There's so much to write... so I'll write nothing

The verdict is that I need to get the "No Cry Sleep Solutions for Toddlers" book.  I have the No Cry book for babies & it was helpful with Colby so hopefully the toddler version is helpful too.

I'm working on making Colby a picture book of our nighttime routine, so that will be nice to have too.

I guess I should reread the baby book too so I can get in a groove with the girls.  :)

Other than that, life is good.  I have about a million unfinished posts that I can't quite get my thoughts around.  We're looking into moving.  We're looking into how to make it possible for me to stay at home.  We're looking into a change of careers for me if it has to go that way.  We're working on dividing responsibilities more.  I'm working on dealing with everything that comes with having 4 under 3 when I can only hold 3 of them.  Basically, there's a lot going on...

I am loving it all though...

Now, the girls are napping & Colby's so close so I'm off to pinterest.  Because that's so much more important than dishes or putting away the mess in Colby's room.

How did you manage sleep?

It's no secret that Colby's sleep habits are... lacking.  I know it's totally my fault... I refused to do any sort of crying tactics with him because (1) he was my itty bitty NICU baby (2) with lung issues I didn't want to risk any asthmatic-type episodes (3) he can throw up when he cries too much and (4) I can't bear to listen to him cry.  So instead we had a pretty good routine which worked.  He went to bed easily in his crib, woke up maybe once or twice, but I could get him back down.  Then the routine was rocked when I had the embryo transfer and then it was completely thrown out the window when I had the cerclage and couldn't pick him up like I used to.  So he started sleeping in our bed for part of the night.  Then he started only sleeping in our bed.  And sometimes he goes to bed in 10 minutes and sometimes it's more like an hour.  And I have to be there.  I know I have to change this, especially if I want to stay sane once I go back to school, but I'm not entirely sure how.

He naps pretty well... he goes to sleep on his own and I don't have to be right there.  He'll stay down for 1.5-3 hours depending on what we did that day.

The girls go to bed around 8 as well.  They can wake up a few times before they're truly settled, but I think this is more because they get startled (why do I always drop pans and toys when they're sleeping?).  They sleep really well... they wake around 12:30-1:30 and then again at 5 and then we're usually up around 7 for the day.  They can put themselves to sleep and often they do fall asleep on their own because I have to deal with someone else who is screaming bloody murder.  They take 3 naps usually... 2 shorter naps of 30 minutes to an hour and one longer nap of 1.5 hours to 3 hours.

So... I know I have to shake Colby's habits up.  It will be a slow transition because I will not do any crying techniques.  If they worked for you, great.  :)  But I'm not up for that... especially because he pretty much throws up any time he cries super hard now.  (I think he learned that it's a good defense mechanism and he will make himself gag to throw up while crying.)


I'm just curious how you got your kiddos to sleep how they do?  (Good or bad)  I know some people used CIO techniques, but I'm assuming some other people didn't.  I'm more curious about the non-crying techniques.  :)  


And for the record, I really am not judging anyone who has done cry-it-out.  I'm just not strong enough for that... I'm actually a little (or VERY) jealous that you have kiddos who can sleep!  :)

Time flies

I know I'm not saying anything new here, but HOLY COW, can time go any faster?

It's already mid-October.  Fall is here.  The temperature is dropping.  Colby is gearing up to be Woody for Halloween.  I'm mere weeks away from going back to work.  Seriously?  That was ages and ages away not too long ago.

Anywho... the girls are 4.5 months old.  They're cooing and smiling and rolling (& rolling & rolling & rolling).  I'm beginning to realize how skewed my vision of the infancy stage is/was due to Colby's prematurity.  The girls are 4.5 months... they both have teeth (buds) and they both roll front to back & back to front.  At first I thought they were SO young and advanced because Colby's first tooth appeared at 8 months and he finally rolled back to front somewhere around there to.  But then I remember the whole adjusted age & corrected age thing and realize that they're really not so different.  4.5 months vs. 5.5 months corrected for Colby.  BUT THEN I remember the girls were premature too so really corrected they're like 3 months, so really I don't know what to think.

Except that time is speeding up.

The girls are real babies now.  They're not squishy newborns anymore.  And they haven't really be for awhile.  They have personalities and wants.

Really, I don't know what to say except that I cannot believe that they're so old already.

Both girls are still in our room right now next to the bed.  We moved Colby into his room right around 6.5 months or 3.5 corrected, so I'm not sure when I'm going to be ready to shake things up.  On average they go to sleep around 8pm & then wake around 1 or 2am.  I feed then they go back to bed and are up again around 4 or 5am & they eat again.  Then they're up for the day around 6:30 or 7am.  During the day they take about a 45 minute nap around 9 or 10, a 1-2 hour nap around 1pm, and then another quick nap around 5 or 6.  Colby loves them to death still, so I'm very happy we got through this stage without jealousy.  :)

And we've been busy.  All 3 of my brothers and my mom have birthdays in September.  We had cookouts and family parties like crazy from August to September.  We did A Day Out With Thomas & apple picking this past weekend.  Tomorrow my brother flies in from Texas and we have my other brother's Engagement Party in NY this weekend.  We've been walking and painting and cooking and having a (n exhausting) blast.

Apple Picking

Pumpkins pre-hay ride.

Enjoying an apple in the orchard.

Someone needed an emergency change.

Zoe thinking we're all crazy.

 A Day Out With Thomas

Loving the train ride

Zoe being cuddly with Grampy

And Syd hanging with Daddy

I'm working hard to soak in every minute I have with these kiddos at this age.  Each day they get more and more fun and funny, but I don't want to miss things as they are.  :)

Zoe laughing at Colby

I could watch this all day, every day for the rest of my life.

Colby hopped into the big tub while I was bathing the girls the other night. He sat at the end of the baby tub & dropped the wash cloths into the water. Zoe found this to be HI.LAR.I.OUS.

Update... because that's all the time I have lately!

Just a super quick update while pumping...

• The girls were 4 months on Sunday.  I can't believe how fast this is all going.  The both roll over front to back & Zoe is so close to back to front that it's crazy.
• They're in the midst of teething... drooling, chomping on fists, fussiness... you get it.  I'm not ready for that!
• We still wake at night... typically they're asleep by 8 pm or so, then they wake around 11, then again around 3, then 5, then 7.  I dread the 5am wake up because by the time they nurse & I pump it's usually so close to them waking again for the day.  I'm still tired, but the key is doing things during the day.  If I sit on the couch or allow myself to lay down for even a second, it's all over.  But if I'm playing trains or we're playing out back or we go for a walk then I'm fine.  I just crash later.  :)
• Nursing is still a struggle... Sydney definitely prefers the bottle.  I guess I'm not surprised because of their NICU stay & then my lack of nursing in favor of pumping in the beginning.  She'll nurse pretty well when tired, but otherwise it's a bit of a fight.  I persevere so she always gets most of her feed from nursing but there has to be a bottle or 2 during the day to really fill her up.  Zoe does really well nursing & can take a full feed.  I'm still pumping every 2-3 hours all day every day.  It's easier to pump more now than it was in the beginning because we have a good routine now.  I'm freezing about 10-20oz every day so our deep freezer is almost overflowing already.  I'm just so happy that with nursing & pumping I'm meeting their needs 100%+.  Because formula is expensive & these girls can be PIGS.
• They still use the shields and I'm not sure we'll ever get to give those up.  I do try, but not nearly as much as I should simply because sometimes struggling with Sydney is all the drama anyone can take.  She hates me enough for making her nurse... I can't even imagine the struggle it would be to make her try to make it harder.  Maybe one day.  :)
• Colby had a great time in California with Johnny and tells me on a daily basis that he's "go fly pane marrow" (going on a plane tomorrow).

Well, it's 3 & I started this whole song and dance of nursing & pumping at 1:25, so I'm off to try to catch some zzzz's.  

Creativity Help?

Okay, so I'm pretty technologically impaired.

How do I save font colors on my header?  Or even change the font besides the boring ones offered?  Or even make a more interesting header?

Mama Mooo

This is what you get when you pump every 2 hours all day in addition to nursing.

We had to buy a new deep freezer just for all of the milk.

So far there is about 500 oz in there.

But then again when you think about it... that's not really that much when they each drink > 25oz a day.

It's a dry-erase freezer.

Johnny decorated it.