Double Trouble

[sarahalf]

kholtan: You are a life saver! Thanks for the encouragement and info!
When are you going to find out boy/girl??? I have to say, I have a very mellow seven year old boy and when I found out I was preg with twins, I prayed for girls bc I was so afraid of having a house full of rough and tough boys. Yet I know girls are going to present their own challenges! lol
Are you ladies finding it to be difficult to be preg with another baby and chasing twins around? I remember being preg the second time (and I had a 1 year old) was hard because I couldnt rest. I guess you do just get in the mode though!
We have the babies in the co sleeper in our room although I am finding I wake up alot when they make little noises and bc I am so tired, I think they need to be fed and by the time I have the bottles ready they are back to sleep. When did you all move the babies to their own room and crib? I have a sitting room off of our bedroom that we have a crib in and I am thinking maybe we will all sleep better? I was planning to move them around four months but now I am not sure? I do love having them next to me...any thoughts great ladies?
XO Sara

[tolbee]

Hi Guys,

Sorry for MIA... My parents are here and it's been busy doing stuff with them. They are leaving tomorrow to Japan. We had a pretty good time. I took a whole week off from work last week and was so nice to relax! I finally was able to catch up on sleep and I guess that was all I needed to get rid of the stubborn cold I'd been suffering for the last two months!

Well, I did find out the gender of the baby last Monday.
We are so happy to have another GIRL!! So that would make two boys and two girls! We are pretty happy about that and my Mom was able to see the baby at the appointment in 4D. She's very healthy and on target size-wise.

Kimberley, it's amazing you are not showing yet! I was showing even before being pregnant! But now I look like 6 month pregnant and feel quite huge. I feel the baby a lot and she's very active.

I have to get back to work now but just wanted to let you guys know before it gets too late! Hope you guys had a nice start to the new year.

Kimi

[sugabeanzs]

tolbee: A GIRL! YAY!!! I am so happy for you and that she is happy and healthy! Congrats!!!

[kholtan]

Hello again!

Kimi~ CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I am so thrilled for you to have two of each! Plus you get to have brothers and sisters. I love it! I'm glad things are going so well and I hope you have had a great time with your parents in town. I hope you come to my town soon!

Sara~Thanks for the sweet words. Being pg with twins isn't different so far but I get so lucky by not having any symptoms. If I were a woman with ms or other things I would probably being at my witts end! I just got lucky or God knew this is what I can deal with! I should find out within 6 weeks or so. Hopefully sooner but ASAP for me!
I am a mean mommy and my babies hit the crib less than two weeks after getting home. So they were right under 4 weeks. We tried sleeping in a seperate room at first so DH wasn't too tired for work but then I just said forget it and they slept soooooo much better in their own crib. Also, mine napped together in the day in the same crib but at night it was to each his/her own. They did much better this way. Sometimes I would make sure I let them whimper for at least 2-3 minutes before I ran in and that often led to them going straight back to sleep as well. Annelise started sleeping great right away and Bodie took a few more weeks. For me the sleeping in my own room w/o them was a nice break and I knew I would see them soon anyway. This way if DH and I wanted to be intimate we weren't whispering and he got his much needed attention as well. Whatever works for you and your family. Everyone is so different here. I followed a lot of Kim's advice because her babies were only a few months older than mine and as far as sleeping goes they were the babies to follow around here!
Good luck! Better get even the littlest thing done before the end of the day! IT's dumping TONS of snow around here and it's really put me in the lazy mood!

[sugabeanzs]

I was reading up in Baby Wise that one reason babies do not sleep through the night is because they do not eat enough during the day. Well duh right there for me! But it is not like I can shove more food down their throat! So I suppose I still have to do the 3AM feed for awhile. I tried letting them cry it out but they would not stop crying until they got food, no lie. Brooke cried for like 15 minutes one night and I said that was enough because she started to wake up her sister she got so loud. They are 5 mo! (3 adjusted as you know!) Hopefully when I start solids in Feb they will start to sleep through the night then I can move back into my room with my husband! lol.

[buckeyegal]

Kimi--congrats! Another girl, that's great news. Glad to hear she's right on track!

Kholtan--you're too sweet about my good sleepers. Like you, I moved mine to their own room as soon as we got home from the hospital. BUT, to be honest, it was out of necessity. Our room was not big enough for a cosleeper, and the babies' nursery is literally 5 steps from my bed. SO, we slept them in the same crib from night one. And, I have to be honest--I think it was one of the best decisions we could have made. We never had to deal with transitioning....

Suga--it does seem like yours should be sleeping through the night soon. What does your pedi say? Can you seperate them at night (just for a little while), so that they can try crying it out? 15 minutes really isn't that long....and your kiddos may be old enough now to know how to "milk" you--literally! You might literally have to let each of them cry it out for a couple of nights until they learn that "food is not coming". sorry I don't have more advice for ya. Good luck!

[tolbee]

Thanks everyone!

Suga, my daughter also was hard to let CIO because she gets frantic every minute. She cries so hard, she gets snotty and has problems breathing later. I am still not good at CIO with her. I say, I will give her 10 mins and I am picking her up after 5... Maybe if you let her cry it out one night she may eat more during the day because she is hungry and then learn to go without a bottle at 3 am? Maybe McKenzie might be ready to go longer stretches. My twins sleep separately, so I probably should not be the one to give you an advice! Someone wakes up still in the middle of the night so for us separating them saves us some sanity. We don't have any room though so my daughter sleeps in the living room.

For those with older babies, what are your kiddos eating? I need to transition mine to table foods and other than cubed veggies and bread, I am out of ideas. My son has hard time self-feeding still and he sits there staring at me with his big eyes as if saying "now what are you going to do for me!?" He does better with sitck shaped food. I suppose I should let him try to feed himself but my dilemma is that if I don't put food in his mouth, he doesn't get enough. How did you guys deal with it?

Gotta run because I am "at work" now.

Take care!
Kimi

[kholtan]

Good morning Mommies!

Suga~ Here is my theory, and I'm no expert BUT. . . I say NEVER turn back. If you dropped your 3 am feeding why go backwards? She isn't losing weight and it seems to only have been a few days. Of course she will wake up hungry if she didn't eat enough during the day but you are just retraining her to get up at night if you feed her. She will eat more during the day when she realizes she is hungry if you don't cave at night. I just cannot make progress and then undo it myself but that is just me and like I said before I may be a bit mean.
Also, I know they are still young but try not to let the adjusted age thing hold you back from what you already know they are capable of. When Annelise slept thru the night at 2.5 months I was thinking it was too early because she was really only about 3 weeks adjusted but then I got over it and just helped her do what she was able to do and after that I quit adjusting the age. I left adjusting to the Dr. so we didn't hold ourselves back anymore. Good luck and keep us posted.

Kim~ I think we have the same house! There was no way a crib or pack-n-play would fit in our room so we had no other option either. Now, I am so glad I never had to transition either. This new baby is going straight to the crib too! Poor little thing! Our rooms are only paces away as well so I'm sure it really won't be any different. Are you potty training yet? I potty trained all the kids I nannied for at 18-20 months and it was quick and easy but I look at my own kids and I just have a hard time seeing them being ready??? It's only a couple months away and they seem so small?

Kimi~ As far as food goes we eat EVERYTHING! I try it all and mine do seem to eat it. The first things were cheese sticks, toast (all this cut up obviously) sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots (all har veggies steamed) pancakes, cereal bars, mandarin oranges, tofu hot dogs (they LOVE these things but the smell alone kills me!) and anything I ate just cut up. Now they eat all the above and blueberries, pb&j sandwiches, grilled cheese, soups with noodles, lots of pasta, lasagna, spinach bites, bananas, rice crisps, totellini's with sauce, diced meat cubes, english muffins. . .ect. . . .It takes forever to eat at first and it still takes us a while but it's getting better. The mess is INSANE!!!!! My floor is rediculous but what can I do? The only thing I still feed my kids by spoon are yogurts, applesauces, oatmeal w/ their vitamins in it, and stuff like that. Mine have been playing with spoons and forks but don't get enough on them to ever eat a meal that way. Hope that helps. Keep us posted!

Better go and get ready! HAve a great day everyone!

[buckeyegal]

Kimi--my kids eat whatever we are eating....just keep exposing them to it...I remember it took a while for my kids to feed themselves....so, I fed them until they took over. It didn't take them that long, from what I remember. My food list echos Kholtan's--except I don't do Tofu hot dogs---Ijust can't. My kiddos also don't eat PB yet. Our pedi still advises against it until 2. So, we are still waiting.

Kholtan--Nope, no potty training yet, here. Honestly, Braeden hasn't shown the least interest in that area (other than hating getting his diaper changed). Ellie has just started to come let me know when she's "uncomfy" down there, so I change her. From what I've heard though, they aren't ready until they can start to tell when they have to go BEFORE they go. I don't know.....honestly, I'm in no rush. I thought I'd at least wait until the weather is warmer....don't really want to deal with training while we're wearing snow pants, you know? By this summer, for sure! I don't blame you for wanting to get started soon---you're going to have 3 in diapers!

[sugabeanzs]

kholtan: they have never not gotten up for the 3AM feed. So I am kinda used to it but would love it to go away lol. Probably here soon if they keep waking up for it I will have to separate them for a few nights to let them cry it out. I know eventually they would fall back asleep. I thought about just giving them like 3 oz and start weaning them but I dunno.

[buckeyegal]

That reminds me! My friend did a "wean" at the 3 am feeding....Her son would wake up religiously to BF (even at 6 months), so she started by feeding him for shorter periods of time until he was down to ZERO...and he started sleeping through. So, maybe let them have their feed tonight, but give them only 2/3 of it....then cut to 1/2 after a couple of days....then to 1/4....

It might work!

[kholtan]

Suga~ For some reason I thought they had dropped that one! Sorry! Guess I was being super hopeful for you! I guess all in due time. The important thing is that you are working on getting them thru the night . It will happen and I'm sure it's around the corner. How is she eating now?

Kim~ The potty thing was just out of curiousity. I know I'm not suppose to change too much stuff around the time of the new baby and so I figured I would have to decide to do it before or after. It's looking like after at this point because my kids are like yours. Annelise brings me a new diaper and Bodie coudln't be event he slightest bit interested. I have tried letting them sit on the toilet at bath time and they both look at me like I'm nuts!

The snow is out of control here so I think I'll suit up the babies and head outside! Wish me luck!

[sugabeanzs]

We are off to the pedi today because Mackenzie may have pink eye?! WHAT?! I have no idea how she could get that! None of us have it and we wash our hands all the time. Maybe it is just broken blood vessels or something.

Also, (TMI for some so I am sorry do not read if you do not like to hear about poop! lol) I have to talk to the doc. about Brooke. I read up that if a baby is way constipated that it could be an allergy to the milk. Well I had to literally pull poop out of her butt today because she could not push it the rest of the way out! So I am going to tell the doctor today, not ask, tell, that we are changing her formula! I want to put her on something hypoallergenic. Enfamil Nutramigen is what I want her on. I do not care what he/she says. I am seeing a different doctor today than I see normally too. I am asking for a different one because the other doc says it is not an allergy but I am bringing proof with the articles and such!

Anywhoo, I just laid them down for a nap and I need one too!

[tolbee]

Suga, good luck at Pedi. My daughter is on Nutramigen (very expensive by the way) but her consitpation improved after switching from Similac Advanced for her (her colic symptoms got better, too). My Son is still on Similac but he tends to be consitpated. I guess Nutramigen has no cow's milk protein in it and no lactose. Now, I am trying to wean her out of it to the regular formula because at age one, they can start drinking cow's milk. It wouldn't hurt to speak with your Pedi. But I must warn you that it is very expensive and it may be hard to switch to regular formula or cow's milk. Good luck! Hope the pink eye gets better.

Thanks Kimberly and Kim. How nice your kids are exposed to different type of food. I gave my babies some meat pasta last night and Alyson did very well. Noah still doesn't self-feed very well unless the food is sitck-shaped. Sean is not a very good eater so I am trying to do everything I can to make sure my twins won't have the same issue. Talk about the mess! Good thing we have a hardwood floor, so it's a quick wipe at least.

Well, I suppose I should get back to work! I had a very hard time getting up this morning and just cannot be bothered to work!!

Take care!
Kimi

[sugabeanzs]

Well Kenzie either scratched her eye or something irritated it (like I thought!) so no pink eye. I would have been very interested in how she got that anyways!

I am a little irritated! The doc does not think it is the formula causing Brooke's constipation. He does not want to switch to the Nutramigen because then we would have to transition back to milk at one anyways....ugh! He said start her on prunes. I am not even feeding them rice or oatmeal from a spoon yet! He said start her on prunes, or pears, or such. WHAT? I mean I am not supposed to start solids till Feb because their adjusted age will be 4 months then. Is this ok? The nurse that gives them their RSV shot said Gripe juice for colic (sold in specialty stores) worked for her little one. I may try that before solids I dunno. Any ideas on whether or not it is ok for solids since they were preemies? I mean I feel like doctors do not listen to you. He said if it is an allergy they have diarrhea. *sigh* I just do not know.

Brooke is 14 lbs and Kenzie is 13 lbs 4 oz!!! Kenzie needs to stop playing and start eating again lol. Brooke is now finishing 5 oz each time so I am going to move her up to 6!!