Look who found her thumb! Anyone who has helped to take care of Abby has experienced the severity of her pacifier addiction - replacing the pacifier a million times at bedtime is not my favorite activity. We are sooo happy that she is getting the hang of thumb-sucking and is using it to soothe herself to sleep!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
On top of everything else...
Poor Abby. She has thrush (yeast infection in the mouth). This is not good news for any of us. Abby has to get drops in her mouth 4 times a day for 2 weeks. I have to sanitize all nipples, pacifiers, and anything else that comes in contact with her mouth. And then I have to hope that Lucas and Zoey don't get it. They already have to take Zantac twice a day and gas drops after every meal. We don't need to add more drops to their lives. And let's not talk about the fact that I don't give any of them their vitamin D drops nearly as often as I should.
Oh - plus Abby has a painful diaper rash, caused by acidic poo. So basically she's been miserable - hurts to eat, hurts to have a dirty diaper. She hasn't napped and needs to be held more than usual. At least she went right to sleep at bedtime.
It's always something.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Challenging week
Whew. This was a long week. It started out with Jason having to go out of town for work Sunday evening through late Monday night. My mom was also still out of town, so I was on my own during that time, as well as Tuesday during the day. Thankfully one of our friends came over to help a little Monday morning and evening (thanks Jennifer and daughter Brooke!) so I could eat breakfast and dinner. Taking care of all 3 alone all day actually is do-able, as long as the goals are kept simple: feed babies, change babies, try to get babies to sleep, try to eat something, maybe even try to shower. I accomplished these things and even managed a shower during a nap time. Still, it was pretty tiring. The most challenging part is being able to pump on schedule if all the babies are awake.
Then we had that one good evening with virtually no fussiness, when Jason and I got to eat dinner in peace. We thought we were over the witching hour hump, but we were wrong.
It went downhill again on Thursday, when we lost power at 5pm due to a storm and didn't get it back until 7:30am Friday. I had to pump in the car at 9pm using the car adapter I bought for the pump after the last time the power went out. I felt like the mom in the Toyota Sienna commercial who likes hanging out in her car - I had A/C, my People magazine, and the radio. I almost didn't come back inside! I then nursed anyone who woke up in the middle of the night b/c I certainly wasn't going out to the car to pump at 2am. The babies were restless all night, and I slept in the glider in the nursery for a few hours b/c I was worried about their room being stuffy, and Zoey would only sleep on her tummy b/c she was so fussy, and they were waking up every couple of hours to nurse (they don't get as full from nursing as they do from bottles. I don't know why.)
Things sort of got back to normal during the day on Friday, but then Jason went to play in an evening soccer game, which left me to do bottles and bedtime on my own. Because I hadn't been able to pump enough the day before, I hadn't been able to keep up with their milk needs all day. So I sat down to pump at a time when no one was supposed to be hungry, which immediately cued them to start screaming. So I had to quickly fix bottles of formula and then try to feed 3 screaming babies at once while the bottles were leaking. I called and left a message on Jason's voicemail that consisted entirely of screaming babies.
The only good part about that evening was that when I finally got them to bed, they fell asleep almost immediately b/c they had worn themselves out from fussing.
Then Saturday they hardly napped all day and were pretty fussy. They must have been upset about the US losing to Ghana in the World Cup match. Dinner hour was again full of fussiness. Abby was screaming so much that Jason took her on a walk to calm her down. I thought the other two were sleeping, so I sat down to pump, and they immediately woke up. So I called Jason again with the sound of screaming babies. We eventually got them fed and asleep over a 2 hour period. By then it was after 8pm and pointless for us to make dinner. We just snacked, I finally pumped, and then went to bed.
On the plus side, Lucas has slept for 10 hour stretches 2 nights in a row! Now if he could just encourage Abby to do the same.
We are hoping today is better, and are determined to get them to take good long naps in their cribs.
Whew. I am off to a yoga class so that I can remember how to breathe. Will post some cute pictures later.
Then we had that one good evening with virtually no fussiness, when Jason and I got to eat dinner in peace. We thought we were over the witching hour hump, but we were wrong.
It went downhill again on Thursday, when we lost power at 5pm due to a storm and didn't get it back until 7:30am Friday. I had to pump in the car at 9pm using the car adapter I bought for the pump after the last time the power went out. I felt like the mom in the Toyota Sienna commercial who likes hanging out in her car - I had A/C, my People magazine, and the radio. I almost didn't come back inside! I then nursed anyone who woke up in the middle of the night b/c I certainly wasn't going out to the car to pump at 2am. The babies were restless all night, and I slept in the glider in the nursery for a few hours b/c I was worried about their room being stuffy, and Zoey would only sleep on her tummy b/c she was so fussy, and they were waking up every couple of hours to nurse (they don't get as full from nursing as they do from bottles. I don't know why.)
Things sort of got back to normal during the day on Friday, but then Jason went to play in an evening soccer game, which left me to do bottles and bedtime on my own. Because I hadn't been able to pump enough the day before, I hadn't been able to keep up with their milk needs all day. So I sat down to pump at a time when no one was supposed to be hungry, which immediately cued them to start screaming. So I had to quickly fix bottles of formula and then try to feed 3 screaming babies at once while the bottles were leaking. I called and left a message on Jason's voicemail that consisted entirely of screaming babies.
The only good part about that evening was that when I finally got them to bed, they fell asleep almost immediately b/c they had worn themselves out from fussing.
Then Saturday they hardly napped all day and were pretty fussy. They must have been upset about the US losing to Ghana in the World Cup match. Dinner hour was again full of fussiness. Abby was screaming so much that Jason took her on a walk to calm her down. I thought the other two were sleeping, so I sat down to pump, and they immediately woke up. So I called Jason again with the sound of screaming babies. We eventually got them fed and asleep over a 2 hour period. By then it was after 8pm and pointless for us to make dinner. We just snacked, I finally pumped, and then went to bed.
On the plus side, Lucas has slept for 10 hour stretches 2 nights in a row! Now if he could just encourage Abby to do the same.
We are hoping today is better, and are determined to get them to take good long naps in their cribs.
Whew. I am off to a yoga class so that I can remember how to breathe. Will post some cute pictures later.
Friday, June 25, 2010
3 Months Old!
The babies are 3 months old today. How did that happen?? Didn't we just take the 2 month picture?
In their photo this month they are wearing their 1 - 2 - 3 sleep sacks made for us by Jason's coworker Louise. Lucas was not thrilled with the photo shoot, but the girls cooperated.
The babies are developing all kinds of new skills! They are starting to develop better head control, so I have begun collecting bumbo seats from Craigslist. They seem to like sitting up, but they start to lean over to the side after a few minutes in the seat. Hopefully they will grow stronger with practice.
They are also starting to try to find their thumbs. Here is Abby grabbing her ear/hair with one hand and trying to get her other hand in her mouth. We would be so happy if they traded their pacifier addiction for thumbs.
Finally, they are doing lots of smiling and getting interested in toys.
In their photo this month they are wearing their 1 - 2 - 3 sleep sacks made for us by Jason's coworker Louise. Lucas was not thrilled with the photo shoot, but the girls cooperated.
The babies are developing all kinds of new skills! They are starting to develop better head control, so I have begun collecting bumbo seats from Craigslist. They seem to like sitting up, but they start to lean over to the side after a few minutes in the seat. Hopefully they will grow stronger with practice.
They are also starting to try to find their thumbs. Here is Abby grabbing her ear/hair with one hand and trying to get her other hand in her mouth. We would be so happy if they traded their pacifier addiction for thumbs.
Finally, they are doing lots of smiling and getting interested in toys.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
More Father's Day pics
I took these pictures while Jason was at work one day, then made a collage to give him for Father's Day. I took over 20 pics - I think our couch made a pretty nice backdrop. Our babies are so cute!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Thank you, Aunt Marilyn!
Jason's aunt Marilyn stayed with us last week while my mom was out of town. She was a lifesaver! She was great with the babies and helped to keep us sane. Since we had her help in the evenings, we were actually able to eat balanced meals and start to figure out a more consistent bedtime routine. So she is welcome back anytime!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Witching hour progress
Usually the babies are out of sorts and fussy from 5-8 pm, but tonight they were great until it was time for their bedtime bottles! It was so nice to eat dinner calmly, with both hands, rather than trying to soothe fussy babies and eat with one hand (or not eat at all). Here's proof:
Sleep is gradually getting better too - Abby and Lucas will sleep 7-9 hour stretches, and Zoey can do 5-7 hour stretches. Let's hope they keep improving!
Sleep is gradually getting better too - Abby and Lucas will sleep 7-9 hour stretches, and Zoey can do 5-7 hour stretches. Let's hope they keep improving!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Funny babies
The babies make us laugh every day with their cute antics. :)
The hazards of feeding them right next to each other...Zoey spit up on Lucas' face.
Totally relaxed
Abby and Lucas hanging out on the chair together
Cute cuddles
Lucas wasn't thrilled with Zoey's "hugs"
See the bruise on Lucas' arm? He was sucking on it quite vigorously
Lucas kept pulling Abby's hair while tandem nursing, leading to a mohawk
The hazards of feeding them right next to each other...Zoey spit up on Lucas' face.
Totally relaxed
Abby and Lucas hanging out on the chair together
Cute cuddles
Lucas wasn't thrilled with Zoey's "hugs"
See the bruise on Lucas' arm? He was sucking on it quite vigorously
Lucas kept pulling Abby's hair while tandem nursing, leading to a mohawk
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Father's Day
Happy first Father's Day to Jason! He is a wonderful dad, as I always knew he would be. :)
Napping with Abby
A "Dad" mug to match my "Mom" mug
Baseball glove from his mom
He tried some self-portraits...
Napping with Abby
A "Dad" mug to match my "Mom" mug
Baseball glove from his mom
He tried some self-portraits...
Friday, June 18, 2010
Monkey business
These babies sure do love watching their monkeys! Notice Lucas wearing his little monkey outfit while holding a monkey and watching the monkeys. He was smiling and laughing for quite awhile.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
More videos
I filmed this one sideways. Oops. Still learning about the new camera.
We're excited that the babies are figuring out how to play in their bouncy seats now.
This one is not too exciting, but it shows how cute Zoey and Lucas are hanging out together in the living room crib. They are wiggly!
We're excited that the babies are figuring out how to play in their bouncy seats now.
This one is not too exciting, but it shows how cute Zoey and Lucas are hanging out together in the living room crib. They are wiggly!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Stripes! (subtitle: Monday with Marilyn)
Jason's aunt Marilyn is staying with us this week while my mom is out of town. She has been a big help already! She is learning the ropes and the babies are keeping all of us on our toes, as usual. (you like my mixing of metaphors?)
Zoey being goofy
Abby keeping an eye on her animals
Abby doing her tummy time (poor girl has a flat spot on the back of her head)
During a walk to UVA grounds
Zoey wishes she could sleep on her tummy all the time, not just during supervised naps
The babies practicing sitting with Marilyn
Marilyn with the babies
"Hey sis, quit sleeping and talk to me!"
When Abby heard me talk about tummy time, she promptly fell asleep on the recliner
Lucas on his way to flipping on his back
Zoey and Lucas during tummy time
Zoey being goofy
Abby keeping an eye on her animals
Abby doing her tummy time (poor girl has a flat spot on the back of her head)
During a walk to UVA grounds
Zoey wishes she could sleep on her tummy all the time, not just during supervised naps
The babies practicing sitting with Marilyn
Marilyn with the babies
"Hey sis, quit sleeping and talk to me!"
When Abby heard me talk about tummy time, she promptly fell asleep on the recliner
Lucas on his way to flipping on his back
Zoey and Lucas during tummy time
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