Babies in hotels.....not so fun!

Hi all! Sorry we haven't posted in a while. We've been pretty busy since we got custody of the kids. All are well, but I am exhausted and won't be writing too much.

We've actually been doing pretty well considering the circumstances. The biggest challenge has been keeping Jackson safe. All he wants to do is try to walk around holding on to things. He has also started to try to climb on top of the coffee table, over the side of the couch, etc. I have also caught him trying to hang from the table. While he is doing all this, Madden is still imobile. Kevin had to go out to get plane tickets for our flight to Almaty, and I was of course alone with both of them. Since we don't have total control over our schedule, he trip did not coincide with naptime. Now, as I said, Jackson needs constant very close supervision. However, Madden gets very angry when she is left alone while I'm chasing Jackson. Somehow during this balancing act, Jackson managed to slam face-first into the corner of a desk. I was right there, but I had her on my lap, and couldn't stop him with one hand. So, now our poor boy has a big red swollen line running down his forehead, cheek, and chin. What a horrible feeling. I just knew that when I picked him up his whole face would be split open. Thank goodness no stitches required! He gets over things pretty quickly, but everytime I tried to put him down to go to Madden he would start sobbing. Boy was he milking it, but it's great that he is looking to us for comfort.

Then we get to feeding, which is an event. These kids so much as see a spoon or bowl and they go nuts. Keep in mind we do not have highchairs. We've heard that when they are fed, the caregivers just sat them on their lap, facing away and shoveled food in. This is very difficult because you cannot see what you are doing. Now, if we could do this as a two-person process, no problem. However, if they are not fed at the same time, there is trouble. Normally Madden is very mellow, so we decided to try to feed Jackson first tonight. We figured we could feed him fast before she got too upset. Wrong. As soon as she saw the bowl and spoon and realized she was not being brought to the food, she started screaming. We thought she would get over it, but she just kept screaming. When her face went from dark red to actually purple I figured I better start cramming some food her way. I have not even seen her actually cry before this incident, but apparently she takes her food very seriously. Unfortunately, she was so angry that she wouldn't eat anything but apple juice. I had made some new things, so I don't know if she hates everything we have left, or was just upset.

Pretty much food is our biggest challenge. It is a horrible messy process, and I can't read any information on the boxes, so it is really hard to know if they are getting enough. We have baby soup, baby cereal, various cans that look like standard baby food, and apple juice. The information we got from the babyhouse is vauge as to the feeding information, so I'm really winging it. I'm thinking of just buying formula and going with that and trying to add some of the other stuff. At least with formula I know they should be getting sufficient nutrients. I borrowed some formula packets from our travel partners, and both of them drank bottles no problem this morning. However, tonight after Madden refused to eat anything out of desparation I borrowed more formula and tried to give it to her but she completely refused it. I'm hoping she was just too upset to eat, but who knows. My plan is to mix the cereals in with the formula and then try to add a small jar of babyfood also. I'm really hoping the formula idea works, because there is no way we can do the solid foods on the plane without covering other passengers and ourselves.

So, other than feeding problems and injuries, we are doing pretty well. Thankfully they are good sleepers!! They slept from 8pm to 8am this morning, though they were probably extra tired from all the excitement. They didn't actually wake up on their own, but we decided they had slept enough. We were told that they normally woke up at 6:30, so we aren't sure if this was just a fluke or not. However, they were in a room of 15 babies with only two caregivers, so I'm thinking if one woke up and started crying they all woked up. Hopefully they will not go back to the 6:30 wakup. They also take two two hour naps according to the schedule we were given. It seemed like a lot of sleep to us, but with the exception of about 10 minutes of crying from Jackson before falling asleep this afternoon, they have gone to sleep when we put them in the cribs for nap time.

I am happily surprised to report that babies do not need diaper changes nearly as much as we expected. We've had about four a day so far, which is not bad at all. Somehow, although we've pretty much split the diaper changing, I've ended up with all the poop. So not fair! I do have a question for any experienced parents...... Assuming they continue to sleep up to 12 hours a night, and do not wake up crying, do we just let them be as far as diaper changes? It seems unhealthy for them to be laying in who knows what for possibly hours, but I always thought they would wake up crying if they were uncomfortable. I am very nervous about them getting diaper rash or any other skin issue while we are over here with no pediatrician and a 27+ hour day of travel in our future. I want them to be as comfortable as possible. So, anyone with any advice as to whether we should wake them up for a diaper change in the middle of the night if they don't cry, please let us know! Jackson had some serious poop this morning, and it is horrible to think how long he might have slept like that, but then, he was sleeping which I hate to disturb.... ahhhhh!!! Advice please!

So, we will try to get some pictures up tomorrow if we can. It's just so all-consuming trying to keep on top of them while they are awake the camera is the last thing on our minds. We would really, really like to get home where there are things like highchairs and playpens. We would be doing just fine if we had those two items I think. So, other than figuring out the simultaneous feeding without highchairs, things are going fairly well. However, this is very, very tiring. I can't imagine having babies that didn't at least sleep through the night. Also, I don't think I will every have clean clothes again. There is constantly something coming out of them, and it all gets on you. This is not good when you are trying to have a pair of jeans last for at least four days. Oh well, I guess we should just get used to being dirty and tired for a while- this parenting thing really takes a toll on your personal hygiene!