That beautiful day a week ago where both girls slept 10-12 hours is a thing of the past. The last few days Juliette has been waking up once every hour or two and Lily hasn't been going down until 9-10 pm. Lily is sleeping through the night though right now which is great because it allows me to take care of Juliette so I'm hoping it's just a fluke. Neither of them are napping well either. Hopefully I can get it under control soon.
Ben's mom came into town last Friday so that she could be here for Maia's birthday party. It was a lovely party - I baked the Elmo cake and it turned out really great! I was up until 1 decorating it but it was worth it. It was really great to see everyone and to have Laurine (Ben's mom) there for the party. Maia thought it was all pretty cool. Ben and I gave her a kid's kitchen which we just set up last night and I think she likes it. It took us about 5 hours to put the darn thing together though so I sure hope she enjoys playing with it. Anyway, Laurine left today. It was nice to have her around during the day Monday and Tuesday because she could help with the kids but Maia was pretty sad to see her go.
Maia's last day of daycare was last Thursday. They made her a poster with all the kids' handprints on them and wrote some really nice messages to Maia. They love her there and really want her to come back in the spring. We'll see what happens. Anyway, she is doing good at home so far. She really loves cuddling up with a book which is a rare treat because it means that both babies are sleeping or otherwise occupied. I love it too because so much of our day is spent being active it's nice to be able to just hold my little girl and read her a story or two.
I'm praying that I get some more consecutive sleep tonight. It is 11 pm already and I know I should be in bed but I cherish the quiet time too much. I just got Lily down about 30 minutes ago and we gave Juliette some Tylenol tonight and so far she seems to be sleeping better than the last few nights. Maybe something was bothering her?
I'll try to update a bit more frequently. Time gets away from me these days!
I can't believe that my baby is two years old today. I remember the day before she was born and how Ben and I went to Stillwater and ate spicy Mexican and ice cream. I remember waking up at 1 am with contractions not sure that's what they were. I remember pushing for 3 hours. I remember taking forever to decide her name. (If we hadn't picked Maia she would have been Lily!) I remember 12 weeks of awfulness as we worked through oversupply and overactive letdown issues with nursing. I remember the screaming and I remember having to bounce endlessly on an exercise ball since that was the only thing that would calm her down. I remember the first smiles and laughs. I remember crying the first day we brought her to daycare and how it was okay after that. I remember when she first crawled/pulled up/walked. I remember her first tooth and the sleepless nights. So many milestones...boy has she come a long way since then and I'm excited for the new adventures ahead.
Happy birthday my sweet girl. I love you!
Oh, and as a present to me Lily and Juliette slept 10 and 12 hours straight last night! Woohoo! They're probably saying "I'm 6 months old today and look what I can do!" I slept terribly of course but if they keep this up then maybe someday soon I'll no longer have bags under my eyes!
Tomorrow is Maia's last day at daycare then she's home permanently. I know she'll miss the kids and teachers there and I know they'll miss her. Ben brought in cupcakes today to celebrate her birthday and told me that she was all smiles as the kids sang to her. That's gotta be pretty exciting for a little kid!
I haven't discussed much what has been going on with work because up until a couple of weeks ago I wasn't sure. Ben and I have finally made the decision that the right move for our family right now is for me to stay home with the girls. We started transitioning Maia home last week (she stayed home Monday and Friday) and this week she's stayed home yesterday and is doing half days today, tomorrow and Thursday and then she's home for good.
It's bittersweet because I really enjoyed working at Target. I'd been there for 6 years and have met a lot of really wonderful people. I'm sad to leave but also optimistic about the new adventures ahead. I think that it will be hard - probably the hardest job I'll ever do but who can say that staying home and watching your children grow up and knowing that you had a huge influence on who they become isn't worth it?
I don't think I'll stay home forever because I really do enjoy working. I would like to be here until the girls are at least adjusted age 1 and preferably not nursing anymore so we'll see where that brings us.
Juliette has found her thumb. She's found it before but now she can get it in her mouth whenever she wants with no trouble at all and it's made sleep turn magical!
Now when she's tired I can lay her down in her crib --AWAKE-- and she'll stick that thumb in and fall right asleep. The only issues we have are when she flips to her belly (she prefers sleeping on her belly) she can't get back and she has a bit more difficulty finding the thumb in that position but when she does she's golden. Last night was the first night that she slept in her crib instead of the swing so we're making some serious progress with her! When she's awake nowadays too she's happy. She squeals a lot and it's very very loud but still very cute.
Lily is doing all right. Ben and I were concerned about her this week because she's seemed extra uncomfortable and has been complaining a lot when we lay her down so today I took her to the doctor. I thought maybe she had an ear infection or something else to explain the uncomfortableness but the doctor didn't find anything. Their 6 month appointment is October 3 so I'll talk more to their regular doctor about it and hopefully we'll figure out what is going on. Otherwise, she's still sleeping in her swing and is still up a good amount at night (especially the second half) so hopefully that will get better soon.
Oh, the other good sleep piece of news is that they're been going to bed earlier! Juliette today was asleep by 7:30 and Lily by 8. Progress!
Tomorrow Maia is staying home with us again so hopefully I can make things fun and interesting enough for her. We took a long walk on Friday which was lovely and Maia really enjoyed it so maybe we'll do that again.
My parents came over for dinner this evening and we had a nice time. As usual, Maia took some time to warm up to them but at the end of the evening everything was "Grandma! Grandpa! Hi!" and she was really excited that they were there. Grandma Laurine comes into town on Friday for Maia's birthday party so it'll be great to have her around as well to help keep Maia busy.
So Maia stayed home with the girls and me on Monday. It went okay. I wouldn't say great but it wasn't too bad either. She was in a pretty decent mood so that obviously helps! We read stories, baked brownies, and did laundry. It got more difficult when the girls were fussy or hungry because I of course then had to feed or sooth them and Maia really wants my attention all the time. When Ben left for the day she got very confused and wondered why she wasn't going "bye bye" with daddy but I resorted to watching Elmo and she perked right back up. I feel kind of bad because she really loves to go outside and do things but the way things are right now is that the babies nap on opposite schedules (not that they really have a set schedule yet) it's difficult to find the time to go. I need to come up with some more independent activities for her to do so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know!
Stacy and Finn came over on Tuesday and it was great to see them. Finn is getting so big! It's reassuring to see him and know how far he's come since he was born at 26 weeks.
I'm starting to plan Maia's birthday party. I'm going to try my hand at making a cake so we'll see how that goes! It's an Elmo cake since Elmo is her favorite character right now. I bought an Elmo mold and some tips for decorating and making his fur look like fur. Hopefully it'll turn out great.
Tomorrow Amanda, Ivy and Jamey are going to come over for awhile. I'm looking forward to it!
Well, it appears that I spoke too soon. Now they they can roll so well, they've decided that they need to wake up hourly and won't go back down unless nursed. So it's been a rough few nights. Even though Juliette is sleeping in her swing at bedtime still, she wakes up wanting to roll. When I put her in her crib in he middle of the night, she's still up in an hour because she can only roll to her belly, not back to her back. I can't wait until this milestone is over and we can all get some sleep again!
Maia was a bear this morning. So much whining! She'd say "all done" with something and then when you take it away she throws a complete tantrum. She did better this afternoon after her nap (thank goodness) so we all went out to Rosedale Mall and got her some new shoes and winter boots at Stride Rite. I love their stuff! These shoes light up when she walks - gimmicky I know but they're still pretty cute.
I'm starting to get anxious for Monday. Maia is going to stay home with me and the girls so we'll see how that goes. I'm so paranoid that she's going to be whiny and clingy and bored so I need to come up with some activities to keep everyone happy. The girls are a handful on their own!
Anyway, the hour is up and so is Juliette so I better do something about that. I did have a bit of time to myself this evening before they woke to do bills and it feels good to have that done. Whew!
Yesterday was our Early Childhood Intervention meeting. Our teacher, Lindsay came over and she brought our physical therapist (who we had yet to meet) Lin. They were very impressed with the girls and said that they're right on track and even ahead for their adjusted age of 3 months. Lin commented how round Juliette's head was and that she must spend a lot of time on her belly - not true but I'm happy to hear that! I asked if there was anything we should be working on with the girls and they said that there really isn't anything right now that we can help them do but they did reassure me that there's no such thing as too much floor time. This is great because the girls spend a lot of time on the floor! They're getting really strong!
A new development is that yesterday Juliette decided that she can't be outdone by Lily so she's started rolling from her back to her belly also. Yesterday and today when I went in her room to get her from her naps she was on her stomach. The problem is that she can't figure out how to get back onto her back yet so she gets mad pretty fast. Hopefully she'll get it out pretty quickly.
The "Nap Nanny" has arrived. I'm praying that it helps Lily be less uncomfortable for her naps and bedtime so that she sleeps longer. She does well at night (last night she didn't wake up until 4 am then again at 7:30) but she sleeps very restlessly during most of her naps. She's in it now so we'll see!
Now that I think about it, the weekend wasn't really that busy since we mostly stayed home but it was loud so I think I equate that with busy! On Saturday afternoon we packed up and headed over to Ron and Kathryn's (brother and sister-in-law) house. Kathryn made a wonderful dinner to celebrate Ben's belated birthday (back in August) and we all shared some Dairy Queen ice cream cake. Yum yum! Maia and Annabelle (their daughter) had a great time playing together and Ron gave me a chiropractic adjustment since I've been having some back pain lately. Oh, and Ron and Kathryn are expecting Baby #2 in March so we're so excited for them!
Otherwise, Lorry and Emma came over for dinner last night, I got an eye exam and bought new glasses today and Maia had a multitude of meltdowns. It's completely amazing to me what sets her off these days. Sometimes she'll be such a sweetheart and sometimes...well, let's just say that I barely recognize her. I'm hoping that this is just a toddler stage and she'll grow out of it soon. It scares me that people say that 3 is worse than 2 because she's not even two yet and it's getting pretty ridiculous.
As far as twin news goes, last night Juliette slept from 8:30 pm - 6:45 am. I was in shock! She went back down after eating for a whole additional hour and I was just so excited. Lily of course was up more frequently but I was stoked that Juliette went that long. I think there's hope! I recall with Maia that she was up 3-4x/night still at this age but we also had the pacifier problem with her and we don't with the girls. As much as I'd love for them to take a binky sometimes, it sure makes it easier that they don't when nighttime comes. I know Juliette has found her thumb and I really don't care - I'm just going to go with it for now and say whatever works is fine with me.
Today Lily has been so uncomfortable. She's not sleeping well, she's rolling over and getting mad about it, she cries when she's nursing, she roots when she's not, and she's just been complaining non-stop. I wish there was something I could do for her to make her feel better.
Tomorrow is our Early Childhood Intervention appointment so I hope it goes well!
Wow, it doesn't seem like it was 5 days ago that I last updated! I'm sorry for slacking on the blog. I'd love to update more but a lot of what I have to say is pretty mundane and when I get a few minutes of downtime updating just hasn't been my priority.
So I mentioned that Lily is rolling over. A couple of days ago she rolled over and promptly fell asleep on her belly! I wasn't sure what to think about it but I was watching her and she's not in her crib yet at night anyway. She is rolling over a LOT. She seems to not be happy when she finally gets to her belly but she's not happy when you flip her back over either. I can't wait until this reflux and gas is done so she's not so uncomfortable all the time. Juliette seems content just to hang out on her back. She's not trying to roll over and while she's rolled belly to back a few times, she can't do it consistantly yet. It'll happen. She's pushing herself up on her hands though so that is great.
We have our Early Childhood Intervention teacher coming over on Tuesday of next week so I'm looking forward to see what they do with the girls. Maybe she'll show us some exercises that we can do with them or at least reassure us that they're doing well for their adjusted age.
Ben was lovely this evening and took all the monitors and I got to take a BATH. It was my first one in probably 6-7 months and before that since Maia was born I only had a handful. It was nice and relaxing and the girls didn't wake up once. Hallelujah!
Tomorrow we're going over to my brother and sister-in-law's house to belatedly celebrate Ben's birthday. We're looking forward to it - we always enjoy spending time with them and Maia will certainly be thrilled to play with Annabelle.
A bad piece of news is that I have lost my benefits at Target. I'm still employed (scheduled to go back on September 20) but apparently when you've been gone for 180 days the benefits are automatically terminated. Unfortunately, we had just started a legal case through our group legal program to do our wills so now we can't. More update later on what we've decided to do about work/daycare.
