Joel has a helmet!

On tuesday, we picked up Joel's cranial remolding helmet. He will need to wear it 23 hours a day for approximately 3 months. He is doing pretty well with it, I must say. He's quite the little trooper.
:)

4 month well visit

The boys had their 4 month well visit on Friday and they are, well, well. :) They both weighed in at 13 lbs even, and Joel is only a 1/4 inch taller than Roman now--2 inches to Roman's 23 3/4. They survived immunizations, and they are doing great.

We decided to move them into separate cribs, which means they moved into their own room last night. I will miss looking over and seeing them asleep just a few feet away, but I'm sure I'll be glad for this milestone soon.

Oh no, we're not sleep deprived...

Last night, Mark changed Roe's diaper at midnight. He fussed a little while I fed Joel, but by the time I put Joel back in the crib, Roman was sound asleep.

At 3:30, he woke to eat again, so I brought him into bed to feed him. I kept his legs covered with his blanket, only freeing his arms from the swaddle to keep him warm. When he finished eating and I removed the blanket, I was in for quite the surprise. Mark had put his diaper on OUTSIDE his clothes!!!

Poor Roe! Poor Mark! Ah well, we had a good laugh over it this morning, and Roe is napping like a champ.

3 months old

Boys, please stop growing up for just a moment. Let me hold you and snuggle you and love you just as you are without feeling like every precious minute is one we'll never have again. Please be small and lovely and infinitely cuddly and cooing and enchanting.

I am so blessed but suddenly realizing how bittersweet parenting can be. I look at my sweet boys and how quickly they have grown and are growing and while I am fiercely proud of every smile and coo they produce, I feel a tightness in my chest and throat because they will never be this little again, and time is going so very fast. I just want to freeze these perfect moments.

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Mama!!!

We're on day three of sleep training with HSHHC, and it is going great. When you pay attention to babies' natural sleepy cues, you realize exactly how much sleep babies actually need. And it is WAY more than they were getting.

They've been going down for naps easily. Though they still have the evening fussies, they've had an earlier bed time, more frequent naps, some of which are quite long. We're getting into a good routine and seeing lots of smiles, and very little fussiness or crankiness during awake time.

We have smiles!!!

Who needs sleep when you've got smiles?

The boys are doing great! Roe seems to be moving out of his grumpy stage (I refuse to call it "colicky") and is soothing to sleep better. They aren't napping well during the day, but they are happy.

I've just ordered the book "healthy sleep habits, happy child" from Amazon and am hoping for some ideas on getting them to nap better. Right now they are on an all-out nap strike, which is exhausting. It may be time to transition them into crib naps, rather than just having them nap in the swing, bouncy seat, or car seats. It seems they associate the swing and the bouncy with play-with-mommy time and they aren't so interested in sleeping in them anymore. I don't know how they will respond to being swaddled and laid in the crib in the middle of the day, but it could be the only way I'll get them to nap!

We've got a good weekday routine in the early morning--I get up after the early morning feeding and they stay in bed until 8 or 9. Then they get up, Roman gets his reflux meds, both eat, and we go downstairs and, in theory, read or play until they fall asleep. Except, they haven't been falling asleep, so I need to alter that theory!

This is one of those frustrating things about being a first time mom--I want to instill good sleep habits, but have no idea how to do it!

8 week photos

The boys will be two months old tomorrow!
Photos taken at 8 weeks old...