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!

My poor little Alex still struggled over the weekend.  I did take him in to see the pediatrician on Friday, who thought it was either reflux or gas or a combination of the two (good thinking…this much I’d already figured out).  So he wanted me to start him on Zantac consistently to get ahead of any reflux issues.  And he recommended a different formula (we’ve had to start giving Alex a little more after some meals) to try.  So off we went…

But it was still a rough weekend for the little man.  Saturday night and Sunday afternoon were pretty rough.  I was so grateful that Eric was there to hold him – he tends to relax better against his daddy for some reason.  He’d jump between super-happy and really unhappy almost instantly.  He’d doze off and then wake up screaming.  Both screaming spells were clearly not hunger-related…and both ended, finally, with a huge diaper.  So the biggest culprit seems to be lower gas that he needs to (but can’t easily) release.  We did finally get him to take a 3-hour nap in his swing, and then they pretty much went straight to bed.  And he did okay last night.  So maybe (*fingers crossed*) we are starting to get ahead of this…but I won’t hold my breath.

The rest of the weekend, other than Alex’s issues, went pretty well.

• Friday night was spent setting up and enjoying Eric’s new PS3.  We watched part of Ironman (Eric watched all of it…I had to go feed babies), which looks SUPER COOL in Blue-ray format. 
• Saturday, my family came over for lunch and to love on the babies for a bit.  Karen brought Jason to enjoy some of the attention, too.  It was crazy and loud, but fun.
• Then my parents, sister and I went to the mall.  It was my first time there since a few weeks before the babies were born (I couldn’t walk very far, so it wasn’t fun to go).  I had to feed the babies there twice (my first attempts to feed in “public”), which was an adventure, but we managed.  And the twins did a fantastic job being stuck in their car seats all afternoon!
• My mom and I got a lot of nice clothes.  My mom bought them for me (my birthday present)!  It was so fun to hang out with them all while we shopped.  And I think my dad really enjoyed being the “babysitter” while Mom and I tried on clothes…he’s so cute!
• Sunday was church, then home.  We played our racing game on PS3 and watched the end of the new Indiana Jones movie (we’d started it on Saturday night, but were interrupted by Alex’s issues).  Then Alex’s issues started back up, so we just worked with him, fed babies and relaxed for the evening. 
• So now it’s Monday, and I’m on my own again.  Hopefully we have a better day.  Actually, both babies are sleeping in their cribs as I type.  Alex fell asleep on their playmat and stayed asleep when I moved him.  Erin was awake, but put herself out quickly once I moved her.  So, I should go and do some chores on my to-do list today.  No use wasting my opportunities when they show themselves, huh?

Happy Monday!

Front Page News
Headline: Alex to make first pediatrician’s visit
Synopsis:  My poor little buddy had been not feeling well for a couple of days.  He has some serious gas/intestinal issues that keep him seriously uncomfortable (though not throwing up, thankfully!).  Night before last, he screamed and cried for most of 2 hours before some Tylenol and a second feeding (an hour after the last one) finally got him relaxed enough to fall asleep.  He was fussy on and off yesterday, wouldn’t nap well, and refused to be in his swing (which he loves). On the other hand, he had a major “gas-passing” episode in the middle of the afternoon (he’s such a boy!).  Then last night, he woke up screaming again at 2:15.  I could hardly get him to nurse at all.  Finally he did and fell asleep again, but he was up at 4, 5:30, and 7.  Only nursing seemed to soothe him.  This morning, I fed him at 8, and finally got some burps out of him at 9.  But we are so going to the doctor today to see if he can help me figure out what is going on!

Headline: New Purchase excites Mommy
Synopsis:  We’ve finally purchased high chairs!  I figure it’s about time to invest in those as the babies will soon be needing them.  And I’d like to start having them join us at the table even before they can actually eat with us.  So I ordered them online from Babies R Us.  They should arrive next week some time.  The “system” approach to baby seating seems very cool, so I hope I like them. 

Life & Arts Section
Headline: Kitchen still clean
Synopsis:  Can you believe that after 3 days, my kitchen is still tidy?!?  Me neither.  Wonder how long it will last…

Headline: Weekend Plans
Synopsis:  My mom and dad are coming up tomorrow to hang out with us.  Mom is taking me shopping for my birthday (it was back in February, but now is the first chance we’ve had to go shopping) to find some clothes that I can wear.  I’m very much looking forward to it.  It also turns out that my grandparents will be joining them here for a little while.  They’re going down to C-ville to see the new baby, and I guess we’ll be having lunch here so they can see the twins before they head home. 

Electronics & Business Section

Headline: PS3 to arrive today
Synopsis:  My husband, the non-gamer, bought a PS3 on Wednesday night.  This may sound odd, but it really isn’t.  The PS3 is also a blue-ray player and a computer which can be used to surf the internet on the television.  So even though we may never own a single video game, we will have a PS3.  And I intend to use a birthday gift card to Walmart to buy our first blue-ray movie!  Should be fun!

Headline: Eric fixes his brother’s computer
Synopsis: Eric’s brother got a virus by email.  Eric has spent a number of nights in the last 10 days trying to find and eradicate it.  Sadly, he did get rid of the files, but the damage was so extensive that he had to save Alan’s files, wipe the computer clean, and reinstall the system.  But at least Alan will be able to have his computer back soon.

Okay, with that, I will close this Friday edition.  Hope you all have a marvelous weekend!

…in the right direction. (Not literal ones, of course!)

Yesterday, I decided to risk not keeping my babies on exactly the same schedule all the time.  I mean, if it went badly, it would only be one really bad day, right?  So I fed them about 8:15 last night.  Then they got their bedtime routine (and oh, how I loved hearing Eric read a bedtime story to his son!), and down they went.  They woke up to eat at 11…not bad.  Then Alex woke up at 1:00 to eat again, but I decided not to wake Erin up. 

And she slept until 4 am!!!!!  Of course, Alex didn’t.  But it’s so nice to know that one of my babies can actually sleep through the night!  Woohoo!  Hopefully, Alex won’t be too far behind…

On top of that, I discovered yesterday that both babies are 12-13 lbs. now, at least according to my bathroom scales.  Another thing to be much happy about since the more weight they gain, the sooner the sleeping should improve!

Also, Eric cleaned the kitchen yesterday when he got home from work (the babies had made it somewhat difficult to accomplish things yesterday….I did not really enjoy being a mommy yesterday ).  So he cleaned up all the dishes and the main counters.  And once the babies were settled again, I cleaned all the piles of stuff that were lying around the rest of the counters and the table.  The kitchen looks fantastic!  *happy sigh*

Today, we have an insurance guy coming to check the estimator’s estimate of the roof damage we sustained this winter.  Thankfully, the contractor guy should be coming, too, and he thinks he can convince the insurance guy we need the entire roof replaced.  I hope they can agree on it…I don’t want to use our tax return to cover what the insurance company refuses to pay!

Okay, that’s all I can think of right this minute.  Happy Wednesday!