Trying new things

Boring, long novel ahead. Probably only of interest to me for future reading :)



So the day after we got back into the country, I attended a "baby whisperer" workshop which I had booked about a month or so ago. She gave us her suggested routines for 4 - 7 month olds and I decided to give it a go.

It has only been 3 days, but I have to say that I am optimistic so far! I tried to implement a routine earlier on but the girls slept when they were supposed to be awake, and refused to sleep when they were supposed to nap. I quickly got over trying to make them do what they didn't want to and decided to just enjoy them while they were awake. And they only napped for 45 mins at a time, but it didn't bother me. And for a while it all worked.

But in the last month or so, I've been feeling like I've just been treading water and haven't really felt in control of the whole situation.

So I don't know if it's because I'm more ready now, or because the girls are more ready now, or a combination of both. But whatever it is, it seems to be going relatively well so far! The girls are napping on schedule, and napping for 1 - 2 hours at a time. And now, instead of thinking oh my gosh, I forgot to check what time they last fed/napped and I'm not sure if that's a hungry or tired cry or something else  (you'd think I'd know their cries by now, but not really), I'm more confident as a mother and can say oh yes, they are getting tired and they'll go to bed in 20 or whatever mins time.

And this confidence must be good for the babies. I'm sure they'll start to enjoy the routine more and more, as they'll know what to expect and what comes next.  Best of all, the baby whisperer was totally cool about being flexible with the timings. So for example, we went out today and the girls couldn't sleep when they were supposed to as there was too much going on around them. No biggy, I just adjusted their next nap and made it earlier and made them sleep longer, and then continued with dinner/bath time as per normal.




The other thing I wanted to try was weaning them off their dummies. Cos although the dummies were godsends in the beginning, they are now the bane of my life. My girls have always been good night sleepers with the odd wake up in the night to feed. And I'm all for night feeds - gotta bulk these girls up! But one night (admittedly, was the worst night we've had), I counted 11 dummy plugs that I had to do through the night. Yes, it is just a matter of getting up and sticking the dummy back in their mouths. But when you have to do it 11 times, you feel like you are going to go crazy and you end up with very little sleep.

So for the past 3 nights (hey, might as well jump in feet first and do it all at once) I've tried to put them to bed at night without their dummies. They can use them during the day as it seemed silly to wean them during the day when I'm trying to extend day naps. So for now, they stay during the day.

Anyway, back to nights. First night went better than hoped. I had to shush and rock the bassinette occasionaly as there was lots of grizzling.  For an hour. But no crying.  But then Ruby woke up about half an hour later and she's sick, and is sounding pretty miserable so I gave in and gave her the dummy.

They both slept and slept until 3ish, when Ruby woke up with a coughing fit. And woke up Ava. So I fed them both and managed to settle Ava again sans dummy within about 15 mins. And then more sleeping until 7:15am woohoo.

2nd night I caved again and gave Ruby her dummy as she hasn't been sleeping well with all the coughing fits, and poor wee thing was exhausted.  Ava was asleep sans dummy within 16 minutes!  But then she woke up at 10ish and got more and more worked up. Finally I fed her and she seemed to be starving which is weird for that time of the night. And then Josh took over and managed to settle her without the dummy (Yay, as I was ready to cave, but together we did it!).

Again, both girls slept until 3ish but we settled both with a feed and sans dummies.

Tonight is night number 3 and Ava seems to be on a roll. We'll see how the rest of the night pans out but so far, looks like we can get her to go to sleep at night without the dummy!!

6 months old!

My girls turned 6 months old on the 5th June 2013, the day after we returned to NZ from Aus, having completed 4 international flights within 3 weeks (Auckland - Sydney - Nadi - Sydney - Auckland). Woweeee!

Yesterday (7th June), we gave them home made apple puree for the first time (1 ice-cube each). Ruby gobbled it all up and even sucked her bib to ensure she got every last bit. Ava on the other hand grimaced with every mouthful and gagged about 3 times, but finished her portion. She may take after me and not like red apples :)  They had the same thing today and tomorrow we may try home-made carrot puree.

Ava is not impressed

Ruby loves her food so much, she even sucks her bib to get every last bit.

And today (8th June), as I was getting Ruby ready for her bath, I found what may be her first tooth! I say "may be" as it's not in the usual first tooth spot, but appears to be in an upper canine position. So I'm a bit confused. But it's a white, hard blob poking through her gums, so not sure what else it could be. Interesting.....
Edit: one of my 'Hot Mama' peeps said it could be a bohn nodule. Which would make more sense. I must have another look tomorrow.

They are also more aware of each other and will reach out to hold each others hands and stare at each other. It's such a delight to witness and I hope they become good friends.

5 months!

Today the girls turned 5 months. I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by.

These girls never fail to delight me and make me feel rushes of love and joy. They are giggling and playing peek a boo and stomping their legs when they are sitting in their bouncers, watching us stomp our legs. They are cooing and babbling and Ruby in particular has this way of gasping as if in shock, and then letting out a loud "ooooeeeeerrrr". Ava is still more quiet, but likes to coo softly when held and sung to. But oh boy, can she yell when she's in the car and wanting her dummy!  Ava rolled 3 times in a row a couple of days ago and we managed to get it on film.

So much to capture and so much to remember!

They also exhaust me and challenge me and make me question simple decisions like should I try and put them to bed now or wait another half hour? Should I rock her to sleep or is that just taking the easy way out and i should try and teach her to self settle....And then Josh will have another baby in his arms and will ask me what the next step is and I just want to put my hands in the air and go "I have no bloody idea". Well, sometimes I do say that, but sometimes I give a suggestion and sometimes it works and then wow, what a sense of achievement.

I've learnt that there is no such thing as a good day or a bad day. Instead, there are good periods in a day and bad periods.

Sleep times are becoming a bit of a battle. I don't know why. We used to be able to put them to bed after 1 1/2 hours of wake time and it would be relatively easy. But not anymore. I've tried pushing it out to 2 hours, but not sure if that is working. Sometimes we can pop Ruby in her bassinette and she will put herself to sleep. Haven't managed to do that with Ava in aaaages. Other times I have to rock them to sleep or feed them to sleep. And then I beat myself up cos these are bad habits. But Josh says we need to cut ourselves some slack and sometimes you just have to do whatever works.

So yeah, motherhood seems to be full of highs and lows, all within a day.

Today they got immunised and thankfully it went really well. Little bit of crying but nothing too bad. And a bit of grouchiness for the rest of the day but that was too be expected. Now they don't have to get any more injections for another 10 months. Thank goodness for that!

Photo time!

Ava having bath time.

Ruby getting distracted by dad with his camera!

New jeans!

Story time.

I popped out to have breakfast and this is what I came back to :)

Changelings

The girls turned 15 weeks and just like that, they changed.

They both had a meltdown at bedtime. Which has never happened before (as in, both melting down at the same time). Thank goodness J was home with me. They cried for about 1 1/2 hours before they both passed out in our arms, absolutely exhausted.

Then the next day they refused to go to bed and would scream and cry until their faces turned blotchy and red and they reached choking point. Again, both at the same time. And so this continued for 4 days, but felt like eternity. J had a quiet week, which was a bit of a worry financially, but emotionally, oh my gosh, I am so glad he has been at home so much.

We managed to keep their bedtime routine the same and they still would go to sleep around 6pm and be out until 4ish in the morning. So we'd spend all day just waiting for 5pm to come around so we could bath them and get them ready for bed so we could get a bit of a break.

We put it down to the 4th wonder week as they have just rolled, are starting to use both hands at the same time, grabbing more and can recognise themselves in the mirror.

But we haven't ruled out teething either as they both have had pink, flushed cheeks, weird watery poos and ridiculous amounts of drool. I've started rubbing Ava's gums with my fingers and I notice she seems to be chomping on my finger instead of sucking like she normally does. So tomorrow we will head out to get some teething powder and hopefully it will provide them with some relief.

Oh yeah, so all of this lasted 4 days. Then today we noticed that the girls were sleepy after being up for an hour and a half. Which is what they used to do before they hit 15 weeks. We wrapped them up and put them in their bassinets and whatdoyouknow! They went to sleep with no fuss. And today they have had about 4 naps. So yeah, I think we've turned the corner. They are still fussing quite a bit and chomping so will try teething stuff. But I think the wonder week effects are starting to die down. Fingers crossed!

Rollin'

Not one to be left behind, Ruby also rolled yesterday!

Josh was changing Ava's nappy in the bedroom and Terry, Alysha and I were hanging out in the lounge, with Ruby on her tummy.

She gave herself a push with her leg and arm and kind of hovered there while we all went "will she, wont she??", and then with a tilt of her head, she was over on her back. So frigging cute! Love love love these girls so much.  No tears from Ruby, but also no rolls since.

The dark horse

I popped both girls down on their tummies, turned around to grab my camera and then turned back to find a very surprised looking Ava on her back!

She promptly burst into tears and then refused to sit/lie on anything but me. So I don't think she'll be in a hurry to do it again.

But I find it really interesting that Ava does so many things first. Ruby has been so good at tummy time lately. Lifts her head really high and is happy to lie like that for ages, just chilling and looking around. Whereas Ava has been struggling to lift her head (we actually think she may have neck issues, seeing as she prefers one side when she sleeps, etc) and tends to grumble after a few short minutes on her tummy.  Or maybe she hates tummy time so much more, which is why she was so keen to get back onto her back.

Anyway, whatever the reason, I'm so proud of my little girl.

She's such a dark horse because she seems so quiet and she'll do something and then Ruby will eventually catch up and then seem to bypass her (Ava talked first but now Ruby chatters away while Ava is not much of a talker, Ava was better at tummy time, but now hates doing it whilst Ruby is so good at it). I wonder if she'll keep this up.