It's all relative.

If you'd asked me what a good night's sleep was 6 months ago, I'd have said 8-9 hours of uninterrupted slumber.  We'd been spoiled by Maeve who was an easy baby (comparatively) and was rarely up more than once or twice a night before she started "sleeping through the night" at 14 months from 7 pm-7am.
Things are a little different these days. ;)

I'm giddy over last night's sleep.  The twins went to bed at 7, and only woke at 10, 1, and 4 to eat (at the same time)!  Trust me, that's a monumental improvement given what the norm has been for a solid couple of months. I'll ignore the fact that Beckett likes to wake at 5 am for the day.  I don't feel bleary eyed this morning and can actually think clearly, which is a good thing as I get ready to go back to work on the 13th of September.  Eek.

Like I said, it's all relative.

Hey, hey, we're the monkeys...

...or at least I am, according to Maeve.  Princess Maeve declared that she, Maren and Lighty (the cat) were princesses.  Daddy, Beckett and Monty (the other cat) were Kings and Mama was a monkey.  What do you say to that exactly?  Daddy did ask if I could be 'Queen of the Monkeys', but even that title was turned down.  Monkey it is then.

In other news, we had a successful outing today!  Brent's mother has sold her house and has moved to an apartment. Today we visited her house for the last time before its closing, and then headed out for a nice brunch at a local club.  The "success" part of the story is that the twins were up for 4 hours and were so well behaved at lunch I barely recognized them.  It almost felt like an episode of the 'Twilight Zone' as Maeve was cooperating and sitting in her seat, Beckett wasn't squirming or crying, and Maren wasn't wanting to nurse every 10 minutes.  Lovely.

Oh, and I managed a 1.5 hour nap when we got home.  Does it get any better?

Here birdie, birdie, birdie!

 Maeve somehow got it in her head that she wanted to make a birdfeeder out of pinecones, peanut butter and birdseed.  She talked about it incessantly for days. So, one day last week we took a walk on the hunt for pinecones.  Once we'd found a few (or thirty) we sat down to make our birdfeeders.

Then, we hung them up on the nearest tree and waited...

And waited....until finally it was discovered by a family of bluejay's living in the tree!

Success!

Finding what you're looking for in the strangest places...

Awhile back I posted that I was looking for a non-plastic tea set for Maeve.  They are surprisingly hard to find, and I'd stopped looking for awhile.

Well, today I found one in the gift shop at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History.  It was sitting there, all by itself, waiting to come home with us.  Maeve was thrilled!  Here it is in action:

Pink and princess? Really?

So, we've been invaded by all things pink, and all things 'princess'.  Maeve talks incessantly about "taking a plane to Disney World to see the princess castle".  And, she has a pink 'Princess Fiona' dress that has to be washed daily.  Not to mention the fact that she will only wear certain pairs of 'Strawberry Shortcake' underwear. She also has pretend conversations on the phone with Strawberry Shortcake and Lemon Meringue.

Um, how did this happen exactly?  Brent and I went to great lengths to avoid pink and the princess fad.  I guess we underestimated the power of peer pressure at such a young age!

This weekend, I bought her non-toxic nailpolish (she's been begging for it) and guess what?  She'll only wear the pink polish.

She had no problem sharing the black nail polish with Mama though...

Finally, a Beckett-approved baby carrier.

Those who know me know that I love my baby carriers.  I pretty much have one of every kind, and am always resisting adding more.  But, until today, Mr. Beck Beck turned his nose up at every single one.  Hates the Beco (although I suspect he'll like it when he can ride on my back), screams at the sight of my ring sling, and tolerates my wrap if I'm moving.

But today, I tried him in my Ellaroo MeiHip and ta-da!  We have a happy boy.  Now I feel quite justified in my baby carrier addiction. ;)

One of my greatest accomplishments.

In honour of World Breastfeeding Week, I thought I'd write about one of my greatest accomplishments, which is having been able to exclusively breastfeed the twins.

My breastfeeding experience with Maeve was an easy one.  She latched, nursed, gained weight, grew well according to the charts, and self-weaned at 14 months.  I didn't spend a minute worrying about nursing her as it came easy to both of us.  We didn't struggle with yeast, blocked ducts or nipple confusion. Because of this experience, I didn't once think I'd have any problems nursing Maren and Beckett.  And, while I'd read up on nursing twins, I should have read more.

The twins were born at 35 weeks.  Both latched well, but after about a week it was clear they weren't getting enough milk as they weren't gaining weight.  This isn't unusual for premature babies, as they tend to suck more weakly than a full-term baby, and sometimes have trouble staying awake long enough for a feed.  As a result, my supply wasn't where it should be either.  So, when they were 10 days old I went on Domperidone to increase my supply.

All was going well until Beckett was hospitalized with an RSV infection.  Because he was too sick and tired to nurse, he was fed through an NG tube, and then received bottles of EBM until well enough to nurse for most of his feeds.  As a result of this, he developed a strong bottle preference that we struggle with to this day.  And, on top of all of this, he developed reflux around 8 weeks, making it painful for him to eat from either the breast or the bottle.

Now, at 5 months, the reflux is under control, the bottle preference is weakening and we seem to be doing ok.  He's still on the small side, and isn't gaining at the rate his sister is, but he's healthy.  And breastfed.  I can't tell you the number of times I considered giving up and strictly pumping, or even going to formula.  It's incredibly frustrating to try and nurse a baby who wants nothing to do with you, or worse, is in pain.  I shed many a tear over this breastfeeding relationship, but am so proud that we've kept going.

I haven't said much about Maren because, well, there isn't much to say!  She's just like her big sister and has nursed well from day 1.  She loves to nurse, and is thriving.

And just because I think we need more pictures of women breastfeeding, here's one that was taken when the twins were 6 weeks old.

The daily grind

Here's my annual "diapers on the line" picture.  This is about a day's worth of diapers.  If only I could get a picture of the amount of milk I produce in a day...now that would be picture worthy. ;)