A few Maeve funnies.

At almost 3, Maeve is at the perfect age for the accidental joke, silly willy laugh and general hilarity.

One of her accidental jokes at suppertime last night:

Maeve: I don't want the "manapeel" aka banana peel.
Or, as we heard it: I don't want man appeal. Haha!

She's also taken to repeating a song my Mom sings, "Let's go to the Hop, oh Baby". But, when Maeve says it, it's a statement, not a song. Again, too funny (but you kind of have to hear her say it, to get what I mean).

She's also a wee bit obsessed with poop. Her own, and the twins' bowel habits as well. I guess we did a really great job poop training her, cheering and clapping to celebrate every poop. Maeve will oversee every diaper change, waiting with baited breath to see if it's a "big poop" or "just pee". If she's greeted with a "big poop", she congratulates them, saying "good job!"

A cute morning story.

I thought I'd write this down, so I don't forget. It's too cute.

Maeve adores her brother and sister. And, while she is up for the day around 6:30, the twins often don't "start" (I laugh as I say this as they are up all night) the day until 7'ish. But, when they wake, I call Maeve in to help me change their diapers. She is so excited to be my big helper.

But, the fun starts when she announces it's "time to make a family!", which means we all have to lay in the bed, with her in the middle, a baby on either side. She often hauls in other stuffed friends as well, and a blanket or two. She makes sure everyone has a pillow and is well covered by the blankets. In her excitement she rarely sits still, but she loves to cuddle and make the twins smile. And they just glow whenever she's around.

Once again, hindsight is 20/20.

A bit of an update on our "colicky" boy.

After eliminating dairy foods from my diet, there was an immediate improvement in his mood and temperament. The evenings were much, much better, he was less gassy and in a better mood overall. But, I'd have to cap the improvement at about 50%. What became increasingly clear is that something else was making him fussy at the breast.

Now, keep in mind, we'd been fighting (or so I thought) a bottle preference for 7 weeks, ever since he was discharged from the hospital after our bout with RSV. While in hospital, he received many bottles of pumped milk as he was too weak to nurse.

Beckett has never been a great eater. While Maren nurses with gusto, Beckett has always been a "just enough" kind of guy. But, something was changing over the past 2 weeks that was making me concerned. Colic aside, he was often fussy after eating, would latch on/off (again, thought this was bottle preference), preferred to be upright, and this week began losing weight. I started weighing him when I sensed his intake dropping off ( I was becoming engorged on his side, so he was definitely eating less), and sure enough, he was dropping 20 grams a day.

Needless to say, I was getting concerned. I'd been questioning the possibility of "silent reflux" for awhile, but really didn't want it to be true. But, after a nice consult with the Ped in my GP's office, she agreed that his symptoms warranted a trial of Zantac. As an naturopath, the idea of putting my 3 month old on an acid suppressing drug was very uncomfortable. What about iron, calcium and b12 absorption? How would it alter his gut flora? But, my baby was losing weight and was uncomfortable and that needed to be addressed.

He's only had 3 doses, and he's a changed baby. Colour me shocked. He's eating with gusto, and is nursing twice as often as he ever has. He drained his side tonight and took an additional 3 ounces from a bottle. It almost brought tears to my eyes to see him eat like that. Actually, it did. Twice. And, he was such a calm, happy baby today. Oh, and he put on 40 grams overnight. :)

And, now I have to reconcile the guilt of not having him seen and treated sooner. But, since his reflux was "silent" (he rarely spits up) it wasn't on my radar.

So, the colic (which was probably reflux) is on the way out, hopefully. I'll continue to avoid dairy for now, as it was obviously not agreeing with his sensitive gut, and will continue with probiotics as well. And, we'll obviously continue with the Zantac for now, and hope that he won't need it for long.

Insanity, thy name is colic.

In case you haven't heard, we're knee deep in colic with wee little Beckett. It started 5-6 weeks ago, and at first, we just thought he was going through a fussy period. Yeah...not so much. A fussy evening here and there turned into a fussy evening every night. One hour became two, which then became four or five. And then daytime started falling apart 2 weeks ago.

Sigh...I guess it was too much to ask for all 3 of my kids to be of the "easy" variety. Thankfully, Maren is a very easy baby, which makes living with a colicky baby bearable. But, 2 babies and a toddler ain't easy, that's for sure.

I must say though, it's given me a whole new appreciation for other parents who are going through the same thing. I now understand...

-Feeling so helpless as you watch your little baby scream his little heart out, for no apparent reason.
-Feeling like you're skin is crawling from listening to non-stop crying for hours on end.
-Wanting to run away, and seriously making a plan to do so.
-Feeling trapped, because you can't really make the above plan work.
-Wondering what you did wrong, and how to make it right.
-Feeling anxiety as bedtime approaches.
-Having feelings of anger towards this little person, who did nothing wrong.

My best friend, who is here visiting witnessed my meltdown 2 nights ago. It wasn't pretty, that's for sure. I hate the person I become after listening to 4 hours of a baby crying. Who wouldn't be driven to insanity?

Craziness, eh? I've made some big changes to my diet, and I hope to come back in a few days and say that we've "fixed" the problem. Yesterday and today have been good days, so here's to hoping.

A tale of two twins...

Our twins are fraternal (obviously), but you sometimes think that there should be some kind of resemblance (physical or otherwise), right?

Yeah...not so much with our kids.

I'm pondering their differences as we head into a 2.5 hour bedtime with Beckett, which is pretty standard these days. Maren, on the other hand has been asleep for 2.5 hours, drifting off into slumber after being swaddled and fed. Beckett begins his reign of terror shortly after the supper hour, and when it ends is completely up to him. We've had 6 hour stretches, and we've also been graced with a mere 1 hour bedtime on occasion.

Other differences I've noticed:

-Beckett is a dirty blond, Maren has reddish brown hair.
-Beckett's eyes are deep blue, Maren had gray-blue eyes.
-Beckett grazes, while Maren gulps.
-Beckett eats until he is full, Maren eats and eats and eats.
-Beckett sucks his thumb, Maren tries to eat her fist.
-Beckett is long and lean, and Maren is the most gorgeous chubby baby you've ever seen.
-Beckett loves to smile, and Maren gives a mean "stinkeye".

But, the biggest difference is in how they fall asleep, much to my frustration.

Maren will happily drift off to sleep (a la textbook style) after being fed, swaddled and put in her crib. She's always put down drowsy, but awake. Beckett, on the other hand, will scream bloody murder at the mere suggestion of going to bed, and will make you work for every second of downtime in the evenings, if you're lucky enough to have any. He needs to be rocked, swayed, coddled, hugged, nursed, burped and jiggled. And even then, you'd better hope the stars are aligned.

Sigh....it's a good thing he's cute.

3 months old.

As the saying goes...where did the time go?!?

I can't believe the twins are 3 months old.

They are, smiling, cooing and laughing, but not sleeping. :P I'll probably rant about their awful sleep habits for years to come (we were spoiled with Maeve), but this too shall pass, I'm sure.

It's been a crazy, wonderful, fantastic ride.

Newly born:


3 months old, in our new-to-us stroller:


We haven't taken as many pictures as we should have, nor have I filled out a single page in their baby books, but I'll never forget this ride we're on. That I am sure of.

Today's adventure is brought to you by the word "choas"

But, there's beauty in the breakdown. :)

This morning we decided to check out the newly renovated Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History. It had been closed for a few months, and we'd missed visiting it regularly, as it's a great place for Maeve to run around, and hey, she might learn a thing or two. The family pass is only $39/year, so it's a great value too.

Anyway, in order to accommodate the various naps that needed to happen, we had to head out early. Amazingly, we were all packed and ready to go at 9:15! A new record around here. Just as I buckle my seatbelt, Brent turns the key, only to be greeted with silence. The battery is dead. We both simultaneously remember that Maeve had turned on one of the overhead lights, and we'd forgotten to turn it off. Sigh...

No problem, we'll just give it a boost with the other car. Except, it means that Brent will have to push the van out of the garage, so that the wires will reach. He's pushing and pushing, but we're not moving very far. A quick look under the van tells the story...Maeve's soccer ball is sitting behind a wheel. Ok, now we can get the van out.

Van is out, and hooked up to the BMW, whose battery is in the trunk. 20 minutes later, still no juice. Hmmm, something's not right. A quick read of the manual and Brent decides to try it from under the front hood. But, this requires coasting the van down to the road so he can turn the car around.



Success! We're finally on our way, 1.15 hours later. But, all in all, it wasn't all that bad. Maeve and I hung out in the yard, while the twins napped in the van. We enjoyed a quiet sunny morning, followed by a lovely visit to the museum.

Musings.

1. Zippered sleepers are the way to go. I hate snaps.
2. If you love me, bring me food. If you don't, bring a complicated sleeper with snaps. ;)
3. Anyone with twins will tell you that twins will attract a lot of attention, but you'd be surprised how personal the questions get. At least 50% of strangers we meet ask us how they were conceived ("natural" or "fertility drugs") and if we're done having kids. I'm not an overly private person, but come on, I think that's a bit much, no?
4. I have two new people in my life. And, these people, have their own sets of needs, wants, dislikes, etc. That's a tough thing for a type-A planner to accept. Beckett reminds me of this on a daily basis. :P
5. Please don't ask a mom of multiples if she's busy, or sleep deprived. It's a very common question, and asked far too often.

That's all, carry on. :)

Family outing - fail.

Oh my....coordinating the schedules of two infant babies and one well-grown toddler is a challenge, to say the least.

Maeve's first soccer practice was tonight at 6 pm. I thought it would be nice if all of us could be there for her first practice. You know, Dad on the field, Mom and siblings cheering her on. Well, that pipe dream never came to fruition. Here's what actually happened.

Rain started to fall just as we arrived. Having realized we'd parked as far away as possible from the field, Brent took the twins back to the van, and moved to a closer spot. We traded off, and I sat with the twins in the van. After exactly 36 seconds, they both started to cry. So, seeing that the rain seemed to be holding off, I packed them back into the stroller (no small feat) and headed to the field, only to discover there were no entrances that would accommodate a double stroller. So, I stood at the top of the field, holding Beckett most of the time (as he cried non-stop) and jiggled Maren as needed.

I got a glimpse or two of Maeve, but was mainly focused on the fact that she didn't have a hood and was quite wet. Yay us, our parenting award is in the mail, right?

But, she did have fun and went to bed quite quickly. So, we'll look forward to next week, except only one of use will be accompanying Maeve this time.