9-10 week update

You are almost 10 weeks old, but it has been a while since I've had time to post. A lot has changed in the past almost 2 weeks. You are now formula fed. Mommy had to start some new medicine that is not safe for you two to have, but it was a very important medicine to take. So, as hard as it was to let go, I stopped pumping. You two don't really seem to care. If anything you are spitting up less. At night you get a bottle of breastmilk that I have saved. We probably have 3-4 more nights left.

Still doing cloth diapering. I ordered a few more bumgenius 4.0's and they are still my favorites. I'm still happy with the choice to cloth diaper.Your little butts are awfully cute in the cloth diapers.

Sleep has gotten much better. Knock on wood. You are actually sleeping through the night. You go to bed by 11, and usually wake up between 5:30 and 8. At night when I put you down you usually go to sleep within 20 minutes.

You both really enjoy play time still, especially when you are naked :-). You pay much more attention to your toys and often coo and grin at mommy or Grandma Susie or Grandma Rose or Aunt Allyson. You like to pee all over the place and kick each other. Alexander, if I hold you up you walk to me. Who ever heard of an 8 week old walking?! Max you are very strong and can hold all of your weight on your legs.

You both enjoy going for walks. Walks and your swings almost always make you fall asleep. Today when we went for a walk mommy fell and hurt her ankle. Guess it might be a little while before our next walk.

You had your two month appointment and got a few shots. It broke mommy's heart to see you in pain.  Alexander, you were 21 inches long and weighed 8lbs8oz. You were in the 5th percentile for height and weight. Max you were 21 inches long and weighed 9lbs5oz. You were in the 5th percentile for height and 10th for weight. After your shots you were awfully fussy for a few days, but you seem to finally be getting back to your normal happy selves. I love and adore you so very much my precious boys.

The videos below are of Alexander throwing a fit and the boys in their bumbos.

cloth diapers, sleep, and everything in between

After several days cloth diapering, I really like it. I mean really really. The boys seem to be doing fine with it and even DJ has gotten in on the action (although I am still the one who rinses the poop out of dirty diapers). The bumgenius are still my favorite, and we ordered another six of them. I really like the thirsties system too. The fuzzibunz are still just ok. We haven't had anymore leaks with any of them, which is pretty amazing because my boys are really good at dirtying diapers.

Sleep is slowly getting better. We have added formula in each bottle, and at night they get a bottle of formula mixed with breastmilk instead of water. This mixture lets them go to be around 10 and sleep until around 4 or 5. Then another bottle of the same mixture gets them to around ten am. After several nights of letting them cry it out, they now actually have been going to sleep at bedtime (woohoooooo, that was a really hard couple of weeks when they stayed up allll night)

Pumping is still going pretty well since I started doing it less often, but the WIC counselor says I will dry up if I continue to pump only, which means we have been back to trying to breastfeed. After weeks on the bottle the boys are not a fan, so I just let them use me as a pacifier after they are full. Seems to be working ok.

To keep from getting diaper rash I have been giving them daily "naked time" so their little bottoms can air out. The absolutely LOVE it. It is funny to see them moving all about and chewing on each others arms and feet.

I am going back to work in about a month. Although I realllllly miss my big boys and look forward to going back to them, I am going to miss these little guys so much, it's going to be hard to go back. It will be worth it to get to keep DJ home on the weekends though. The 48 shifts he's been doing have been brutal. I am just thankful that my parents, sister and his mom have been willing to help .It takes a true servant's heart to come over and give up sleep on a weekend to help with fussy babies.

Well, that's life for now. The boys have their two month appointment on Friday, so the 9week update will have information from that.

Cloth Diaper Reviews

Yesterday I began to cloth diaper. While I by no means have become an expert or even proficient yet, here are my feelings on the subject:

Harder than disposables? A little. I probably spend about 30 minutes extra per day rinsing, stuffing, and laundering diapers (they take about 3 hours though, start to finish in the laundry) As for actually putting them on, I'm sure they will become just as easy as disposables. Taking them off is the same. Using cloth wipes is a little more tricky, as really, there is nothing like a nice disposable baby wipe. However, the diaper spray that I have bought along with the wipes get them really clean, and they like having their butts sprayed. I may make my own diaper spray when I run out to save money.

Brand preference? I bought three different brands; Bumgenius 4.0, Fuzzibunz, and Thirsties duo wraps with thirsties hemp prefolds. So far Bumgenius are by far my favorite, they fit great and are super easy to put on. They contain large poopies and are super soft. They are also a little more trim than the Fuzzibunz. The fuzzibunz are very similar to the Bumgenius, but they don't fit quite right around the boys waists. Also they are bulkier and the snaps are a little more confusing. And the come with some very annoying adjustable elastic that takes forever to adjust, however, this might increase the likelihood of a better fit later on. Fuzzibunz have contained poopies well and are easy to rinse out, but Alexander leaked out of one ( he did this with disposables that were too big as well) The thirsties prefolds were expensive and didn't necessarily hold up well in the wash- lots of strings coming out. However, they are very soft and don't leave elastic marks on the babies legs. I fasten them with snappis fasteners and cover with a thirsties cover. The thirsties cover has the best and trimmest fit of all, but the whole system is a little more work. I'm not sure how absorbency is, as we've only used them for one change so far.

Fuzzibunz

Bumgenius 4.0

Thirsties duo wrap

Diaper spray

Snappis diaper fastener

Other thoughts on cloth diapering? I'm loving the money I'm saving and feeling pretty good about not filling up the landfills with two times the diapers. It might be the honeymoon period, but I am pretty pleased with deciding to do this. The diapers do make their butts look huge, and some of their smaller clothes don't fit over them, however this doesn't negate the good aspects. I'll update again in a few weeks after I've had more of a chance to get used to this. So far so good!

8 weeks: sleepless nights and sweet smiles

You are 8 weeks old now. This past week has been another doozy trying to figure out your sleep. You usually have opposing times where you are awake through a nap and take turns screaming at night. We have started to let you cry it out for short 5 minute or less periods. I just don't know what else to do! I think part of the problem is how bad your reflux is, you both spit up tons and tons- that can't feel good on your bellies. We have been switching things around, trying to help. We've changed bottles, given you gripe water, let you nap on your bellies on a boppies (which you LOVE) and last night mixed formula with breast milk instead of water. Wonder of wonders, that worked, so at least at night, that's the plan.

Started cloth diapers today- your little butts look so cute in them! Lots of work for mommy though.


This week your Great Grandpa (daddy's grandpa) and cousins (Mommy's cousin and her daughter) are here to visit. It has been nice being able to visit with them. On Sunday we are having you dedicated at church and tons of family will be there. What special little boys you are to everyone!

Even though lack of sleep is hard, I cherish this time with you so much Xander and Max. You are both so amazing and I love watching you grow!

Love
Mommy

:-(

Xander, why do you refuse to go to sleep? Mommy is very sleepy and doesn't like listening to you cry, but there seems to be nothing that can be done for you......

Letting go just a little

Today I gave you each 1 oz of formula. I feel terribly guilty about it, but i know it might be best. Spending 4-5 hours per day pumping is taking 4-5 hours of mommy away from you. I am still committed to giving you breast milk until you are at least 6 months old, it just might be better for all of us if I am not worried with keeping up with your combined 50 ounces per day. I love you more than life little boys, and hope I'm doing the right thing.

7 weeks old

You guys are now 7 weeks old, 2 weeks adjusted. This week has been a hard and exciting one. You both are more aware and awake than ever, looking around and listening to our voices. You both really like playtime and swinging. It's still been to cold to go for walks, but it's starting to warm up so hopefully we will get back to walking soon. Alexander has now rolled over two times from his tummy to his back, I know you will too soon Max, you just have a little more to move :-)

Unfortunatley with all that interests you in the world you no longer believe in sleep, especially you Xander. You have been staying up 10-16 hours per day (Not cool little boy) and most of those hours are at night. Max, you sleep at night and stay awake during the day.There are maybe four hours out of 24 that you sleep together. Those hours are not consecutive. Mommy is loosing her mind from lack of sleep and I think Daddy might be too. We've got to fix this little boys!

You're back to eating 6 times per day, about 125 mils per time. That's a lot! In fact, that's probably the amount you'll stay at for a while, hopefully just bigger amounts at longer intervals. You both have been spitting up a lot, but since you started taking medicine for it, it doesn't seem to bother you as much.

Happy 7 weeks little boys. Let's celebrate with some sleep please.

Things we love

So, here we are. You are one and a half months old! I really can't believe how big you are getting. There are a few items that have made the past month and a half possible, I thought I'd share them with you.

Avent Soothies Pacifiers: you both love them

Avent bottles, 4 oz size

Medela Symphony breastpump, you're on 100% expressed brestmilk

Kolcraft Tandem stroller, perfect for going on walks

BrightStarts Cradle and Sway Swing. Max likes to sway, Xander like to cradle.

Our LG washer and dryer, can't imagine life without them!

Fisher price tub. It has a little seat in it under the net that holds you up just right.

The Moby: You two love to sleep in it, and I love being able to carry both of you without a back ache!

These Angelcare monitors let mommy sleep at night. They alarm if you stop breathing.

6 weeks old, 1 week adjusted

Today you are 6 weeks and 2 days old or one week adjusted. This has been a big week for you. Max, you have grown out of most preemie clothes, and Xander, you are almost too big too! You are becoming more and more alert everyday. You love playtime, and interact with me and each other. In fact, you gave me an honest-to-goodness social smile today Alexander! You have cut down to only eating 5 times most days, but you usually eat over 4 ounces during those feeds. At night each of you is sleeping from about 10 pm until 2 am, and then 3 am until 7:30ish am. At least you are in theory. Usually one of you stays awake through the first period, the other stays awake during the last, except for maybe an hour where you sleep together. If you would just sleep at the same time we'd be a happy family! It's gotten colder this week, so we've had to stay in more. I made you some bonnets for when it gets warm again though. Both of you are starting to really like to swing, especially you Alexander! Sometimes if you wake up from a nap early I put you in the swing and you go right back to sleep. Lots of dirty diapers between the two of you. Today we went to Sams to buy some more. 25 dollars for about a weeks worth. Mommy is planning to switch you to cloth soon to save some money! You are such neat little people, I can't wait to get to know you more. I love you little boys!
-Mommy

Max, the bonnet model

Max and his paci

Xander in the swing

Little monkey butts at play time