Six Months and Change

The twins had their six month appointment yesterday. Gregory has been slowly catching up to Dominic in size. First he was two pounds lighter; then one; and now he weighs six ounces more! What a chunk. (He is 14 lb 11 oz; Dominic is 14 lb 5 oz.) In fact, Gregory is in the 4th percentile. I believe that's the highest any of my children have ever gotten!

I've been thinking (stressing) about sleep a lot these days, specifically daytime sleep. Then at some point I realized that while yes, naps are pretty bad still ... nighttime has gotten a lot better from a month ago. So I thought that it would be a good idea to do a sort of "update" here once a month so that, on days I want to run away screaming down the road, I can look back and see that things are slowly but surely getting better.

So ... sleep. Sorry if I've already blogged about anything below ... feel free to skip. I won't be offended. ;)

Dominic: Goes to bed at 7:30. For a while he was sleeping until 4-5 am in his crib. Now he seems to be developing an 11 pm wake up; after that he will go from 2-6 am. He wakes up at the crack of dawn and Keith gets up with him. I did some "nap training" with him three weeks ago and it worked great. But then, just as I breathed a sigh of relief, he decided 20 minute naps were all he needed. Sigh. So, he will go down for 30-45 minutes twice in the morning/afternoon; I let him cry or fuss for ten minutes after he wakes up and sometimes he will fall back asleep again, usually in the late afternoon. It's all very hit or miss right now.

I predict that he'll be one of those teens who stays up all night then falls asleep wherever.

Gregory: he now goes to sleep in our bed BY HIMSELF hallelujah! Either I nurse him to sleep or Keith puts him down; he gets his stuffed dog to keep him company. Occasionally he wakes up once or twice and Keith coaxes him back down. I think we're going to try him in the crib at night soon. Naptime ... sometimes he sleeps in the swing or his bouncy chair for as long as half an hour ...? But that's it. And he is the sleepiest, whiniest, saddest baby because of it. We have a prescription for baby Zantac now; once he's on it I am going to start instituting naptime.


I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to stick both the boys in their cribs for naps or try to train them separately so that Gregory doesn't bother Dominic, who is more likely to sleep. Any thoughts from mothers of multiples on this would be great. :)

Seven Quick Takes (20) and One Hot Mess (1)

1. I went to a bachelorette party yesterday. I didn't bring any babies. I wore a DRESS. And I stayed out until past 11! It was amazing. And it was one of the best bachelorette parties I've been too, planned with a lot of love and creativity by the bride's friends. Among other things, we all toasted her with whiskey in teacups. A few minutes later I looked down and, oh--my teacup was full of Jameson again. Huh. So I got to work on that. And then a bit later when I went to take the last sip ... it was full again. Apparently the waiter was going around refilling teacups with the bottle! I'm pretty sure that's the most whiskey I've ever drunk in one sitting ... which to be honest isn't saying all that much. ;) But it was a fun night out, whiskey included!


2. Michael has started biting his brothers. Specifically Dominic. I mean, the babies do have very pudgy legs that just look so nom-able, I agree. But leaving teeth marks on your brother's thigh is just not acceptable. We're working on it.


3. Our backyard looks like a wild meadow. Keith finally broke down and ordered a lawnmower from Amazon Prime (because that's how we roll), an electric lawnmower no less. He's kind of a nonconformist. :-P But he hasn't had time to do the whole thing. So, our front yard is mowed (but getting long again), plus it has a big muddy patch with grass seed sprouting here and there (because the rain washed away the rest), and then the backyard is this overgrown field with a few mown paths in it.

About a week ago Keith was talking to a neighbor about the previous owner of this house, and our neighbor said something like "Yeah, she let the landscaping get away from her." I'm not sure what that means they think about us.


4. I've been complaining to Keith that we have too many toys and should do a purge. He disagreed and said it was just a matter of organization. Well, I am glad to say he was right! I ordered some baskets that were on sale from the Land of Nod and reorganized everything, and it is so much better. I'm also hoping it will make it easier to teach Michael to clean up, since each basket has a "category" of toys (cars, stuffed animals, etc).


5. I also ordered some fabric for a few projects in the twin's room. I'm thinking some cloth bins, but I'm not sure what else ... maybe a pouf similar to Michael's?


6. I belong to a Facebook group for attachment parenting twins. I am not an "attachment parenting" parent by a long shot, but the group is helpful for questions about nursing and so on. This morning someone posted a story about a twin homebirth and it reminded me that I wanted to post some thoughts about birth sometime soon. Isn't that exciting?


7. Also I started writing a "day in the life" post three weeks ago and haven't finished it yet. So much changes in three weeks with babies, so I've contemplated abandoning it ... but ... I put a lot of work into it, dang it! If I can't get it up by next week I'll abandon it and maybe start a new one. :)


8. Bonus take. I had to share this picture for Blythe's One Hot Mess link-up. This is a week's worth of boxes for our household, obstructing the path into the kitchen. I honestly have no idea why they haven't been collapsed yet. I guess we've been too busy (ahem). Yes, that pile is taller than the counter. Yes, we shop on Amazon Prime kind of a lot.

Linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary and Blythe at The Fike Life.

Little bit of knitting, little bit of reading

We are trucking along over here. When the weather is nice I bring Michael out on the deck, with the babies in their bouncing chairs, and I can knit a little that way. Also Dominic naps now, sometimes. So a row here, a row there, and I am almost done my Color Affection! I have finished all the stripes and just have the purple border to complete.

This is my second issue of Soul Gardening. I didn't read the first cover to cover--it came right after the babies were born and I just didn't have the time--but this issue is proving to be exactly what I needed right now. I also finished a book I'm reviewing this weekend, which means I now have time to really get started with The Little Oratory.

And if you will pardon me, Dominic is pretty mad that I am typing this and not paying him attention. ;)

Linking up with the yarn-alongers over at Ginny's place.

SOTG and other bookish goodness (SQT 19)

1. I finished Something Other Than God 2.5 days after starting it. Considering I have three mouths to feed, three butts to diaper, three sets of voices to respond to when they cry out ... that's a dang fast read. I couldn't stop turning the pages! My copy is now in the hands the first friend I saw after finishing it; I imagine it will visit a few other people before finding its true home on my shelf. (Or maybe its true home is in the hands of people. :) )


2. Why isn't one of the categories in the release contest "Best Picture of the Book with Babies?" Because I would totally win that one, right?

3.The parts of the book that touched me the most were Jennifer's struggles with the idea that God would allow the suffering and death of children. There is a scene where she is walking through a cemetery she's visited her whole life and realizes, for the first time, how many of the graves belong to young ones; how families would lose four of their children in one year. I think it would speak to any mother, but it touched me especially because a family we know just lost their own little one, the age of our own Michael. Please pray for their family!


4. It was an awesome mail day today. The Desolation of Smaug came from Netflix. I have low expectations for many reasons but ... I'm still excited. Because Bilbo! And Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug!


5. Also we got a haul of used children's books that Keith ordered a week or two ago, including Rikki Tikki Tavi.


6. Last but certainly not least, I got an advanced review copy of a book soon to be released by Wiseblood Books. I am so excited to start reading it!


7. I've been nap training Dominic this week and it's been going really well ... except today. He woke up shortly into my time typing this post and he was screaming rather than his usual fussing (and of course keeping Michael awake ... grrr). Nothing I do will mollify him. So ... I might not be cracking open that new book until tomorrow. Sigh.

Yarn Along--yay!

Does knitting 15 stitches (more or less) qualify for a yarn along? I'm deciding it does.

That's about how much I was able to knit a few nights ago when Gregory was sleeping in his bouncy chair before he woke up and then that was the end of that story.

(As I type this Michael is yelling upstairs. He is supposed to be sleeping. But nooo, he fell asleep in his carseat for all of five minutes and apparently that is enough sleep for him! (No child. No it is not.) I think it might also be in part because Dominic is LOUDLY babbling all his little baby thoughts to the world and his twin brother and Michael feels like he is missing something.)

Ahem. Anyway. :)

There is my Color Affection, awaiting the last pink stripe before I get to start on the purple. We'll see how many more months before THAT happens.

A friend went to AWP and got me Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting. I have been reading an essay or two a day and it does not disappoint. I love memoirs with knitting themes, but a lot of times find them a bit disappointing ... perhaps because I am a writer first and a knitter second and I have pretty high expectations. But when you have a book with contributions by Andre Dubus, Barbara Kingsolver, Jane Smiley, et al ... how can it disappoint?

I've also started The Little Oratory. Words cannot express how excited I am about this book!! It is simply beautiful, the images in the back are lovely (I've already taken out the icon of St. Michael ... now if I could just remember where I put it!). So far I've only read the introduction, but I am looking forward to the rest. Especially as we continue to settle in to our house and our life as a family of five here. 

Speaking of exciting, look what came in the mail today: 

BABIES!

Just kidding, it's Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler!

Just as I was starting to whittle down the pile of books on my end table ... I guess having too many books and too little time is a much better thing than too few books with too much time?

And speaking of time, get excited, because I have a "day in the life" post in the works! ;)

Seven Quick Takes (18): Baby Talk and Brotherly Affection

1 Today Keith left pretty early and Gregory woke up late and somehow that combination made me feel like it was an "up and at 'em" type day. So I thought we'd try an outing. Maybe to Babies'r'Us because I needed to buy a shower gift, and because I can really only go places that have carts with all three children. Michael was pretty excited about driving in the car. I'm glad, because that's all we ended up doing. I made a wrong turn somewhere, and while I wasn't exactly lost, all my guesses ended up being wrong ones, and we came back to the highway exactly one block where we'd left it. One great big squiggly circle! It was fun though. :)

The best part was that right before we got back to familiar  territory we passed a church with a sign that said, "Do you know where you're going?"

Apparently not!


2 Michael's been looking for ways to interact with his brothers. He occasionally likes to join them for tummy time, and a few times he's tried to pick them up. (One hand on the head, another grabbing a foot ... not very effective.) The funniest thing is he will look at them, stretch out a hand (and pat a head if he's close enough) and shout, "MIN!" (Or "men" or "mahn," depending.) I have no idea where he got this. I think he made it up on his own.


3 Unfortunately--predictably--affection sometimes turns violent. Getting up from tummy time=stumbling=sitting on a baby. "Showing" them a toy=hitting them on the head with it. Today he made Dominic cry by ... I'm not quite sure what it was, because I only saw it out of the corner of my eye. And after very sadly saying he was sorry he tried to make up for it by hitting his brother in the head with a camera. Sigh.


4 Anyway. I haven't been blogging much because I have no time. This week has been somewhat awful because "bedtime" has been more of an abstract concept than a concrete reality. Michael's had a fever/runny nose that keeps him waking up, Dominic's been gassy and won't sleep for more than half an hour unless he's in bed with me, and Gregory is always hard to put down. (Also I've taken up swearing after 8pm for Lent ... :-P Even little things seem SO HORRIBLE at night.) But last night Michael didn't wake up and we finally got Dominic to sleep on his belly so we actually had from 10pm-1am without any crying. Yay!


5 I think Gregory suffers from reflux. I'm not positive and may change my theory in a day or two, but right now I believe that's what bothers him so much. Does anyone know of any natural remedies to help him out, especially when it comes to sleeping?


6 And while I'm asking for tips, we're thinking of starting the twins on a few ounces of formula at bedtime. Partly so they'll sleep longer; partly to give me the option of a break; and partly so they'll  take a bottle and I can go places without them. (And no, I'm not pumping. I've tried with very little output ... and frankly I just don't have it in me to try again.) But they are pretty resistant, particularly Dominic. I'm not sure if it's the bottle itself or just the taste of formula. Any advice about getting them to take it would be appreciated! (My husband offers it to them, we warm it up, and have tried two different brands.)


7 Blah blah blah. Sorry, I don't even have any pictures to include with this post. I'd make a horrible mommy blogger. I guess I kind of am half mommy blogger so I suppose that makes me horrible. ;)


Go and read many posts of much more interest at Jen's place!

Birds and Beads

Linking up with Ginny's yarn along, a day late because I had no chance to take a picture yesterday! I was too busy baking bread and making stew for St. Joseph's feast day. (Leftovers for dinner tonight ... yum!)

Because I'm knitting so slowly of late I've been working on Keith's scarf for what feels like ages. (Since December, right? Four months is ages, for me at least!) And I'm not even 3/4 through yet. So ... faced with a bit of time and the desire to knit, I cast on a sweater. Tarian! I'm pretty excited to make this.

I knit three swatches, which was a big act of patience for me. I really want this sweater to turn out nicely! However after trying three different needles my gauge was the same every time. I thought switching from wood to metal might make a difference, but my aluminum needles are otherwise occupied ... so ... I've cast on and will checking things as they go. If it seems like my sweater is going to  turn out more like a dress then I'll just have to resign myself to frogging and starting over on size 4 needles. 

This book ... so, so good. It is really beautiful reading about the experiences of these catechists and seeing how children can know and love God at so young an age--reading this book is such a wonderful reminder of God's goodness. 

I also just finished The Amazing Thing About the Way it Goes by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. Very different from her previous books. Less knitting centered, and more personal. But as always very funny. 

And finally, Birds is the book Michael and I have been reading three or four times a day this week. (Fact #1 of living with a toddler: don't pick up any book you aren't willing to read at least 3-4 times in a row! This goes for singing songs, too.) We checked it out from the library and he is hooked. I actually don't mind reading it so repetitively. The illustrations are rich without being complicated, a perfect match for the imaginative text. It embodies the sort of creative wondering I hope my own children cultivate.

Speaking of birds, we visited the National Aviary today. It was the first time I'd been there. I think it was all a bit much for Michael to take in, but he loved having the birds at his level to look at, especially the penguins. And also he loved just running around. Always. :) (Fact #2 about life with a toddler!)

(Fact #3: Mardi Gras beads are awesome, even during Lent.)