Weight and height: I mentioned this on facebook the other day, but nothing makes me more proud than the fact that I'm responsible for Chloe and William's growth. I wanted to cry tears of happiness when I saw their growth charts at their four-month wellness check on Monday. Yay for chubby baby rolls!
 |
| Look at Chloe's thighs! Hopefully she'll use her strong legs to go running with me when she's older. |
Chloe weighs 14 lbs 1 oz (51st percentile) and is 25.5 inches long (91st percentile). Will weighs 12 lbs 12 oz (6th percentile) and is 24 inches long (10th percentile). They both have increased in percentile ranks since their two-month visit in both weight and height. I'm elated that they are growing so well!
Sleeping patterns: Will needs to take a clue from his sister and start sleeping through the night. Since starting daycare, they go to bed between 6:30 and 7:00. Chloe wakes around 5ish, and Will wakes 1-2 times a night. When Brian was gone last weekend, I fed Will after my last pump (so like 11:30ish) and he slept until almost 5. Their doctor said we should start doing that on a regular basis, but I'm so exhausted during the work week that I can't do without the extra 30 min of sleep (since, you know, I get so much sleep right now). Maybe he'll figure it out on his own like Chloe? My 14-15 contract is up on June 11th, so I hope we can make it until then before I start that late night feeding on the regular. That way I can hopefully make up for the lost sleep by napping when they do.
Eating habits: They both are holding steady at about 4-5 oz of breastmilk 7x/day. I am crushing my pumping goals and hope to keep going through the summer, though I may start dropping one of my daytime pumps and doing some supplementing so I can have a little more freedom for things like the park and zoo. I think they only time they've had formula was during our trip to MN, and that was because I didn't want to deal with heating the milk we had in the fridge while we were on the road. And some this week because when I get busy I don't take the time to eat or drink enough water. Hopefully I can get my supply back up!
They are starting to be interested in food. They both watch us eat and they are drooling like crazy. Will is a piggy and I can't wait to see how he does with food.
New discoveries they've made: Hands, blankets, toys - they all taste delicious! Everything is moving to their mouths.
Accomplishments: They both are able to hold their heads up decently enough to sit in the Bumbo seat or with pillows around them. Chloe is a rockstar at tummy time now, and Will likes to kick himself around in circles when he's on the floor. He also rolls up to his side. I haven't seem them roll over at all, but we haven't done much tummy time with them at home since they started daycare.
They are becoming more coordinated, and can reach for toys and other objects. They both have held their bottles on their own a few times (YES!).
This is really an accomplishment for me, but I spent 57 hours (sounds more impressive than a weekend) caring for all three kids by MYSELF while Brian went to Arizona for his grandpa's funeral. I wanted to be there for Brian and his family, and to say my goodbyes to Marv, so I was a little more emotional than usual during my time alone with the kids. But despite that, this went okay. We all lived (in our pajamas all weekend), and I somehow found enough time to pump and get the laundry done, plus celebrate Dom's birthday with my parents.
A few pictures of our time without Daddy:
 |
| Don't leave us for that long again, Daddy! |
Places they went: We went to Minnesota for my cousin's wedding, and OMG it sucked! I loved seeing my family, but I really didn't get to spend time with them because Dom was a bear and Brian and I were playing man-to-man with the babies. We couldn't have done this trip without my parents - Dom rode with them to and from St. Cloud so I could sit in the back with the babies.
The weekend before that we went to Omaha for a Kentucky Derby party (and thank goodness, Dom rode with Mitch and Julie). This trip was a little less crazy because we stayed at Mark and Jamie's house the entire time. Having easy access to a place to pump and a quiet place to put the babies to sleep made this trip so much easier.
Special friends they've made: They both love looking at each other, and it is the sweetest thing. I'm looking forward to seeing how they interact with each other. So far it seems like Will is more into Chloe than she is into him. Our daycare providers said that they both seem more calm when they spend time together there.
 |
| Will always watches Chloe |
 |
| Spending time together at daycare |
 |
| Trying so hard to get Dominic to look at her while he was watching Spongebob |
Now that they can grasp things, they both love the teddy bears Dominic gave them on their birth day. Its adorable watching them try to eat them.
 |
| Will fell asleep mid-play at daycare. Guess he didn't want to let go of those rings... |
Noises and babbles: Baby laughs are the cutest sounds. They both talk a lot and I love listening to them. Will tends to talk more than Chloe does, but just this week she's starting to talk more.
Firsts:
Wedding
We all had coordinating outfits and we didn't get one picture. We survived, but it was sort of a disaster. Thankfully it was outside because Dominic refused to sit still and kept running from Brian, and almost ran down the aisle just as the wedding procession began. Then of course Chloe started having a fit right as they began to say their vows. Neither of the babies would relax at the reception, and Chloe pulled her stunt of letting no one but me calm her. I had a mini-meltdown in the bathroom at the reception because Chloe wouldn't stop crying and Dom was being such a stinker. My great aunt Sally came to give me a hug and I just started crying. Missing my grandma, being sad about my uncle Mike not being alive to walk my cousin down the aisle, sleep deprivation, and crabby children came together for the perfect storm. I'm looking forward to the day that we can relax and enjoy family functions again!
Bad cold
Chloe got her first bad cold this week. Both babies were home sick Monday, and Chloe had to stay home again on Tuesday. She was so kind as to share her monster cold with the rest of us, but it seems like she had it the worst.
 |
| Cuddling with her teddy from Dominic and refusing to swallow her Tylenol. Stubborn miss. |
 |
| She just wanted to be held all day long. |
 |
| Poor guy puked all over himself at daycare and had to wear Chloe's pants. |
Other adventures this month:
Mother's Day Pictures
Joseph's wanted to display a variety of mother/daughter photos for their Mother's Day promotions, so Mom, Chloe, and I took some pictures. I was exhausted that day so I'm not a huge fan of them, but I absolutely love this one.
Family Time
Adam, Ally, and Austin were in town for a wedding, so they spent a few evenings over at our house. The last night they were here, all three kids were crying and it was mass chaos. I'm sure they left our house thinking that they will never have another child again. It's only that bad sometimes. The majority of the time, life is pretty amazing with these three kiddos.
I'll end with a bunch of random photos from the month:
