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August 12, 2001
OOPS, HE DID IT AGAIN!
Sigh. Jake was about to relinquish his control of my kingdom when he fell in the garage and whacked his head on (of all unlikely things) a propane tank. He had a big gash across his eyebrow, blood was dripping, poor Jakey was hysterical, Tommy started crying too, and 13-year-old Laurel turned greenish when she saw Jake’s wound and looked like she was going to puke. Chaos reigned!
Luckily I had Laurel and her twin sister Ashley with me. They’re the main reason (along with my mom) that I’ve kept (sort of) sane while raising 1-year-old twins. Anyway, I left Max and Tommy with Ashley while Laurel and I ran Jake to the ER. The drive seemed to take forever.
The doc took us right in and said Jake definitely needed stitches. He didn’t like that idea, voicing his vote to leave ASAP. Since Jake had recently been in the hospital he despised anyone in a white coat and shrieked when any white coat approached. Worse, the doctor put him in this inhumane torture chamber called a papoose--basically a straight-jacket for the whole body. I realize they needed to immobilize Jake for stitches but this thing is hell on both child and mom. I could barely even get to one of Jake’s hands to hold it. He kept screeching and looking at me like you are supposed to be protecting me! It was one of my worst moments as a mom.
I wanted to snatch him up and scream at them to stop terrorizing my baby. But instead I could only bite my tongue and stroke what I could reach of Jake’s arm and try not to cry.
So when Lars finally made it to the ER I gulped and said, “It’s your turn! I need to get out of here!” I’d basically been through Jake’s asthma attack and hospital visit by myself, and now this and I’d had enough. Lars took over and I had a good cry. A little while later it was over and Jake snuggled in my arms with a big sigh of relief. We both felt better. But my poor Jakey has a line of stitches across his eyebrow and he looks like Franken-toddler.
Of course I felt sorry for him and hugged him and let him sit on my lap forever and eat treats and drink juice. Yes, he quickly regained his tyrannical ways. We were leaving for Las Vegas in two days and with King Jake thinking the world is his oyster the city of lights was in for trouble.
VIVA LAS VEGAS
We wanted to go to Las Vegas, yes, but with toddler twins? Yikes. Our solution? Take our favorite teenage twinners, Laurel and Ashley along as nannies.
We decided to drive instead of fly since it’s a five hour car ride and last time we flew it took us six hours (getting to airport, checking in, flying, waiting for luggage, picking up rental car, etc.) The drive was noisy but not torturous. Jake staged several rebellions (and Tommy occasionally kicked in too) but one of the girls would hand them a new toy and quash uprisings.
The girls stood up mightily to the ongoing Max question-a-thon: Why did God made diseases? (If anyone has the answer to that one let me know!) How come we have two nostrils? What makes blood red? That child is definitely a smartie. He still wants to find a cure for aging. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. ;)
The boys (and the girls!) loved Las Vegas. The babies were wowed by the sparkly lights everywhere and noise, noise, noise. It usually didn’t matter when Jake threw a tantrum—no one could hear him. He boycotted us moving him, which meant predictable fits when trying to stuff his shrieking, kicking body in the stroller or high chairs. Jake is also glued to me and if anyone tries to unstick him from my leg or my arms he yells. I decided to deal with this after the trip.
One day we headed for the shark exhibit at Mandalay Bay. The babies were mesmerized by the big shark tanks and watched the sea creatures with awe. They stared at the tank without moving (see pic). Max loved the petting pool where he could touch a manta ray, star fish and sea urchin.
We toured several casinos and people stared at us and I could hear comments behind us like: “Oh my gosh! She’s got two sets of twins!” and “Wow, twin boys and girls!” I just smiled. The girls are so well-behaved, helpful and cute I wish they were mine. Luckily for me their mom and dad don’t mind lending them to us sometimes. The girls actually come with us a lot and I’m the envy of my Moms of Multiples club because I have so much help. I appreciate every minute of it.
Anyway, we hit just about every buffet in town, which is why my shorts are too tight. One night we splurged and treated ourselves and Grandma Wanda (the boys’ great grandma) to dinner at the yummy Cheesecake Factory. And we took a limo ride down the strip. Tommy loved it! “That! That! That!” he exclaimed, pointing at MGM lion and New York, New York roller coaster. The girls and I decided to try that roller coaster and it was definitely a wild ride.
The drive home from Las Vegas took longer than normal because we had to get a flat tire fixed. And we stopped off for a fun swimming party at JaNae’s house with my cousins from Arizona but that meant we didn’t get home until 9:30 pm. We’d started out at 8:30 am. Whew. We dropped the girl twinners off and fell into bed.
As Scarlet O’Hara would say, “Today is another day!” Time to try and dethrone King Franken-Jakey again. I’m scared. Wish me luck.
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