Something's happening here.

While I would love to go nuts with some new house details, I'm going to wait until all is official.  For now I'll say the ball is rolling and all signs point to us moving into a bigger house...just as school starts back up again.  If you don't see a post between this one and Michael and Sophie trick-or-treating in the new neighborhood, you'll know why.  Most likely, though, I'll need this outlet in the coming weeks!

While I'm certainly thrilled that this change we've been preparing for over the last few years is on its way, that nagging voice that always accompanies major decisions after the fact is hard at work in my brain.  "Wait, why are you doing this?  You're taking another financial risk on real estate?  Didn't you learn anything?  Give me one good reason why you need a bigger house."

Michael and Sophie have been kind enough to provide a response:

Big kid beds are overdue, and that change would shrink this house considerably.  

Michael requested to sleep on the floor one night.  He did so without any waking during the night and woke in the morning as happy and well-rested as ever, so we've continued to let him camp out.  Sophie is into it now as well, just a little goofier at the start of bed and nap times.  She's learning to handle the freedom, though.  

Mike and I are hopeful that this is the start of a smooth transition, so we have supported the change (and their little backs) by moving the mattresses to the floor.

It appears that the cribs are on their way out, which is certainly a sentimental milestone.  Bye-bye, babies.

And, yes, I know what you're wondering.  The new house has four bedrooms, so we have options. However, we're only taking on one major life decision at a time!

Sleep is back.

I've mentioned that over the last six months or so, getting both kids to go to sleep and stay asleep all night has been tricky. Over the summer Sophie and Michael's sleep habits became uncharacteristically unpredictable.  Since it was chaotic anyway, we threw giving up the pacies into the mix.  In recent months, getting back on track has continued to be a challenge.

Here's what seems to have worked (consistently for the last five nights, anyway).

#1 - Daylight Savings Time ENDED!  Despite the typical efforts to transition smoothly, I honestly think this whole ordeal was triggered by that "spring forward," it was perpetuated by some bad summertime habits, and has settled now that we are back on normal time.  Micheal seemed ready to go to sleep later and later, and 9:00 p.m. becoming 8:00 p.m. again was just what we needed.

#2 -

 

As soon as the kids started climbing out of their cribs a few months ago, Mike and I gave this configuration a shot.  We were worried that one of the kids would get hurt on the dresser that was between the cribs, and it was kind of remarkable how the cribs just fit like this.  However, predicting some peek-a-boo style shenanigans would ensue, we instead moved the little dresser into our bedroom (lovely) and kept the cribs further apart and turned the other direction.  Michael and Sophie hardly ever climb out, but it's nice to know they'll be pretty safe if they do.

After a particularly frustrating naptime last weekend, I scooted the kids into the playroom and made this switch.  I was hoping a somewhat dramatic change would be a useful ingredient for bedtime.  When the kids came back in, Sophie declared it a "Choo-choo!"  And I said "Yes!!!  Mommy made a sleepy time choo-choo train!" as if that was my idea all along.  Come bedtime Michael lay down with no more fanfare than covering him with a blanket.  However, he just wasn't tired, and after about fifteen minutes he called me back in.  We read a few more stories on the couch and then he was ready.  He slept in his crib all night.  He calls it the caboose.

(I also brought in the rug from the playroom since the original rug is now too small for this arrangement.  As a result I have rearranged the playroom to incorporate the changing table/dresser, and reorganized those drawers, the hall and entry closets, and my bathroom medicine cabinet.  The basement storage room is next on my list.  These things always have a domino effect!)

 

#3 - I listened to my own mommy.  My mom watches the kids two days a week and has had successful naptimes all throughout this craziness.  For bedtime we implemented the subtle details of her approach.  When we read bedtime stories on the couch, we bring out the kids' blankets and snuggle buddies (stuffed animals of choice), and we read until they're struggling to stay awake.  Since doing so, Sophie has been telling us when she's ready to lie down, usually around 7:30. We read to and cuddle Michael for a while longer, and he's been going down pretty peacefully about 30 minutes later.

#4 - We now also brush teeth right after getting into jammies rather than after bedtime stories.  This keeps the kids from getting all riled up after settling down with stories.  Brusha-brusha is pretty darn exciting, don't you know?

 

#5 - We invested in our third Homedics Soundspa.  The sound has never failed us, but the projectors notoriously stop rotating.  Because we have enjoyed uninterrupted sleep since we replaced it, Mike and I can only assume that instead of calling for us when they wake up in the wee hours, Michael and Sophie are once again happy to watch fishies swim in circles on their ceiling until they drift back off.  At $20 each, these machines are worth the additional cost. 

 

I feel more confident than I have in months and months and months that we have really turned a corner here (bracing myself for the waking of a screaming child as I type these words).  I know this could all go out the window again tomorrow, but my gut says things are going to be much better for a good while.  Then we'll spring forward again and we'll all cry ourselves to sleep, but for now we have our evenings again!

Patience Stretching

Speaking of patience stretching, is this a long post or what?  Thanks for even reading this far!

About a month ago I shared our recent sleep struggles that I attributed to adjustments that came with summer life.  As I said then, we were hoping that our school year sleep routine would help resolve the issues, and in some ways I think it has.  However, we're still not back to the consistently glorious bedtimes of the past quite yet. Yes, yet. With Sophie gracefully climbing out of her crib a couple of times in the last couple of weeks and Michael making strong attempts, I'm probably foolishly optimistic, but I'm holding onto that "yet" for now.

We recently started trying a few tweaks to our bedtime routine that seem to be easing the protest. 

• We turn on the white noise about an hour before bedtime instead of just as we put the kids in their cribs. We can all hear the sound coming from their room as we finish playing in the playroom and living room, signaling that bedtime is near.
• We've been getting the kids into jammies about 30 minutes before bedtime, 15 minutes or so earlier than before.
• We read several bedtime stories in that extra pajama time instead of just one.

Micheal and Sophie both seem more ready to lie down, even though we haven't changed bedtime itself.  But again, it's not great.

The other night, after Mike had put a docile Micheal into his crib and he rested there quietly, I finished rocking Sophie for a couple of minutes and went to put her down. Michael stood up and shouted, "My turn! Michael rock!" Now, this whole situation bugs the heck out of me. We were to a point for a good long while where we could put both kids in their cribs fully awake and they would calmly go to sleep on their own. The rocking, the protesting, the giving up and snuggling on the couch, all of this makes me search for when some enormous failure occured. I've pinpointed daylight savings last spring. Seriously, I think that's when it began! In a period of adjustment Michael started asking for milk from his crib, we gave it to him on the couch, the summer routine fueled the fire, and here we are.

As Michael yelled to be rocked, I thought of an article that I read in a parenting magazine a while back (can't remember which one and I no longer have it).  It was an idea for getting kids to sleep without crying it out and extending their patience in the process.  While I'm aware of the research on the damaging effects of extended periods of crying, I'm not one to wag my finger at letting babies cry on occasion.  In fact, after a phase of sickness and teething got baby Michael in the habit of midnight snuggles, I followed my gut and let him cry for a couple of nights.  It did the trick, and I'm not worried at all.  However, letting him cry has not helped our current struggles, and I'm not going to push it.  Because it was Dr. Harvey Karp (Mr. Happiest Baby on the Block) presenting this "patience stretching" method, I took note.  I mean, what would we have done without the five S's back in the days of newborn twins?  Gone completely insane, most likely.

With that article in mind I went Michael standing in his crib and turned on his seahorse for its warm light and comforting sounds.  I talked to him for a little bit in whispers so as not to disturb Sophie as she dozed.  I had him point out who and what was in his crib with him--monkey, seahorse, blanket, pillow, trying to help him feel less alone and unhappy in his crib.  He was clearly soothed by having a sort of visitor.

At this point I was also reminded of a time when Michael was an infant and it was approaching naptime.  He was crying, my mom was holding him, and she started making faces to get a smile.  At first I was anxious that he was going to get too stimulated to sleep, but he almost immediately relaxed toward dreamland.  I've kept that moment in mind for the last two years, remembering that getting a smile from Michael is possibly essential to getting him to sleep.

Following Dr. Karp's advice, I then told Michael that I had to go give Daddy a kiss and that I would be back in two minutes.  He said, "Ok, Mama" with a smile.  The article suggested going back in again and again but at longer and longer intervals out of the room until the kid can resist sleep no longer.

After a few minutes I went back in, but I brought a soft book and read it to Michael in a whisper.  I then asked him if he wanted to hold the book while I went to give Daddy a hug.  Again, Michael was in full agreement.  (If your mind is like my husband's, you might need me to express that this method does not include progressively affectionate experiences for "Daddy."  Dr. Karp's advice only involved kisses.)

Five minutes later I could hear Micheal quietly "reading" the first book aloud (a book version of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"), and I went in one more time with another book. After five minutes alone with the second book, Michael was silent, and I knew he was out.  No rocking, no protests, no tears for the first time in a long time.

I did this again the next night, and it worked again.  The third night, however, I was coming down with a cold and got into a soothingly hot shower when I thought the coast was clear.  Mike was out picking up some carry-out (I know, we do that too often).  When I came out of the shower, I could hear Michael screaming from his crib and knew the method had been blown for the evening.  Out to the couch we went again.

That was last night.  We're trying this "patience stretching" thing again, but Sophie has gotten into the routine now.  She saw me give a book to Michael and wanted one, and on my first departure she pushed her window blinds up to reveal to both of them that at 7:15 in September, it's still daytime.  Now Michael is quietly moaning, not in his happy almost sleeping state.  Sophie is silent, probably dozing.  We'll see where this goes, and hopefully it's not the couch. 

UPDATE: It did go to the couch.  Mike and I took turns holding our boy for 15 minutes or so until he asked to go to bed.  Not a terrible routine, but it doesn't feel right.

Here's a question for any experienced mama reading this.  Do you think we should get the sleep protests under control before switching to toddler beds, or are we wasting effort since that's likely to throw us into a bedtime tailspin anyway?  Please share any advice below!

Maybe I should read Happiest Toddler on the Block?

Summer Sleep

Since the big good-bye, Michael and Sophie haven't requested their pacies much at all.  It was just a gazillion times during that first rough naptime and a couple of times when they've been super upset about something throughout the day, which hasn't gotten them a paci since before they were one. It really only took a couple of sleeps for them to get over their precious pacies.

Around 1 PM on Tuesday, two days into paci-free life, I sent Mike a text along the lines of "Naptime has gone better than it has in weeks!" I relished in that victory...until bedtime when things went back to the same struggles we were facing long before the paci tree entered our lives.

For most of their post-newborn lives, Sophie and Michael have gone down for naps and bedtimes like champs.  Things have gotten tricky with colds and teething here and there, but we've gotten back on track, occasionally with the assitance of novelties like the Twilight Turtle and Fisher Price seahorses.  We've always had a good routine that typically ends with the kids going into their cribs drowsy but awake and silently going to sleep.  Mike and I close their door behind us feeling like champion parents with remarkable children (and have been known to high-five). That's the life.

However, since summer began, the kids' sleep has gone a bit wonky.   A number of things could have played a part.

• On vacation during that first week, the kids struggled to go down for naps and bedtimes in their Pack and Plays and needed lots of snuggles and a little crying to get to sleep. 
• They've been sleeping in (as have I...gloriously) until 7:00, 7:30, or even 8:00 a.m instead of waking at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. as Mike and I both get ready for work during the school year. 
• While I've tried to stay respectful of naps and schedule our summer days around them, often the kids fall asleep mid-morning while running errands in the car.  Because of this and waking up later than normal, their regular naps have ended up later, shorter, or completely out the window.
• Mike and I have tried to find a balance between flexibility and consistency with bedtimes this summer, all things above considered.  Sometimes we start the routine at 6:30 p.m. like during the school year, but pushing it to 7:00, 7:30, or even 8:00 p.m. has seemed appropriate at times. 
• Even with those adjustments (or perhaps because of them) we've given in to a lot of rocking for Sophie and an extra sippy of milk in the living room for Michael when they just don't go the f*** to sleep.

You can see why, with things already pretty goofy, we figured we might as well throw some paci-withdrawal into the mix.
Pleasantly, a couple of nights ago after rocking her for a couple of minutes, Sophie willingly went into her crib when I offered her the small pillow that I made for the rocking chair. She slept beautifully. Last night was the same.

On those same nights, Michael came back out to the living room with me (Sophie hasn't seemed to mind), snuggled with me for half an hour,  declared "All done!" and happlily let me put him back in his crib. He slept great as well.

If this is how the next couple of weeks have to go, I'll take it!  I'm hopeful that once school starts back up again and the kids and I are up at a ridulously early more consistent time each day, things will fall back into place that much more.

One incredibly notable point is that not once in over a week have we had to go into the kids' room in the middle of the night to hunt for a dropped paci by the light of a Twilight Turtle.  After doing that for almost 2.5 years, Mike and I are up for a few new sleep challenges here and there.

The Third Summer

The first summer was an extension of my maternity leave, an ongoing cycle of eating, playing, and sleeping that now leaves me remembering that time primarily as a joyous hibernation.  I started this blog that summer to help me take it all in.

Last summer we had one-year-old walkers.  With official toddlers on our hands, we played outside more, became brave enough to vacation, and worked to transition out of breastfeeding and down to one nap. 

When they return to their child care center in late August, Michael and Sophie will likely go into a transitional (gulp) preschool classroom. Seriously, that made me take a deep breath.  As they continue to grow from toddlers to little kids, there are a couple changes that we will embark upon in the remaining eight weeks or so of this third summer: potty training and ditching the pacifiers. 

I know it's getting way past time to have tossed the paci's already (they're two--26 months old), but since the kids only use them for sleeping, it just hasn't seemed worth the trouble of upsetting bedtimes just to meet some expectation of what is "normal."  Still, I do have the goal of getting rid of those suckers (pun sort of intended) before late August.

As far as the potty issue, we have two matching potty seats that the kids have sat on a few times without diapers but that are mostly stacked, unstacked, and stood on when Micheal and Sophie come to the bathroom with me.  We also have a toilet seat with a little one on the inside on the real toilet.  Michael has sat happily on there as well, but Sophie is not a fan.  Throw in the collapsable step stools (love those) that we currently use for brusha-brusha time, and we're...almost prepared.  We need some training pants, eventually big-boy and big-girl undies that I plan to have Michael and Sophie pick out, and maybe a chart and stickers.  But even once we have all the stuff, are we all reeeeeally ready?

Based on this article from the Mayo Clinic, Michael and Sophie are pretty much there.  However, I have yet to have seen a dry diaper in the morning, and there have been a few poopy ones recently.  I feel like I should wait for that before I give this a real go.

I'm also not certain of my method.  Will we just go to training pants and set a timer for every thirty minutes?  I've heard one mom say calling the timer the "potty fairy" worked pretty well since then it's not just mommy saying it's time to put down the toys and sit on the potty...again.  Maybe we should do that 3-day naked weekend potty training thing?

I don't know.  I do want to start this summer since I'm home with the kids, and playing outside makes accidents less of a thing, but obviously I still have some homework to do.

If you have any advice, as always, feel free to share!

So far so good!

This morning Sophie and Michael napped in the car on the way to a local art fair.  With a couple of stops on the way during which I ran errands while Mike manned the nap mobile, the drive was about an hour.  Right now, at 6:27 p.m., both toddlers are sound asleep after a smooth bed time. 

It occurred to me that the last two nights that I didn't have to hold Sophie for hours until she conked out were Monday and Tuesday.  On Monday we drove to visit family during the morning nap, and the drive is one hour.  On Tuesday I turned off the sound machine at 10 a.m. knowing Michael and Sophie would wake so I could get them ready for an outdoor kids' concert.  They had gone to sleep at 9 a.m. as usual. 

So I feel confident tonight's success isn't a fluke.  One hour morning naps seem to produce easy bed times.  Please don't prove me wrong tomorrow, buddies!

Time to drop the morning nap?

When I return to my classroom in the fall, Sophie and Michael will return to their child care center.  They will be in the toddler room where there is only one nap, so at some point this summer I plan to drop the morning one.  I've just been waiting for some signs from them that it's time.

Both Michael and Sophie go down great for their two naps.  When one or both of them start getting sleepy at around 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., I turn on their sound machine, change their diapers, put on their sleep sacks, and lay them in their cribs.  They stare up calmly as I leave the room and silently sleep for at least an hour and a half for both the morning and afternoon naps. 

Lately, however, Michael has been waking up in the middle of his afternoon nap, and Sophie has been struggling with going to sleep at night.  I think what's happening is a sort of domino effect.  They typically sleep for two hours in the morning.  I'm thinking this makes Michael wake up early in the afternoon, cuts Sophie's afternoon sleep short as a result, and leads her to be overtired by bedtime (already pretty early at 6 p.m.). 

I'm planning to shorten the morning nap to one hour tomorrow to see if that helps Michael sleep better in the afternoon and Sophie go down at night.  Perhaps this will also get them to sleep later in the morning.  Michael has not gotten the message that we don't have to get up at 5:30 a.m. during the summer.  Wish us luck!

If you're another parent looking for sleep advice, I've found this blog pretty helpful.  It's based on On Becoming Babywise, the book that details the eat-play-sleep approach.  I also like Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child which puts a lot of emphasis on daytime sleep impacting nighttime sleep and supports letting babies cry at night to encourage self-soothing.  When Michael and Sophie are both healthy and not teething, we've put that philosophy to work with great results.

Road trippers!

Our trip out east at the end of June included two days on the road there, a day at Mike's family reunion in Massachusetts, breakfast with the family, and two days on the road back.  We looked into flying, especially since Michael and Sophie could fly for free for ten more months, but we decided to drive in order to save a little money (trust me, we really did the math) and bring along plenty of gear. 

As tentative as I was to spend a total of 24 hours in the car keeping two 14-month-olds comfortable and entertained, the thought of a family road trip did appeal to my sense of adventure.  When I discovered that the Niagara area where Mike and I vacationed a couple of years ago was a good half-way point to stop, the journey looked even more enticing.  I found an affordable Hilton Garden Inn right off the expressway and a short drive from downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake, an area we knew my mother-in-law would love with its Victorian charm.   With an another affordable but sophisticated hotel (Holiday Inn Express) to stay at in Massachusetts, the trip came together nicely.

Luckily my father-in-law took plenty of fantastic pictures on the trip including the ones in NOTL below.  As many strangers have pointed out over the last year, I tend to have my hands full!  I created photobooks from his pictures and mine that we'll be sharing with family members, so I'm holding off on posting reunion pictures at least until they've been shared privately.

Our trip went smoothly (we hardly missed a beat getting a tire repaired on the way back) and was enjoyable for all.  We were even able to take the babies to the beach and swimming for the first time in the hotel pool (the next post will have pictures) in NOTL.  Most importantly, we made some great memories with family including Mike's parents who caravanned with us for the whole trip and Mike's brother and sister-in-law who flew to out MA from Minneapolis.  Introducing Michael and Sophie to their extended family, especially their great-grandparents, was also very special.

Here are some tips for travelling on the road with young toddlers that worked well for us:

• Plan driving around the usual daily sleep and eating schedule, and expect to stop every couple of hours.
• Pack lots of snacks, sippy cups, and small bowls for serving.
• Bring portable foods for meals like bananas, jars, pouches, and milk boxes to cut down on unhealthy and expensive meals on the road.
• Buy Tiny Diner portable placemats if you haven't already.
• Bring a variety of toys for the car and some bigger ones for the hotel.
• Don't forget the lullabye CD's, especially the ones that are already familiar.
• If the kids are in captain's chairs in the middle of a minivan facing the rear, strap a laptop in the very backseat with a seatbelt for an emergency DVD (Baby Einstein's Baby McDonaldwas our pick).  I also sat back there occasionally, and they seemed to appreciate the visits.
• Pick a hotel on the way that offers entertainment for all to add to the vacation experience.
• Get the kids used to Pack and Plays at least during naps the week before if they're not already comfortable in them; bring extra sheets just in case.
• Create a sleep environment similar to home.  For us that meant bringing sleep sacks and the sound machine.
• Keep the diaper bag stocked with the fundamentals at all times for those many stops.
• Let your type A tendencies run wild in order to keep it all organized along the way.  I used a bunch of reusable shopping bags and nicknamed them "the kitchen,"the playroom," and "the nursery" to keep everything straight. 
• Buy a Chysler Town and Country.  It made our trip very comfortable!

Life in the seventh month

It's been a while since I've mentioned what the babies are up to, so here goes...

Both babies have been sitting up unassisted.  We still set their Boppys at their hips on occasion just in case they get tired, forgetful, or unexpectely wobbly.

Due to the above, there have been a few instances when Mike or I have had to kiss a bumped head, repeat "you're ok" a couple of times, and find distractions for a startled baby (they're always on carpet and a soft blanket, so any pain has hopefully been minor).  One of their daycare teachers pointed out a tiny bump on Michael's head one day that was due to a tumble, and I asked if she thought we should be concerned.  She smiled, shook her head, and said the more mobile babies bump their heads pretty regularly, and he seemed just fine.  I certainly don't love seeing my babies experience any pain, but they can't have Boppys around themselves forever, right?

Both babies also loooooove standing up.  My mom was trying to help them learn to lay back without banging their heads and showed me this little game they played.  She laid Sophie on her back, gave her her thumbs to grab, and lifted her into a sitting then a standing position.  She then slowly guided her back on her butt and then back to laying down.  We've done this a lot with both babies, and at this point they both push right past that sitting part and love looking at the world completely upright.  Their faces show such pride when we do this!

Our house is filled with giggles lately as well.  Combine the standing up game and a rendition of "Who let the dogs out? Woof, woof, woof, woof-woof!" while bouncing his arms to the beat and you'll hear Michael's.  See the last post for Sophie's.

Michael and Sophie have progressed from sharing one jar of baby food in the morning to getting three meals of solids a day.  At this point in a day we go through about nine small baby food jars.  To help with the cost and just because he's that kind of dad, Mike has been making some food for them as well (avacado, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, and so on).  This book has been really helpful for this phase.

The babies still nurse four times a day at around 6:00 a..m., 11 a.m. (I pump on work days), 3:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.  Do you notice what is now missing?  They no longer eat during the night.  They still wake up needing pacifiers, back rubbing, and general soothing back to sleep here and there, but that 2:00 a.m. feeding appears to be history.  As crazy as it probably sounds, especially since working our way out of that feeding has been a big goal of mine, it makes me a little sad that my babies have grown to this point. Sad, but a little less sleepy.

On a similar note, Mike and I now trade off on baby duty on a nightly basis.  We used to divide the night in half, but lately it's made more sense to take it night by night.  Now that there's no feeding involved, we both stand a good chance of getting a full night's sleep with this arrangement.  It hasn't happened for me yet, as I still wake most of the time whenever they do, but that night is near, I'm sure!  (I should do a post on all the lies we've told ourselves along the way...)

Michael and Sophie play in a more traditional sense these days.  They push buttons and swiches on musical, light-flashing toys.  They love their stacking rings, and suck on them, bang them together, and are getting some experience with sharing.  Peek-a-boo style games crack them up, especially when the game is with him- or herself in a mirror.

The most heartwarming development over the last month or so is that Sophie and Michael have really noticed each other.  It took a long time, but these days they are big fans of one another.  When they catch glimpses of each other after being apart to sleep, they usually smile and squeal in ways that seem reserved only for themselves.  When laying together in a crib or sitting face to face to play, they reach for each other, swat their arms with excitement, babble back and forth, and show us that these former wombmates really share a special bond.

The 4-month wakeful period ain't no joke!

Sophie is the champion sleeper she's been all along.

Michael, however, has been very, very, very wakeful.

For a couple of months both babies had been sleeping from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m. when they woke for a feeding and then sleeping again until 7 a.m.  Recently, however, Michael's been waking up more during the night again. 

We've suspected teething as the culprit since both babies have become little drool monsters, but he doesn't seem to be in pain.  Usually I go in and he smiles up at me, takes his paci, and I rub the top of his head until he zonks out again. 

Over the last week or so, though, it's gotten trickier.  He's been waking up every.single.hour.  Not only am I feeling like the sleep-deprived mother of a newborn again, but I know this is rough on Michael (I've been letting Mike sleep through this for the most part).  It's probably keeping Michael from getting those deep Z's needed for development. So, as is typical, I've been stressing over it a bit.

Consulting my sleep books and message boards once again, most of what we've been doing has been confirmed as "right."  I get them down for naps after less than two hours of awake time.  I feed them in dark, quiet spaces, especially for that middle of the night feeding.  In general, we've been respectful to Sophie and Michael's need for routine sleep.

I did, however, find some things we could be doing better.  Here's what I'm working on:

1.  Making sure they're eating enough at each feeding.  They're getting curious about the world and tend to stop eating to smile at me, look toward any sound they hear, and feel around for anything in their reach, particularly each other's ears and noses.  I'm giving them more attempts to finish like I did when they were newborns learning to feed.  This way I know they're not underfed if they awake crying.

2. Pushing them to take longer naps.  Good sleep during the day, as we know, gets better sleep at night.  Unknowingly, though, I've been giving in to the "45-minute intruder" and getting them from their naps too soon.  My favorite tip:  a well rested baby wakes up happy, and one who needs to keep napping cries. So far soothing them back to sleep even during the day is going well--over the last two days they're up to two hours for both their morning and afternoon naps!   Oh, the projects I could have finished if I'd known this was possible sooner...

3.  Being less reactionary when they do wake up.  I'm not ready to give "crying it out" a try and hope to avoid it.  I definitely can't listen to them cry right now wondering if they think I no longer love them (even just for increasing five minute intervals) with returning to work so close on the horizon.  I'm plagued by enough self-inflicted torment.  What I am willing to do is give them more time before I go in to help them get back to sleep.  A couple of times in the last two days they've settled themselves back into naps when given the chance.

I've really only made a strong effort to improve Michael's sleep over the last two days.  He had a tough time going to sleep last night (I ended up feeding him an extra time), but he slept for longer spans.  Mike deserves credit for finally getting Michael to slip into unconsciousness last night.  After going at the current late night disruptions alone, mistakenly thinking this temporary bump would smooth out easily and soon, Mike and I have had to team up again a little better...and what better timing than just before I join the early rising workforce again?

Hopefully we'll get through this 4-month wakeful thing without developing any new bad habits (like routinely feeding an extra time at night...) and without adding too much to my already blossoming mommy guilt!

Gearing up for going back

I took the babies in to visit their child care center again today after visiting last week for about an hour and a half.  On that day Sophie and Michael met two of their three caregivers, drank expressed milk from their bottles, and had some floor time with their new, gigantic friends.  The other babies currently in the infant room are all six months or older, sitting up, crawling, and occasionally tackling anyone in their paths.  Sophie and Michael did great that day with all of that excitement and even better today.

I planned today's visit so the babies would be ready for a nap while there, and they both slept for about 30 minutes in their assigned cribs.  Those aren't very long naps, but I'm thrilled Michael and Sophie were comfortable enough to fall asleep, even with the noise of their classmates playing just outside a curtained wall.  Sophie was a little unhappy when I first put her down in her crib, but in her Swaddle Me with her hands at her face like she likes and with a little soothing she dozed off.  Michael fell asleep in his primary caregiver's arms, but he woke up when transferred to the crib (pretty typical of him).  He didn't really fuss, just stared up at us with big, bright eyes, telling us that method just wasn't gonna fly.  I sat in a rocker with him, patted his back like we do at home, and Michael too drifted off.  He didn't stir at all, even with all the noise nearby, when I wrapped him in his Miracle Blanket in his crib.

I hung out with the three caregivers and the other babies while Sophie and Michael slept and felt a little nostalgic for my own child care work experience.  I worked for two years at a similar center in high school and college.  I started there as an assistant in the front office but spent most of my days there as a travelling sub and summer camp teacher.  By the time I left to work privately for a local family, I knew every kid and family there, was a highly requested sub in the building, and I knew I wanted my kids to go to a center like that one day. 

As much as I cringe at the portion of our income that will go to Sophie and Michael's center, I'm glad it is one with educated and professional caregivers and where they emphasize play-based learning, age appropriate curriculum, and lesson planning even at the infant level.  The super cool playground and organic meals that Sophie and Michael will enjoy soon enough also make us happy with our choice.  The fact that this is the only center in our area open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. allowing me to drop off before work when necessary is also key.  I've considered in-home centers and nannies, but I'm most comfortable with the flexibility, reliability, and professionalism of this option. 

When the babies woke up, I fed them again from bottles to get them used to eating that way there.  We left shortly after that, stopping in at the front office to confirm the details of their enrollment.  They'll be attending three days a week with my mom coming to care for them at home on the other two.  Generally with twins there's a rate for the first child and a discounted one for the second (like with any siblings), but back when we visited in December I negotiated to get the discounted daily rate for both.  It's not a huge savings, but every little bit helps!  I left today knowing that when I'm sitting through a full day of professional development back at work, as much as I'll long to be with my little buddies, I'll be able to fully picture what they're experiencing and will breathe easy...probably.

Back at home, Sophie and Michael have been napping quite a bit, making up for what they lost at the center.  I took advantage of that time to goof around on FB, return some emails, blog, and....watch my DVR'd episodes of General Hospital.  They did a sort of retrospective on Soapnet last night to gear viewers up for the return of Brenda today. 

Having spent several hours in a child care center and then some time watching GH from 1997, I'm feeling a bit like a time traveller.

Baptized Buddies

Michael and Sophie were baptized yesterday.

When we returned to my parents' house for a luncheon, I fed the babies, and they fell into their milk coma pose, made even sweeter by their white attire.

(They're on their EZ 2 Nurse pillow on either side of my waist.)

Like I did before getting married in a Catholic church, I did some soul-searching before the baptism.  I was raised Catholic, but I don't really identify with the religion beyond that.  I know it's not uncommon for people like myself to participate partially in a religion, but I was raised to see that as inappropriate.  For a long time I felt it was best for me to let go of my connection to my family's religion completely, but starting my own family has made me question that total separation.

The conclusion I've come to is that the line between faith and culture is a little blurry when it comes to religion.  Although Mike and I don't really practice any religion, we'd like to share some aspects of Catholicism with Sophie and Michael since it is a part of their family's culture.  Getting married in a church and having the babies baptized were not givens for us, and where we go from here is something we'll continue to feel our way through, hoping our openly one foot in/one foot out approach isn't terribly offensive to the truly faithful.

I've spent time with both my mom and my mother-in-law since the babies were born discussing our beliefs, and I feel they fully respect my appreciation for my religious upbringing and what my spirituality looks like today (there's certainly more to it than what I'm sharing here).  Mike and I chose our moms as the babies' godmothers - my mom for Sophie, Gail for Michael - since they will naturally model the faith for the babies.  We were pleased to learn that Gail's Grammie was her godmother as well.  My brother Joe is Sophie's godfather and Jeff (Mike's best friend since childhood) is Michael's.  We know these two guys love our babies deeply, they know our values well, and they will always be part of Sophie and Michael's lives.  Our babies are lucky to have these four people as their godparents. 

Although Mike woke up with a miserable summer cold yesterday, we enjoyed the ceremony and the gathering with family and my mom's church friends afterwards. My aunts Rose and Janet came down from Marysville, and my Aunt Sharon and cousin Gary drove in from Pennsylvania. Aunt Sharon mentioned that it was hard for her to imagine my mom as a grandmother, my brother as an uncle, me as a mom and so on. Gary called it the changing of the guard. These gatherings help us all to see the joy and changes that Sophie and Michael have brought to our family. I found myself really looking forward to the holidays!

I keep finding myself too preoccupied with the babies to get many pictures at events like this, but here are a few I did manage to get.

Today's walk was sponsored by...

the ladies of MHS!  Thanks again, co-workers.  This stroller  (Baby Jogger City Mini Double) turns like a dream, rolls over big bumps in the sidewalk smoothly, and the seats fully recline for my little nappers!

I still love the used Double Snap and Go that our carseats snap into and will continue to use it for adventures outside of the neighborhood for as long as we can.  (With Graco Snugride 35's, that will be when the babies are 35 inches or 35 pounds.)  We've also taken the DSNG for many walks around the neighborhood since Sophie and Michael were newborns in need of the support of their carseats.

We made use of the DSNG just last night when we went out for pizza and walked to get ice cream.

 However, last week a power outage left us without a sound machine for the babies or a DVR for me, and two consecutive nap times were spent on two long walks.  I decided that day that the DSNG wasn't really meant for the bumps and turns of our neighborhood sidewalks, and since the babies are bigger it was time to break out the fancy schmancy stroller my co-workers gave us at our baby shower.  

Today was it's maiden voyage, and it was smooooooth.