Eli at 4 Months Old!!

This week has been insane, but we're surviving, and on Tuesday my babies turned 4 months old! (They were really not in the mood for pictures at the time this was taken, so no smiles, in fact it was taken between their screams).

Eli at 4 months old can do the following:

*Hold his head up during Tummy Time (he's still wobbly but he's improved so much in just a month, his PT won't even recognize him tomorrow).

* Roll from his tummy to his back. He did this for the first time on August 31st. At first we thought it was a fluke but he's done it several times since then so we're officially counting it as a milestone. It's hilarious to watch, he lift his head up as high as it can go and then just tip to the side. The weight of his head just sort of pulls him over. Of course once he's over he's usually a little bit freaked out by all of this and starts whining. 

* Grab at the ring on his bouncer. He did this for the first time two days ago. It's so cute to watch him concentrate so hard to coordinate his hand to grab the ring.

* He's also recently discovered his hands exists and spends a great deal of time staring at them and putting them in his mouth.

*Can hold a rattle in his hands. I discovered this yesterday. He can't yet pick it up, but if I put it in his hands, he'll hold on to, hold it up to look at it, and try to put it in his mouth. It's adorable and makes him so incredibly excited. 

* Drinks anywhere from 4-5oz at a time. (Most of the time 4 except before bed).

*Smiles all the time and makes loud happy noises. 

*Kicks his legs when he's excited.

*Is just now starting to fit into 0-3 month clothing, but most of his newborn stuff works too. 

*Sleeps in really awkward positions. We're not really sure what this is about, but he throws his neck and head back as far as he can go and sort of twists. It's very strange and doesn't look very comfortable. 

*Naps for 3-4 hours at a time. It's crazy but he needs his naps. He eats, does tummy time, plays and then is ready to nap. He follows this pattern all day and is happiest when I follow it. 

*Is a pretty easy going baby. Eli has sort of come into his own finally and he's a lot more mellow these days. When he's hungry he shrieks (loudly) and when he's tired he whines but those are easy things to fix and for the most part he hangs out, plays, and smiles.

It's crazy because he wasn't really doing much, and then all of a sudden he figured out how to do a bunch of things all at once. 

First Church outing...

The babies did great. I on other other hand am suffering from lack of sleep, start of classes, and just plain exhaustion because I did the following:

• Used Shampoo as body wash
• Lost the cheese I was using to make an omelet (I had it and then couldn't find where I put it)
• Put my shirt on inside out
• Only had one earring on

Awesome, but we made it, and were even early. The babies stared at the ceiling and lights for the first part of the service (Eli especially seemed to love the sparkling lights in the high ceiling of the church), slept for the second part, and then were awake at the end. 

The organ startled Eli a couple of times, but overall a very smooth experience. The babies of course attracted a ton of attention but our little hand washing signs are very effective at church. All of the older people are very diligent about not touching their hands (although that meant their little feet were fair game, which I'm good with at the moment since the feet aren't going into their mouths at this point). One cute little lady wanted to pinch Eli's cheeks (Who knew they actually did that), luckily she refrained herself, and we get to hear stories about everyone's grand-babies. 

I imagine as my responsibilities at church increase the babies will stay home with Marcus, because he won't be able to handle both at once, I can't very well preach and hold a baby at the same time, and I'm not comfortable sending them to the nursery with older kids.  Especially, as it starts to get colder. I really don't want to expose them to all of the potential cold and flu this winter, but for now things went okay. 

Family Pics.

Some of the family pictures we had taken by Rachel with Brisham Photography  in central park. I love them, I'm so glad we decided to drive into the city.

Just a few. There are a ton that I'm in love with. 

So much for sleeping...

Emerson did the 8 hour sleeping stretch for two nights in a row, and then last night it was back to the normal waking and feeding schedule. Eli was kicking her in the shoulder though so I wonder if that has something to do with when she woke up. I'm thinking, unfortunately that we might have to try them in their own cribs, to see if that makes a difference, because Eli is not a very kind sleeping companion these days with his moving, kicking, and screaming. Although taking the out of the same crib makes me really sad for some reason.

Emerson...

slept for about 8 hours last night. We put her to bed around 9 and she didn't wake up, move, or make a peep until 5:00 am. Then she ate and went back to sleep until 9:30. It was great. Her brother on the other hand... well we don't need to talk about that, but to suffice to say he did not sleep for 8 hours.

At least it's a little bit of progress... we'll see if it was a fluke or if she repeats it tonight.

Chaos....

Classes officially start for me today, but I decided to use yesterday as a practice day since I'll have an 11:30 am class every Tuesday and Thursday and I wanted to see if I could get both babies fed and dressed and have time to pump before I would need to leave. What ensued was chaos. Eli always wakes up first (Emerson likes to sleep in bless her. I wish she would give her brother a lesson). So after their 6 am feeding she'll usually sleep until 9:30 or 10:00.

Eli on the other hand doesn't go back to sleep after his morning feeding unless we stick him in our bed (which we do sometimes) and even then he's only good until 7:30 or 8:00 and when he's ready to wake up he screams at the top of lungs. Loud, high pitch screeching. This ridiculous screeching then gets louder when I change him (how Emerson continues to sleep I don't know). Once I change him I try to get his bottle in his mouth as quick as possible, because this is the only way to stop the screeching.

We were okay until Eli had a huge blowout. It was a mess, poop, every where. It was awful and the only remedy was to stick him in the bath, which is right around the time Emerson decides she would like to eat. Then feeding Emerson, trying to keep Eli entertained, plus I forgot that I would actually have to shower and look presentable to leave the house, wash the bottles, pump, and then leave. (Luckily because yesterday was practice I didn't actually have to leave).

Let's just say I fell short of my goal time.

So I tried again today, keeping the 11:00 am goal in mind, and it was essentially a repeat of yesterday with an even bigger blowout by Eli, prompting yet another bath, plus this time I was also covered in baby poop. (Which I didn't realize until a little later when I couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from, it was all over my shirt lovely). Then I also needed to make the house look somewhat presentable since today I actually have to leave the house for class, and a friend is coming to watch the babies. So in the midst of cleaning and feeding babies, I also threw in two loads of laundry.

Thankfully Marcus had 1.5 hours between class and work to help vacuum, feed Emerson, wash bottles and sweep. So I could eat, shower and finish the laundry. It's now 12:15 and both babies are napping.

I have on hour until class and in that time I have to eat lunch, feed both babies, and pump.

I'm tired... this is going to be interesting. Hopefully we all adjust quickly to the new schedule.

Bedtime routine alone...

My last post was written at the end of a successful week and while things are getting easier we are also at the beginning of some huge scheduling changes between Marcus' work and class schedule and my class schedule and internship. A class Marcus thought was only one night a week is actually 3 nights a week which means I'm on my own for the bedtime routine during those nights, a feat I had never done alone until last night.

Marcus left for class around 6:30pm which is the start of their meltdown time, and I did what I could to calm them. Finally, around 7:45pm I couldn't take it anymore and started their routine (early, I also started early because I knew it would take longer since it was just me). Usually this works well because Marcus and I each take a kid and the crying soon stops. However, on my own the routine was much more complicated, and not as relaxing for the babies since one of them was screaming while I was getting the other one ready.

I also had to feed them at the same time which I hate, especially before bed because I like to hold each of them for their feedings. After getting most of their bottles down, I then took one at a time and fed that one and then put them to bed, and repeated with the next. It was ridiculously complicated and exhausting and the babies didn't go down and smoothly as they usually do, probably because they never fully calmed down since they had to take turns waiting for me.

I did it though. Night one of bedtime routine alone is completed, an entire semester left to go.