First published 7/28/08
It's 6:45pm, do I know where my kids are? Happily, in the same place they are each night at this hour - sleeping soundly in their cribs! Recently, I wrote of our dream of a long, dream-filled night. We now are hitting that objective about 75% of the time. Most nights, the boys are in bed by 6pm and they stay that way until about 6-7am. Now, I don't want all the new moms to be too jealous. Some nights, one or both of them will wake around 4-5am and will experiment with volume until we fetch them and sooth them with a small bottle. But hey, 6am! Most nights! (again, the college roommates may weigh in when they see that 6am is a good wake-up time for me now...not noon!)
Not only that, but they're getting better at napping, and on a normal day when we're at home the whole day, I can usually count on about 6-9 hours (not straight, mind you, but nonetheless...) of free time. Of course, with all this free time, you might expect that I'd be much more organized, but I am so used to being busy with the babies, that I just don't know what to do with all this extra time! (I am wondering how long I can use that excuse before I need to start catching up with the laundry and organizing our bonus room...)
In the last week though, we have a threat to our newfound freedom - baby boys and their diapers! One of our tricks to the night-sleeping is that they are now sleeping on their tummies which is much more 'natural' for the babies. So, picture this - baby boy is on his tummy for 12 hours, and this baby boy is from the "land of lotsapeepee". This boy is also growing quickly, so is on the diaper size border once again, between a 2 and a 3! Well, it may not be frogs and snails and puppy dog tails, but it is sure a baby boy recipe for a mess with no obvious solution.
Last night, we tried just using a larger sized diaper. It got us to about 4am. Tonight, I'm trying another (more expensive) solution - a size 2 diaper with a size 3 diaper over it. A part of me wants this to work, but the pocketbook part of me thinks there must be a cheaper solution. Apparently when they get a little bigger, there are nighttime diapers, but at their current size, "they" don't want them sleeping on their tummies, so there's not much economic purpose for the "diaper-theys" to make smaller nighttimes. And according to Nonnie Connie, when we were little, you could get rubber covers for over the disposable diapers. Do these still exist???
So my quest continues for the consistent full night sleep...In the meantime, I am not revising the house's 9:00 rule. Unless the California Lottery is calling, I'm still not answering the phone before 9am...that's our 1st naptime!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Snuggle bugs
first published 7/24/08
Ask most moms of boys and they will tell you that boys love to snuggle with their moms. Girls are apparently more independent, and we all know that girls get their dads wrapped around their fingers, so little boys are a mom's dream.
My dear boys are not much different than most boys in this regard, but they've taken different paths to snuggle-land.
Michael has always loved to be held tight, tummy to tummy, with his arms and legs bundled in tightly. When we first got home from the hospital, the only way to get him to sleep was in a very tight swaddle (and our little Houdini was good at getting out of the blanket-swaddles, so we only had success with the velcro swaddle sacks). Now, he sleeps on his tummy, with his arms and legs tucked tightly under his body. But when I hold him, pure bliss - he nestles his head into my neck, with his arms on either side of his cheeks, brings his legs up and settles his little bottom right onto my arm. Typically, within about 15 seconds, he is sound asleep. Now and then, I'll get a little shudder out of him, and on a perfect day, a happy little sigh. He is the one to grab when you're feeling a little sad...he will guarantee to comfort you.
William didn't start out his life craving the snuggle the way his mommy would like him too. The way he sees it, there is just too much out there in the world to look at, so why would you want your face planted on mom's shoulder. He likes to sit on my lap, but wants to face out so he doesn't miss a thing. But today, something amazing happened. We were at Mama Mia (I could go on for an entire different entry about how great the Mommy Movie Morning is, and in particular how much we enjoyed today's movie), and as predicted, as soon as the music started, Michael fell asleep and William started dancing on my lap. Toward the end of the movie, though, he started getting tired and fussy. So like any wise parent at Mommy Movie Morning, I gathered him up to go "dance" in the back of the theatre with the other fussy babies and their mommies (today there were quite a few - who knew Abba would be so offensive to little ones). I tucked his arms and legs in trying to get him to settle down to sleep. This is where the miracle happened - he pulled his head back, gave me a huge smile and then nuzzled into my neck. THEN he pulled his arms out of the snuggle, wrapped them up around my neck, sighed and fell right to sleep.
Fortunately for me and my sleeping angel, the cast keeps singing as the credits roll...we could have danced (and slept) all night!
Ask most moms of boys and they will tell you that boys love to snuggle with their moms. Girls are apparently more independent, and we all know that girls get their dads wrapped around their fingers, so little boys are a mom's dream.
My dear boys are not much different than most boys in this regard, but they've taken different paths to snuggle-land.
Michael has always loved to be held tight, tummy to tummy, with his arms and legs bundled in tightly. When we first got home from the hospital, the only way to get him to sleep was in a very tight swaddle (and our little Houdini was good at getting out of the blanket-swaddles, so we only had success with the velcro swaddle sacks). Now, he sleeps on his tummy, with his arms and legs tucked tightly under his body. But when I hold him, pure bliss - he nestles his head into my neck, with his arms on either side of his cheeks, brings his legs up and settles his little bottom right onto my arm. Typically, within about 15 seconds, he is sound asleep. Now and then, I'll get a little shudder out of him, and on a perfect day, a happy little sigh. He is the one to grab when you're feeling a little sad...he will guarantee to comfort you.
William didn't start out his life craving the snuggle the way his mommy would like him too. The way he sees it, there is just too much out there in the world to look at, so why would you want your face planted on mom's shoulder. He likes to sit on my lap, but wants to face out so he doesn't miss a thing. But today, something amazing happened. We were at Mama Mia (I could go on for an entire different entry about how great the Mommy Movie Morning is, and in particular how much we enjoyed today's movie), and as predicted, as soon as the music started, Michael fell asleep and William started dancing on my lap. Toward the end of the movie, though, he started getting tired and fussy. So like any wise parent at Mommy Movie Morning, I gathered him up to go "dance" in the back of the theatre with the other fussy babies and their mommies (today there were quite a few - who knew Abba would be so offensive to little ones). I tucked his arms and legs in trying to get him to settle down to sleep. This is where the miracle happened - he pulled his head back, gave me a huge smile and then nuzzled into my neck. THEN he pulled his arms out of the snuggle, wrapped them up around my neck, sighed and fell right to sleep.
Fortunately for me and my sleeping angel, the cast keeps singing as the credits roll...we could have danced (and slept) all night!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Fly me to the moon (7/19/08)
first published 7/19/08
It's every business traveler's nightmare: You board the plane early, anxious to get settled into your first class seat and enjoy a quiet cup of coffee and the Wall Street Journal while the rest of the masses are boarding. You approach your seat in the final row of first class, casting a condescending glance into the coach cabin. And thus begins the nightmare, for there in the first row of coach is the mom traveling alone with her baby. But worse - this time there are TWO babies.
Well, that is how I was greeted this morning by a "gentleman" flying in the first class cabin of my flight from Minneapolis to San Diego. He got onto the plane, looked back and saw me with William AND Michael, and said "Oh this is just great". Now, I'm sure he thought he was saying it way under his breath, but hey, I'm a new mom - I hear everything!
I sure showed him - my boys were perfect. And that is not just a bragging mom talking. They slept most of the time (Michael got the carseat this time and William was in my arms). When they were awake, they smiled, giggled and gurgled at all the appropriate moments. They flirted with the flight attendants and they smiled nicely when the man next to us helped get bottles from the diaper bag.
And although exhausted from waking up at 4:15am, I arrived in San Diego feeling if not refreshed, then at least relaxed. This was definitely thanks to all the kind people who offered assistance along the way. The TSA staff in Green Bay was so patient and helpful, helping with our huge stroller, and organizing all the mountains of baby gear that has to be checked through the x-ray. The gate agent in Green Bay walked me all the way onto the plane, carrying the carseat (with William at this point) and hooking it into the plane. And in Minneapolis, an off-duty flight attendant (and grandma) helped feed Michael in the airport and then helped me board and get settled in (and all this incidentally before she settled into her first class seat...). Of course, there was also our new friend John, traveling to San Diego with his wife for a weekend vacation. He talked to the boys, kept an eye on Michael when William & I went off for a diaper change, and even fed William when both he and Michael needed a bottle "right at this very minute and Mom, if you wait just a split-second, we will both be screaming at the top of our somewhat small lungs".
So to all you travelers out there, business or otherwise - next time you see a mom (or a dad) struggling to keep her kids calm and entertained on a flight, rather than "ugh" at her, offer a hand, or at least a sympathetic smile. The more help and understanding she gets from fellow-passengers, the more likely she will be to stay calm and keep her kids happy. Now, I of course don't expect her kids to be as perfect as mine, but you will certainly help her dream that perfection is a possibility :)
Here's crossing my fingers that our Christmas flights will be as smooth...
It's every business traveler's nightmare: You board the plane early, anxious to get settled into your first class seat and enjoy a quiet cup of coffee and the Wall Street Journal while the rest of the masses are boarding. You approach your seat in the final row of first class, casting a condescending glance into the coach cabin. And thus begins the nightmare, for there in the first row of coach is the mom traveling alone with her baby. But worse - this time there are TWO babies.
Well, that is how I was greeted this morning by a "gentleman" flying in the first class cabin of my flight from Minneapolis to San Diego. He got onto the plane, looked back and saw me with William AND Michael, and said "Oh this is just great". Now, I'm sure he thought he was saying it way under his breath, but hey, I'm a new mom - I hear everything!
I sure showed him - my boys were perfect. And that is not just a bragging mom talking. They slept most of the time (Michael got the carseat this time and William was in my arms). When they were awake, they smiled, giggled and gurgled at all the appropriate moments. They flirted with the flight attendants and they smiled nicely when the man next to us helped get bottles from the diaper bag.
And although exhausted from waking up at 4:15am, I arrived in San Diego feeling if not refreshed, then at least relaxed. This was definitely thanks to all the kind people who offered assistance along the way. The TSA staff in Green Bay was so patient and helpful, helping with our huge stroller, and organizing all the mountains of baby gear that has to be checked through the x-ray. The gate agent in Green Bay walked me all the way onto the plane, carrying the carseat (with William at this point) and hooking it into the plane. And in Minneapolis, an off-duty flight attendant (and grandma) helped feed Michael in the airport and then helped me board and get settled in (and all this incidentally before she settled into her first class seat...). Of course, there was also our new friend John, traveling to San Diego with his wife for a weekend vacation. He talked to the boys, kept an eye on Michael when William & I went off for a diaper change, and even fed William when both he and Michael needed a bottle "right at this very minute and Mom, if you wait just a split-second, we will both be screaming at the top of our somewhat small lungs".
So to all you travelers out there, business or otherwise - next time you see a mom (or a dad) struggling to keep her kids calm and entertained on a flight, rather than "ugh" at her, offer a hand, or at least a sympathetic smile. The more help and understanding she gets from fellow-passengers, the more likely she will be to stay calm and keep her kids happy. Now, I of course don't expect her kids to be as perfect as mine, but you will certainly help her dream that perfection is a possibility :)
Here's crossing my fingers that our Christmas flights will be as smooth...
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