Doctor, Doctor.

Leia's hip ultrasound came back normal, which I figured it would. Her doctor thought it would too, but ordered it just was a precaution. That girl wiggles and kicks constantly so I doubted there was anything wrong there. She seems to have a very similar personality as her big big sister. She only takes small catnaps during the day and when she wants something, she wants it now. We're going to have some fun with her when she gets older.

Mira's the one who's been giving us problems lately. I was thinking that she was maybe just a colicky baby like Adia was. Adia would scream for at least 3 hours every evening for weeks as a baby. It was awful and we called it the witching hours. Nothing we did could make her happy and we knew not to go out anywhere during that time. Well, Mira started screaming a couple weeks ago and it was horrible. She'd scream and scream which would cause Leia to scream too. It was obvious that something was upsetting her and we couldn't figure out what. Yesterday I noticed that it always seemed to happen within 15 minutes of a feeding and it happened again this morning. She'd eat, burp a ton, start to get fussy and then the screaming would start. The screaming would only stop once she'd cried herself to sleep. I called the doctor's office today and explained the problem. They made me an appointment for the afternoon. I was thinking there could be a number of things wrong, but didn't want to switch formula again without input from a doctor too. I was thinking she could be lactose intolerant, have a milk protein allergy, possible reflux or an immature digestive system.


Leia (left), Mira (right)



I took her in and the first thing they did was weigh her. Mira's a whopping 9lbs14oz! She's about 6oz bigger than what Adia was at the same age. She seems so much bigger though, but I think that's because she's much shorter. I talked to the doctor and explained what had been going on. She felt Mira's tummy and basically told me that my suspicions were probably correct. She sent me home with samples of soy based formula and nutramagen to try. We started the soy formula immediately and Mira could tell it tasted different, but she drank it anyway. She ate, burped and fell asleep. It was the first time she's been completely relaxed in a long time. She cried for a little bit this evening, while I was putting Adia to bed, but it was only because she was hungry. Once I fed her more, she burped a tiny bit and then just lounged in the boppy, looking around. She didn't complain at all and is certainly already a lot less gassy. She seems like she's my mellow, happy baby again. I'm hoping it continues like this.

It's a bit ironic though because when I was pregnant with them, I thought wouldn't be my luck if one baby was allergic to dairy and the other had a nut allergy, meanwhile Adia's gluten intolerant. Cooking could become even more interesting. Of course, so far Leia's ok with her formula and we won't know about food allergies with her for quite awhile.

Besides fussy babies, Adia's had a few good days. On Wednesday, we saw Heather, her husband and M, her oldest daughter. Tanae wasn't with them, but Adia was perfectly happy playing with M, who turned 5 today. We went out to lunch and then DiDi took M and Adia to the play area. Adia was so happy to have a friend with her and they played really well together.




Adia really had fun yesterday when she went back to the coast with DiDi. She stayed with Gramma and Papa while DiDi did some work at school and then DiDi took Adia to M's birthday party. Adia was so happy and had a blast. There were lots of other kids there, including Tanae. I made Adia some mini brownie cupcakes so she wouldn't feel left out when it came time for cake and ice cream. Since Adia had a cupcake, Tanae had to have one too. I don't have any pictures of the party, but maybe DiDi will share some soon. I do know that Adia is now a Barbie girl. She played with her first Barbie at the party and is now hooked. She really likes that you can put Barbie in a car and drive it around.

Adia's potty use is still hit or miss. She pooped in it today and peed a couple times, but she's not doing it consistently. She did start getting herself dressed on her own without a fight. I just help her pull up her pants or make sure her clothes aren't backwards, she does the rest, including picking out her outfits. That kid will pretty much do anything for stickers.

You know you're tired when...

...you toss Adia's swimming suit into the trash can after swimming and are still holding her swim diaper.

... you can't find your diaper bag when it's over your shoulder.

Adia's interest in potty training has gone out the window again. I have no idea how to keep her interested and it's very annoying. I'm so sick of changing poopy diapers on a 2 year old, especially one that's smart enough to know better. She's also such a pain when it comes to diaper changes. I am so ready to be done.

The twins are growing like crazy. I swear Mira weighs at least 11lbs already. Leia's probably around 9lbs. They look so much bigger than they were and they eat constantly. They're also much better sleepers than Adia ever was. Mira let me sleep 8 hours a couple nights ago, but she let me have it last night. She screamed for over 4 hours. And I mean screamed. Nothing would make her happy and you could tell her tummy hurt. I decided to open up a can of Enfamil Gentlease in hopes she just has a problem with the formula. After she drank 2oz of it last night, she fell asleep and slept until 5am. She then ate more and went back to sleep for a little bit. When Daddy took her this morning, she even pooped a little. She hasn't gone in a few days so I'm thinking that's also part of her problem. She's been a pretty happy baby today so maybe the formula did make a difference. Leia has been cranky though.


Mira

Both babies have their first colds too. That hasn't helped with their sleeping either. They're completely stuffed up and Leia's a lot like Adia. When she has post-nasal drip, it makes her gag and puke. Leia did that to me twice the other night. It was so gross and we ended up taking a bath at midnight.


Leia
Adia's been really into art lately. She drew me an awesome smiley face. I'm going to frame it and put it on the wall. I also bought her some watercolors. She's been having a blast playin with them. Now if only I could get her to stop knocking over the cup of water.






DiDi, Adia, the twins and I have been going for lots of walks lately too. Adia usually rides in a stroller or the wagon while DiDi and I wear the twins. It usually works pretty well and half the time Adia falls asleep. Yesterday she fell asleep in the wagon and took a nice long nap.




Adia visited the library for the first time last week. If there's one thing that Adia isn't, it's quiet so I was a little worried about taking her there. Not to mention all the books. She terrorizes the bookstore because she wants all the books so I had a feeling she'd do the same thing there. I was right. The second we walked in the door, she started talking at the top of her lungs and trying to run wild. The biggest problem were the drinking fountains though. She kept trying to climb up to get a drink and wouldn't leave them alone. I had to take her outside for a quick time out, but it didn't accomplish much. Adia did enjoy getting some Arthur books and an Arthur DVD. We've been back once to return our books and get more. Adia was better the second time.

Adia's asleep in her bed today. We had a horrible time getting her to sleep since she's completely stuffed up. Her nose was running like crazy all day. I'm thinking she has allergies because she just kept sneezing. I don't think sleeping while being stuffed up so I can't imagine she feels different. Anyway, she's asleep in HER bed right now. I hope it lasts a long time. She has music playing, even though she complained it wasn't Mommy's music, i.e. Mommy singing.

Gramma was here for a few days this past week to help out since DiDi was away. We went for a walk to test out the new stroller again. Adia surprises me every time she actually wants to ride in it. I'm ok with it since it's one less thing I have to worry about. She's strapped in so she can't go anywhere. Leia prefers riding in the Kozy anyway.


Even though Gramma was here for quite awhile, I did have a couple days and nights by myself. Those were interesting. On one of the days I decided to give Leia a bath. I actually wanted to bathe both babies, but Mira was sleeping when Adia wanted to take a bath. I wasn't going to risk waking her so she missed out. She did get a bath the next day when Daddy was here to help.


The most interesting night and day we've had so far was yesterday. The girls slept well, Leia only waking up once to eat between 11:30 and 6. It would have been an even greater night except I woke to the sound of water trickling. It sounded like it was raining inside, which I knew was probably not a good thing. I reluctantly got up, worried I'd wake Leia, only to step into a lake coming out of the bathroom. I laid Leia down, hoping she'd stay asleep, and went to investigate what was leaking. When I lifted the back of the toilet, I was nearly sprayed in the face. The hose that fills the tank had come loose and water was just pouring out. I called Daddy in a panic, but he told me he couldn't leave work and didn't know what to do except call management. I then remembered that DiDi had taught me long ago how to turn off the water to the toilet. I did that and the water stopped immediately. I then attempted to call the manager, but there was no answer so I started cleaning everything up. I'm still very grateful that it was clean water and not the toilet backing up.

Leia had her hip ultrasound on Monday as well. I dropped Adia off at 'Nita's house while I took Leia to her appointment. Adia was super excited about staying there and wasn't too worried when I left. We waited forever to get called back for the ultrasound and by then, Leia was awake and starting to act hungry. I had no idea what to expect. It took two people to do the ultrasound. One held Leia on her side and positioned her hips while the other worked the ultrasound machine. Leia was not a happy camper. She screamed through the whole thing, but it was over really quickly. We won't know any results until Friday, at the earliest.

It was then time to pick Adia back up. Adia was at the park, playing with chalk when I arrived. She was happy to see me, but not eager to leave either. We stayed for a little while and Adia showed me her new toys that 'Nita had bought her to play with. Adia let me know it was time to go home and she feel asleep before we had even left the neighborhood. It was a good thing she napped too because it was a swimming day. I actually had to wake her from her nap so we could leave. She was super happy to see Gramma, Papa and Eck though.

The twins are still too little for swimming, so we put the stroller to good use again. I'm definitely going to get my money's worth out of it. Adia enjoyed swimming, but would periodically come over to kiss her babies. That wouldn't have been a problem if she wasn't soaking wet. Just before it was time to go, she woke them both up and they started screaming. It didn't help that they were hungry and I had only packed one bottle.






After swimming we went to Red Robin. Adia was all about Papa. She had to sit next to him and they played. When it was time to order, Adia even told our server what she wanted.


I was hoping she'd fall asleep on the way home, but she didn't. She fought sleep and was up too early this morning. I was exhausted last night, but luckily Leia slept 11:30-6:45. It was nice to have 7 hours of sleep. I had a dentist appointment this morning and when I tried to leave, Adia begged to come with me. I was hesitant to take her, but I wanted to give her a chance. She was absolutely perfect. She sat in the corner while I got my teeth cleaned. Then even let the hygienist look at her teeth. She got a clean bill of health too! When it was time for my x-rays, Adia sat in a chair in the hallway. I couldn't have asked for a better behaved little girl.

After my appointment, we went home and we all went to the mall. Adia got to play for a bit and then we walked to lunch. Adia was already starting to get tired. We walked back to the mall, Adia had ice cream and then fell asleep in the car on the way home. She was cranky when she woke up a couple hours later and didn't want to go to bed tonight. She was really happy to see DiDi this evening.

Adia was doing really well with potty training the last few days. She had only a couple accidents and pooped in the potty twice. I was so proud of her, but today she forgot all about it. Each time I asked her if she needed to use it, she'd just get mad at me. She even pooped in her diaper this afternoon. Maybe I can get her to wear her big girl underwear tomorrow so she'll use the potty again.

Don't Go to Sleep Daddy, I Have Yogurt!

Adia says the funniest things and today it was, "Don't go to sleep Daddy, I have yogurt!" or "oh gurt" in Adia's words. She wanted to share her yogurt with Daddy, even though he wasn't hungry and needed to go to sleep. I can't tell you how hard I laughed over that. She's also said some other funny things lately, but I just can't remember them all.

Nothing like a clean, big eyed baby to make you smile. Leia's generally wide eyed, she can't help it, and she doesn't sleep much.


The twins got to meet their great aunt Cindy last week. She was in love and they thought she was pretty cool too. She couldn't stay long, though, and we're hoping to have a much longer visit again soon.


DiDi's been wanting to take the girls for a walk for ages, but we couldn't figure out how to do it. We didn't have a good stroller (ours didn't recline) and wearing them can start to get heavy (it's not bad using the Kozy), so DiDi figured out a way to use her wagon. We padded the bottom a bit and used the boppies. The girls happily slept and we were able to walk. Adia didn't want to ride in a stroller, so she walked for the longest time. She hadn't napped that day and was soon too tired to walk. Gramma and Daddy ended up carrying babies while Adia fell asleep in the wagon.








Adia had her first real haircut this last week too. DiDi and I went to get ours cut so Adia begged to have her hair cut too. I was worried about her holding still or throwing a fit in the chair, but she acted like a much older child. She sat perfectly still and did everything that was asked of her. I was so proud of her and know that next time she needs her hair cut, she'll be good. She seemed proud of herself as well.




After haircuts was swimming. We left the twins with DiDi so I could actually swim. It's been 6 weeks since I was last able to get in the water. It felt good to swim and Adia seemed happy to have me there. She showed off her swimming skills by chasing us all over the pool. Eck went swimming too and had to show off his new bike. Adia loves motorcycles so she was super excited for him. He even let her sit on it.


Daddy had a training on Tuesday so Adia, the twins and I spent the evening with DiDi. We ate dinner with her and watched a couple movies. Adia even had a purple popsicle. She did a great job of not making that much of a mess with it.


Yesterday was Miracle Treat day at Dairy Queen. It was the perfect excuse to get ice cream after dinner. I thought for sure that Adia would fall asleep in the car, but she didn't. I got her a chocolate sundae while the rest of us had blizzards. She didn't eat much of her ice cream though.




DiDi's in Denver visiting family right now so Adia and I have been trying to keep busy with Gramma and the twins. Yesterday we went to Costco and today we went grocery shopping, to Toys R Us and the mall. Adia picked up several things at Toys R Us and had fun playing at the mall until some little brat bit her. Adia didn't cry, she was just super surprised. I don't think she really knew how to react. I told her that in the future, she can fight back. No one has the right to bite her and she was the right to defend herself. I really wish she had hit him. She's got a mean arm.


When we got back from the mall, Adia and I made butter. I think she was thoroughly confused by what I wanted her to do. The process also took much longer than she had patience for so Mommy ended up doing most of the work. I was surprised at how quickly it happened and it was shocking to see how quickly it went from whipped cream to butter. Adia liked the finished product though and ate it on some of her toast.


My new stroller came yesterday. I was so excited to get to use it today. Mira and Adia rode in it at Toys R Us. As usual, Mira slept through it all. When we went to the mall, the twins started out in it. That didn't last long. Leia doesn't like to be set down. She's just like Adia was and wants to be held all the time. She also doesn't sleep well. Before the twins were born I asked that at least one of them be a good sleeper and apparently someone was listening.


Of course with the next two pictures, you wouldn't believe that Leia's not a sleeper. Both girls slept well last night, going from 1:30-6:30. I actually didn't feel too tired this morning. Granted, I didn't want to get up that early, but I wasn't completely wiped out. Adia was up at 7 and looked refreshed.




Now that the twins are 5 weeks old, we've been able to start a routine. Adia's been in bed by 9 the last couple nights. That's certainly helped with her attitude. We've been trying to have dinner by 6:30, then her bath and books in bed with Mommy. The only problem is she still won't sleep in her own bed. I'm sure we'll get back to her in her own bed, but it's going to take some time.


We've also started full on potty training. We picked up a sticker chart at Toys R Us today. I figured it couldn't hurt to try and Adia immediately took to it. She'll do anything for a sticker. She also desperately wants to wear big girl panties. She's been dry the last two nights and knows when she needs to use the potty, it's just a matter of stubborness now. So, after she fell asleep tonight, I went to the store and bought more big stickers, some prizes, Hershey kisses and big girl panties. Each time she pees on the potty, she'll get a sticker. Once she's filled her chart, she gets a prize. If she poops on the potty, she'll get a Hershey Kiss. I really hope it works because I'd love to not buy her diapers anymore. Not changing another of her poopies would be nice too.

1 month old!

It's official, we survived the first month with twins and a two year old. The girls are growing like weeds. As of today, Mira is 8.8lbs and Leia is 7.9lbs. Adia was no where near that size at a month. Now I know why Mira's growing out of the newborn clothes and diapers. It wasn't just my imagination.

I took pictures of my girls today. Adia was surprisingly cooperative despite being a cranky kid day. She was actually more cooperative than Leia was. Mira slept through it all, but Leia screamed at first. Adia even said she liked Mira more because she was sleeping. Her solution to keep Leia from screaming, let Leia suck on her finger. It worked.








I had the girls by myself for most of the day because DiDi's sick. Normally it's not a problem until both babies wake up hungry and screaming and Adia wants something too.


Later in the day we went outside. Adia wasn't so cooperative then, but eventually came around.






No pictures of Daddy because by the time he got up, Adia was already asleep.

Daddy went back to work and we're slowly developing a routine. DiDi leaves in just a few days to visit my brother and her other grandchildren so that will be another adjustment. Adia's been used to seeing DiDi on a daily basis and she's going to miss her even though she's gone less than a week. Adia will be seeing Gramma and Papa though.

As you can imagine, the hardest part of the day is bedtime. Adia hasn't been going to bed at a normal time since I was in the hospital on bedrest and we're trying to get back to it. Yesterday she was asleep by 9:30, which was great, but there was one big problem. Leia didn't feel like sleeping. She screamed until 1a! DiDi was here and tried her best to get Leia calmed and asleep, but as soon as DiDi left, Leia started up again. I finally got to sleep around 1:30a, only to be awakened by Mira at 4a. That wouldn't have been too bad except her crying woke Leia, who once again started screaming and even after eating 5oz, didn't want to go back to sleep. It was rough. I think I got back to sleep a little after 5a and the girls all woke up at 7:45. Daddy was nice to me and took Adia and a hungry Mira so I could sleep longer. Adia woke me up at 10. She walked in and told me she was poopy. I asked her if Daddy was sleeping and she told me he was. I walked out into the living room to find Daddy asleep on the floor and Mira asleep on his chest.

DiDi and I have had some outings with all three girls. We've been to Target, the mall and the grocery store. DiDi wears Mira in a snugli, Leia goes in the Kozy on me and Adia usually walks. I absolutely love my Kozy carrier still. It's so easy to use and Leia loves it too. She's slept through everything we've done.

play dough ice cream

The real interesting outing involved three sleeping kiddos. Adia fell asleep in the car by the time we got to the grocery store. We wore the twins and then had to figure out what to do with Adia. DiDi grabbed a race car cart and we used my diaper bag as a pillow. Adia slept through shopping and woke up as we were leaving the store. It's just proof that she's not getting enough sleep at night.

Today Adia and I baked brownies. She absolutely loves to help any way she can. She pushed a chair over and watched for a bit while I melted the butter and chocolate. I was really worried she was going to burn herself, but she didn't. While she waited for me to give her something to do, she made music with a whisk. She would hit it against a metal measuring cup. She almost had more fun doing that than the actual cooking. She really enjoyed being able to add the sugar, each egg and the flour mixture. This time she managed to get everything IN the bowl as opposed to when we made muffins and she dumped all the flour next to the bowl. She also attempted some stirring, but she just doesn't quite have the oomph for it yet.


When the brownies came out of the oven she was desperate to eat them. I kept telling her they had to cool before we could cut them, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. While I was feeding Leia, I heard a chair slide across the kitchen floor and then it got much too quiet. I walked into the kitchen to find Adia leaning over the brownie pan. She smiled at me and told me she wasn't doing anything when I asked her. When I walked over the pan, I noticed little holes all over the top. She gave me another grin, hopped down and ran out of the kitchen. She did get a brownie before we left. She is such a little stinker anymore.

We went over to my mom's friend's house again today. Adia loves it there and she knew where we were going. She woke up this morning and the first words out of her mouth were, "We go Nita's house?" She couldn't get dressed fast enough, even though we weren't leaving until the afternoon. Every few minutes she'd ask again. When we were on the way there and had just turned on her street, Adia yelled, "I found Nita's house!" She was so excited. I guess I know I have a place to leave her if I ever need a babysitter. Adia also really liked Nita's son's girlfriend. They took Adia to the park and when they came back, she was carrying Adia! Adia's normally very shy so that was a surprise. When it was time to leave, Adia even gave her a huge hug.

Adia fell asleep in the car, just before we got home, which turned into a very late nap. I had to wake her up around 8p to eat dinner. Then we took a bath together, where she demanded we bathe the babies too. Adia helped bathe the babies. She's usually very careful not to get water in their faces. We got out and put on pjs. I fed both babies with Adia sitting in my lap (not an easy task) and they were both almost asleep when Leia kicked off her blanket. She started howling again so I decided I'd grab a couple sleep sacks for them. Adia then wanted one too. She was very upset that they didn't make them big enough for her, but she did remember that we had just bought her footie pjs. Daddy grabbed them out of her room and I changed her. She was so happy to be dressed like her sisters.


We then all piled into the bed. It started out just Adia and me, but then Daddy had to leave so I ended up with Mira on my chest and Leia next to me. We finished watching Arthur and Adia requested songs. I started singing and soon all three girls were fast asleep. Mira and Leia are asleep in the pack and play. I'm hoping the sleep sacks keep them warm enough that they'll sleep well. Adia's asleep next to me. Someday she'll go back to her own bed, but I think my hospital stay freaked her out a bit.

The twins are continuing to grow and a fast pace. Leia's grown out of the smallest clothes we had and is definitely wearing newborn clothes well. She's got the longest arms and legs though so any pants or long sleeved tops are sometimes a little short, even if they're too wide. Mira's almost out of newborn already and can easily wear 3 month clothes. That's a shock to me since Adia didn't wear 3 month clothes until she was 3 months. At 1 month, Adia was still wearing mostly our smallest newborn stuff still. We had the hardest time finding clothes that were small enough for her. I still have trouble finding pants skinny enough, but long enough. Mira's also almost too big for the newborn diapers! Leia will be in them for a while longer though. She's a skinny thing.