a series of unfortunate events

I almost never use my big double stroller because it is heavy and a pain on many levels but lately I have wanted it because carrying Eitan around for 2 hour walks is starting to affect my back.

(Long sentence)

It took me over 30 minutes yesterday to get out of the house and set up in the big stroller.  Then I'm like, why is it so hard to push this thing?  And I go about half a block before I realize that one of the tires is destroyed.  I mean it just is completely pulled apart somehow.

Then I had to go back to the house, unload, and get together the single snap-n-go and put Eitan on my chest in the moby and go back out.  I was meeting someone and also I wanted them to nap on the walk because I thought they were having a bad day due to lack of napping.

Ugh but that wasn't the right kind of walk.  And I was tired.  And instead of going home, I went to a friend's house, which (though fun) was even more tiring.  I should have gone home.

And Eitan's cough was getting more significant.

Last night nobody slept well.  Eitan was up off and on all night because of his nose.  Noa was tossing and turning.  And because Eitan was up, Ilan and I were both up (Ilan was trying not to wake me but I wake up anyway sometimes... and then I thought that 4am was a good time to do some online shopping for a replacement tire for the stroller).

And this morning I made a doctor's appointment for him because this cough has been lingering for weeks now and it is getting worse.  And I thought I heard wheezing.  It was worth checking out anyway.

Then I tried to go on another walk for napping (harder to do lately with the snap-n-go and the carrier combo) but the babies were so unhappy and I ended up going home early and trying to get them to nap in their cribs (unsuccessful).  Wished I had my big stroller.

Then I packed them up and went to the doctor's.  They napped during the HOUR long wait.  I don't really understand when pediatricians have such long waits.  I do have to say they scheduled me in at the last minute and accommodated a last minute change due to the babies' nap / temperament schedule for the afternoon.  But still.  Waiting an hour.

I thought the appointment would be in and out.

Nope.

An hour long.

Because ... dun dun dun DUNNNN... Eitan has bronchiolitis.  And he screamed for the whole nebulizer treatment, which was at least 10 minutes but felt like an eternity.  And then there was the saga with getting our own nebulizer, though thankfully Ilan took care of that.

By the end of today I couldn't read the instructions to the nebulizer.  It's not that complicated but I was afraid of messing it up, and I couldn't focus on the words.  And my chest is so tight and my shoulders are basically touching my earlobes and both babies are crying and Eitan needs his nebulizer treatment before he goes to bed AND AND AND.

Ilan held Noa so she would be calm, and I held Eitan in the glider while I gave him the nebulizer treatment.  And we sang the extra-long version of "the green grass grows" song for most of the treatment, keeping everyone calm.  And then Noa went to bed, and Eitan fell asleep during the treatment, and then I put him to sleep in his rocking chair /recliner thingie in the nursery to keep him at an angle so his sinuses will drain. And they've both woken up a couple of times already but hopefully will settle down for the night.

Marathon days.  I don't understand how I can't lose weight when I am running around like this and I don't generally soothe myself with junk food.  But whatever.

Sometime very soon I am going to bed and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day, filled with nebulizer smoke and crying babies and extra bottles (for the hydration) and hopefully, hopefully a little music.

Daylight Savings

Well, we weathered this Daylight Savings pretty well, it turns out.  Actually, I shouldn't say that, because I don't know what tonight and tomorrow morning will be like.  But basically, Eitan, with his little internal clock (that adjusted itself for the time change apparently), woke up at exactly the same time that he always does.  As in, he woke up at 6am.  He woke up at 6am Saturday morning and he woke up at 6am Sunday morning, even though the clocks changed.

So today was normal, and they went to bed at 7pm.

I don't know how he does it but there it is.

The Next Phase

In a few weeks the babies will be SIX MONTHS OLD.  Holy moly.  I've decided that this milestone will be the beginning of the Next Phase in baby-related programming in our house.

At first it was just feed and sleep.  These were my two missions.  I made sure they ate and slept.  We didn't do much in the way of playtime or learning or stimulation, I just made sure they ate and slept.

Then I started adding stimulation in there once they were awake enough between feedings.  We have singing time, story time, tummy time, bumbo time, floor time, dance party time, etc.  I give them opportunities to be in many different situations and positions throughout the day - from snuggling to bouncing to sitting to kind of standing.  Pull-up games, neck stretches, whatever.  We also have some TV time so mama gets a break - baby einstein for the morning breakfast and a little sesame street for an afternoon wind-down before the nap.

In a few weeks we will begin the next phase!

Okay, I recognize a lot of these things will depend on the babies' developmental abilities, but this is what I have planned:

Sign Language Lessons

I'm going to start teaching the babies sign language.  They need some more manual dexterity before they'll be able to do some of the more complicated signs, but I want to teach them things like "finished" "more" "food" etc.  I'll be doing this in two ways: I want to get a baby sign language DVD to play to them in the morning instead of baby einstein (they seem to be getting bored of it) while I have my breakfast.  And then I plan to incorporate the signs to things I am doing during the day.  I might also plan some parts of other activities specifically to include signs - like if I can find a song that has the words in it I'm trying to teach them.

Solids

I've been reading about baby led weaning and it is totally exciting to me.  Especially the part where you don't make those freaking purees.  I really don't have a lot of time and the thought of making the purees was really exhausting.  And jars are prohibitively expensive.

The concept is that babies can feed themselves from the beginning and there's no need for spoon feeding.  You approach solid feeding as another play time activity - bring them to the table and give them some tasty toys, big enough to hold, hard enough to not be able to be broken off and choked on.  And then you kind of just give these food toys to the babies to play with, and supposedly they will bring them into their mouths for a taste, and eventually learn that it's food.

There are a few reasons why I like this in theory: 1) I don't have to force feed the babies, and I feel like I end up doing that sometimes with the bottle, so it doesn't sound exciting to continue to force food into their mouths; 2) I don't have to be an active participant in this, and the babies will end up eating when they are actually developmentally ready to do it; and 3) because I don't have to actively shovel food into their mouths, I can eat my lunch / snacks while they do this!  Which is actually the point - you're supposed to have them play with their food toys while you are having your meal, which supposedly creates this atmosphere of "meal time is fun and trying new foods is fun" instead of "meal time is where mommy shoves mushy stuff in my face".

Baby-Centered Activities

Until now, most of my outings were for myself, and I tried to keep the babies asleep while I was out.  The babies are learning how to sit up on their own and can almost do it.  I am hoping that in the next few weeks, at least one of them will be able to reliably sit up on his/her own.  Once that is achieved, I can start taking them to fun baby-centered activities.

Within two blocks of my apartment are at least 3 cafes that have daily sing-along and sensory stimulation events for babies.  The singalong I tried before was too chaotic because it was too crowded, but also because neither baby could sit up and I had to do a lot of work in order for them to participate.  There are also some play groups I am involved in that I am going to try to time differently so that the babies can actually be awake and participate in them.  This part is hard and is going to take some doing but I think it will be possible.  Not every day, though, at least not until they start cutting out some of their naps...

More Sibling Play

I've spent a lot of time entertaining the babies but now they are really starting to interact.  I am going to try to give them more time to be together on the floor without me even being within sight.  They actually last a good amount of time just alone together (especially if they are in a good mood, like soon after eating).

It's hard for me to let go and let them do their own thing, even though I have wished for that moment for so long.  But I have to let them learn to play together without me.  I think the time is coming soon when they will be able to actually play together, so I have to give them the space to do it!

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All of this, of course, in addition to the tummy time, singing time, story time, dancing time, etc.  I think you can tell I used to do after school activities and camp stuff for kids.  I know babies have very short attention spans, so this sounds like a LOT but each "activity" is really 10 minutes or less.  We do a lot during the day - each day feels like a marathon by the end.  But the days when we don't do anything are the crabbiest, so I like to keep things moving.  We play each game / activity until it's clear the babies are sick of it and then we move on, so I am not "scheduling" things in.  But since the babies are awake for 4 segments during the day, I have an idea of the things I want to do during those segments, and then see what actually happens.

Choosing to laugh

Today was a warm day, and when it’s warm I have to open the windows in the apartment because it gets really hot (the heat doesn’t turn off just because it’s warm outside).

Someone was jackhammering across the street, so it sounded like someone was jackhammering in our apartment.

I did manage to get the babies down for their first nap, I think that was before the jackhammer started.

Their second nap is the one where I go for a walk and sit somewhere nice and read blogs and stuff.

And since today was warm I thought I should either go to the library (a longer walk away) or go somewhere with easy access outdoor seating.  In the end I decided I would go down the street to a little place that has a bench outside, and I would buy a limonana and sit for an hour enjoying the sun and warmth.  Except when I got there, the bench was gone, I guess for the winter.  So I went to the coffee shop right by it, which was so packed with people I couldn’t fit in with the stroller.  So then I went to another coffee shop – one that was much closer to me – that had an outdoor bench.

I had now been walking for 20 minutes to find a place to sit outside, but if I had gone straight to that coffee shop I could have been there in 5 minutes.  Whatever.  I was there, and I had 20ish minutes left before the babies would start stirring and I would need to go home for their next feeding.

After standing there for about 10 minutes, someone came by and tied up their dog right next to me in order to go inside and get a coffee.  I was like, oh my Gd, please let this be one of those quietly patient dogs.  NOT SO.  The dog started barking, the babies started stirring, too early.

I walked away from the barking dog but had nowhere to go.  I spied another place with a bench outdoors but as I approached it I saw the bench was behind a little gate, and the gate was locked.

I just decided to stand on the sidewalk for 10 minutes.  I read blogs, checked facebook, etc, on my phone while I literally stood outside on the sidewalk.

Then I went home.  To the apartment that sounded like it had a jackhammer inside.

It was all so ridiculous.  The effort I put into that nap.  And the babies slept better inside with the jackhammer than they did during what turned into an hour long walk (I took the snap-n-go which is so bumpy and uncomfortable, I just use it for short walks because the jostling keeps Noa awake).

I started getting irritated but then stopped and decided I was choosing to laugh.  The babies slept for another 30 minutes after I got into the apartment.  I made the bottles for the rest of the day, had a snack, picked up the laundry from the drier, talked to the neighbors, checked my email on my phone, and then ended up waking them up for the feeding so we could stay on schedule.  It turned out all right.

It felt good to choose to laugh instead of getting irritated.  I think it changed the tone of the afternoon.  I hope the evening is as good as the day has been.  They are in the middle of a nap right now that has lasted an hour and a half.  This nap is going so long and I am not “forcing” it by taking them out on a walk.  Noa woke up after an hour and put herself back to sleep.  Eitan woke after half an hour and easily went back to sleep in the swing.  Right now I do have a sense of being on borrowed time.  But I am looking forward to this evening’s dance party.

This happens every day

This is what the kitchen looks like EVERY night.

And then we each take about 10 minutes while the other is getting ready for bed, and it goes back to this:

 

Then the cycle repeats.