Keeping Up With the Lantzs: Our First Family "Vacation"

Anyone ever camped for two nights in an RV with twin 8 month olds while it rained for decent periods of time? While the scene I just described might sound like it came from a horror flick for some people, it is real life people. As I write this, I feel like I need to recover from our vacation. I am exhausted. However, we survived, and for the most part, a good time was had by all. There were periods of screaming and crying with no help in sight, but I do what I do best...cry with them and pray that they fall asleep. This actually worked once. The other time I resorted to taking Kate outside and pushing her back and forth in the stroller until she fell asleep. They slept beautifully at night. I woke more than they did just to make sure they hadn't fallen out of our makeshift bed or smothered themselves with the blanket they were laying on. Morning did come a little earlier since we only slept about 5 feet away from them, but it wasn't too bad. I spent most of the time hanging out with the girls while Daddy played with his new sailboat (yes, you read it right...a new sailboat). I was eager to get out of the RV so I did track down an Old Navy via the internet and drove about 30 minutes each way to do a little bit of shopping. (Desperate times call for desperate measures) I was good and only spent $30. The girls loved getting out though and ate up all of the attention that they got as I manuveured my way through an extremely crowded store with a double stroller. They even gave me advice when trying to pick out a bathing suit. The weather was fairly nice, except for a few good periods of rain. It has been raining a lot down here in Florida, which is good because we need it. So we spent a total of 2.5 days and 2 nights out on our first family vacation.

As for whether I am glad that we took the plunge and went on the vacation. I'd have to say yes. While I do not want our lives to be on standstill just because we have two babies (one is hard enough), I think some people also don't understand what it's like to have two babies off of a routine. We did a pretty good job of sticking to our routine, but babies, just like adults, have to get used to sleeping in new surroundings and it throws them off a little. I have a very systematic way of doing things and when on vacation, control sometimes flies out of the window. This upcoming weekend I will actually get a (almost complete) vacation though because we'll be celebrating our anniversary by ourselves for the weekend. The only reason I don't feel like I have a complete vacation is because I'm still pumping and still tied to a "schedule."

I have finally decided that my pumping will cease at the end of July, depending on whether or not we receive the go ahead to go on whole milk at their first birthday rather than their due date. I am counting down the weeks. While I have fallen into a nice routine of pumping, I think it zaps me of my energy and I still feel somewhat restricted as to making sure I pump enough to keep my milk supply up, which has been decreasing lately. I give myself a lot of credit though because I have been doing this for almost 9 months now and have literally saved us hundreds of dollars by not having to buy formula. I've had to buy more formula recently because I haven't been getting as much milk, and at $15 a can, it is not cheap.

Hannah has 2 teeth now. Both of her bottom teeth are coming in at the same time. I felt this morning and was surprised by two little bumps instead of just one. She is also practicing her babbling. She says da-da infrequently, but she's getting there. Kate is gobbling down her food. I just sent George to the store to buy her Gerber puffs and I received a phone call while writing this that Wal-Mart didn't have them. Here's our conversation:

"Do you want me to go to Publix because Wal-Mart didn't have them?"
"What do you mean Wal-Mart doesn't have puffs? Where did you look for them?"
"I looked all up and down the chip aisle, like by the Pringles." (all of you mothers are probably laughing out loud right now, huh?)
"The chip aisle? I told you they were in the baby section."
"Oh, you know I don't listen to you." (love you, too, honey)

Yes, they are in a pringle-like can, but....................ohhhhhhhhh. God help my husband (or any man for that matter) if he ever has to raise our children on his own.