June 10th blog from our family website:
The babies were 8 weeks old yesterday, 2 months. On one hand, I cannot believe that they are already 2 months old. On the other, what a busy two months! When they turned one month old, I wrote a blog about what has been essential to our day-to-day life. They were: my stroller, Itzbeen timer, Purex 3-in-1 washer dryer sheets, the diaper caddy, Munchkin formula holder, our Pack'n'Play, and the Boppy pillow. This past month we pretty much use the same things, but differently.
1. STROLLER: Our stroller still is what gets us from the van to the house and back out again, but now I take the babies everywhere! We go to the park almost everyday. I roll that thing over the grass, the bark chips at the park, gravel, and the sand on the side of the road (not like at the beach, haven't tried it out there yet). We go to the mall, out to lunch, and take walks. D uses his standing board all the time and the stroller maneuvers everywhere we take it. I just keep it loaded with everything we need while we are away from the van and house.
2. ITZBEEN TIMER: I keep this with me at all times. I now have the feeding settings set to 3 and a half hours and the diaper settings to 4 hours, still using the top two buttons for feeding, bottom two for diaper. We still keep the babies on the same feeding and, for the most part, diaper schedules. If one baby wakes up starving, like this morning, C was ready to eat but O was sleeping in, we wake the other one up and feed them at the same time. It's working so far, especially since they are eating the same amount.
3. PUREX 3-IN-1 WASHER DRYER SHEETS: Love these more and more. I'm always doing a load of laundry and it's so easy to dash to the hampers, grab the new load, throw it in with a Purex sheet, and then go feed screaming hungry babies. These things are awesome.
4. DIAPER CADDY: This makes double bath time much easier for me. I grab their towels and the diaper caddy and can bathe and change them without trying to move around wet, slippery babies. Everything is in it. We took it with us when we visited my parents and used it as a travelling changing station (we moved the changing station from upstairs to downstairs depending on time of day at their house). Plus on the road trip, I had everything right there at pit stops.
6. PACK'N'PLAY: This is still useful, not as necessary as that first month. We still use it for the babies to do tummy time or if they just want to sit, but most of the time, when we are home, they sit in a swing or bouncey seat. The babies are a lot sturdier so I worry about them less when I leave them alone in the room with D, plus D understands to be careful around his brothers (at least he has been following our rule to do so).
7. BOPPY PILLOW: I use this a lot. I prop them both in the Boppy pillow when I feed them at home and use their Boppy pillow in O's crib, the one closest to the changing station, to hold the babies as they wait for their turn to be changed. I definitely like it in the middle of the night when I feed them on the bedroom chair. Very useful.
Here are some new things we have come to depend on...
9. HAND SANITIZER AND ANTIBACTERIAL WIPES: Not to replace handwashing, but perfect for on the go or for around the house at key spots. We use a lot of hand sanitizer.
12. PATIENCE: I feel like in that first month we were really working on figure out how we would do this, how I would be able to do this on my own to go out, how we would work around W's schedule, how we could make D still feel important and involved. There was so much that we didn't know, how it would be at night when we brought them home from the hospital, if they would stay on the same schedule, if we would get sleep, if I could watch D and take care of them out of the house. With all those unknowns, our focus was on the tasks and not so much on just sitting back and letting things happen. Now that we have answers to a lot of those questions, we feel like the things we don't know (what it will be like when they are crawling, for instance) aren't as stressful because we at least know we can make it through. But with this more relaxed attitude that we've adopted, taking things as they come, letting things happen, we are also left with screaming babies from 7 to 10 pm, or D dumping out a bag of dirt on the patio while we feed and then walking into my house, or 3 dirty diapers at the same time, or vomit in my hair... Not all the time, but sometimes it can be a little overwhelming, a little overstimulating. If I felt like I was always being touched with D, now I am ALWAYS being touched. I'm always holding a baby, I'm always wiping a nose, I'm always needing to give kisses or sing a song. These are things that I love doing, that I wanted to do going in to having children, but sometimes you feel like you want to curl up in a ball and read in absolute silence for 10 minutes, that's it, just 10 minutes, or to run in to the store to grab the tube of toothpaste without unloading EVERYTHING. It feels like flashes of impatience when I really need to whisper a prayer, to realize that I will not leave the house 20 minutes before I need to be somewhere for a long time (we usually head out to the van 45 minutes before we have to be somewhere if it is 15 minutes away, earlier if it is farther than that, if I am going by myself) or that if I am rushing, D will inevitably fall down and bump his knee, resulting in a meltdown, or that if I am bathing the babies, that will be when D has a meltdown, causing all three of them to start screaming in a small, echoing bathroom. I think that these moments of impatience are a little lifeline to your old self, maybe. How you used to do things before you were "Momma." Maybe that's how you can keep your sense of humor, realizing just how different you do things now, or that you actually thought you had a chance of being in bed by 8:30 pm and that you are irritated that you are NOT in bed at 8:30 pm on a Friday night. Either way, when I feel these flashes of impatience, I try to let it go, not dwell on it, or realize that these are the times when I have to make a conscious effort to speak nicely and to act out of love not anger (not be extra sweet to the kids then launch into W because he left a bowl in the sink). And when things get very difficult and the flashes of impatience become tears of frustration, to ask for help, like last night when the babies started crying at 6:30 pm, wouldn't eat their bottles for me, and then proceeded to cry well into the evening. I told W how I felt and he helped me settle them down and to just let go of the things I had hoped to do (laundry and tidying the house at the end of the day). He closed the blinds for me and prepared my bottles for the middle of the night feeding as I comforted the babies. And we survived the night. Patience is absolute key.
1. STROLLER: Our stroller still is what gets us from the van to the house and back out again, but now I take the babies everywhere! We go to the park almost everyday. I roll that thing over the grass, the bark chips at the park, gravel, and the sand on the side of the road (not like at the beach, haven't tried it out there yet). We go to the mall, out to lunch, and take walks. D uses his standing board all the time and the stroller maneuvers everywhere we take it. I just keep it loaded with everything we need while we are away from the van and house.
3. PUREX 3-IN-1 WASHER DRYER SHEETS: Love these more and more. I'm always doing a load of laundry and it's so easy to dash to the hampers, grab the new load, throw it in with a Purex sheet, and then go feed screaming hungry babies. These things are awesome.
4. DIAPER CADDY: This makes double bath time much easier for me. I grab their towels and the diaper caddy and can bathe and change them without trying to move around wet, slippery babies. Everything is in it. We took it with us when we visited my parents and used it as a travelling changing station (we moved the changing station from upstairs to downstairs depending on time of day at their house). Plus on the road trip, I had everything right there at pit stops.
5. MUNCHKIN FORMULA DISPENSER: Love it. I had to buy another one since the babies now eat 4 oz at each feeding. I fill the two up and bring them with me, giving me three bottles while I am out with the babies. I use one at night, filling up 2 bottles with 4 oz of water and my formula dispenser with the formula, making it easy at night (no measuring, just mixing).
6. PACK'N'PLAY: This is still useful, not as necessary as that first month. We still use it for the babies to do tummy time or if they just want to sit, but most of the time, when we are home, they sit in a swing or bouncey seat. The babies are a lot sturdier so I worry about them less when I leave them alone in the room with D, plus D understands to be careful around his brothers (at least he has been following our rule to do so).
Here are some new things we have come to depend on...
8. KNIT BLANKETS: These are much heavier than receiving blankets, but still allow a breeze to pass through. I use these to cover their carseats while we are out in the sun, like walking or shopping. They still let sun in through the holes, so when we park somewhere, like at the pool or the park, I make sure to also park them in the shade. These same blankets are great for feeding on the go. Mine are the perfect size to fold into "pillows" that I use to keep the babies in the right position to eat in my lap.
(See picture below)
9. HAND SANITIZER AND ANTIBACTERIAL WIPES: Not to replace handwashing, but perfect for on the go or for around the house at key spots. We use a lot of hand sanitizer.
10. SWINGS AND BOUNCEY SEAT: O loves the swing, C likes it and likes the bouncey seat. We bought a second swing because the times that we can get them to calm down by having two swings have been well worth it.
11. MY MINI VAN: A girlfriend described her mini van to me as her "house on wheels" and that is exactly what it has become. I have a spot to put everything in there from spare diapers, change of clothes, D's scooter, blanket to spread out in grass to first aid kits, trash bags, sunscreen, and plastic silverware. The only thing it doesn't have is a power liftgate and I'm making do without it (lol). Truly, I am so glad that we got the mini van instead of a Suburban (no, I will not want a mini van when the kids are all older). This thing was made for mothers with small children and having one with twins in infant carries is A-W-E-S-O-M-E, not to mention being able to easily reach my preschooler in the all the way back.
12. PATIENCE: I feel like in that first month we were really working on figure out how we would do this, how I would be able to do this on my own to go out, how we would work around W's schedule, how we could make D still feel important and involved. There was so much that we didn't know, how it would be at night when we brought them home from the hospital, if they would stay on the same schedule, if we would get sleep, if I could watch D and take care of them out of the house. With all those unknowns, our focus was on the tasks and not so much on just sitting back and letting things happen. Now that we have answers to a lot of those questions, we feel like the things we don't know (what it will be like when they are crawling, for instance) aren't as stressful because we at least know we can make it through. But with this more relaxed attitude that we've adopted, taking things as they come, letting things happen, we are also left with screaming babies from 7 to 10 pm, or D dumping out a bag of dirt on the patio while we feed and then walking into my house, or 3 dirty diapers at the same time, or vomit in my hair... Not all the time, but sometimes it can be a little overwhelming, a little overstimulating. If I felt like I was always being touched with D, now I am ALWAYS being touched. I'm always holding a baby, I'm always wiping a nose, I'm always needing to give kisses or sing a song. These are things that I love doing, that I wanted to do going in to having children, but sometimes you feel like you want to curl up in a ball and read in absolute silence for 10 minutes, that's it, just 10 minutes, or to run in to the store to grab the tube of toothpaste without unloading EVERYTHING. It feels like flashes of impatience when I really need to whisper a prayer, to realize that I will not leave the house 20 minutes before I need to be somewhere for a long time (we usually head out to the van 45 minutes before we have to be somewhere if it is 15 minutes away, earlier if it is farther than that, if I am going by myself) or that if I am rushing, D will inevitably fall down and bump his knee, resulting in a meltdown, or that if I am bathing the babies, that will be when D has a meltdown, causing all three of them to start screaming in a small, echoing bathroom. I think that these moments of impatience are a little lifeline to your old self, maybe. How you used to do things before you were "Momma." Maybe that's how you can keep your sense of humor, realizing just how different you do things now, or that you actually thought you had a chance of being in bed by 8:30 pm and that you are irritated that you are NOT in bed at 8:30 pm on a Friday night. Either way, when I feel these flashes of impatience, I try to let it go, not dwell on it, or realize that these are the times when I have to make a conscious effort to speak nicely and to act out of love not anger (not be extra sweet to the kids then launch into W because he left a bowl in the sink). And when things get very difficult and the flashes of impatience become tears of frustration, to ask for help, like last night when the babies started crying at 6:30 pm, wouldn't eat their bottles for me, and then proceeded to cry well into the evening. I told W how I felt and he helped me settle them down and to just let go of the things I had hoped to do (laundry and tidying the house at the end of the day). He closed the blinds for me and prepared my bottles for the middle of the night feeding as I comforted the babies. And we survived the night. Patience is absolute key.
Comments