My poor babies

Well, it turns out Erin had an ear infection. I took her to the dr on Monday because I had suspicions, and sure enough I was right. There weren't really any symptoms though, just Mommy's intuition. Since she has been taking medicine, she has been napping 2-3 good naps a day and going to bed between 6:30 and 7 as usual. Still waking up with the birds? sun? Nope, before either of them. But today she woke up at 4:30, took a bottle and went back to sleep until 6:45. That would be perfectly fine with me for the time being. We will work on eliminating that feed later. She is not taking enough formula before bed because her dinner is too late. Some adjustments need to be made.

Leah has had a mid-grade fever since last night. I gave her Tylenol before bed and hoped she would sleep it off. She woke up at 10:30 and 4:30, happy and alert, but still feverish. So I dosed her with more Tylenol each time (I had no Motrin). This morning, with the fever still around, I discovered that I had been underdosing her the whole time. So we went to the store to get Motrin and children's Tylenol (instead of using up all of the infant one, she gets 2 1/2 droppers full now!). Leah also got a special McD's lunch of chicken nuggets since she was a sick girl (as she told me every five seconds). During all this, she acted mostly like her normal self, maybe a touch less energetic. I would have been concerned if she has been quiet, but that did not happen. :) So we got home, I gave her the correct dose of Motrin and she has been asleep since about 1pm.

My babies need to get well, their PawPaw and Mimi are coming in 2 days!!!

Update on last night's sleep

So Erin slept from 5pm until 4:30am, when she guzzled down a 6oz bottle in no time flat. I put her back in bed and she talked to herself for a bit. I don't know when exactly she fell asleep again because I turned her monitor down to where I could barely hear her and dozed off. I woke up to her talking again at 7am. It was very pleasant. Today though she may have dozed 20 min for her first nap. We kept her in her bed a solid hour. I just put her down 20 min ago and I just stopped hearing from her. Hopefully we get a good nap in this afternoon and we will have a bedtime of between 5:30 and 6.

UPDATE: Erin dozed for another 20 min for her second nap and went to bed, no problem, at 5:30.

Yet another LONG sleep post

I have a dilemma. Erin will not sleep past 6am. Most days she wakes up between 5:30 and 5:45, which is not acceptable in this house (especially now that Leah is not napping).

Here is what my idol says about wake-up time:
"Some babies tend to wake up early, 5:00am or 6:00am, and return to sleep after a brief feeding or diaper change. This is a true continuation of night sleep and not a nap. Other babies wake up later but start the day then. Most children will awaken to start the day about 7:00am, but there is a wide range (between 6 and 8). In general, it is not a good idea to go to your child before 6am, even if he is crying, because if you do, he will begin to force himself to wake up earlier and earlier in order to enjoy your company. The natural wake-up time seems to be an independent, neurological alarm clock in these young infants that is somewhat independent of the part of the brain that puts them asleep or keeps them asleep. In fact, despite what is commonly believed, you cannot change the wake-up time be keeping your baby up later, feeding solids before bedtime, or awakening your baby for a feeding before you go to sleep." p.247

In another part of the book, he says earlier bedtime (of course, that's the answer to everything). Two nights ago, I put her down at 6:15 and she woke up at 7:15 with poop. And last night I put her to bed at 6:15 and she talked to herself until almost 7 before falling asleep. She may be waking up because she is hungry, but if I go in to give her a bottle, it stimulates her and she is up for the day.

Do I need to temporarily go SUPER early? Like say 5 or 5:30? That cramps our life a bit obviously and that means Mike would not see her. But I guess if I start tonight, it's okay because it is weekend tomorrow. Today she has slept a total of 45 minutes. That's not a typo. A 25 min nap this AM and a 20 min nap in the car on the way home from the mall. She is currently in her bed talking to herself.

So we all agree? 5:15 bedtime tonight?

Thanks for your input. :)

Monday night timeline

7pm Erin goes to bed

7:30pm Leah goes to bed

7:45pm Watch Deja Vu with my mom (great movie!)

10:30pm Go to bed

11:15pm Erin wakes up and cries for 20 min before falling back to sleep

1:30am Leah wakes up crying, saying she has to pee pee. I take her and she gets back in bed.

2:20am Leah is crying again. This time she says "Mommy, I have a bad feeling." What can I say to that? She gets in bed with me.

3:30am Erin wakes up to eat. Goes right back to sleep.

3:50am Back in my bed.

5:30am Erin wakes up and cries for 20 min.

5:50am I go in and try soothing her in her crib.

6:00am I change her diaper and nurse her back to sleep.

6:11am I am back in my bed.

7:15am My mom comes in to take a shower.

7:30am Leah wakes up and my day begins.

All I can say is, Mike is on duty from the minute he walks in the door.

PS Happy Mardi Gras y'all!

Nasty throat pustules

Sounds like something that you might get from eating one of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. But sadly, no, I have them. I can look in my throat with a flashlight and see them. I may very well lose more weight this week than usual because I can hardly EAT anything. Even the won ton in Won Ton Soup hurt!

Tonight Leah had trouble going to sleep. At one point she was knocking on her bedroom door (this is how she gets our attention quickly as we don't want her to wake Erin up) so Mike went up to ask her, yet again, what was wrong.

"Daddy my feelings are hurt."

"Why are your feelings hurt Leah?"

"Because I have been sleeping too long."

She had not been to sleep yet.

I have noticed that when Leah does happen to nap, she really does not seem remotely tired at her usual bedtime. I suggested to Mike that possibly she does not physically need to nap anymore? He said, and I agree with this, that if she falls asleep at rest time, she needs the nap. So I guess on nap days she gets to go to bed a little later. I can't have it both ways. :)

Date night

Last night after Erin went to sleep, Mike and I headed out to Carrabba's for a date. We each had a glass of wine and shared the two founder's platters. It was so delicious! Afterward we walked around a few stores in the strip mall and just enjoyed our time alone. We didn't even really talk about the kids until we were almost home! We had a wonderful few hours off duty.

When we got home, Erin was awake hanging out with my mom on the couch. I put her back to sleep at about 9:30 and she slept until 4:45am! I went to bed at 10 so I got almost 7 continuous hours of sleep for the first time since she was born. I put her back to sleep at 5:30 after a poop episode. All of a sudden at 6:30 Leah was calling "Help, help" in the monitor. Mike went in and Leah's lamp was on and her pajamas were off. I think she was trying to change her own diaper. :) Mike came back in and I thought he had redressed her. A minute later Leah was calling "Help, I am pee-peeing." Apparently Mike had put big girl underwear on her and left her in her room? So she peed behind her clothes hamper. We got her all cleaned up and let her wake Grammy up. I went back to bed and slept until Erin work up at 8:15! This was the best night ever!!!!!

Ballet Debut

Leah and I went on a date yesterday to the ballet. Our neighbor Makenna was a little party girl in The Nutcracker. I was a little worried about Leah sitting through a whole performance, but for the most part she was great. Before the show she and Ian ran around the lobby., laying on the floor in front of people trying to walk and almost got stepped on a few times. :) Leah had a dress on and kept flashing her diaper at everyone. I know she is still little, but I can't stand when kids wear skirts without shorts or bloomers. Kids just can't handle not flashing, so we will be shorting it soon. Anyway, during the first act, we discussed what was going on and pointed things out to each other. At intermission, we looked at the stuff they were selling in the lobby. I wish I had brought some cash because Leah found a little bendy ballerina for a dollar and it would have been a good souvenir.

We met up with the ballerina herself, Makenna, in the lobby at intermission
along with her sister Andelyn. (How neat are those names?) Leah got a little antsy during the second act, but only toward the end. All in all I was impressed at our first cultural outing.

To update the sleep post from the other day, last night was great! We put Erin to bed at 5pm and Leah at 6:30pm. (The night before, at 6 and 7pm did not work by the way) Leah slept all night. She had not napped the day before due to the ballet. Well, I say due to the ballet, but Leah has only napped 2 out of the last 10 days. I am worried we may be outgrowing naps! So she had a good night last night. Erin woke up at 10:15 and 1:15 to eat and woke up for the day at 6:30am! That was a great breakthrough. I hope now that we broke the cycle, we can get back to her good night sleep. We can hardly leave the house due to her numerous naps, but it is all worth it for the sake for a good night's sleep

On demand

I found out that we do have Exercise TV in Demand! Now I can do Pilates and Yoga in my living room. It's not exactly the same but it's something.

Erin has not been sleeping well at night. Beginning at about 11pm she wakes up every two hours and sometimes every hour until morning. Mike and I discussed this at 4:45 am while we were listening to her cry since 4am and decided that both girls need an earlier bedtime. They don't go to bed late, maybe between 7:30 and 8 for Leah and varies for Erin depending on her naps. But I think 6pm will be Erin's new temporary bedtime for a while until we see how she is doing. Leah will be going to bed at 7pm for the next week. We want to see if this helps the night waking. My favorite sleep book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, almost always advocates trying an earlier bedtime if things are not going well. Leah has also been waking in the night 3 out of the last 5 nights. So early bedtimes all round!

Update: I just did 30 min of Pilates from ExerciseTV On Demand. It feels good!

5am wake-up call

This morning both girls were up at 5am. What is up with that? I guess they are still adjusting to the time change and it is throwing them all off. Leah tossed and turned in our bed until 6:30, then we put the TV on for her. Erin ate and I laid her back down. She talked until 5:45, then started to cry, so I brought her in our bed too. When she kept being loud, I brought her downstairs until 6:30, then I put her back to bed when she started rubbing her eyes. She is still sleeping as of 8am. I will have to get her up soon though. We have to bring Leah to school at 8:30.

So Laurie and I decided to start "Letter of the Week" activities with the kids. She bought these cool preschool activity books. This one has snacks that begin with each letter. This one has art projects that we can do for each letter. We will do an activity 3 afternoons a week on non-school days. Laurie choose to do the first week. So she printed out a picture of the sign for A (sign language) and filled a bag with things that begin with A. She also played an alphabet song and had the kids jumping when they saw an A on the flashcards. They made apple prints on a big letter A and ate apples for a snack. All of that took about 15 minutes. We both said at the end of it How do people teach preschool?

I have B week next. Any suggestions for fun B activities?

Revised Sleep Struggles

After yesterday's post, we had a setback AND a step forward. Erin slept from 10:15am until 12:45pm. She woke up happy, not crying, which hasn't happened in a while. She started rubbing her eyes a little before 1:30 and I thought Surely she can't be tired yet. So I didn't put her down. When she started getting fussy at 2pm, I put her to bed and it was a struggle. AND she only slept 30 minutes. So I though I had ruined the good sleeping that had been developing. I was so ticked at myself for not listening to her signs. I need to not second guess them and just go with it.

We ran out to Target to do the ONE errand I had to do that day. By the end of that short trip, she was screaming with tiredness. I tried to keep her awake on the car ride home, but of course she snoozed 2 minutes from home. I went upstairs with her and she screamed herself into a frenzy. Finally I tried nursing and the second it touched her mouth, she was out. She woke when I put her in the crib and cried some, but not too hard. At 4:45pm she fell sleep and was OUT FOR THE NIGHT. Granted she did wake up at 10:45, 12:45 and 4:45 to eat. The last 2 times, she talked to herself in her bed for a while before falling back to sleep. But at 7:30am, I think I am just hearing from her. So again, hopefully after that fabulous night's sleep, we will have a good nap day.

If I listen to the signs...

Sleep Struggles

After my last sleep post, Erin made a liar out of me. She continued to sleep well at night, going to bed between 7 and 8pm and only waking once or twice just to eat, then sleeping through until about 7am. But all of a sudden, she stopped napping during the day. I read all the books again. I tried putting her down sooner, putting her down later, nursing before nap, not nursing before nap, covering the curtains so that it was darker in her room, etc. Not a thing worked. Erin was so cranky! Most of each day was spent trying to get Erin to sleep, during which I used the TV as a babysitter for Leah, which I HATE doing. In addition to the madness, Leah has also recently mostly turned her back on naps. So to have no napping in my house with a cranky infant was driving me crazy! I can only imagine what I would have been like had Erin not been a good night sleeper.

On top of all that, Mike decided to take on another lawn project. We got a truckload of topsoil dumped in our backyard so that he could spread it over some seed to hopefully grow us some grass in the backyard. But a truckload of topsoil is a crapload of dirt. It meant that he spent a lot of yesterday morning hauling dirt while I had another fun-filled no-nap day with the girls. At about 4:30, I came out crying with a crying Erin and said "This is not okay!" I told him I needed his help with the kids on the weekends, especially with both of them not sleeping, and I was upset that he had decided to spend his weekend digging dirt. He quit for the afternoon to spend time with us. He said he hadn't realized how I was feeling and how hard it was. So that was better.

On a funny note, last night Mike said to me, "I tell you when you do stupid stuff, right? Why didn't you tell me that spreading a truckload of dirt was one of the stupidest ideas I ever had, right after trying to sod my own yard?" Apparently it was lot more work than either of us had anticipated. We are about 1/3 of the way through the pile as of noon on Sunday.

So to end on a happy note... Last night, we put a cranky Erin down at 7:45. She woke up to eat at 2:30, then again at 6am (old time). After the second feeding, she talked to herself in the crib for like 20 min or so, then proceeded to sleep until 9am (new time)! She was back in her crib by 10:15 and is currently still sleeping in there! We just might have broken that nasty sleep cycle with a new wonderful one! That was 3 exclamation points in a row. Can you tell I am excited?!?!?!?!

Sleeping like a baby

Erin is such a wacky sleeper. Two nights ago she slept from 7:30pm til 8:30am! She woke up to eat very briefly at 11pm and 4am. That was an AMAZING night's sleep for both of us. (If only Leah would get in sync.) During the day, it is not unusual for her to only be awake for like 5-6 hours total. She can only stand being awake for an hour and a half MAX before she starts getting fussy. That is her window. If I miss her window she is a real pill to put down. If I am in tune with her, she lays right down in her crib for a good nap. Today, she slept from 10:45am until 3:45pm! Does anyone else think she sleeps a ridiculous amount for a 10 week old? I thought this kind of thing was more the behavior of a one month old.

I finally bought a new camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3K. Mike is working to get the admin page of our website functional so I can upload to it. That is why you have not seen Corn Maze pictures yet. But look for them soon! I guess I can post a few here.

Maddex and Gallers kids

A family photo

These kids are so darn cute!

Girls Night Out... and the Consequences

Last night Laurie, Liza (a new neighbor) and I went to dinner at Miro's Spanish Grille. I had decided the week before that I needed a little break from Mommy mode and asked the girls to go out. Several of our regulars were out of town this week and another one had ballet practice tonight so we were down to three. Not taking a diaper bag as a purse was unusual and driving the Corolla with only adults in it was even stranger. The restaurant was FABULOUS!!! We ate the chef's selection of tapas for an appetizer along with a pitcher of Sangria. There were things like a Spanish omelette, fried calamari, some beef tips with an aioli sauce, etc. The I ordered the seafood mixture that comes in paella on angel hair pasta. We all shared a tres leche cake and a Belgian dark chocolate cheesecake slice. This meal was so delicious, the company was awesome, the night was perfect.

I get home at 11:00 and Mike is in Erin's room comforting her. She was due to eat so I fed her and it took about 30 minutes to get her back to sleep. At 1am Leah wakes up crying. There is nothing wrong with her, she just wants company. She cries every 20 minutes until 2:30. Erin wakes up to eat at 3am. At least she went right back to sleep this time. Then she wakes up at 6:10 to eat again, but dozes off shortly after in my bed. Leah is up for the day at 7am and Erin is right behind her. There was not much sleep for me last night. I don't think it was DUE to my girls night, but it was a rough night anyway.

So Erin has left behind the newborn stage of sleeping all the time, anywhere, anyhow. The car seat and the swing used to be the magic sleep-makers, but no longer. She wouldn't take a pacifier at all up until last night, but even with the pacifier every time it fell out of her mouth, she woke up and pitched a fit. Even nursing doesn't automatically induce sleep when she is tired. So we are having the sleep-deprived crying jags often throughout the day. I hate that I KNOW she is tired, but she won't let go and just FALL asleep. What is up with that?

Sleeping babies!

For the fist time in a long time, I have two sleeping babies at nap time! Erin is in her crib too! She fell asleep in her swing and after an hour or so I transferred her to her crib because I had to shower and needed her to be near a monitor. So far no peeps! Now to address birth announcements.

PS I walked 2.5 miles today (first 1.5 with a double stroller, second 1.0 on an indoor track with Erin in the Moby wrap) and I feel good!

PPS Sorry about the exclamation points!

Home alone

So I have to confess that the thing I was scared of most was putting Leah down for a nap with no help. Today my mom left to go back to Florida (Boo) and Mike's mom arrived at the same time. He went to do the drop off and pick up right before Leah's naptime so I was left to do it by myself. Thankfully Erin was eating when they left, so she was finished by the time I had to put Leah down. We went upstairs and sat in Leah's new chair. As you can see by the pictures on our website, I can hold Erin on one side and Leah on the other and read her stories. I was able to do that, get her into bed and rub her back as usual. Then I came downstairs and put Erin in the pack-n-play because she had dozed off while I was reading. Since then I have done some dishes and eaten my lunch. And now I am on the computer in a quiet house! I am so excited I can't see straight! Ahhh, now for some relaxation...

My Water Baby

Last fall Leah took swim lessons (well the baby kind where you just get them used to the water). She pretty much HATED them. She was happy to play games with me but ANYTHING that required her to get her face wet and/or go under made her scream. After a lesson or two, she would scream whenever we approached the pool. It never got any better.

That's why I was so surprised today. We went to the water park at the aquatic center and the water was kinda chilly. At first only Christine and Alex were there (Alex is Leah's age too). Leah would barely dip her toes in then. Alex and his mom were going on the slides but Leah said "No thank you." (Literally) Then after a bit Ian and Ty show up with their families. When Ian started going into deeper water and bouncing around like a bunny, Leah wanted to do it too. She didn't even want to hold my hand! She would also lay on her tummy in the shallow area and push up with her arms so that she was floating on her tummy! You have no idea what trying to get her to float was like in swim lessons. Last but not least she wanted me to swing her through the shoots of water so that they would hit her on the back. This is a child who has a conniption if "sprinkles" touch her. So I was VERY proud of my water baby today.

On another note, the sleeping is still not going well. We had one good night and two good naps since I wrote last about it. Yesterday she spent almost 2 hours in her room in bed BEFORE she fell asleep. I put one of those doorknob things on the door so she can't get out and wander around and it TICKS her off when she tries to get out. Also at night, I think she is having dreams and they wake her up and freak her out. For example last night:

She wakes up screaming Mommy at 4am. When I get to her door she is standing there with blankie saying "I want to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's room." I didn't want to bring her in because usually when I do, no one sleeps anymore that night. But I had to pee so bad (damn prego bladder) that I did anyway. She told us that there were sharks in Leah's room. We talked about how sharks live in water and I said "Do you have any water in Leah's room?" and she said "No, only at the movies." Ahhhh, we had seen Shark Tale on Wednesday as the kids' movie. I guess I can't do anything about her dreaming, can I?

I laughed so hard I cried

Last night was supposed to be so relaxing. Leah did not sleep well the night before due to several coughing spells, but she had a great nap yesterday. She was pretty cranky all day, crying over EVERYTHING. So I decided early bedtime and we would have the evening to ourselves. I have not gotten it together enough to put her to bed early in a LONG time. By 7:20 she was bathed and we were reading stories in her bed. I left at 7:35 completely confident that sleep was imminent. Throughout the next TWO hours, she proceeded to request the following: medicine on her bug bites, more medicine on bites I had missed, a sip of water because she was coughing (also cough medicine), something to put her boogie on (she had picked it out of her nose), and last of all chapstick. This child, at 2 yrs old, has learned the making excuses at bedtime routine. Mike and I were cracking up at each new request, but I was so tired of climbing the stairs every 10 minutes with 50 extra lbs strapped to my front that I was almost crying. This CANNOT happen again tonight. We are going to cover all those bases in advance to see if that works out.

A realization about myself

Tonight I had pizza for the first time in a while. I had lots of points left for the day and I hadn't used any of my flex points (you get 35 extra per week) so I decided we could splurge on pizza. I ate 2 slices of Papa John's Veggie pizza. Now my old self would have eaten 3 slices, so the new me ate that amount, knowing I was still okay on points. BUT even before I began the third piece, I wasn't sure I wanted it. Afterwards, I felt gross and overly full. I think I have finally adjusted myself to eating the correct amount of food (portion size). I am finding now that at the end of a day, I actually have points LEFT that I have to eat before bed. (You have to eat all of your points so that your body doesn't go into "starvation mode" because you won't lose weight that way.) This was a major realization for me. I think I may be at a lifestyle changing turning point in "dieting."

On another note, starting Monday I am going to begin running every day. I plan to be able to run a full 30 minutes without walking in 6 weeks. At least that's what the article in Prevention's running magazine claims. :) Anyway, I am excited to get some cardio in. As of this past week, I am taking only Pilates and Yoga at the gym. The other classes are not at convenient times/days. The first full yoga class yesterday left me pretty sore.

Leah has not been sleeping well again lately. Last night she woke up crying every 2 hours all night. I would go stand outside her door, ready to go in and rock her, but she would finally fall asleep again. AND she was up for the day at 5am!!! It goes through cycles and we are on a downward sleep spiral right now. I need to start putting her down early again (like before 7pm), I think. My sleep book says always err on the side of they need MORE sleep to sleep better. So we will try that tomorrow.

My new house

Yesterday was very exciting. We spent 2 hours walking through our new house. I feel a little (I emphasize little) sorry for the foreman because we were so nit-picky. But our last house, while a very good house, had things that we should have noticed at the walk-through but didn't. Of course, later on they were not covered under warranty. So we noticed everything. Even things that were really no part of the foreman's job, like putting in a range hood instead of a microwave (we already have a really good microwave). Hopefully come next Thursday, our house will be perfect and ready to move in.

On another note, I have discovered that the reason Leah has not been sleeping all night is because yet again she has an ear infection. At least it is only fluid and not swollen (according to the doctor) and it is the first since leaving day care in May. Tonight she had her first dose of antibiotics and Tylenol. We will see how she does.

Trying out this blogging thing...

Hello all! So to explain my domain name and title, I love to eat blue crabs. They are my ultimate favorite food. I know it implies that I have a crabby personality, but I absolutely do not (my husband would argue on occasion). I was trying to come up with something that was unique about me without getting too cheesy or trite. So Crabby Mama it is :)

I sit here right now hoping Leah is finally asleep. Lately she has been going to bed late and waking up several times throughout the night. I read in my favorite baby sleep book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, that when night waking occurs, earlier bedtimes often fix it. It has been proven in the past in our house, so we are trying it again tonight. So far, no luck. I just heard her over the monitor.