Night Weaning

I am going to start off this post by saying I am the luckiest woman alive.  When we first came home we took turns getting up with the boys for night feedings, but I was increasingly having difficulty falling back asleep after my turn, so Matt took over ALL night feedings.  Seriously lucky girl!  The other night I got up and start to feed Ezra and Matt noticed I had done this, came into the nursery and said, “What are you doing go back to bed.”  I know I am lucky and my husband is AMAZING.  Sorry I just had to brag and properly thank my husband before I got to the purpose of this post.  Thank you honey for being the most amazing and wonderful husband and daddy!

Noah has slept through the night on a few occasions, I think he would sleep through the night almost every night if Ezra didn’t wake him up.  Ezra’s crying doesn’t always wake him up, but sometimes it does.  Ezra wakes up every night for a feeding without fail.  We are considering night weaning in the 10th month by slowly watering down the formula.  I go back and forth on this because he is obviously hungry, but then I think if Noah can do it so can he.  I know every baby is different, but I still wonder.  He is getting plenty to eat during the day, if you can’t tell by his pictures, he is nice and round.  🙂

Anyway my question is to all the experienced parents out there.  Did you night wean or let it happen naturally?  If you night weaned at what age?  Do you have any regrets about night weaning?

I would love to hear from everyone.  I am just gathering data so we can make an informed decision!  We love hearing from experienced parents.

things I never expected

So being new to kids, there were somethings I expected, after all, we have friends with kids, and we have babysat a few times. In the past 3 months, there are always things popping up that surprise and shock me. Stuff I was not ready for.

  • Mom & Dad being in bed at 9.
    these boys wear us out!
  • I never thought the bed time routine would take 45 minutes.
    bath time, oil down, diapers, bottles, etc. Takes forever.
  • Wow we have never run the dishwasher more
    We used to run it about once per week. usually washing pots & pans, and only loading plates / glasses.  Now we almost fill and run it daily.
  • Going out and  running errands is hard.
    No, not the stuff to haul along. We have that down. Im talking about the issues errands cause on the kids routines.  Too much out and about = no naps and bad moods x4.
  • I didnt expect it to be a “keep the boys happy as long as physically possible till 7” kind of deal.
    The fussing starts around 5:30, or when ever we want to eat. its pretty much melt down from there.
  • The Money.
    I did expect costs in life to increase. But wow all that food, insurance, car payments (since we had to get a different car to hold 2 rear facing seats) and such really add up.
  • Computer time = luxury
    thank goodness for blackberries, or you would probably never hear from Stephanie. I get to use a computer at work.
  • wow do single parents have it hard.
    We can not even imagine being a single parent. We feel stretched thin as it is.
  • Cleaning house is really hard
    we have a hard time finding time to clean. The boys have us on our toes at all times. No time to wrangle all the dust tumbleweeds.
  • Free time is really precious.

Im sure there is more I am forgetting. Ohh there is another, i forget 10x more than before. my brain is fried half the time.

Not whining. Just saying i am shocked at many things around here. I do really enjoy all the time with my amazing wife and boys.

Diaper Debate Results are in

IMG_4075

The winner is boy or unisex!  So glad to know I was right.  🙂  Thanks for everyone who helped settle this debate in our house.  I am pretty sure Matt’s mind isn’t changed, but that’s okay.

Now does anyone care to guess who’s chubby thighs those are?

Diaper Debate

IMG_4075

The diaper pictured above is currently causing a debate in our house.  One of us thinks it is girlie and the other thinks it is unisex.  I won’t say who thinks what.  I am asking you the reader to end this debate.  Please let us know what you think, girlie or unisex?

cousins first photo shoot.

So We have wanted to get some fun pics of the boys and their cousin abby. So I set up some hobo DIY style photo backdrop and lights from ikea. Here are some cute ones.

twins = busy busy busy

wow twins are a lot of work. I mean it feels like a lot for both of us. Stephanie and I wonder how people with more kids ever do it. triplets? quadruplets? HA no way!!!. These two are a handful as it is. 

We are home and alive, sorry blog updates have been minimal. Catching up on sleep. the boys are all out of whack on their sleeping patterns, but i think we are moving in the right direction. Noah still fights sleep pretty hard. A sound machine and some swing action are helping to cut the sleep fighting efforts down by a bit. 

Grandma and grandpa inskeep have been helping us keep the house in order with dishes, and laundry. As well as staying up late and playing after we feed them. All of our friends and neighbors have been bringing us food, which has been huge!. Thank you all so much. 

Please keep praying for bonding and attachment, as well as our own sanity trying to handle two kids and eventually go back to work and house chores. I hope once we are all comfortable with the new situations, a routine will fall into place. 

Some pics from the park this morning:

 

noah is in blue (because noah had an ark, smooth huh!) and ezra is in green. Yes, those are their official colors. We are trying to color coordinate toys, and things we buy so we know whose item is which. But we still often share. 

 

Official weights:
noah: 15.9 lbs
ezra: 13.5 lbs. 

 

Thats all. I think my computer time is about up as I hear stirring & cooing on the baby monitor.

down to 2

2 days left till court.

2 Optimistic dreams

  1. We pass court with no hiccups
  2. we get the May 28th Embassy appointment as scheduled. 
Can I get an amen on those?!

3 days!!!

Court day is almost here!

3 things keeping me busy while I wait

1.  Spring Cleaning

2.  Organizing the boys stuff

3.  Spending lots of quality time with my man.  🙂

The Weekend

Matt and I had a very busy, but fun weekend.  On Friday his Ergo had arrived, so we tried it out.

Matt with his new Ergo Baby Carrier
Matt with his new Ergo Baby Carrier
Carter helping him try it out
Carter helping him try it out

Can’t wait to use it with the boys!

On Saturday we went to the Botanical Gardens to see the butterflies and the wildflowers.  The butterflies were great, but unfortunately with the lack of spring rain the wildflowers were not very plentiful.  

Then we ran a whole bunch of errands including a trip to Babies R Us.  I keep thinking we have everything and then realize we do not, but we are getting close to ready to travel.  (I think)  The nursery is now a mess again.  Time for more organizing.

We also went to Lowes and Home Depot.  I needed some plants for the garden.  Thanks to the wacky spring weather (60s one day, 90s the next) not one of my seeds took.

Matt also made me some self-watering containers for my tomatoes.  (I uploaded some other garden pics to the photo gallery.)

Yesterday we went to church then hung out with our neighbors.  We went swimming for the first time this season.  Their pool was at a very nice 83°!

We then went home and did yard work.  The grass was in serious need of a mow and I had plants to plant!

Please vote for my niece Abby in a local baby idol contest!

And this just because the cats are silly.  Carter was actually trying to sleep squished in there, I guess it is better than where Matt found him this morning, curled up in the bathtub.

How I found the cats this morning when I came home from my run
How I found the cats this morning when I came home from my run

4 days

4 days, 4 life lessons I hope to teach the boys (you know, because 4 is all they really need). 

  1. God loves them. No matter what, God wants the best life for them. A life of freedom, choices, & exploration.
  2. Love, respect for others opinions / beliefs, and hard work go further in life than anything else.
  3. Never put a ceiling on what you can do. Big dreams cant have 8 foot ceilings. 
  4. Respect women at all times. Open doors, listen, be gentle and kind.
i am sure there are more lessons I hope to teach them, but this is my top 4 for the moment. 

5 days!

Only 5 more days!  I am so excited.

5 things I cannot wait to do with Noah and Ezra

1.  Cuddle

2.  Laugh, I cannot wait until they fill our house with laughter

3.  Read, I hope they get my love of books

4.  Bake (I know I might have to wait a little bit on this one, but I plan on starting them young)

5.  Garden, I cannot wait to share my love of gardening with them

7 Days!

One week left until court!  Can you believe it?  I thought today I would share 7 reasons I think Matt will be an awesome daddy.

1.  He is fun, he loves to play.  (see day 8 )

2.  He is creative.  I can’t wait to see the games he and the boys invent together and the creations they will make.

3.  He is loving.  He is great at giving comfort when you need it.

4.  He is excited about teaching them things.  I cannot wait to watch him finally get to share with the boys all the things he wants to teach them.

5.  He is involved.  I know he will be a very hands-on, involved dad.

6.  Just the right amount of strict.  He will be a good disciplinarian, but not too tough.  😉

7.  Values.  He lives out his values and expects the boys to do the same.

10 days

It’s only 10 days till Noah & Ezra’s court date. I thought I would share 10 big things we are looking forward to (in no real order).

  1. finally holding you boys
  2. hearing you giggle and make goofy baby noises
  3. seeing you discover new things for the first time
  4. napping on the couch with you
  5. seeing you be fascinated with the cats, yet they wont let you catch them (yet)
  6. taking way too many photos
  7. oddly enough, I do look forward to trying to figure out two of you at the same time. 
  8. Watching you play with your toes and your tongue. 
  9. seeing you in all the awesome clothes we have and fun cloth diapers. You guys are gonna look so cool.
  10. did I say holding you yet?
Stephanie thinks we can keep a list a day up for each of the 9 days left. We’ll see how that goes. I stole most the good stuff here. Any ideas on what other lists we can expand on over the next 9 days? We probably need the challenge to keep our minds occupied. 

Baby Shower #2

Me and the cloth diaper cake

Yesterday I had a wonderful baby shower and received some wonderful things for the boys.  I had a great time celebrating the soon to be arrival of Noah and Ezra.

Of course, a few games were played.  The most entertaining being the toilet paper diaper game.

The winners (they finished before the time limit and even put bows on their diaper)

All the diapered bottoms (my mom was in charge of the one on the left, note to self don’t let her diaper the boys)

Me holding the “quilt” Kimberly B. made for me

The quilts her mom made the boys, she even put their names and birthdate on the back (she encouraged me to color code the boys, Ezra is green, Noah blue)

The very chocolaty cake

The silverware my Grandma used with my dad

The now very messy nursery

I have a ton of organizing to do in the nursery!  Thanks to everyone and their very generous gifts and donations.

Okay totally not related to the shower, but Matt took new pictures of Abby last night and this is my favorite picture.  She is too cute!