Flying with Twins!

Me and my beautiful twins on Thanksgiving day

Over the last couple of months, we've been blazing through my list of things that seem impossible to do with twins but actually aren't. Our latest accomplishment was flying! We flew to Utah for Thanksgiving. I would not go so far as to say we pulled off the trip without a hitch, but it certainly could have been worse.

Since having the twins, I've been forced to become more organized. I literally spent hours planning and writing out the schedule for our day of departure to figure out when we needed to wake up, when I would feed the babies, when I would pump, when we would eat, when we would need to leave.....I had to have perfect timing to make sure the babies were hungry for take off to help their little ears pop. I felt confident when the day arrived, but as is the case with most of my well-laid plans, something (or many somethings) always goes amis.

The day actually started out following my plans beautifully. We even left early for the airport. As part of my plan, I was going to pump while on the drive to Tulsa, so we could give the girls bottles while they were in their carseats. I remembered my pump and the car adapter. All set, right? Wrong! You know how they say "pregnancy brain" makes you forget a lot of things and causes you to do some stupid things? Well I think the brain damage continues on after pregnancy. In my mind I was thinking I wouldn't need a power cord since I had a car adapter, so I purposely left my cord at home. How I expected that to work, I don't know. Fortunately, my pump can also run on batteries, so we stopped at a gas station on the way to buy some. Nate ran in, bought four batteries, and we were off again. The only problem is my pump didn't work! Then I realized there were two places for batteries and I actually needed eight batteries. Quick, turn around, buy four more batteries, and back on the road. Good thing we left early!

Once we got to the airport, security was a breeze! We were directed right to the front of the line and we didn't even have to follow any of the protocol: we didn't have to take off our shoes, belts, or jackets, or remove our laptop or liquids. Basically we walked right on through! Awesome!

As we walked through the airport, we certainly got a lot of attention. We didn't check any bags so we each had a baby strapped on the front, a back pack on the back, and a wheeled bag behind. It seemed like everyone was looking at us: some with pity in their eyes, some with admiration, and some with fear that we might be on their flight! Whenever, you go anywhere in public with twins, people want to talk to you. It's usually the same conversation: Do you have twins?!?!? You sure have your hands full. Are they identical? Do twins run in your family? I don't mind people talking to us, but I'm annoyed that after people find out they are fraternal, their next statement is, "Oh, so you have a boy and a girl." Come on people, which of these babies dressed in pink with a fruffy bow in her hair would you guess is a boy? Ok, moving on...

The actually flight went pretty well. When I first sat down, the lady next to me looked at me like I just brought a pet alligator on the plane. I wanted to tell her, "Seriously, it's just a baby, and a very well behaved baby if I do say so myself!" Fortunately, the flight wasn't full and the flight attendant was able to rearrange so Nate and I each got an empty seat next to us. (We can't sit by each other because there is only one extra oxygen mask per row.) I was worried the girls might cry the whole way, but they barely let out a peep the entire time! The only mishap was Lydia's MASSIVE blow out. Have you ever tried to change a diaper (and a very messy one at that) in a tiny airplane lavatory? It sucks. I had to lay Lydia on the toilet seat lid. I used all but one wipe in attempts to clean her up. (I had to save one for Eden.) How was it possible that I was out of wipes and had 15 diapers in the bag? If we were at home, I would have taken her out back and hosed her off! That's how bad it was. After I got her as clean as I was able, the next problem was what do I do with the soiled outfit? If it wasn't so cute, I would have thrown it out with the diaper. Then I remembered my liquids were stored in a Ziplock baggie, so I just dumped those out and stuffed the clothes in there. Once we got back to our seats, Lydia decided to spit up all over me.

After we landed, it took us a good 10 minutes to gather our stuff and strap the babies back on. Nate forgot the ceiling was so low and bonked poor Eden's head while trying to lift her into his carrier! Luckily, after a short crying session she was as good as new. Needless to say, our first plane ride with the twins was eventful, but I'm so grateful they didn't scream and cry the whole way.

These sweet girls would never cry on the plane

We had such a wonderful time with my family while in Utah. We haven't all been together in over two years and since then, we've added six people to the family through marriages and births so it was a long overdue reunion. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, went to Catching Fire, attended a session at the Temple, took family pictures, went to a big tailgate party for the USU vs WYO game, Nate went to the BYU vs USU basketball game, and we spent a lot of time visiting and catching up with family members. We were also able to bless the girls while there. It worked out perfectly because Nate's family was in Utah for Thanksgiving also so we had a lot of family members able to attend the blessing. It was a beautiful sight seeing my little girls dressed in white being blessed by their father. We had a great vacation and were so excited to be able to introduce our babies to their extended family!

We couldn't find their bows for the picture but they still look angelic! 

Grandpa and Grandma Shepherd

Twin picture! Grandma Lisa and her twin Lori with Eden and Lydia

Grandpa and Grandma Feuz

I love my little family!