A Puzzling Situation

How many Montoya's does it take to put together a puzzle. The answer? Just one. But the other two like to watch and encourage. This picture reminds me that my little girls are already becoming fast friends. Gabriella has been an amazing big sister. Tonight our neighbors from across the street came over to drop off some gifts. Gabriella helped to open the little girls gifts and then when Julia was getting a little restless she took her into her room to play. Genevieve soon joined the duo and both girls watched their big sister work her puzzle. The changes in the last few months have been intense. I'm sure this whole situation has been confusing and frustrating for Gabriella, yet she's handled it with more grace and understanding than I have. Until mid August she'd been an only child and then suddenly she got not one sister but two. Time spent with her parents was slashed to almost nothing. We try very hard to carve out time to spend with her one on one but it doesn't always happen. Our families have stepped up and tried to fill the gap, but often the twins are still the priority. Not only did we add two new siblings but we also moved her half way around the world away from her friends into a temporary house with her grandparents and then into a minimally furnished house. She started a new school in the middle of the school year and then after four days she went on winter break. We've asked so much of her in the past few months and she's answered each request with grace and acceptance. She's a superstar. This morning she waited patiently for her breakfast while I fed the twins, then waited to take Saffy for a walk until after nap time and then patiently waited for dinner until daddy got home. We ask her to wait a lot. Many people ask how Greg and I are adjusting and honestly we're still learning. What people probably miss is how much life has changed for our first daughter and how she's grown and flourished amidst these changes. Gabriella has shown herself to be an amazing big sister who cares for both Julia and Genevieve with equal love and attention. I'm amazed by her love and maturity every day.

We've Been Shot!!

Yesterday was Julia and Genevieve's 4 month doctors appointment. We headed to the San Diego Naval Medical center to see their new doctor. Coincidentally we saw the same doctor that saw Gabriella for her 2 week well baby visit 5 years ago. The girls were of course fast asleep when we got to the office, but were quickly awakened when we stripped them down so they could get measured. Genevieve now weighs 13 pounds 9.5 ounces and Julia weighs 14 pounds 8.6 ounces. Little Julia now outweighs her sister by almost a pound. The appointment started out great, Genevieve went first and was very accepting of the doctors exam, until he touched her stuffy nose. She cried for a minute of two but soon settled back down. Meanwhile Julia was sitting in daddy's lap watching the whole production waiting to spring into action. And spring she did, when it was her turn the very first time the doctor put his hand on her head she started crying. But not just crying, wailing, screeching and being completely inconsolable. Both girls checked out totally healthy and seem to be growing wonderfully. I can't believe how big they've gotten although their weights now explain why my back is hurting. Then the visit to the doctor took a turn for the worse because it was shot time. Julia was still crying when the corpsmen came in to administer the vaccinations. They held down both babies and gave them their roto virus oral medicine then three shots in the legs. Genevieve wasn't a big fan of the oral vaccine but she didn't cry until the first shot pierced her delicate skin. Red rivulets of blood streamed down her tiny leg as tears fell down her cheeks. Julia who was angry before just got madder. In fact I don't think I've ever seen her so upset. She didn't calm down until she was moving in the stroller. As much as vaccinations are important they are still painful to watch and obviously very painful to get. The girls spent the afternoon sleeping off their pain and are looking forward to forgetting all about their doctors appointment.

New Car Smell

Don't you just that new blog smell. Well this is my first post in my new writing venture. It's been a while since I wrote anything so I'm getting the kinks out of my fingers as I type. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my life with my family, our adventure, trials and tribulations. I hope it will be amusing, funny at times and always paint an honest picture of what is going on in our lives. I also hope the blog will inspire me to explore the world around me. The difference between now and when we were in Okinawa is that everything is farther away and packing up three kids is quite a task. I always considered myself a get up and go kind of girl. I don't put make up on or blow dry my hair ever. However, the addition of twin girls to our family has made getting up and going impossible. There are babies to feed, diapers to change, outfits to get on, diaper bags to load and car seats to strap into before we can even think of leaving the house. I will not be saying, "come on lets hop in the car", everything must be planned out and checklists followed in order to ensure we have every bit of support gear necessary to make the trip. Even short trips require what seems like a trunk full of stuff. There is no such thing as traveling light with twins. Because of this we bought a van. It's great, so roomy, a place for everything and if lets say we want to have 16 drinks all at once, there will be a cup holder for each. Gabriella gets her own seat and she is happy to no longer be squished between two car seats. This particular model has 2 DVD players, which apparently can play 2 separate DVDs at the same time. Since I have only one child that is facing the players I haven't really had a need to try out the dual DVD mode yet. The van has a lot of bells and whistles most of which I haven't even discovered yet. The one I have discovered and adore is the automatic sliding doors and trunk feature. When you are lugging what feels like a 100 pound car seat full of squirming baby to the car the last thing you want to do is have to pull open a sliding door, this feature means you don't have to. I imagine on a hot day it will be nice to be able to open all the doors and the trunk hatch to air out the car faster. It's been a real blessing with Gabriella as well. She can get in and put on her seatbelt while I'm still struggling to pull a car seat out the front door. It has plenty of room for groceries, strollers and Christmas presents. We haven't even driven it a 1000 miles and it has already hauled home two cribs, a giant stash of groceries and all our Christmas booty. I can't say I ever really pictured myself driving a mini van, but now experiencing how convenient it is, how it makes life a little easier, I'm proud to call myself a minivan mommy. Of course it would have been fitting to put a picture of the minivan with this post, but I don't have one yet.