Getting some sleep

Over the last two weeks we've definitely seen improvements in nighttime sleep. As of Monday, we'd had three nights that they both slept through the night, except for 1 wake up from Luke I think. Actually, I don't even remember the details anymore, but it was good! :) Maybe it was that they'd had three days that they'd missed their morning nap and then Luke only woke up once two of those nights? I came to the conclusion that they were getting too much sleep during the day which was messing up their nighttime sleep. And then Tuesday Luke ended up with a runny nose and didn't sleep well, so we had to take a couple steps backward this week to try and get him healthy. Micah had a bit of a runny nose yesterday and quite a bit today. Just when I had a plan to eliminate their morning naps, we changed gears, just until they are no longer sick.

Last night was bad. Luke woke up crying around 10:30 and I didn't get to him quick enough and he woke up Micah. I took Micah and Glen took Luke and they just managed to keep each other going with the crying. I didn't get them both to sleep until close to midnight. Glen tried helping, but they both wanted me, and I obviously couldn't comfort them at the same time. I felt bad because I knew they didn't feel well and Glen needed to get to bed in order to get up early for work. Glen was frustrated because he felt like I've been spoiling them, making it more difficult to get them back to sleep when I can't attend to them, but I really think the problem last night was their colds and not that they are spoiled. The last three nights before last night Micah has woken up about an hour after we put him to bed. I've gone in to him and rocked with him and sung for him for a couple minutes and laid him down awake and he's gone right to sleep and then slept all night.

We've (they've) been great with not needing bottles at night anymore. I think cutting out the nursing was the key to that. Luke took a bottle a couple nights ago when nothing else would work, but he hadn't finished his bedtime bottle or eaten a very good dinner. I haven't given them a bottle with less than half water half milk. I'm nervous about how they would respond to that.

I feel like I'm really struggling with their meals. I get into food ruts myself, and it's the same with the food I'm preparing for them. They haven't been very adventurous with the food they eat and I don't like putting the effort into something they won't eat anyway. I've been giving them baby food at lunch (veggie/meat combo) and some fruit and crackers or bread. I want to get away from the baby food, but I worry that they won't get enough calories because they won't eat solid meats or veggies. I asked my mom because I was a picky eater when I was a kid and she said she did a lot of yogurt for me. They can only eat so much yogurt, but it made me feel better, like I'm doing what I can, but I can't force them to eat. I guess I just continue to offer them new and different things and then use the old favorites as back-up.

Non-picture post and bottles

I'm having a hard time getting pictures uploaded to post. Every time I try it seems to knock out our internet. I tried three times in a row the other day and finally gave up. I'm feeling like I might be ready to share this blog with family and friends, but I'm sure anyone coming over here would rather see pictures than read my ramblings.

Now that the boys are 14.5 months, I'm needing to wean them from bottles to sippy cups. They just don't want to do it. Finally around 12 months they figured out how to use sippy cups, but they only want water in them. They don't even want juice from the sippys. So I'm trying to figure out how to make this transition and still get enough milk into them during the day. They are "sippers" and drink water from their sippy cups throughout the day and usually only drink about half to three quarters of a cup (maybe 2-5 ounces) of water every day. They drink between 14 and 24 ounces of milk from bottles during the day. I guess the other factor is that I was thinking Micah might be sleeping better because he was finally drinking more milk throughout the day. So I hate to make a cut-and-dry transition to sippy cups because I'm afraid that he won't get enough milk and it will ruin his night time sleep.

Here is our current schedule:
7-8:00 -wake up, change diapers, play
8:00-8:30 - morning bottles (Luke 5 oz, Micah 6 oz - Luke won't drink more than 5 oz)
8:45ish - I eat breakfast and share my toast with them
9:00-9:15 - play
9:15-9:30...9:45 - breakfast for them (fruit and grain and water)
9:45-11:15 - morning nap
11:15-12:15 - play time
12:15-12:45 - noon bottle (Luke 5 oz, Micah 6 oz)
12:45-1:15 - lunch for them (veggie with meat, fruit, and crackers with water)
1:30-3:00 - after noon nap
3:00-4:30 - play time or running errands
4:30-5:15 - sometime in here I give them a bottle (Luke 5 oz, Micah 6 oz)
5:15-5:45...6:00 - play time
5:45-6:30 - dinner (veggie, meat?, fruit, and dairy like cheese or yogurt and if possible some of what we're having.
6:30-7:30 - play time unless it's a bath night, then we start baths around 7:15
7:30 - Bedtime routine, bottles (Luke and Micah both drink 7 oz), pajamas, sleep sacks, prayer
8:00 - In bed
Overnight - no more than 4 oz milk watered down.

I've thought about offering milk with their meals and water between meals, but we have such a great routine going I hate to mess with a good thing. I actually tried that at lunch today and it was not successful. Luke actually threw his cup on the floor and the lid popped off and spilled milk everywhere. Then it was really hard to get Luke to take his bottle after lunch because that wasn't part of our routine. I might just have to do it enough for him to get used to it. We'll see how sleep goes tonight. Maybe I should wait on the sippy cups until the sleep thing is figured out. But then again, sippy cups would be so much easier to deal with when we are out and about. I really want to make this transition, I'm just not sure I'm ready for it to negatively affect sleep.

Sweet Sleep

As I said a couple posts back, Micah slept through the night two nights in a row and Luke only had one wake up each of those nights. Sunday night both boys slept through the night!!!!! It was amazing. Unfortunately I had a terrible headache, so I didn't feel like I got much quality sleep, but being able to be in bed for 8 hours was wonderful. And so nice that I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night with such a horrible headache.

Last night I was back on duty since Glen had to work today. It was not good. Micah woke up at midnight. He was putting his finger in his mouth that means "water", so I took him down to get a sippy of water. He didn't really want it and had a hard time calming down. I thought maybe his finger was in his mouth because his teeth hurt so I took him back upstairs and gave him some tylenol. We went into his room and I rocked him a while and he was completely relaxed, though awake, and I laid him down. He was happy for about 20 minutes and then started crying again. I went in and held him for a while, but Luke woke up, so as soon as Micah was calm, I laid him down and went to rock Luke. Both boys went back to sleep, or were at least happy laying in their cribs. I went back to bed. A little bit later Micah woke up again. At this point I figured he must be hungry, so I took him down and gave him a cracker, which he really only wanted to hold. It was kind of cute, he wrapped it up in his little blanket. The cracker didn't do the trick, so as much as I didn't want to give him a bottle because he'd just had three nights without a bottle, I got him a bottle. As I was warming it up Luke woke up screaming, so I got a bottle for Luke as well. I took the bottle to Glen to give to Luke who wanted no part of a bottle from Glen. Eventually Glen gave him some tylenol and laid him back down. In the meantime I gave Micah his bottle downstairs. He sucked it dry and went back to bed happy. Luke started fussing again, so I attempted to give him his bottle, which he took for me, burped, and happily went back to bed. I think he might have had another wake-up at some point because I seriously considered having him cry it out since he'd had his bottle and tylenol and I couldn't see anything else that could have been wrong. Micah woke up again, so I took him downstairs to rock and hopefully sleep in the recliner. He was cuddly, but wide awake, jabbering away. As much as I told him it was time to sleep, he just wasn't settling down, I had an awful headache and was really really tired. I decided the best thing would be to have him cry it out until he slept. It was the middle of the night and not okay for him to be up and playing and he needs to learn that at night it's sleep time. He cried for at least half and hour. I went to bed and eventually fell asleep. Micah and I were up for three hours! He was up off and on, I never did fall back to sleep between his wake-ups. Luke woke up at 5:00, but I just went in and told him it was okay, I didn't even pick him up, and he rolled over and went back to sleep. Luke was up for the day around 7:20. It's like God knew I was going to need a few good nights of sleep to get through last night. I kept thinking last night about how unfair it was that last night happened when I was on duty, not Glen. It's true that I'm better prepared for dealing with it and it's easier for me because I've been the one handling all the wake-ups, but it's still so unfair.

As much as I hated hearing Micah crying alone in his room last night, I felt like it was a good thing in the long run. I hope tonight he remembers it and can get himself back to sleep without crying so long. I'm trying to decide how to handle those wake ups where they need one of us to rock them in the middle of the night. We're gradually decreasing the milk we give them at night so their bodies can adjust slowly to not getting those calories. We should be fully transitioned from milk in bottles by the end of this month. I don't have a plan for when they wake up and have already had their bottles. Is it that wake up where they have to cry it out? Is it confusing to them that one wake-up they get a bottle and the other they get nothing? Should I wait on the crying it out until they are done with night feedings? Man, I was so hopeful that we were on the right track. It's possible that last night was just a fluke. Maybe they didn't eat as well at dinner as they usually do. Maybe they were cold or hot? I don't think it's possible that Micah had too much sleep yesterday, but that would be the explanation that would make the most sense. We'll see how tonight goes.

Minivan Mom

We bought a minivan yesterday. We'd gone back and forth on whether to get one. It's all about space. Our Highlander is fine most of the time for the four of us, but the stroller takes up most of the back and if you need the third row, the stroller just won't fit. We'd narrowed it down to a toyota sienna or a honda odyssey, and the odyssey is just a little more affordable. Glen did a lot of research and contacted a few dealerships and then picked his favorite response. We went out yesterday and all they had were 2011s. Yuck. I hate the way they look on the outside. Apparently all the reviews say that once you drive it you forget how ugly it is, but I just didn't want to get a brand new one that I didn't like the looks of. It turned out they had just gotten a 2008 trade-in. It hadn't been cleaned or inspected yet, but they let us test drive it. The price was right and we were able to easily get the two carseats in, the back seat was roomy enough, and the stroller fit just fine, perfectly in fact. We opted to wait to drive it home until they had a chance to detail it, so we're picking it up tomorrow. I'm so excited.

Cute things the boys are doing

Micah has been doing a lot of signing lately. It's so exciting to see him learning new things and then using that knowledge to communicate with us. We have a couple Baby Signing Time dvds that we watch occasionally. At the beginning there is a song "Baby, baby, baby signing time..." and they sign as they sing. This morning while watching the movie, Micah started swinging his arms like he was rocking a baby like they do in the song. I had to start the movie over so I could get it on video. His favorite signs lately are shoes, banana, hat, water, and eat. He can also sign more and all done and please. The other morning I went into their room to get them up and when I walked in I stopped to put on my socks and Micah signed "shoes". Right now anything on feet are shoes. Another time I went in to get him up from his nap and he signed "water". So far "water" is him putting his finger in his mouth (the actual sign is a "w" on the chin). I gave him his sippy cup of water and he sipped away. I was so proud that he could tell us what he wanted.

Luke seems to have rediscovered raspberry blowing. He did it nonstop for what seemed like forever. As we were going back through old pictures I was reminded of it as I saw picture after picture of his shirts soaked in drool. I guess I hadn't even realized he stopped doing it. Well, it's back. Thankfully he's not drooling like he used to. Luke has been pulling up like crazy lately and is pushing anything he possibly can around the room. It seems he's getting much more steady and strong, but his legs seem kind of stiff as he walks behind the toys. We go back for physical therapy tomorrow so we'll see what she has to say about it.

We got the boys pillow pets for Christmas. I thought these would be fun for them to lay on while they have their bottles and then later just to cuddle with. So we have the pillows set up in the middle of the living room. Lately they'll stand at the gate while I make their bottles and then once I go through the gate I'll say "Go get your pillows" and they'll crawl (Micah walks) over to their pillows to have their bottles.

Here's a really cute thing: Micah has slept through the night two nights in a row! Friday night I was going on a week of not feeling well and I asked Glen if I could sleep in the guest room and he'd do all the wake-ups with the boys. He was willing, but then I felt guilty because I know how challenging it can be and it's easier for me because I've been doing it all along. We decided that he would get up to do the bottles and I would help with any other wake-ups and sleep in my own bed. Well, as luck would have it Micah slept through the night and Luke only woke once. I found out the next morning that he didn't even drink his bottle, Glen just rocked him a bit and put him back to bed and he slept the rest of the night. Glen took bottle duties Saturday night too and Saturday night it was the same thing. He did drink his bottle, but he was up longer - we think because of the thunder and lightning. It's great that Micah slept all night, but I'm not getting my hopes up (well a little, but I'm trying not to). I kind of wish it would have happened while I was on duty, though. I'm so thankful that he was willing to help out so I could try to catch up on sleep. It would have been awesome if I'd been feeling fine and able to sleep all night, but I was semi-consciously coughing a lot of the first night and then had a really bad headache the second night. But it's super-nice that I didn't have to deal with the wake-ups when I wasn't feeling great. I think I'm back on duty tonight.

Documenting

As I said in my previous post, I took a trip down memory lane as we were creating Luke's photo book (we're waiting until we see Luke's completed book before we do Micah's). My sister in-law created a book for us to use to keep track of feedings and diaper changes. I loved the design and it was perfect to use with twins. For the boys' first year of life I kept a record of when they ate and how much and once solids were introduced what they ate, when we changed diapers and what kind of diaper it was, whether we gave them medicine, and when they napped and what time they fell asleep for the night. Typing this all out makes me feel slightly crazy. Many people do this for the first couple months, maybe. I just couldn't let it go. My biggest reason for it was simply that I couldn't remember anything if it wasn't written down. I felt like I needed to know that Luke only nursed for 5 minutes and that Micah had three dirty diapers one day, or that I fed them at 11:30 instead of the usual 12:00. Just when I would think that I was ready to leave the notebook alone, something would come up and I would feel the need to document. This notebook also became my journal as I would write important events and milestones in it. I didn't have the time or energy for complete journal entries (or blog entries starting in March) so I'd just jot a quick note that Micah rolled over or Luke smiled for the first time. When we traveled when the boys were three months old, I got away from it for the week just because we were out of our routine and it was hard for me to remember to write things down. Then when we moved, again we were out of our routine and I let my recording slip, but once we were settled again, I picked it back up. It seems pretty obsessive to me now, but I'm so glad I did that. Because I was obsessive about recording every feeding and diaper change, I also have exact dates for when the boys reached their big milestones. I realize now that keeping track of how long each boy nursed for or how many diapers I changed during the day was not necessary, but I guess at a time in my life when I felt completely out of control and at the mercy of two tiny babies, this gave me a tiny bit of sanity (as insane as it sounds now).

Milestones

We've been working on photo books for the boys for their first year. Glen worked tirelessly collecting pictures and arranging them and I offered to do the write-up for each month's events and milestones. Boy has it been fun looking back through my old journaling, pictures, and videos. In an effort to have their milestones recorded in one place I am going to do a list here (and hopefully I'll remember this is where the list is).

Luke:
First smile -- 12/14/09 (7 weeks)
Rolled back to tummy -- 12/20/09 (8 weeks) and then again 3/18/10 (4 months)
Rolled tummy to back -- 2/18/10 (3.5 months)
Sitting up -- June 2010 (8 months)
Army crawling -- June 2010 (8 months)
First teeth (2 on bottom) -- 7/12/10 (8.5 months)
Pulled up to standing -- 8/29/10 (9 months)
First word (Dada) -- 9/2/10 (10 months)
Crawling -- September 2010 (10.5 months)
Cruising -- October 2010 (12 months)
First sign (eat) -- 11/26/10 (13 months)
First "official" haircut -- 12/13/10 (13.5 months)

Micah:
Rolled back to tummy -- 11/5/09 (1.5 weeks) and then again 3/15/10 (4 months)
First smile -- 12/4/09 (5.5 weeks)
Rolled tummy to back -- 2/8/10 (3.5 months)
Sitting up -- May 2010 (7 months)
First tooth (bottom right) -- 6/6/10 (7.5 months)
Army crawling -- July 2010 (9 months)
Pulled up to standing -- 8/11/10 (8.5 months)
First word (Mama) -- 8/23/10 (9 months)
Cruising -- 9/4/10 (10 months)
First steps -- 10/29/10 (12 months)
First sign (all done) -- October 2010 (12 months)
Waving -- 11/29/10 (13 months)
First "official" haircut -- 12/13/10 (13.5 months)
Walking across room -- 12/17/10 ( 13.5 months)