Hollandays: El Paso

During spring break we decided to make a trip to El Paso to visit my parents and collect our dogs.They have been with my parents since last July. We dropped them off there to be watched while we did some traveling. We never got to do that traveling because the boys came a few weeks later but it was nice to have them taken care of while I was on bed rest and then while we spent our time at the NICU. My parents have been wonderful to care for them for this long and they seemed to enjoy the grandparents' home. I'm not sure Jack was ready to leave the excitement of my parents back yard.

First road trip with the boys went pretty well. We debated on what would be the best time to travel for them and us and decided to leave Austin late afternoon so they could sleep through most of the trip. They took a nap the first couple of hours and then babbled and played with toys for the next few hours until it was time to eat. They really only got upset when we were trying to find a place to stop and feed them and then when it was time to sleep. They love the car but they love their beds more and for about 20 minutes they did not want to sleep anywhere else. After calming down and falling asleep we had a quiet peaceful drive. Clay was an awesome driver and drove through the night. We arrived around 3 am without any problems.

Reid meets his Great Grandma Zuniga for the first time.

In El Paso we enjoyed introducing the boys to their great grandma and some cousins, and celebrated my mom's birthday. We were also lucky enough to be there the same time as Aunt Sonya, who was home for her spring break. They enjoyed all the attentions but hated napping. They got little sleep during the day which made them grumpy but helped them sleep through the night. We introduced them to our dogs Jack and Niko. The original plan was to only bring Jack, the younger dog, home with us. But as we were loading the car Niko, who can't walk due to being hit by a car, dragged his way to the door and towards our car. He kept howling and barking at us. He knew we were leaving and wanted to make sure he was coming. It broke my heart to leave him again so we decided that even though it would be a lot of work to care for him I wanted to bring him home. The trip home went well despite taking a lot longer than the first trip. We left earlier in the day so we had more feedings to stop for and now two dogs that also needed to be let out. Our car was way to full. Maybe a mini van is in our future, especially if the boys ever get a sibling.