Photo Ops

I got these little hats for the girls photo shoot at Target tomorrow. Hannah's new thing is sticking her tongue out. Between that and the fact that I can't seem to get her past the deer in the headlights look, it does not look promising. Not that she doesn't look stinkin' cute anyway.

Taking Turns Part II

As I mentioned earlier, Craig helps out with the feedings on Friday and Saturday nights to give me a break since I do the overnight feedings myself during the rest of the week.

Basically we take turns getting up. And while this seems like a simple plan, you'd be amazed at how complicated it gets when two sleep deprived adults get involved.

It goes something like this. Since we take turns, the baby you start with is usually the baby you end up taking care of the rest of the night. One baby (I won't name names) tends to wake up more often than other. Both Craig and I have covertly tried to manipulate the timing of feedings so that we end up with the "easier" one respectively. This of course sets the tone for the rest of the night.

Here are a few examples:

Last weekend Craig nudged me when it was actually his turn. It went something like this: Hannah woke up and it was Craig's turn so he fed her. Later that night Sophie gets up and it's my turn so I feed her. Hannah gets up 15 minutes after that, I nudge Craig and he tells me it's my turn. I inform him that it's actually his turn. He says "No. Sophie woke up Hannah." What? Apparently since I fed Sophie I'm responsible for Sophie's actions and therefore should take care of Hannah since Sophie is the one who woke Hannah up.

See how complicated it gets? And I'm not completely innocent:

I hear Hannah crying and since it's my turn I get up. By the time I get to the room she's already gone back to sleep. I go back to bed and maybe a half hour later she's crying again. I get up, sooth her and she goes back to sleep. An hour or so later she wakes up again (this time she's hungry). Even though it's technically my turn I nudge Craig. In my mind getting up twice to check on a baby is the equivalent of one feeding therefore it is Craig's turn.

Needless to say we are both hoping they start sleeping through the night soon.

Elf!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Day in the Life

I thought I would document my daily routine:

The day started off at 6am.

Sophie and Hannah woke up at the same time and needed to be fed. I gave Hannah a toy to play with while I fed Sophie and then switched. It was way too early to attempt a double feeding. And too early (and dark) to take pictures.
Then it's play time in the crib. I let them "talk" to each other for a while before I started tummy time.

They love to play together in the morning

Tummy time for Sophie Trying to make her escape?Hannah won't stay on her tummy long enough to get a picture. She rolls right over. In fact she starts rolling over before I even set her down. The alternative? Airplane rides on my kneesThis obviously doesn't go over too well.

And...it's nap time at 8am.
You would think that means a little mommy time but:

It's time to turn this:

Into this:

Can you tell from the middle picture that the part at the bottom is damaged? Can you say reprieve? Off to write an email to CSN Baby to get replacement parts sent. And eat a little breakfast: Uh Oh, Sophie is awake at 9:15am.

Hannah is still asleep so Sophie gets some one on one mommy time. We hang out in front of the mirror and I say "Who's that baby?! It's Sophie!" I've been doing this with her since I can remember and she still loves it.

And now Hannah is awake. For the next hour or so we did:

Some of this:Hannah loves playing with Sophie. She coos and giggles and watches her every move. Sophie...well, Sophie looks around the room, looks at me, looks at the TV and occasionally looks over at Hannah.We also did a little bit of this:Some of this:And a lot of this:

We also: Had more tummy time (mostly Sophie), Blew raspberries on our tummies, Had 2 outfit changes (3 if you include Mommy).

Nap time again at 11:30am.

Only I just now realize as I'm changing Sophie's outfit that the sleepers I bought the other day at Babies R Us are the wrong size. And she's busting out of the ones I have now. So instead of taking a shower (and I really, really want a shower!) while they nap, I'm off to Babies R Us to return the outfits and find some in her size.

Unfortunately the comfy Gerber sleepers I really like only go up to a size 9 and those are too small for Sophie (go figure). The only other sleepers they had either were made of flimsy, scratchy material or had decorative buttons on them. Why, why, why would a clothing company put buttons on a sleeper? Can you say choking hazard? So the trip out to Babies R Us was a bust...not that I left empty handed or anything. And the girls got a lot of attention. We even met a mother of 20 year old triplets who thought the girls were just adorable of course.

We get home at 1:30pm. Time for the girls to eat!

Sophie's asleep at 2:30pm.

Hannah is playing on the activity mat and she's about to get one on one time with Mommy just as soon as I finish my lunch.

Play time with Mommy includes walking around the house and touching different things like napkins (soft!), a paper bag (crinkly!), and the bumpy wall. All very fascinating in Hannah's world. Then we played with Mommy's nose and finally my necklace. And Hannah blew raspberries on my arm. Uh oh, she's rubbing her eyes.

And it's nap time for Hannah at 3:00pm.

Guess who's finally getting her shower! I would normally start getting dinner ready during their 3:00pm nap but we are having leftovers tonight and I really, really need a shower.

I make my way upstairs and...Sophie wakes up. After unsuccessfully trying to coax her back to sleep with a binky I decide to take her into the bathroom with me while I take a shower because I can tell she is not going to go back to sleep and I'm worried she'll wake up Hannah. Hannah wakes up anyway. And she's not happy.

By now I'm committed to that shower so I bring Sophie with me, give her a toy and take a shower while she plays in her bouncy seat. And hope that Hannah falls back asleep. Which she does. Sort of. As soon as I get out of the shower she wakes up and starts crying again (she has an amazing sixth sense about this). This is so not a good day for naps. I bring her into the bathroom and she sits in her bouncy seat next to Sophie as I dry my hair. Sophie is happy as a clam. Hannah just barely tolerates it.

It's time to eat again at 5:00pm. I go downstairs and start warming up bottles, bring the girls downstairs and feed them both at the same time.

We do a little playtime and then I go up and do dishes and make formula until 6:00pm.

A little more playtime during the 6:00 news.Check out those bunny feet!

Daddy's home at 6:15pm! Yay!

Sophie tells Daddy about her day.

After smiling and laughing with Daddy, Hannah remembers that she's crabby and tired. And so Craig takes her upstairs to bed at 6:30pm. I can still hear her crying and it's 6:40pm. I'm actually going to take this moment to blog.

Bye Bye Opa and Bubby

We miss you already!

Hannah and Opa

Hannah in one of her silly, playful moodsSophie can sleep anywhere, anytime
Too funny!Sophie and Bubby taking a catnap. This was on a different day.

Sophie loves her naps!
And I can't leave out this one of Craig and Hannah
Look at those cheeks on Sophie!

Teeth!

Guess who has little teeny tiny white nubs on their lower gums?!

This explains their crankiness these past couple of weeks. I noticed Sophie's when she grabbed my fingers and tried to take a big bite out of them. Then I checked Hannah's gums and she had one little nub as well. Not like I didn't suspect as much. They've been gnawing on everything they can get their little hands on.

I've also been trying to take their 5 month pictures for the past two weeks. I wasn't able to get it together until yesterday but that photo session didn't go too well. Fortunately today's was a little better:

What's better than a couple of snugly babies in fleece pajamas?

It's tough to get a smile from Hannah

and Sophie is always a little bit blurry!

Conversations

And the outtake. Ninety percent of the pictures looked like this. Sophie would not stop grabbing Hannah's arm to chew on it. Did I mention that they're teething?!

SNOW!

Home Sweet Home

Did I mention that we finally moved into our new home? Hannah and Sophie had to leave their swanky nursery at Mom Mom's and Pop Pop's for a plain room with a pair of cheap $99 IKEA cribs (no decorations but we're working on it!) But we do have bunnies in the backyard! And great views of the foothills. Unpacking with the girls was definitely a challenge. It went something like this: Open a box, hold a crying baby, take contents out, change a diaper , unwrap contents, feed the other baby, and so on.

Hannah...the binky is no longer for soothing. She takes it out of her mouth and turns it around so she can gnaw on the edges. Is somebody teething?

Sophie on the Exersaucer

The first time I put her in it her eyes got huge. Then whenever she grabbed something that made a noise she would turn and look back at me like "Mom, did you hear that?! Did you know it made a noise?" Sophie doesn't know where to start. Cute. Her feet barely touch the bottom.

Hannah's Turn

What the heck is this thing?

Wait a minute...this looks interesting.I wouldn't mind getting my hands on this!Oh and that thing looks interesting too!Hey, thanks Mom!

Taking Turns

Now that Sophie is practically sleeping through the night, Craig and I have worked out an arrangement where I do the overnight feedings on weekdays and we take turns on weekends. Obviously I look forward to the weekends!

The other night Sophie woke up for her early morning bottle. It was my turn so I dragged myself out of bed. Craig was up so he started warming a bottle while I went to get Sophie. Sure enough as soon as I started feeding her Hannah wakes up. Craig's turn! So he goes to get her, comes into the room and informs me that she pooped. He then tells me that he will take over feeding Sophie so I can take care of Hannah. What?! Uhm. No. I'm sleep deprived but not that sleep deprived. So I said "Craig! Just change her diaper!"

He takes her over to the changing table and I hear "Oh my god. Oh no." Yup. It's a full fledged blowout. He turns to me and tells me "we need to switch." I said "Craig (Middle Name) Goldberg! You change that diaper right now!"

The funny thing is he told me that we need to switch with such conviction that not only did I almost do it but I felt kind of bad for not doing it. Not bad enough to actually do it though. And it was one of those blowout where you don't even know where to start.