So broken it is!
I got to spend a fun afternoon at the hospital today with Enya, made even more fun by the fact when we first arrived Enya puked ALL over me. X-ray confirmed her nose is broken and they suspect a mild concussion. They offered to keep her in hospital overnight until she can be seen by the ENT specialist tomorrow (no ENT cover today) because of the puking, but given that she was feverish as well and was fine for the first two days, everyone thinks it is more likely she has picked up a stomach bug, so I brought her home. This of course means we get to have the fun all over again tomorrow when we visit the ENT specialist.
PS the stomach bug diagnosis was pretty much confirmed when we got home and Ciara was carrying her cough cough bucket around. Needless to say dinner wasn't on the agenda and both girls crashed about 2 hours before their normal bedtime.
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep. Show all posts
10 Jan 2011
9 Sept 2010
sleep update
Got lots of pictures that I want to post but no time to download and sort through them all.
I can't believe how few hours there are in the day now that I'm back at work and sleep is at a premium now that Ciara has discovered 5:30 am. Every morning without fail she crys at this time and then we have to get her out their bedroom as quick as possible before she wakes Enya.We have tried all sorts to get her to sleep longer but now that they are in their "big girl" beds, we have no way of keeping her in bed to "rest" in the morning. (we had to change the beds as they were both climbing out their cots anyway)
Ciara has also done away with the midday nap (she flat out refuses to rest) which means we have the 4-6pm meltdown again, where she is just so tired she doesn't know what to do with herself. Thankfully they are getting a hot midday meal at Kindergarten as she is often so tired in the evening that she won't sit down and eat properly (if we try and force it she has a tantrum) so we've taken to getting her to bed ASAP when the warning signs appear. We've tried pushing the bedtime later but the 5:30am start remains constant, so instead we've opted to putting her to bed a little earlier so she still gets a decent amount of sleep overnight (11 hours)
Enya continues to need loads of sleep and still has her 2 hour midday nap (she comes and tells us she is tired). My feeling is, if the girls didn't share a room, Enya would sleep until well past 7 every morning.
I can't believe how few hours there are in the day now that I'm back at work and sleep is at a premium now that Ciara has discovered 5:30 am. Every morning without fail she crys at this time and then we have to get her out their bedroom as quick as possible before she wakes Enya.We have tried all sorts to get her to sleep longer but now that they are in their "big girl" beds, we have no way of keeping her in bed to "rest" in the morning. (we had to change the beds as they were both climbing out their cots anyway)
Ciara has also done away with the midday nap (she flat out refuses to rest) which means we have the 4-6pm meltdown again, where she is just so tired she doesn't know what to do with herself. Thankfully they are getting a hot midday meal at Kindergarten as she is often so tired in the evening that she won't sit down and eat properly (if we try and force it she has a tantrum) so we've taken to getting her to bed ASAP when the warning signs appear. We've tried pushing the bedtime later but the 5:30am start remains constant, so instead we've opted to putting her to bed a little earlier so she still gets a decent amount of sleep overnight (11 hours)
Enya continues to need loads of sleep and still has her 2 hour midday nap (she comes and tells us she is tired). My feeling is, if the girls didn't share a room, Enya would sleep until well past 7 every morning.
31 Aug 2010
Where does the time go..
I can't believe it is already the end of August, we only have the last third of 2010 to go. I haven't even got used to writing 2010 yet!
Ciara continues to boycott naps at Kindergarten on the 2 days a week that she is there after lunch, she mostly still takes a midday nap at home though. The plus side is that on the days she doesn't take her nap she literally collapses into bed at night with no prolonged bed time ritual required. There have even been a couple of days where I have had to stop her going to sleep on the floor before dinner!
Enya on the other hand needs her midday nap, no ifs or buts there! As a new development, on the few occasions where Ciara has refused to sleep at home, Enya has not flipped out. Instead she has gone down without complaint and not let Ciara's noise disturb her nap at all!
Talking about noise, both girls are now telling Z and I that we are "too loud" if we tell them off or raise our voices in any way, even clapping or dropping something provokes this statement. Unfortunately telling them they are too loud doesn't get them to stop whining ;0). We have been practicing "loud and quiet voices" with them but it is still a huge game for them and they are not carrying it over in practical situations.
I'm still enjoying being back at work but it really leaves me with not a lot of free time. I will keep posting but i fear it may be even more irregular than it has been up to now ;0)
Ciara continues to boycott naps at Kindergarten on the 2 days a week that she is there after lunch, she mostly still takes a midday nap at home though. The plus side is that on the days she doesn't take her nap she literally collapses into bed at night with no prolonged bed time ritual required. There have even been a couple of days where I have had to stop her going to sleep on the floor before dinner!
Enya on the other hand needs her midday nap, no ifs or buts there! As a new development, on the few occasions where Ciara has refused to sleep at home, Enya has not flipped out. Instead she has gone down without complaint and not let Ciara's noise disturb her nap at all!
Talking about noise, both girls are now telling Z and I that we are "too loud" if we tell them off or raise our voices in any way, even clapping or dropping something provokes this statement. Unfortunately telling them they are too loud doesn't get them to stop whining ;0). We have been practicing "loud and quiet voices" with them but it is still a huge game for them and they are not carrying it over in practical situations.
I'm still enjoying being back at work but it really leaves me with not a lot of free time. I will keep posting but i fear it may be even more irregular than it has been up to now ;0)
25 Aug 2010
SOB! Goodbye afternoon nap
Ciara has now given up her afternoon nap. At kindergarten she just flat out refuses to lie down and encourages the other nappers (read Enya) to riot with her. At home I can still get her to nap but it often takes about an hour of taking her back to bed repeatedly before she finally falls asleep. She will usually sleep then for about 2 hours but as it takes so long to get her to sleep we run into trouble at night getting her to go down. If we let her go without her nap she is very whingy and dog tired in the late afternoon (as in a few times I've had to stop her falling asleep on the floor in her bedroom at half past five in the afternoon as she is so tired) but at least we're not fighting to get her to sleep at night.
Enya still needs the afternoon nap and we have arranged with the Kindergarten that she will still get it on the girls' long days. Today I was delayed at work and by the time I got there to pick them up, Enya was already napping so I left the girls there and had an unexpected free afternoon. She also sleeps in later than Ciara in the mornings so we are now encouraging Ciara to come and play in the lounge while the rest of us sleep in until half past six (about an hour unsupervised play) so far so good!
Amazing what a difference the child free time makes. I find I'm treasuring the time I have with the girls and trying to fill it with fun stuff to do with them rather than having to do household chores around them. I'm also loving the adult interactions at work, after 3 years everything child orientated it's nice to be able to chat with Z about something different.
Enya still needs the afternoon nap and we have arranged with the Kindergarten that she will still get it on the girls' long days. Today I was delayed at work and by the time I got there to pick them up, Enya was already napping so I left the girls there and had an unexpected free afternoon. She also sleeps in later than Ciara in the mornings so we are now encouraging Ciara to come and play in the lounge while the rest of us sleep in until half past six (about an hour unsupervised play) so far so good!
Amazing what a difference the child free time makes. I find I'm treasuring the time I have with the girls and trying to fill it with fun stuff to do with them rather than having to do household chores around them. I'm also loving the adult interactions at work, after 3 years everything child orientated it's nice to be able to chat with Z about something different.
22 Jan 2010
Compromise
This morning while changng Ciara's nappy I was summoned by increasingly frantic crys from Enya to their bedroom. She'd climbed up the side of Ciara's cot and was now balanced precariously on top and too scared to go either forwards or back down. I must add here yesterday they were using their chairs to get high enough to get their legs over- I took the chairs away, so instead they used their bobby cars, I took them away so then they started using their rocking snail- what can I say they were determined!
My compromise was to take a couple of bars out from each cot side so they can now get in without climbing up and over. Of course later this morning I got a 4 minute video (I wish I knew how to load video up so you could all appreciate it) of them climbing up over the cot side, launching themselves into the cot and then crawling out through the opening on the other side. Rinse lather and repeat. Who needs a playground!!
The bars will go back in for naps and night time so hopefully this will enable us to keep the cots for a bit longer. I live in hope!!
My compromise was to take a couple of bars out from each cot side so they can now get in without climbing up and over. Of course later this morning I got a 4 minute video (I wish I knew how to load video up so you could all appreciate it) of them climbing up over the cot side, launching themselves into the cot and then crawling out through the opening on the other side. Rinse lather and repeat. Who needs a playground!!
The bars will go back in for naps and night time so hopefully this will enable us to keep the cots for a bit longer. I live in hope!!
20 Jan 2010
Decisions decisions....
Z and I want to keep the girls in their cots for a bit longer as we both feel once they are in their toddler beds it's going to be difficult to get them to stay there, BUT yesterday I must have fished them 3 times out of a cot. Yup, they have learnt how to climb into their cots!
It all started when we went to Muenster over New Years to visit S and T with their two older boys (3 and 5 [+one on the way;0)]). They still have a cot in the boys room and all 4 kids delighted in climbing from Linus's (one of the boys) bed into the cot and out again. They must have been at for about half an hour, laughing the whole time.
Fast forward 3 weeks and the terrible two are using their chairs to get over the side of the cot (I haven't actually caught them in the act to see exactly how they land on the other side) and I'll find them both laughing and jumping around, usually in Enya's cot. I believe the only reason they haven't tried climbing out the cot yet is because their room is very dark at night and during nap time.
Which brings me to the title of this post, do we convert to toddler beds already, knowing that we are probably going to have a battle to keep them in their beds. Or do we wait a bit longer until they start potty training (hopefully this spring) and run the risk that they actually climb out their cots? Decisions decisions indeed!
It all started when we went to Muenster over New Years to visit S and T with their two older boys (3 and 5 [+one on the way;0)]). They still have a cot in the boys room and all 4 kids delighted in climbing from Linus's (one of the boys) bed into the cot and out again. They must have been at for about half an hour, laughing the whole time.
Fast forward 3 weeks and the terrible two are using their chairs to get over the side of the cot (I haven't actually caught them in the act to see exactly how they land on the other side) and I'll find them both laughing and jumping around, usually in Enya's cot. I believe the only reason they haven't tried climbing out the cot yet is because their room is very dark at night and during nap time.
Which brings me to the title of this post, do we convert to toddler beds already, knowing that we are probably going to have a battle to keep them in their beds. Or do we wait a bit longer until they start potty training (hopefully this spring) and run the risk that they actually climb out their cots? Decisions decisions indeed!
27 Oct 2009
living it up
I'm having a great time here in Houston, it's been lovely seeing my sister and exploring a new city. What I love best about a new country is that it makes even going to the grocery store an adventure. Surprisingly I'm not as "childsick" as I expected to be, perhaps because I'm phoning home everyday for updates and because I know Z is a devoted and gifted dad.
In the time I've been away though, Ciara has learnt how to climb out of her cot! We were really hoping that would take a little while longer to happen as there is no way the girls will stay in a toddler bed yet.
I'm now off to the gym to conquer the treadmill again (have to work off all those restaurant lunches somehow) and tomorrow we will be visiting a renaissance fair.
I can't believe my holiday is already half over! At the same time I also have going home to look forward to :0)
In the time I've been away though, Ciara has learnt how to climb out of her cot! We were really hoping that would take a little while longer to happen as there is no way the girls will stay in a toddler bed yet.
I'm now off to the gym to conquer the treadmill again (have to work off all those restaurant lunches somehow) and tomorrow we will be visiting a renaissance fair.
I can't believe my holiday is already half over! At the same time I also have going home to look forward to :0)
19 Mar 2009
Drawers
Well we have now lost our last semi safe room, Enya has learnt how to open the kitchen drawers! She scared herself silly the first time she managed it yesterday as she pulled the bottom drawer out over her. I just heard that cry that normally means something is wrong and when I looked over to her she was lying on the floor with the bottom drawer over her body still clasping the handle desperately. After I picke her up and pushed the drawer back in she preceeded to try 6 of the 9 drawers in that cabinet and I'm sorry to report she has the knack of it now. Thank goodness I've already sorted the dangerous stuff out of the bottom drawers into the middle drawers because of course she won't be able to reach those (HAHA!!).
Yesterday I really surprised myself by not having umpteen meltdowns, Ciara broke one of my favourite mugs by dropping it on the floor (my own fault though as I left it where she could get it), she then spread her entire lunch bowl of freshly made chicken, apricot and tomato puree all over the floor (she stole her bowl off the table while my back was turned) and the napping- not happening yesterday. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and drop to only one nap per day. Hopefully then they will have a longer nap and be more refreshed than from 2 shorter naps.
Ciara did however surprise me as well yesterday, I left something in view yesterday on the kitchen counter (cooking implement I think) but out of her reach. She looke up saw it and pointe to it with her whole hand and then said quite clearly "Bitte" (please). I was amazed, unfortunately despite all sorts of coercion I couldn't get her to repeat it. Z has been practicing "bitte" and "danke" with them for a while but this is the first time they've repeated it and appropriately as well! Enya in the mean time is learning to count so far we have one, two, six and eight in german and in english two,three, six and eight, she only repeats the words when we say them though.
ps spell check is still not working and my D key is very iffy if you don't recognise a word try add a D and see if it makes sense then ;0)
Yesterday I really surprised myself by not having umpteen meltdowns, Ciara broke one of my favourite mugs by dropping it on the floor (my own fault though as I left it where she could get it), she then spread her entire lunch bowl of freshly made chicken, apricot and tomato puree all over the floor (she stole her bowl off the table while my back was turned) and the napping- not happening yesterday. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and drop to only one nap per day. Hopefully then they will have a longer nap and be more refreshed than from 2 shorter naps.
Ciara did however surprise me as well yesterday, I left something in view yesterday on the kitchen counter (cooking implement I think) but out of her reach. She looke up saw it and pointe to it with her whole hand and then said quite clearly "Bitte" (please). I was amazed, unfortunately despite all sorts of coercion I couldn't get her to repeat it. Z has been practicing "bitte" and "danke" with them for a while but this is the first time they've repeated it and appropriately as well! Enya in the mean time is learning to count so far we have one, two, six and eight in german and in english two,three, six and eight, she only repeats the words when we say them though.
ps spell check is still not working and my D key is very iffy if you don't recognise a word try add a D and see if it makes sense then ;0)
4 Feb 2009
Wedensday
Sorry no spiffy title today, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and we were up and out early this morning as we had an early doctors appointment (vaccinations, thankfully the last set until the girls go to school).
Ciara was up multiple times last night and was calling so loudly that the last time I went in to their room Enya was also wide awake, standing at her cot side and calling "mama" too. Ciara just wanted a cuddle that last time and then slept through from 3 am until 6 am this morning.
Unfortunately the lack of sleep means I'm feeling all out of sorts and have the patience of a grizzly. Today is not a good day for Enya to decide to play games at mealtimes!! Her latest trick is to turn her head away when we are trying to feed her and then to keep looking back before quickly turning her head away again. Now before you think well maybe she's full or doesn't like it, if we then try to feed Ciara, Enya whinges until we turn back to her again where after one spoon the cycle repeats. Meals are now taking over 3/4 of an hour, so much for the 20 minute meal limit we were given by the behavioral therapists.
Hopefully things go better at dinner as Z is getting his birthday dinner tonight (birthday was yesterday but he was playing volleyball), it would be nice if we could all eat peacefully together!
Ciara was up multiple times last night and was calling so loudly that the last time I went in to their room Enya was also wide awake, standing at her cot side and calling "mama" too. Ciara just wanted a cuddle that last time and then slept through from 3 am until 6 am this morning.
Unfortunately the lack of sleep means I'm feeling all out of sorts and have the patience of a grizzly. Today is not a good day for Enya to decide to play games at mealtimes!! Her latest trick is to turn her head away when we are trying to feed her and then to keep looking back before quickly turning her head away again. Now before you think well maybe she's full or doesn't like it, if we then try to feed Ciara, Enya whinges until we turn back to her again where after one spoon the cycle repeats. Meals are now taking over 3/4 of an hour, so much for the 20 minute meal limit we were given by the behavioral therapists.
Hopefully things go better at dinner as Z is getting his birthday dinner tonight (birthday was yesterday but he was playing volleyball), it would be nice if we could all eat peacefully together!
31 Jan 2009
Scary stuff
Don't worry, nothing too bad!
Today has been a very strange day somehow. We woke the girls up at quarter to nine this morning as they showed no signs of waking by themselves. After we'd fed them breakfast they went straight back to bed and slept through until after Noon. Z has a 24 hour volleyball tournament so he took off just before lunch while I waited for the girls to wake up.
When the girls finally woke up they gobbled down lunch and then we drove through to town to go shoe shopping. Unfortunately I forgot where I was, here in Germany a lot of the smaller shops close on a Saturday afternoon, so it was a waste of time! We drove to visit Z at his tournament as it was in our neighbouring town. Boy was that exhausting! With them both being mobile and Ciara now climbing stairs and up on to benches, I just couldn't manage alone. Thankfully there were enough adults at the sport centre that they kept bringing the escapee back to me when one made a break and I was distracted by the other. Next time though, I'm definitely taking the baby reins with!
Enya demonstrated her walking technique for everyone to see though and climbed her first step although she didn't trust herself to go up the second step. She was blown away by watching her daddeee playing volleyball. She stood on the terrace overlooking the playing field, screaming, laughing and banging on the glass, it was hysterical. Unfortunately it was so loud in the sports hall that Z didn't even realise that he had his own personal cheerleader. Ciara was more interested in climbing onto the benches and digging in other peoples tog bags!
We then brought them both home for dinner and bed. Z came to help although he left straight after dinner as they still have games to play overnight. He'll come back sometime tonight to sleep and so he's here for breakfast tomorrow before he drives back for the last games tomorrow (usually he just stays for the entire 24 hours at the sports hall).
So it was a day with only one nap and I don't have the feeling that they missed the second nap. I'm dreading losing that second nap but today underlined that it is rapidly approaching.
Today has been a very strange day somehow. We woke the girls up at quarter to nine this morning as they showed no signs of waking by themselves. After we'd fed them breakfast they went straight back to bed and slept through until after Noon. Z has a 24 hour volleyball tournament so he took off just before lunch while I waited for the girls to wake up.
When the girls finally woke up they gobbled down lunch and then we drove through to town to go shoe shopping. Unfortunately I forgot where I was, here in Germany a lot of the smaller shops close on a Saturday afternoon, so it was a waste of time! We drove to visit Z at his tournament as it was in our neighbouring town. Boy was that exhausting! With them both being mobile and Ciara now climbing stairs and up on to benches, I just couldn't manage alone. Thankfully there were enough adults at the sport centre that they kept bringing the escapee back to me when one made a break and I was distracted by the other. Next time though, I'm definitely taking the baby reins with!
Enya demonstrated her walking technique for everyone to see though and climbed her first step although she didn't trust herself to go up the second step. She was blown away by watching her daddeee playing volleyball. She stood on the terrace overlooking the playing field, screaming, laughing and banging on the glass, it was hysterical. Unfortunately it was so loud in the sports hall that Z didn't even realise that he had his own personal cheerleader. Ciara was more interested in climbing onto the benches and digging in other peoples tog bags!
We then brought them both home for dinner and bed. Z came to help although he left straight after dinner as they still have games to play overnight. He'll come back sometime tonight to sleep and so he's here for breakfast tomorrow before he drives back for the last games tomorrow (usually he just stays for the entire 24 hours at the sports hall).
So it was a day with only one nap and I don't have the feeling that they missed the second nap. I'm dreading losing that second nap but today underlined that it is rapidly approaching.
3 Jan 2009
Schedule change again?
I'm thinking we may have to play around with our feeding schedule again. Not because the girls aren't doing well, they are: Enya 8800g and Ciara 10 820g :0).
No, we are running into our old problem of the nappies not holding out for the entire night time. Every day this week one or both girls have woken up soaked right through, even their sleeping bags were wet through. As they are both determined tummy sleepers, it leaks out the front above the waist band. We already wait for the last nappy change until just before bed and change them immediately when they wake up but the 14 to 15 hours between are just too much.
I'm now wondering if we move the last bottle to the middle of the afternoon and just let them have their sippys at dinner time, if that will help? Alternatively I could double up their nappys, if I buy the next nappy size up it should fit over.
On the otherhand Z goes back to work next week :0(, so they (and we) won't be sleeping in anymore. Maybe with only 13 hours pee time the nappys will last the night!!
No, we are running into our old problem of the nappies not holding out for the entire night time. Every day this week one or both girls have woken up soaked right through, even their sleeping bags were wet through. As they are both determined tummy sleepers, it leaks out the front above the waist band. We already wait for the last nappy change until just before bed and change them immediately when they wake up but the 14 to 15 hours between are just too much.
I'm now wondering if we move the last bottle to the middle of the afternoon and just let them have their sippys at dinner time, if that will help? Alternatively I could double up their nappys, if I buy the next nappy size up it should fit over.
On the otherhand Z goes back to work next week :0(, so they (and we) won't be sleeping in anymore. Maybe with only 13 hours pee time the nappys will last the night!!
29 Sept 2008
Sleep strike
We have 2 little girls who have suddenly decided that 3 naps a day are just too much. Right now I'm lucky if I get them to nap once a day for an hour. What happened to my daughters who went to sleep as soon as I laid them in their cots? To make it even worse they are also waking multiple times a night. We try to leave them and let them settles themselves but I usually land up having to go in at least once a night to give someone a dummy.
On the dummy front we have always restricted dummies to sleeping times, or if we are out and the girls are very restless we also try appease them with a dummy. Lately though the girls have taken to filching them out their cots when they are playing in their room. The result is I'm now very careful when I get them up to position their dummies out of reach. The next step is to take the dummies completely away but as we are having high jinks during the night I'm not yet ready to take this step. The dummy removal is further delayed as Enya has taken to sucking her thumb when awake, I can't count the number of times in the last week where I've removed her thumb from her mouth. She has been sucking her thumb off and on for a while but suddenly in the last 2 weeks it is always in her mouth. My worry is when we remove the dummy she will suck her thumb at night as well. At least a dummy I can remove, a thumb though??
A friend sent me the Jericho DVDs for my birthday so I'm going to be very diligent and watch them while doing all the ironing that has piled up in the last week. I think I need a dryer so I don't have to do so much ironing. Either that or find someone to do the ironing for me ;-)
On the dummy front we have always restricted dummies to sleeping times, or if we are out and the girls are very restless we also try appease them with a dummy. Lately though the girls have taken to filching them out their cots when they are playing in their room. The result is I'm now very careful when I get them up to position their dummies out of reach. The next step is to take the dummies completely away but as we are having high jinks during the night I'm not yet ready to take this step. The dummy removal is further delayed as Enya has taken to sucking her thumb when awake, I can't count the number of times in the last week where I've removed her thumb from her mouth. She has been sucking her thumb off and on for a while but suddenly in the last 2 weeks it is always in her mouth. My worry is when we remove the dummy she will suck her thumb at night as well. At least a dummy I can remove, a thumb though??
A friend sent me the Jericho DVDs for my birthday so I'm going to be very diligent and watch them while doing all the ironing that has piled up in the last week. I think I need a dryer so I don't have to do so much ironing. Either that or find someone to do the ironing for me ;-)
15 Sept 2008
spit out
Yup I mean spit out not spit up! Ciara has taken to spitting out whatever we try to feed her, be it old favourites like lentils or new favourites like waffles. I can only assume it has something to do with her blocked nose affecting her taste as it began about the same time as her runny nose. Last night she barely ate anything after she finished her bottle so we put her to bed hungry. She got her revenge by making me get up to give her a bottle at 4am this morning though. How did I ever survive getting up multiple times at night doing night feeds? Today she is eating better so hopefully we are on the mend.
Other than that C and E continue to pull up on everything and have taken to racing each other down the corridor. It kind of reminds me of that men's sprint cycling event at the Olympics: they start really slow and the one in front keeps looking back at the one behind trying to psych her out, before suddenly there is a charge for the finish line. They are interacting a lot more with each other, they will often crawl towards each other and then head butt each other, laughing as though this is the greatest game possible. This is much better than the situation a few weeks ago where Enya would start screaming every time Ciara came anywhere near her! I love hearing them laughing and when they are laughing with each other that makes my day.
Other than that C and E continue to pull up on everything and have taken to racing each other down the corridor. It kind of reminds me of that men's sprint cycling event at the Olympics: they start really slow and the one in front keeps looking back at the one behind trying to psych her out, before suddenly there is a charge for the finish line. They are interacting a lot more with each other, they will often crawl towards each other and then head butt each other, laughing as though this is the greatest game possible. This is much better than the situation a few weeks ago where Enya would start screaming every time Ciara came anywhere near her! I love hearing them laughing and when they are laughing with each other that makes my day.
14 Sept 2008
Survived
It was great to get out and practice my skills last week but I really missed the girls when I was at work, since they've been home from the hospital I haven't spent so much time without them. Once again it has brought home to me how lucky I am that we can afford for me not to work, rather to stay home and enjoy our childrens babyhood. Although they aren't really babies anymore, sob sob!!
I can remember seeing newborn babies just after C and E were born and thinking full termers were enormous (Hell, I thought the 32 weekers were pretty damn big!), now I see newborns and I find them tiny, it is hard to believe C and E were once (much) smaller than they are. I'm also slowly relaxing about Enya's weight. She is now about 2kg lighter than Ciara but as she is developmentally on track, I've sort of accepted it and am even contemplating getting rid of the scales and not checking her weight religiously every week (yah for me!). It'll probably take me another few months to do it but we're heading in the right direction.
Ciara has taken to waking up multiple times during the night and entertaining us with a screaming concert, we've tried going in and giving her a dummy, comforting her in bed, picking her up but as soon as we put her down or try leave the room she starts screaming again so we are now trying CIO (cry it out). There is nothing wrong she quiets as soon as she hears someone coming. We think that due to her blocked nose (both girls have runny noses), she is waking up during the night and then gets bored so screams until someone comes to entertain her. The knock on effect is that both girls are sleeping longer during the day to try make up for the lost sleep at night. Hopefully this will stop once the noses clear up as I've mentioned before I don't do well on less than 8 hours sleep a night and given how grumpy C and E have been this week, neither do they.
I can remember seeing newborn babies just after C and E were born and thinking full termers were enormous (Hell, I thought the 32 weekers were pretty damn big!), now I see newborns and I find them tiny, it is hard to believe C and E were once (much) smaller than they are. I'm also slowly relaxing about Enya's weight. She is now about 2kg lighter than Ciara but as she is developmentally on track, I've sort of accepted it and am even contemplating getting rid of the scales and not checking her weight religiously every week (yah for me!). It'll probably take me another few months to do it but we're heading in the right direction.
Ciara has taken to waking up multiple times during the night and entertaining us with a screaming concert, we've tried going in and giving her a dummy, comforting her in bed, picking her up but as soon as we put her down or try leave the room she starts screaming again so we are now trying CIO (cry it out). There is nothing wrong she quiets as soon as she hears someone coming. We think that due to her blocked nose (both girls have runny noses), she is waking up during the night and then gets bored so screams until someone comes to entertain her. The knock on effect is that both girls are sleeping longer during the day to try make up for the lost sleep at night. Hopefully this will stop once the noses clear up as I've mentioned before I don't do well on less than 8 hours sleep a night and given how grumpy C and E have been this week, neither do they.
5 Sept 2008
pros and cons
Remember how I said I couldn't wait for C and E to crawl, well they are both now managing it. Enya still needs to drop onto her tummy every so often but Ciara is on her hands and knees (or feet) the whole time. And fast, they both get across the room in 3 seconds flat. And yes, I am loving it!!
However there are some negatives to the whole mobility scene (I'm not complaining, this is also my journal and in x years time I'll want to remember this all)
Pros : I love that
- I can put somebody down and she will independently get herself to her toys/the next room etc.
- they always crawl towards me when I sit on the floor and want to climb onto my lap
- they are pulling up on everything, practicing their standing. They look so proud of themselves.
- they are in the normal limits for achieving these milestones, given their prematurity this is not necessarily expected.
- I don't always have to carry 2 babies everywhere, they are getting heavy enough that this was very difficult to do and carrying only 1 meant the other would cry piteously until I returned.
Cons: I dislike that
- when I've put somebody down, I often need to search to find them
- our pot plants are looking very bare, having had most of their leaves pulled off. They also have a fascination with electric cables and now that they are mobile every cable is fair game.
- we have no carpeting as I worry about them hitting their heads when they fall over as they are now so quick to pull up, I can't always get there in time.
Ciara manged to pull herself up in to standing in her cot and then was too scared to get herself down again, so instead of napping she stood and screamed until we came to rescue her. Needless to say Enya didn't have a good afternoon nap either. This has been a reoccuring happening today, I think I'll rejoice when Ciara learns how to get from standing to sitting alone!
I must also add naps are not going well at present, we're lucky if they nap for an hour in the mornings and at midday, although the afternoon naps seem to go a bit better. With one thing and another this week the schedule has been completely messed up so next week I have to make sure we get back on track (won't happen this weekend as we are off gallivanting in Muenster again ;-))
Last but not least the appointment by the opthamologist on Thursday was as stressful as expected. Entertaining two tired babies for 2 hours in a hot crowded waiting room with no space to put them down is not fun. The retinas look good ie no more ROP and he also did a rough assessment (by measuring refractions) if they need glasses-they don't yet, they are both slightly long sighted but this is normal in children. Worryingly however neither are showing any interest in 3d pictures (abstract pattern where if you squint your eyes and concentrate you see a 3 d image) which apparently they should both have been doing for ages. We don't need to go back for another 6 months but I know it'll niggle until our next appointment.
1 Sept 2008
Rocking snail
For the 2nd morning in a row the girls woke up at 9am. As Z has leave, we are allowing them to sleep as late as they want instead of waking them up at 7am. Needless to say I am enjoying the lazy mornings, babies and lay ins, what more can I ask for!
On Saturday I went to my first children's second hand Bazaar, a friend invited me as she has got most of her daughters clothing from bazaars and said they also had lots of toys/books etc. Now I have to back the story up here a little and say for C and E's birthday, I'd wanted to get them a rocking horse but the only one I found that I semi liked was almost 100 euros for a few bits of wood and really quite ugly. Anyway fast forward to Saturday and I found the perfect rocking animal for them- a rocking snail. It is brightly coloured and almost completely stuffed/material covered, only the hand grips (antennae) are wood. The shell is a large bean bag and the seat is wide enough that even Enya doesn't lose her balance when she is sitting on it. They do need to be supervised on it but all in all I'm delighted with it and the girls enjoy rocking on it- if only so they can eat the daises on the snail's hat ;-)
I also got some dungerees for the girls, I find dungerees so practical now that C and E are pulling themselves everywhere, they both have small waists for their size and this means their trousers spend most of the time at half mast. I wish I had the same problem!
26 May 2008
Happy 6 months adjusted Ciara and Enya
I can't believe that if they had been born full term they would now be 6 months old. I knew pretty much from the start of my 2nd trimester that we would not go full term but I had hoped for 34 weeks (my OB hoped for 32 weeks). In the end we didn't even get that but it was enough.
Ciara celebrated by waking up at 2am and refusing to go back to sleep, she was wide awake and wanted to be entertained. We tried giving her bottle but even after she drank her full, she refused to go back to sleep. Unfortunately Ciara and Enya share a room and she was so loud she was disturbing Enya's sleep. In desperation we eventually left her to sleep in the lounge and went back to bed ourselves. We could hear her happily playing by herself until we fell asleep, she must have fallen asleep herself, because the next we heard from her was at 6am when she woke us all up again.
Today, despite a mega physio session, she has not slept much so this doesn't give me a lot of hope for tonight.
Enya in the meantime celebrated by cracking the 6 kilo mark (by 10 grams, I'm glad I weighed her before she peed!) and by sitting for the first time. We had to put her in the postioin but she then held the position for about a minute. We have however been advised by our physio not to practice sitting- she should bring herself into the sitting position (after she starts crawling). Before this time she does not have the muscle strength in arms and back to hold this position safely. Has anyone else heard of this?
PS Ciara has almost cracked 7 and a half kilos!!
Ciara celebrated by waking up at 2am and refusing to go back to sleep, she was wide awake and wanted to be entertained. We tried giving her bottle but even after she drank her full, she refused to go back to sleep. Unfortunately Ciara and Enya share a room and she was so loud she was disturbing Enya's sleep. In desperation we eventually left her to sleep in the lounge and went back to bed ourselves. We could hear her happily playing by herself until we fell asleep, she must have fallen asleep herself, because the next we heard from her was at 6am when she woke us all up again.
Today, despite a mega physio session, she has not slept much so this doesn't give me a lot of hope for tonight.
Enya in the meantime celebrated by cracking the 6 kilo mark (by 10 grams, I'm glad I weighed her before she peed!) and by sitting for the first time. We had to put her in the postioin but she then held the position for about a minute. We have however been advised by our physio not to practice sitting- she should bring herself into the sitting position (after she starts crawling). Before this time she does not have the muscle strength in arms and back to hold this position safely. Has anyone else heard of this?
PS Ciara has almost cracked 7 and a half kilos!!
20 Apr 2008
Eat or sleep
It seems I have a choice, either Ciara and Enya can eat or they can sleep. I can't have both.
For the last week they have been sleeping fantastically, I haven't written about this up till now as I didn't want to tempt fate too much, but they are going down at 8pm and waking at 7am. Ciara may wake a couple of times around 5-6am but goes back to sleep as soon as her dummy is replaced in her mouth. This sounds marvellous but the down side is we are battling to get 500ml of milk into them. Even Ciara has had a couple days where she hasn't managed 400ml. What makes it even worse worse is that they refuse to even try any other drink.
However on the plus side the solids continue apace. We have also added fish to the menu plan, thank goodness they seem to take after their father and really enjoy fish (so far cod and salmon have been gobbled up) as I HATE fish!!
For the last week they have been sleeping fantastically, I haven't written about this up till now as I didn't want to tempt fate too much, but they are going down at 8pm and waking at 7am. Ciara may wake a couple of times around 5-6am but goes back to sleep as soon as her dummy is replaced in her mouth. This sounds marvellous but the down side is we are battling to get 500ml of milk into them. Even Ciara has had a couple days where she hasn't managed 400ml. What makes it even worse worse is that they refuse to even try any other drink.
However on the plus side the solids continue apace. We have also added fish to the menu plan, thank goodness they seem to take after their father and really enjoy fish (so far cod and salmon have been gobbled up) as I HATE fish!!
10 Apr 2008
New pictures
Enya
Ciara
Sleep is still a very prized commodity in the Z household, with Enya now waking us all up because she is hungry. She is now drinking on average 50mls more a day than Ciara (WTF!!!). Hopefully we will see the results of this when we weigh them again on Monday. I have to really hold myself back from weighing her everyday now that we have a scale in the house, it's not even as though I'd be undressing her just to weigh her as we have to do the Vojta exercises in the buff (them not me!).
We have started on meat as well with the solids- they have had chicken twice. The first time they were not at all sure about it, but the second time I disguised it better with apricot and tomato and they loved it. Infact it was so good I'm adapting it for a grownup dinner tonight :-). I highly recommend the book: Annabel Karmel's New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner- the recipes are easy and the meal plans are also a great help when you feel like you are just fumbling through the whole intro to solids scene. I've pretty much done everything by this book although I'm starting to branch out this week. We have introduced meat sooner than described in the book as we need to get Ciara off her supplemental iron before she explodes. Constipation reigns here!
6 Apr 2008
PS
PS
Sleeping.....
... not happening again. Ciara woke us up shrieking at 4am. Not shrieking due to being upset or hunger or pain. No, she was awake and wanted some company, so she screamed, laughed and shrieked (repeat this was not crying/upset she was just being loud) until we came to get her out of bed. This is the 2nd morning in a row. I hope this is not the new trick of the month!!
Sleeping.....
... not happening again. Ciara woke us up shrieking at 4am. Not shrieking due to being upset or hunger or pain. No, she was awake and wanted some company, so she screamed, laughed and shrieked (repeat this was not crying/upset she was just being loud) until we came to get her out of bed. This is the 2nd morning in a row. I hope this is not the new trick of the month!!
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