Sadly, we didn’t do quite as well last night.  Although I should just be grateful we were dealing with 3-hour stretches and not 2-hour ones, I guess.  Still, I know he can go 4 hours (at least), so I just keep wondering why he won’t.  And then I remember we’ve only been doing this new thing for 2 days.  I need to give it time…

Obviously, I’m way too impatient…

Yesterday, I was super productive again.  I’m attributing it to all of us getting so much sleep!  Anyway, I got my kitchen cleaned up and a lot of tidying done.  And I cleaned off a rotisserie chicken and used the meat to make chicken pot pies (1 for dinner, 1 in the freezer!).  I started, but didn’t get finished two loads of baby laundry (I was behind from the weekend).  And I called my SIL to chat (I’m very bad about calling people) in evening.  So all in all, it was a good day.

As for the weekend recap (which I didn’t do yesterday), here’s the quick version:

• Went out to the farm on Saturday morning.  Eric drank coffee, dressed Alex, got himself ready and loaded the Jeep.  I got myself and Erin ready, ate breakfast, organized and packed, tidied the kitchen and helped get things loaded. 
• Then I spilled coffee on my lap during the drive (I was pouring it from a Thermos into Eric’s travel mug for him).  Grr!  I also was spit-up on multiple times on Saturday, and I got icing on my shirt.  I was a mess from head to toe. I guess that’s the price of being a mom…
• We hung out with my MIL on Saturday.  The babies did not sleep well all day.  It was a long day.
• Birthday dinner for my FIL with the great-grandparents on the Hogue side joining us.
• Babies did okay Saturday night.  Alex slept in the swing.
• Sunday was church with the in-laws and a lot of showing off of babies.
• Easter dinner at Aunt Patti’s house.  The babies did pretty well with all the people all day.
• Back to in-laws, packed up, drove home, crashed.  And that pretty much covers it!

Happy Wednesday!

Apparently, my son was hungry.  I took him back to the pediatrician yesterday morning, in desperate need of some advice, and I came away encouraged and with a plan of attack.  I do love our pediatrician!

He said it was absolutely legitimate to expect at least 4-6 hours of sleep from the babies at this stage, and it wasn’t out of the question to work up to 10-12 in the near future.  Of course, since we’re starting from 2-3 hours, we won’t get that far immediately.  But it’s a goal!

Anyway, he recommended a checklist of sorts to figure out exactly what to do for him through the night.  He said we probably needed to start Alex on cereal, from a spoon.  Then if he woke up, we would know it was gas or reflux or habit and could deal with his awakening with the appropriate treatment (in that order).

So last night, after baths and a quick nap, I fed both babies, and then Eric fed Alex rice cereal for the first time.

And it worked!!!

First of all…he loved it.  LOVED it!  He was sucking it off the spoon.  (I did take some pictures, but they’re on Eric’s camera, so it’ll be a while before I can post them.)  He ate about a tablespoon, I think, before acting done.  And then he was jolly.  He was so happy…it was great!

Then we laid them down for bed.  And they slept.  I got 3 four-hour stretches last night!  We went from 9:30 to 1:30, then to 5:30, and now I’m just hearing babies again! 

I think we might have crested this particular mountain.  So thank you for all your encouragement and prayers.  And most of all…Praise Jesus!!

Happy Tuesday!

Just to warn you ahead of time, this won’t be a happy post.  I’ve been up since 5:30 this morning (and I was up at 10:00, 12:30, and 3:15 before that), and I’m so frustrated I’ve spent most of that time in tears.  So this post is going to be me venting.

I am so tired.  I don’t think these babies will ever sleep longer than 3 hours.  And I can’t seem to get even 3 hours at night most of the time.  Alex is back up 1.5-2 hours after most feedings.  Sometimes gas drops will settle him back down.  Sometimes not.  I give them to him at each feeding, too.  And sometimes he’ll burp after he eats and sometimes he doesn’t.  Not that it matters, really.  Sometimes I get the shortest amount of time after he gives me huge burps.  Multiple times this week, I’ve been up for 30 minutes or more, trying to get him to burp or fart or something. And inevitably, I just have to give up and nurse him to have a hope of getting any gas out of him.

So last night, he started crying at 5:30, and I let him go for a few minutes just to see if he’d settle.  He didn’t.  So I went and got him and started trying to burp him.  He settled down while I was holding him (but didn’t burp) and kept yawning.  I finally decided to nurse him at 5:45, and I got a tiny burp and a tiny fart out of him.  And then he was smiling at me in the semi-darkness.  So I laid him down and he cooed to himself in his crib for a while before he finally dozed back off.  But I’m already hearing him in his crib now (7:15), so he’ll probably start it again soon.

I’m so frustrated.  I’m so tired.  My body is so tired it just hurts.  I’m so desperate for them to sleep longer at night.  I don’t understand why they won’t.  And I just keep crying because I’m tired of feeding babies, tired of being up all night, tired of having no idea what’s wrong or what else to try.  I don’t want to spend today getting ready to go to the farm for the weekend.  And I don’t want to go pretend to be happy with my in-laws and the church people all weekend long.  I just want it to get better.  Now.  Because I don’t know how much longer this can go on.  And I don’t know who to ask.  And my prayers don’t seem to be accomplishing much.  Please pray for me. 

Today, my babies are four months old.  Crazy how fast that goes (and how slowly…between midnight and 6 am!).  So in honor of the little munchkins (and before they wake up from their nap), here are some pictures for you…

Casual Shots:

Formal Shots (courtesy of Sears):

Happy Wednesday!

that our insurance is going to pay for a whole new roof for us after all (the first adjuster said it wasn’t really wind damage ).

that the man I married is such a good dad.

that our worst night in a while happened on Friday night and not during last week sometime.  (Alex had major issues again, so I was up for at least 15 minutes of every hour – except 2 am – from 11 to 7.)

that Eric was willing to get up at 7:30 on Saturday morning and let me sleep for 2 more hours, uninterrupted.

that Saturday night had only one major crisis (around midnight), which Eric helped me with.

that since midnight on Saturday night, Alex has been much better.  He seems to fart/burp better on his stomach, so he’s getting a lot more tummy time these days!

that I’m beginning to see glimmers of hope on the eating/sleeping front.  They went 3-4 hours between meals almost every time yesterday.  And, last night, both babies ate at 8:30, went to bed by 9:30 and didn’t get up to eat again until 1:30 AM .  That’s 5 hours, people!!! 

that Alex actually rolled over on Saturday.  We missed it, sadly.  I put him on his belly to fart, and when I came back from the kitchen a couple of minutes later, he was on his back, looking a tad surprised at himself.  He hasn’t done it again, but hey…it’s a start!

that my parents could stop in for a short visit yesterday and that the babies were totally adorable while they were here.

that Trisha gave me their old exersaucer so I don’t have to buy a new one. 

that tomorrow I get to hang out with my friends from college (and all our kids) for the day.  So excited!

that I managed to finish this post while the babies slept.

Happy Monday!

in doing a post at this time on a Friday…no one will really see it.  But here goes anyway…

Trisha is going to give us the exersaucers (yes, plural) that they have and that Kyle wants to see vacate their home.  Yay for more space for them and free stuff for us!

I really want to get portraits of the babies done (hasn’t happened yet), but I don’t know where to have them done.  And it’s hard to schedule a time because they still don’t have a good schedule going yet.   I think I’m just going to have to wing it and hope they don’t scream through the entire thing!

Yesterday, I actually got a lot of things accomplished…but the house looked worse at the end of the day than it had when I started.  I hate when that happens.

The blahs were pretty much with me all day yesterday.  It wasn’t a bad day, but I felt like I was walking a step and a half out of beat.  Not sure why.  Today is some better.  Could be that the babies had a good night.  Still…I wish the sun were out today…that would help tremendously!

Eric and I watched Hancock last night (we had to keep pausing it to handle baby stuff, but we did get it all watched eventually).  It was okay.  Not great.  But I’d heard that, so I wasn’t expecting much. 

I have no idea what we will be doing this weekend.  We shall see…

I think that’s all I’ve got right now.  Not that exciting, huh?  Anyway, have a wonderful weekend!  Happy Friday!

I don’t feel like being the mommy today.  I think it’s mostly tired-ness.  But still, I’m just sort of “blah” today.

Yesterday was super productive.  I sorted and reorganized all the tubs of maternity and baby clothes in our guest room.  That included doing some organization in the nursery, too.  Then in the afternoon, I washed ironing clothes and ironed (I still have a bit to do today).  So now Eric has clothes to wear to work again.  And my new clothes are almost ready to wear.  Woo hoo!

Today I could have a number of things on my agenda.  Except that whole “blah” thing means that I don’t care whether I get much/anything done today.  I guess that means that whatever I do get done is just extra!

I borrowed my sister’s jumperoo for the babies yesterday, but it was late when I got back (and they were screaming to be fed…poor Eric!), so we didn’t get to try it.  I also intend to buy an exersaucer in the near future.  The babies are getting really strong and able to hold themselves up, so it’s time to try some toys that get them off their backs, I think! I hope they like it!

Okay, I need to get to something else…happy Thursday!