I think she might need both a snap-n-go and an umbrella stroller. She's out in the boonies so I know she has to drive to get to places, and she likes walking around her boonie areas. We will have to discuss all of these things. They all just woke up because it's time to eat. LOL

I bet you could score a free one from Craigslist, possibly even a newer one. Then, you could try it out and see if you like it without having to pay to try it out.

I'm going to send her your advice because she has been trying to figure this out. They are all perplexed and this is what she needs to know. Just to be sure, is this the Snap-n-Go double stroller? https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Trend-Universal-Snap-N-Go-Stroller/dp/B008U4MKU6

My niece and sister keep saying that all they do is eat! My sister is calling them the Hungry Hippos. 😁 I'm ready for a road trip and will even quarantine camp outside if I must due to Covid, so I'll ask her what she thinks. Her husband is a mechanic who works nights so I think they might need some help. So far, I only have grand-kittens to take care of. LOL

@Lecka I will ask her what her plans are. I know she has to drive a ways to the pediatrician so today, she and her husband were doing something with the carseats because the twins are so small. To make them safer. All of my kids were born in cities so we walked everywhere, even when I took them home from the hospital! None of them were in a car until they were much older. I might've missed out on those late night drives people say put their babies to sleep. 😴

@TravelingChris and @MissLemon From what I read, if blood pressure is under control with meds, then the risk of worse symptoms of Covid should be reduced. It won't be entirely eliminated but it is much better than having unregulated high blood pressure.

Good idea. I'll have to suggest that to my niece. The little guys I think are off the oxygen but I'm not sure. Still, setting up a station in the living room would make life easier which is always good. Awww! See, some of us are waiting patiently for our kids to have babies. I would love to help new parents out so they could get a break! I'm wondering now if maybe I should take over when my sister leaves. One baby is great but two babies... oh, my!

I have four brothers and we're all thinking of chipping in to buy a big ticket item. So, what do you all think of a Lazy Boy rocker/recliner? Or maybe one of those rocking bassinets, like this one from Target? We'd have to get two but that's okay. I remember very vividly the sleep deprivation so anything that helps would be helpful. I am writing all of your very ideas down and just made a run to Target to get Clorox wipes because around her, they have sold out everywhere. I'll fill a box and UPS them over. What about RSV infections? Does she need to worry about that? Do they give preemies vaccinations for it or are they too little yet? She lives in a high desert area that is dry and in winter, cold. I would think humidifiers would be a good idea but I don't know for sure. When my sister wakes up, she's going to be bombarded with all of my texts. 😄 Thanks for all of your advice! I really appreciate it.

I ordered diapers from Amazon and some other stuff. Weirdly, they couldn't deliver Desitin or sensitive skin baby wipes to her town, though. Wow. This is great. Thanks for all your links and advice. I've sent them on to my sis and niece. They are zonked out now but as soon as feeding time arrives and they wake up, I'm sure I'll be getting some feedback. Everyone was completely bedraggled the first day of sleep deprivation, but the boys are eating well I hear. Huzzah!

Okay. So umbrella strollers sound like a must. They are in an area that's going to get cold and I love the idea of sleep sacks. I'll also look for that book. Healthy snacks are easy for me to do because I'm in Chicago, the city of foodies, and can find all kinds of fun and interesting snacks to send her. My favorite pizza place is about ten steps from our building's basement door so I'm going to send Chicago's best, frozen pizzas to Dad. My sister also went into full canning mode and mini-meal making. Their freezer is bursting. LOL

Why yes they do! 😁👍

They're so tiny right now. It's hard to imagine them getting big but I'm sure they will. Gift cards and money are always good. My sister said my niece needs a better stroller so I'm going to start looking for something like what you mentioned. I'm going to look into the other things you mentioned, too, because these two are her first children and I'm sure she could use more stuff. I'll run it by her, though, so she doesn't get stuff she doesn't need or want. Thanks!

My niece recently had her twin boys about 5 weeks early. 💙💙 She was airlifted to the hospital! Both boys had a little trouble with oxygen and one of them had pneumothorax which is now okay. Everyone is finally back home and settling in. My sister (Grandma), who lives 10 hours away, is down there for the next 5 weeks to help out but then she has to get back to her job. So... do any of you have BTDT advice, things to anticipate, watch out for or expect, suggestions to help make life go easier, items an Auntie who lives far away can buy to help out? I'm all ears. TIA!

It’s only paused in the US for whatever reason. All other countries resumed the trial. From what I read, the reaction was not caused by the vaccine. I have no idea why the US is not resuming.

From what I understand, there is a desire to develop the newer mRNA vaccines so as to significantly shorten vaccine development while making them safer and more efficacious and that is why they chose Moderna. Bill Gates is a big backer of theirs because of this technology, iirc. I’ll look into the political aspect but that is almost always there with any drug or vaccine and their lobbyists. They are not as established as the others — Pfizer, Merck, J&J — and I’ve read that there were bumps along the way in regard to communication and agreements but ultimately what will determine whether they roll out are the data from the trials. The data from Phases 1, 2 and what we know as of yet from 3 seem good. The (secret) DSMB reviews their data so I don’t see how Moderna could hide or manipulate results. Maybe I’m missing something though? I read about their stock sales from Motley Fool back in September. I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. It does raise questions and I wonder if other company execs are doing this as well. https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/09/10/what-to-know-about-modernas-insider-selling/ If I have a choice, I’m not yet sure which one I’ll go with. I’m going to wait until the results start coming in and go from there.

The AstraZeneca phase 3 trial is on hold in the US because they are supposedly investigating the recent case of transverse myelitis that occurred in England. All other AZ trials throughout the world are continuing. Johnson & Johnson has paused its phase 3 trials due to an illness in a participant in the UK. The outside examiners, the DSMB (data and safety monitoring board) convened on Monday to review the case. The DSMB is independent of the company. It’s not known if the individual is in the control group or the vaccinated group. Pauses are a normal part of trials. They stop so the data can be examined. The DSMB is an interesting part of the process. They are secret and have no ties with the companies. Here’s an article about them: https://khn.org/news/these-secret-safety-panels-will-pick-the-covid-vaccine-winners/

Derek Lowe just wrote about reinfection and immunity. The article is longer than what I posted but the following two paragraphs are a decent summary of what he has to say. https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2020/10/14/immunity-and-re-infection So the situation, for now, seems to be that yes, re-infection is possible. But it’s also quite rare. There are surely cases that we’ve missed, but it’s clearly not something that is happening much. We’re dealing with the fact that the human immune response is hugely variable from person to person – that’s one of its key features. Different people are going to raise different levels of different populations of different antibodies to a coronavirus infection, and that’s a big reason why the clinical course of disease is so variable. Even in these documented reinfection cases, we don’t know the details about what their first immune responses were like (there was no reason to profile these people in such detail the first time!) Moving beyond that, I would suspect that vaccination, which raises neutralizing antibodies to the Spike protein, will provide a population that is even less susceptible to re-infection than we have in the wild-type-recovered population now, given that three of the five cases we have details of did not have significant changes in the Spike region at all. Now, we don’t know how long vaccine protection will last, or how variable it will be in a broad population – we’re out there getting those data now – but from what we’re seeing, I think the prospects are good. No panic necessary for now.

What Pen posted. FoundMyFitness is probably my favorite. I pay to be a monthly member and find it's well worth it. It's run by Rhonda Patrick, who is a published scientist herself, and the info she puts out is tops, all backed up by studies which she scrutinizes. You can find her interviews with other scientists on YouTube if you want to see some samples of what she covers. At her site, the videos have time stamps if you want to find something in particular quickly. Adding to Pen's suggestions, Chris Masterjohn's website is quite good, too. You can take a free 30-day course to learn more about vitamins and minerals and he offers a lot more. His content is thorough. Dr. William Li's book, Eat to Beat, is worth getting if you're interested in learning how to use food to heal certain health conditions or prevent them. Li is the head of the Angiogenesis Foundation.

I posted this article from BioSpace elsewhere but I'll post it here, too. https://www.biospace.com/article/operation-warp-speed-boss-1st-covid-19-vaccine-eua-likely-around-thanksgiving/

I believe we are going to see an increase in Covid cases this fall and winter but (hopefully) fewer deaths because health care workers have learned more about it. And fewer still, because... the vaccine data is looking good and that means the vaccines will roll out sooner. My hat is off to the scientists. We need to honor them! From what I've read, it sounds like the Moderna vaccine will possibly begin rolling out around December of this year to HCWs and the most vulnerable if Phase 3 continues to do well (likely) and if the companies file for an EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) from the FDA (likely). https://www.biospace.com/article/operation-warp-speed-boss-1st-covid-19-vaccine-eua-likely-around-thanksgiving/ Now that would be awesome if we can get these vaccines going but there could be supply chain problems with getting needles and whatnot. I've read comments from people who work in those supply chains but I don't know if it's changed. Then, let's say you get your vaccine. For awhile, you might still need to wear a mask around other people in certain situations because it's possible you could still be shedding virus even though you're asymptomatic. It won't be forever but possibly a few months, even a year. We'll know more as data starts coming out. But 80-90% efficacy would be great. I've also heard that the vaccines are getting ready to be put in place. Canada is doing this now. The vaccines were made at risk so that when they are approved, they will be ready to go. I guess we'll see!

Very few empty lots around here if any. It's difficult to find quarter acre lots let alone one acre lots, however, recently a building was torn down across the street from where I live and the one acre lot sold for $1.5 million. It's right next to train tracks. The buyers put up a high rise.

Oh my! What a gorgeous kitten! ❤️ Just a few more safety tips to add. 1. Watch to see if kitty chews on strings, earbud cords, shoe laces, fringes, etc. If so, you’ll want to keep anything string-like hidden or tucked away. String that’s eaten can cause serious intestinal problems. 2. Kittens often zig-zag in front of people as they walk. Don’t want to step on the little guy or trip over him. As for food, my son started his cats on Hill’s Science Diet for kittens. Chicken flavor. They also eat Primal raw cat food and Wellness Complete canned cat food. He gets the frozen raw food from Kriser’s and orders the rest from Chewy.com. One of them also likes Bonito flakes and silver vine sticks which come from Amazon. Both like catnip. If you call his name when it’s time to eat or do something he likes, he’ll very likely respond eventually. Some cats can be trained to do even more but it might take time. You can try wiping the kitten down with wet wash cloths to help reduce the allergens. A few times each week or daily. Just make sure kitty has a spot where he can warm up afterward. Martha Stewart’s cats get dipped up to their shoulders in buckets of warm water. Maybe her website has a short video. I used to do this with my former cat. The key was to have everything ready so that she wasn’t too stressed. Then afterward, she went into a small room that was warmed up with a heater, maybe around 80 degrees, while I dried her off using fresh towels. She hated the hair dryer so I just used towels and a very warm room. She seemed to like being cleaned up. It was like her spa day. 😄 I hope all goes well as the kitten transitions in. Looks like your son has already bonded to him!

One of my son’s cats liked to scratch the molding around our doors. Supposedly, this can be a sign of stress. We had just adopted a kitten so that was likely the source. Feliway helped. I also bought more scratching towers and used the Feliway drops on them. We also used the double-sided tape on furniture to discourage scratching that. For a Siamese, a bristle brush might be a better choice if the fur is short. One of my son’s cats is a Russian Blue who has very short, dense fur. The metal brushes drive him bonkers but he’s okay with bristles. Other items we bought: Wide, oval water dishes and flat small plates for food. We bought ours from Target, the pet and kitchen sections. I had read that cats’ whiskers can be sensitive to the sides of their bowls and they can get whisker fatigue. LOL This has been the subject of many discussions in our house during the Covid lockdown while everyone was living under one roof. A silicone or rubber mat from Target that goes under bowls to catch food if they’re messy. (They are.) A ceramic water fountain to encourage drinking. Does the trick. We also bought a lot of toys which they’ll play with if we play with them. They’re indoors only so toys help them exercise. Pretty Litter is a subscription litter service that monitors changes in urine. The urine will react with chemicals in the litter and change color. The cat then can be checked out earlier and more thoroughly by a vet. Cat grass. They don’t eat a lot but it’s there when they want it.

Low concentrations of ozone can be used to kill coronavirus even while people are present. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/08/26/national/science-health/research-coronavirus-ozone/ I’ll try to find the article but, iirc, a few schools in Italy are already using this to kill coronavirus. At this low concentration, it’s safe.

Iron avidity is surprisingly not all that unusual in people with hereditary hemochromatosis (HH). HH can also begin much earlier than originally thought — late teens, early 20s. It can go undiagnosed for years causing a lot of preventable damage. Here’s an older article about HH and iron avidity if you’re interested. http://www.irondisorders.org/Websites/idi/files/Content/1050668/IronAvid-all.pdf