One Month Old - Wondering who this other person is.
Two Months Old - Looking like their own person now.
Three Months Old - Getting their own personalities.
Four Months Old - Beth poses for her picture while Jake is totally over the camera.
Five Months Old - I got them on the same side as before! Starting to really enjoy baby life.
And the official 6 month photo where they both refuse to smile at the same time no matter what I do. This was the best of the bunch! I do like how it shows the difference in body types between the two. You can see that Beth is just tiny compared to Jake, especially their chest and waist size differences.
They're so excited to be 7 months old. LOL.
They were so full of smiles that I had a tough time picking which picture I wanted to highlight this month.
Their nine month pictures were taken about a week after the actual ninth month and the day after we'd returned from our week long cruise. While on that cruise Jake developed a cold and didn't get as much sleep as he would have liked. Beth came home almost happier than she normally is. So this was honestly the best photo I could get of the both of them.
"Yay, Mom kept us alive for 10 months!"
11 Months means we don't have to cooperate for pictures anymore. Or so they think!
Beth kept stealing Jake's month sign, then Jake would steal it back prompting Beth to throw herself back in righteous anger at the horror of it all.
It wasn't until I gave Beth both stickers and Jake the paper that the stickers came on that they both sat still long enough for a photo to be taken that included both of them sitting still for 2.3 seconds.
The past month has seen a HUGE increase in movement for these kids. If I thought the army crawling was crazy movement that was before both kids learned to pull themselves up into standing positions, and then begin cruising around the furniture. Now, short tables have become danger zones and our coffee cups, remotes, and phones are no longer safe from small hands and drooling mouths. :-) "We" also sleep trained this month. I say we because while the babies were the ones doing the learning, I was the one doing the clock watching and pacing. It took a little less than a week to get nights down (where I could put them in the crib and they'd fall asleep 100% on their own and then sleep for at least four hours before waking up for a night feed) and roughly two weeks for naps to get to the same point (albeit sleeping for only an hour to an hour and a half at a time). Now I get at least three hours of sleep before their first wake-up, but more like five or six. I'm okay with up to twice a night for feeding because of how little Beth is especially. Jake just gets the added bonus of being fed when she does. :-)
Jake discovered how to shake his head "no" and they both learned to say "ahhh" when I put my hand against their mouth to make the Indian sound (I have no other PC way to describe it). Beth went one step farther and pats her own mouth to make the sound as well. She also has a sweet way of patting her chest whenever someone is crying as if to say "Mom, go pat them and make them feel better". Jake has discovered grunting and is too funny to be around when he gets in one of his grunting moods. It's this deep grrr from down in his chest and he just finds it hilarious. Lastly, while they are both still in size three diapers and Beth is still in 3-6 month clothes, Jake has finally grown up enough to need 6-9 months. Of course, all of my hand-me-downs are shorts and t-shirts (as he "should" have been in this size from June - August) so I'll be hitting up the consignment stores and Costco (as well, as Carter's if I'm being honest) to outfit him once again. Here's to hoping that when Beth finally sizes up I see more winter hand-me-downs than summer!
One Month Old - Wondering who this other person is.
Two Months Old - Looking like their own person now.
Three Months Old - Getting their own personalities.
Four Months Old - Beth poses for her picture while Jake is totally over the camera.
Five Months Old - I got them on the same side as before! Starting to really enjoy baby life.
And the official 6 month photo where they both refuse to smile at the same time no matter what I do. This was the best of the bunch! I do like how it shows the difference in body types between the two. You can see that Beth is just tiny compared to Jake, especially their chest and waist size differences.
They're so excited to be 7 months old. LOL.
They were so full of smiles that I had a tough time picking which picture I wanted to highlight this month.
Their nine month pictures were taken about a week after the actual ninth month and the day after we'd returned from our week long cruise. While on that cruise Jake developed a cold and didn't get as much sleep as he would have liked. Beth came home almost happier than she normally is. So this was honestly the best photo I could get of the both of them.
"Yay, Mom kept us alive for 10 months!"
I am fully honest when I say that this is the only photo that doesn't have something (or someone) blurry in it. Trying to get two very active little people to lay or sit still for a photo was impossible. :-)
The biggest milestone this past month for these kiddos was that they became international travelers! Our family went on a Caribbean Cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, Belize, and Isla de Roatan, Honduras. The two of them did GREAT and adjusted to ship life just swimmingly. Pun intended. :-) Individually, Beth learned to pull herself into a standing position and is so cute as she tends to have her legs as far apart as possible when doing so. Jake is being taught that biting hurts and that it's not funny (seriously, people, he'll be nursing...clamp down hard....then give me the biggest shy grin when I tell him no....it's so hard not to just squeeze him then because of how cute that grin is). They are both army crawling everywhere with a few moments of getting up on all fours. But no actual 'real' crawling yet. Still maintaining strong in the 3-6 month sized clothes and size 3 diapers. Naps are pretty consistent at twice per day. Night time is still hard with multiple wake-ups but I can taste sleep training on the horizon. Once these two are cold free (and we're home from the Thanksgiving holiday) it's game on.
At Abby's last dentist visit we made mention to the dentist that her front right tooth was occasionally hurting her. We were surprised when we learned that this was because her tooth (in fact all four of her front teeth) were loose. Their wiggling around was what was causing the occasional discomfort. Fast forward a few months and on Saturday, November 5th Abby woke me up to the surprise of a missing bottom, right tooth. Sadly, she'd been munching on cheerios when she felt a funny crunch and then apparently swallowed her tooth! She was so excited about losing a tooth that swallowing it wasn't a big deal to her, but I'll admit a little sadness on my part that I wouldn't have that keepsake. Then I wondered how we would do the "Tooth Fairy" without an actual tooth.
Abby with her first missing tooth.
Well, I need not have worried. Throughout the day Abby had fun wiggling her other bottom tooth that was loose. She even had fun making some videos similar to the ones that she watches in the Kids YouTube channel. She kept trying to pull it out but there was one little root that just would not budge. I figured it'd be another few days until the tooth loosened itself enough to allow her to give a yank without it hurting too badly. However, after putting the babies down I shut their door and turned around to a widely grinning Abby with a huge gap in her teeth and a baggie in her hand. She'd pulled the second tooth! Two teeth in one day! My first thought was that I was so excited she had a tooth to show off and my second was how in the world the Tooth Fairy was going to pull this off as she'd had no preparation time and Nate wasn't home.
Abby missing her second tooth. The missing teeth just change her look so much. Just another step towards leaving childhood and heading towards being an adult. sigh.
Thankfully a wonderful friend and neighbor saw my post on Facebook and came to the rescue by watching all three kids after they were in bed while I ran to the store. I'll admit the Tooth Fairy went a little overboard for this momentous occasion. Two teeth in one day, a swallowed first tooth, Nate gone, and well, money just didn't seem to cut it. So instead, the Tooth Fairy knew that a Monster High doll (Frankie to be exact) and a Littlest Pet Shop figurine would be a huge hit. I almost got made being the Tooth Fairy though as the exact moment when I made the switch of note and tooth for present Abby rolled over and started to flutter a bit like she was going to wake up. I hit the ground and then realized with her bed also on the ground I had no cover. LOL! So I froze like the stillest statue and prayed very hard for her to fall back asleep. When continued movement kept happening I dashed to make the switch and raced out of the room. Thankfully I got out of there before she saw anything and she fell back asleep.
Her note reads "Lucy Tooth I swallowed down tooth. I hope please give money nother. Love, Abby." The translation is "Lucy Tooth, I swallowed down a tooth. Please give money for another tooth (meaning leave money for both teeth). Love, Abby."
Abby's letter from the tooth fairy.
And a tooth receipt because I couldn't make up my mind which one I wanted at 10:30pm after a 6am wake-up time.
In the morning I found her cuddled up next to me, but as soon as she fully woke up she got the biggest smile on her face as she realized that the Tooth Fairy should have come in the night. She raced to her room and was delighted when she saw both presents. There was that much looked for spark and amazement in her eyes when she realized that the Tooth Fairy got her her much desired Frankie doll. I know that she won't believe much longer. But I love seeing the child wonder and amazement that these childhood fantasies bring.
Earlier in the year some good friends of ours asked if we'd be interested in going on a cruise with them. I'll admit that my first thought was "a cruise with infant twins, are you insane?" but instead we said we were interested depending upon cost and timing. Months went by and every once in a while they'd be a little jingle about the cruise, but nothing big or concrete. Then summer hit and, during a random Skype call, we realized that if the cruise was actually going to happen we needed to firmly commit or bow out so that they could plan a cruise for themselves. After tossing around a bunch of pros and cons our decision was basically decided upon the logical "why not" assessment. :-) It'd been a few years since our last vacation and it felt like we just needed a break from reality. So cruise vacation planning was on!
After a bit of back and forth we decided on an October cruise to the Western Caribbean. Cozumel, Mexico, Belize, and Isla de Roatan, Honduras on the Carnival Breeze to be exact. We left on Saturday, October 22nd and had an uneventful time until we boarded our ship the next afternoon......oh, if only I could say that without lying. What really happened was one for the books (or blog in this case). Our flights to Galveston were peachy. Due to airline regulations we all couldn't sit together (infant in arms are only one infant per row and have to be seated on the right side of the plane due to the extra oxygen mask available) but we happily sat in rows right next to each other. Both babies fell asleep on the each leg of the flights and Abby watched movies or played quietly. When we landed the Gassend's had just landed themselves, so we spent some time catching up, then grabbed our rental cars. After stopping for dinner at a fun BBQ joint, we headed to our hotel where the kids (minus the twins) and adults (minus me holding the twins) played in the pool. All too soon it was bedtime for all and we parted ways to get a good night's sleep for fun the next day.
My girls and I on the flight out.
I didn't realize how much stuff we'd brought until we tried to get it all together to head to the rental cars. Four suitcases, three car seats, two strollers, and a cpap machine. Add in two carriers for the babies and two back packs (one for the babies and one for Abby) and we were loaded to the max.
Instead, Abby began throwing up at roughly midnight. After cleaning her up we were able to get her back to bed where we hoped it was just a random moment of too much fun, not enough sleep, and some odd food. Then she threw up at 2am. And 4am. At that moment we decided we needed to take her into the ER as the Zofran we'd been giving her (why, yes, we do keep dissolvable Zofran in our medical kit, doesn't everyone?) wasn't working. Nate took her in while I stayed at the hotel room with the twins. Thankfully the hospital was less than a five minute drive away. At roughly 6am, they came back and promptly fell asleep. However, at 8am Abby threw up again. Since she'd been given additional dosages of Zofran and Phenegrin at the hospital, she shouldn't have continued to throw up. So back to the ER they went. At 10am, Nate called and asked if I was sitting down. The admitting doctor, upon seeing how black her tongue was, thought she was significantly dehydrated and didn't expect her to get out of the hospital in time for us to board our ship before departure.
Two thoughts immediately swam into my head: My poor baby and I want to go on this cruise, damn it. We talked a bit but basically we both knew that Abby came first (duh!) and if she needed to be in the hospital then we missed our cruise. End discussion.
Abby with her IV. Nate said she was a hoot to listen to as she interacted with the nurses. Super polite but very curious as to what was going on. Add in her normal chatty self and her attendees were very entertained.
An hour or so later, Nate called again and said that Abby was responding much better to the IV fluids than expected and there was a small chance that we might be able to make the cruise after all. Nate mentioned that Abby's tongue had quickly turned from black to pink and perhaps she wasn't as dehydrated as originally thought. And that's when I remembered the Pepto Bismol tablet I'd had Abby eat after her first throw up thinking it might help her stomach. If you didn't know, Pepto Bismol tablets can have a side affect of turning one's tongue black. Which is also an indication of dehydration. And, in a weird way, I'm thankful she had this reaction as I believe it's the reason she was seen and then given medication so soon, which got her on the path to recovery sooner.
It was kind of a mad scramble as we decided we would do everything in our power to be ready to head to the cruise should Abby get discharged in time. So I madly packed up everyone's suitcases, had Nate pick all of us up while a nurse stayed with Abby (again, thankful for the quick trip as I hated thinking of her hanging out in a room with a stranger), and then we all crammed into the hospital to eventually hear that Abby was doing much better and the doctor didn't see an issue with us attending our cruise.
Woo hoo! We left the hospital an hour after we'd originally planned to leave the Houston Space Center (our original plan was to wake up in the morning and visit the Space Center then head to the cruise) but well within time to make the final boarding time. I'd already called ahead to the cruise line to confirm that we were still okay to take her on board having been sick and all and the cruise person I talked to said it wasn't an issue at all and that if she got sick again we could just see the doctor on board.
The kids and I waiting in the cruise terminal while Nate parked the car.
After going through terminal security we headed immediately to our stateroom and began to unpack and try to get life organized for our upcoming week. While Nate unpacked, I entertained the babies, and Abby passed.ass.out on the sleeping sofa. She was so exhausted from her ordeal and sleepless night that I barely got a grunt of of her as I moved her under the blanket covers. I will say, though, that our stateroom was pretty awesome. As you first entered the room there were five floor to ceiling cabinets on the left side of the room for clothing storage. The right side had two bathrooms. One contained a shower, toilet, and sink and the other a sink and bathtub. As I'd wondered how we'd keep the babies clean this trip I was really happy to see the bath tub. Then the room opened up and on the left there was a desk, fridge, and TV combo hutch and on the right a couch that pulled out into a twin bed and a bunk twin bed that pulled down from the ceiling. The back of the room had two twin beds pushed together to make a queen-sized bed and behind that bed was a window with a ledge just big enough for Abby to sit in and play. I wish I'd gotten a photo of what the room looked like but every time I thought to take a picture we were either coming or going and having too much fun to stop.
Just as the room was put together and Nate decided to take a nap (Abby was still sleeping) while I explored the ship with the babies, an announcement was made regarding a mandatory meeting for all passengers to attend regarding emergency evacuation procedures. So I left to attend the meeting while Nate stayed behind with Abby (as he flat out said he wasn't going) so I said I'd catch him up on what the meeting was. I will fully admit that I flat out lied when the attendant asked if all in my party was present when she checked me in. Without hesitation or guilt I said "yep". And since the meeting literally turned out to be "if there's an emergency this alarm will sound. Make sure you bring your life jacket to this meeting location and wait for instructions on boarding the life vessel." I didn't see it as an issue. I was glad I went, though, as our meeting location was at the back of the ship so we got to see dolphins playing in the water as we left port. There were probably five or six of them and they were just jumping and splashing and having a great time. Not something I see every day! The rest of the evening had the sleepy heads waking up, grabbing dinner, and walking around the ship a bit more. But we all called it an early night due to the travel and excitement of the day.
The next morning was an At Sea day, which I've decided is a necessity for any future cruises I may take. Having the first full day be a stress free day without worrying about getting off the ship at a certain time or having to watch the clock is really nice. We pretty much spent the day swimming, eating, and further exploring the ship.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip! Jake is trying to nurse off of Nate while Abby is cackling she's laughing so hard in the background.
Abby and Nate playing in the Kid's Zone while I watched with the babies. While the pools were heated the water in this area was not and so it was pretty cold. You got used to it, but I didn't think the babies would like it so much.
Instead I grabbed a bunch of chairs and made a make-shift playpen and enjoyed an adult beverage while the kids played at my feet. As they'd been in the pool for quite a bit before this I think they enjoyed being on land again for a while.
After we'd had our fill of pools for a bit we decided to participate in one of the Kid's Camp activities. A Dr. Seuss parade and theatre show. Here Abby's yelling "Dr. Seuss is on the loose" as the parade began to travel from one end of the ship where we originally met to the other end where the theatre performance was.
Nate took the opportunity to also grab an adult beverage as we did our travels while Elizabeth grabbed a nap.
One of the upper decks contained a sports center that included workout equipment, a Foosball table, air hockey table, miniature golf, a ropes course, and a giant chess set. This was a great place to go when Abby needed to get some wiggles out but wanted to stay with the family instead of going to the kid's camp. Here she needed to lift her entire body off the seat to pull the bars back, but by golly she did it!
I must say I'm awesome! I tandem nursed sans nursing pillow the entire trip. It was just so much easier to nurse this way. It took half the time and I didn't have one baby screaming at me while I was nursing the other.
Playing on the giant chess set.
The next morning was our first Shore Day with a visit to Cozumel, Mexico. I will admit that of all the places we were visiting this one was low man on my totem pole. Nate and I had previously visited Playa del Carmen, Mexico which is the closest mainland area to Cozumel and, while it was a nice place, wasn't somewhere that I was desperate to get back to. Getting sick definitely had something to do with that. So anyways I wasn't expecting much. We got off the ship not having booked any excursions as we figured we'd just hang out on a nearby beach. Instead, we were greeted with zero beach access in sight. After deciding to walk a bit to see if we could find a beach (having also said no to the on shore excursion people who were highlighting beaches with a 30+ minute drive) we were randomly stopped by a hotel employee outside of the El Cid hotel. It was okay looking from the front, we'd been walking for probably 15-20 minutes already, and the price per adult to enter for a day pass was decent, so when he offered to show us the beach so we could see if we were interested we took him up on the offer. I am so glad we did!!! It was a gorgeous location. I am totally okay with the fact that when our group regathered to see if we wanted to stay or not I loudly proclaimed my desire to pay the man and get in the water! LOL.
We decided to head to the beach first and got a surprise as right next to the beach was a small tide pool that was perfect for wading in. Abby discovered some angel fish that she kept trying to catch and I enjoyed playing in the waterfall with the babies. Then Nate took Abby into the ocean for some rougher fun while I nursed and put to bed some sleepy babies. When they woke up Nate took all three kids over to the pool and I went out for an ocean swim. It was so relaxing just floating and talking to Valerie as it was just the two of us in the water. The water was also so clear! You could see down to the bottom as if it were mere inches away instead of feet. I did appreciate that there was a wildlife barrier that cordoned off our swimming area as the theme of Jaws kept running through my head as I swam out to touch the buoys that marked the end of the swimming section. Once I got back to shore I joined up with the rest of the crew at the pool and had fun playing with the babies in the zero entry area and then swimming with Abby in the pool. All too soon it was time to head back to the ship. But I can honestly say that this ended up being my favorite stop of the trip. It was just so calming and quiet and wonderful. When I think back to our vacation there are many wonderful moments, but this is definitely the one that pops to the top.
Abby trying to catch the Angel Fish (in the bottom left corner).
Nate holding on to his babies in the tide pool.
Heaven. Just pure heaven.
The next day was another Shore day. This time we were visiting Belize and I'll admit right up front that it wasn't my favorite shore excursion. Due to a variety of reasons we didn't get off the ship until after noon. By the time we took a tender (small ship) from the cruise ship to the port, walked our way through the cruise terminals and discovered that there were no nearby beaches to access (such as yesterday's slice of heaven at the El Cid), decided on an excursion to Cucumber Beach, and then actually got there we basically had an hour and a half before we had to get back on the bus to take us back to the terminal to take the tender back to the ship to board the ship before it departed.
Cucumber Beach did have some good places for the kids to play when they got tired of the water. A sandbox (which seems really funny when you think about it) and a play house.
Trying to keep the babies shaded as well as off the sand (as much as possible). While the sunshade seemed excessive it was really nice to have for this beach as there was no available shade by the time we got to the beach and every time they got close to the sand they tried to eat it. Not sure what we would have done if we'd just had towels in the shine of the sun.
A view of the under side of the drop off slide and in the far distance the yellow circle is the trampoline balloon.
Jake showing just how unhappy he was with the whole situation.
When we arrived at Cucumber Beach I was torn. It wasn't the beauty sea of tranquility I'd been expecting as it was a man-made beach area with water dumped in the middle, but it did have some fun toys including a drop-off slide, rope swing, and trampoline balloon to play on. Nate had gotten a bit sunburned the previous day (we'd been really good about making sure that I and the kids loaded up on sunscreen but had neglected to hose down Nate as much) so he said he'd stay on shore with the babies while I played in the water with Abby. Unfortunately, Beth and Jake weren't as keen on the idea. I think the loud music, windblown sand, and lack of Mom combined into a fussy mess. Nate is awesome possum with the babies (in fact a random guy walked by and said "Man, you're my hero" to Nate) but he's not Mom. So I'd look back to shore while playing with Abby and see that he was struggling with unhappy babies which made it hard to enjoy my time playing. Finally, after spending a bunch of time with Abby and trying out the rope swing and slide I came in to give Nate a break.
Nate and I had a kick on the drive back. The driver was going MUCH faster as he wasn't trying to point out sites along the way, and since we were in the back of the bus this meant that we were getting shot out of our seats as we went over bumps. Notice how we're both holding baby's heads? That's because they kept snapping back and forth! Abby and Sophie in the next seat over were in little girl heaven as they exaggerated every bump they encountered.
It wasn't too much later that it was time for a mad scramble to pack up and get back on the bus to head back to the terminal to catch the tender to arrive at the cruise ship (I don't know why she swallowed the fly, perhaps she'll die.) I think we ended the night with a nice dinner in our dining room while Abby was eating dinner with Kid's Camp and then after helping me get the kids ready for bed Nate took off with Blaise to attend a comedy show. I have to add that I had a pretty wild night myself as I hung out on the floor by the light of the bathroom reading a kindle book and snacking on Cheez-Its and Root Beer. ;-)
Our fourth day on the cruise was our final Shore Day. The previous night, after looking at the possible beach options, Valerie and I made the executive decision to visit the ship's excursion desk to purchase an excursion. We were once again faced with no beach access by the terminal and, after talking with a few people, realized that we were in a similar situation to Belize where you have to travel a bit to get to more than just shops. We decided upon a beach and animal sanctuary excursion on a private island roughly 15 minutes from Isla de Roatan (our Honduran stop). As most of the other excursions were either a 45 minute drive/boat ride, required older minimum ages, or were SUPER expensive I'm very happy that this excursion was still awesome. We left the cruise ship at 10am and took a small boat over to our island where we were given a brief overview of what was available and then given free range until our departure time.
Sophie and Abby dancing and entertaining us while we waited for our tour to depart.
A map of the island's activities and sights.
After grabbing some chairs by the beach we realized it was time for the Sea Lion feeding so headed over to watch the show. It was quite a surprise to see these HUGE beasts waddle out of the water and then perform for us. I didn't realize how large sea lions were until we were mere feet away from them. We also got to watch them perform with a couple who had paid for an up close encounter. Afterwards we were given the option to feed them and while I really wanted to those teeth were just too huge to overcome. Sophie tossed them a quick fish and then had a hand odor the rest of the day. :-)
My family!
Sophie feeding the sea lion!
We decided to tour the animal sanctuary before jumping in the water and saw some neat animals. This is a refuge and rehabilitation facility so it was nice knowing that these animals weren't here solely for the purpose of providing visitors with something to look at. Thankfully it also started to sprinkle a little bit which brought the humidity levels down to a manageable intensity. I know I'm from a desert climate but I was getting a little tired of sweating by just standing there. :-)
Nate showing off his sweat.
Showing off my sweat.
Abby and Sophie in front of the parrots. They loved to chat at top volume.
I think this is the cougar but mostly the girls are showing off the many leaves they collected.
After lunch the older kids had fun making a stroller chain and pushing each other around while the adults finished their lunch. It was pretty good fair, too. Fried fish, marinated grilled chicken, rice and beans, coleslaw, and banana chips.
A view of our "swimming pool".
Nate playing with Abby and the babies.
All too soon it was time to head back to our boat to get back to the mainland. Nate did make fun of me a bit because, while I wasn't the very last person on the boat, I was darn close to it because I'd taken a few extra seconds to grab my pop can to bring with me. :-) Back on the main land it was a nice walk to the terminal and back onto the cruise ship.
Abby found these huge show statues and had a blast playing in them.
I love Abby's face in this photo. You can tell she's taking out all the bad guys and having a blast doing so.
At this point I think the baby's had had so much excitement that they started sleeping MUCH better. I do have to make a comment on this picture regarding sleeping arrangements, though. When we first booked the cruise we requested that a crib be put in the room thinking that the babies would just sleep in it while Abby had her bed and Nate and I slept in the queen bed. After getting the crib in the room and realizing that we had no floor space we decided to forgo the crib and rearrange our sleeping bed assignments. Abby was still in her bunk bed, but Nate took the sleeping sofa while the babies and I slept on the queen bed. After the first night or two the babies and I shifted so that they slept on the upper part of the bed and I slept sideways on the bottom. This picture shows just how much room I had to sleep in between them as the two twin beds pushed together didn't really make a full queen bed. Add in the pillows on the sides of the bed to make sure the babies didn't fall off and I barely had room to breathe let alone comfortably sleep. So they slept up top and when one woke to nurse they'd crawl down to me, waking me up, so I could crawl to the top of the bed, wake the other one up and tandem nurse. By the end of the week my back was sore but not as sore as it had been sleeping on the crack of the bed. :-)
That night, while Abby was in Kid's Camp, Nate and I (and the babies) took off by ourselves for an intimate Italian Dinner. Or as intimate as one can get with two twin infants and wait staff stopping by every 3-4 minutes to comment on the cuteness of said twins. :-) The dinner was honestly one of the best I've had in a long time and the tiramisu dessert was Y.U.M.M.Y! It was more like a mousse than a cake and it tasted so good that I stole it from Nate and then licked the bowl. No guilt whatsoever!
When we got to our last At Sea day we were all at a point where we were having fun, but ready to go home. Starting our trip in the Emergency Room and then having babies that require a lot of work made for a fun but exhausting vacation. So our last day was all about relaxing and taking it easy. After breakfast we went to a demonstration on towel animals and this is where I really realized how tired Abby was. Her poor little eyes just had such bags under them.
My baby is so tired.
Showing off our dog and elephant towel animals.
After the towel demonstration we visited Kid's Camp for some family play time. This was Abby's room for the 2-5 year olds. We wondered if she should be in this room of the 6-8 year olds since she was so close to being 6 but I think this room was a much better fit for her.
The rest of this last day was spent pool hopping, snacking and eating, grabbing some Carstens' family only time, more pool time, and then some packing with an early bedtime as we were all exhausted.
Our last day cruise day was a short one as we docked back in Galveston at 8am and the disembarking procedure began right away. As we'd elected to haul our bags with us we finished packing up that morning instead of the night before. It was a little dicey as we were trying to head home with one suitcase less but still all the gear. We ended up having a super heavy bag, but eh. All our crap made it home, right? Nate did manage an awesome maneuver as he checked to see if we might be able to get a little help with the waiting since we had so many small kids with us and the attendant who was directing people into the super long line, had us get into the assistance line which was so short we just walked off the ship. Very handy to have twins during moments like these!!!
After a bit of a crazy time getting back through customs and finding our rental car we were on our way to visit the Houston Space Center as we had a few hours to kill before our flight home.
My little genius in front of a space shuttle.
Nate touching a rock from the moon.
Exploring a rocket, I think.
After visiting the Mission Control Room, touring some actual shuttles and rockets, and seeing a few sights inside the museum it was time to say our goodbyes to the Gassend family and leave to head to the airport for our ride home. We left a little later than we'd planned on but made up some time on our way to the airport so there shouldn't have been any issues getting on our flight, right? Yeah, right.
So, before the cruise, KNOWING that infant in arm situations can be complicated I called United Airlines twice...TWICE!...to confirm that all our tickets were in order. However, when we got to the check-in area we discovered that while Nate and my ticket both said that we were holding an infant in arms no one thought to actually create tickets for the infants themselves. Which are required for the infants to fly on the plane. UGH!!! We were directed to wait in the special assistance line but after 30 freaking minutes of the line not moving (and our departure time getting closer and closer) I grabbed a manager for help. However, he had to wait for a computer to clear up before he could actually do anything to help us. Once that fiasco was sorted out we still had to go through the security line while the clock ticked faster and faster towards our departure time. We booked it to our departure gate (thank goodness we made it a game for Abby and she chose to take it as such instead of fussing as she was so tired) just as they opened up the plane to board. My anxiety was through the roof! Thankfully we had snacks on hand and I just made our seat friend move multiple times for Abby's in flight bathroom trips as we hadn't had time to go beforehand. Thankfully our connecting flight was without issue and we landed back in Pasco on time. Thanks Dad for picking us up!
Abby laying down on the airport floor.
As soon as we got home she crawled into bed and passed out, lights on and everything.
As I look back on our Caribbean Cruise vacation I'm so, so glad we went. Our family needed the vacation, the fun, the new sights, and the time together. We definitely had a lot of fun and are all looking forward to our next cruise. However, both Nate and I agree that the next cruise needs to wait until ALL children are old enough to attend kid's camp. LOL. The babies were super good, but work. And it was hard not having any down time or adult time as they were always around. We're thinking an Alaskan Cruise next time, but time will tell! Until then I have many wonderful memories of our time together as a family and with the Gassends. :-)
