#2under2

Now that Calvin is officially two years old, I no longer have 2 under 2! Everything will suddenly be easier, right? Ha ha.

When I was pregnant with Henry, I did a little interweb searching for blogs about having closely-spaced siblings ("Irish twins," depending on your definition). I was looking for advice on how to manage caring for two very little littles. Even before we knew that they would both have special needs we knew we were in for a challenge.

This post is about things that help/helped. My two littles aren't like typical closely spaced sibs. It will be much longer before they are both walking and talking. But I think a lot of our experiences are relatable. I'm not saying I'm in any position to give out advice. But maybe there is another mama out there trying to carry her 13-month-old alongside a 7 month baby bump and looking to read about how someone else survived :)

1. I set up a "baby station" in the living room.
For the first few months after Henry was born I kept our Pack N Play set up with the infant hammock in the living room. In it I kept a stack of diapers for both boys, wipes, and a burp cloth. Henry was not the kind of baby who would chill there happily by himself but it gave me a safe place to put him down where big brother couldn't poke him if I needed my hands free to do something. It also served as a 2nd diaper changing station and Henry could take naps in there.


2. I embraced "Babywearing."

 

Dear Ergo, Ring Sling, and Boba Wrap... what would I do without you?? I didn't bother with the snap-in infant seat on the stroller for Henry, I just wore him in one of the carriers and put Calvin in the umbrella stroller. Now he's big enough for the seats in our double stroller, so I use it sometimes for the two of them, but the Ergo + umbrella stroller is still really handy. And at the grocery store, Calvin rides in the cart seat and Henry rides in the Ergo. Most stores here don't have those double shopping carts and Henry couldn't sit in one anyway!

I also wear Henry around the house when he is fussy, but I need to do things (laundry, dishes... etc.).

At the playground the Ergo is a must because Calvin loves running around the play structure and climbing and sliding, and though I don't like to get all helicopter-y, he's a teeny guy and he still needs a spotter and maybe someone to play with and show his proud smile to. I can't just leave Henry in the stroller on the sidelines (for one thing, he would probably cry his face off), so Henry stays nestled in the Ergo while I follow Calvin around.


3. I try to be early so we won't be late.
This was especially helpful for those first few ventures out into the world when I didn't have a grasp of exactly what it would entail to make it out the door with both kids and all our stuff. So if we were going out in the morning, I would just start getting ready as soon as we were up. I'd get them dressed during those first diaper changes. I'd start packing the diaper bag as soon as I had my hands free. We'd get in the car as soon as we were ready, and since they were waking up at like 6am, even if it took us 2 hours to accomplish getting dressed, fed, and packed, we were still out the door by 8! Which meant I could make it to gym classes or play dates at 9 or 10. And when we arrived early, we'd just relax. Have a snack. Calvin would play or we'd walk around, depending on the destination.

I do this less now, and as a result we are late more often! I needed to remind myself of this one! It is also nice to do outings just by myself with the boys because then we're not trying to coordinate schedules with anyone else and no one is depending on us to be on time.

4. I joined a gym with a daycare.
A friend of mine talked me into it and I'm so glad I listened to her. I will say that, as with any child care option, it makes a difference if you like the babysitters. I have had only good experiences with the women who work at my gym daycare and they genuinely seem happy to see my kids when we roll in, so I feel very lucky and I feel totally fine leaving them there for a couple of hours while I work out and shower.

That's right! I get to shower without Calvin standing outside peeking into the curtain, and without worrying that Henry is crying in his crib. A yoga class and a shower in peace while someone else takes care of my children. #yesplease #itsthelittlethings


5. I found kid-friendly places where I could bring both boys.
Sorry Calvin... no more Gymboree or swim lessons... until you're 3 and you can take the regular class instead of the "Mommy and Me" class. If I can't bring baby brother, we're just not doing it.

So we got memberships to the California Academy of Sciences and the Bay Area Discovery Museum, both places with interesting things to see and learn about as well as toddler play spaces where both boys can play. We go to the zoo where they can both enjoy seeing the animals. We go to the playground, even though Henry isn't big enough for playground play. Believe me, he's more than happy to be snuggled up in the Ergo enjoying the ride. We visit friends' houses. We go to kid-friendly restaurants.

Getting out of the house keeps us all from being bored and gives the boys a chance for some learning experiences and social interaction outside of our little apartment bubble. Also I get to see grown ups :) It's definitely worth the effort it takes to make it out the door.


6. We bought cloth diapers with adjustable sizing.

Though potty-training Calvin has not been a walk in the park, I am glad to be using (and washing!) half as many diapers! For $$ reasons, we chose to buy cloth diapers which we wash ourselves, though we use disposables for night time and outings. I bought a boat load of Bumgenius diapers used on Craigslist and refurbished them myself.  Since both boys could wear the same diapers, it didn't matter which diaper I grabbed, I just snapped it to fit whichever tushie needed diapering. We didn't have to sort the diapers.


7. I shop online.
I would love to be the kind of person who gets out there and supports small, local businesses consistently and maybe I can be that person one day, but for now I need Amazon Prime! I do run errands with the  boys, but since each outing is kind of a big deal, I'm not going to just run to Babies R Us for one specific item. If they don't have it at our usual stops, then I'm going to go ahead and let Amazon Prime bring it to me in 2 days rather than planning a trip to an extra store.

Also, Amazon's "subscribe and save" program has been great for buying wipes and disposable diapers. We have a delivery scheduled for every other month so our supply of diapers and wipes just shows up without me having to remember that we're running out.


8. I made The Binder.

This one is more about having special needs kids. I use a binder to keep track of all their appointments, therapies, and medical notes.


9. We do "toy rotation."
Here's an article that I used to help me wrap my head around how to do toy rotation.

There are a few reasons that I like organizing our toys this way.
- Calvin really does more focused play when he has fewer options.
- The mess of toys on the floor is bad enough with a limited number of toys. If we had all our toys in the room.... OMG.
- It makes old toys feel like new when they get brought out after being out of sight for a few weeks.
- I can pull out a "new" toy as a Hail Mary if I need to keep Calvin entertained and he's bored with what he's got and I don't want to resort to #10.


10. I sometimes let Calvin watch TV. 
I wouldn't recommend this one, but I'll admit to it.  I generally keep it to one episode of either Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Sesame Street a couple of days per week. Most often I play the TV card to get Calvin to stay in the living room and stop throwing toys into Henry's crib while I am trying to put him down for a nap. Sometimes it's because it's late afternoon and we're all tired and cranky and we all just need to chill out before dinner (read: I need to chill out before I can manage to get dinner on the table.) I know that TV is not a healthy solution, so please read on to #11.


11. I go for stroller walks.

This is actually my new solution for the late afternoon crankies: I put them in the stroller and go for a walk. Canky Calvin gets to rest, cranky Henry gets to nap, and cranky Mama gets to walk it off.

Another mama once said to me "If they're strapped in their car seats, even if they're crying, you know they're not hurting themselves so just drive!" She was talking about going for drives to regain her own sanity when her littles were making her crazy. Stroller, or stroller + baby carrier, can do the same kind of trick.


12. I try to get them to nap at the same time at least once a day.
It doesn't always work out. But once Henry's naps emerged as a pattern I could kind of control what times to put him down. So I do my best to make it so that Henry's middle nap overlaps with Calvin's only nap. Even half an hour of peace when both my children are asleep and I am alone can be glorious. I love them. But a mama needs a break.


13. I take help where I can get it.

Calvin and Henry's grandparents are on the opposite coast, as are all their aunts and uncles. But we are lucky to have some awesome cousins and friends nearby who are happy to help us out.

My cousin Hartley lives right upstairs, so some days he will just drop in after work to say hi to the kids and see if I need a hand. He'll play with Calvin or hold Henry while I cook dinner, he will even feed Calvin dinner so I can take care of Henry and he will even help with bedtime if James isn't home yet! That is a huge deal for me. Hartley also babysits once a month so James and I can have a date night.

Another cousin, Pam, lives down the street, and our good friends Ben and Rachel live around the corner. Pam and Rachel are sometimes free to watch Calvin during the day, so if Henry has a doctor appointment I can sometimes leave Calvin with one of them so he doesn't have to be bored and stuck in his stroller at the doctor's office. This is also a big help! And it was especially a big deal when Henry's appointments were getting very stressful and upsetting regarding his diagnosis with Dup15q.

We don't have a nanny, and I choose not to put them in daycare (except for a couple hours at the gym a couple days a week). I always wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom. I love it and I'm so grateful to be doing it! But a mama needs help once in a while, so I am glad to have these important people who love my kids and are there to throw me a rope. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

It's crazy and it's hard, and it's only the beginning! But there's also plenty of fun and joy and love. And I know it's only the beginning of those things too.

Babywearing

Thank God for baby carriers! Especially for my little snuggler Henry who wants to be attached to Mama 24/7 :) I have tried out 6 different kinds of baby carriers, and between the two of us (James and me) that count bumps up to 7! We also have 3 strollers: an umbrella stroller, a jogger (our baby car seat snaps into the jogger - we sometimes used that for Calvin when he was an infant), and our awesome Contours Options LT tandem stroller. 

Love our tandem stroller! I can change the configuration of the seats to have them face me, face out, or face each other. It handles well and has a ginormous basket for carrying all our crap. Or groceries :) This was a group shower gift from lots of friends and family who chipped in - so, Thank You Thank You Thank You!!

Though I think our stroller is awesome, the baby carriers are so versatile that ultimately they have been more useful. Plus, like I said, Henry is much much happier being carried. If Henry is fussy, I can wear him around the house while I'm washing dishes or cooking (gotta be careful with cooking, though, and use common sense - I put him down if it's time to do something over the stove or in the oven, for example.) When Henry was still nursing, I was able to feed him in the Ergo, and actually I still can, but not hands free anymore. Obviously babywearing is great for hiking, since trails aren't stroller friendly. It's also great for shopping with babes too small to sit in the cart, or who can't sit up because of hypotonia, or if you've got two under two and the cart only has one seat! When we just had Calvin, it was easy to go out to eat while he was a newborn because he was tucked up in a sling or wrap. And while they were tiny, we've let them sleep in the Ergo or sling so we could stay up and play board games at a friend's house. (Now we just put them to bed :)

Babywearing also keeps little ones close so they feel safe and comfy snuggled up with mama or daddy. For some kids like Henry, this can be really important. Henry happens to be one of those babies that just really likes being held. One school of thought about parenting "needy" babies like him is to go ahead and hold them close and let them feel safe as much as possible and that eventually, that feeling of safety will carry over to the times when they are not being held. Another reason Henry really benefits from babywearing is that from what I've read it's common for Dup15q kids to get overstimulated easily, and this can make it hard for them to calm down and go to sleep. Wearing Henry, and especially keeping him facing me, creates a nice calm place for him to be even when we are out and about. Bedtime can be really hard for Henry, but I do find that if I wear him around the house for the hour or two before bedtime, he is calmer and falls asleep faster.

Here are our favorite baby carriers:

The Boba Wrap:

Like the more popular Moby, this is just one long piece of fabric that you wrap 'round and 'round and then tie. Putting it on is a bit of a pain and takes some practice. My midwife taught us how to do it, but there are lots of tutorials on YouTube. When Calvin was an infant, I used this ALL THE TIME. I'd just wrap it on over a nursing tank and wear it the whole time we were out of the house. So, the solution to the problem of taking it off/putting it on is to just put it on before you leave the house and then only take it off when you get home, or if you're going to be away from your baby (obvs). Bonus: it covers a postpartum belly relatively well. 

What makes it different from the Moby is that the fabric is stretchier. This means you can wrap it on yourself snugly and then stretch it open to put the baby in and then the baby is really secure. I never used the Moby, so maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like it's harder to get the baby snug in there because when you put it on, you have to leave enough slack to get the baby in. Whenever I saw other parents using the Moby, there always appeared to be a litte loose fabric around the baby, whereas you can see in the pic that it's wrapped nice and tightly around baby Calvin. 

I will say I think this one is best for really teeny babies. It wasn't quite as comfy for Henry, who was bigger than Calvin from birth. But I really think this is perfect for newborns because they're just so close and you can pull the fabric over their heads so they can sleep (which, of course, newborns do all the time!). It's funny because it's almost like still being pregnant! 

The Ring Sling:

Most other parents I know do not love the ring sling and say that they could never get it to work for them and their babies. But I love it, and it totally works for us and has since my kids were newborns. There are a few ways to wear a ring sling and again, YouTube has lots of tutorials, but these pics show the two ways I've used it. In the bottom pic you can see newborn Henry in a kind of cradle hold. At first I thought the way the cradle hold curved their backs was bad, but my midwife assured me that it was fine, and both boys were always happy and comfy that way when they were teeny. Henry quickly became too long to fit this way comfortably, but my shorty Calvin could be carried in this cradle hold in the sling for months!

The top picture shows an upright hold, kind of like carrying a kid on your hip, which works for Henry now. There was a gap with Henry when I couldn't use the sling because he was too long for the cradle carry, and didn't yet have the head control for the upright hold. I think this would only be a problem for hypotonic babies. 

The con with the ring sling is that it's not truly hands free. It's just not as secure as other carriers/wraps so I always feel like I need a hand on the baby just in case the fabric slips one way or another. Still, this one is the one I like to use in the house because it's so comfy and lightweight and it's a quick transition to get him in or out of it.

The Ergobaby:

This is our all-around fave. You can do front, back, or side carry and it's totally comfy for mama, daddy, and baby. (Though if Henry had more severe hypotonia, it wouldn't give quite enough head support, but I've seen moms who have adapted theirs by adding some padding.) It's easy to get on and off, and it's easy to adjust. Some parents say it's hard to clip the neck strap behind your head, but I say it just takes a bit of practice. I have no problem with it. The Ergo is designed to support healthy hip development for babies and there's a new Ergo 360 which features an outward-facing option. In the first pic you can see that I'm using an infant insert to give newborn Henry some extra support and padding.

Other good things about the Ergo... Our kids could/can sleep comfortably inside. There's a hood, which is nice for Ergo naps and also for porcelain skinned babes on sunny days (I'm looking at you, Henry!) and a pocket to stuff the hood into when not in use. And there's a zipper pocket big enough to hold phone/wallet/keys and even a disposable diaper ;) 

Our first Ergo was the water-resistant "performance" one and it met with an untimely death when I shut the car door with the strap hanging out and the strap got caught under the tire and ripped off :( We immediately bought a replacement, and opted for the organic one in a pretty navy blue which I love, but in the rain I was missing the performance one! 

The Kelty Frame Backpack:

We don't actually own this one, we're borrowing it from a friend. Obviously these frame backpacks are for bigger kids and they're great for hiking or long walks because the weight of the kid and the carrier is more on the adult's hips and less on the back and shoulders. The main thing we like about it is that Calvin is up high so he can see all around, whereas in the Ergo on his dad's back he can only see to his sides. We only use one this for hiking. It seems too bulky for other kinds of outings, but we have friends who use their frame backpack all the time. 

A few carriers that did not work for us:

Pouch sling: This was like a non-adjustable version of a ring sling, and I could never get Calvin comfortably situated in it. 

Pouch ring sling: This was one of those that kind of looks like a bag with a strap. This one basically swallowed Calvin. He may have just been too small at the time, but other slings that are more adjustable can be used for teeny babes as well as bigger babies. 

Baby Bjorn: These don't give the hip support for the baby that the Ergo and some of the other similar carriers do. Henry was always too floppy in general for this one - not enough support all around. And for me, it felt like all his weight was on my back since it doesn't have a waist strap. 

Anybody else love babywearing? Which carrier is your fave? 

Fall Y'all

We love a family photo shoot! 

For our fall pics this year our friends the Hersh family found a nice little park near Stanford called Sharon Park and we met them there to give each other a hand with picture-taking.

It was hard to get the boys to smile, but they are totally adorable anyway :)

Harry and Hedwig's Halloween

Happy Halloween! Oh wait, Happy All Saints Day!

Harry Potter and his owl Hedwig! 

Our Halloween festivities got a little shaken up by the stomach flu which hit our house last weekend :\ We had plans to go to a couple Halloween events on Saturday, but our kiddo Calvin was sick and the next thing we knew James and I were sick too! So we got our first taste of what it's like to be sick and still be parents (it sucks), but thankfully it only lasted a couple of days and we were all better in time for Halloween. 

I had already made/assembled the boys' costumes. For Calvin's Harry Potter costume, I ordered a hooded cape from an Etsy shop and a Gryffindor hat/scarf combo from Amazon. Then I printed a Gryffindor tie and crest onto sticker paper and stuck the tie onto his shirt and the crest onto his cape. I should have done an iron-on tie because the sticker kept coming off (duh, mom). We went through 3 tie stickers! I really wanted to hand-make (or mostly hand-make) Henry's costume because I made Calvin's chicken costume last year for his first Halloween. So I started with a white pajama outfit that came with a hat and I glued felt feathers onto the pj's and felt eyes and beak onto the hat. The wings were safety-pinned so that I could take them off to put him in his car seat. 

James had to work, of course, but I took the boys out to some baby-friendly Halloween celebrations with our friends and their kids. In the morning, we went to the Tiny Tot Halloween Parade on Chestnut St. in San Francisco which was basically a mass stroller brigade trick-or-treating up and down Chestnut St. where the shop/restaurant owners were handing out candy. Honestly I felt like kind of a jerk taking candy when clearly my babies are too young for sweets! Ha ha. So we actually didn't stay in the "parade" for long. After a couple of blocks we bailed out, bought coffee for us mamas, and took our kids to the playground where the event had started. 

Hedwig (Henry) says that owls are supposed to be nocturnal.

I almost chickened out of drawing the glasses on Calvin's face, but my friend talked me into it and we got so many comments about how cute the glasses were!

Pensive Harry.

Baby Harry Potter was visiting Wonder Woman when a butterfly fluttered by...

Calvin only likes swings for about 30 seconds and the he wants out. 

We had lunch at the park and then went home for a few hours. Later in the afternoon, we went over to our friends' house for a baby Halloween party with some of the same kiddos from last year's Halloween party.

Party foul. 

Sleeping Hedwig... so sweet!

"The Boy Who Lived"

Harry and Hedwig are clearly the life of the party.

With our friends Jaime and Autumn

Heidi and Grandfather; Superwoman and a flower; Harry, Hedwig, and a witch; Supermom and a butterfly; Green Lantern and Wonder Woman! Harry Potter's tie is stuck to my leg! 

The babes were just too wiggly to line them up for a picture by themselves like last year! Plus it was way too close to bedtime. My little Harry Potter was tired and getting mad about how hot his costume was (sorry Calvin!).  It was a bummer that James missed out, but I had a fun Halloween with Calvin and Henry!

Chirpy and Grumpy (Barely) Make Their Flight

We usually do our annual trip to Georgia at Christmas with extra trips occasionally for weddings and such. But this year, knowing that we'd have two "infants in arms," we decided to save ourselves the headache of travelling with the holiday rush and make a trip out in the Fall instead.

We booked a super early flight, leaving at 7:45 AM. I wanted to get there in time to have dinner with friends and I wanted to have plenty of time to get through the airport on the ATL end and pick up our rental car and everything. 

From our house we can get to the airport in 15 minutes with no traffic, and we needed to leave our car in the airport parking lot so we decided to shoot for leaving the house at 5:30. We felt that this would give us plenty of time to park the car and make it to our gate in time to board at 7:15. And it probably would have if we had actually left the house at 5:30. 

For whatever completely idiotic reason (probably because parenting and lack of sleep has melted our brains), we set our alarms for 5 AM. As if half an hour was enough time to accomplish the following:

1. mom shower/brush teeth/dress/blow dry

2. dad brush teeth/dress

3. dress both babies and change diapers

4. give Henry a bottle

5. make coffee

6. cook breakfast of bacon and eggs because otherwise the bacon would go bad

7. eat bacon and eggs for breakfast

8. clean up from breakfast 

9. pack last minute items 

10. check the apartment to make sure important things are unplugged/turned off

11. load the car

12. put babies in car seats

Half an hour. Guess how long it actually took us. An hour and a half. 

So we leave the house a full hour later than planned. Give or take a few minutes. We pull into SFO and we're looking for signs for long-term parking. We see no such signs. Then it hits me like a palm to a forehead: long term parking is off a different exit!

Back on the freeway we go, and I'm going, "Um, ok, it's been a long time... but I'm pretty sure we need this exit... off this freeway... no... no, yeah... go that way!" And James is very dubious and doubtful about my directions, but somehow I convince him to follow them and we did, in fact, make it to the correct lot. At 6:45. So we now have half an hour 'til our expected boarding time. Half an hour to accomplish the following:

1. Lug our stuff and babies to the shuttle stop

2. Lug our stuff and babies onto a shuttle bus

3. Ride the bus to the terminal

4. Wait in line for check in

5. Check our bag and car seats

6. Get through security - this is the big one. Airport security can take for. ev. er. 

7. Walk to our gate - which thankfully at SFO is not far. 

At this point, I was no longer Chirpy. I was feeling nauseated at the idea of missing our flight and having to fly standby with these babes. To make matters worse, there were no luggage cart thingies in the long-term parking lot because you can't roll those luggage cart thingies onto the shuttle. So, Thank God I bought these awesome car seat covers that come with shoulder straps. We each slung a car seat over a shoulder and James dragged the suitcase while I pushed the stroller. Henry was in the Ergo carrier strapped to me. Sure enough we made it onto the bus, to the terminal, checked in, and then arrived at the long, depressing security line. If I'd developed any hope of catching the flight, the sight of that line squashed it. 

James came to the rescue. He told the TSA agent manning the entrance to the line our sob story about having 15 minutes till departure (that was an exaggeration), and having "all these babies." Luckily, she took pity on us (though I think she rolled her eyes a little) and let us cut to the front of the line! We stumbled through the security checks and managed to roll up to the gate while the herd of passengers was still boarding. Then, we cut the line again (I felt like kind of a jerk, but James insisted that the babies ensured us line-cutting privileges) and boarded. 

Whew!

The flight itself went pretty well. Henry's first airplane trip! Wish I could say the same about our return trip, but that is another story for another post.

Baby Henry on his first flight! He is just about to turn 3 months old. 

There were no changing tables on this plane, so I had to change Henry's diaper in my lap!

We learned when booking this flight that you can't have two "infants in arms" in the same group of seats because there is always only one extra oxygen mask. So James and I sat across the aisle from each other and each of us held a baby. I don't have pictures of Calvin on this flight! It was hard to take pictures at all with our arms full of babies, but luckily we got these precious few of Henry on his first flight. And really, we were lucky to make the flight at all!

A-Camping We Will Go!

Big news at our house! James got a new job! He will be working as a product research engineer at Align Technologies. I'm so proud of him and excited for him as he starts this new chapter in his professional life. He decided to take a week vacation between his last day of post-doc work at Stanford and his first day at his new job. To celebrate, and to take advantage of his week off, we decided to venture out on our first camping trip as a family of four!

James and I love camping and we live in such a great part of the country where there are lots and lots of gorgeous places to camp and hike (mountains, desert, and beach!) practically in our own backyard. But it's been a while since our last camping trip... back when I was 7 months pregnant with Calvin! We have been eager to get back to the great outdoors, babies and all :)

When I looked at this pic, I was like - oh geez, we had just arrived and already Calvin is trying to eat sticks!
Then I remembered that I had given him a snack of freeze dried peas, so don't worry!
That is actual food he is putting in his mouth!

We went to San Mateo Memorial Park, just outside La Honda, CA. Since it was the middle of the week and the off season, there were very few other campers and we got a nice big campsite. 

We were used to having the trunk plus the whole backseat to pack our camping gear, but now our backseat has two baby car seats! James should get an award for Trunk Tetris :)

We saw this pretty doe just after we arrived.

Maybe it seems crazy to go camping with two babies, but we really enjoyed it! James did all the work of setting up camp, cooking, cleaning, chasing away raccoons, breaking down camp, and packing the car. I spent most of the time nursing Henry who is a snacker and likes to eat every 2 hours or so. I felt kind of guilty and kept thanking him for doing everything and he was just like, "It's not work. I love camping."

Calvin had a blast. He loves exploring and he just wandered around discovering treasures in the nooks and crannies of our campsite. He also tasted a fair amount of dirt and one acorn.

Calvin in the redwoods

Yup. That is the acorn. We didn't intend to let him put it in his mouth.
James was trying to get him to show it to the camera. Oh well!

Henry did what Henry does... eat, sleep, soil diapers, and snuggle with mama and daddy.

Of course they both did their share of fussing and crying when they were tired and hungry, but no major meltdowns. Mostly they were both very sweet and happy.

And James and I got to play with silly Calvin and cuddle with mushy Henry and enjoy one another's company.

Banana slug!

What a goofball.

We took the boys on a short hike.

We brought yummy food... pumpkin pancake mix for breakfast, pb&j with fun trail mixes for lunch and snacks, steak fajitas with peppers and onions for dinner, and of course s'mores!

We made some unusual s'mores, though, because we had done our shopping at TJ's and they didn't have normal marshmallows. They only had chocolate covered marshmallows, but we bought them anyway. I got the idea to make the s'more sandwiches, then wrap them in foil and cook them on the grill over the fire. We didn't get the fun part of roasting the marshmallows on sticks, but the end result was super yummy! The chocolate covered marshmallows got nice and melty between the graham crackers and I think the ratio of chocolate to marshallow was just right :)

James has recently learned how to play guitar and he brought one along and played songs by the campfire. There we were, Calvin asleep in the tent, Henry asleep in my arms, enjoying our s'mores and James' guitar music... when our relaxing campfire experience was rudely interrupted by some furry intruders! A pack of very bold raccoons made multiple attempts to snag some food from us! They totally freaked me out. James chased them away and threw sticks at them. The second night I kept feeling paranoid that they were lurking and were going to come bother us again! I was feeling totally afraid of the raccoons!

Me: I think they're out there. Do you think they're going to come try to eat the babies?!
James: [ignores me]
Me: What if they attack us and scratch Henry's face? What if they bite the baby?!
James: They're not going to bite the baby. I'm going to wash the dishes.
Me: What if they come while you're gone?!!
James: Then I'll chase them with my knife! 


The weather was chilly at night. I think we did a good job of keeping the babies warm - thanks to lots of layers of clothes, some fleece footy pajamas for Calvin, and a fleece swaddling blanket for Henry. Unfortunately, we did not do a very good job of keeping ourselves warm in the tent!  I barely slept the first night because I was so cold. The second night James let me have extra covers so I could sleep. Next time we need warmer blankets for mom and dad! The babies slept fine. The raccoons didn't eat them - though they did swipe a banana that James was trying to bring to Calvin early in the morning!


All in all it was a nice, relaxing trip (raccoons aside) and I'm so glad we went for it, even though our kiddos are so young. We look forward to lots more camping trips in the future!