Yay babies!

I've been thinking about doing a post with all of the neat things we've learned about the babies, and today seems like a great day because I'm so super proud of them the last few days. Last night I did bedtime by myself, and they both finished their bottles and went right to sleep in their room by 8:00pm - I didn't have to go in there once! Jake woke up for about 30 seconds at 1:00am and again at 3:00am, but I blame myself for that because he was busting out of his swaddle and I knew it was too small for my big guy. Other than that...they slept until 6:15am! We had breakfast, we played a little, then we went back down for a nap in our cribs right away...amazing. I love it. I almost feel bad when people tell me they don't know how I do it, because Jake and Abby make it so easy on me. They're the reason I can do it!


So Jake is turning in to the happiest, smiliest baby ever. He has started "talking" and gets SO excited when I make noises to him that he can repeat. His big open mouth smile is so adorable. Right now his favorite thing is to be on the play mat that we have for them, which has a toy that they can kick to play music and lights. They both figured out how to do it, and he LOVES it, especially because he can kick it and look at Mr. Octopus above him at the same time which is just the best. He is also obsessed, as he has been since basically day one, with the bird mobile over the swing where he naps during the day. Sometimes when I put him in there he'll fuss for a second until the birds go on like he's waiting for it. The other day he was falling asleep, and after he closed his eyes he would peep them open for a second to make sure the birds were still there, then smile when he saw them. Seriously? That's awesome. He is starting to get enough control to suck his thumb instead of just shoving his whole hand in his mouth. If he wants to be a thumb sucker, I say have at it - no more me hopping up to replace a pacifier! We'll worry about how to get the thumb out of his mouth later! My sweet, happy boy. Such a cutie.

Miss Abby could be the easiest baby of all time. She wakes up in the morning when Jake does, and she plays happily by herself on their playmat while he eats breakfast every morning. Last weekend when I was feeding Jake, I had to tell Jeff to go ahead and feed her because I knew if he was waiting for her to cry for her bottle, he would be waiting a long time! She is so patient. The only time she really cries is when she wants some company. She is definitely a napper that likes to be held sometimes. Yesterday I was trying to get some things done around the house, so instead of holding her I put a little stuffed pig, Peppa, in with her during nap time. She was totally fascinated, and every time I peeked in to see how she was doing she was calmly petting Peppa, and then she'd see me watching her and smile. It just about melted my heart to see her, it was the sweetest thing ever. She also likes the playmat a lot, and the past few days she's started to wiggle around more so I bet she'll be rolling over like Jake in no time. She is such a happy baby too, and has this hilarious smile where she sort of tips her chin down to the side and grins at you from the corner of her eye. Such a flirt! Although my singing voice leaves a lot to be desired, singing silly songs to her almost always makes her smile. I think she's going to turn out to be such a girly girl. Jeff won't stand a chance against her! Who could say no to that face!

Life's pretty great. I read somewhere that when you have kids, the days are slow and the years are fast. We have rough days - like Sunday, when Jeff texted me while I was at the mall to tell me that he had a new respect for me because he got the pleasure of spending four hours with them when they would. not. be quiet - but we have great weeks. I can't believe it's been 3 months since the day we brought them home from the hospital. I've come a long way since that day when I yelled at Jeff for leaving the room to go to the bathroom while one of them was crying because I didn't know what to do by myself!

Four month appointment and holiday pics

We had our four month appointment at the pediatrician last week and got another great report card! Abby was 10lbs 2oz, officially over TRIPLE her birth weight! She moved up the growth charts from .5% to 2.5%, so exciting. Jake was 12lbs 2oz, and moved up from 5% to 20%! Since this compares them to babies that are 4 months old that were born at full term, it is GREAT news that they continue to grow quickly to catch up to their "peers". As for their milestones, they are supposed to hit those somewhere between their actual age (4 months) and their adjusted age (2 months) and we seem to be on track there. After a few weeks of practice, Jake finally rolled over the other day! Even though I was two feet away from him, I missed it because I was reading a magazine because they were driving me crazy. Bad mommy.

Speaking of driving me crazy, WOW have we had a week with these two. We had a fun weekend last weekend - had people over most of the day on Saturday and Sunday - and boy did we pay for it. They didn't nap well on Saturday so Saturday night was rougher than usual. Then they didn't nap well on Sunday and Sunday night was even worse. Then they didn't nap well on Monday, and after two nights of bad sleep and one day of too many mimosas (oops), I was NOT happy. Monday night was bad again and I honestly thought on Tuesday that I was going to lose my mind. Thankfully the tide started to turn, and we had good naps again yesterday and pretty good sleep last night. It's funny how when we first brought them home we were expecting them to not sleep a lot so it was exhausting but not "want to jump out of your brain with frustration" awful. Now that we KNOW they are capable of sleeping great at night, it is brutal when they don't.

We are looking forward to Pajauskas family Christmas tomorrow! I keep talking to the babies about Santa but I'm 99% sure they have no idea what I'm talking about. Maybe next year? Or the year after that?

We got the rest of our holiday pictures from Katie Ryan and they are awesome! Would have been more awesome if Jake and Abby would crack a smile, but there's always hope for their six month pictures. Enjoy!

Four months old

Happy four month birthday babies!

We celebrated with the longest stretch of sleep we have gotten from one of them yet...Abby went to sleep at 8:00 last night right after her bottle, and had to be woken up at 6:00am this morning to eat! Amazing. Jake is a busy guy these days so he didn't sleep *quite* as much. He is either teething or just fascinated with his hands, because they are constantly in his mouth, which wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that he doesn't like when they knock his pacifier out and he hasn't quite figured out what to do about that. We could prevent that at night by keeping him swaddled, but he is also super close to being able to roll over, so we had to go cold turkey on the swaddling to make sure he doesn't get stuck on his stomach. The result? It takes awhile to get him to go to sleep - because sucking on his hands and trying to roll over is so fun! - and he wakes during the night needing his pacifier replaced. Since we still get significantly more sleep than we were getting a few months ago, we'll take it!

We have a good routine going for our days now, and they are easier now that Jake and Abby wake up without screaming for food immediately. Their awake time stretches are getting longer between naps too - about an hour for Jake, and a little longer than that for Abby. Here's how our days look now, give or take an hour or so:

7:30am - Up for the day. It's so fun to go in their room when I hear their little chirps and see smiling faces!
8:00am - Breakfast bottles. When they came home from the NICU, Abby was taking 2 ounces of milk every 4 hours, and Jake was taking 2.5. Now Abby takes 5 ounces of milk 4 times a day, every 4 hours during the day and 3.5 ounces once overnight, and Jake does the same with 5.5 ounces during the day and 3.5 ounces overnight.
9:00am - Morning nap. This is the easiest nap of the day, especially for Jake who can barely keep his eyes open long enough for me to put him in his swing. See our 4 month photos below for proof - he was NOT happy that I delayed his nap to take these! He passed out within 30 seconds of me putting him down after the pictures were over.
11:30am - Lunch time!
1:00pm - Afternoon nap. I think Abby is going to be a daytime TV fan, because a few times a week she decides that the only way she will take this nap is on the couch with me. Since Jake NEVER sleeps on me, and I like afternoon naps too, I am okay with this.
3:30pm - I like to think of this as Dinner, Part 1. This is usually their longest stretch of awake time during the day so we get some good play time in. I'm excited for "us" to get some new toys for Christmas! Mr. Octopus can only entertain me for so long, but they seem to love it every day.
5:30pm - 3rd nap, usually the shortest and sometimes for one or both babies, practically nonexistent. Since they get two other great naps during the day, and they seem to sleep well at night regardless, I try not to stress about it too much.
7:30pm - Pajamas, then dinner, Part 2, then bed!

Jake's overnight requests for pacifier replacement notwithstanding, we still have some seriously easy babies on our hands which we are grateful for every day. Jeff and I got to experience a first this week - Christmas shopping at Toys R Us! Dear Lord that place is a madhouse. I think when the babies get older I'll leave that part of the Christmas shopping up to Jeff.

We have our four month pediatrician appointment on Friday so we can see how big everyone is - yay! - and get four month shots and December Synagis - boo.

Here we are at four months!