Today marked another eventful day as we are going to take the beanies out for their Respiratory Syntactical Virus (RSV) Immunization Shot. I didn't recall I mentioned our beanies receiving RSV in any of the past postings. Simply put, for children less than 1 year old, RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis, an inflammation of the small airways in the lung, and pneumonia, an infection of the lungs (quoted from CDC (Centers for disease control and prevention). More about RSV, click here: http://www.cdc.gov/rsv/about/infection.html). This is the 4th RSV shot for the beanies as they reached the 3 months milestones (total 5 shots, one shot a month for 5 consecutive months). The 3 shots earlier were received at birth, one month and 2 month milestones. The beanies received these shots before with no known side effects, so we were not expecting any side effect like they experienced from their last routine immunization a few weeks back. Fingers crossed...
Same as always, any day out for us from now on will require some planning and preparation. We need to figure out how long we will be out as this will dictate the bulk of supplies, such as formulas, diapers, wipes and other gadgets and necessaries that we need to bring with us. Unlike before, this day out is going to be a very different one as we will be out for a consecutive of 12+ hours. We will also stop by a few places, some with little baby amenities, in which we will have to bring our own if we are going to make it an enjoyable and memorable experience, rather than a hectic and dreadful day. Here is a summary of the day.
All beanies loaded up ready to go...
Since we knew that we would be out out for an extended period of time (the longest since the beanies returned home from hospital), we packed one extra baby bag to cover a minimum of 4 feedings for each beanie (times 3, totaling 12 feedings), 8 diaper change per beanie (times 3, totaling 24), many just-in-case items and a surprise (to be disclosed later). HA! I could finally put to use the organizational skills I developed through many years of canoeing, camping, and fishing. Feeling proud of myself. :) In addition to the basic supplies, we also packed 3 bouncers and a play mat. It's worth mentioning the bouncers (by Baby Bjorn) worked fantastic for us. Not only the boys love bouncing on them, they are also very lightweight to move around the house and can be folded down easily for ease of storage and transportation.
First Stop [9:30 - 11AM]: RSV Shot at Dr. Marianna Mitchell's Office. I wasn't sure whether if the beanies were aware with what was about to happen (Something BAD), but they were extremely curious about the environment and kept turning their heads from side to side just to check it out..
In additional to looking around, all beanies also love to kick their legs to demonstrate how strong their legs were... LoL...
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We unbuttoned and expose the beanies' left thighs so Dr. Mitchell could administer the shots more easily. The order of the shot beginning from right to left, Ethan, Cedric and Skylar.
Fion tried to clam Cedric down after the shot... Yes, no beanie likes any sort of shots!!! But they didn't cry much, maybe just 10 - 30 seconds. Way to go, my BIG boys! ;)
Ethan trying to stay cool after the shot
Skylar definitely hated the shot and continued to protest by fuzzing a bit
Cedric finally settled down after a bit of soothing from Fion
To no surprise, our second stop [11AM - 1:30PM] was to have a hearty breakfast/brunch @ Cora !!
Bon appetit!!!
The beanies loved their car ride. Skylar was sleeping comfortably during our breakfast. Perhaps this was a side effect [a GOOD one] from the RSV shot in the morning.
Ethan was awake, but in a very good mood and kept talking out loud in the restaurant. We had no idea what he was talking about, maybe something related to how well he coped up with the RSV shot? LoL... Be there and done it! Proud of you, Ethan!
After we finished breakfast, we changed the beanies' diapers and fed each of them a bottle before we left Cora for our next stop. Same as his identical twin brother Skylar, Cedric slept during our meal. He was just extremely sleepy and had slept passed his normal feeding time! So, I gave him a bottle and took a selfie of him and me holding his bottle with my DSLR camera (first time managed to do so with DSLR!).
The third stop of the day [2:30PM - 6:30PM] was to visit Elsa's new home! Upon arrival, Cedric was extremely sleepy from waking up from the car ride. Above is a pic on his confused and doubtful look, saying "where am I??? Why do you wake me up??? What's your matter..."
Left to right, Top to bottom - Elsa, Great Grandma, Great Grandpa, Cedric, Ethan, Skylar
Great Grannies + Ethan + Skylar
Skylar laughing hard in the hand of Great Grandpa. He certainly hold some of the qualities to be Prince Charming. :)
Cedric fell asleep in the hand of Elsa. Notice his posture??? He was so sleepy that he can sleep in any posture you desire to position... Cute!
Ethan fell asleep in the hands of Great Grandma
We changed the beanies diapers and fed them a bottle at Elsa's home.
Left to right - Elsa, Fion, Skylar, Cedric
Left to right, top to bottom: Sharon, Fion, Cedric and Skylar
Cedric playing with Great Grandpa. He was such a sweetheart and had cracked up from time after time making Great Grandpa laughs the whole time we were there.
Top to Right, Elsa, Sharon, Fion and the lady boy Skylar!
Cedric feeling good in Great Grandpa's hands
Ethan getting a bit bored... zz ZZZ... He didn't appear to be interested in engaging any conversation with Great Grandma, despite Great Grandma's repeated attempts and efforts.
Skylar fell asleep in the comfort of Sharon's hands
Here comes the surprise! Today's Great Grandpa's 90th birthday according to the Chinese Calendar, so we decided to change the beanies' outfit in order to prepare for the dinner party tonight.
Cedric in his new outfit
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Cedric - Close up
Ethan in his new outfit
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Ethan - Close up
Skylar in his new outfit
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Skylar - close up
Sharon watching the beanies for us, while we were trying to pack up and leave Elsa's home for the the dinner party tonight.
The last stop of the day [7PM - 10PM]... During the party, the beanies were getting a bit more fuzzy as they were all fairly tired after a long day out. Fion, Connie and I took turns soothing the beanies and we managed to have a great dinner on this very special celebration party. After dinner, we quickly fed each beanie a bottle and changed their diapers before we hit the road returning home. Below were a few group pic we took at the end of supper.
Group pic #1
Group pic #2
Group pic #3
Group pic #4
We returned home late, so I didn't take anymore pic for the night. You could probably imagine us quickly unloaded the boys and settled them to bed as soon as we got home. This marked very significant milestone for us as it is proven that we could manage to take the boys out for an extended period of over 12 hours!
Same as many other parents, we often wish that time goes a bit slower so that our beanies don't grow up so fast!! The beanies have grown to almost 3 times their birth weights in just 3 months (Sklyar 10.3lbs | Cedric 12.7lbs | Ethan 12.4lbs). Sooner or later, I won't be able to cuddle them and they will be rolling and crawling all over the place to explore every corner of the house... Scary thoughts... *_*
[To be continued]
