A twin visit

Sorry that this is somewhat disjointed.

Fire Fighting Nephew and his wife went to see the treasured and iconic Colin Hay perform at the Melbourne Recital Centre. They stayed in a nice city hotel. I was amazed how busy the hotel was, but why was I there? 

They had a nice Asian meal at a popular place with friends in Flinders Lane. FFN's wife estimated there was 100 staff. They sat outside and did not have to listen to overly loud music inside. Ha, they must be getting old. I know my city but it seems only daytime. I don't know what happens in the evenings when the real me them comes alive.

Their twin five month old boys stayed with us, in our care along with their grandmother, Ex Sis in Law. 

FFN's wife who I secretly refer to as The General was so well organised, told us exactly how to care for the boys and what time they would wake, each different. She was exactly right about their waking times. One for a feed at 3.30am, with R and Ex Sis in Law doing the care, and a full wake up at 5.30 by the other. I did hear the 5.30 wake up and got up to assist do nothing as Ex Sis in Law had it all in control.  

There seemed to be so many baby containing things with wheels, even our spacious apartment was looking rather full. 

FFN and The General were about to leave to have dinner before the performance. FFN had already mucked up by dropping his keys in the street before they luckily after backtracking, found them. The next disaster was that The General had left the baby formula to make milk in their hotel room. Their car was parked here so I went with them on the tram to their hotel to get the formula. As I was about to enter our building R called, how far away are you? Ruben is raging and he certainly was. He was hungry and wanted milk and screaming at the top of his lungs. Once home, both boys were fed lots of milk from silly little bottles. I spent half an hour in the kitchen making up milk, warming milk in the purpose made machine, washing bottles and then sterilising them in boiling water. I learnt new skills. 

When I was on the tram into the city to pick up the formula, we passed by Hamer Hall and FFN said that is where we later attend to see Colin Hay. It must be around the back of the Hamer Hall. I asked what it said on his ticket. Melbourne Recital Centre was his reply. Oh laddie, you have it so wrong. That is around the corner, maybe 800 metres away.

Sunday morning between 6.30 and 7.00 I spent the whole time dealing with these ridiculous bottles. The boys normally have a mix of breast milk and formula, but it was all formula today. The larger bottles you can see were already filled with boiled and cooled water. I added seven scoops of powder to each bottle, gave it a good shake and put it in the bottle warmer. Then it had to be decanted into the smaller bottles. All the bottles had to be washed and then sterilised by boiling them in hot water. Old Shaky only scalded his hand once with splashed boiled water. At the back of the cupboard I found an  old milk jug, so I boiled some water and left it to cool in the jug as we seemed to running short of sterilised water but my effort wasn't needed. The General had correctly calculated how much sterilised water was needed. Apparently the boys prefer the smaller bottles to drink from. From the screaming of Raging Ruben, I think you could pour the milk into him from a bucket. I do not understand the need for all this nonsense and not just one large milk feeding bottle. 

The next morning the parents arrived at about 9.30 with take away coffees as a reward for our efforts. We chatted for a while, all left, R collapsed on his bed and I fell asleep in an armchair. 

But it was lovely to have the boys here. They look quite different for twins and it is not too hard to tell them apart, unlike their five year old twin girl cousins. They smiled a lot and it was quite fascinating to watch them.