First Bowl of Cereal

After sleeping all night for weeks, over the past few weeks both boys had started to wake up almost every night.  I checked one of the "is your baby ready for solid food" quizes...and the answer was yes for all 10 questions.  So Tuesday evening they each had their first bowl of cereal.

Instead of full size highchairs, we purchased these compact chair-top versions.  They still recline and will work much better for us and our available space.  The boys were very excited when we put them in the seats - they were happy to kick and look around and be amused by Juliana.

Scott insisted that they both get their first bite of food at the exact same moment, thankfully we had another adult on hand so I could take pictures.

Juliana did get in on the fun as well.  After feeding Ruslan 2 bites she was bored and wandered off to play.

Both of them did such a good job, kept most of the food in their mouths and seemed to get the hang of pushing the food to the back of their mouths quickly.  Ruslan was fussy when we got home today, but as soon as I put him in his chair he sat back and smiled.  I don't think that anyone is surprised that Ruslan is excited for more food.  In between bites of food Wyatt was making little noises, asking for more.

When they were done eating Ruslan was happy to sit in his chair and kick and Wyatt was very chatty. (ignore my silly, mommy voice)  Apparently blogger and facebook are not playing nice tonight - click here to view the video until it appears in this post.



10 minutes later, they were both passed out, sound asleep - happy, tired babies.

5 Months Old

The boys reached 5 months old this week and they are changing so fast.

Both boys rolled from their backs to their stomachs this month. Ruslan cries when he realizes what has happened; Wyatt will keep rolling. If we leave them on the floor to play, they are still in the same general area when we get back but they are squirming their way around the floor – rolling and spinning and sliding.

They are playing with toys more and more – pulling on hanging toys, waving them around, squirming to reach something they want, and chewing on everything once it is in their hands.

We recently switched one of Ruslan’s daytime bottles to half formula as we start to slowly transition to all formula over the next few months. His reflux is definitely doing better, but we we are seeing an increase in spit-up after that bottle. We are hoping that the 6-month mark will be magical and the reflux will vanish.

We made the change to 6-9 months size sleepers, and Ruslan is wearing the summer clothes that I we have in that size. The remainder of their clothing is still 6 month, but we will soon be packing up the summer clothes and washing all of the 9 month fall clothes. These boys generate so much laundry – I have to do their wash every other day to keep up with the overflowing hamper. Plus when Ruslan has a few bad reflux days, we go through bibs in a hurry.

We are waiting until closer to 6 months to introduce solid foods. They are showing all of the readiness signs, but we don’t want to rush it. With the sensitivity Ruslan has had to any dairy I ingest, there is some concern that he may have a tendency toward food allergies.

Wyatt sleeps on his left side with his left arm cupped around his head. And all night long he spins around in his crib.  Ruslan is always in the exact same spot where we left him the night before, flat on his back. His arms are either both stretched straight out to the sides, overhead or tucked up beneath his head.

5 Months with Puppies

The boys were in a good mood for pictures this month and gave me lots of good options.  Juliana was not quite as cooperative - generally all 3 of them were looking in different directions for each picture.  The Christmas picture with just Juliana is always a challenge...getting nervous about capturing a good image with all 3.

Babies

When Juliana was a baby we didn't know for sure that we would have more children, but we always thought it was a possibility so we saved everything. All of the general baby stuff - bouncy seats, swing, crib aquarium, etc. was gender neutral so we were able to use it again. We even had some newborn clothes that were white and yellow and green...that we were able to use this time around.

This time it's different, we know that we won't be having any more children. When I went to my 5-wk pregnancy confirmation appointment last September, I had them make 2 notes in my chart - #1 repeat c-section, #2 tubes tied. This was before we knew about the twins and once we did that only reinforced the decision that these would be our final babies. So as we outgrow baby equipment this time it will be leaving our home.

I think that I cherish the time with these babies more because I know they are my last and I have first-hand experience with how quickly they will grow out of each passing stage. I know that I won't be making bottles everyday forever and soon we won't have bouncy seats as tripping hazards in the living room. Knowing that all of these inconveniences will come to end (most sooner than I am ready) makes it easier to deal with them. And I am in less of a hurry to get to each developmental milestone and instead enjoy where they are today. That’s not to say that I am happy to be exhausted almost all of the time or that jolting out of bed at 4:45 am this morning to get a screaming Ruslan before he woke up Wyatt, puts a smile on my face…but it is somehow easier to deal with this time.

But baby clothes, they are a problem.
#1 – so cute
#2 – they hardly got to wear them since they grow so fast at this age
#3 – looking at some of my favorite outfits makes me wish that I could roll back time for another snuggle with those tiny babies who are already growing up way too fast.

As they outgrow clothes, I wash and fold and neatly stack them on the shelf in their closet. And the stack of clothes continues to grow and I haven’t given any of them away yet. I know it’s silly to be holding on to these clothes that we will never need again – we don’t have unlimited storage and they should be used by other babies. Why is it so hard to part with those little clothes? It will be time to pack away all of the summer outfits soon enough so I should just wait a few more weeks and do it all at once…

Sleeping Babies

It's a dreary, wet day here in Pittsburgh today. A great day for a nap...if only I weren't busy with the boys and Juliana. I take a lot of pictures of the boys sleeping, here is an assortment from the last 2 months.

Laughing Babies

This is part of our evening routine. As I get the boys changed into their sleepers, we have a little tickle-fest with lots of giggling. Usually they start laughing as soon as I start changing their clothes. The videos are posted on Facebook, but everyone should be able to view them here I think. (if not, try these links: Wyatt Laughing and Ruslan Laughing)

First Week of Daycare

The boys have been in the new daycare for 1 full week now. It is a new infant program in the same school where Juliana has preschool; the first day for the program was last Wednesday. Although I shed a few tears on the first day, it wasn't too bad. I think it is a combination of the fact that the boys are together, Juliana is right down the hall and I am just around the block. The school is around the corner from our house, behind the houses across the street from us. In the picture below you can see the flag pole and corner/roof of the school building - this picture was taken from the sidewalk in front of our house.


The new routine is get everyone up, fed, and dressed and the boys ride in the stoller and Juliana walks along side. We leave the stroller at school for pick-up after work. First stop is the infant room for the boys and then down the hall to the preschool room to drop off Juliana and then back home to my office...the house is so much quieter when I return home each morning.


The first few days were a bit rocky - neither of the boys napped well at all. They had been taking 3 naps during the day - each one about 1-1/2 hours. The first 2 days, they both took several half hour naps instead. And then they were fussy and tired when they came home - after eating they both fell asleep for the night at 5:30 - we woke them up to eat at 8:00 and they both ate in their sleep. Scott held Wyatt for an hour while I held Ruslan - we were sure they would wake up to play with us for a little while, but no...much too sleepy. Ruslan finally took a good nap on Friday and yesterday Wyatt napped for over 2 hours. I think it was a matter of them adjusting to the new place and the daycare workers learning about them and their routine and habits.


We are so happy to have all of the children in one place - one drop-off and pick-up makes the process so much easier! And we know the childcare workers from the year that Juliana has been there so we aren't worried about them during the day. We did stop in the first day to make sure that they weren't desperately sad and crying...

The worst part of the first week - writing a huge check yesterday for the month of September...Juliana preschool + Juliana after school program + 2 infants in daycare =$$$$