Violet, 3 1/2 months

Time for an update!

Oh, our little Violet. Violet has acquired several different nicknames in the last couple of months. They include the Baby Champ (or the Champ), Peach (or Peachy-Keen, as Eden and Sebastien call her), and Angel Baby. From these alias', you can guess what we think of this little Peanut. She is fantastic.

Violet started solidly doing 12 hour nights at 10 weeks, and had been doing 10 hours nights for several weeks before that. Not only this, but also Violet is a great little napper. A typical day with the Champ falls perfectly into the routine of eat, be awake for about an hour, then nap for anywhere from 2 to 3 hours. Then she wakes up and repeats this cycle. When it's time for a nap, I can tell by her yawning or just sort of squirming a bit. At that point I can swaddle her, put a paci in her mouth, rock her for a verse of "Be Still and Know," put her in her crib with some white noise and she's off to sleep. It's amazing. We are constantly shaking our heads and marveling at her.

Violet is turning into quite a talker, as well. She loves to coo and talk. Sometimes she sounds like she's reading a novel to us, she'll go on so long. She wakes up talking in the morning, and she greets me with a smile when I go into get her up. Violet was doing social smiles by four weeks, and it is a beautiful thing to see her smile. She also recently started to laugh, which has brought even more joy to our days. Violet is getting very interested in watching her brother and sister run around, and she often can be found smiling in their direction.

This all being said, the girl is of course not perfect. She has off days, she has gas like any other baby. But the majority of days she is just so content. We are so eager to watch her grow and continue to show us what she can do.

Potty Training: Day 1

For weeks now, I have been intending to start potty training Eden and Sebastien. Every week I say, "Next Monday, I'll start." But there has always been one reason or another to put it off. But this is my last week of maternity leave, so we decided it was time to bite the bullet.
We've had potty seats for about five months now, and so far we've really only used them if the kids asked, and then every night before baths. We also have had a supply of pull-ups at the ready. Really, all we've needed was a ready mommy.

So, today, Day 1. Upon getting up, I announced to the kids that from now, "No more diapers" and I led them in a little cheer. They sat on the potties four different times by 9:30 am, with no success. But we talked a lot about it, I did a lot of encouraging and they didn't seem to mind. However, by about 10:30, Sebastien was getting a little tired of hiking over to the potty, and he began to complain. Not being one to battle my kids when I can avoid it, I gave him choices when I could.

Before lunch, we had our first potty-going success. Eden went pee pee on the potty! She got a sticker, we did a little song and dance, it was all great. This made Sebastien want to try as well. No go, but at least he wanted to try!

Then after nap, Sebastien was making familiar grunting sounds and concentrating. Recognizing what was happening, we hurried him to the potty. Adam sat with him, and when Bash stood up, there was a tiiiiiiny little bit of poopy in the potty! We celebrated like crazy for this little pebble. He got an M&M and a lot of dancing about. Of course, within ten minutes, the rest of his load was in his pull-up. But still! I call it a success.

Eden also discovered that her pull-ups are quite easy to pull down. She ran around bare-bottomed for a bit this morning before I could convince her that she should wear pull-ups as well as her pants. Then tonight, while she was monkeying around (supposed to be sleeping) she asked several times for someone to come in and put her pull-up back on. When we went in to check on the kids, Adam noticed a stray pull-up on the ground, and sure enough, Eden was bare-bottomed.

We gently rolled her onto her back and slid her pull-up back on. She stayed sleeping, but she automatically lifted her little bottom as she always does when we change her diaper. Talk about muscle memory!

So, that was day 1. Keep your fingers crossed for more little success stories.

Ernie

Sebastien and Eden love Ernie from Sesame Street. We have a little Ernie figure. I don't do a great Ernie impression, but I'm willing to give it a go, because my kids just love it. They ask to hear Ernie's voice all the time.

What I don't quite get is whether they think Ernie is really talking to them or not. They come over and show Ernie things: "Look Ernie," "here, a baby Ernie," "do you see that Ernie?" They want Ernie to play their games, tickle them, fly through the air... They love Ernie.

Here's the dilemma. I have discovered on a couple of occasions, that if Ernie asks them to stop doing something, they will stop. When I ask them to stop doing something, I get about a 50/50 response. So, do I turn Ernie into a disciplinarian? Do I use him and his amazing power to get what I want? Or does that rob my children of their innocent love for this character? Eventually, will Ernie asking them to quick turning the lights on and off get as old as me asking the same thing?

Stories From Today

Here are just a few things that happened at my house today, starting with the youngest and moving on up.

Violet had her 2 month appointment today. She weighs 12 lbs 2 oz (85th percentile) and is 22 3/4 inches long (70th percentile.) The girl is growing like crazy! She did alright with her three shots at the office, had a crabby afternoon, but has been sleeping this evening away like you wouldn't believe. I did get a couple of smiles before she went down for the night, so I think she'll be just fine.

Eden, the little smartie pants, loves looking at letters, trying to figure out words, listening to different sounds. So today, I was doing her hair, and she said "Pah-pah ponytails... Pony tails start with 'p'!" Impressed, I said, "Wow, honey, that's right, good job!" She smiled, and then as we were talking about her sister, she started saying "sah-sah-sister." I said, "Yep, s-s-sister. What does 'sister' start with?" And Eden looked at me and said "CAT!" Hmmmm.

Sebastien... oh dear, I could tell 85 different stories about this boy, but none of them would have the impact I want them to, because you sort of have to experience Sebastien in person. His imagination is just unbelievable. But so is his memory. He has a video that tells different stories for different colors. Today he spent about 15 minutes reciting one of the stories again and again and again. He does that with songs lately too. Today was also a day of singing "This old man" again and again. Sometimes he just picks one line from something, like from Veggie Tales "God made you special, and he loves you very much" and he'll just repeat that again and again.

Adam decided to be ambitious today. He started and completed the back splash for our kitchen. Here's how our kitchen "renovation" went. In February, he painted the cupboards. In July, he tore off all the old counters and re-did the countertop. Now, here it is October, and we have a back splash! WOO! I've said it before and I'll say it again: What a guy.

Me. Um. I got my hair cut. And I took care of my family. Not a great story.

Just some pictures

Credit for these pics go to my friend Lindsey Iverson

Big Kid Beds: Naps

Oh the drama.

Eden and Sebastien are doing very well sleeping in their big beds at night. We are able to go in, do our routine, leave the room, and they fall asleep mostly on their own. I'm not saying they don't get up and monkey around a bit. But for the most part, we are able to leave them in there, go in only when there is an owie or a lovey-stealing incident...they eventually find their way and fall asleep on their own.

Naps have been a totally different story. Enter the drama. I am writing this after finally having figured out a way to not lose my mind, therefore I can write without pulling my hair out. Prior to figuring out my new system, we spent hours in the room with Eden and Sebastien, trying to get them to lie down, not get up, not bother each other, not scream, not kick the wall... just LIE DOWN and SLEEP!! (Sense the frustration.) They would be exhausted, yet they would be up and up and up and up again and again, while Adam or I would sit between the beds just trying to keep them in.

We tried leaving immediately and just letting them be. But they would never fall asleep. They would stay in there ramming around for two hours if we let them. (Then getting up so overly tired, the rest of the day was a bust.) We tried focusing on one at a time, letting the other just roam around in the room. It worked to some extent, but one of them had to be ready to settle, or we would essentially be wrestling them down. We tried giving in-room time-outs... And because of my experience in parenting education, we tried each of our approaches consistently for a couple weeks at a time. (Well, except the one where we let them be, because too many days passed without naps.) They just kept each other all riled up. One would seem about ready to sleep, closing his/her eyes, and the other would burst up out of the covers and scream. And what response for their sibling is there, really, but to burst up and scream right back.

I was baffled and frustrated. Enter Violet and her needs into the equation and you can imagine how difficult it was to spent hours trying to get the big kids down for naps.

Part of the frustration is that I have yet to find a good book or resource on the "how to's" of parenting twins. I know what I would advise to parents of singles. But 2 year olds who share a room...I had lost all perspective. I needed a way to enforce the rules (no getting out of bed, no kicking the wall, no pulling the curtains, no screaming) without being physically present in the room.

So I asked around to some twin parents I knew. Of course, every home is different, so I can't say that I was given advice that I was able to follow exactly. But two things came out of this. The first was merely a reminder: Don't be in the room if at all possible. I knew that. I did. But I was beginning to feel like it was impossible to have naps in my house without me being there until they drifted off to sleep. Hearing from another parent of twins that it WAS in fact possible, gave me the perspective I needed. Second: Do they HAVE to be in the same room? Initially I thought: yes. They do. They share a room, they need to learn to sleep there.

On second thought: Nope. So, I set up a Pack N Play in the nursery. Now, for naps only, if I have to go back to the room 3 times, on the 3rd time, someone is going to the Pack N Play. How do I decide who, you ask? It is usually obvious which one is trying to sleep and which one is being a monkey. If not, like today, I said, "Ok, that's 3. Someone has to go to the Pack N Play." And Eden said, "Eden!" She grabbed her lovey and off we went.

Initially the PNP was a place where talking and crying happened but no napping. But only for one nap each. Honestly. Now they both sleep just fine in the PNP. In fact, the one who goes to the PNP is generally asleep much faster than the one who is left in the big kid room.

So, that is the update on naps. It's going alright, and I feel like I am actually able to manage all 3 kids at nap time without calling in reinforcements.

These last few posts have been text heavy. I will post pictures or video soon to make up for it.

A record of our days...in somewhat painful detail

This truly is just a record of what our days are like. It's probably more for me than anything else. I have found that I look back on old blog postings to help me remember things about life with Eden and Sebastien, so I can only assume that at some point I will wonder: "How did things go when Violet was 7 weeks old?" This is how.

Violet is beginning to settle into her "EASY" routine (See: Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, referenced when Eden and Sebastien were newborns as well.)

Here's a typical day in my house: (And, the times listed are "for example" times; it is not the same every day...Yet.)

Violet wakes up around 5:00am to eat. I can feed her and get her back to sleep and get myself back into bed by around 6:00am. (Usually.) Adam leaves for work before 6:30, so I can often get a good half-hour nap in before Sebastien and Eden start to wake up, which is any time between 6:30 and 7:30. I get them up and fed before Violet wakes again at 8:00 or 8:30, wanting to eat. She stays awake at that point for about an hour, then falls back to sleep for a morning nap. This is fairly good timing, because generally around that time, my 2-year-olds are getting restless and are tired of waiting for Mommy's attention. I get some good play time in with Sebastien and Eden while Violet sleeps.

Violet eats roughly every 3 hours, so she wakes again 3 hrs after her last feeding. I can usually feed her before feeding Eden and Sebastien, who usually eat around noon. I utilize all tools to keep Violet happy while I make lunch: the Baby Bjorn (her favorite, but this often lulls her to sleep), the bouncy seat, the swing, the play mat.

Here comes the tricky part. Eden and Sebastien's nap is their highest maintenance time of the day. Though it has gotten markedly better in the past week or so, as I have employed a new strategy (to be discussed in a post all its own.) Often I have help at this time of day so that I don't have to hold Violet while trying to get the twins to sleep. Sometimes Violet is sleeping already, so that works out when it happens. However, there have been times that I have had her in my arms while trying to create a peaceful and sleepy environment for Sebastien and Eden... as you can imagine a squirmy (and usually sleepy by this time) newborn is a bit distracting for them.

Once in a while... every now and then... a magical thing happens. Eden and Sebastien sleep. AND Violet sleeps. At. The. Same. Time. When it happens, I feel like mother of the year. But it has so very little to do with me. Just timing of Violet's feedings, hitting the twins' sleep window at the right time, and the moons being aligned with just the right planets or something.

The bigger kids sleep for around 2 hours. Violet's sleep varies. Sometimes she wakes up to eat right on schedule and sometimes she wants a really long afternoon nap and sleeps through her feeding time.

Lucky for me, Adam comes home around 4:15, and we all breathe a sigh of relief. Often he takes Sebastien and Eden out of the house somewhere, or we all go somewhere together.

Dinner is around 5:30; but with Adam home, it is not the juggling act that lunch time is. Sebastien and Eden go to bed around 7:30. Adam and I take turns putting them to bed, which I really enjoy. Violet tends to want to eat around 8pm, and is asleep any time between 8:45 and 9:30. Since my last post, she has started going 9 hour stretches, and one time almost 10 hours without eating. She sleeps until at least 4:00am, often later.

And then it starts all over again.

Having a newborn in the house again has been very fun. It has created some challenges for sure, but snuggling a little baby really makes up for all those challenges. Not to mention how sweet it is that Eden just wants to smother her sister in kisses, and mimics many of the things we say to her, "You are so cute, Violet" or "Hey smiley!" And Sebastien often just comes up and notes her tiny features, "Tiny toes!" and "Tiny fingers" or simply offers a "Hello Violet" as he passes by.