10 weeks old

This week in baby news:

Zane sleeps better on his stomach...period.  He will not sleep on his back for naps no matter how tight we swaddle him.  So daytime sleeping is on his stomach (b/c I can watch him).  However, at night, sleeping on his back is a must.  He puts up quite a fight and wakes up a lot but all the books etc. have scared us enough to think he's going to die if he sleeps on his stomach at night.  As soon as he has the ability to roll himself over from his back to his stomach, it will be totally safe, and we may get more sleep.

Lily is doing...well...ok.  Her reflux has improved with the thickening of her formula but she still has a terrible gastro-colic reflex (curls up into a ball when eating b/c her intestines and digestive track start moving things about).  Sometimes feeding sessions are short and easy, and other times it's a mess.  The other night it took an hour and a half to get 3 oz down her to which she started screaming afterwards, because she was so tired.  

On Friday night, she threw-up after a 2am feeding in her crib.  I could hear it come out and it's amazing how fast my feet can hit the floor and get to her.  I grabbed her as her arms and legs flailed about with her eyes the size of quarters.  I had to quickly grab the bulb sucker and suck out her throat and nose so she could start breathing again.  Once she did the poor baby screamed for over 20 minutes absolutely terrified from the ordeal.  Her disposition has been getting worse as well, she's 6 weeks old biologically which is marked as "the peak of fussiness" and boy is it that.   Each night at 7:20pm, she starts curling up into a little ball and begins screaming...if we did nothing about it, this screaming would not stop until 8:30pm.  

So, what I have to do (each and every night) is swaddle her, put her on her side, sway her back and forth, hold her ear near my running hair dryer and give her her pacifier to suck on.  It instantly calms her down, but unfortunately I'm stuck doing this for an hour.  During the "cuddle cure" event, her eyes are closed and she looks like she's sleeping, however, if I stop the hairdryer for even a second, her eyes pop open and the screaming starts again (I watch that clock like a hawk waiting for 8:30).  I've ordered a white noise machine that will hopefully replace the hair dryer soon.  Her "colic" will resolve itself in 45 more days...at least that's what they tell me.  Meanwhile I keep a calendar to which I mark off the days until she and I are free from the night time ritual.

In other news:
We have the night off! Yes, NeeNee and Pop decided to take the babies for the night to allow Jason and I some free time...and guess what happened on our way home.  We got a flat tire. sigh.  It's God's way of saying, yes go have some fun, but not too much fun, you are parents now.  Anyway, we fixed it...in the rain.

Well, since I have time, I decided to upload some pics and videos

Here is a vid of a few of the babies visitors that we captured.  Included are visits from Aunt Jodie, Christy and Meredith.  

Here's a video of playtime with the twins.  We're trying to expose them to as many genre's of music as possible during the day.  This day happened to be country music day.  Looking at the video myself it seems like we're being kind of rough with them.  But I promise you, they are tough little ones and love this type of play.  Don't judge :)

I start back to work in a couple of weeks, so I'm trying to get as much playtime in as possible...pretty soon, I'll just have to cherish and hang on to the weekends.

I love the weekends

Why do I love the weekends? Because daddy's home.  Stress is gone from the house (and from me) and the babies are so much happier.  Happy 9 weeks old to the babies this week.

We've had some major milestones this week.  The Babies are alive!!!  They know we exist! 

We've been getting smiles, coo's and a few giggles.  It's so nice to witness some of the hard work pay off.  There is nothing like the feeling of your little baby finally looking at you and thinking, hey! I know who you are, and you're pretty cool.

Zane loves his daddy.

Mom's attempt to start teaching self-soothing (the puppy is your friend, when you wake up from sleep, look at the puppy and be comforted...)

Lily in her boppy just hanging out

For those of you curious our feed/sleep schedule has changed this week.  Babies eat at 6pm then 10:30pm, then 2:30am, then 6am.  We decided to stop waking them after they fell asleep at night (around 8pm, even though their bedtime is 7pm, they will normally just cry and fuss from 7-8) just to see what would happen.  Well they dropped a feeding and rearranged the night a bit (pushed the 9pm feed, dropped the midnight feed, and moved the 3am feed up by half hour).  

BUT we have a small problem.  When we feed them at 10:30pm they are still nice and drowsy and go right back to bed.  However at the 2am feed, both of them wake up excited, smiling and ready to party. It takes quite an effort to get them back to sleep (sometimes up until 3:30am for Lily).  But then at 6am, they are back to being sleepy and not awake.  I gotta figure out what is triggering the party mentality at 2am and the drunken baby attitude at 6am.  Mama don't want none of that.

Anyone with suggestions?

ummmmm...ok

Well...I don't know what to do with myself.  The twins were sleeping through most of their feedings at night (we had to rub feet and pinch cheeks to get them to down their bottles) so Jason and I just decided to let them sleep instead of waking them for their scheduled 3hr feeds during the night last night.    Well...they're sleeping....and not waking up.  ummm... ok.  

Apparently doing "Baby Wise" works.  So for you expecting or want to be expecting parents out there, I guess I highly recommend using the Baby Wise system of baby management.

The theory says that during weeks 7-9 if you follow the system, your baby will start sleeping through the night or at least drop a feeding.  So far, so good.  

Could this mean sleep for Jason and I?  Maybe.  Everyone told us that things "get better" at about week 8.  I see a light at the end of the sleepless nights tunnel.

Happy 8 weeks old...

This is Zane's "No more formula, I"m full" face

Lily girl sleeping away

Her oooo! face

The most exhausted family you will meet today (notice the bags under the eyes...ya that's hot)

Happy 8 weeks old!

Feeding and burping... 6-7am, 9-10am, 12-1pm, 3-4pm, 6-7pm, 9-10pm, 12-1am, 3-4am....

Miss Lil' and Daddy

Everybody scream!!!! and fuss!!!!! and scream!!!

Yes that is what life is like in the Hawthorne household as of late.  There is something called the 4-6 week fussy period peak.  Since you have to age adjust according to their due date (not birthdate) our twins are biologically 4 weeks old now.  So, we are getting to experience lots of crying, fussing, screaming, crying and more crying.  Feeding times are nice because they stop and they get calm for about 15 mins following the feeds...but then...bring it on!  

Apparently (as we have learned from book after book) napping is a skill.  You have to teach babies how to nap so that they stay well rested.  As soon as babies realize the world exists, they do not want to sleep, it's much too interesting to look around.  So naptime is a battle to convince the little ones to sleep.  They don't really fill you in on that part in Baby 101.

In other news not related to fussing...both Zane and Lily rolled over this week.  On Monday Zane rolled from his stomach to his back and then today, Thursday, Lily did the same.  I bet Lily would have done it sooner, I just had not put her on her stomach in almost a week due to some spit up issues.  Zane took about 5 minutes to grunt and push to get himself over for the first time, but Lily just plopped right over (which is why I think she would have done it sooner than today if I had let her).

Ok...back to babies

Has it already been 7 weeks! / Has it ONLY been 7 weeks!

Mr. Zane

Miss Lil'

Tomorrow the twins will be 7 weeks old.  Somedays it seems like its been years and other days it seems like it has just flown by.  Babies are becoming more aware that they are not alone in this world which causes some difficulty at nap time.  It is much more interesting to investigate the new world around them than close those eyes and go to sleep.  Personalities haven't changed much either.  Lily is laid back and happy most of the time and Zane has a beef with the world. When you wake Lily up to feed her she stretches and smiles a huge grin.  When you wake up Zane, he looks at you with a death stare and screams.  Proof that personalities have genetic components!!  Will update more later but if you want to know whats going on....Eat (30 mins), Wake (30 mins), Sleep (2 hours (that is if they sleep))...Lather, Rinse, Repeat....every 3 hours round the clock.