10 Days with Grandma, Fish, and Halloween!!

My mom had planned a 10 day visit to spend time with the girls after they were born way back in June. I was so excited for her to finally meet the girls in person. We had been FaceTiming regularly since the girls were born which is better than just sending pictures. I am so thankful for technology since we live so far away from family, but nothing is the same as actually being there in person. I was also happy to have an extra set of hands to hold, feed and change babies. Typically it is just me at home with the girls all day, but for the past 4 weeks Paul has had an easy rotation where he only had to go into the hospital 3 half days (Wednesday morning, Thursday afternoon, and Friday morning). So when my mom was here there were three of us and it was amazing!!

We spent most of the time hanging out at the house, shopping, and doing wedding things for my little brother who is getting married this December. Luckily all of us girls were able to find dresses for the wedding, and we all should look great at the wedding!  I love weddings and volunteered to make the corsages and boutonnieres so we also practiced some techniques we learned on YouTube on how to make them. There is nothing you can't do with YouTube.

Grandma on double baby duty.

Grandma bouncing Hadley. They both loved to be bounced.

Hailey talking with Grandma

A sample little corsage. We had the wrong flowers to begin with (one of Mallory's friends is making the bridesmaids bouquets and we want them to match of course; so we had to go exchange out the flowers.) so the actual corsages will look similar, but nothing like this.

Paul really enjoyed this visit with my mom because she helped talk me into letting him get a fish tank.  I have been telling Paul no to a fish tank for 3 years now. Then my mom comes and my little brother was putting together a new fish tank for her while she was visiting us, and the next thing I know we are getting the same fish tank for our house.  I have always had fish growing up and I just didn't want a fish tank for our house because it grosses me out when you find them dead in the tank, and it makes me sad when they die. However, Paul claims he wasn't allowed to have fish as a child and has always wanted them. Paul loves animals and will still at times tell me that maybe he should've gone to vet school.  It's too late now though ;)

Anyway, the girls got to go to PetSmart for the first time and Paul got all the supplies he needed. He was bummed to find out from the PetSmart guy that you weren't supposed to put fish in the fish tank for 2-3 weeks or they may die. So we got just got one fish. A Dalmation Molly named Pongo. While setting up the tank I told Paul about a black Molly we had when I was younger that had babies and that Molly's give live birth and not lay eggs. Paul really wanted babies and talked about getting another Molly, but I said no because the fish eat the baby fish and that is just cruel. After, Paul was able to keep the Molly alive for 48 hours he went back to PetSmart and got two Guppies (OhNo and Romo) and a Mickey Mouse Platy (Walt). The fish seemed to be thriving, and the next morning Paul came running into the bedroom after waking up to feed the fish and informed me that one of the fish had babies!!! So we talked to my sister-in-law and older brother whose molly had also had babies about what they did and they just hid the baby in the plants in the tank, but we wanted to make sure ours survived so my mom and I watched and made sure the other fish didn't eat the two baby fish we found while Paul went and bought a nursery tank to put inside the fish tank. One of the baby fish didn't survive, but we were able to save one that is growing so big now. As it turns out our Molly was pregnant when we bought her, and that is how Pongo became Perdita!

Paul with his new fish tank

Paul saving his baby fish

The surviving  baby fish in it's nursery tank

After all the fish drama calmed down we were ready for Halloween.  We were excited for Grandma to be here for the girls first holiday. Since the girls were still wearing newborn clothes and were too small to fit into any store bought costumes I made them little outfits for Halloween. I made them tutus and onsies that said 'trick' and 'treat'. I also enlisted the help of Dasher to make the costume complete and made him 'or'. So for Halloween we had our very own "Trick or Treat". After shopping that day, Dasher helped me pass out candy while my mom watched the girls and Paul returned OhNo who had passed away and came back with another guppy named Rae. These fish will be the death of me one day I am sure.

Hadley (left) and Hailey (right). Thanks Ms. Tonya for the shirts!

This picture was so hard to get them both to cooperate with. They were not in the picture taking mood, but Dasher looked perfect in every shot of course. Silly puppy

Having my mom here also gave Paul some time to go fishing with his friends Robert and Jose after they took an end of rotation exam or shelf exam. After each rotation that Paul does during his 2 remaining clinical years he has to take a standardized exam to gauge what he learned and his skill level in that area of medicine. Anyway, Paul stayed on the island Friday after going to rounds and met up with his friends to go fishing since flounder fishing is good after the weather turns "cold". Luckily, Paul, Robert and Jose all caught a flounder!! Paul ate his the next day, and my mom had some too. I did not try it, but was thankful it did not stink up the house when he cooked it. They said it tasted very good and neither of them are big fish eaters.

Paul with his flounder (the one he is holding) and his friend's flounder too. Paul's flounder was 19 inches long.

Paul eating his flounder. Dash was very jealous.

Overall, we had a great visit with Grandma and hated to see her go. Thankfully we don't have to wait too long for Grandma to come back though because she will be back at the end of November with Great Grandma and Grandpa to spend more time with the girls and help me while I am recovering from my surgery to remove the lump from my breast. I am so grateful that plane tickets are very reasonably priced and that my mom is able to come see the girls as often as she has been able to. It is especially tough living so far away now that we have the girls, but technology and plane travel make it more bearable.

Me and Hailey with Grandma and Hadley and of course Dasher too. If there's a picture being taken you better believe Dasher makes sure he is in it.