Trial and Error

I should start off this post by saying that Joe and I are in pretty good spirits today. We each got 5 hours of consecutive sleep last night! Not at the same time, mind you, but it was still a good night. The babies have been napping better during the day (and for Charlie that means that he's actually been napping rather than staying awake for 12 hours straight) so we're hoping that's going to help them sleep better at night. Last night they slept from 8:30 pm - 12:00 am, took their bottles and went back to sleep from 1:30 am to 4:00 am. That was a good night! They took a 4:00 am bottle then dozed on and off until their 8:00 am bottle, after which they both napped soundly for about an hour and a half. Yay!

It seems to help that we've discovered that Lily loves the swing. Who knew? The first few times we put her in it she screamed, so we stopped trying. But last night, on a whim, Joe put her in it when she was super fussy and she quieted right down, then fell asleep. She slept for over three hours in it (the 8:30 pm - 12:00 am period - and don't worry, I was right there in the living room with her the whole time!) last night, so we have a winner! I put her in it late this morning when she was in a super bad mood and it calmed her right down and helped her doze off. Awesome! We also have high hopes for the Wubanubs that we ordered thanks to the recommendations of some of our readers. I put a rush on the order so I'm really hoping they come today!

We're also trying the tandem feedings again. The babies are bigger and better coordinated than they were the first time we tried it, so we're hoping we'll be successful this time. So far, so good! When we do this, we put Lily in our lap and Charlie propped in his boppy next to us and hold both bottles. The benefit of this, aside from saving loads of time, is that it will help get the babies on a more synchronized schedule which will help with napping and sleeping at night, we hope!

When they aren't sleeping or eating, Charlie and Lily have been playing! I try very hard during the day to keep them engaged when they are awake. Charlie really loves his play mat - he stayed on it happily for 45 minutes yesterday, waving his arms at the toys and watching the lights. Lily really likes the rain forest crib soother that I recently put in their pack n' play. It makes jungle sounds, flashes lights and the little animals move around. We also sing songs, read books and do tummy time. I'm excited that the holidays are coming so we can start reading Christmas stories and singing Christmas songs! My mom has a huge box of Christmas books at her house from when my sister and I were little, so I'm anxious to have her break it out and start reading all my old favorites to the babies.




Really, it is not as easy as it looks.

It's a Bug in a swing!

The play mat is endlessly fascinating to Charlie. The lights! The lights!

Roy doesn't understand why this baby keeps hogging his mat.

Rest time! Two babies and two cats take a snooze.