Grandparents from Boston are here!

My parents arrived from Boston Saturday night and delightedly met their grand-kids.  They heroically jumped into the fray, along with Alla parents, swaddling, burping and changing.  Over all, the second night was a breeze compared to the first - the kids were warm and happy, extra helping hands were on deck, and the place is happier, if a little more hectic.

Sunday was another rather smooth day, with lots of helping hands, the first (out of town) visitors, several great meals in the kitchen.

A few trends continue: the kids, G-D bless their stoic characters, continue to fuss only when is called for, s.a. needing help burping or swimming in an extra-full diaper.  Grandparents of both sides fret and help at the same time, dealing with every situation with a mixture of anxiety, resolve, affection, and good humor.

True to form, all house project involving yours truly continue to not go easily.  Case in point: installing car seat adapters onto the stroller.  The operation should have taken about 40 seconds, 10 seconds per plastic part being snapped onto the frame.  Partaking in the project were Alla's dad (experienced engineer), my dad (theoretical physicist and teacher of physics and chemistry, including labs untold), and yours truly, physicist turned engineer.  Our higher education degrees alone outnumbered the moving parts in the entire endeavor.  And yet...the snapping parts refused to snap, and that was it.  An internet search turned up nothing.  A letter was sent to the manufacturer of the stroller. About 30 minutes later, along with a few choice words, we threw in the towel.  Round one for the stupid plastic pieces.

Let me finish on a calmer and happier note.  The boys have done well today, and so did the parents and grandparents.  We had a few laughs, and some of them did not even involve bodily fluids.  Mommy gets extra points for detecting a slight change in the boys' condition, which was caused by a total of one large burp wanting out and two diapers needing change, one truly overflowing.  Like I said, most laughs did involve bodily fluids.