Cute Sleep

All systems are go in Operation: Nightsleep.

We've moved them to their own room, upped the bedtime to 8 (it may need to go earlier, since they're usually cranky by then), stuck to a nice little routine to get the kids in the zone, and, hardest of all, let them cry for a bit when they don't want to fall asleep right away or wake up when they shouldn't.

There's a modicum of success: two nights ago, they only woke up once to eat and once to cry during an eleven our stretch. But the three nights previous to that there had been hour long wail sessions. So there's progress to be made.

I'm reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins. Well, rereading. The first time I read it was in the first weeks of the babies' lives. In my sleep-deprived state, all I had paid attention to was when the boys ought to sleep longer than a few hours at a time. Six weeks, six weeks, six weeks, was my mantra for sanity.

Now I'm actually taking in all the valuable sleep tips. So we're getting the boys to nap in their cribs (though they still only go for 20-40 minutes) and are watching for drowsy signals. I stink at it. Apparently if they're rubbing their eyes and fussy, I'm already past the prime time to put them down. Hmph. I'm supposed to watch for things like "slowed movement" and "less vocalization." So every time they're quietly looking around, it means they ought to go to sleep? I'm not buying it.

Before I was being so religious in napping in the crib, I caught the boys doing some cute sleeping.

Liam loves chomping on his hands so much that he fell asleep with his fingers wedged in there for at least a half an hour.

Dash was being a little fussy but didn't seem very sleepy. But in one fell swoop, he flipped onto his tummy, tucked in his little cube under his chin and conked right out. Didn't take more than a second.

I wish he'd fall asleep that easily more often!

Rice Cereal

We gave Liam and Dash rice cereal a week or so ago. Their initial reaction?

Just as we expected. It hasn't changed much since then. They'll like it eventually, right?

P.S. Don't be hatin' the plastic spoon. I thought we had little baby-sized spoons but we didn't. We've since corrected this travesty.

That's More Like It

This is what's supposed to happen. None of that television jazz.

TV

Instead of batting at the animals on their play-mats, I caught the boys watching TV.

Dash noticed me and acted demure.

But Liam was completely engrossed.

Snug

The boys are starting to play (i.e. stare at and occasionally punch) with their toys. A favorite can be found in these little plush animals. Liam has a blue SnugBear.

SnugBear makes a happy Liam.

Dash has a green... well, we're not sure what it is. There's some funny antennae on top that look like they belong on a giraffe but there's no spots. Plus the snout is kinda big, so we're calling it SnugCow.

I guess SnugCow does not always make a happy Dash. Moo.

Since we're talking about how the boys are growing up, let me report their latest stats from their 4 month checkup. As of last week, I have two 25 inch babies. Liam is 14 lb 2 oz and Dash is 13 lb 8 oz. My little men.

They're both getting close to keeping themselves upright (you know, without us holding their torsos in place) while sitting. Practicing means a lot of faces flopping into soft pillows and the like. Dash can now roll over from back to tummy, featured in an attempted escape off the changing table. I'm happy to report he failed. Liam is oh so close to performing the same feat but his penchant for fist sucking always gets his arms in the way from a complete flip once he gets on his side.

I'm really excited for when they will have a little more body control. More often, they protest being on their back and want to be sitting up or standing. And since I only have two arms, much of my day consists of just keeping them upright. I'd much rather take turns doing some more active play with each baby while the other entertains himself. Wonder when that'll be. Better not be too soon because now they can't get away from mama's constant snuggles!

EDIT: Liam rolled over today! Told you he was close :)

Panel of Experts: High Chairs

You all are the most wonderful readers. I can't believe how kind you all are to share your wisdom. The boys had been progressing well in their night sleep but then a couple weeks ago they started waking up every couple hours. So something had to give. We're using your tips and guidance to help them sleep a bit better. Last night they were pretty good, so hopefully progress is being made.

New question! This one should be pretty straight forward. High Chairs. What should we look for in a high chair? We especially would like to know if we should get:

A) a true, stand-alone high chair (like this or this)

Positives: won't take up two kitchen chairs, seems to be highly portable

Negatives: leaves a couple of big footprints

-or-

B) a chair that sits in a normal kitchen chair (like this)

Positives: saves space, a bit cheaper, converts to booster seat later

Negatives: takes up two kitchen chairs, may be a little harder to clean

So what do you think? Do any of you have a favorite high chair you'd recommend? Is there any more to consider that I'm haven't mentioned?

Panel of Experts: Sleep Schedule

Update on previous questions: Thank you thank you thank you for all the pacifier words of advice. I feel much better about giving binkies to the boys and I'll be mindful of when to wean them off. You guys are great. As for the screaming while eating, the doc prescribed Prevacid. They don't scream much anymore so I guess it worked. We now are trying them off the medicine to see if they've outgrown the problem.

The new big task at hand is making a good sleep schedule. I feel so lost about it all. First thing: when do I put them to bed for the night? I so often hear people putting kids down for the night at 7 or 8 pm and that seems so early. Especially since they'll only sleep for 6 hours until they eat again- there's no chance for me to get any good sleep because I can't go bed that early! We've been doing 9pm recently. Is that too late?

Now the part I'm super confused about: Naps. The boys are not consolidating their naps at all. Right now I just let them fall asleep when they want to. Which translates to this repeated every three hours: They eat, are happy for an hour or so, get cranky for a while, sleep for 20-30 minutes (not necessarily at the same time, mind you), then are happy or sad until they eat again. How do I get them to nap a few times a day for longer periods of time? Is it just something that will come as they get older?

Last, as we're trying to push the boys to sleep for longer periods at night, what's the best way to adjust the day's schedule? If they happen to sleep an extra hour at night, should I shift everything an hour later or should we stick to a set schedule, making one intra-feeding period shorter in the morning?

Hmph, I'm all sorts of confused. Can you tell me your experiences or your ideas? You guys are lifesavers.

Picnic

My parents being in town presented a perfect opportunity for a get-together with my brother's family. It was first super rainy and then super hot, so expect all hair in these pictures to be disheveled.


The manly men hung out in the playground.


Liam's a manly man, too. He just hung out with the ladies.


First slide ride! Dash doesn't seem to be too thrilled. I bet we need a bigger slide.

See? Now that's the face of fun!

G&G Z

Guess who can't get enough of their newest grandsons?

I don't know what we're going to do- there's a whole three months until the next time they'll meet. The boys will be doing nuclear physics by December.

But in the mean time... bubbles, anyone?

Happenings

How have I been keeping myself busy this last week and a half?

Well, first, my old roommate Nikki came down for a little visit. Her husband, Danny, interviewed with Baylor College of Medicine and she tagged along. I LOVED having them here. And she was super helpful with the boys. I'm crossing my fingers Danny gets accepted here!

Funny story: we took Nikki to visit the Galleria Mall while Danny was at his interviews. We first ate a little lunch. As we finished up our meal, Sean pulled Liam from the stroller onto his lap and...

...poop, everywhere. This is actually fairly cleaned up compared to the original mess. Poor Nikki only saw the food court of the mall before we went home. Such is life with babies.

Second, Hunger Games. We've been reading them. The boys, too. They're genius boys who can read. Would you expect any less?

And, third, these wonderful people came to visit. My parents love my boys. It was a love-fest week. I'll prove it in future posts. Stay tuned, my dears, stay tuned.

Airplane

One of our favorite playtime activities is Airplane- lift them up like they're flying and let them soar around.

It's like Tummy Time in the air! No faceplants this way!