Normal is good

I used to feel sad for about a week after vacation when settling back into the normal day to day routine. Now, I actually find some relief in the normalcy of getting Carter and Ainsley back in their routine. That means everyone might start sleeping again and babies will go back to what is familiar to them which makes them happy.

Back to feeding solids. We started giving them some finger foods so they can exercise their little pinchers. Puffs and bananas were some of the first things we gave to them.

Ainsley loves feeding herself!

 

 

 Carter is working very hard at getting the puff into his mouth.

 

Will calls this Ainsley's ugly smile. I, on the other hand, love this picture of Ainsley and find her super smile endearing. She only flashes one of these when she's very happy.

 

I also love this picture of Carter.

NYC - we meet again

I used to visit NYC every year. Then Will and I got married and I haven't had the chance to go back after our wedding. We went on a long search for a house to start our newly married life in with the hopes of finding a home that we can grown into. Three years later, we did just that with the arrival of Carter and Ainsley.

So I find it fitting that my first trip back after my hiatus is to attend my cousin Ray and Melody's wedding. It would also be the first time for Christine to meet Carter and Ainsley after hearing so much about them.

Upon arrival, Will thrust Ainsley into Christine's arms while he went to carry our luggage up three flights of stairs to their place. Christine later told me that she loved that Will just let her hold Ainsley right away and Ainsley warmed up to her immediately too.

After relaxing for a little, we headed over to M Shanghai for long awaited soup dumplings which were scrumptious! Carter passed out during lunch but Ainsley remained wide awake. We went for a walk afterwards for some window shopping but instead of sleeping, the twins were both very alert to all the noises and on goings around them.

It was sort of like old times again with good food, great company, some shopping and even a mani pedi! Thanks for my wonderful husband for watching the twins so Christine and I could catch up.

My friends were going to babysit the twins while we go to the wedding. This would be the first time that we would leave the twins with anyone outside of our family for an extended period of time. The twins were so well-behaved that my friend thought watching them would be a breeze as she's babysat older kids before. Carter gave them a little scare by refusing to eat at first but then later cooperated. My friends did a great job and Will and I got to attend a fabulous wedding and even stay out for a little bit of the after party!

My handsome cousin and his gorgeous wife

 This is the view we had during cocktail hour.

 

Same breathtaking view at night.

 

 

Enjoying an amazing wedding

Limping out of the United Nations at the end of the night.



Headed for NYC

September was a fun and busy month. Shortly after returning from Hilton Head, we had another trip planned for New York City. It would be the first time the twins will fly so while we were excited to board a plane again, we were also a little nervous about how Carter and Ainsley will do.

Carter is thrilled to be flying. Will is nervous.

 

They are usually so good in restaurants that I felt that they would do ok. We packed a lot lighter for this trip and made sure to have a bottle each for takeoff so that their ears won't pop and cause them pain.

Some other things we learned about flying with babies:
- Will and I could not sit next to each other with both babies on our laps. This is due to there only being one extra mask for each seating aisle in the case the plane goes down. So Will sat on one side with Carter and my father while Ainsley sat on my lap with my mom on the other side.
- We could bring breast milk in our carry on onto the flight. They just took the milk aside to check it and dab our hands to check.
- Babies = priority seating - winning.

Ainsley drank all the milk and promptly went to sleep for pretty much the entire flight.

 

 

NYC is one of the few places in the United States along with LA where babies do not have to sit in a car seat in a taxi. Here we are with the babies strapped to us in their ergos while the taxi driver whizzed through traffic.

 

Let's not think about the crazy taxi ride.

 

Whee! This is fun!

 

 





7 Month Fun

If you can't tell, I'm super behind on this blog. September was super busy and the twins just keep developing and changing in so many ways. They turned 7 months old while we were in Hilton Head but we didn't get their picture until we got back.

The stickers didn't last long. While we were trying to take their pictures, Ainsley kept doing this.

Ainsley is in a doorway swing that will help her practice standing. Hmm, it might have worked too well as she is almost ready to walk now.

 Hmm, why does my head itch?



Hilton Head week

Hilton Head was a week of sand, water, play and good eats. One of the things I was looking forward to the most was eating at Robert Irvine's Eat! after discovering that it was in Hilton Head. Stella made reservations for us all for dinner and the staff was extremely accommodating. Even better were the happy hour prices that accommodated our food due to us being there for an early dinner. I've written a Yelp review for Eat! so I won't go into it here. I would definitely go back though.

 

Carter would definitely go back to Eat! too.

 

We also discovered Robert Irvine's new restaurant Nosh but only thought it was ok.



Upon discovering sand, Ainsley tried to eat as much of it as possible.

 

Morning sunrises were worth waking up early for.

 

We don't need naps.

 

We want to play all day...

 

 

Vacation did have a small downside. Despite being in a room connected to ours, the twins screamed bloody murder when they woke up in the middle of the night. Needless to say, neither they nor I slept very well all week.

 

Baby chess!

 

 

 

 

 

My big fat family vacation - arrived at destination: Hilton Head

Chilling like villians

Over the last few years that the whole family vacationed together, we've had to rent multiple condos because of the kids. This year, we found a place that could house all 16 of us. It was either going to be a really great time or else we're going to end up not speaking to each other by the end of vacation.  I'm leaning towards the former.

This place was fantastic and had plenty of room for everybody. The kitchen was gourmet and had not one but two dishwashers which was excellent. Best of all was all the family friendly amenities there. There were two high chairs and booster seats in the kitchen. Not to mention the cribs, two pack and plays, exersaucer and other children's toys. After roaming around the mansion, we all settled in.  Hardwood floors covered the entire house but the living room had a rug on it and was surrounded by the sofas. This was where the babies would play on the floor in a nice, enclosed area.

Two high chairs! The twins were enjoying some delicious fruit in their nubies. The nubies were a great way to let them eat watermelon and cantaloupe without the risk of choking.

 

I learned to sit up on vacation! I'm so proud of myself!

 

Cool ceiling view.

 



The house had its own private pool and Jacuzzi which everybody immediately made use of after laying all the kids and babies down for the night. This was vacation.

Every day is a pool party

 

The guys decided to engage in a contest to see how far they could jump into the pool from the wall of the hot tub. Henry covered the longest distance while Chi wins for covering the shortest distance.

 

Go the distance:

 

 



My big fat family vacation - first stop Pigeon Forge

 

 

 

The twins went on their first big, family vacation this summer. It entailed a long road trip down to Hilton Head, South Carolina with a stop in Pigeon Forge, Tennesee. To prepare for this enormous undertaking, I stocked up on swim diapers and Gerber puffs for the trip. I was also looking for a car seat toy to keep Carter and Ainsley occupied. I dislike road trips and get bored on the road so I can only imagine what could go through their minds if we're in the car any longer than a couple of hours.

Two days before we leave, I found two carseat toys that attached to the handles of the car seat. It contained some play things which played music if you push the button. It felt like fate finding these on one of my few shopping excursions now. Not only were there two of them together, they were cheaper than the backup toy I had saved in my Amazon cart. As if that wasn't enough, I found one extra for my sister too when I searched through the aisles one more time.

The morning we were set to leave, I had packed 3+ bags of luggage in various modes of transport (suitcase, bendable bag, duffle bag) and was armed with two car seat toys, two DVD players with Baby signing time DVDs, puffs, teethers, baby water bottles and some of the twins other favorite toys.

We got out of the house at a decent hour but still lost an hour due to rush hour traffic. The twins did amazingly well on the road but did need to eat every few hours and cried when they wanted to be picked up. I sat in the little mini seat the entire time between them so I could answer their every whim.  Add to it restroom breaks, gas stations to refuel, stops to feed the babies and to feed ourselves, it was almost 8 hours when we finally arrived at Pigeon Forge.

The sun was still out and after checking in, we all changed into our swimsuits and hit the pool.

Carter and Ainsley getting some time on the laptop after a long day on the road.

 

Happy to be free from their car seats.

 

I love grits! First of many Southern meals to start off vacation.

 



Carter and Ainsley's first professional photo shoot

We got pictures taken right around when the twins were going to turn 6 months!

 

Ainsley and Carter switched personas for the shoot. Normally, Carter is a ham and smiles big for the camera. Today wasn't one of those days. Perhaps he was tired or the bright lights were bothering him. He stared at the photographer jumping up and down like a deer in headlights unsure of what reaction he should give. When she continued, he started to cry in protest. Ainsley, on the other hand, kept sticking her tongue out and played along. She laughed and cooed which was completely opposite of how she normally acts. Our photographer was able to get some pretty cute shots.

 

 

 

It is exhausting being a children's photographer! Ours had tons of energy and make noises and bounced around trying to elicit a smile or two. I joined in the madness to help and towards the end of the shoot gave myself a headache.