MD visit 4 months

This week was another busy week. I was getting frustrated on Friday because I felt like I wasn't getting anything done but taking care of the babies feeding, naps, bottles and bathtime. That was probably true on Friday, but this blog is to help me realize I get a lot of other stuff done, too.

Monday was AMAZING. My house was clean all at once. I have no idea why, but Tucker took a 5 hour nap from 9-2 pm. Whitney slept for 3.5 hours of that. Crazy! They never sleep that much. I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. It helped me the rest of the week. We didn't go for our morning walk because it was raining. It rained until Thursday afternoon.

Tuesday we went to the doctor. They got their shots again. So sad!! They were a lot more alert about it. Whitney hated it the most. She cried her take pity on me cry the longest. Tucker was mad, but he usually is, so he settled down the fastest. The doctor asked how much Tucker was eating. He weighs 16 pounds 8 ounces and Whitney weighs 13 pounds 3 ounces. Whitney is 24 inches long and Tucker is 24 and 1/4 inch long. She said that he is eating too much. She thinks rice cereal will help with his satiation. More on this later. She also said Whitney is doing well in that I can put her down for her nap in her crib, she will cry for 5 minutes, then go to sleep. Tucker screams a long time. She said I need to work on getting him to console himself and go to sleep himself. More on this later, too.

Next, we went to visit my supervisor, who looked at Whitney's head some more. We have more exercises to help her neck. I think it is helping already. She hates getting her neck stretched more than before, though.

They are doing well with their milestones. Tucker is finally catching on to what Whitney has been doing for a couple of weeks. Hitting at dangling objects and eating her hands. Whitney really likes to pull the burp clothes and her bib to eat. They are starting to grasp and pull Mommy's hair and the top of her shirt, too. Whitney can scoot herself in a circle for about 90 degrees. She pulls her knees underneath more than Tucker does.

Wednesday I finally decided they need some toys. I haven't bought toys for them, thinking I didn't want to spend money on something they will grow out of in a month. Boy was that silly. I got all their toys second hand and stuff they will use for a month or so. Why I didn't do this before is beyond me. Making dinner is WAY better. I bought that toy gym thing that dangles the toys above their heads instead of me having to do it for them. They played 45 minutes under that thing together while we ate and made dinner. I also got a bounce swing thing that hangs in the doorway. Awesome! Tucker loves to stand and Whitney loves to bounce. And I don't have to hold them to do that, either. I also found some hard bound books that they love for the bright colors and a baby backpack. Very exciting. Got to love KSL and Kid to Kid. I hooked up all the other toys that they already had to these things and things are a lot more fun. Jim thinks the TV held their attention enough with the lights and colors that change. No comment.

The babies are talking and playing with each other more. They have been practicing sitting more independently and like to practice it facing each other. I wish I had video of them cooing and laughing at each other! It is so cute.

Thursday was baby four month pictures photo op day. I had this great idea that I would give Tucker a hair cut. Dumb idea. I am so sad about his mohawk being gone. Whitney cried the whole time I was cutting his hair. I should have listened to her. I used a number 6 and a number 4 on the clippers. I hope I left enough for Anne to fix his hair, but it sure doesn't look like 3/4 inch on his head.

Friday Tucker got his first lawnmowing lesson. I mowed the lawn with Tucker in the backpack while Jim played with a fussy Whitney until bathtime.

Saturday the sprinkers finally got fixed and ready for the garden while I weeded and tried to get the babies to take naps in their cribs. Tucker tried rice cereal. At first he didn't know it was food and screamed with his mouth full of food because he was hungry. Once he figured out it was food (and his Mommy thinned it enough for him to figure it out), he cried because I couldn't shovel it in fast enough for his taste. Not like a bottle. We'll try again later.

Naps. Lots of people have lots of suggestions, all of which work for one baby. I spent the week figuring out how much sleep they each need and when and have decided that this is how the nap schedule will work. His and hers. After listening to lots of moms, I've decided the one consistent comment is that each baby has needed something different and the schedule has been slightly different as far as length and exactly what time they fall asleep each day. I have the same thing with my babies, just at the same time. I'll give this crying in the crib thing 3 more days (7 days total). If they don't learn to sleep through each other crying at different times, I'm going back to my way of doing things and bag the doctor's (and everyone else's suggestions). So you all can comment as much as you like, but I probably won't listen. However, Tucker is down from 30 minutes of crying and fussing at night to 5 minutes, like Whitney, so it has helped some, but I haven't figured out how to get them to sleep at the same time or any sort of exact clock schedule yet. I don't think that will ever come for any length of time longer than about a month.

I finally got my birthday present from Jim yesterday. He cleaned out the garage. Apparently he put my present in the garage somewhere. In a really safe place that I would never look. Nor would he.

There are pictures of Whitney and Tucker at four months, one of them holding hands, Tucker in his bounce chair, high chair and backpack, and before pics of the haircut plus the amount of hair I cut. I didn't put after pics because I was so sad at the time, but you can see in his other pictures that his mohawk is gone. The one of them holding hands is cute. I was telling them that they were going to the doctor the next day to get shots and Tucker reached over and grabbed Whitney's hand. By accident I'm sure, but the timing was perfect.