A Letter to Indigo at 18 Months

My Little Man,

Sometimes I worry that you think your name is "Buddy" because we've called you that so much. We've been searching for a nickname for you since you were born. My first idea got shot down after a few weeks, but luckily your sister has come up with something adorable that we are all calling you now. I'd love it if you tried saying her name more often, just so we can hear how cute it sounds.

Right now you mainly just yell, "Elmo!" a lot. You are obsessed. You hear the song for "Elmo's World" and you get so excited. One time I thought you were going to jump out of the bathtub when it came on. And heaven help us if we try to bring you up to bed while "Elmo's World" is on!

We got you both little Elmo stuffed animals when we took away your pacifiers. I hoped it would be a worthy substitute, having your BFF hanging out with you in your crib. Boy, was I wrong. I feel absolutely horrible listening to you cry at night. You cycle up and down, upset and calm, each time making me think that you will now fall asleep. You are trying so hard to fall asleep, but you haven't learned to self-soothe yet, so it takes you over an hour. Periwinkle will cry with you for a little while because you are keeping her awake, and then she somehow drifts off into sound sleep while you are still going. But before she does, she tries to comfort you, rubbing your back and saying your name calmly. She loves you and just wants to help you. Can you help her and try to be calm as you are falling asleep?

Sometimes I take you out of the room to give you a break. We'll pull up the blinds in our bedroom and show you the cars going by. You love watching cars. When we're in the car and another one drives past, you say, "Car!" in this little voice full of wonder. I think they make you happy. This probably makes your great-grandpa happy, because he LOVES cars.

After this little interlude, and sometimes going downstairs for some milk if you are SUPER worked up, you'll go back into your crib and fall asleep. I'm not sure if you just need reassurance that mommy and daddy are still nearby, or if you're playing us because you know we'll come back, or if you just need more time to learn how to fall asleep without a pacifier... but I hope you get over it soon! Sometimes we don't get to eat dinner until after 8:30pm! But seriously, it makes me sad to hear you cry, and I hope you get better at bedtime soon, for your own sake. Sleep is wonderful. Trust me.

Besides our nighttime struggles, you have been a wonderful, sweet little boy. You still love snuggling, when you're not trying to con us into giving you more pretzels, or opening and closing doors, or trying to make a break for it out the front door so you can run around "ow-side." Sometimes you stand in the front doorway and watch the boys next door playing basketball, and I know you really want to go play with them. You love playing in the little house in the backyard, mainly interested in opening and closing the door and shutters and pushing the little doorbell. I love that you're so engaged with it.

I love watching you explore new toys, completely concentrating on how they work and what you can do with them. You and your sister quietly played with a new stacking train for almost an hour, without making a peep. It was fantastic! You shared, and took turns, and divvied up the toy, like such a big boy and girl! I was so proud of you. I love when you share, which sometimes you don't want to do. You get upset and sometimes hit and bite, especially at daycare. We are working on you finding other ways of saying, "I'm mad!" and I know you'll get there soon. When you are little you just don't know how to express how you feel. You don't even know how to know what you feel. Periwinkle sometimes just shrieks and throws food when she's frustrated she can't get out of her chair. I'm sure mommy and daddy did the same thing when we were little. It's okay. We'll work through it!

You are also a very helpful little boy. We ask you to bring your sister's lovey or sippy cup, and you trot right over with it. You shove it in her face, drop it, and walk away, but the intent to help is there. You are very chatty when you want to be, and very quiet when you want to be. You remind me of your uncle (my brother) in that regard. Your crazy reddish-brown curls remind me of him too, although the curls could also come from daddy's side. Your nonno and Zio Pippo have curly hair too. All I know is that I love it. You had such short hair for so long, and now it's growing and curling and it's pretty amazing.

Everything about this age is amazing. You make such fun, silly faces and laugh with such pure joy, I wish I could just exist in that moment with you always. I so love when you are happy. It lights up the room. I love watching you walk hand in hand with Daddy down the street, two men on the move. I love how exuberantly you hug your sister, and the sound of your "mwha!" when you blow a kiss across the room. Your high fives make my day, and I love the way you cling to me with such a firm grip when you don't want me to put you down (but I have to sometimes).

You may be a year and a half old, but you're always going to be my little man, my "buddy," the first baby I brought home, my little love.

Just stop calling Daddy "mama" okay? I'm pretty sure you know exactly what you are doing and how much it drives him crazy. But I think the joke has played out now, okay? Tell your sister to stop, too. He's "Daddy" or "Papa" or "Dada." Got it? Good!

Love,
Mama

A Letter to Indigo at Eleven Months

Dear Indigo,

My little cuddle bug. You've come a long way from being that scrawny "velociraptor" you were in the hospital, although you've still got quite a set of lungs. Lately I've been wondering if you are confused and think you are going to be turning two, not one, because you seem to be breaking out the temper tantrums a bit. You seem to get into fights with the shape-sorter cube on a daily basis, which end in you face down on the blanket screaming. We really wish we knew why you were getting so frustrated, but we'll keep trying to help you out.

Turning into a little boy.

And the other side of the coin, you are a gentle, sweet, and loving little boy who loves snuggle time with Mommy and Daddy, but especially Daddy. You've gotten into the habit of crying at bedtime again. We don't want you to prevent your sister from sleeping, so we remove you from the room and you end up falling asleep on one of us. The past week or so, I've tried to break this habit. I'll hold you until you are calm and sleepy, but awake, then put you down in your crib. You start to cry again but I quickly soothe you by rubbing your back and behind your ear. Eventually, you are asleep. Last night I didn't even have to hold you (but I did miss those snuggles). I just kept rubbing your back. If I stepped away, you started to cry, but a reassuring, "Mama's here" calmed you down again. I think you miss us. I think we don't get enough time together during the week so you just soak it up on the weekends and at bedtime. I'm sorry, little man. We miss you too.

More hugs!

But you are making so much progress at daycare and we are so proud of you. You are getting better at waving, and are a pretty awesome high-fiver. You stand with such pride, and I know you'll be walking, holding our hands, just as fast as your sister, any day now. But best of all, you are so expressive. You tell detailed stories with such earnest facial expressions, such perfect inflections of your voice, I can almost understand what you are saying in your baby babble. I do love a good story.

High Five!

You are definitely having fun testing your boundaries. You will repeatedly grab at bottles in the wine cabinet, turning around to look at us with a sly grin when we call your name and tell you no before reaching for them again. You think the tray of DVDs under the TV is yours to play with, and you recently discovered one of the cabinet doors moves. Part of all this is the many bumps and falls you've had as you realize the ottoman rocks back and forth and the new stroller will roll away from you if you try to pull up on it. But you keep trying. You are one determined little boy.

You braved your flu shot at the doctor's office, and are 22lbs even and 29.25 inches long. Your head circumference is 46cm. You are in 55th percentile for weight, 58th for height, and 69th for head size. Basically, you're right on track!

Trying to escape?

You are really into books lately, especially the one that makes animal noises. Every time I push the puppy and it barks, your face gets this look of such astonishment and delight and you give a little shout as if saying, "Mama, did you hear that? Amazing!" It's perfect. You like turning the pages, even if you are holding the book upside-down. And you love pointing to the kitties. I think you are making the connection with our two kitties, and I love it.

Nothing like a good book

One of the best parts of my day is still picking you two up at daycare. The second I walk through the door and you two realize I'm there, it's off to the races. The baby races, that is. You both just bolt for me across the floor. If I pick one of you up, the other will cry. If I pick neither of you up, you both cry. There is no winning. But I just love how excited you are to see me, because I am just as excited to see you. We put on some kids music in the car on the way home and have a grand old time singing along to "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Old McDonald." You seem to really enjoy the sound effects.

Let the race begin!

I love you, little man, with a "moo, moo" here and a "moo, moo" there.

Love,
Mama

Checking out the ground

Progress

So last night I decided to try an earlier bedtime. Not too much earlier, just a half hour. But they were both asleep within ten minutes. A miracle!!

I guess they really like waking up after 9 hours though, because they were up at 4:30, chatting away, then crying. We got Indigo to fall back asleep by 5am (I gave him a burp cloth to hold on to and that seemed to work. He likes little blankets, but it wasn't so big or thick that I felt it posed any hazard).

Periwinkle, however, just seemed to get more annoyed. We fed her a 2oz bottle, but that wasn't enough. So Blue made her a 5oz bottle to go along with the little premade one. That did the trick, and she was asleep by 5:40. Phew. I squeezed in another 20 minutes of sleep then got up for the day. I can't be entirely sure, but one of them might have been awake when I left at 6:30.

If waking at 4:30am turns out to be a new thing, assuming the earlier bedtime keeps working, then we might try dreamfeeding them before we go to bed to get them sleeping straight through again. They lose sleep when they wake up and cry and eat, so it's for their own good. And ours.

And now, a photo of them with all of their Easter bunnies!

"What the hell, Mom?"

At a Loss

Since probably last Wednesday, Indigo has been a real PITA at bedtime. We do the usual routine: bottle at 7:30, PJs, diaper change, into the sleep sacks, a bit of swaying and singing, then "goodnight."

Minutes later he's crying at the top of his lungs. We give him a few minutes but he doesn't calm down. One of us goes up to pat him, give him back his paci, try to get him to fall asleep. Sometimes we leave the room with him asleep. Ten minutes later, he's awake and crying again. Rinse and repeat.

"Your turn!" has become an all-too-familiar refrain in our house.

One evening, I picked him up during probably his fifth crying fit and he just collapsed against me and was asleep in an instant (which I admit I totally loved). I held him for a few minutes then put him down. Not a minute later, crying.

How could I NOT pick him up when he looks this upset? That lower lip quiver gets me every time.

It all usually stops at 10:30pm, give or take a few minutes.

Blue wants to just  cave (I don't blame him) and not even put them to bed until then, except that then they'd just be napping downstairs because they ARE tired, and Periwinkle usually goes to bed fine unless her naps were horrendous (or like yesterday when she took a four-hour nap at daycare--way too long). I don't want to mess up the progress we've made with her or give up on the healthier early bedtime.

I've heard suggestions ranging from "He's teething, so wait it out" to "Try an earlier bedtime, he might be too overtired by 8pm to go to sleep easily." He does have his hands in his mouth all the time these days, but teething rings don't really seem to help him. Plus he naps fine. Although, he has been more cranky since about the same time last week, so this could be the reasoning behind it. He's had crying fits during the day when he usually pretty much NEVER cries. And maybe at night he knows he won't be getting comforted all night so he cries. Maybe he just misses us during the week because he spends most of his time at daycare so he wants to be held by us (rip my heart out, kiddo).

It was working. We had a good thing going. What the hell happened in the past week?

The good news is that once finally asleep (which often involves him sleeping for 20 minutes, giving one last cry, then falling back to sleep for good) he sleeps all night. We haven't had a real nightwaking or feeding since Saturday, March 23. So that's been awesome.

Suggestions welcome.

Morning Dropoff

Rocking Star Trek onesies last weekend. Day 73 of Project 365.

It's a good thing I don't usually do daycare dropoff in the morning, because I'd be really tempted on a daily basis to play hooky with these two goofballs. Blue is travelling for work this week so I've been in charge. They are usually so chipper in the morning! When I hand them over to the daycare teachers, Periwinkle inevitably gives one of her hiccuping laughs and a huge smile crosses her face. She's so happy to be there! This makes me both happy and sad. She probably doesn't even remember when I was home with them during my leave.

Moody babies. Day 75 of Project 365.

By the time I pick them up in the afternoon, she's a moody mess from not napping enough and cries all the way home. Then it's time to squeeze in one last nap, a final bottle, and then bed by 8pm. In fact, last night she finally conked out for that "nap" at 7 so I ended up dreamfeeding her in the swing and putting her to bed without waking her up. And she slept until 1:30am! Crazy!

Day 76 of Project 365. Happy Spring!

But where's the fun in that? I miss the interactions we get with them on the weekends. I rarely hear them attempt to talk during the week, since that is a daytime activity for them and by evening they are tired and less likely to "talk." They definitely spend more waking hours with daycare than with us. So, to them, are WE the temporary help, and daycare the all-the-time people? An interesting and sad thought.

Day 77 of Project 365

So, I'm glad it's almost the weekend. Of course, we're visiting family so I'll have to fight to hold them probably, but at least I'll be in the same room with them and can hear their giggles and see their smiles.

Day 78 of Project 365

Yeah, definitely good I don't drop them off every day. I get way too misty-eyed about this whole daycare thing.

Seven hours until I pick them up. I can't wait!

Sleep Crying and Rolling Over

Sleep training is progressing with some more bumps in the road. Apparently I slept through a few nightwakes last night, and Blue kindly took care of the little ones. Whoops. I feel bad. Solidarity in exhaustion, no?

A fun new development since we stopped swaddling the babies last week is that Indigo cries in his sleep. And it's not just a wah-wah cry. No, it sounds like someone is in there trying to kill him. He sounds SO upset, SO pained, and worst of all, SO scared. It breaks my heart to listen to it. An online friend I've dubbed the Sleep Guru told me not to wake Indigo during these times as then it will take forever for him to fall back asleep. Or he could freak out, like people who are sleepwalking tend to do when harshly woken up.

So I tried to just let him cry through it last night. I knew he wasn't hungry or wet, or at least that those things weren't what was bringing the crying on. I had no idea what WAS bringing the crying on, but it wasn't something I could fix. That's perhaps the most frustrating part of this, actually.

But after a minute or two of hearing my baby screaming like that, I had to pick him up. Horizontal didn't work, so up on my shoulder he went, still completely asleep. Phew. He calmed down, so I put him back in the crib. And the screaming started up again. Back up on my shoulder he went, and he came into our room for a few minutes. I reclined a bit to get him a bit more horizontal and he stayed calm. Finally his breathing slowed from that ragged, crying breathing we all get after a good crying jag. I put him back to bed and he stayed asleep and calm. Phew again!

Until 3 am, when it started up again. This time it took less time to get him calm and I never had to leave the nursery. Still broke my heart listening to that cry.

I've been told that babies do not dream until 18 months, so I know he's not having horrific nightmares. I've been told it might be a growth spurt, which might make sense given his recent jump from 6oz to 8oz bottles. And another person told me their child started doing it when they stopped swaddling him, which also could be a reason for Indigo, although by all other accounts he is doing well without it.

I'm also told these crying fits last about ten minutes, that as they get older they will wake more easily and I should definitely let him cry it out at that point, and that frequency diminishes over time. So we'll see what tonight brings...

The day before her first roll-over. So close!

In better news, Periwinkle rolled over for the first time yesterday, from front to back! She looked so surprised. I was ridiculously excited, mainly because we were both there to witness it and she saved it for us, not daycare (unless she did it there and they didn't tell us, which is fine. I'm okay living in ignorance). So, first roll-over on St. Patty's Day!

Almost a year to the day that we found out I was pregnant, which is kind of crazy. Where did the past year go? The Monday after St. Patty's Day last year I was so giddy at work I don't think I did a damned thing. I'm not terribly productive today either, but that's because this project isn't exactly inspiring...

Also, wish me luck at the allergist tonight. I'm hoping they can alleviate the sniffles, and thus the pain my nose is in, so that I don't want to chop it off anymore.

Little Things Thursdays, Week 7

A day late again. You can forgive me, right, knowing about the sleep training going on?

#1. No sleep struggles last night. They had baths at 7, ate at 7:30 (Indigo ate 6.5oz!), and were in bed at 8. Periwinkle was so sleepy she was asleep before her head hit the crib mattress. I sang them a song (more like croaked, given my cold) which I think they liked. This is going to be part of their new bedtime routine, which I am hoping helps with easy bedtimes. Indigo required one check but was asleep by 8:15! Amazing considering it took an hour to get him to sleep two nights ago. They slept until 2:15am, ate, resisted a little, but were asleep by 3am. She was awake at 6:10am when I was getting ready but Indigo was still out. I'm guessing they were both awake by 6:45am based on the fact that Blue was getting them ready by 7am (I stalked on the monitor -- handy having an app for my phone!). This means they got about nine hours of sleep. Not quite the eleven we want, but closer than eight. We will give it a few more days and if this is still their wake up time, we will try a dreamfeed at 10pm. If they have even a few ounces then it might push their middle of the night feeding to 4am, which then means they won't be hungry and awake at 6am, and we'll feel less guilty having them wait for their morning feeding until 8am at daycare. So all this boils down to, they slept, and we slept! It was great!

#2. That second crib wasn't a waste! We split them up last night. I think this is a part of why they slept better -- no feet in each others' faces! Kind of sad to see them sleeping apart, but I think it's better for them at this point. We'd have had to do it when they started rolling over, anyways. They are growing up!

Of course, this means we'll need to find a new place to set out the next day's outfits, store extra blankets, and hang up spit-up-upon bibs and burpcloths...

#3. The Woombie. You can see they are both in Woombies now. The Halo Swaddle Sleepsacks were great in newborn size, but Indigo managed to wriggle the wings up by his shoulders in the larger Small size, giving him way too much freedom with his arms. The Woombie is both more restrictive (keeps arms close to the body) and more intentionally freeing (allows them to move their arms, albeit slowly so as to not startle awake). I think this has definitely helped with their ability to fall asleep and stay asleep.

#4. Being remembered. I got coffee from the same coffee cart guy for about three years before realizing I could save hella money by using the Keurig machine at work and adding French Vanilla coffee creamer I bring from home. I ran out of creamer this week so I ended up buying from him again for the first time in at least a year. And he remembered me! "Where have you been, having babies?" was the first thing he says. So I tell him, actually, yeah. Kind of funny that's the first thing he thought of, and that he said "babies" not "a baby." Always nice to be remembered!

#5. Great Chinese food. When we lived in the city, we always got Chinese from this one place, China Fun. Their General Tso's Chicken was to die for. It was kind of an addiction. I work right near the place and somehow manage to not get it for lunch all the time. In fact, I hadn't had it for at least a year. I decided yesterday that enough was enough. I had it delivered to work in the afternoon and brought it home via subway, commuter rail, and my car. And it was delicious! So worth the hassle! And there's enough for leftovers for at least one more meal, if not two!

Sleep Training Continues

I was so hopeful last night. Both babies had napped appropriately during the day. They ate at 8pm while I was at Zumba, and Blue got them into their crib by 9pm and read them a story. When I got home a little after 9 he was coming out of their room after his first revisit to pat and reinsert their pacifiers. Periwinkle started crying again at 9:15, and I went up at 9:17. I did a sway and shhh with her and got her eyes looking very sleepy. Indigo was awake but calm, but I did a sway and shhh with him too, mainly because my time with both of them was so limited yesterday because I decided to prioritize ME one day a week and do Zumba. I'm allowed. Still feeling a little guilty...

But in any event. I got both of them sleepy and then went to take a shower. When I got out around 9:45pm, Blue reported that one of them (he didn't check) had been halfheartedly crying but that they were both now sleeping. They worked it out and put themselves to sleep. Go babies!

I was in bed by 10:45pm and asleep soon after, absolutely exhausted from the night before and from Zumba. I'm surprisingly not sore today. I was awoken at 2:30am by Peri crying. I listened for a minute before I realized she wasn't crying so much as complaining, almost "talking" to her brother, who soon started responding. I decided that they were not hungry, just awake. I went in to their room and found them in each others' faces, having moved closer together so that they were now kicking each other. It's definitely time to split them up into separate cribs...

Periwinkle reenacts how I felt upon being woken up at 2:30am by her chit-chat.

I did the sway and shhh again with both of them and got them both sleeping again. Victory! (stupid me prematurely declaring success) I went back to bed and got maybe a half hour of sleep before they started up again. This time sway and shhh wasn't as effective, even though they still didn't seem too distressed. I got Peri asleep again but not Indigo. I changed his diaper and hoped that would do the trick. No go. More swaying and shhing and butt-patting and finally he was calm, at least. Back to bed with me. Twenty minutes later, so now almost 4am, and Periwinkle starts crying for real. This is more what I am used to. I declared defeat and went to make bottles. But I think I'm okay with that, because this time she did sound hungry. Indigo was still just looking around, calm, so we fed him as well.

And then neither of them wanted to go back to sleep. Blue somehow got them sleeping. I'm not sure how, since I conked out almost immediately in desperate need of some zzzzs. I don't think it took him longer than 15 minutes though, so I suppose that's not terrible. They aren't sleepy newborns anymore, after all, so we can't expect them to immediately fall asleep when we lay them down like they used to.

So thus far, I am happy that they napped better, and that I am getting better at reading their cries. I would like to eliminate that 2:30am "playtime" wake time, though. I think it is likely a result of them still being unused to their earlier bedtime and I am hoping that a few more days of this new routine will get them sleeping through until they are hungry, probably around 3:30am or 4am. If a few more days doesn't do the trick, I might try that dreamfeed idea when we go to bed around 10pm.

A work in progress...

And once we get them used to this bedtime, we'll start moving it even earlier in 15 minute increments. They should have an easier time adjusting to that than to this bigger jump from 11pm to 9pm. If daylight savings time doesn't totally eff it all up.

Sleep Training

For a while there, I didn't think we'd need to deal with sleep training. The kids seemed to go to bed just fine after a 10pm feeding (so around 11pm), wake up at 4:30am to eat, then sleep until woken up around 7:30am to go to daycare or hang out around the house if it's the weekend. Then two things happened.

1. I realized I wasn't getting to bed until nearly midnight because I'd be doing all my stuff after they went to bed, which made for Zombie Red once I went back to work. I get up at 6am to be at work by 8am. Figure six hours minus the 4:30am feeding equals about five hours of sleep. That's just not liveable for me.

Probably how I look these days.

2. I did a lot of reading and talking to other moms, and their kids were averaging about 11 hours of sleep at night. Ours were averaging about 8. This was likely creating a vicious cycle where they were then overtired the next day, napped erratically, got even more overtired, then didn't sleep as much at night, and so on. And napping does not have the same restorative features as nightsleep. Also, as the saying goes, "Sleep begets sleep." I.e., get your kids napping well and they will sleep better at night. And if they go to bed earlier at night, they will, quite ironically, go longer before waking up and sometimes will actually start sleeping through the night, because they are better rested and thus sleep more soundly.

So, our mission is two-pronged:

1. Get the kids napping more regularly. No more than two hours should pass between them waking and them going back into nap-land. I'm sure the daycare knows this, but judging from their recent naps, the babies are going too long in between naps during the day.

2. Work back their bedtime from 11pm to 8pm. If that works well, perhaps even try and move it to 7pm, which would probably be best for them. It would mean I would never see them, pretty much, until weekends, so that would be a bit rough on me.

So the plan:

I'm going to mention to daycare, as non-judgmentally as possible, that we really want to work on naptimes and wake times.  It also seems that Periwinkle has a tougher time transitioning between sleep cycles and they might be getting her up when she starts to cry about 45 minutes into her nap. Instead she might just need some patting and shushing to help her fall asleep again for another sleep cycle. I'm going to work on this on weekends before I bring it up at daycare. For now we'll have them work on keeping wake times to two hours or less.

As for the second part, it's worked out pretty well that the babies are now eating around 8:30am, 12:30pm, and 4:30pm. Which leads to a last feeding around 8:30pm and a middle-of-the-night feeding around 3am. Last night Periwinkle was out like a light at 9pm. Indigo had a harder time, but he was the one with the worst napping yesterday so I chalked it up to overtiredness. He did eventually fall asleep for good at 10:08pm after a few cycles of us going up to calm him, rock him, and give him his pacifier back. The last time he cried, I could tell it was different. He would cry somewhat half-heartedly for a few moments, then be quiet for perhaps 20 seconds, then cry again. After a few minutes of that he finally quieted for good and fell asleep. I'm hoping he'll get better at calming himself like he did that last time, and that if we just give him five minutes to cry and then self-soothe he'll put himself back to sleep. It is SO hard to listen to him cry, though, and even though I say we're waiting five minutes, we never make it that long. Luckily Periwinkle can sleep through his crying! This part of sleep training is a work in progress. We still need to push their bedtime another hour earlier but I will let them adjust to 9pm first. We'll get there, little by little.

Day 61 of Project365

Then of course last night Periwinkle was crying at 2:15am, and Indigo woke up around then too, which he rarely does. We tried in vain to get them back to sleep before caving at 3am and feeding them. They both then resisted going back to sleep, and it took about twenty minutes of us going in and calming them (they alternated whose turn it was to cry, which was somewhat helpful) to finally fall asleep again. It's pretty rare that they resist going back to sleep in the middle of the night, so I'm hoping that was just a fluke and not a new normal. I'm sure it has something to do with their new, earlier bedtime, so perhaps in a few days they'll have adjusted and will drift back to sleep like they used to. I ordered Indigo one of the Woombie things Periwinkle has been using this week because his size small swaddling sleep sack just doesn't keep his arms from flailing the way the newborn size did, which I think makes it harder for him to fall asleep. I'm hoping, anyways!

Another thing we might try is a dreamfeed before we go to bed. Essentially you get them to eat while they are still in their crib asleep. This might push the MOTN feeding from 3am to 5am or something like that. We'll see if we feel the need to do that though. Just another tool in our arsenal.

Unless you are a parent of an infant, this was all probably horrible boring for you. If you are my parents or in-laws, this might help you understand what we're now trying to do for next time you are babysitting! I promise I'm not crazy (although Blue probably thinks I am) and there is a lot of evidence behind this whole "early to bed means better sleeping, happier babies" thing.

Spoke Too Soon

Indigo had another rough start to the night last night. I think he had a stomach ache and just wouldn't settle down unless he was in our arms. Of course this was the first night I felt totally exhausted and really just wanted to sleep, and also was the night before Blue headed to the office. Great timing! Finally around 1:30am we changed him for like the third time (nothing there previously) and discovered a lovely present. And of course it was my turn for the diaper change. But luckily he settled down after that. Phew! He just seems to be very hit or miss with the burping, although we're getting better at coaxing it out of him. His sister is much the same way.

And now, how we're going to teach them the alphabet:

Yup, we're nerds

I'm also looking into baby stimulation products, like mobiles and high contrast books. I've read they can be very good for the early weeks when they can't really grasp/play yet. Anyone out there use this type of thing? We've tried showing Indigo black and white photos and he does seem quite fascinated by them.

Wimmer-Ferguson Infant Stim-Mobile

by Manhattan Toy

Reversible Infant-Stim Crib Bumper Panel & Book in One

by Genius Baby Toys