Week - 10 - Numbers 9 and 10

Ava and Bettina join the ranks of the Great Grandkids

Every year, my dad's side of the family meets during the summer for the Dent/Nelson Family Reunion. We drive from all parts of the west coast to come together for a week (or about a week) to be together, reconnect, and eat lots of food. At the end of the week, we get together as families and sub-group families to show our growth in both numbers and size. There were two new bodies added to the ranks this year - Ava and Tina. Grandma Dent now as 2 more great grandkids in her grandkid photo. Ava and Bettina are numbers 9 and 10 of the group.


Grandma Dent (87 years) and Bettina (10 weeks)

That also means that Tina and Grandma are the youngest and the oldest attendees of the reunion this year. This special pictures is to celebrate that bond unique to this year.


Allie, Ash, Mackinzie hold Ava and Tina

However, we did have lots of little helpers anxious to help hold and soothe the girls. This helped us out a lot and the girls really loved it. Uncle Jack was especially good at soothing Ava as she tended to have terrible tummy aches. He knew just where to hold her so it wouldn't hurt. Cousin Zach was our shy, closet kid lover. At the water slides, he was good at holding Tina and making her smile. That was the other "important" milestone this week -- Ava's first smile happened this week during the reunion. Tina's was the first day into our boat trip. Very rewarding!

Week 9 - Their First Boat Trip

Every since I was a kid... well, back up even further... Ever since my mom was a kid, our family has been taking boat trips. My grandfather, J. Fred Kalbach, being from Seattle, loved the Pacific Northwest and each summer since 195-something, he and my grandmother packed up the family from southern California and headed north to Anacortes, Washington - the gateway to the San Juan Islands. Each year they chartered the same boat - "The Dodger", and spent at least a week - usually 2 - cruising around the San Juans and the Canadian islands just above and beyond. It has been a family icon and focal point ever since. My great-uncle (my grandfather's brother) bought a place on San Juan Island so far back ago that he even got to dub the little cove on which it sits and in which we still watch the orcas surface and play "Kalbach Cove".

As my mother married and developed her own family, the tradition carried on. Our summers growing up consisted on one week at the Dent Family Reunion and at least another aboard The Dodger or another chartered boat hopping from island to island. That's me and my dad pictured below. Must have been either my first or second boat trip.


Boat Trip 1970 or 1971

Well, now it's my turn to carry on the traditon. Fortunately, my father has the San Juan bug so bad after all these years of only visiting, he has run off and moved there and bought himself his own little troller which he's dubbed, Kairos. Paul, the kids and I were honored to be the first overnight guests on Kairos as we spend only 2 days aboard visiting a couple of our favorite harbors: Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor.


Boat Trip - 2005

We didn't see any orca, but we did find a nice grey seal and her pup and the tide was so low out at Spenser Spit that many starfish were visable on the rocks from the deck of the boat. Paul and I also went back to the chapel in Roche Harbor - the place where we got engaged - and took another picture like the one the day of our engagement, but this time it included our little girls. So much as changed since then! The girls did great and slept between the two of us in the aft-cabin state room. They baby-bjorned it most of the time we were on the deck so one little "whoopsy" didn't land them in the chilly waters or the hard decks. Grandpa Dent started Paul on the basic steering and layout of the boat and has encouraged us to take additional Coast Guard classes so that we can continue this long-held tradition by borrowing Kairos and making it another yearly treat. We hope we're able to do so.

Week 8 - The "Unfriendly" Doctor Visit

Our pediatrician, Dr. Gin, warned us the day would come. Last month as we finished up our visit, he reminded us that this was the last "friendly" visit and that the following appointment, the girls were to get their first set of shots. So, we braced ourselves, I prepared in advance by arranging to have a second set of helping hands, a teenaged neighbor earning some summer income, and bravely waited for the check up.

Weight is fine (5th percentile for age, non-adjusted) - length fine (same here) - all growth is going well. The crazy white gunck collecting on Tina's tongue isn't thrush (although later on we found out it was!) and the purple-ish ring around Tina's toe is nothing to worry about. Then the shots.... Screaming bloody murder for about a minute, but by the time we get to the car, all's quiet. "Wow," I thought. "Not too bad."

Not too bad until we made it about 2/3rds of the way home. Then, once again, the stereo sound of wailing and suddenly my teenaged helper is really earning her money and probably regretting that she agreed to help out. I can barely concentrate on writing out my check to her the crying is so loud and I desperately plead with my mother to run to the store for some children's aspirin. Both kids are so upset heat is radiating from their little heads and I quickly undress both to cool them down. Mom comes back in from the store with the aspirin. She is saying something and standing only 10 yards away, but over my darling babies' screams, I can't hear a word of what she's said!

I use every soothing technique I can remember: all the "5 'S's'" from "The Happiest Baby on the Block" simultaneously and stripping myself for the skin-to-skin factor, I also throw one baby over each shoulder and jiggle, shush and stand on my head. About an hour later, it starts to take effect. An hour and a half later, it's just mumbles and complaints; two hours later, just some breathy shutters in between sighs. Finally, three hours later, just before Daddy comes home, the babies fall asleep.

He comes in the door... "How was your visit to the doctor?" he asks. Oh, my!

Week 7 -

Just before my bi-monthly Twins Moms group meeting, I weigh the girls on the baby scale. Ava weighs 7 lbs 10 ozs and Bettina is 8 lbs 5 oz. They are getting so big so fast!

This meeting is always a great resource for learning new ideas and bouncing off ideas or hearing additional solutions to everyday obstacles. There are many expecting moms at the meeting this week. It is almost my turn to introduce myself and my girls as well as my questions of the week and I hear Tina's pants making funny noises as she innocently sucks at her bottle. I figure I might as well attend to the diapering before the attention's on us and I ask one of the expecting moms, who's hands are free, to hold Ava's bottle while I work. As I lay Tina out and start to undress her bottom, an avalanche of mustard yellow goo gushes from all sides and has already shot up her back soaking her outfit. Trying hard not to gasp or otherwise call attention to the mess, I proceed to use all my wipes just so her body and hair stay clean while I remove her formerly cute outfit and put on the spare. A neighbor asks, "Does she need another wipe?" I answer, "I think she needs a bath!"

I do end up finishing the mopping up before everyone else's attention is turned toward our section of the circle and through my questioning learn about another brand of bottle, called Dr. Brown, that some say is even better than Avent for gas and colic prevention. I think I will have to try this one out to see if it helps poor little Ava. I later get a compliment from the expecting mom who held Ava's bottle about how calmly we handled Tina's explosion and mop up. It's all part of being in the trenches!

Ava and I also had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon this week as the ultrasound that the doctor recommended showed a little bit of wiggly-ness (new invented word). However, he thought there was no need for concern. Just to make sure, he asked that both girls come back when they're 6 months old for an xray to check their bones. He also sent me up to the xray department since part of the initial concern stemmed from my personal history.

The milestone of the week: I have been guessing that Tina was ready to give up a feeding. Each night, it's Ava who wakes up first and Tina doesn't seem want to wake. So, I experimented. I only fed Ava and hoped that Tina would continue sleeping and not wake me up 45 minutes later. My hunch was right. Tina now sleeps through a feeding; we have dropped one of their 2 night feedings. Perhaps the light to a full night's rest is growing nearer?

Week 6 - Independence Day

6 weeks old - 4th of July