They sleep

YIPPEE!!!! They slept for the first part of the night in their crib!!!! About 10pm to 2am... then I nursed them and put them in our bed.. :) I nursed them one at a time and was afraid to put one back in that might wake the other.

At 9pm we went upstairs and Tom took Lily out of the sling... she was CRASHED, but she had a cloth diaper on and needed to be changed into a disposable.. he changed her and she didn't even wake up so we put her back to sleep in the crib. I changed and nursed Jason (he did NOT stay asleep) and by 10pm had him rocked to sleep. I put my head on the pillow and turned out the light and, I KID YOU NOT, Lily immediately started to cry. UGH!

I nursed her and she wouldn't settle in our room so I took her in the nursery where their white noise CD was playing and it was really dark. She fell asleep instantly so I put her down in the crib and held my breath! She STAYED asleep. So I went in our room to get Jason - who WOULD NOT close his eyes and go to sleep - and did the same thing, and I'll be damned if it didn't work. I put him down - again holding my breath - and he stayed asleep too! I went back in to our room assuming that they woule both start to wail at the same time about the time I either put my head on the pillow, or drifted off to sleep. I said a little prayer that they would sleep (more like a little BEG.. PLEASE GOD LET THEM SLEEP!!)... and went to bed. I was woken by cries around 2am. I was amazed. Jason even slept for another half hour to hour before he woke to eat!

So... as w/ the 5 to 6 hours of sleep they started getting when Pat and Joan were here, I do not expect a repeat performance tonight, but I'll give it a shot! :)

Here's a cute pic of Jason sleeping on his side this a.m. He kicks me in the back when he's ready for me to wake up and feed him.. I think he just starts stirring before he wakes and he's gotten himself turned around and ends up kicking... a good reason to move them to their crib.. they are getting bigger by the minute!

Thank you Auntie Jennie!!

Check out the super cute onesies that Auntie Jennie made for us....





that's it for now.. gotta go soothe babies!

Parent's first outing...

Oh, I almost forgot.. Tom and I took our first big outing sans babies yesterday! Mom and Dad watched them while we rode our bikes first to a coffee shop for a coffee and scone then over to the big farmer's market at the capitol. We got some veggies for a nice fresh dinner and headed back. We were only gone about an hour, but it was fun to just go hang out together ... first time in 2.5 months.. and we had to get it done before out "staff" departs to return to their lives (even if only for a few months)

Here's a pic of Lily smiling.. it's not the best shot, but it's the best I've been able to get so far! Papa found a tickle spot that pretty reliably makes her smile.. hmm.. but usually only when Papa tickles her.

Not going to CIO (cry it out)

Okay... so I read more of the book and Dr. W (whatever his name is) of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child does not condone letting "young" (whatever he means by that) babies cry it out. I felt I needed to clarify.

We tried and it just felt totally wrong to me.. along w/ not working at all. We have decided that the set up we've got going right now is pretty damn good.. 9.5 week old babies sleeping (relatively consistently) for 6 hours a night is probably the best we could reasonably expect..and this a.m. Lily napped w/ me until around 9:45am. off and on w/ some nursing of course.

So what I've taken away for this period of their tender little lives is to pay attention to the maximum wakeful time of 2 hours during the day and even watching closely to see if they need to be put down before that. I think it's really helping. It just didn't occur to me that I would have to make sure the babies got opportunities to sleep.. I figured they would sleep when they are tired.

We are going to wait until the babies are between 12 and 15 (adjusted for their 3 week early arrival) weeks to start working on getting them to sleep in their cribs. We are both cool w/ that. We will alternate the babies in the co-sleeper so they start getting used to sleeping in their own space... I did enjoy cuddling w/ Lily this a.m. She was havning a hard time getting settled.. I think she was cold b/c the temps are dropping for the impending fall! (YEAH! - not so yeah about the winter that follows)

For those that care Jason slept from 7:45pm to 2 am last night.. he started out in a sling from 7:45pm to 9:30 ish,, but hey, he slept. We're thrilled. Lily was up a bit more, but it wasn't too bad.. at least she wasn't screaming (like she used to) and would go back to sleep easily.

It feels like Lily is finally getting some heft to her.. if she stayed in the 1 oz. a day gain she has officially hit 9 lbs... What a big girl. Oh and dad (Papa) found a tickle spot that pretty consistantly makes her smile - I tried to catch it on the camera, but no luck. I'll keep trying!

Dean Karnazes (Crazy Legs)

Okay this guy is NUTS. the dude that ran a marathon in each state.. at least I think this is the guy.. is now planning to run 50 marathons in a ROW.. one each day. his training includes one marathon a week.. check it out:

Dean Karnazes

Teach them to Sleep

Okay... when I decided I wanted children I KNEW I would have to teach them to poopy in the potty, but I didn't know I would have to first teach them how to eat (nurse) then teach them how to sleep. WTH isn't that just something that comes naturally? NOPE!

So I'm reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. The book goes against attachment parenting that says not to let your child cry it out... just cry until it falls asleep. Attachment parenting subscribes to the fact that allowing your child to cry it out will cause them to lose trust in you.. to lose trust in the fact that you will be there to fulfill their basic needs in life. It suggests that this will cause your toddler to be clingy and needy while attchment parenting will create a more independent child b/c the child knows you will be there to fulfill it's basic needs should s/he get hurt or need help. I agree w/this philosophy, but this book does make sense... and suggests that sleep is one of the most important things for your child's developing brain.. eat/eliminate/sleep!

I tried some crying yesterday in short bits and it was hard. I would then rock them and try to get them to sleep.. Jason slept the recommended amount yesterday, but Lily would NOT!

One recommendation is to put them to sleep one hour after they wake up in the a.m. then throughout the day to not allow them more than 2 hours of wakefulness to avoid them becoming over tired. To put them down when they first show signs of being tired... and to let them cry if they don't fall asleep. The book says that you will only have to endure the crying for a couple of weeks then the baby will happily go down for naps and to bed at night.

This a.m. the babies woke at 6:30am for breakfast. I nursed them.. played a bit then put them in their crib at 7:30am, shut the door and went downstairs. At first they were quiet, then Jason started to cry and Lily chimed in shortly after. Lily cried for about 15 mins and Jason for about 20...then quiet. This lasted about 20 mins and Jason just started crying again.. oh, and there goes Lily.

Working by braille on this parenting thing. Not sure if at this point I should consider 20 mins their nap and go get them or let them cry again and fall back to sleep. I think I've had enough crying for this nap.. I'm going to go get them and love on them...at least until their next nap in the next 1 to 2 hours.

Again, this shit is HARD!

Congrats to Karen and Andy... you will know what I mean soon!

damn vaccines!

So we were in a nice little routine (I hesitate to use the word schedule) and those stupid vaccines ruined it.. why? Why did I do that? Yesterday was okay... Jason was super drowsy, but would wake just fine to eat.. he had two rounds of tylenol.. one when he got the shots and one when he ran a fever. Lily only got the dose when she got the shots and seemed to be in okay spirits.. just a bit out of it. So they both slept fine yesterday, but last night was a totally different story! I was up every hour last night w/ one baby or another.. okay I didn't see the 1am hour, but I saw every other one.. whether it was b/c the baby was hungry, gassy or just generally didn't feel well. Damn vaccines! I was told the Rotovirus vaccine can cause intestinal upset for up to 4 or 5 days. I feel just awful. As I sat in the rocker last night night I thought of all the horrible things coursing through my poor babies' systems... I tried to remind myself that as they coursed through thier little bodies were creating immunities against them.. but damn do I feel bad.

This a.m. they were both screaming as if they were in pain (yes, at the same time and yes I was by myself) It just broke my heart. Normally if they cry I feed them and it stops, but nothing worked so I gave them more tylenol. UGH! Lily finally passed out and I was able to calm Jason by nursing him off to sleep.

They are both just exhausted this a.m... as am I. I hope this runs it's course quickly. I feel horrible!

This motherhood thing.. you just can't win!

I was thinking the other day about how Lily screams and how everything that a child does "wrong" or that appears to be wrong w/ them ... even if it's just their disposition... is blamed on the mother. "Oh, she should feed that baby more." "Oh, she's obviously spoiling that child" "Oh, that child needs some discipline, his/her mother is just too lenient"

What the hell people!!!! And it's especially coming from other women.. what's the matter w/ us!? Did it ever occur to people that 1) that woman is doing the best she can (in most cases) and 2) some people are just cranky/rebellious.. so forth and so on!

Okay... off to pump (Tom and I are going out on our own for the first time while mom and dad watch the babies and I want to have milk in case we are longer than we hope to be).. and read my sleep book. Trying to figure out how the hell I'm supposed to rock two babies off to sleep for thier naps.. ugh this shit is HARD!

Kudos to all you moms out there.. and double kudos to those of you that do this more than once! At this point I just can't imagine!

Growing, growing, growing

We had our 8 week appointment yesterday and the first weigh in for quite a while... they are GROWING!

Jason is weighing in at 11lbs 8oz and is 23 inches long, Lily is 8lbs 12oz. and is 21 3/4 inches long... WOW! My big babies. Jason is in the 50th percentile and Lily (finally on the charts) is in about the 8th percentile!

The time went by so fast that we never got around to really talking about the vaccines... we ended up doing all that they wanted us to do. Tom said he was a, "better safe than sorry" kind of guy and I just decided to go with it. The doc promised me there was no mercury. So my little babies got one oral vaccine (rotovirus) and three pokes. I'm pretty sure I cried more than they did. So far they've been a bit more fussy and have been SLEEPING more.. not too much, but more!

We had a great visit w/ Pat and Joan. Pat got sucked into helping with our replacement windows and spent about two days on that endeavor (I think he was happy to do it.) and Joan, Mom and I went out and about w/ the babies to avoid the noise and dust... it was... HMM fun I guess! ha One day we walked to the coffee shop then went to the lake and sat outside and chatted..then walked back. The next day we went to the mall and to lunch. Being in the places was fun.. getting there was a bit stressful. So long as the babies are in the slings they are happy, but in the car seats they tend to SCREAM and in the car there's just not much you can do. Joan - the lucky one - was able to turn her hearing aids off.. tricky! ha

Here's a pic w/ gma and gpa Mount:

I hesitate to post this!

All is well here and having two grandmas again to help has been great! I've showered every day and even got out for a walk/run by myself the other day.. and I am (pathetically) sore.

I hesitate to post that Lily and Jason started sleeping 6 hours a night the other night. Jason has slept through by himself once (he will go back to sleep when I cuddle him) and Lily has slept through twice on her own. Let's hope I didn't just jinx it - I'm still not counting on it as a pattern.

Also.. Lily has started nursing without her shield. I'm THRILLED!

Okay.. the men are installing our replacement windows and it's loud and dusty so I'm going to go tank up the chitlens and the women are going to head out.. most likely just to a coffee shop. I'm sure the patrons of the shop will be happy to see us coming!

Pictures to come!

Jason smiles and Lily has a friend.

Just a quick post to share some fun pictures... my friend Suzanne stopped by today w/ her daughter Lily and I got some cute pictures:


And look what else I finally caught on camera: (still working on Lily)

Confession time!!!

Before I became a parent I thought it was ridiculous how much crap parents had for their kids, I mean SERIOUSLY people!!!!!!!

Now I get it. I have a double Snap N Go stroller for the car seats, a jogger (which I can't even use yet), and I just went out and bought the mercedes benz of strollers.. the Maclaren!!!! My babies are a mere 2 months old and I ALREADY have THREE strollers!!!

My apologies for my past judgements!! I was wrong.





This is on the way out for the walk from HELL!!! We walked to Whole Foods (1.8 miles each way)... I had to carry Jason the last bit on the way there.. on the way back we had to stop in a bitof shade to nurse them. Mom sat close and I she held Jason's body while I tandem nursed them. Then Lily would NOT be put back in fir quite some time so I carried her. We left at 10:30am & didn't get back until 1pm.... babies are NOT ready to walk that far. I was exhausted when we got back.

8 weeks old

They are 8 weeks old.. or as regular folkswould say.. 2 months!!!



and again for comparison... 5 weeks


their faces are filling out and they are both chubbing up... Jason at a more alarming rate than Lily.

We have friends!

My friend Darcy and her son Gabe came for a visit today.. SEE I have friends! :)

I know I"m not supposed to compare... but her baby eats every three to four house.. didn't cry at all while he was visiting and is sleeping well.. he's only 5 weeks old.. WTH!? Why aren't my babies eating nicely like that.. ha ha Nice work Gabe and Darcy! :)

Here are some pics:

Darcy and Gabe


The babies:


Isn't Gabe's rock star hair adorable??? He'll be using product soon! ha

Also here are pics of the cute outfits Grandma and Grandpa B got the kids...

Lily:


Jason:


Gotta run... apparently 6 - 10 pm is when I am to be stationed on the couch as the milk truck.. :)

Happy 7 weeks!

they are 7 weeks old today.... PHEW! i think we made it through the first two growth spurts... though they nursed a ton yesterday!

There isn't much new to report... Tom and I are off to the DMV today to become official Wisconsinites... we were supposed to get new licenses w/i 90 days... oops. Tom's expired on his bday so now we HAVE to get it done. :) W/ the new van we automatically got our car licensed... the Subaru still has Washington tags. I'm not really ready to let go of my Washington drivers license, but oh well. It's a double bummer b/c this is the only "good" DL photo I've ever had.

Mom and dad have agreed to stay for Tom's first trip out of town.. thank god. I've said it a million times I know, but I would be DYING if they weren't here. I can only hold one baby at a time.. and when they both scream... ugh.

Here's some photos... do I look tired?

Mommy and Lily (technically I am holding two babies here.. Jason is in the sling.. but I really don't like to do it.. makes me nervous... but if you could only hear lily's screams!)


Jason sitting up w/ help from Papa Mills (I think he's watching TV.. ugh!)


Lily and daddy:


Meltdown... and daddy making funny faces:

AGAIN!!!

They are napping AGAIN.. in one day. Jason went down after nursing and mom rocked Lily to sleep! I just don't know what to do w/ myself!!!



Also.. check out Lily's dress...

OMG they are napping!

Oh my.. they are napping.. and I'M NOT HOLDING THEM... NO ONE IS!!! Lily is in the pack n play and Jason is in the bouncy seat! I'm thrilled!!! :) This is the FIRST time this has happened!!!!

Here are some pics from this a.m....

Lily striking a pose:


Jason being cool:


Gotta go get ready our errands today.. Jman has a chiro appt and I've got to hit the post office.. mommy's dressed and ready! It's supposed to be 99 degrees today (not including the humidity/heat index) so you NWerners who think it's hot GET OVER IT! haha

It'sonly fair.....

Jason had one of these pics... thought it only fair that Lily have one too...

Flood warning...

for those of you that have never lived in the midwest or have never been here during a thuderstorm warning.. it's crazy. They inturupt all of the "regularly scheduled" programing to alert you every two seconds that there is a thunderstorm warning. It's SO annoying!

On Thursday mom and I were starting to think about mobilizing the troops to get going to my OB appointment.. I had showered and dressed and was doing the last fueling session (nursing) before heading out the door when the skys opened up and it just started dumping. We were watching TV and there hadn't been ONE peep out of the stupid weather people. Not one bit of warning at all. So we thought it would most likely pass in about 20 or 30 mins - as it usually does. NOPE!!!! We got FIVE inches of rain in an hour!!! When I say we I mean just our immediate area. It was so strange.... we had a flood! First mom and dad started going around and closing storm windows... and sucking the water out of our window sills (between the window and the storm window)... I was buried in very fussy babies ... all I could do was sit there.

then they went to check on the basement to find a waterfall coming down the back stairs and water seeping through the walls... SHIT! The started sweeping water toward the big drain (not a sump pump) in our basement. Then went outside to see what the hell was going on.. water had pooled up right outside our basement door... up above my ankles I discovered later after I got out from under the babies.

Here are some pics I took... unbelievable.

Right outside our basement door:


The stream in our driveway:


Our neighbors yard:


My feet just off our drive way in our neighbors yard:


Our flooded garage:


A close up of our garage flooding:


We got lucky though.. only about a mile away (if that) cars were under water up to the roof and some apartment buildings were nearly floating away.. the cars under the buildings in the parking garages fully imersed and totalled!

The water was all gone by that evening, but damn! We've heard that this hasn't happened in nearly 20 years!

Again, thank god my "staff" was here or 1) our basement would have still been filled w/ crap and we would have had a lot of stinky wet cardboard and whatever was in the cardboard to haul out (instead of just an old smelly rug) and 2) I wouldn't have been able to get up and check on things so I wouldn't have known the basement was flooding and Tom would have had to deal w/ it when he got home and most likely into the weekend! THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!! To the rescue again!

Jason smiled yesterday!

Jason smiled yesterday... I got one and a half smiles and Gpa got a couple big goofy ones! I didn't get it w/ the camera, but I did get this beauty:



I think it's hysterical! Tom gave me a disapproving grimace when I took it.. ha ha A good one for the first date scenario! (Those are my nipple shields)

We've had some good nights in a row, but I don't want to go on about it b/c every time I talk about it things go south that night.. so that's all I'll say...

Here's the scene when Tom leaves ... Phoebe isn't usually in his spot, but we thought this was pretty cute!



She stayed there till I booted her out so I could try to feed miss Lily lying down. She actually went for it! :)

I have my six week postpartum appointment today.. I'm expecting the all clear to start working out again, but who am I kidding.. the walk mom and I took yesterday wore me right out... must be the heat! ha

We are working on redecorating our bedroom.. I'm really excited. Mom's going to make a giant headboard so I can sit up and nurse w/o worrying about falling out the window behind our bed. I'll post pics when it's all done. We are painting the walls chocolate brown and the headboard will be covered in light blue fabric - like our sheets above. Should make it nice and cozy and dark in there! She's going to make us some end tables too.. wow, we will have an adult bedroom! So exciting!

This shit is HARD!

Damn... being a mom is hard work! ha ha this morning both babies were screaming thier heads off for apparently no reason;.. I am forced to choose which one to hold... just breaks my heart! Pacifying two is tough. i can't just throw my baby in a sling and walk around... They don't both fit in one... not that I've been able to manage anyway! They hate to be in there together.. and one has it's head out.. w/o head control.. and they are both still screaming;... so it kind of defeats the purpose. All I can do when they both cry is nurse them.. which I guess works.. but parks my ass on the couch for the millionth time that day.. I guess what else do I have to do right?

What on earth will I do when my "staff" leaves? Who will do the laundry and cook and clean and get me snacks when I'm parked on the couch. I had a hard enough time getting downstairs so I could get some breakfast before my mom got here.. and even so she walked in to Jason screaming bloody murder while I had Lily in the sling and attempted to make some oatmeal.. as we speak right now Lily is in a sling and mom is shampooing a carpet w/ Jason in the Bjorne... what if I was alone. Hopefully they will be on a bit of a schedule by the time they are 3 months and I'll be able to keep up with everything else while they nap... TO ALL THE MOMS OUT THERE: When do I start working on a nap schedule?? Shit I just need to get them to the point where they don't ALWAYS want to be held before my mom leaves or I'm in deep shit. I can't imagine how frazzled I'll be by the time Tom gets home from work if I don't get that worked out.. guess I'll be walking w/ them outside a lot.. hmm that will last until around mid/late November.. then I'm screwed... hopefully those snow suits I have are as warm as they look!

I'm trying really hard to relish the current moments and not sit and here and day dream about milestones to come.. things will get easier and harder all at the same time.. at least the stuff on my fridge stays put (referring to Karen's trials).

Well.. here's a cute pic of Jason sitting up in the sling.. he doesn't like to lay down in it anymore.. he arches his back and screams, but this worked last night...(just look at Jason.. I'm looking not so great.. haha)