The Carter Twins

This was taken a couple of months ago.  I thought they would be rolling over by now, but at five months they still haven’t quite got the hang of it.

Learning to Roll from Jason Carter on Vimeo.

I forgot to mention in the last post that we are also trying to buy a house. We have an offer in on a home and hope to hear if it was accepted tomorrow… as if life is not crazy enough.

I am pretty sure they teach us in social work school to coach our patients to only tackle one major life event at a time (am I right, lexie?) What the heck… I say bring it on!!

(Jason is prepared that I may end up in the fetal position once or twice which has been known to happen during stressful times).

Now everyone pray that in the next two days the Feds lower the interest rates to 4.5.%

Stephanie

Well, today was my first day back to work and I got my ass handed to me (excuse the language) and barely had time to munch a handful of nuts and a lean cuisine. I did manage to pump twice during the day which is incredibly weird. I never imagined being bare chested at work but it was kinda funny. What was I thinking returning to work on a weekend?? Well it was definitely sink or swim but we all survived.

Jason was with the girls today and it sounded like they had a wonderful day. I was so jealous. Jason did say that the girls did not like their bottle feedings and much preferred “from the tap” milk… ahhh… so nice to be missed.

My largest obstacle was getting out of the house which was surprisingly smooth… especially since I got up at 5:45am to allow sufficient time to get to work by 8:00 (I was there at 7:51 which technically is 7:45 by our time cards… wahoo)

Day #2 is tomorrow and then I don’t have to return to that crazy place until next Sunday. The girls will be with Deanna the Nanny which will make me so much more nervous!

Stephanie

OK so we are half way to sleep training completion.  Both girls are sleeping from 7-10pm, being fed, and returning to sleep until 6:30ish (with occasional, brief wake ups at 5:30 resolved with a pacifier).

Nap time is a mystery to me. I need to do more reading on the issue and really feel like I don’t know what method is best. For example, yesterday Emilie woke up 35-45 min into her afternoon nap. Do I let her get up or CIO? We feel like we are parenting in the dark.

Stephanie

The Morning After from Jason Carter on Vimeo.

Well we just finished night #2 where the girls slept from 7pm to 10p-6:30am… awesome. Nap time has also streamlined. I think we are on to something.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Stephanie

The girls impressed their MD today at their 4mo check up. Ava was 12lb 15oz and Emilie was 11lb 6oz. They are not HUGE babies but well within normal ranges… They also had three more shots which made both girls really really sad. They recovered well from them however had a major meltdown later in the afternoon. Those cries go down in history as the most god awful cries I have ever experienced.

Stephanie

ps- On night 5 of our sleep training both girls slept from 10pm-6am… progress!!

Medical costs for multiple pregnancy $10 (copay) plus parking

Maternity clothing and misc $407

Preparations for babies $ 2000+ and  counting

Fitting into your pre-pregnancy “skinny jeans” $ PRICELESS

If you don’t know what this stands for… I pray you never find out…

It means “Cry It Out” and is a sleep method made famous by Ferber. It involves allowing your baby to cry herself/himself to sleep with occasional reassurance from the parents.

Well after a run of good fortune and babies that sleep, Emilie has been slipping backwards every night. Where she once was sleeping for 5+ hours a night, she now is awake earlier and earlier each night… Last night was the final straw. On their 4mo birthday I started the CIO method (what a great present!!). As I sat at the computer at 2am reading about the CIO method (and while Emilie screamed her little head off and I was almost in tears) and had to wonder if I was doing the right thing.

Jason and I have decided to take control back from the girls and have decided to dictate nap time, sleep time, wake time and feeding time. So today they took their first formal nap since their sleepy newborn stage. We created a ritual and put them down in their crib. They have been asleep for one hour with no crying…. can we call this a success?? Let’s see

Stephanie