Milestones

Big sister and the little brothers she is so very proud of.

One of these days I will write a post strictly about Lillian.  I feel bad for her sometimes because she's at a point where things are slowing down as far as her growth, her milestones are spread out more these days, and she gets passed over in the blog quite often.  The milestones for Sam and Will are much more frequent and easy to update, so once again this post will be about the boys.  However, Lillian never fails to make me proud, laugh, or sometimes angry on a daily basis.  She loves her brothers dearly, which is fun to watch because it seems to just grow within her and come out in the form of kisses on the head and little tiny hugs. She is so proud of them and makes sure when we have visitors that everyone knows their names and that they are her baby brothers.

3 month stats

 This week we hit several milestones at once.  Wednesday marked 13 weeks.  Thursday marked 3 months.  Last weekend marked the boys first head cold, thanks to sissy and mother's day out and those tiny little kisses she gives.  Thursday marked the end of their first full round of vaccines, the first portion they received at 2 months (I spread out each round of vaccines over a two month period for personal reasons).  AND, most importantly, this week the boys slept 8 or 9 hours straight through the night four out of the past five nights... or maybe its 5 out of the past 6.  Regardless, I am ecstatic.

"Through the night" means different things to different people.  Some think its 6 hours, some think its 8.  For us it means sleeping when we sleep.  Lillian slept through the night at 10 weeks, from 9 or 10 pm to 7 am.  When 10 weeks came and went, we kind of shrugged it off but were secretly disappointed.  We hoped to not compare our kids and expect too much from these little boys, but its hard not to sometimes.  I've realized through some reading that Lillian is what they call an "easy" baby, but we didn't really know it at the time.  We thought 10 weeks was early, but really pretty normal.  The kids pediatrician says you really can't help them through the night until 4 months or after.  So we thought we'd cut the twins a little slack.  Plus there is two of them.

But then they got the cold.  And they were so tired.  So for two nights we comforted them through the night when they were uncomfortable, but they slept solidly through their normal 4am feeding and kept going until 7am!  I kind of expected the 4am thing to start up again after the cold went away.  And it did for one night.  Then the last couple they've surprised us and slept straight through again from their 10pm feeding until 5:30-6:30 and some mornings we've stretched them until 7.  Now maybe its because they are still catching up from the cold, or maybe its because they got shots yesterday, but the point is, they've done it most of the week, and we know now that they CAN do it.  So now when they wake up, if they wake up, we just train them to go back to sleep if they aren't screaming to be fed (which they've never really done).

I cannot explain how nice it is to sleep solidly for more than just several hours before getting out of bed only to see if they are still breathing and then go right back to bed.  Though I am sure all of you parents out there already know what this feels like, but with twins, I just never dreamed it could be this early.  I hoped, but did not have serious expectations.

Will finding his thumb and Sam drifting with binky.

Although we can't expect all of our kids to need the same kind of sleep, they are showing signs that they will be a lot like their sister.  If they keep this up, John and I dream of the day when they will move their 10pm feeding earlier and earlier until they go to bed with their sister at 7:30 and sleep through until 6:30 or 7.  This will hopefully only take another month or two.  This late evening time is our mommy/daddy time.  This is the time when we can go back to just being "us" for a couple of hours, and it is sorely missed right now.  The only sad part of this is that when the boys do get to bed earlier, this only means these precious infants will not be infants anymore and toddler years are on the horizon.

Other than the fantastic sleeping, Sam and Will are starting to get little personalities.  They talk and giggle all the time.  Will is a night person and likes to be social in the evenings and after he's had some good sleep.  Sam is the jokester and likes to be social most of the time.  Right now I am listening to Will try to talk to his brother while his brother seems to be telling him to buzz off.  They both know how to roll over from front to back, but they both only choose to do it from time to time.  And Sam is actually getting worse at it because he is so big, but he is showing signs already of wanting to roll from back to front.

All of this is coinciding nicely with my decision to paint and ready the second crib for the nursery.  Right now they are both in one crib and it is getting pretty crowded.  The space in the room for the second crib is currently occupied by a full bed which I sit on with my giant pillow for night feedings.  If we cut out the night feedings, we can rid the room of the adult bed.  And if Sam starts rolling over, its time to set up the second crib.  Thankfully Grandma Mary is here for the third visit in 3 months to help out, and I've been able to almost complete the crib painting task.  Its been quite fun really - and no worries, the paint is just fine if the babies should start chewing on the crib later on.

Grandma Mary is here only until Tuesday, and she is missed between visits.  Help is tremendous in our situation and cannot be taken for granted.  Neither can the fact that she is capable of watching all 3 kids while John and I go out to eat.  I think we've left these kids more in the first 3 months of their lives than we left Lilli in a year.  But after one child we've realized how important it is for us to get out, and somehow its a lot easier the second time around.  We don't worry as much. 

So John and I get to have date night tonight - where we are going is still up in the air, but I'm sure there will be alcohol involved.  Which the cynic in me wants to reluctantly state that this will also be the night the boys decide they want to scream to be fed at 3:30am when my 3 drinks have produced a hangover.

What it means to Want

Websters dictionary definition of Want: the state of not having; the condition of being without anything; absence or scarcity of what is needed or desired; deficiency; lack

I am a firm believer in the power of words, one's own words and the affect on one's life to be more specific.  The power of positive thinking (or talking).  I read a book in college that very eloquently stated you should never use the word 'want'.  Such as "I want a job"  or " I want money" or " I want a spouse and kids"  The use of the word in such a way means you will forever and always be in want of whatever it is you desire.  I bring this up now because John and I are struggling a little with this concept right now, and I'm starting to find that we are a bit ridiculous.  We have everything we could ever need, and more, especially with 3 healthy kids, and our own good health and sanity.  But still we daily find ourselves wanting for things.

Mainly our want for things falls within the realm of this house.  We bought this house knowing we would fix it up.  Lately though, we've found ourselves looking at the Reece and Nichols website to see if there is something out there that suits us better, or would make our lives easier.  I don't think we are serious, we are just frustrated.  For John and I both, we spent all of our twenties and our early thirties doing whatever we wanted with our resources, time, and talents.  Now with 3 very young kids, we live on someone else's clock and every dollar has its place.  We barely find the time to shower and brush our teeth, muchless completely renovate and furnish at least one room of this house.  And we're one less salary to boot.  This is not an easy adjustment. 

P-nut finding new ways to make me laugh every day.

We have 3 bedrooms started, but none of them finished.  Our kitchen and dining area is in a state of confusion and does not accommodate for the 5 people that will soon be needing to sit at one table together.  Our "hearth room" has no furniture in it with the exception of the messy computer desk, my old piano, and a pack and play.  We have a finished basement that we don't even want to use because we find it gross, but it would be such a great place for kids.  I know as I write this I sound terribly selfish and ridiculous.  We want a new house in an old neighborhood, and it's going to take time.  We knew this going in, but we didn't know we'd have three kids 23 months apart and the cost of daycare would negate a salary.  And really, everything we want, well, it's fluff.  It's not necessary for a healthy life, and we know it.  And the kids, they are our life now.  That old life doesn't really mean much anymore.

It shouldn't be hard to live in the moment.  This is likely the last time we'll have snuggly, fuzzy newborns.  Our little girl won't stay an innocent, yet ornery, two forever.  But at the same time, I have to reluctantly admit, it is hard to live in the moment.  Believe it or not, John and I already talk about retirement.  Not in the sense of saving for it, but in the sense that we anticipate it.  This is unhealthy, I realized, after a comment from a retired neighbor.  He said "I'll trade you retirement to be 30 years younger again."  Duh.

The odd couple lounging after a meal.

So it is my goal of late to stop myself, or John, whenever one of us says "I want."  Its an empty statement and will never get us anywhere.  In fact, I hope to also cut down on the phrase "I need."  I need nothing.  I have 3 beautiful babies, an amazing spouse, a house large enough for 3 families (in my opinion, I am not one for gigantic mc mansions), and we are living within our means.  There really is not much else we could hope for except the continued health and happiness of our loved ones.

10 weeks young

It was recently brought to my attention by a close family member that my posts may sometimes appear to be sort of dark and possibly worrisome.  This was coming from someone that knows me very well and knows that my sense of humor is a bit off.  I am a cynic by nature.  Most of what I write about is from this point of view and written through a very, very dry tone.  I hope I don't come across as an ingrate or someone who might be severely struggling with their current situation.  If you know me very well, you might find my posts kind of funny.  My mother giggles.  But if you are a friend from my past that I haven't seen in a while, or maybe someone I don't know at all, I may come across a little sad.  Believe me, I am not.  I am enjoying every minute of this adventure, but I find sick humor in all of it.  I have to, or I probably would not survive it.  We don't cry all the time in this household.  In fact, I think it's been since the incident with my mom in the last post that I shed a tear.  Usually the only tears involve Lillian falling down the stairs (that was a fun afternoon!) or crying because she doesn't want to pick up her blocks.  We are all ok here, besides the adults not getting near the amount of sleep they would like, things are not as bad as I may make them sound sometimes.

I am currently nap training the boys, and they are taking 3 naps a day in their crib fairly consistently.  They all vary in length, but the main point is they are going down to sleep at the same time (almost - its almost quite impossible to get them down at the same time with one of me and two of them), in their room, in their crib, and they do it with almost no help from me.  This is how to train twins.  You cannot rock them to sleep, they have to be laid down just when they start to show signs of fatigue and you just leave them and hope for the best.  Sam is not quite as good at it as his brother.  He is currently fussing, while Will sleeps, which means he is either over tired and I missed his window, or he has to take a giant poo.

FuzziBunz

We've made the leap this time around to cloth diapers.  I wanted to do this with Lilli, but since she was going to be in a daycare system, I just decided to forget it.  Most daycare people do not want to deal with cloth diapering.  Some people think I am crazy for attempting this with twins, but so far, it is going really well.  We waited until a couple weeks ago to start it because the boys were small and mainly still pooping in every diaper we put on them.  I know this seems counter productive as far as helping the environment by using cloth, but we figured 8 weeks of disposable can't be as bad as 3 years of disposable.  The cost savings is tremendous.  The price of a day or two worth of diapers is a large up front cost, but assuming we will be in diapers until around 3 years old, we will in the end save at least a couple thousand dollars.  Plus Sam and Will's poo won't be sitting in a landfill for 500 years.  The system and the diapers are quite perfected these days.  The poo doesn't go into the washer with biodegradable liners and the leaking is really quite minimal.  We've had a few pee leaks, but we've had a couple of #2's that no Pamper or Huggie would have contained and these diapers did.  We will still keep disposable on hand for emergencies, long nights, and babysitters.  But we are feeling quite pleased about the switch and wish we'd been able to do it with Lilli.  Maybe she would by out of diapers by now (word is kids train earlier when using cloth).

Latest stats

The boys were 10 weeks this past Wednesday and we had a slightly late 2 month check up for them and a slightly late 2 year check up for Lillian.  Everyone checked out great.  The boys each gained the average weight in ten weeks - half a pound a week.  Sam gained a few ounces more, but Will doubled his birthweight.  Our Peanut is all the way up to 25.5 pounds and 1/2 and inch shy of 3 feet tall.  She is tall and thin, a good way to be as a kid these days.  We were told not to worry about how she eats until she's almost 6 or 8 years old.  Kids between 2 and 6-8 are just crappy eaters, and if they get all the food groups in several days, they are good.   I don't want my kids to have to fight their weight or have crazy body image issues, so we just have to offer a variety of food, be good examples (not the best at this right now since with breastfeeding twins I'm STARVING all the time) and keep the junk out of the house.

So at ten weeks old I finally found the time to announce properly the birth of the twins to all our close friends and family.  The announcements went out today.  Lillian's went out when she was 7 weeks old, so I guess I'm not that far behind with these guys!  I like to do these things myself so it took a little while to get to it.  And its nothing terribly special or time consuming, but they're mommy made them and that's what makes them special, to me anyway, and hopefully later in life the boys will appreciate these things that make up their baby books.