Intrepid Murmurings

Oh man, I am really tired of spit up.  We are drowning in spit up and it is both gross and inconvenient.   For awhile it seemed like it was going down a little (ha, pun intended), but its up again due to the increased bottle feedings, I'd guess.  I'm pretty sure they spit up half a feeding sometimes (an ounce or two), and its a rare, rare event to have a feeding, on breast or bottle, without a soaking afterwards.  I am trying to use bibs on them as much as I can, but they each go through 3-6 outfits a day (while still always feeling damp), as do I.  They even drench my pants several times a day, and I am constantly mopping it up off the floor!  We have 4-5 dozen prefold diapers for burp cloths and we run out, even with 2-3 laundry loads a DAY!  And my slings are having to be washed daily, or at least biweekly, which I did hardly ever with Emma.   Come on. mature guts!  We are waiting for you!   

In other news, Emma is potty training!  Well, trying to, desperately, but so far not much success.  She is wearing underwear about half the time, and she tries by sitting on her potties and " the big toilet" off and on all day, but there is definitely some performance anxiety.  She just can't figure it out!  Which means, inevitably, 10 minutes after a marathon potty sit she pees or poops in her underwear.   She luckily doesn't seem too upset by that, and I feel like she is much more aware of what's happening when she is in them, so we keep trying.  I really hope it clicks for her soon, because its exhausting to juggle the babies and her need for assistance in the bathroom (the moment seems to often hit when I have two hungry/fussy babies, of course).  I know she is going to be SO excited when she finally gets it -- as will I!   

Yeah, its been awhile, and I cannot promise it won't be again.  I just never am without babies on me, and one-handed typing is rather a challenge.  When I do have two hands free, things like showering, dressing, eating, laundry, etc. tend to be priorities. 

A lot has happened in the last month (or two) however!  The babies are two months old, and feeling a lot more "settled".  Not that we have any sort of schedule (ha!) or  sleeping through the night (double ha!) or even sleeping off the boob/arms at all, really (a million times ha!) but despite all that things seem to be less overwhelming, and more manageable, in any case.

We had to say goodbye to Grandma Elena on Saturday, which concludes a month long visit, preceded by a few weeks by both Grandpa Tony and Grandma Cynthia (and she was here for more than a month before the births, too).  It has been an amazing, amazing gift to have had so much help for these first two months of the babies lives, and there is no way we could have done it without them all.  Emma's transition to big sisterhood has been really smooth and easy, and I am sure it us because of all the loving attention from her fabulous grandparents.  I am also pretty sure that with my breastfeeding struggles, if we had not had their help, basically allowing me to nurse these girls around the clock for the past two months, we could very well not have succeeded with that as well.  Feeling very lucky and grateful that we have had these early months to focus on the babies so much....

Elsie                                                                          Delia

More photos in the July and August folders....

• Doing a (tiny) bit of blog maintenance.  Updated the blogroll, and added some new ones.  Check out the new twins/multiples section!  And let me know if there are others you recommend!
  
• This week, I had my first solo outing with all three kids.  A success!  We just went to our playgroup and spent the whole time outside in a friends backyard, which was a nice and easy way to ease into it.  Emma was great and the babies obliged, as well.  Woo hoo!
• Gave Aiko a bath today, first one for her since before I was pregnant, I think. Ha. Poor dog.  Emma was very amused.
  
• Tried swaddling last night with new swaddle blanket (Swaddle Me vs Miracle Blanket) to some success.  Woot!   It was much easier to put on and fit better -- didn't crawl up immediately into her face to smother her.  They still don't sleep great but it was better... 
  
• The babies are smiling and Delia rolled over today.  Found her on her face in her basket and very unimpressed.  She (and Elsie too) is small, but strong!
  
• I know, I know, we should be taking more pictures.  There are a few new ones here, though....
  

Ack!  The girls are already beyond two weeks here (3 weeks on Tues!)
and while I have intended to write a whole ton of blog posts, they
sadly haven't materialized.  Mainly, because when I have "free" time
(ha!) there are about a hundred things I want or need to do.  And when
I do have time on the computer (which is, admittedly, more often than I
expected!), I still am mostly just reading, since typing requires more
hands (and energy) than I usually have available.  But!  I know you want updates, so here are a few bits and pieces of whats happening. 

Breastfeeding:  Since this is basically all I do all day, it merits top mention. Having gone through so many troubles, for so long, with Emma, it was definitely a worry of mine as to how it would go.  With twins, no less!  Initially, in the hospital, both Elsie and Delia were able to latch and nurse pretty well, in the hour after birth.  Hooray!  By day two and three, however, things were really painful (VERY similar to Emma, and OMG that was bad).  I was able to tell that it was Elsie, more than Delia, that was sucking weirdly and hurting me though, and that was helpful to know.

Also on day 3, we found they had lost more than a pound each, getting dehydrated, and my milk had not come in yet.  Ah, memories.  We had to start supplementing with formula, though instead of bottles we did syringe and finger feeding, and cup feeding.  Since this was all totally familiar, it was not half as stressful and emotional for me as it was with Emma, but still it is Not Fun to see your babies getting smaller and smaller and thirstier and thirstier. 

So, I started on the Domperidone, a galactagogue (milk increasing) med I took with Emma, and also Metformin, something new to me that is supposed to help people with PCOS and low milk supply.  I am working both with a lactation consultant and a breastfeeding doctor, who is a specialist and very well known in the lactation community.  SO glad to have that support this time around. Luckily, my milk did come in, and I think has been getting more plentiful.  Both babies are now hydrated and gaining, but as of last Thursday, not gaining enough, and not back to their birth weights yet.  To help me keep track of how things are going better, I rented a baby scale -- instead of making me obsess more, it helps reassure me that we are on track, and that I am not supplementing too little or more than necessary.  We have moved to bottles for supplementing, and they are getting that (with formula) 2-3 times a day.  I should be pumping, and am supposed to do it at least once or twice a day.  I think thats doable, though I didn't get it in today.... 

Luckily, the horrible nipple pain subsided (after taking a break and exclusively pumping on one side for a few days) SO MUCH faster than with Emma -- during the second week, instead of going on for THREE LONG MONTHS.  I am feeling so so thankful for that.  If it were that painful and hard this time, I am not sure how long I could take it.  Because we nurse A LOT around here. 

Both girls LOVE nursing, and, like Emma did, nurse very frequently and for long chunks.  They would prefer to live on the boob, especially at night.  Part of this, I am sure, is because my supply and flow is low and slow, so it takes awhile to get enough.  Partly, its because I tend to try nursing to soothe before anything else, because its so easy and takes no thinking/work on my part.  I do not think this is necessarily a bad thing, but I realize I need to help them learn other ways to soothe (like the pacifier!!!) so that we have a few more options.  So that is currently on the agenda.  Will keep you posted.  Send any pacifier vibes this way, if you have them.

We are, however, on the upswing, as for the past few days, Elsie has gained around 2 ounces a day! Thats huge!  Delia is slower and gaining a bit less than an ounce a day.  Elsie is now really close to reaching her birth weight, and also close to catching up with Delia.  I am pretty sure this is happening because she wakes up and wants to nurse twice as often as Delia.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease, I guess!  I try to wake Delia when she has gone longer than 2 hours or so without eating, but she still eats less often and for shorter periods than whiny Elsie.  Ha! 

All in all, I do feel like my supply is quite a bit larger than it was with Emma, which is good, since I need twice as much!  I likely will not get to a full enough supply to feed them both exclusively, but I am feel lucky and happy to be giving them as much as I am currently... 

Sleep -- My second favorite thing to obsess about, as you all know!  So, Elsie and Delia are both so much sleepier babies than Emma ever was, which is, admittedly, quite nice.  Part of this is due to being a few weeks "early", but I am hoping it is also because they are just better sleepers.  One can hope, right?  During the day, they can sleep a lot, and we can even put them down, OMG.  However, they often seem to think that nighttime is for fussing, crying, screaming, complaining, or just being awake, and held, continuously.  It is quite unfortunate. 

We do have successes, though!  Once they are finally asleep, they can go a good 3-4 hours!  This is way better than Emma was for ages.  But it often it takes hours and hours of me nursing (or bottlefeeding) them, burping and helping them deal with gas, nursing,  changing diapers, bouncing on the ball, nursing, trying to ease them into the bed or crib, nursing again, did I say NURSING?!?!?  Just like Emma, they Will Not Transfer and tend to wake upon any kind of putting down.  This is where nursing to sleep in our bed (cosleeping) worked wonders with Emma, but its really hard to simultaneously nurse to sleep two babies (while also getting any kind of sleep myself!).  In desperation I have figured out a few tricks and can actually do it, but I hope we can move away from this soonish.  They have got to get the message that sleep is doable, at night, while not being in contact with Mama (or Daddy).  Hopefully, the above mentioned pacifier lessons might help with this?  Come on, pacifier love!  If you have any other ideas, feel free to send them my way! 

Well, I have more to say but am going to save it for another post.  Next up -- specifics on Delia and Elsie as we get to know them better, their differences and funny quirks, etc, etc. Also, funny Emma-isms.  Stay tuned! 

On Monday we went to the allergist and it appears, for the time being anyway, Emma has no real allergies!  Basically they wrote on her back with marker and then pricked about 15 different allergens into her back -- two of them, avocado and raspberry, they had to drop some kind of liquid essence onto her before pricking.  She didn't seem to notice much, she didn't cry or fuss at all.   They only tested for things she had already eaten, and mostly the top allergens plus the weird ones (like avocado) that we have noticed specifically.  And they did some environmental allergens and dog, since we have one.  Thank the lord she is not allergic to Aiko!  He said her food sensitivities (egg, dairy, raspberry and a new one, sadly, avocado) were "intolerances" and that kids often grow out of these by 18 months or so.  Yahoo!  He said there was no harm in reintroducing the offenders occasionally to see how she responds.  

 
We have already retried avocado, as it is one of her favorites, and the rash that she was getting on her face from it (for months and months and months, before we figured it out) did not reappear.  We are thinking if we give her small bits, instead of large slices, she gets less on her face and has less of a reaction.  We still have cut back quite a bit, though.  Which is sad, as it was her main sources of healthy fats!   Not that she is in need of them as much as before for wieght reasons -- just brain development stuff.   Luckily, she is still getting that from breastmilk. 

Today at Emma's 15 month check up, the doctor and I were discussing her egg allergy while she nursed. She heard the word egg, and came off the boob to inquire "chicken?" (chi-choo) and then went back to nursing. Ha!

She learned about the chicken/egg connection (and learned to say both words) two weeks ago when we were "chicken sitting" for a friend.  I guess those daily visits to the "chi-choos" really stuck with her!

For stats, her weight was up to almost 24 pounds, which puts her at 60th percentile.  Chubbin up!  She was at 79th percentile for height and head circumference.  Everything else was on target, though her language, which we have sort of realized, is a bit advanced.  I bet she is up to about 100 words/signs now, though many come in and out of rotation frequently.

The doctor was very supportive of our continued breastfeeding, more so than he has been in the past, for some reason.  And he mentioned how great it was given her current dairy intolerance, which was nice to hear.  He was helpful with our allergy concerns (currently dairy, egg, and raspberry,possibly some others, though all are somewhat mild), and referred us to a specialist for that.

We happened to bring her doll along (not a surprise, really, since she goes everywhere) and the doctor did every procedure with the doll before doing it on Emma, and she was thrilled by that and totally fine with everything, even the ear check, which she usually hates.  Woo hoo, we will definitely bring Baby to the next appt, as well! 

And, to please my geeky side, the office has moved to a new computer recordkeeping system that prints out a personalized report of the appointment for you at the end, with all the data for measurements, past vaccines, developmental milestones, etc, which was really cool.

The only downer was that she fell asleep nursing at the end of the appointment when the doctor and I were talking, and it was a rude awakening to receive three needle jabs to the thigh by the nurse -- poor kid! She recovered miraculously well, though, given the circumstances. It was really helpful to be able to talk to her about what happened this time, though, with her knowing the signs for "sleep", and "hurt", and knowing where her leg, is, etc.  I think talking through it really helped her get over it faster!

Having a bit of trouble with the uploading software for our gallery, so
these are a sneak preview of whats to come once thats fixed...

Can I just say that I am tired (TIRED!) of the 30 minute nap routine?  One 30 minute nap per day? That is what we are getting these days (again!) and it is driving me insane.  Seriously.  Insane!   30 minutes is enough to eat my lunch, and that is it.  Maybe (though unlikely) check my email.  Her mood (and mine) is pretty rotton the rest of the day as well.   Sadly, I do not think it is tooth related, but I can hope....

We (re)started our sleep plan based on the tips and suggestions of the sleep consultant yesterday.  However, she pretty much had no advice on naps so that doesn't really change much.   Nights are actually going pretty well, just 1-2 wakeups between when we go to bed and about 5 am, which is HUGELY better than it used to be.  She tends to get about 10 hours of sleep at night, from about 8-6am.  Bedtimes and getting to sleep is the kicker, a multi-hour affair sometimes, but hopefully with the changes that will get better.  The Big Thing is no more nursing to sleep, which was actually not even an issue last night.  The Other Big Thing might be some leaving the room when she wants to keep playing, which I have been doing some of already mostly for mama breaks.  Emma Does Not Approve. 

In more interesting news, she has made the connection this week that She! Is! Emma!  She calls herself  "Memma" and points to herself if I ask where she is.  I still can't tell if she recognizes that she is The Baby In The Mirror, and it is clear that she does not recognize herself in photos (baby! she exclaims.  Yes, thats you.  Thats Emma.  BABY! she insists....).

She is also this close to saying her first sentence, which we repeat, repeat, repeat all day (both verbally and in sign):  "No bath for baby (her beloved doll)".  No bath for baby!  No bath for baby in the bathtub!  No bath for baby in the shower!  No bath for baby in the toilet/the pool/the water table/the doggies water!   Egads, I am tired of confiscating that soaking wet doll and trying to get it dry again.  At least its washable!

We have a lot of chatter around here these days.  She is learning words and signs like a madwoman, and I have already pretty much lost track, especially since things seem to come and go.  But, for the sake of posterity, I am going to remember what I can and record them below.  Here is a snapshot of Emma's current talk.  I know I am going to have to come back and update it later today as I remember more. 

Signs: more, milk, eat/food, all done, water, bird, airplane, thank you, bye bye, hi, swing (invented herself!), wind (another invention, and same as swing), mama,  cooking, book, toilet/potty (also pee/poop), sleep, dirty,  car/drive,  play, hurt, hear, shoes, fish, cat

Spoken: mama, daddy, dog, bath, duck, baby, bye bye, hi, down, bamboo, banana, bunny, blueberry, big bird, broccoli (these last six are pretty indistinguishable, but she does use them in the right context!), bumpity bump (meaning go fast in the wagon, daddy, or let me jump on your stomach, mama), bread, no (!), tea, meow (instead of cat), night night, ball, fish, all done, hat, ball, uh oh, hot, chicken (as in the food, not the bird -- I think it will be awhile before that connection is made...), bear,  bee, tickle

Two cool things happened yesterday in terms of communication, too.  First, she made the "potty" sign for the first time uninitiated, when she was obviously pooping in her diaper.  Potty training, here we come!   Later that morning, after she had just been woken after falling asleep nursing (we had to go out) Lonnie asked her what she was going to be doing today and she gave him the "sleep" sign.  Sadly, the nap she was thinking about did not happen for another 4 hours...

Anther funny thing is that she has this new wrinkle-up-the-nose-and-shrug-the-shoulders thing she does whenever she does a sign.  Kind of a "look at me, see how cute I am" thing.  I guess its not all the time, its more when we ask her to do a sign, not when she initiates it herself.  Ha. 

I know its been a long long time since I posted!  So much is happening around here! 

Three days ago, Emma realized she could walk.  She has been able to since her birthday, about a month and a half ago.  But she has been really hesitant, and only would do it with lots of encouragement, outstretched arms, and cheering.  Now, she has suddenly occurred to her that she doesn't need all that and is one proud girl.  She is thrilled with herself, and beams as she toddles around.  She still gets down to crawl sometimes, but is walking a lot on her own, as well.  Hooray!  

She is also talking up a storm!  I was planning on keeping track of words but its really hard, because she seems to learn 3-4 each day!  With a lot of them she is just repeating us, and doesn't bring up on her own, but its pretty obvious and clear what she is saying, so I figure it counts.  Her big one now is Aiko, or "I-kee" as she says it.  Pretty cute.  She is loving up the dog like crazy even more now that she is walking.  Aiko is very very patient, thank goodness!   Another recent word is "icky", with regards to things like the bathroom garbage, or sucking on shampoo bottles.  Ha!

Her signing is also picking up, and I find myself constantly wishing I knew more when the moment hits.  I am in search of a good kid sign language dictionary, that has either photos or real-ish looking drawings of lots of baby/kid related signs.  It would be ideal if it is set up dictionary style, alphabetically, so its easy to look up, though words in related groupings would be fine too.  I went to Powells while we were down in PDX, and couldn't even find something that looked good there.  Odd!  Emma's newest and frequently used signs -- "airplane", "fish", "hear", and "all done".  The latter, is All The Time, as in "all done (diaper change)!!!", "all done (carseat)!", all done (sitting in the stroller)!", "all done (eating, if you are only going to feed me this disgusting yogurt)!", etc, etc, etc.

She is now eating wheat, soy, and dairy! Woohoo!  We have been gradually introducing them over the past two months.  Dairy was the most recent addition, just in the past week.  She seems to be doing fine with it, though a little diaper weirdness which I think is pretty normal.  She isn't eating lots of dairy yet -- she mostly still drinks breastmilk or water, and she refuses (!) the delicious whole fat yogurt I have been trying to give her.  She won't even eat something thats mixed with it, if she sees me doing it!  She does really enjoy the cheese stick, of which her first is documented here.  Mmmm.....cheese.      

Oh yeah, one more thing.  A few weeks ago we went down to Sunriver for a friend (Kirsten's) wedding.   It was a beautiful event! While there, Emma had several firsts, including her first bike ride!  Some photos of that trip (plus a few more since then) are here.   

 New pictures up in the gallery! 

We've had something of a languageplosion around here, so I thought I'd list what Emma is saying these days...

Spoken Words:
dog
Mama
Daddy
tree
duck
no
baby
this/that
milk (new while I was writing this!)

Said before but not currently in rotation: kitty, kiss, ball

Signs:
milk
more
eat
hi/bye
no
water
bath (new yesterday!) 

On the horizon:  book (either spoken or sign, she seems really close with either), shoe, foot (spoken), "all done" (sign)

She is really chatty in her own baby language, as well, constantly talking with all sorts of reflections, asking questions, shouting, whining, singing, making squeaks and squeals and goofy noises (which she knows are funny).  She gets pissed and yells at her toys, too, which is humorous for us.  Not so much for her.    

Yesterday we went in for Emma's 12 month check-up.   She screamed pretty much the entire time.  But, everything was fine and she is on track for all the development stuff.  Perhaps a little ahead in her language... 

She weighed 20 lb, 10 oz, so right near the 50th percentile.  Up near 75th percentile for height. No more weight worries, yahoo!

Teeth count: 5! three on top, two on the bottom 

Also, first steps!   She took 4 or 5 between the two of us the night before last.  No repeats since then, other than the occasional one step lunge towards something.    

She seemed to enjoy a few bites, but mostly crumbled it up and gave it to the dog. 
 

More birthday photos in the 12 month folder.  Also some recent additions in the 11 month folder.   

One year ago today, it all happened. Whew! I can't believe we have made it this far. And I can't believe time has flown by so fast! I think back to that sunny May day and can remember everything so well. And while it was an incredible time, I am so glad we are where we are now! Having a brand new baby was amazing, but also nerve-wracking, exhausting, and stressful (not to mention painful!). A one year old is a lot more fun!

Today, Emma and I went out and got a new toy to commemorate the day. She likes it a lot! We are planning a little get together tomorrow to celebrate, so today we just hung out and enjoyed the day.

P.S. She is so close to walking it is ridiculous! She keeps thinking about it, and then changing her mind. But soon, soon, soon...