The screaming and crying and drooling continues so I am led to believe that they are in fact both teething and it wasn't the formula.
But who the hell knows.....
Maybe it's just babies and what they do! Ha ha!
Please send some patience our way! It's gonna be a long winter!
Meditation moment....ommmmmmm
Hey it's silent for the moment......
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Snaps are the enemy, Zippers are your friend....
Other titles I also thought were appropriate for this blog:
Don't judge...you'll do whatever it takes to get a baby to stop crying
OR
Gas drops and binkies are key to a decent nights sleep
OR
Holy crap, just when we thought we had them somewhat figured out!
Well it's been about 2.5 weeks since my last blog and well, again I must say WOWzers I am pretty sure I am partially deaf from all the screaming and crying we have endured the last 2 weeks. It has mostly been Georgia who does the crying and screaming and not wanting to eat or sleep. I mean she was eating some, but no where near where she had been the week before and just absolutely freaking out with this blood curdling crying for hours during the day and the she would start up again for several hours in the evening. My first thought was colic? Can babies get it this late? Maybe an ear infection? My next thought was a growth spurt? But why wasn't she eating and sleeping more if she was growing? We knew she wasn't sick and didn't have a fever or any sickness symptoms, so every time she freaked out for the last 2 weeks we would run down our checklist of trying to calm her down:
Is she hungry? Feed her
Dirty diaper? Change her
Is she tired? Swaddle her, rock her, bounce her, walk her around the house
Is she too hot? Strip her naked to her diaper and lay her on her playmat and let her kick her legs (this also helps with gas)
Is she gassy/tummy ache? Give her gas drops, put her on her belly on the boppy
And when all else fails turn on the noise app on your phone that plays the oscillating fan noise and stick it next to her ear
And if all that doesn't work and you are starting to lose your mind?? Well that's where we were at....
So I decided last Thursday to call the pediatrician and take her in just to make sure she was alright. Frankie had had a couple of episodes starting the second week as well but nothing like Georgia so I just took Georgia. And guess what.....
The doctor checked her over, and said well.....she is teething. Is she drooling? I said yes she and Frankie had started to in the last week and they were both chewing on their hands more. She felt Georgia's gums and said yep I think that's what it is because she is fine otherwise.
So off to the store I went to get teething devices, some liquid Tylenol and some all natural teething dissolving tabs (as recommended by my friends after emailing them for help!!)
Let me back up for a second. About 5 days after the screaming started with Georgia I decided to try and gradually switch over to the target brand of formula because it is WAY cheaper than the similac sensitive stomach name brand formula. And as the screaming and crying continued I noticed Georgia was pooping a lot more and she and Frankie were eating less and less and Frankie was starting to cry more as well.
Sooooooo, as I sit here today I'm not sure if its the teething that is causing all the craziness or the switch to a different formula or a combination of both things over the last 2 weeks.
But today (Sunday the 20th) after these past 2 long weeks of crying and not sleeping and not eating well and giving Georgia Tylenol and teething stuff I decided to switch back to the expensive similac formula last night and again this morning. And guess what......they both slept soundly last night, woke up happy and not crying this morning, ate really well this morning, and both fell asleep with no fuss this morning. Soooo, what was causing all this?? I'm not sure if its teething, them not liking the target brand of formula, a combination of both, or some other weird baby stage??
Whatever it is/was I'm hoping we have gotten past it....please, please, please!! And it would just figure they both would have expensive taste in formula! I know this is only the beginning of them having expensive tastes like their momma! Ha ha!
This experience is definitely teaching Justin and me patience and just making us excited for the day when they can tell us what's wrong with them. It is SOOO frustrating not knowing what is wrong and trying all the methods above and they are still screaming!
I have to say though too, overall they are very good babies, but sometimes it's just hard to remember the happy times when you've just endured 2-3 hours of screaming. But they are sleeping better and longer than most babies their age and are very healthy.
I also wanted to mention things that have made our life much easier and much harder to this point just in case it can help someone else in any way!
Snap sleepers SUCK!!! When it's dark and your trying to change a baby in their room and not wake the other baby up, snaps can make you lose your mind!! Zippers are key.
Always make sure the diaper is on super tight and the diaper isn't too big for the baby cause if not, you and your baby will be covered in poop from head to toe. Just ask Justin!
Baby nail trimmers are a joke. The best thing I have found to cut their nails, (thanks to my sister in law, Kelly) are tweezerman trimming scissors. They are super tiny and sharp and perfectly rounded to trim their nails.
Any toy with lights and music is key for babies this age!! We love the baby Einstein toys and Lamaze toys.
You can get a baby to sleep longer if they wake up in the middle of the night by putting some gas drops in their mouth or on the end of a pacifier and sticking it in their mouth. Best trick ever!
The Sleep sheep that plays ocean and rain noises helps our babies sleep more soundly and longer! A definite must have!
Swaddling blankets and Velcro swaddles are amazing, but they need to invent a swaddle where the Velcro doesn't wear out or something stronger for babies like Georgia who can break out of any swaddle you put her in. Sometimes I double swaddle her in a Velcro swaddle and a swaddling blanket. Hey what ever makes them sleep, right!? Can u say baby straight jacket?
An electric swing is key because they can handle more weight and No batteries is key.
Clothing other than sleepers and onesies up until this point are pretty stupid because they basically just live in those 2 things in the winter time. We have one or 2 cute outfits in each size and really that's enough until they get bigger and we take them out more. It's probably way different if you have spring or summer babies.
Also I'm obsessed with gadgets that can help make our lives easier or speed up certain processes we do over and over again on a daily basis.
Baby Brezza- electric water kettle that is made specifically to heat baby bottle water to the perfect temp for formula bottles. Saves us HOURS of time over the week of having to heat bottles
Bottle buddy- electronic formula dispenser, all I can say is it is amazing! It also lets you make odd number size bottles which is helpful for not wasting formula
Glo egg- temperature gauge for their room, awesome to have so I know if its too hot or too cold in their room
I-gym activity center by chicco- awesome when they get to be about 2 months old. It will keep them entertained sometimes up to 30 minutes...sometimes not.
Snot sucker, aka nosefrida is awesome for getting boogies out of their noses. Those bulb syringe things you steal from the hospital don't do anything. The concept of the snot sucker is kinda gross, but whatever works, right!?
Well as I type this Georgia is screaming again.........ha ha ha! Hoping she is just hungry!
Overall we are still loving every crazy, screaming, sleepless moment of this life adventure with Georgia and Frankie! But man I had NO idea this job was going to be this challenging! The toughest job I've ever had! And I thought cold calling selling copiers was hard! Ha!
But when Georgia or Frankie laughs or smiles at us, you momentarily forget about all the hard times and the screaming and it's ALL worth it for one smile! Amazing how that works!
Well I've got to go feed a baby and its my day to nap, so I'm gonna try and take full advantage of that!
Love to all!
The girl power team and the greatest daddy ever!
Don't judge...you'll do whatever it takes to get a baby to stop crying
OR
Gas drops and binkies are key to a decent nights sleep
OR
Holy crap, just when we thought we had them somewhat figured out!
Well it's been about 2.5 weeks since my last blog and well, again I must say WOWzers I am pretty sure I am partially deaf from all the screaming and crying we have endured the last 2 weeks. It has mostly been Georgia who does the crying and screaming and not wanting to eat or sleep. I mean she was eating some, but no where near where she had been the week before and just absolutely freaking out with this blood curdling crying for hours during the day and the she would start up again for several hours in the evening. My first thought was colic? Can babies get it this late? Maybe an ear infection? My next thought was a growth spurt? But why wasn't she eating and sleeping more if she was growing? We knew she wasn't sick and didn't have a fever or any sickness symptoms, so every time she freaked out for the last 2 weeks we would run down our checklist of trying to calm her down:
Is she hungry? Feed her
Dirty diaper? Change her
Is she tired? Swaddle her, rock her, bounce her, walk her around the house
Is she too hot? Strip her naked to her diaper and lay her on her playmat and let her kick her legs (this also helps with gas)
Is she gassy/tummy ache? Give her gas drops, put her on her belly on the boppy
And when all else fails turn on the noise app on your phone that plays the oscillating fan noise and stick it next to her ear
And if all that doesn't work and you are starting to lose your mind?? Well that's where we were at....
So I decided last Thursday to call the pediatrician and take her in just to make sure she was alright. Frankie had had a couple of episodes starting the second week as well but nothing like Georgia so I just took Georgia. And guess what.....
The doctor checked her over, and said well.....she is teething. Is she drooling? I said yes she and Frankie had started to in the last week and they were both chewing on their hands more. She felt Georgia's gums and said yep I think that's what it is because she is fine otherwise.
So off to the store I went to get teething devices, some liquid Tylenol and some all natural teething dissolving tabs (as recommended by my friends after emailing them for help!!)
Let me back up for a second. About 5 days after the screaming started with Georgia I decided to try and gradually switch over to the target brand of formula because it is WAY cheaper than the similac sensitive stomach name brand formula. And as the screaming and crying continued I noticed Georgia was pooping a lot more and she and Frankie were eating less and less and Frankie was starting to cry more as well.
Sooooooo, as I sit here today I'm not sure if its the teething that is causing all the craziness or the switch to a different formula or a combination of both things over the last 2 weeks.
But today (Sunday the 20th) after these past 2 long weeks of crying and not sleeping and not eating well and giving Georgia Tylenol and teething stuff I decided to switch back to the expensive similac formula last night and again this morning. And guess what......they both slept soundly last night, woke up happy and not crying this morning, ate really well this morning, and both fell asleep with no fuss this morning. Soooo, what was causing all this?? I'm not sure if its teething, them not liking the target brand of formula, a combination of both, or some other weird baby stage??
Whatever it is/was I'm hoping we have gotten past it....please, please, please!! And it would just figure they both would have expensive taste in formula! I know this is only the beginning of them having expensive tastes like their momma! Ha ha!
This experience is definitely teaching Justin and me patience and just making us excited for the day when they can tell us what's wrong with them. It is SOOO frustrating not knowing what is wrong and trying all the methods above and they are still screaming!
I have to say though too, overall they are very good babies, but sometimes it's just hard to remember the happy times when you've just endured 2-3 hours of screaming. But they are sleeping better and longer than most babies their age and are very healthy.
I also wanted to mention things that have made our life much easier and much harder to this point just in case it can help someone else in any way!
Snap sleepers SUCK!!! When it's dark and your trying to change a baby in their room and not wake the other baby up, snaps can make you lose your mind!! Zippers are key.
Always make sure the diaper is on super tight and the diaper isn't too big for the baby cause if not, you and your baby will be covered in poop from head to toe. Just ask Justin!
Baby nail trimmers are a joke. The best thing I have found to cut their nails, (thanks to my sister in law, Kelly) are tweezerman trimming scissors. They are super tiny and sharp and perfectly rounded to trim their nails.
Any toy with lights and music is key for babies this age!! We love the baby Einstein toys and Lamaze toys.
You can get a baby to sleep longer if they wake up in the middle of the night by putting some gas drops in their mouth or on the end of a pacifier and sticking it in their mouth. Best trick ever!
The Sleep sheep that plays ocean and rain noises helps our babies sleep more soundly and longer! A definite must have!
Swaddling blankets and Velcro swaddles are amazing, but they need to invent a swaddle where the Velcro doesn't wear out or something stronger for babies like Georgia who can break out of any swaddle you put her in. Sometimes I double swaddle her in a Velcro swaddle and a swaddling blanket. Hey what ever makes them sleep, right!? Can u say baby straight jacket?
An electric swing is key because they can handle more weight and No batteries is key.
Clothing other than sleepers and onesies up until this point are pretty stupid because they basically just live in those 2 things in the winter time. We have one or 2 cute outfits in each size and really that's enough until they get bigger and we take them out more. It's probably way different if you have spring or summer babies.
Also I'm obsessed with gadgets that can help make our lives easier or speed up certain processes we do over and over again on a daily basis.
Baby Brezza- electric water kettle that is made specifically to heat baby bottle water to the perfect temp for formula bottles. Saves us HOURS of time over the week of having to heat bottles
Bottle buddy- electronic formula dispenser, all I can say is it is amazing! It also lets you make odd number size bottles which is helpful for not wasting formula
Glo egg- temperature gauge for their room, awesome to have so I know if its too hot or too cold in their room
I-gym activity center by chicco- awesome when they get to be about 2 months old. It will keep them entertained sometimes up to 30 minutes...sometimes not.
Snot sucker, aka nosefrida is awesome for getting boogies out of their noses. Those bulb syringe things you steal from the hospital don't do anything. The concept of the snot sucker is kinda gross, but whatever works, right!?
Well as I type this Georgia is screaming again.........ha ha ha! Hoping she is just hungry!
Overall we are still loving every crazy, screaming, sleepless moment of this life adventure with Georgia and Frankie! But man I had NO idea this job was going to be this challenging! The toughest job I've ever had! And I thought cold calling selling copiers was hard! Ha!
But when Georgia or Frankie laughs or smiles at us, you momentarily forget about all the hard times and the screaming and it's ALL worth it for one smile! Amazing how that works!
Well I've got to go feed a baby and its my day to nap, so I'm gonna try and take full advantage of that!
Love to all!
The girl power team and the greatest daddy ever!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
3 months old!!
Can you believe it! I can't! I also can't believe how long it has been since I have updated my blog! So sorry but there is no time!! My new life as a stay at home mom with 2 babies has changed my life in so many ways I can't believe it! All my priorities have shifted and it is all about them now!
Lets see so let me back track a bit since I last updated 2 months ago! The first couple months was well how do I say it nicely.....ummm the hardest most trying time in my life!! I was trying to do everything on my own everyday feeding and changing and pumping and it all seemed to be going good in my head until the newborn adrenaline wore off and I found myself in the emergency room on a sunday afternoon. The babies were about 4.5 weeks old and I had gone about 5 days with no sleep and about 3 days with no food, the adrenaline was wearing off and my anxiety about having these 2 tiny lives to take care of all caught up with me. I spent 4 hours in the ER and ended up being told I had postpartum depression, anxiety, insomnia and dehydration. They gave me a bunch of medicine to take and I went home and that's when everything changed. We called in reinforcements (grandparents, night nannies, aunts, great-aunts, cousins, neighbors, a part-time daytime nanny) and anyone else who would come over and help!! And boy did I need it and so did Justin! Everybody pitched in and I just tried to work on getting better and to sleep. I had to take each day slowly, just hour by hour, to try and mentally and physically repair and understand what was going on with my body and my new life. It was hard, very hard. And I have to say, my husband was SO amazing through it all!! He stuck by me and just took charge and took care of those babies and the house and our life, so I could just work on getting myself healthy for those girls. I definitely saw a new side of him, that I never expected to see and it was so awesome! It made me love him even more than I knew I could.
And then slowly with all the help and support each day started to get easier and my anxiety subsided and I became more confident. But I couldn't have done it without our amazing support team! I think I would have drowned.
The lack of sleep the first 2.5 months, no one can prepare you for! Especially with 2 babies! You get one to sleep and the other one wakes up and this cycle goes on and on all night long! Thank god for our wonderful night nannies that helped us out 3-4 nights a week so we could get some sleep! We ended up finding them last minute though a friend of Justin's and it just so happened that they had an 8-12 week opening between their other families to help us out. So they came from 11pm-7am on those nights and Justin and I would turn on the fan as high and loud as possible to block out the crying and it was the best paid for sleep I have ever gotten in my life! It was priceless!
So what about the babies??? They are amazing! I know I might be biased but they are the cutest babies I have ever seen!! Ha ha!! The first 2 months they are really just like blobs with no reaction except for staring, crying, sleeping, pooping. But once that first smile from Georgia appeared at a little after 2 months old, it made all that hard work the first 2 months worth it! Frankie started to smile about a week later! They have also started to laugh and coo at us and sometimes we even get a hint of a belly laugh from both of them! It is so cool! In the last couple weeks they have also gotten quite strong and can now almost hold their heads up straight on their own and they are reaching for things. Their personalities are so different, their cries are different, and their body movements are different. Frankie loves light up toys with music and well....the TV. Georgia also likes the light up toys but I think she prefers just a plain old rattle or just your face in front of her. Georgia is also a couple pounds bigger than Frankie at this point. At their 2 month checkup (which they had to get 3 shots, but did really well with) Georgia was around 11.5lbs and Frankie was around 9lbs. It has been almost a month since that visit, so I would think they each have probably gained another pound! Wow, how fast they grow! The doctor told us at their 2 month check up that they were gaining weight and growing really well and that we must be doing something right! Words to put my mind at ease! We will go back to the doctor the first part of February for their 4 month checkup and more shots. Sad face!
And how are the girls sleeping at this point? Amazingly better! We put them down usually between 9:30-10:30 after their last feeding and they are sleeping till about 5-6am and then they go right back down till 9-9:30am! I am hoping soon they will just drop that 5am feeding, but for now I am just happy to have those 2 nice chunks of sleep. And yes we still have a night here and there where they are restless, but overall I am so happy with how they are doing. We do have them on the exact same schedule, so they always eat at the same time, play at the same time and nap at the same time, which I think makes life for us a whole lot easier because now 90% of the time we know why they are crying. Last week was the last week for the night nannies, so from this point forward we are on our own at night, but I have no worries because of the amazing progress they are making.
We also have hired a part-time daytime nanny that I mentioned earlier. Rachel comes 3 days a week during the day to help me take care of the girls. She is so good with them and the girls love her. Having her around just helps me get a break to take a shower or run an errand or sleep in or take a nap.
Justin and I have also gotten great help with his family and mine so that we can get out of the house together to ensure our relationship stays healthy. It's nice to just go to lunch or run to Target together and just reconnect. Yes, we love being with the babies, but we need sometime away from them as well just for our sanity and to get out of the house (which sometimes can feel like it is closing in on you).
We love our new life! The girls have completely flipped our lives upside-down, but I wouldn't change a thing. Yes, I may not be able to run out anytime I want now, or meet up with my/our friends anytime we want, but that's ok because the times that we do get to do those things now it is extra special and means more. But for the most part I am happy just hanging at home in my Victorias secret sweatsuit making the girls smile. And I am feeling 100% better physically and mentally and I am already off all of the medications which is a huge relief for me! I also think my crazy hormones are almost back to normal which after 3.5 years of messing with them, it feels nice to not feel like someone else is possessing your body.
We look forward to each new day with the girls and each new thing they start to do is so exciting! We have taken them just a few places like relatives houses and the mall, but other than that we have tried to avoid taking them out too much because of the awful flu that has been going around and because it is so cold out now. I am looking forward to the spring when we can take them out more and to the park and the zoo and lots of fun places with friends!
Ok, time to share some pictures! I am going to try and start updating again more often, but hey no promises! I got 2 babies to take care of remember!!!
Our newborn photo shoot:
Lets see so let me back track a bit since I last updated 2 months ago! The first couple months was well how do I say it nicely.....ummm the hardest most trying time in my life!! I was trying to do everything on my own everyday feeding and changing and pumping and it all seemed to be going good in my head until the newborn adrenaline wore off and I found myself in the emergency room on a sunday afternoon. The babies were about 4.5 weeks old and I had gone about 5 days with no sleep and about 3 days with no food, the adrenaline was wearing off and my anxiety about having these 2 tiny lives to take care of all caught up with me. I spent 4 hours in the ER and ended up being told I had postpartum depression, anxiety, insomnia and dehydration. They gave me a bunch of medicine to take and I went home and that's when everything changed. We called in reinforcements (grandparents, night nannies, aunts, great-aunts, cousins, neighbors, a part-time daytime nanny) and anyone else who would come over and help!! And boy did I need it and so did Justin! Everybody pitched in and I just tried to work on getting better and to sleep. I had to take each day slowly, just hour by hour, to try and mentally and physically repair and understand what was going on with my body and my new life. It was hard, very hard. And I have to say, my husband was SO amazing through it all!! He stuck by me and just took charge and took care of those babies and the house and our life, so I could just work on getting myself healthy for those girls. I definitely saw a new side of him, that I never expected to see and it was so awesome! It made me love him even more than I knew I could.
And then slowly with all the help and support each day started to get easier and my anxiety subsided and I became more confident. But I couldn't have done it without our amazing support team! I think I would have drowned.
The lack of sleep the first 2.5 months, no one can prepare you for! Especially with 2 babies! You get one to sleep and the other one wakes up and this cycle goes on and on all night long! Thank god for our wonderful night nannies that helped us out 3-4 nights a week so we could get some sleep! We ended up finding them last minute though a friend of Justin's and it just so happened that they had an 8-12 week opening between their other families to help us out. So they came from 11pm-7am on those nights and Justin and I would turn on the fan as high and loud as possible to block out the crying and it was the best paid for sleep I have ever gotten in my life! It was priceless!
So what about the babies??? They are amazing! I know I might be biased but they are the cutest babies I have ever seen!! Ha ha!! The first 2 months they are really just like blobs with no reaction except for staring, crying, sleeping, pooping. But once that first smile from Georgia appeared at a little after 2 months old, it made all that hard work the first 2 months worth it! Frankie started to smile about a week later! They have also started to laugh and coo at us and sometimes we even get a hint of a belly laugh from both of them! It is so cool! In the last couple weeks they have also gotten quite strong and can now almost hold their heads up straight on their own and they are reaching for things. Their personalities are so different, their cries are different, and their body movements are different. Frankie loves light up toys with music and well....the TV. Georgia also likes the light up toys but I think she prefers just a plain old rattle or just your face in front of her. Georgia is also a couple pounds bigger than Frankie at this point. At their 2 month checkup (which they had to get 3 shots, but did really well with) Georgia was around 11.5lbs and Frankie was around 9lbs. It has been almost a month since that visit, so I would think they each have probably gained another pound! Wow, how fast they grow! The doctor told us at their 2 month check up that they were gaining weight and growing really well and that we must be doing something right! Words to put my mind at ease! We will go back to the doctor the first part of February for their 4 month checkup and more shots. Sad face!
And how are the girls sleeping at this point? Amazingly better! We put them down usually between 9:30-10:30 after their last feeding and they are sleeping till about 5-6am and then they go right back down till 9-9:30am! I am hoping soon they will just drop that 5am feeding, but for now I am just happy to have those 2 nice chunks of sleep. And yes we still have a night here and there where they are restless, but overall I am so happy with how they are doing. We do have them on the exact same schedule, so they always eat at the same time, play at the same time and nap at the same time, which I think makes life for us a whole lot easier because now 90% of the time we know why they are crying. Last week was the last week for the night nannies, so from this point forward we are on our own at night, but I have no worries because of the amazing progress they are making.
We also have hired a part-time daytime nanny that I mentioned earlier. Rachel comes 3 days a week during the day to help me take care of the girls. She is so good with them and the girls love her. Having her around just helps me get a break to take a shower or run an errand or sleep in or take a nap.
Justin and I have also gotten great help with his family and mine so that we can get out of the house together to ensure our relationship stays healthy. It's nice to just go to lunch or run to Target together and just reconnect. Yes, we love being with the babies, but we need sometime away from them as well just for our sanity and to get out of the house (which sometimes can feel like it is closing in on you).
We love our new life! The girls have completely flipped our lives upside-down, but I wouldn't change a thing. Yes, I may not be able to run out anytime I want now, or meet up with my/our friends anytime we want, but that's ok because the times that we do get to do those things now it is extra special and means more. But for the most part I am happy just hanging at home in my Victorias secret sweatsuit making the girls smile. And I am feeling 100% better physically and mentally and I am already off all of the medications which is a huge relief for me! I also think my crazy hormones are almost back to normal which after 3.5 years of messing with them, it feels nice to not feel like someone else is possessing your body.
We look forward to each new day with the girls and each new thing they start to do is so exciting! We have taken them just a few places like relatives houses and the mall, but other than that we have tried to avoid taking them out too much because of the awful flu that has been going around and because it is so cold out now. I am looking forward to the spring when we can take them out more and to the park and the zoo and lots of fun places with friends!
Ok, time to share some pictures! I am going to try and start updating again more often, but hey no promises! I got 2 babies to take care of remember!!!
Our newborn photo shoot:
Frankie and Georgia
Our new family
My little dancing girls
Love this picture!
Headed to the doctor!
Can't believe they look so small here!
Daddy and his girls napping
Georgia punching Frankie
Aunts helping us take care of the babies
Yay! 2 months old!
Hanging with Grandma
Mom and her girls
Grandma and Grandpa
Daddy and his girls
Smiling for Mom
Our Christmas outfits
The girls with Grandpa Dave aka Santa Clause
Just hanging out
Preparing for a trip outside in the snow to the mall
Our first Christmas as a family of 4
Can't forget our furry babies!
Love to all!
Jenny, Justin, Frankie, Georgia, Delly, Annie & Pickles
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