14/15 Months

I will have to combine 14 and 15 months, since I've gotten behind! The 14 month pictures were kind of a fail, as you can see. I think we were in a rush to get somewhere, so I gave up pretty quick! :) 15 month pictures were better, since Uncle Evan was behind me trying to get them to smile. Trying to think of some stats and tidbits to share about the boys the last few months...

Holden started walking a week before Thanksgiving, so that's a big one!! Henry was able to take some steps around the same time, but didn't really start walking until 2 or 3 weeks later. I think he just knew he was fast at crawling! He had the cutest crawls, the one leg straight and one bent and the both legs straight crawl. Henry also does the sit 'n spin when he's sitting down and will spin himself in a circle. Would love to get some of those on video!

These boys get into EVERYTHING. I swear, every time we go to a friends' house, they get into cords and plugs, eat cat food, break a glass vase, wander upstairs alone, or spill/try to drink the dog's water bowl. (Yes, ALL of these have happened at different peoples' houses, sigh.) They can really reach up onto the table now and seem to be able to get anything we're trying to keep away. We're trying to get more organized and really have a place to put things away. We used the command strips (Velcro type things) to keep some of the cabinets closed and that works pretty well. They love to crawl up on the fireplace hearth, which we don't approve of. Not sure how to stop them getting up there; Henry's already fallen off once. They're still fascinated by cords and plugs, they love to turn light switches on and off, and they're starting to like to put the lids back on things, like with their lotions and creams. It's pretty cute!

They play together well most of the time. It's getting harder for them to share. If one of them is doing something fun, the other immediately wants to steal that toy or join in. So I feel bad for them, that they can't really just explore whatever they're interested in without someone interrupting. But, that's life I guess, they'll be great about sharing by the time they get to preschool. They love to hide behind the curtains to peek at us, play with their cars and trucks and make the car sounds, and push their lawnmower/shopping cart/vacuum. They like books, too, but they're pretty rough on them. They'll bring us a book to read, but we don't usually make it through the whole thing.

Eating is a little more difficult, since they're a bit pickier. They still love carbs, so we can always count on animal crackers or toast, etc. They love to eat what I'm eating, so I rarely get to finish a piece of toast in the morning. I know I shouldn't feed them while they're walking around, but they're pretty demanding! :) They love fruit, and Alex can get them to eat some veggies. They LOVE the baby food packets, and we give them lots of applesauce since that's the cheapest/easiest. They start kicking and waving their arms around in delight when they see the applesauce...sigh. They like to "dip" their food now, too. When they have chicken nuggets and veggie/sweet potato fries, we let them dip in ketchup. It's not too messy most of the time. They're getting better with a sippy cup, but still drink their milk from a bottle. (A habit we need to probably break soon, but oh well.)

They love taking baths, so you can't say the word around them or they'll head for the bathroom door! They hate getting dressed or getting lotion put on them, so it's a sad end to the bath, unfortunately. We're trying to brush their teeth more often, but still not doing great on it. The cutest thing is that when they have a toothbrush, they try to brush their hair with it. I had Holden and was brushing his teeth, and when he started to brush his hair with it, I gave him the hairbrush. So then he tried to put that in his mouth! I guess this brushing thing is really pretty confusing. :) I don't think they have any new teeth yet, but I think it'll be soon. Henry has been chewing on his stuffed dog a lot and his gums feel bumpy. Hope he gets a molar through soon! Sleep is still fine; they're taking two naps still but probably need to transition down to one. Holden especially is waking up really early in the morning, so I think he's ready for just one nap. We'll see how this goes in the next month or so.

Clothes are still in the 12-18 month range. They can still wear most of the 12 month pants, so I guess they're kinda short! I don't know weight yet, since our appointment isn't for another week or so. They have some cute little Striderite shoes, and they wear a size 4 wide. (Sorry for the wide feet, boys.) 

Cute little twin story: Henry hit his head when he fell this morning, and I was holding him while he was crying. Holden went and got Henry's lovey/bulldog that was on the living room floor and handed it to me for Henry. I gave it to Henry and he stopped crying. !!! I mean, come on!! How cute is that?! :) I thought it was pretty amazing, anyway.

They are still sweet, happy little boys! They went through a bit of clinginess, especially Holden. He can act shy and not want to go to people right away, but he usually warms up pretty fast. He cries when I leave for work in the afternoon. But that's all normal! They're also babbling up a storm. Not many real words, but I think they understand a lot of words we say. Still waiting to hear a real "mama" from them. Not fair that they say dada!! :) That's all I can think of for now, I'll add more later if I forgot anything. 

One Year Stats/Dr. Visit

**Edit** This is a long one! Once I started rambling about the boys, I realized I couldn't stop! :) **

Our doctor's visit went well. Alex came from work to help me out, and the boys did pretty good with the waiting around. It always seems like it takes forever!!! And it's hard to hold and contain two wiggly boys. Henry weighed in at 19 pounds, and is around the 15% for weight, and he's 29 1/4 inches long, and close to 25% for height. Holden was 19 pounds, 9 ounces which puts him closer to the 25% for weight, and they measured him at 28 3/4 inches for height or close to the 10%. (We're almost sure that's wrong, because we both think Holden is taller than Henry. But it's hard to measure them, I'm sure.) They were very good when the doctor examined them, but the shots were hard to deal with this time. They really cried, especially Henry. We got them a flu shot, so we have to go back this month and get the second shot. :( So that won't be fun, since I'm sure they're starting to figure out that doctor visit=shots.

I'll try to write a little about each boy. I wanted to do that, but it seems like they change all the time; it's so hard to write a definite statement about them before they change again!

Henry loves trucks and cars and pushing them around on the floor. He can make the "brrrr" car noise when he pushes them. It's SO cute. He makes lots of sounds, like clicking his tongue and raspberries and he still drools a ton! He can say dog and duck and he says dada but I still don't think it's directed at Alex. His favorite food is bananas! He LOVES them in the morning and starts kicking his feet and waving his hands around when he sees them at breakfast. He is the big eater, and really shovels it in! Especially with crackers like goldfish, he'll shove a huge handful in his mouth and then still be chewing them 10 minutes later.

Holden can say ball as well as duck and dog. He does like to find the balls and toss them around. He doesn't do as many funny sounds as Henry. He also says dada and other sounds but I still don't think they're real words yet. He's the pickier eater and it's harder to get him to try new things. He loves to eat what I'm eating, so sometimes I can get him to try some new things that way! They both love fruit, bread and yogurt, and getting them to eat meat and veggies is a little harder.

A good one with daddy! My three cute boys

They both drink whole milk just fine, and are still using bottles. We've had a hard time switching to sippy cups, but that's the goal. Meal times are extra messy now that the boys want to try and feed themselves. We haven't really started brushing teeth yet, but that's another thing we need to add to the routine. Henry has 7 teeth and Holden has 8! They both seem to be constantly teething, sticking everything into their mouths. They also bite each other now...that's going to be fun.

We're still on two naps a day, but they seem to be getting shorter. Holden could probably move to one nap a day because he's typically up first in the morning and wakes up first for naps. But that's where things get complicated with having two. I need them to be on the same schedule or I can't get anything done, but I don't think Henry's ready to change to one nap. I don't mind going in and getting Holden a little early, but by going in there and opening the door it usually wakes him up. :( So we'll see how this goes in the next month or so. I'm sure I'll be able to tell when they're really ready to drop a nap.



Our awesome doctor



In general, they're both still sweet and happy boys! They love to crawl under the table and chairs, and chase each other or be chased by an adult. They like to play and hide behind the curtains. They like their walker toys and shopping cart and they cruise around furniture fine. (I feel like walking is close, but I suppose it could still be a while! But this is a fun stage...I'm definitely going to miss when they don't crawl anymore.) We try to read books, but Holden especially is very rough on them and bends them/sits on them, etc. We sing songs, and Henry especially likes to dance to music. They LOVE being outside, and Holden will crawl all around the yard. Henry does sometimes, but he is usually content to stay on our nice blanket! They like to play with all their toys, but they really love to get into things that are not toys. If they can get into the den or bathroom or kitchen (which are usually closed or gated) they are thrilled to go through drawers, chew on cords or get into stuff they're not supposed to! They are getting very adventurous with climbing up onto the fireplace hearth and up the stairs at Grandma's. They are going to be a handful and I will be lucky to keep bumps and bruises to a minimum! They can wave now, (they don't always do it but they can) and give kisses. They love being held and picked up and are really friendly with anyone who comes over. Grandpa lifts them up to the ceiling, so they always point up when you pick them up! They also like to play with the light switches and turn them off and on. They're pretty good about being in the car and in car seats and they still like baths. The only thing Henry and Holden both hate are diaper and clothing changes. They hate having to lay on their backs and get lotion put on after a bath.

So we had a pretty great first year! I know we've been really lucky. Alex and I could use more sleep, and I definitely could get more done around the house, but we survived. The boys were both healthy. Only one ear infection and a few yucky colds, but I know it could have been worse! I was able to breastfeed for 10 months, supported by a great group of mom friends! I met a lot of awesome twin moms as well. Even though we can't get together much, it's fun to share stories with them! I was able to stay home with the boys for 9 months and then go back to work with a pretty flexible schedule. We had so much help and great babysitters, especially my mom. I'm sure I could go on and on! I'll write more later if I think of it, but I think this is long enough for now. What a great first year, Henry and Holden! :)

Ten Months Old!



Henry clapping for mommy!



Ten months old...and it's been another big month! We survived our first family vacation, and enjoyed some really hot weather! I was working most evenings, so it's weird for me to not put them to bed or feed them dinner. But Daddy does a great job! And Grandma Suttner did a lot of babysitting since I was working more.

The boys gained some weight this month, and anyone who's seen them lately says they look older and chubbier! Henry weighed 16 pounds, 12 ounces, and Holden was 17 pounds, 13 ounces. They're getting a little more hair, but are still pretty bald! They both got a few new teeth in Atlanta, and Henry just got his 6th, so they both have 6 teeth at the moment.

Not sure if we hit any other big milestones this month. We finally made it down to two naps, so their afternoon nap is roughly 2-4, which is nice. We started giving them a bottle before they went down, so that helped us stretch the time in between naps and get them to sleep a little longer. They go down around 7:30 and get up around 7:30. (Sometimes they wake earlier when they hear Alex in the morning, but I don't usually go get them till right around 7:30!) We've got a pretty consistent routine down most days. It's still hard to fit in anything in our narrow window of time. They're up from their first nap by 10:30 or 11, but by the time they eat, get changed and cleaned up and I get stuff ready and get them in the car, it still feels like we only have an hour to an hour and a half of time to go to lunch/playdate/shop etc. So I guess that's just the way it is right now!



OUT TAKE! Lunging for the camera



They're enjoying their solid food a lot. It's hard for me to know how much to give them, if they're still hungry or if I'm letting them snack too much. I really need to work on my diet and eating habits, because the stuff I eat is too unhealthy for me to share with them! Holden is always trying to climb my leg and into my lap when I'm eating, but I'm not usually eating something healthy. (Side note: I have been trying to cook a little more and store some meals in the freezer, so I might try to post a few recipes I've enjoyed! Go me!)

We have eaten out a few times this month, which is cute to see them both sitting in their high chairs. They will eat puffs from the table or whatever bits and pieces we give them. They love gram crackers (which are a big mess), Cheerios, toast, puffs, yeah pretty much all carbs. I give them cut up fruit in the morning, so they like watermelon and cantaloupe, too. We try to give them veggies with dinner, and we need to start some more proteins and meats. They've had egg once, so we'll try that some more, too. (I think it's kind of gross without the white part, since you're supposed to start with only the yolk for possible allergies...we might just ignore that.)



Henry "cheesin'" for the camera



They're still crawling like crazy and pulling up on everything. They're just starting to "cruise" or walk around the furniture. They seem to balance pretty well, but I don't think they're that close to walking yet. I'm really trying to get them to clap and to wave, so hopefully by  next month they'll have mastered those! Henry definitely claps, but doesn't do it "on purpose". If I say, "Yay, Henry, clap!" when I see him do it, he looks at me like I'm crazy. We've gone swimming a few times and it's so cute to see them in their baby floats. Hopefully next summer we'll get out to more splash parks and the zoo, etc, but it's just hard with the limited time in our schedule and me being alone. I wish we'd been walking more, but it's been SO hot and dry here it's miserable, even early in the morning. Hopefully as we get into the fall we'll get more in the habit of a morning walk before their nap.

Overall, it's been a good month! I'm sad that a lot of my friends will be going back to work/school soon, but I'm glad we to hang out over the summer. And in a way, getting back to the routine of the school year will be good. (Especially for me with teaching, since my students have been all over the place and my schedule will start to stay the same each week now.) I'm looking forward to their first birthday party and all the fun stuff ahead! I'll try to pick an official party date soon. :)

(PS, it gets harder and harder to take these pictures each month! Henry is such a good little poser for me, but Holden was being WILD this time! :) He was all over the bear and lunging at the camera and now that they notice the paper they can't leave it alone...lol. It's still totally worth it, I can't wait to put the whole year together and look back at each month. But enjoy the "outtakes"!)

 

 

The End...

Nine Months Old!

Wow, this is the furthest behind I've been in getting one of these posts up! It must be because I have two fully mobile children now... :) It's been a big month around here! We weighed in at the doctor, Henry was 15 pounds 9 ounces, and Holden was 16 pounds 10 ounces. Henry is in the 2% for weight, which worries me, but doesn't concern the doctor. And as my mommy friends reassure me, "someone has to be in the 2nd percentile!" Henry is 27 inches tall and Holden is 27 1/2 inches tall. We got a clean bill of health and seem to be hitting most milestones right on target! We did have our first major illness this month. Holden had a temperature of 102 for a few days, and then Henry got a fever as well for a few days after Holden. I was surprised the fever hung on that long, but the doctor just told us to give him motrin to bring it down and that she'd see us if it went on a few more days. So that was miserable for all of us, because we didn't feel good, and we couldn't leave the house and be with our friends because we didn't want to infect them! I'm sure we'll always be passing some illness around now that they're crawling and can get their hands into anything.

Speaking of milestones...both boys are crazy crawlers now! We've had to step up the babyproofing and probably will have to do more as they get more adventurous. Henry just likes to crawl around, but Holden immediately wanted to pull up on things. So he was the first to stand up at the coffee table and the first to stand in the crib. (An unwelcome milestone, but Daddy lowered the crib! :) They're not clapping or waving or saying any real words yet, but maybe by 10 months. They definitely talk and babble, and notice each other more and more. Seeing them laugh at each other is the cutest thing ever!!! They play pretty well on their own unless they're feeling clingy or sick. They'll still play in their jumper/exersaucer, but not as long now that they want to get around on their own. Poor Lanore is not crazy about them being able to follow her now, but she's still much faster than they are! So she's safe...at least a little while longer.

Sleeping is going ok. Still pretty good at night, but they're waking a little earlier in the morning. (I think they hear Alex when he's getting ready for work, and they used to settle back down but now they don't go back to sleep. Bummer for me.) Still at 3 naps; the doctor didn't really have any advice for us on how to get down to two, but I think we're working towards that. They don't always fall asleep in the car anymore, and they do have trouble falling asleep in the stroller. I used to just be able to do errands and they'd fall asleep if it was nap time, now they really whine and fuss if they're tired. It's great that they like to sleep in their cribs! It just makes it hard for me to get out. I love that we have them on a pretty good routine, it's just hard to find time in the routine to leave the house between all the eating and sleeping we do!

Feeding time is getting more exciting. They're starting to pick up food and feed themselves; they still choke on puffs sometimes but they're getting better and more adventurous. Henry still loves everything, Holden seems to be getting more "picky" about what he wants. I need to get more creative with finger food ideas they can try. That's the one thing that seems so funny to me, that Henry really loves solid food and eats like he's starving (he cries if we don't shovel it in fast enough!) and yet he's still so much smaller than his brother. Teething has been hard on me, because they hurt me when they nurse and they're usually extra clingy or fussy. It seems like they're not as bothered with some of these teeth, like maybe they didn't hurt as much as the first bottom two. Henry got a top tooth on the side, which looks funny sticking out (and is very sharp). Holden got both of his top two teeth pretty close together.

In general, they're still happy, sweet boys! They love to be outside on the blanket, and we've gone swimming a few times in our baby pool or bigger pools. They like walks and playdates with their friends. I know we've got a lot to look forward to in the next few months! I'm planning their first birthday party, and I can't wait! Sorry for all the pictures, I couldn't decide between my favorites. Daddy and Grandma Gina must have been making them laugh! It's harder and harder to get them to sit still for a picture. The sign is pretty much demolished at the end of all of our sessions now. :)

 

 

Eight Months Old



Henry look so little!



Time is flying...I didn't even realize it was May 18th, already! Can't believe the boys are 8 months. We celebrated with another trip to the doctor. This time it was mostly good news, Holden still does not have an ear infection, and Henry's was looking better. (Both boys are still very stuffy and snotty and Holden has a nasty sounding rasp/cough. But they're hopefully on the mend, they don't seem to be as fussy or miserable as last weekend.) So we were able to get "official" 8 month weights at the doctor's office. Henry is 15 pounds, 7 ounces, and Holden is 16 pounds 4 ounces. Holden is starting to feel pretty heavy when you pick him up!! :) After the doctor's office we headed to our Friday playdate to hang with friends for a while. The frustrating thing is that by the time I get them up, fed and dressed/changed and out the door, by the time we get to the playdate, it's practically nap time again! So I feel like I always have fussy babies that need a nap, and they end up sleeping instead of getting to play. Hopefully they'll be moving to a longer afternoon nap at some point? It would be awesome...



Holden hangin' in the high chair



So, what's happened in the last month. We switched them up to size 3 diapers, but they're still in 6-9 month clothes. Can't think of any other major milestones. They still babble and talk to us, they love to bounce in their jumperoo (they really get it and like to go crazy!) and they're still SO close to crawling. They can get from point A to point B to get what they want, but not official hands and knees crawling yet. Of course the things they want are always the non-toys, like the wipes container, the remote, or my ipod! They like to go for the same toy, or steal the one their brother has. It's sort of cute now, but I can sense the major rivalry coming in the future! They don't really play together yet, but I think they enjoy having someone else around. I enjoy it for sure, because I can leave the room for a second and they don't feel alone. If I take one of them out of the room to change a diaper or something, the left behind brother starts to cry!

They still enjoy eating solids. They've tried some new foods this month, and seem to be ok with all of them. I had more luck getting them to eat vegetables, including green beans and squash. (I cooked the green beans with apple juice, according to a recipe in our baby book, so I think that helped to have the sweet taste! Hey, whatever works.) Naps are still three hour long times a day, which like I said earlier, makes it really tough to leave the house or get things done. I will really enjoy when they can stay up longer without being cranky, and then sleep a longer stretch in the afternoon. Night time sleep has gone way backwards this month. Henry was waking up I think when he got his ear infection, and now they're both in the habit of waking 1-2 times a night. This has NOT been good for me and Alex. I'm not quite sure how to get us back on schedule besides letting them cry, which is hard on all of us. So I've been going in there to feed them most of the times they wake. Sigh. We're still doing a bath almost every day, along with lotion, etc, before bed. So we have quite the long evening ritual around here. But in general, they are both very sweet, loving babies! They usually have a very serious look, but they enjoy anyone holding them. We love to get them to laugh, and they're starting to understand little games like "peek a boo". They like walks and being outside, and I'm looking forward to summer stuff, like getting a baby pool and a swing for the backyard!

On Saturday, we went to lunch and used the restaurant high chairs for the first time (instead of keeping them in their carseats). Holden did ok, Henry looked so tiny in his! He cried after a few minutes and Alex had to hold them. After lunch, we took our first family walk on the Monon! It was slightly crazy because it was so hot, but it was fun. I hope we keep it up, since both Alex and I want to be in better shape!!! Sunday we visited Grandma and Grandpa A and hung out at their house. We took another walk in the 90 degree heat...we are crazy people, I guess! :)

Oh, and special thanks to Aunt Lauren and Uncle Evan! They came for dinner Saturday night and helped get the boys smiling for their month photo shoot. :) It'll be so cute to look back on these...they're already so much bigger than the bears!! (And much more interested in destroying the sign each month...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Routine

Ok, so here's an update on the skin thing. The dermatologist did say we could go down to ONE bath a day per boy. So that helps a little! But at the moment, our day is pretty full. Here's our schedule for the moment...I'll try not to get too attached to it since it could change again at any time. (Oh, and it's dependent on when they wake in the morning, so the times can shift by a half hour or so. I'll assume on a "typical" day they wake at 8 am.)

4:00 am - Holden wakes and wants to eat (most days), I wake Henry and feed him, too. Both boys go back down to sleep.

8:00 am - Up for the day. Change both diapers and bring them into the living room. Feed both boys and spend some time playing on the floor. Mommy gets her toast and coffee. Move boys to jumperoo/exersaucer to play the rest of the time before nap.

9:00-9:30 - Move to boys' room to put on skin creams/change diapers if needed before nap time. Play on the floor in their room until nap time, typically 90 minutes after they wake up in the morning.

9:30-10:30 - Boys (attempt) nap, Mommy relaxes for a few minutes and showers. Sometimes one of the boys wakes up early, and I try to leave him in the crib for the whole hour. But if one of them is really going nuts, I'll go get him and he gets to sit in the Bumbo chair in the bathroom while I dry my hair. :)

10:45-11:30 - Get boys up and in the highchairs, get their breakfast ready (banana and oatmeal or pears and rice cereal so far.) They will sit happily in the chairs while I do this. They seem to have figured out that the high chairs and bibs mean food is coming! :) After cleaning up from solid food, both boys breastfeed again.

11:30 - More play time, or a possible attempt to leave the house. Sometimes this is a good time for a walk, or we'll go to a friend's house. They're typically in a pretty good mood if they napped well. I usually have some help around lunchtime, so they're happy to have someone else hold them or talk to them for a bit. Mommy tries to figure out her own lunch plan.

12:30-1:30 - They should be going down for another nap within this window. If we're at home, this will go smoothly, if we're out, it depends. Sometimes they will sleep in the car seats, but if I wait too long, they get cranky and have a hard time going to sleep. The afternoon nap is getting more consistent, which means I have a little time to pick up around the house or throw in a load of laundry!

2:00-2:30 - Someone wakes first and gets some solo time with Mommy, by 2:30 it's time to eat again. I try to not let them get too far apart with wake times, but I will let one boy sleep longer if only one wakes up. But after I feed one, I go wake the other and feed him.

3:00 - More playtime, Daddy gets home by 3:30. Sometimes Mommy has violin lessons to teach, or sometimes we go for a walk.

4:30-5:30 - Should be an afternoon nap. They still really need this third nap to get through the long hours til bedtime. And Mommy and Daddy need it for the upcoming marathon evening...

5:30-6:00 - Solid foods, they love avocado and sweet potato, peas are not so hot. We usually have to give them at least a half hour to eat, since sometimes they're sleepy or distracted. Some days they surprise us and gobble it up! Clean up the mess and try to figure out what Mom and Dad will eat for dinner.

6:30-7:30 - Start the first bath, which is 10 minutes in the tub. Then go put on both skin creams, diaper and jammies while baby is wiggling around on changing table. Second boy's bath and cream (while grabbing at and trying to eat diapers on changing table), prepare/heat night bottles. When baths are done, convince both boys to drink 6 oz. from a bottle when sometimes they're half asleep or sometimes they just want to play with the bottle.

7:30 - Hopefully in the boys' room and putting them in their sleep sacks. Read a story together and put them in their cribs. Turn on mobile, sound machine, and humidifier, offer their bulldog "lovies" and turn out the light. Night, boys! 

8:00 Mom and Dad on couch, exhausted. Boys hopefully quiet until at least 4 am!!

*Notes: Having somewhat of a schedule is great. However, I feel very chained to the house right now. This particular schedule doesn't leave much time for getting out of the house! Our evenings are so crazy, I don't even see how we could leave to go to dinner or anything right now (unless we have a babysitter.)

Also, the only thing that got us here was time. Two months ago, I was going crazy, one month ago we were moving towards a consistent schedule, and now we're here, even though it's not perfect. I'm sure naps will change again soon, and who knows how feeding will go. But this is just for my memory, and for anyone who's curious how crazy it is at our house! :)

Musings on Sleep

I think a lot about sleep. I like sleep a lot, actually. It all started back when I was pregnant...I slept as much as I could. Naps when I got home from work, staying in bed all day on weekends when I didn't feel good. Then came the lack of sleep...it started as soon as the boys were born. The boys were born at 10 and 10:30 pm, and by the time Alex and I were back in our room for the night, it was probably 1:30 or 2 am. The nurses have to check on you every hour or so, so forget a good rest there. After that, I was supposed to pump or go feed the boys as often as I could. When they stayed in the hospital, we tried to make it to the 9 pm feeding and then be back again for the 6 am feeding. We tried to enjoy those last few hours of uninterrupted sleep!

When the boys came home, as can be expected, they needed to eat every 3 hours. So I'd be up feeding them on the couch multiple times in the night. They first started sleeping in our room, in the little bassinets my mom got them. After they started spitting up, they started sleeping in their carseats to help keep them inclined. I moved them out to the living room, since I fed them on the couch anyway, and having two babies in our room kept me up even more! To help them get to sleep a little easier at night, we started swaddling them in the swaddle sacks. The round the clock feedings lasted for the first month or two. Alex did his best to help me when he could, but he needed to get some sleep once he went back to work.

We finally moved the boys into one of the cribs, still in the carseats, still swaddled. They loved looking at the mobile, and I started nursing them one at a time in our chair in the nursery. The boys started sleeping longer stretches at night, four or five hours between feedings. Henry especially was still spitting up, so I wondered if we'd ever get out of the carseats! After Christmas, when we had a few days Alex would be home, I finally decided they needed to stop sleeping in the carseats. We still kept them in the same crib, and they were still swaddled at night. At this point, we were getting even longer stretches, sometimes 6 hours, so I hated to mess with some decent sleep! They didn't enjoy sleeping flat at first, but they got used to it in a few days. So, all in all, I wasn't complaining! I was getting a 5 hour stretch of sleep most nights. I didn't really expect them to sleep through, since I think they still need the extra calories from the night feeding. And honestly, I don't mind that one feeding in the middle of the night. They're quiet and cuddly, and I get to hold them for a few minutes as they go back to sleep on me.

Once they were flat in the cribs, they started wiggling around. This became the fun part of going in to see them in the middle of the night or in the morning. We'd lay them down next to each other, then they'd wiggle to some crazy position! It was always cute when they scrunched up next to each other, and then sometimes we'd wonder how they flipped completely around while still in the swaddles! Or they'd break their arms out from the swaddles and be banging into each other as they woke up.

But then things changed again...After the four month shots, the boys seemed extra fussy. They started getting up more frequently instead of less! It was always frustrating for me to go to bed around 10 and not know when I'd have to wake up; it could be 12:00 am or 1:00 am, or sometimes (rarely) they'd sleep until 5:00 am! One night Holden ate at 12:00, Henry ate around 1:00, and they both ate again before 5:00 am! I thought I was going crazy. I started worrying again, wondering if I'd have to start sleep training or start a day time schedule. Or maybe it was just a growth spurt? Either way, it was a difficult few weeks! So last night we tried something different. We finally put Holden in his own crib, and we used the sleep sacks instead of the swaddles. That meant they had their arms free, since Henry is starting to comfort himself by sucking his thumb. And they actually slept until 3:30 again, and after that feeding they slept until after 8 am! I have no idea if the changes we made are related to them sleeping longer, or if they just had a bad week and are back to normal. But I think they're big enough that the separate cribs are here to stay. That way they have all the room to wiggle they want without waking each other! (And we have two mobiles, so no one is deprived of their nature sounds and projector.) I still need to snap a picture of our new arrangements.

So in conclusion, I'm sure I'll be writing and worrying about sleep again in the future. Perhaps the very near future! I'm sure the transition to beds will be an interesting one, since they have a playmate to chat with every night. But hopefully, for now, we're all getting (some) of the sleep we need to function. (Oh, and don't get me started on the day time nap schedule...we're not even close to figuring that one out yet!) I'll end with a quote from a Barenaked Ladies song. It seemed appropriate.

"Who needs sleep, well, you're never going to get it.

Who needs sleep, tell me what's that for.

Who needs sleep, be happy with what you're getting,

There's a guy who's been awake since the Second World War..."