didn't want to put them to bed at 5:30, so we gave them baths and stretched it to 6:15.

They actually slept really well Monday night. We woke them and fed them at 7:15 and then again at 11:15. Then they slept until 4 am without needing anything. We fed them and then they slept until 8 am. I was going to skip Ladies Bible Class on Tuesday morning because of the long Monday, but they slept so well that we went to class anyway. It pushed their morning nap back by an hour, but the rest of the day was a normal routine, and they seemed to do fine.

They had another early bedtime on Tuesday night at 6:30 because the schedule had been off, but they slept really well. We fed them at 7:30, and then I woke at 11 to feed them again. They slept all the way through to 6:30 this morning when Alyna woke with a really poopy diaper. That was okay though because she had already been in bed for 12 hours which is normal. Ryan woke a little before 7 am. I had gone to sleep from 9 - 11, and then got to sleep from 11:45 to 6:30 am. It was awesome.

They ate and then played for 2 hours, and now are taking their long morning nap. I really like the 4 hour routine, and the babies seem to do well with it.

The next milestone is coming soon. Probably at the first part of March we will start solid foods. The pediatrician said they could start last month, but they still weren't really taking a full bottle every time, so I thought it was a little early to add in solids. Now, they take at least 5 oz at every meal. We already bought two high chairs that are actually booster seats that recline a little bit and strap to normal dining room chairs. It saves us a lot of space to not have to large high chairs in the house. They are also very portable if we need to take them with us on road trips.

They continue to eat, play, and grow. They like to look at books which comes in handy during comunion at church and other quiet times. It's funny to watch them try to grab the pictures on the pages. It's so much fun to watch them learn new things.