A Walk in the Park

First I want to thank everyone who reached out to us after my "Tough Day" post.  It really does inspire us to keep fighting the fight knowing that we have so much support out there  - and the kind words from those of you that have more than walked in our shoes (parents of Delhi triplets, you know who you are!) were very reassuring.  The morning after the "tough day" we picked ourselves up off the bed, brushed off the Delhi dust (which just went to the floor to be picked up again by my feet and Neve's entire body!), examined the cuts and bruises and declared ourselves fit for another day!

Today we had plans to take Neve over to our new good friend's house in Delhi.  She has twin boys and a daughter 13 months older (sound familiar?) and she was having some other friends with kids over for an afternoon play date and invited us to join them.  That sounded perfect to me - a mall free day and the company of new fun friends (and possibly beer) - I was thrilled.  I planned the Wild Animal's naps with care, washed my hair, almost called the car and then the e-mail came.  One of her twins has a high fever - play date cancelled!!! Oh NOOOOOOO!!

Instead of a Delhi play date we muddled through the afternoon at home with the Wild Animal but I learned some good lessons.

(1) The Wild Animal is a grazer by nature even though she presents as more carnivore than herbivore.  She needs a lot more snacks than I have been providing and is in a much better mood if fed almost constantly (which is tough to do in the mall where she's too distracted to focus on food).

(2) The Wild Animal does not need to be dead exhausted to sleep.  If you want her to go to sleep earlier, you just give he a "ba ba", put her in the crib with Square (her pink security blanket which for some reason is a him not a her, ie "where is square Neve? Did you just put him in the trash can?"), close the door and just like magic, a little roaring, but then she goes to sleep.  What an amazing circus trick!

(3) The Wild Animal is getting smarter.  She now knows where her nose is, her toes are, can pick out the fish toy and the crab toy from the other toys when asked and says "boo, boo" when she wants to play the peek a boo game on the ipod touch.  With language will eventually come reasoned and rational behavior!! Or at least I can hope!

(4) The Wild Animal is pretty darn adorable and I should give her a bit of break.  She's one of a kind and I would not trade her for anything in the world!

The twins are doing their thing up in the baby suite.  They eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, poop, get a sponge bath, eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, poop, repeat daily.  That being said, with all the eating they do, they magically never seem to be eating while Neve is napping (and I could do some feeding).  I think when Neve goes up to the baby suite and tries to climb over the edge of the crib (which she is getting dangerously close to being able to do) she bullies them with secret big sister baby code not to eat while I'm available.  I swear that every time I get up there the nurse is just putting down a twin and pronouncing it's sleeping time - everyone is full up - and then scoots me out the door so as not to mess with the schedule!  Oh well, I will just keep trying!  I was able to sneak Ronan out for a quick photo shoot - see below (more on Grandparent's Corner).

Eyeing mr. crab!

He has the longest feet and toes and look at those skinny little ankles!  

So cute!

We take the twins tomorrow morning to their two week doctor's appointment (so I'll at least get to hold a twin for a couple hours tomorrow!).  This will, of course, include the big Weigh In we have all been waiting for.  Bets are being taken and all the bookies are on it!  Hamish is convinced they have both put on extreme amounts of weight and that Gemma is looking downright "chubby" in the face.  He pronounced this earlier today as we were staring at the twins asleep in the crib and I thought "what baby are you looking at" and then I saw his face and he had this "I love my babies" look in his eyes which was totally sweet and I did not want to burst his bubble by disagreeing.  I do think that weight has been gained and that the twins look healthy (skin wrinkles from lack of meat on the bones are mostly gone) but I'm not sure these guys will have any chance of being called "chubby" by anyone but a proud Daddy for a little while longer.  At any rate, we are all carbo loading tonight so that in the morning we can put our fattest foot forward as a family!

This evening we took Neve out for a walk in the park.  It was a balmy 90 degrees, the traffic was outrageous, the honking was deafening and Neve and her stroller were nearly run over several times, but she did not seem to notice and we all totally enjoyed the outing!

It's pretty green and lush in the park - they do a lot of watering!

Mean stray dog that was charging me as I took this photo!  

Someone in the park warned us that the stray dogs in the park are "ferocious" and I totally believe it. 

Pathways for jogging/walking.

Neve "making friends" in the park. 

Neve rudely pointing at new friend in the park.

Neve trying to steal the coconut dog toy from very nice (thankfully) 

golden retriever (not a stray) in the park.  

Veg stand on the way home.  

Neve looking bored and wondering were the mac n cheese stand is.

The walk home.

Security guards waiting for us outside of the gates.  

I think they were getting worried - very sweet!

Best photo yet of Ronan and Gemma - all tangled up in twin love!!

That's about it!  Take care and talk to you more later!  

Love,

G, H & N R G