Colby and Babies

Colby

I don't think I talk about how much I love this little guy. Every day he continues to melt my heart. The past two weeks off have been exhausting (he's a busy guy!) but absolutely amazing. I have loved being with him nonstop.

I am awful at posting pictures and info about Colby on here because I also have 2 family blogs that I do that on... so please visit www.thejamersontwins.blogspot.com (updated belly pics, info about Colby, Colby's words, etc.) or www.365daysofcolby.blogspot.com (daily pictures of Colby since his 1st birthday) to see more of the cutie!

Talking

He is so verbal. I've been trying to track his words on our family blog, but it's so difficult because every day he's adding a list of words. He repeats everything and he also consistently uses well over 100 words correctly. He's been stringing 2 and 3 word sentences together lately. He's learning to say "Bove oo" with some prompting (Love you) but right now my favorites are "Dank oo Mama" and "Welcome Mama". The way he says it- unprompted- just melts my heart.

Cuddle Bug

He's a cuddle monster still. He loves to give "Monkey Hugs" (as I call them) when he wraps his arms and legs around you and just squeezes. I live for those. He'll give kisses and hugs all the time now. Mwah! We cuddle every night with a blanket and a stack of books before bed. It's just such a peaceful time of day that I love. I still rock and cuddle him to sleep. It's definitely more work than having him go to sleep on his own, but I love knowing that he feels so safe and secure and I'm acutely aware of the fact that we'll never get this time back, so I'm okay with it.

Sleep

Speaking of night time... we're in a bit of a co-sleeping mode right now. I've always liked the idea of co-sleeping, but with him being such a preemie and me being deathly afraid of SIDS I wouldn't try it early on. He slept in a pack 'n play next to our bed until he was about 7 months old and then we moved him to his crib. He still woke up a lot and I'd rock him and give him a bottle and put him back down as many times as necessary throughout the night... sometimes once, sometimes 4 or 5 times. Then I headed back to work around 9 months and around 10 months it was too much. I was too tired, so I started bringing him into bed with us after he woke up. It was still exhausting because I still rocked him asleep before hopping into bed, but it was better. Then throughout the summer he slept pretty well in his crib all night by himself. If he woke up, I'd go in, pick him up and get him back to sleep in his crib. He was only waking up 1-2 times so it wasn't too bad and I was keeping my sanity.

Then in January I had the stitch put in and my activity was limited a bit. It got to the point where I couldn't physically handle picking Colby up and bending in his crib, so I started bringing him to bed with us again. He'd cuddle up to be every night and sleep so peacefully. I love it. He starts every night in his crib (so I can get a few hours of work done after he's asleep) and then he ends up in our bed whenever he wakes up. I've been asked if I'm worried I'm setting him up for bad sleep habits in the future, but I'm really not worried. But I'll leave that at that. :)

Daycare

So, we had the daycare issues a few weeks ago. We haven't heard from K since about the money, so I think it has pretty much blown over. I noticed a few days ago, though, that the "Daycare Craziness" post had 3 new comments. They were all from within 3 or so hours on March 28th and from anonymous. If you didn't see them, the gist of them was that I was a liar, that K (daycare lady) could press charges against me for writing about the incident, that a corporate daycare would be absolutely awful for my child, and that daycare lady was providing the best care possible so I should get my facts straight.

At first I was a bit upset by the comments because they were a bit unkind (to say the least)... but after thinking about them I'm really thinking that they were either all written by K or K & a few friends she might have complained to. (I also only now realized that you can find this place by simply searching my emal, which she has) It seemed too odd that they'd be so close together, all on the same day, a week after the incident occurred. I was going to post a response to the comments, but I decided it wasn't worth it. I know that we took Colby out of K's care because she took him away at pick up without contacting anyone (who does that????) and in a non-rear facing carseat because she was in a "rush" (he's too small still for the forward facing & please do not put my child's safety in jeopardy because you're late).

I wonder sometimes if I'm too cautious and overprotective because of what we went through with Colby and Connor. Maybe I am... but I feel like that's my right- especially when I'm paying someone to care for my child. But the whole incident has helped to foster a list of questions to look into for the next place. We have found a few candidates... none of which take daily trips to the park or Toys R Us or a son's doctors appointment. :)

Babies 3 & 4

Nearing 27w1d

I'm in such a weird place with this pregnancy. It has gone SO fast I can't believe it. Today is 26 weeks 5 days. Since I got to 23w2d- the point I went on bedrest last time- I've kind of felt invincible. Like both babies are definitely coming home. And I'm going to go full term. But at the same time I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. So, as I approach 27w1d on Tuesday (aka D-Day for the boys) I feel like that's the biggest milestone of all. It's almost like if I get past that point I'm sure that both babies will live.

Contractions

But I've also been having increasing Braxton Hicks contractions. I didn't have any with the boys that I knew of but they're so evident now. If I do anything more than lay on the couch like a potato I seem to have them. It's so frustrating. I go back to Dr. K on Monday so we'll talk about that. (I'm already drinking gallons of water!)

Getting Ready

We haven't done anything to get ready for the babies, but we have to get a move on. I've been waiting for the miraculous "It's okay" day, but I know that won't ever really come until they're born and home with us. But we need to do some things. We're getting mini-cribs for the twins this time- they'll convert into twin beds when they are bigger. The babies will be in our room for now and when they're sleeping a little better we'll move rooms and they'll share with Colby. It's a cramped space we share, but we have to stay here for 3 years because we got the First Time Home Buyers Tax Credit last year and we don't really feel like paying it back. :)

And since we don't know if we're having boys/girls/one of each, I feel like I can't do too much more. :) I want to pull down the bins we have of toys and blankets to get those ready, but I'm not sure I want to pull down the bins of newborn clothing just yet. But I probably should because odds are there is a boy in there, right?

I know there is more I wanted to write about... but I can't think of it.

Pop by Erin's to send positive thoughts for her upcoming IVF cycle. She's been though a lot the past few months... and Trevor NEEDS to be a big brother.