Week 21

Thanks for the tips on my last post. The take-away I got from it re: naps is that we barely have a toe into the time when it's reasonable to expect any kind of routine and that one will likely emerge organically when the babies are ready for it, so I guess we'll just keep doing what we're doing for now. As far as crib-sharing... Message received. Keeping them together just feels right to me. I know it's not going to work long-term, but I haven't been able to make the switch just yet. So, stay tuned, I guess.

I had a little "a-ha" moment while reading my post back in which I realized that in the time it took me to declare my envy over Jackie's wonderful weekly updates, I could have written something about my own boys. Anything. Rather than spending time bemoaning how I don't have time to write a decent post or how much I loathe typing on my phone (which I really, really do), I should peck out a few lines here and there while nursing, as even something quick and dirty would be better than the nothing I'm documenting now. So, here goes. I doubt these posts will be interesting to anyone but me, but maybe someday, when the fog of sleeplessness clears, I'll be able to look back on them and conjure up some memory that I was actually there. :-)

(This week's is going to be longer than most, I suspect, thanks to TWO tandem naps in the last two days. Thanks, boys!)

We kicked this week off with a visit to the Cranial-Sacral Chiropractor as part of the never-ending quest to resolve our breastfeeding hurdles. (One of the many posts I haven't written: 2 nasty tongue-ties = prolonged breastfeeding difficulties.) The jury is still out, but I think there may be some improvement. We go again early next week. After the MD/IBCLC who lasered the boys' tongues told me not to cut their formula night caps out cold turkey, I've been very slowly stepping them down. We've dropped from 2-3oz. per night to 1oz each, and I'm hoping to wean them back off the formula altogether within the next week or two. Wish us luck!

On Friday, E helped me make a cake to celebrate M's birthday and... my, oh, my... it was a sight to behold! M's mom arrived that night to spend the weekend with us and we all went out Sunday to celebrate M's birthday. Highpoint of the outing: M beating several of our friends at one of those basketball free throw games in an arcade with G asleep in the K'tan on her chest. It was awesome. Also, we dressed all three boys in matching outfits for the first time (we were meeting a friend who had given them to us when C&G were born) and I have to admit, they were pretty stinking cute. If only I'd remembered to take a picture! On Monday, we met up with a blog-friend-turned-real-world-friend at a local coffee shop. It felt like one of my first real SAHM outings and it was really nice.

Sleep is going okay, save a couple of nights recently when C decided 1-3am was a good play time. We seem to have fallen into a fairly consistent rhythm: Start nursing around 8pm and transfer them to their beds when they finish between 9-10, up to nurse between 12-1, up again to nurse between 3-4, then up for the day around 7am. It varies from time to time (like the last two nights, where they dropped one feeding - only waking once between 1-2, and then sleeping through until 6-7) but nothing that has lasted more than a day or two yet. We are still waking the other baby when one wakes up to eat. We experimented with not doing that one night this week and all I did was nursnooze (yup, just made up that word) All. Night. Long.

Both boys weigh around 12.5 lbs. and are pushing up well now. G was struggling for awhile, but the chiro released something with his shoulders/collarbone that has made a HUGE difference in his ability to use his arms. C has pretty much mastered rolling front to back and both have rolled back to front once or twice, but neither do it consistently yet. Both are quite adept at grabbing objects (and bringing them to their mouths, of course) - G a little less so than C because of the shoulder issue, but he's catching up quickly now that his movement is less restricted. C's latest craze is the exersaucer and G has just started sitting alone in the bebe pod. Both are EXTREMELY vocal - C mostly in high-pitched shrieking (for pleasure, displeasure, and everything in between) and G in a wide variety of lower sounds. C also blows raspberries - adorable. They still sleep swaddled at night, but are busting out faster and with more regularity now. They are in cloth diapers all day (smalls and OSs on smallest setting) and disposables overnight. I just ordered our first package of size 2s on Am.azon yesterday. Clothing is mostly 3-6 months. They continue to be two of the sweetest, happiest babies I've ever met, and they lovelovelove their big brother!

So there's the scoop for this week. Hopefully this won't be the last post of its kind! ;-)