So the girls can sit up now like big girls. For about three to 30 seconds at least. And then they topple over. :)
Monday, December 30, 2013
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Babies' first Christmas!
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| My Christmas angels! |
This was our first year playing Santa. Confession: I wrapped up gifts I bought at the twin sale months ago that they haven't played with yet. And I filled their stockings with toys from the toy bin I bought used from Craigslist/twin sale. Sneaky, sneaky! I did, however, buy that giant pink elephant at Walgreens for $20. What a steal! True to what parents of young babies always say, they loved the wrapping paper best of all.
The past few days have been a whirlwind of various Christmas parties with extended family and lots and lots of food (#weightwatchersfail). The girls did so well. Brooklyn is a little more hesitant being handed over to strangers, but Bailey hams it up and turns on the charm. It was fun watching all the little kids on both sides of the family (second cousins too) run around and open gifts. Christmas is much more entertaining watching them play.
We got so many nice gifts for the girls. Keep a look out for new matching/coordinating outfits! Plus a variety of really fun toys that light up and make noise. Teethers. Monogrammed Disney blankets. Cute stuffed animals. Puppets. Socks. Headbands. Etc!
Video of girls playing with wrapping paper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAw6mRy4ItA
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| Barr/Beckwith second cousins |
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| Gregory/Barr Second Cousins |
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| Mackintosh/Barr second cousins |
Monday, December 23, 2013
Sleep regression is done!
Bailey is now sleeping soundly through the night again for the past week. No thanks to any of the many, many tricks I tried. I guess it just had to run its course.
Darren has shoulder surgery last week so things have been a little crazy. But he's doing really well - a lot better than either of us expected - so hopefully he'll be back in the swing of things quickly.
No time for a long post - holiday madness is upon us! Merry Christmas to all!
Darren has shoulder surgery last week so things have been a little crazy. But he's doing really well - a lot better than either of us expected - so hopefully he'll be back in the swing of things quickly.
No time for a long post - holiday madness is upon us! Merry Christmas to all!
Monday, December 16, 2013
Sleep, Naps and New Foods
The sleep issues continue. We have good nights and bad nights. And good naps and bad naps. I am a big fan of reading various articles and advice on the Internet and I keep getting two messages:
I've made progress the last three nights and I've been able to put both girls, awake, into cribs at night and they've fallen asleep without any rocking. Granted, I stay in the room and replace pacifiers for a few minutes, but they actually do pretty well. I tried the same thing for naps - Brooklyn does fine but Bailey still needs to be rocked sometimes. We are having a problem with the girls only napping for 20 minutes. Usually they will take at least one longer nap (seems to be the same at the babysitter's or at home). I've tried adding additional layers (right now they are sleeping/napping in a onesies, footed sleepers, and fleece sleep sacks without arms swaddled.)
Bailey is still struggling in her crib. For night time, she usually falls asleep in there but then wakes up about twenty minutes later for a pacifier replacement. And then continues waking up every twenty minutes until we switch her to the rock n play. I tried elevating her crib to see that would help but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
I found a really awesome website that's been helpful: http://www.troublesometots.com/
On the advice of this website, I am going to try putting them down and leaving the room instead of sitting in the rocking chair next to them. I think I might bring one of the swings into the nursery too for nap time. Somehow we will conquer this! Because I am tired. Though, Bailey slept from 11 pm till 7 am this morning without one wake up (in the rock n play of course). So she does have nights where there are no problems, and these wonderful nights allow me to catch up on much needed sleep.
They are doing really well with solids and we are up to two feedings a day. I stopped doing rice cereal since Bailey didn't seem to get along with it. Everything else has bee fine. So far they've eaten sweet potatoes, avocado, pears, apples and zucchini. I also made peas and squash for their next foods. I've also been giving them one ounce of apple juice a day which seems to help them poop better.
We took them this weekend to the Botanical Gardens. Which they both loved. Their little baby minds were blown away looking at all the Christmas lights and the plants. Nice little family trip before we enter survival mode after Darren's shoulder surgery on Wednesday.
- This is totally normal.
- It's time to let them cry it out. (oh how I dread this)
I've made progress the last three nights and I've been able to put both girls, awake, into cribs at night and they've fallen asleep without any rocking. Granted, I stay in the room and replace pacifiers for a few minutes, but they actually do pretty well. I tried the same thing for naps - Brooklyn does fine but Bailey still needs to be rocked sometimes. We are having a problem with the girls only napping for 20 minutes. Usually they will take at least one longer nap (seems to be the same at the babysitter's or at home). I've tried adding additional layers (right now they are sleeping/napping in a onesies, footed sleepers, and fleece sleep sacks without arms swaddled.)
Bailey is still struggling in her crib. For night time, she usually falls asleep in there but then wakes up about twenty minutes later for a pacifier replacement. And then continues waking up every twenty minutes until we switch her to the rock n play. I tried elevating her crib to see that would help but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
I found a really awesome website that's been helpful: http://www.troublesometots.com/
On the advice of this website, I am going to try putting them down and leaving the room instead of sitting in the rocking chair next to them. I think I might bring one of the swings into the nursery too for nap time. Somehow we will conquer this! Because I am tired. Though, Bailey slept from 11 pm till 7 am this morning without one wake up (in the rock n play of course). So she does have nights where there are no problems, and these wonderful nights allow me to catch up on much needed sleep.
They are doing really well with solids and we are up to two feedings a day. I stopped doing rice cereal since Bailey didn't seem to get along with it. Everything else has bee fine. So far they've eaten sweet potatoes, avocado, pears, apples and zucchini. I also made peas and squash for their next foods. I've also been giving them one ounce of apple juice a day which seems to help them poop better.
We took them this weekend to the Botanical Gardens. Which they both loved. Their little baby minds were blown away looking at all the Christmas lights and the plants. Nice little family trip before we enter survival mode after Darren's shoulder surgery on Wednesday.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
The mom with the chiseled abs four days post baby controversy
So everyone is in a big huff about the photo posted on Instragram by some fitness blogger who had "chiseled abs" four days post baby.
Full story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/caroline-berg-eriksen-post-baby_n_4377085.html?ir=Parents
Yeah, it's unrealistic for most women. But how awesome for her. I would be ecstatic if that's how I looked four days after a baby (um it wasn't. All the meds from the c-section actually made me swell up so bad I looked puffier than I did pregnant! Swollen scary Fred Flintstone feet for a week.) Really, I would be ecstatic to ever have abs like that, let alone after a baby. As long as her baby was healthy and her pregnancy was healthy, kudos to her. Just know that most of us won't have the same results. I trust that women will be smart enough to know they probably will not look like that so soon after delivering.
I think we are all missing the bigger point. Who takes selfies of themselves in bra and underwear and posts it to Instagram????? #annoying #lame
Here is my three days post two babies shot vs. skinny freak girl four day post baby selfie.
Full story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/caroline-berg-eriksen-post-baby_n_4377085.html?ir=Parents
Yeah, it's unrealistic for most women. But how awesome for her. I would be ecstatic if that's how I looked four days after a baby (um it wasn't. All the meds from the c-section actually made me swell up so bad I looked puffier than I did pregnant! Swollen scary Fred Flintstone feet for a week.) Really, I would be ecstatic to ever have abs like that, let alone after a baby. As long as her baby was healthy and her pregnancy was healthy, kudos to her. Just know that most of us won't have the same results. I trust that women will be smart enough to know they probably will not look like that so soon after delivering.
I think we are all missing the bigger point. Who takes selfies of themselves in bra and underwear and posts it to Instagram????? #annoying #lame
Here is my three days post two babies shot vs. skinny freak girl four day post baby selfie.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
6 month check up, shots and a scary high temp
They also got a bunch of shots, including the flu shot. Bailey wasn't feeling so great later that night so I gave her Motrin. I took her temp a few hours after giving her Motrin and she was at 101.9! Yikes. I called the doctor, and she said as long as she was still eating some of her bottle and not lethargic just to keep an eye on it. Thankfully she seemed much better this morning. And she only woke up once in the night at 3:30 am. Poor little baby!
Monday, December 2, 2013
An impressive Target purchase
Let me brag about the greatest purchase I've ever made at Target, in terms of saving a ton of money. On Black Friday, they gave me a coupon for 20 percent off an in-store purchase to be used Dec. 1 through Dec. 4. I knew immediately that I would be buying an obscene amount of formula and diapers with said coupon. And on Saturday that is exactly what I did.
I bought two boxes of pampers cruisers size 3 for $34.49 each. Target had a sale where if you purchase two you get a $20 gift card. Then I bought four Enamil formula refill tubes at $35.99 each. Target gave a $10 gift card for the purchase of two, so another $20 in gift cards. Then I had my 20 percent off coupon. Then I had three Enfamil coupons, one for $7, and two for $5 so another $17 off. THEN I used my Target card and this knocked another 5 percent off the total. We bought a few other things (um, it's Target. Of course the cart was filled with all kinds of items) so in all we saved $116 PLUS the $40 gift cards. *Bragging*
I felt a little bit like I was in an episode of Extreme Couponing. Let's look closer at this price break down. I'm excluding taxes here so technically the end cost was slightly more.
Original price 132.8 ounces of formula: $143.96 (about $1.08 per ounce)
After my discounts (not including $20 gift card): $93.26 (about 70 cents per ounce)
Original price: 348 diapers: $68.98 (about 20 cents a diaper)
After my discounts (not including $20 gift card): $51.74 (about 15 cents a diaper)
Dare I say, this is even better than Amazon moms. Too bad all those diapers and formula will only last about a month, ha.
I bought two boxes of pampers cruisers size 3 for $34.49 each. Target had a sale where if you purchase two you get a $20 gift card. Then I bought four Enamil formula refill tubes at $35.99 each. Target gave a $10 gift card for the purchase of two, so another $20 in gift cards. Then I had my 20 percent off coupon. Then I had three Enfamil coupons, one for $7, and two for $5 so another $17 off. THEN I used my Target card and this knocked another 5 percent off the total. We bought a few other things (um, it's Target. Of course the cart was filled with all kinds of items) so in all we saved $116 PLUS the $40 gift cards. *Bragging*
I felt a little bit like I was in an episode of Extreme Couponing. Let's look closer at this price break down. I'm excluding taxes here so technically the end cost was slightly more.
Original price 132.8 ounces of formula: $143.96 (about $1.08 per ounce)
After my discounts (not including $20 gift card): $93.26 (about 70 cents per ounce)
Original price: 348 diapers: $68.98 (about 20 cents a diaper)
After my discounts (not including $20 gift card): $51.74 (about 15 cents a diaper)
Dare I say, this is even better than Amazon moms. Too bad all those diapers and formula will only last about a month, ha.
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