Binky Breaking

After I posted my 4 month post talking about how the girls were sleeping pretty good through the night, it went down hill and went down hill fast!  All of the sudden I was getting up about 10x's a night to replace binkies.  The same was happening for their naps.  Both were dependent on their binkies to stay asleep although Siena more than Aria.  So a couple weeks ago both Shane and I had had it.  I seriously thought I would lose it if I had to replace a binky one more time.  So we both decided that we were done.  No more binkies for sleep and we were doing it cold turkey.  I called my sister in law Whitney for moral support since she had done it with Max the month before.  Everyone told me it takes 3 days.  So we were mentally prepared to last 3 days and get them off the binkies for sleeping.

I called my sisters that were going to babysit them this week to warn them and make sure they were committed to the cause.

The next day, I sent the following email to my family:
______________________________________
To: Family
Subject: Binky Breaking Update
Since I know everyone is wondering how our night went, here is the update:

First of all, all 3 naps went fairly well yesterday.  The hardest was Siena on her last nap woke up after an hour and cried 10 mins, not that hard though, and went back to sleep.  Very manageable.

We fed the girls, gave them a little lecture on sleeping without binkies, and even sang them Lionel Richie's 'All Night Long' song.  So we put the girls down, put monitors in both their rooms and shut the doors so they wouldn't wake each other up.  We mentally prepared for lots of crying and went downstairs.  Aria was really tired because she has decided to give up her little 6:30 cat nap this week.  So she fell asleep without making a sound.  Siena started crying at 8:47.  She would cry a little and then stop, then cry a little then stop.  She never even got that loud.  At 8:54pm she fell asleep.  7 minutes...that's it....I can handle that.

We went to bed thinking it was still going to be a long night.  At 4:30am I woke up....to silence!  I was in shock.  Not a peep from them yet.  At 5:30 I heard Aria wake up, she cried out 3 little cries and went back to sleep.  I never heard a sound from Siena until we got them up at 7 this morning.  I'm hoping this isn't beginners luck and today will be worse but seriously, all I could think about this morning was 'Best Parenting Decision EVER!'  We are both soooo happy that we didn't have to get up out of bed once.

Jennifer, are you still feeling committed to watching the girls today?  Hopefully they won't cry too hard and will nap good for you....and to answer your question of 'I feel bad, are they suffering?'  the answer obviously is no...

So that's the update! So happy...
Sheri
________________________________________

So Jennifer gets the girls that afternoon to watch them and here is her reply to my email:
________________________________________
From: Jennifer
Subject: Re: Binky Breaking Update

__________________________________________
LOL...I cracked up.  Jennifer had found the 'emergency' binkies in the diaper bag.  Ok she just did it for the picture but seriously so funny.  I also love this picture because you can see how blue their eyes both are.  And this was taken from an iphone without any editing.

Since then they have been doing great.  Naps still aren't that great and the nights aren't perfect but still is about 95% better than before.  It's heaven and I still stand by my line of 'best parenting decision ever."  However, I don't regret giving the girls binkies at all and would do it again, it was just time they learned to sleep without them.

4 month check up

The girls had their 4 month doctor appointment today.  The appointment went well.  They got 2 shots each and screamed pretty hard this time.  I've never seen Aria's face so red as it was today after her shots.  They came home had some tylenol and have been fine since.  Hopefully they sleep well tonight.  Instead of showing some sad shots of them getting their shots, I thought I would show you some pictures of them before church this last Sunday.  Aren't they cute?

Aria
Weight - 13 lbs 4 oz - 25%
Height - 25 inches - 75%
Head - 25%
The big accomplishment today is that she no longer has to take the Neosure, high calorie formula.  Yeah for being on the same formula as her sister.  And yeah for being able to buy a cheaper formula.

Siena
Weight - 14 lbs 15 oz - 75%
Height - 26 inches - 95%
Head - 60%
Her biggest accomplishment today is that they don't think her head on the one side is flat enough to warrant extra attention and just be cautious.  I was a little worries but actually think it's gotten a touch better and so was happy that they agreed that it was just fine.

Evening Fun

Hi.  Siena and Aria here.  We just wanted to show you some pictures of what our evenings usually consist of.

Siena: "I still raise my fist sometimes, but now it's more fun upside down."
Aria: "Me too, except I like my left fist better."  "Am I going to be left-handed?"
Siena: "Well both our grandma's and one of our grandpa's are left handed, so very possibly, yes."

Siena "We snuggle with mom and dad"
Aria "Yeah, that's my favorite part"

Aria "We try out new hair do's"
Siena: "Hey, when is my hair going to be as long as yours, no fair!"

Siena: "We stare at each other during tummy time"
Aria "Yeah, except you're usually crying"
Siena: "I know, I hate tummy time"

Aria: "We get ready for bath time."
Siena: "Sweet, we love bath time"

Aria: "One bonus item is sometimes Dad lets me suck on his finger.  I can chomp on that for a long time.  It feels soo good on my gums.
Siena: "That's kind of weird sister."

Aria:  "Our evenings are so much fun don't you think sister?"
Siena: "Yeah, except for when they put us in that dark room and leave, I don't like that part."
Aria: "Me either"

Lunch dates

Since starting back at work, Shane has done the nicest thing for me.  One day each week he has brought the girls up and gone to lunch with me.  I take short lunches now so I can get home a little earlier than I normally would so it's a quick lunch.  These pictures were from our trips to McDonald's and Wendy's.  The girls first trip, probably of many to come, to McDonald's.

It's a lot of work to get Siena and Aria in car seats, out the door, drive all the way up to work only to turn around and come right back home a short time later.  We probably won't do it every single week but I appreciate Shane making the effort to do this for me because even though it's a short time I get to see them, it makes my entire day and week.  It's one day that it's a little easier going to work.  Thanks Shane, I love you.

Jazz game date night

A couple weeks ago, Shane's aunt and uncle called us and had some extra tickets to the Jazz game that night.  I of course jumped at the chance to go to a Jazz game and the seats were even in the lower bowl...bonus.

Grandma Glover was still in town and graciously offered to babysit the girls on a Saturday night (it was supposed to be her night off that she could spend with Shane's sister).

We had a great time, it was Deron Williams first trip back to Salt Lake since being traded from the Jazz last year so it was fun to see all the people both cheering and booing him.  The Jazz won...yeah!  It was a fun night out and fun date with my husband.

Grandma Visits

The day I went back to work Grandma Glover came into town.  She was here for 2 weeks to help out with babysitting and whatever we needed while we figured out how to cope with me working full time.  She was so helpful and the girls loved having her here.

Just like grandma's usually do, she spoiled them.  She put their binkies in a lot, played their music on their bouncy seat over and over and over, held and rocked them and whistled and talked to them.  They really got some good quality time with her and you could see their faces light up when she would talk to them.  It helped Shane be able to get work done.  And I appreciated her as well, not only for taking care of the girls but for washing clothes, bottles and dishes.  I'm pretty sure I didn't do any laundry, dishes or bottle washing for 2 weeks.  Needless to say, it was a hard adjustment when she left.

Thanks Grandma Glover for all your help!

4 months

How did this happen? How did our little newborns turn into babies this month? I can’t believe how much they have changed this month. This has by far been the biggest month of change.

Both girls are sleeping through the night most nights. We have an occasional night where one wakes up early (like last night…not to name names…Sxxxx) But most nights we never get up or get up once to put a binky in. We still do a dreamfeed for Aria before we go to bed but it’s a really fast 2 ounces and she never wakes up.

They smile ALL the time, you barely have to look at them and they smile, it’s so cute. Both kick their legs constantly. They love sucking on their hands…which is fine as long as they don’t become thumb suckers. They can hold their head up really well and are starting to enjoy their toys, chair and exersaucer more and more.

They have finally started looking at each other just this last week. I don’t think they realize who they are looking at but I’ve caught them both staring at the other one a few times. We’ve been working on this and turn them towards each other to see what they will do.

The biggest change this month has been going back to work full time. Although I don’t think the girls even realize it that much, it has been a huge adjustment on our part. Having to integrate a work identity with a mom identity has proved to be very emotionally challenging for me. Having to give up some control of them, their day and not know every minute of their life has been sad for me. Call me a control freak, it's true. They are doing great though and I love that they get to stay home with Shane. Grandma Glover has been here to help for the first few weeks and my sisters and mom are so excited to help as well. They just had their first day at my sisters yesterday and they did great. Michelle called me throughout the entire day giving me updates on their day and I loved hearing how well they did and how excited Michelle is to watch them.

I’ve noticed some differences between the girls this month. Siena seems to do everything physical first. Which makes sense since she is bigger and stronger in general. Aria though does all the mental things first. So Siena loves to put pressure on her legs and stand and look around. Aria just barely started putting pressure on her legs this last week. Whereas Aria is laughing out loud and has been for a couple weeks, Siena gives us a few small hints of a laugh but nothing huge yet. Aria will talk and talk to me and Siena will just here and there. Siena started kicking her legs and sucking her hands first and then Aria follows a couple weeks later. So my guess is that Siena is going to crawl and walk first, and Aria is going to say words first. Either way we love seeing them grow and progress and do new things.

And just so you can see the photo shoot and how it went.  I can't get them to both smile in the same picture...so here's a collage of their '4 month photo shoot.'