Adventures in Michigan Part One

When we arrived at my parents' house, my mom had to acquaint the girls with their new surroundings.  This included a tour of the house and of Grandma's flower garden.

Grandma and Tannah



Harper napped really well while we were at my parents', so we seemed to end up with more pictures of Tannah than Harper.  The girls also slept really well at night, which was nice for me.



Our vacation is Michigan was filled with visitors who wanted to meet the girls  We stayed at my parents' house from Monday-Thursday, and we had visitors every day.  When I was little we took several big vacations with the W family.  Between my sister and I and their three daughters, that was a lot of girls all yelling "Mom".  To make things less confusing, we started calling Pat "Mama Pat".  She has four grandchildren of her own, but she'll be "Grandma Pat" to my girls.

Grandma Pat with Harper

Grandpa Terry with Tannah on the left and Harper on the right

Laura with Tannah on the left and Harper on the right

Aunt Terry with Tannah and me with Harper

The son and daughter-in-law recently adopted twin boys, so we invited their mom and grandma over to meet our girls and chat.  The boys were only two weeks old and adorably teeny.  Their mom is doing great, but it was fun to be the "experienced" twin mom.  Plus, I know how hard it can be to get out of the house with two babies unless you have a reason.  It was a lot of fun, and those boys are so lucky to have such a great family!

I must note that although Harper and Tannah look completely different to me, people are always telling me that they can't tell them apart.  I think there must just be something about two siblings that are the same age.  They must look just enough alike that it can be difficult to tell them apart if you aren't that familiar with them.  The boys were also fraternal, and their mom and grandma had no problem telling them apart, but I had no clue which was which all afternoon.

First Vacation!

I started planning the girls' first trip to Michigan well before they were born.  By well before I mean like last November, which with a twin pregnancy was far too early to be safely planning anything, but I'm an optimist, so plan I did.  We originally thought we would take the trip to coincide with my cousin's graduation party because most of my mom's side of the family would be in town that weekend, and we could also see my dad's parents and at least one aunt on his side.  Wei-Yand's parents decided to visit that weekend, so the girls and I took the ferry across Lake Michigan early Monday morning.  We stayed at my parents' house until Thursday, then we drove up North to visit our extended family.  That weekend was another cousin's baby shower, so while we didn't get to see as many people, the girls still met a lot of the family.

We took the 6 am ferry, which meant that we had to be at the terminal by 5:15.  I set my alarm for 3:45 to make sure that I had time to feed the girls and get the car loaded since some of the things that needed to be packed (noise machine, monitor, Rock and Play) were being used the night before.  We made it to the ferry with no problem.  The girls were a little confused as to why I was yanking them out of their beds in the middle of the night, but they fell asleep in the terminal as we waited to board the boat. 

Tannah

Harper

 
 One benefit of pushing the babytrain (a.k.a. double stroller) is that we got to board first because we had to use the elevator.  The ferry has wheelchair accessible seating, which also works for a place to park a stroller, so we set up camp.  The ferry takes 2.5 hours to get across the lake, and the girls slept for about the first 45 minutes.  Harper woke up and was hungry, and I was able to feed her before Tannah woke up.  The tricky part is that I put Harper in the Moby wrap and then fed Tannah around Harper.  It was a little interesting, but it works in a pinch.  I then loaded Tannah into the Moby as well so it was a little easier for me to get up and walk around, which put the girls right back to sleep.

On the boat

The boat was pretty empty, but there was this adorable little boy who was fascinated with the girls.  He kept asking me how I got two babies.  Apparently he didn't think my response of, "I just got lucky" was sufficient, which I thought was amusing.  The girls were so good on the boat, the trip went really well.

Unfortunately, my dad started his new job the day we arrived in town, so we didn't get to see a whole lot of him.  He met us at the ferry to say hi to me and the girls before he had to head out of town for the week.

Grandpa and Tannah

 

Grandpa and Harper

My mom had the girls' room all set up when we arrived at my parents' house.

The girls slept really well that night!

The Year of the Rabbit

We visited Chinatown with my parents while I was pregnant, and we had to figure out what their Chinese zodiac sign would be.  My mom was very excited to find out that they are Rabbits once she saw that the statue in Chinatown says that Rabbits like to travel in pairs.  She thought that was very fitting.  Wei-Yand's parents wanted to stop in Chinatown on their way home, so we drove down to Chicago to join them for dim sum.

Once again, the girls slept the entire way to Chicago.  The way home ... not so much.  We decided to wear the girls rather than use the stroller because the restaurants are pretty cramped, and we didn't think our beast of a stroller would fit.  This was a total mommy fail.  The girls have some newborn outfits that still fit around the waist, but the pants look more like capris than pants.

Harper ready for a flood

Tannah's ready too

The short pants was a problem because I forgot to pack socks, and their little legs and feet stick out of the carriers.  It was colder in Chicago than I had planned, so we had to modify the moby, and Wei-Yand wrapped his coat around the Baby Bjorn.  It worked out, but I need to plan better in the future.

I tried to plan really well, and I actually pumped in the car on the way to Chicago, so we would have bottles to feed the girls rather than me dealing with breastfeeding in such cramped quarters.  Unfortunately, neither girl was really interested in the bottle (more on that in a later post), but we got them both to take a little.  I fed Tannah, and at one point in time I looked over at Wei-Yand, who had rigged up the Baby Bjorn so that he could feed Harper with one hand and eat with the other.  Talk about skills!  I didn't get a picture because I needed both hands just to feed Tannah. 

I'm not as skilled as Wei-Yand, but not too shabby:)

Yum!

We also had to stop by the Rabbit statue for pictures.

Details of the Rabbit sign:

Rabbits are fun people to be around.  They are pleasant, [something I can’t read] and affectionate but have a tendency to get too sentimental.  At times in social circles, the rabbit is gregarious and visible while in private they prefer simple pleasures and a tranquil lifestyle.  Rabbits seek safety in numbers and avoid confrontation at all cost.  The rabbit is blessed with good fortune and thus is very successful in business, politics, and [something else I can’t read].



It was a really fun day!





Meeting Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye

The girls and I went to visit my family in Michigan last week, so it's been a while since I've posted.  We've had lots of adventures to write about, so we'll start with meeting Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye (Wei-Yand's parents).  I should mention that the Chinese language is very specific when it comes to family titles.  Paternal grandparents have different names than maternal grandparents.  Wei-Yand only has sisters, so while their kids call their grandparents Abu and Agong (these are actually Taiwanese names rather than Chinese), my kids will call them Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye.

Wei-Yand's parents came to visit and meet the girls recently.  They own a restaurant and have to close it if they aren't there, so this was their first visit since our wedding.

Nai-Nai and Tannah

Nai-Nai with Harper and Ye-Ye with Tannah

Ye-Ye with Tannah

Nai-Nai and Harper

They also cooked for us.  Did I mention that they own a restaurant?  We had some fantastic food, and we now have hundreds of these in our freezer:

My father-in-law makes the best dumplings ever.  You should be very jealous.  They make for a quick, easy, and delicious meal when we're short on time, which is pretty much always:)





Two Months!

It's been a bit of a rough week, so I'm a little late in getting this post up, but the girls turned two months old on Wednesday.  They each got two shots and an oral vaccine, which I think has contributed to the roughness.  They haven't been napping well, and Harper was up a good chunk of last night.  Tired babies make it difficult to get happy baby pictures, but we did our best. 

This is how the girls looked when we got home from the pediatrician's office:

Harper is on the left and Tannah is on the right in all of the pictures.  They looked pretty peaceful, so I actually attempted to take pictures on Wednesday in the afternoon (shots were in the morning), and this is what I got:

I only took three pictures before I gave up and strapped the girls into the Moby wrap.  We snuggled for the rest of the afternoon.  They slept pretty well that night, so we tried again on Thursday with much better results.

Tannah

Harper

Now for the stats:

Birth

Harper - 6 lbs 6 oz (30th percentile), 21.5 inches (75th percentile)

Tannah - 7 lbs 7 oz (60th percentile), 20.5 inches

6 weeks

Harper - 9 lbs 2 oz (30th percentile), 22 inches (75th percentile)

Tannah - 10 lbs 2.5 oz (75th percentile), 22.5 inches (90th percentile)

2 months

Harper - 11 lbs 2 oz (20th percentile), 23 inches (75th percentile)

Tannah - 12 lbs 4 oz (75th percentile), 23.25 inches (80th percentile)

We have two very healthy little girls, and we're very lucky!

Lakeside Strolling

One of the things I miss most about not living in Michigan (apart from the fact that the majority of my family is there) is Lake Michigan.  This is a little odd because I live closer to Lake Michigan now than I did growing up.  Unfortunately, the west side of the lake is no where near as nice as the east side of the lake.  Growing up I loved going to the beach and playing in the waves and the sand dunes.  We used to tie our towels around our necks and take running leaps off of the dunes pretending we were Superman.

Since moving to Wisconsin, I've been warned numerous times not to swim in Lake Michigan.  It makes me sad that Wisconsinites don't get to enjoy the lake as much as the Michiganders do.  I make a point to go to the beach at least once during my summer trips home to Michigan.  The girls are probably a little small for the big lake this year (I love it, but it's cold), but I look forward to taking them there in the future.  Until then, we'll have to make do with just taking walks along the lake here in Wisconsin.

The weather was great on Sunday, so the whole family headed out for a walk along the lake.  I can't wait until the girls are big enough for our side-by-side stroller.  It's a little more all-terrain than the tandem stroller.

Wei-Yand made fun of me because between the sun shades and blankets, I had the girls completely covered from the sun.  Vitamin D supplements are highly encouraged right now, and the sun is the best source of Vitamin D.  However, I'm very concerned about protecting their sensitive skin.  I lost a wonderful uncle to skin cancer last year, so I'm probably hyper-sensitive right now.

I did open up their sun shades for a minute to snap a picture, but other than that they'll stay covered up until they are old enough to wear sunscreen!

Harper in front, Tannah in back



Happy Birthday Aunt Brynne!

Today is my little sister's birthday, and it's kind of a big one.  I thought that seemed like a good reason for a photo shoot (like I need a reason).  The girls have been extremely fussy today, so it was a bit of a challenge, but here we go:

Tannah loves her Aunt Brynne



Harper loves her Aunt Brynne

I promise that they do actually smile a lot these days, it's just hard to catch on camera.  I managed to catch a little smile from Harper, but Tannah's still not so sure about this.

Happy Birthday Brynne!  We love you and are excited to see what the next decade has in store for you!

Road Trip

My sister recently got engaged (Congratulations Brynne and Joe!), and her fiance's parents planned a get together so the two families could meet.  We were fortunate that they invited us as well.  It also provided a nice opportunity to see my parents, and for them to see the girls.  When I was little I remember making the five hour trip to see my grandparents on a regular basis.  I have a very close relationship with my parents, and it's hard to live so far away from them.  Now that I have my own children, it's important to me that they get to see their grandparents as much as possible.

The dinner was in the Chicago suburbs, so it was a road trip, but not too far that it couldn't be done in one day.  It was a long day, but lots of fun.  The girls went back down for a nap after I fed them at 7 am, so I took the opportunity to get ready for the day.  I loaded up the diaper bag with lots of diapers and changes of clothes and loaded up the car with the camera and other items necessary for the trip.  After the girls and Wei-Yand got up, I fed the girls again, and we hit the road around 9:45.  The drive down was a piece of cake.  The girls basically slept the entire way, which was what I was hoping.  They tend to do very well with car rides, although up until this weekend, our longest car ride was only about 25 minutes.

We went to my sister's new apartment first to see her place and hang out with my family.  We also had the chance to take some pictures.

Grandpa with Tannah

Grandpa with Harper (left) and Tannah (right)

Aunt Brynne with Tannah (left) and Harper (right)

Brynne bought the girls "I Ymy Aunt" and "My Aunt is the Best" onesies for Christmas last year, so they wore those as their first outfit of the day.  Then we went to Joe's parents' house, and the girls changed into these cute dresses.

Aunt Brynne also bought these little numbers.  They are so impractical, but oh so cute.  Tannah was our only model because it was a little warm and Harper only wore hers for about two minutes before we decided that it was time to change into outfit number three for the day.  Don't worry, there will be more pictures in these dresses.  They are just too cute to use for a photo shoot!

Grandma and Tannah

Next we have outfit three for the day.  These adorable rompers were a gift from Grandma.  They aren't quite as fancy as the party dresses, but they're still super cute!

Grandpa and Harper

Family Picture!

Joe's parents made a fantastic Italian dinner, and it was really nice to meet his family.  My sister is lucky to be marrying into such a nice family!

The ride home wasn't quite as peaceful as the right to Chicago.  The girls didn't nap well during the day, so they were overtired and cried for quite a while.  We stopped twice on the way home to try to feed them, but they didn't fall asleep for over an hour.  Luckily, they slept very well that night.  Tannah slept for over six hours straight!