Christmas in California!

Where do I even begin? Christmas has come and gone...kinda. We had a great visit with Grandma Hutchinson and Uncle Scott. It seemed to fly by so fast. I guess that is my true welcome to parenthood at Christmas time. Christmas started with a church service on Christmas Eve followed by a nice dinner with the whole crew. We stayed up way too late on Christmas Eve and got up way to early (5:15 am was when Ryan awoke) on Christmas morning. You would have thought Santa had come and he knew it! :) We opened presents with all the Grandparents and Uncle Scott and for a year that we really didn't "exchange" gifts, there sure were a lot of presents under our tree! After working most of the week and going non-stop, we packed up our bags and headed to California to visit Uncle Brad and Aunt Heather for a week. I had A LOT of anxiety about this plane ride and rightfully so. The almost 5 hours we were on the plane were not my childrens' finest moments. Riley cried hysterically from before we took off until well after we were in the air. I won't even begin to guess how high my blood pressure rose during that time. Ryan wasn't so great either. I don't blame them because I myself get bored on a flight that long, but I truly felt so bad for the people around us (not to mention us). It was really not a fun time. Thank goodness Gramma and Grandaddy were with us. I really don't know what we would have done had they not been with us. It took all 4 of us full time to keep them entertained to some degree. We were all TOTALLY wiped out by the time we got to Heather & Brad's house. Oh yeah - forgot to mention that Riley and Ryan each only slept about 15 minutes on the plane. We took off about 11:00am so I was hoping for at least a short nap since the flight time fell during nap time, but not my children! I am just going to enjoy this week and worry about next Saturday for the flight home that day. We'll take it one hour at a time. Let's just say I feel very sorry for their teachers at school once they return next week. They are totally off schedule and have been surrounded by lots of family for almost 2 weeks (by the time they go back). Last night Riley and Ryan went to bed about 6pm here, which is 9pm at home - much later than their usual bedtime, but Ryan got up at 5:oo this morning and really didn't take a nap today. He's been wired since before we left Atlanta. I think he's afraid if he sleeps he might miss something. He's blossomed so much in the last week with his walking (assisted by one of us) and talking (almost non-stop today). It's been so much fun to see him come alive. Riley went to the farmer's market and Trader Joe's with Kevin, Aunt Heather and me this morning. She walked on her own at the market and had to wave to everyone she saw. There are no strangers in Riley's life. She is officially now a walker. She could walk as long and as far as she wants. She rarely even stumbles and navigates well around bumps and corners. We had brunch at the Mission Inn today and Ryan ate and ate and ate and ate. We started talking about all he ate during lunch and were totally amazed at the amount of food he gobbled up. Riley held her own and ate well, but I think Ryan ate more than I did. Today Ryan ate skirt steak, prime rib, TONS of fruit-especially blueberries, waffles, mashed potatoes, hash browns, tortellini, sausage, turkey, cheese, french fries - it makes me sick to think of all of this resting in his belly (as well as the diapers we will soon see). They had fun walking around after lunch and seeing all of the beautiful decorations. When we got home everyone crashed for a nap...except Ryan. He cried and cried when I put him down, so I let him play while everyone else napped (except Uncle Brad and me). He wanted to make sure he was up and ready to play! They are finally asleep and we are hoping for a later wake up time in the morning. This 3 hour adjustment is hard on all of us - especially them. I don't want them to totally adjust to Pacific time, but there is just something wrong about waking up at 5am every morning of "vacation" (I think that's what we call this?!?!?). Tomorrow the guys are going skiing and the girls and babies are going to Mount Baldy to see some snow! We didn't think they were quite ready for the slopes.

Web Albums Added:
Videos of Christmas Morning: http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081225Christmas2008Videos#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081225Christmas2008#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081227CaliforniaDays12#

Christmas is almost here!

Thursday night was the big Christmas Pageant at Open Arms and we were so excited to see our little angels! They were wheeled in on the carts that seat 6 babies. The carts were covered in white and all of the babies were in white. They were all so very cute! Unfortunately I don't have many photos to show, but they were so so cute - you'll just have to take my word for it. We tried to put them back on the cart for a photo when it was over, but they were having no part of that. So you see 2 crying angels...ready for bed.

They are really enjoying Play2Grow. Now that they are in the big room and have the ability to move around very easily they love all of the obstacle courses and things to climb on. They aren't so sure about the organized activities like puzzles and picking up objects and bringing them to the teachers, but they LOVE the free play. I love this photo I snapped of Ryan admiring himself in the mirror. He loves to climb up this wedge toward the wall that is covered with a mirror. We've caught him banging his head fairly hard on it several times. I'm not sure what all that means, but he enjoys it and we enjoy watching him. There is this red bridge that most of the kids spend most of the time on. They fight over who can be at the top and spend most of their time jockeying for position. With all of the wonderful things to play with, we can't figure out why this simple bridge is so popular. I'm guessing because it has some small stairs and we allow them to walk on them - most houses have gates and the kids are kept away from any and all stairwells, but who knows?!?!

We went to see Gramma and Grandaddy for a nice pot roast dinner on Saturday night. Gramma had new Christmas bibs for them and they even ate brownies and ice cream for dinner - what a treat! They played the piano and played with Gramma's bell collection before changing into the pajamas for the ride home. It was a quick visit, but it was nice to see them.

After church today, we drove up to Big Canoe to see Jeannie and her 2 boys Cal and Brennan. They are here visiting from New York and staying at her parents house. We had hoped to do some exploring on their 3 acres of land, but it was just too windy and cold for that, so we stayed inside by the fire and played. Brennan is just about 6 months older than Riley and Ryan so they had fun playing together. We interrupted his nap time and Riley and Ryan's nap was only an hour in the car, but all things considered they all behaved very well. It was nice to catch up with Jeannie and her parents. Thanks for having us! Riley, Ryan and I all fell asleep in the car on the way home and after a quick dinner and bath they were happy to go back to sleep. I'm hoping I'm not too far behind them.

Grandma Hutchinson arrives tomorrow and Uncle Scott arrives on Tuesday. We are looking forward to a few days with them for Christmas and then we are off for our adventure to California for a week. I can't imagine what I'll be posting this time next week from California! :)

Web Albums Added: http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081218ChristmasPageant#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081220Play2Grow#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081220VisitWithGrammaGrandaddy#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081221VisitWithJeannie#

Laughter

Riley has the most wonderful laugh when we tickle her and I was able to capture this awesome sound on video today in the car! Make sure your volume is up and enjoy!

Pure Bliss!

Pure bliss (and exhaustion) is the only way to describe this weekend. We are so very tired, but Kevin and I both agree this was the most fun weekend we have ever had with the kids. They are finally back to their normal selves and feeling much much better...and we had 2 birthday parties to attend. We started the weekend off with pizza with the Fenzl's on Friday night and we pulled Riley and Ryan's chairs up to the table. They ate like big kids and were so proud. On Saturday we took away their trays that go with their high chairs and started using plate like trays for them to eat from on the table. We know this will make Gramma very happy. She has never liked them eating directly from their high chair trays. We made it through 2 days of using these new plates and only ended up with 1 tray of food dumped on the floor. I think that's a pretty good start. Katharyn left her Santa hat at our house and the kids had a blast playing around with it. Whenever we put a hat on them, they just start laughing at one another...who would have thought a hat could be so much fun? We also have photos to show them fighting over the same hat, but that's to be expected, right? They went to Play2Grow on Saturday morning, took a nap and then we headed to Kangazoom for Owen's 3rd birthday party. Kangazoom is one of those jumping places for kids and we weren't sure if there would be much for them to do, but we were pleasantly surprised that they had more than enough to keep them occupied. We played hard for an hour and they were exhausted! They had a baby area that had all kinds of things for them to play on. We each took them down this huge slide (probably 12 feet in the air). Kevin and I agreed if we had known how hard it would be to get up to the top holding a baby, we would have never made the venture, but I think the kids liked it. Then at one point there was no one else in the jumpy house, so we took them in there and bounced all around them...they absolutely loved being bounced all over the place. They squealed a lot! Ms. Jada from school came over to babysit them Saturday night and I think they were asleep within a few minutes of her arrival. They had played very hard that day! Today we went to church took a quick nap and then headed over to Paul's house next door for his 4th birthday party. He had a construction themed party and Lori went all out. There were about 10 kids dropped off for this party, so it was quite fun to watch all the big kids play. Riley jumped right in and sat right next to all the big kids. Ryan wasn't so sure at first, but eventually came out of his shell. After a nice birthday dinner we are all home and hopefully heading to bed very soon. The kids pooped out about 6pm! A true sign of a fabulous weekend!

Web albums added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081213OwenSBirthdayAtKangazoom#
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081214PaulSBirthdayParty#5279830481395170162
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081214FamilyTime#5279831111451373362

Popsicles make everything better!

It has been a very rough week in the Hutchinson household. It started off rough for me on Monday and has been downhill ever since! My birthday was Tuesday so you would think that would make this week a good week, but even that couldn't make this one any better! Ryan's teacher called me at work on Monday afternoon to say that Ryan was wheezing and she thought we needed to get him to to doctor as soon as we could. Since it was 3:00, I ran out the door and the pediatrician saw him right away when we arrived. She gave him a breathing treatment and sent us home with a mask and inhaler for him to do every 4-6 hours for the next week. It was scary, but he responded fairly well to the treatment in the office. She looked at Riley while we were there for good measure and she was all clear. Later that night he was up wheezing again and we were afraid we might be making a trip to the ER, but luckily he settled down around midnight and didn't wake back up until Tuesday morning. Kevin went out of town on Tuesday for work and I had a pretty good day at work. As I was pulling into the school to pick up the kids, they were calling me to say that Riley had a 102 degree fever and didn't seem to be herself. So - I got them home and they each melted down as soon as we walked in the door. I was trying to keep my cool and quickly feed them and get them to bed, but I just about melted down myself when I looked at Riley and she had just thrown up all over her dinner. At that point - I put in a call to my friend Lori (who lives next door) to "Come Now"! She was here in a flash and we got everyone settled and in bed early. The girls from the neighborhood came over for dinner and that was by far the highlight of this week! It was a great night, but I was quickly brought back to reality on Wednesday morning. I had decided to keep both kids home due to the fever, so I let them sleep in and checked their temp when they woke up. Both had fevers still close to 102 and they had had several rounds of motrin, so I put in another call to the doctor and the nurse said we could wait it out unless "they are fussy, clingy, can't be pleased..." at which point I responded with "all of the above - when can you see them"? Thankfully my mom came over to help me. After they napped, both of their temps had dropped back down to 98.2 and 98.6, so I even contemplated cancelling my 4pm appt, but decided to just go on anyway. Thankfully I kept the appointment because by the time we got to the dr's office, Riley was steaming hot. Her whole face was beet red and she was now wheezing pretty badly. They moved us to the top of the list (which sounds nice, but it's really scary) and gave Riley a breathing treament right away. It's an 8 minute treatment and she fought us hard, but by the end she was literally limp. Breathing better, but limp. I just knew the doctor's next words were "here's the directions to Scottish Rite Hospital", but we decided to wait it out in the office for just a bit. Her oxygen level was 95 (I learned anything over 93 is good), but Ryan's had been 99 on Monday, so I was very concerned. Riley eventually perked up and was her hyper self by the time we left there with a prescription for a mask and inhaler for her as well as steroids for both kids. Both of these can make kids hyper. We had a long wait at the drugstore (my mom waited in the car with both kids for almost an hour - she's a saint!) and eventually left without an meds. The insurance company wouldn't cover the medicine since it was just filled 2 days before for a child with the same birthdate. One of the fun challenges of having twins. It took us until Friday to get that straightened out and hopefull for good. Luckily we were able to use Ryan's inhaler for both of them, so it wasn't a big deal. We bought some popsicles and they enjoyed those on Thursday. Riley couldn't figure out which end to eat from and Ryan wasn't so sure about how to handle it, but they liked them and it kept them occupied for a brief period of time. Neither of them has had much of an appetite and as of Saturday, they have lost 2 pounds each. Ryan had a few pounds to spare, but Riley did not, so we are hoping the appetite returns soon so we can fatten her up. Kevin stayed home with them on Friday and he had a good day with them until about 30 minutes before I got home. Riley could not be consoled and he finally gave her some food. That was the only thing that would calm her. She didn't eat that much, but at least it calmed her down. Yesterday Riley went to run errands with me and Kevin too Ryan with him. Riley was so bored restless and I was "that mom" in Ann Taylor Loft. I just went in do a quick return and she lost it right there in the middle of the store. I was a bit short with the people working there because I just wanted to get out and the lady leaned over and said "we aren't supposed to let you use this coupon, but we went ahead and gave it to you this time since we could sense your frustration". Sounds really nice, but not in the condescending tone she used. I just wanted to get out of there - coupon or not!!! Today I took them up to the Stride Rite outlet to meet Gramma. She bought them some shoes for Christmas. It was a fairly tame experience, but only after Riley took down an entire stack of shoe boxes (it was loud). I tried to get them a treat, so I bought them a fruit smoothie and a plain pretzel. They just mastered the art of sucking through a straw, but they couldn't get the smoothie through the straw and had no interest in the pretzel. It just made them fuss more since it was too thick for the straw, so mom and I would suck it up through the straw and then empty it into their mouths. Not really fun for anyone participating! I was hoping they would nap on the way home, but no such luck. Grandaddy was over after they got home so they had a quick visit with him before going to bed at 5:30. I don't know what that means for tomorrow morning, but it was worth it tonight for them to just go on to bed. :) Their fevers have been gone now for 2 days, but their appetites are still not back to where they are normally and they are CRAZY!!! I'm hoping this is not a phase, but rather how the medicine has made them act. I don't think I can handle two hyper kids like this on a regular basis. They are done with the steroid and we are tapering off the inhaler, so hopefully the end is in sight! We are sending them back to school tomorrow, and we are looking forward to everything being back to normal in this new week! In the grand scheme of things, we have so much to be grateful for - even with them being sick. I can honestly see that, but I will be the first to admit that I am tired and look forward to having my healthy happy children return sooner than later!

Web Album Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20081203Popsicles#