8 and a bit months!

Ruby and Ava turned 8 months old almost 2 weeks ago. I keep saying it, but seriously, I cannot believe how quickly the time is flying by.

* Ruby is back to being the life of the party and her favourite party trick is to scream at the top of her lungs really randomly. I've actually seen Ava jump in shock when Ruby has screamed. And her timing is impeccable - once I said "ok girls, mummy has to go to the toilet for a few minutes so nobody panic" and right on cue, she let out a scream hahaha

* Both girls can sit unaided, but still lose their balance from time to time, so I put pillows all around them just in case. Ruby is very clever at leaning forward and grabbing things whilst Ava tends to sit back a bit more.

* Ava is back to being the quiet one and it's hard to believe that she was ever louder than Ruby. 

*They both say "bububububub" alot, blow raspberries, squeal and coo.

* Ava loves standing now and can hold herself up really well with just a bit of support from me.

* Both girls are still not interested in rolling even though they can do it. They'll lie on their tummy or back and will squeal/cry until I roll them over.

* They can feed themselves now - toast, teething rusks, oranges, etc. They can also hold their own sippy cup and drink out of it.

* They love peanut butter! We actually can not eat peanut butter on toast in front of them without them demanding some!

*They both have 2 little teeth.

Nights

Oh my, didn't realise I had forgotten to update - so nights are soooo much better! I kept a 24 hour schedule for about 3 or 4 days in a row and our sleep consultant picked up on a few things. The main thing being that I was keep them up for 4 hours in the arvo sometimes as I thought their bedtime needed to stay the same every single day. But I'm actually supposed to keep them up for 3 hours max!

So we implemented those changes and yeah, things are so much better. We've had a couple of nights where one of the girls would sleep from 7-7 straight. But no nights yet where they've both done it at the same time grrrrr.

Anyway, apparently the next step is to leave them to cry for 5 mins, go in and calm them down, then leave for 7 mins, etc. And we are struggling! Just can't do it. Ava has calmed herself down during the 5 minute wait ONCE, but every other time their crying has escalated and both of them have woken up and it has taken us ages to get them to go back to sleep. So we've started dummy plugging again. Gah. Must get stronger. I really don't want to do this though. It would be fine if they only did it once a night each, but some nights it happens about 4 times each....

Well, that is the latest. Things have improved vastly but still a way to go.

First night with a plan

didn't actually go that well. Soooo  many wake ups. And a 2 hour stint where Ava refused to sleep at all. We did get 4 hours from 2:30 to 6:30 so woohoo for small victories.

Not feeling as optimistic as I originally was about the new plan, but we must persist. Fingers crossed.

Fairy Lights!

In amongst the lows and the struggles and sleep deprivation and feelings of failure, there were moments of pure magic this week. Go figure!

We had a date night at home and set up an outdoor cinema in our backyard using a sheet and Josh's iphone projector. We put on the fairy lights, put the inflatable mattress outside, rugged up, took hot water bottles with us,  ate Whittakers L & P chocolate and watched "We give it a Year".  Such an awesome way to spend an evening with the hubby. And the girls actually only woke up once each the whole night! We probably should have taken the opportunity to actually get some sleep, but it was just as important to reconnect as Husband and Wife.  And it's not like the girls told us they weren't going to wake up for a while....

We also got to see Josh's friend Sam Allen perform at his EP launch party/first gig of his nationwide tour.  It was held at the wine cellar, which is a grungy, intimate little bar on K road. Awesome support bands (very folky) and cool set up with fairy lights and old speakers and a Persian rug.  We drank apple/feijoa cider, squished in together onto a single couch (which was incredibly uncomfortable. We are little people, but not that little) and had a magical night.

I made some new friends in the area. There is something about connecting with like minded people that just makes you feel more alive and sane. And feeling sane was an important goal this week haha.

And as usual, my girls have been so much fun. Giggling and smiling and practicing their sitting up skills. Blowing raspberries with mouthfuls of food (Ruby). Which is funny but not to be encouraged! Splashing in the bath (Ava). Loving daddy's moves (which he's been practicing all week for his Telecom gig). Playing a new game of "knock down the bowling pins", "high five" and "patty cake, patty cake". Feeding themselves (marmite on toast) and making the biggest mess ever. Munching on teething rusks. Clapping their hands! Well, only once (Ruby) but I'm confident we'll be able to get her to do it again.

 Life is funny like that. Guess you've always got to pick yourself up and dust yourself off as you never know what lies around the corner.  Just when you think it is all falling apart, there could just be a bit of magic waiting to happen.

Low lows

What a week. Not gonna lie, it has been super tough.  On a good night, I'd get at least 3 hours in a row. But the good nights were few and far between. And this has been going on for a while. At least it feels like a while. Like months. But Josh seems to think it has only been like this for the past two weeks. Whatever. My brain cannot remember. All it knew was that this was not doable any more.

After the 56789989797th wake up in about 3 hours, I sat down on the floor, told Josh I wasn't cut out for this and couldn't do it anymore and I cried and cried and cried. While my babies cried in another room.  I just didn't know what to do. Patting/shushing, picking up, dummies, feeding, etc. None of it was working. Not for more than 45mins any way. And it just made it worse when Josh said "you have to pull it together, you are the mummy". 

He was on his way out for a dance rehearsal and I just didn't know how I was supposed to find the energy to keep settling them on my own for the next couple of hours.  But he was right, I'm the mum, so I pulled it together and settled them AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN until he came back home around 1ish. And then I emailed a sleep consultant and asked her for help.

The good news is that she got back to me straight away.  The bad news is that she isn't available to see me until 24th August. Which is no help as I'll be out of the country. Next slot will be 16th Sept. I may have cried just thinking about having to keep struggling like this until 16th Sept. Egad! But she promised to support me via email/phone/skype until then and said that we may not even need her in person.  So we'll see....

Got her suggestions via email last night and implemented them as best as possible today. They coped with the changes really well during the day.

Getting them to sleep for the night was a wee bit of a struggle, but not too bad. We have had a few wake ups, but nothing since 9ish, which is about 2 hours ago... So fingers crossed for the rest of the night. Not expecting 12 hours of sleep, but would love it if we could knock it down to 1 - 2 wake ups each...

Either way, it feels good to have a plan. And to feel more in control again. Seems it's all about confidence!