Seven Months: Things to Remember

Oh boy, the months are flying by and I rarely find time to add to this blog. The boys are seven months old now and are a constant source of joy AND irritation, which is a horrible thing to admit but there it is! Babies can be pains in the ass! Ha. Send that mother of the year award over now, I'm ready to make my speech and then run screaming from the building.

Even so, I dread the thought of having to go back to work. I don't want anybody to look after my boys except me, and am heartbroken at all I will miss if they go into daycare. Not sure how to reconcile this. I'm even considering working evenings just so I can be home during the day with them, but S is not to impressed with that idea, so we'll have to see. I need to start researching daycare costs as well, just to see if it's even worth my going back to work, but I'm pretty sure my salary will more than cover costs and so that argument won't fly. There is a slight chance that I will be able to work from home (slight.....my office is notoriously against such radical innovation....it's a publishing company.....all work can be done online anyway....sigh) but I'm scared to broach that topic with my boss. They have been laying off over the past few months, so I'm worried that I will be next if I try to upset the applecart. Ack.

I'm writing this next to a screaming baby. He is so damned tired, and won't sleep. Won't. Sleep. At. All. I just put him down to yell for a minute...oh wait, he just fell asleep. I'm dead against crying it out, but pinch me if he didn't just stop shrieking and fall asleep. Ahhh, silence in the house of insanity.

I have no idea why this has started. He fights bedtime tooth and nail. His eyes are red and slitty from rubbing, he yawns and won't settle into playing or being carried or even eating. It's exhausting watching him. He keeps waking his brother. If you're looking for me, I'll be in the loony bin with the rest of the twin moms.

They have started waking more at night, and I feel as though I am back in those first two or three months after birth, when it seemed as though I never slept at all. Last night was better, they woke at 11 and then slept again until 5:30, heaven, but it's been more like 12, 3, 5, 8....and I have such a horrible time falling asleep between feeds because I am so tense anticipating the next howl through the baby monitor. But these nighttime feeds are quick, and they are very happy, and they go back to sleep right away. I wonder if the night wakings are related in any way to the fact that they are eating more solid food now. Maybe they have sore stomachs? Pin has diaper rash since he started eating solid food, I think because his poops are so yucky now. Duckling seems fine, no real rash, but he has some mean poops as well! I've moved them up a size in diaper, not because they are that much bigger but because they poo in fantastic quantities now, and it's always leaking out the legs or back.

Duckling:

• Still has no teeth, but drools incessantly. His shirt front is always soaked, and he has a rash around his mouth I think from drooling, but possibly a reaction to the one time I put cumin on his potato.
• Loves potato, rice cereal with mashed pear mixed in, chunks of pear, sweet potato, dried bagels, rice cakes spread with avocado or sweet potato and toast. Not too fond of zucchini or carrots. Likes broccoli and green beans, and will tolerate mixed grain cereal.
• Can roll from his front to his back, finally, this week.
• Has not slept in a swaddle for two weeks now, and is doing well. Flaps his arms a bit but settles down eventually (when he's not being screaming bedtime baby from hell).
• Loves the exersaucer, and his singing flower toy.
• Weighs around 19 lbs, has had three sets of immunization with little problem (slight fever, crabby for one day). Loves to swing in the park.
• Squeezes my nose, grabs my lower lip and pulls, grabs my face with his hands and pulls it to his face ('kiss mummy').
• Rolls, struggles, kicks when getting his diaper changed. Sometimes sticks his legs out stiff and crossed at the ankles, making it impossible to get the old diaper off or new one on.
• Laughs so much, smiles huge, just a lovely little boy most of the time (except for the screaming bedtime baby from hell episodes)

Pin

• Has four teeth, two up two down. Grinds them together incessantly, which is horrifying but he seems to get much entertainment from this.
• Loves rice cereal with pear, zucchini, potato, green beans. Not a huge fan of sweet potato or mixed grain cereal. Likes broccoli, dried bagel, and rice cakes spread with avocado or sweet potato.
• Smiles. All. The. Time. At strangers, at us, at the cat, at nothing in particular.
• Sleeps well, doesn't fuss to much when we put him to bed, unless he's truly not tired.
• Weighs about 19 lbs, has had three sets of immunizations with minimal problem, slight fever and crabby for a day.
• We thought he had reflux, and perhaps a stomach upset related to broccoli. Coughing, not sleeping well, vomiting more than usual. The doctor gave him pediatric ranitidine, and we gave it to him for a couple of days, and then his top two teeth came in and he seemed to settle down. We haven't given him any medicine and he's ok. Turns out teething symptoms can mimic reflux. Hm.
• Has not slept in a swaddle for two days, and is doing well. Flaps his arms a bit when we first lie him down but settles fairly quickly.
• Loves to swing in the park.
• Loves the exersaucer and the jolly jumper. He jumps in a little circle, on an angle, and it looks as though he's doing a restrained version of Irish dancing.
• Rolls across the floor, and sometimes gets wedged under the couch.

Six months: Things to remember

Six months have gone by in a whirl of activity. It's been a crazy ride, and everytime I think things are settling down into some kind of routine something changes, and we are back to not knowing what the hell is going on!


The boys have grown so much and have learned to do so many things, it's amazing that only six months ago they were blurry little blobs. We have started baby-led weaning, and so far the boys have had broccoli, sweet potato, carrots, apple, green beans and red pepper. Ducking tried some banana but didn't like it at all. They both like everything else, and it's so sweet to see them gumming away on a piece of a vegetable. They tried sippy cups of water today with little success. They'll get it though, they are watching us carefully when we eat and drink, so it won't be long.

They finally, last week, NOTICED each other! They smile and laugh at each other, and Duckling is always very interested in Pin when he is crying in his crib. He twists his head around to look at him, but he doesn't get upset, just curious. They were egging each other on today in the exersaucers, bouncing up and down and laughing at each other. Duckling tries to poke Pin in the head when they are in the same crib, seems to go for the eyes.

We took them for a series of swimming classes, and by the eighth class were kicking their legs in the water and looking as if they enjoyed themselves. S dunks them both right under, but I'm too chicken. They don't seem to mind it too much, but are a little startled. We'll take them again in September.

Both boys will turn their blankies or toys around until they can get at the tag, and happily suck on the tag. They also suck on toy puppy and bear ears, and Sophie the giraffe's feet.


Duckling:

• Can roll over from his back to his front, but once he is there he can't roll back. Well, he can, but only if he is sleeping. Awake, he yells until he is put onto his back, whereupon he immediately flips back onto his stomach. His tolerance for being on his stomach has grown, and he will sometimes stay there for 10 minutes, playing, until he has had enough.
• Has stopped sleeping well through the night. He used to wake up around 4, have a snack and go back to sleep, but now he fights being put to bed, and fights naps, and generally hollers and fusses when it's time for sleep. He will sometimes have extra milk at this point, which helps him to settle, but sometimes he needs to go in his bouncy chair, where he will settle, sometimes. Otherwise it's justs cuddle cuddle (still yelling during the cuddling) but at least he knows he isn't by himself. He wakes up two or three times at night, just like when he was a baby (smirk).
• Seems to be teething. He drools and gnaws on things, and wants to bite my fingers nonstop. His gums don't seem red, or swollen, but the drooling and biting and cranky bedtime behaviour point to teething.
• Loves being in the exersaucer and jolly jumper. Jumps up and down like a mad thing, with a very serious look on his face. He can play with all the exersaucer gadgets, and turn himself around depending on which toy he wants to play with.
• Can put both his feet in his mouth, and chew on his toes. Has done this for about three weeks.
• Reaches for toys, and uses both hands to play with them.
• Reaches down into his diaper with his hand while being changed.
• Just started splashing in the bath with his legs. He hasn't splashed his hands yet.
• Is fascinated with running water.
• Stopped breastfeeding as of last night. He's been slowing down, but still nursing at night, but last night refused. Likes his formula to be my skin temperature or warmer, or he won't drink it.

Pin:

• Can roll from his front to back and back to front, in either direction. He didn't start rolling at all until a few weeks after Duckling, but certainly figured it out in record time. He has even rolled twice in a row, but I think that was more momentum than planning.
• Has two lower teeth, as of today. He didn't make much fuss about it, and it was only by chance that I noticed them. Didn't seem to bother him, although perhaps last night's screaming episode was caused by them coming through.
• Sleeps through the night (last night was an aberration, I hope), and has done so for several weeks. He sleeps through all of Duckling's shenanigans.
• Goes down for a nap easily, and wakes up calmly and plays in his crib for awhile until he feels like letting us know he is awake.
• Sometimes cries at night when S tries to feed him or change him, and won't calm down until I take him. I have a silly little song I sing that calms him down (the lyrics are 'sweet potato baby, sweet potato baby') and then he'll eat and go to sleep fairly easily. Funny. Actually, Duckling will fuss for S as well sometimes and calm down when I take him. They love their mama right now for sure.
• Loves being in the exersaucer and jolly jumper, but is more of a smiler and dangler than actual jumper. He has just started playing with the exersaucer gadgets, but for awhile would just stand in it and smile, and watch me or Duckling and laugh at us.
• Is starting to notice the cats. He got hold of TC the other day and really dug his hands into her fur, and had the funniest look of surprise on his face.
• Likes his formula to be my skin temperature or cooler; doesn't like it too warm.
• Grabs toys with both hands, everything goes in his mouth.
• Hasn't yet started splashing in the bath, but enjoys the warm water.
• Spits up constantly. He always has dried formula stains on his clothes.