Month 3 Recap

Hi All,

While Drew and Bree did a fabulous job on their monthly recaps, I figured it was my turn to bring you Month 3.
Jim and I started the month with our first over night away from the twins. We attended our friends, Jesse and Becky's wedding up in the Traverse City area. This also happened to be our 1st anniversary weekend, which made it another great reason to slip away for an evening. Drew and Bree were in the capable hands of Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Sarah, and Marc. The wedding was beautiful, and while we missed the babies, the break was refreshing. Drew and Bree enjoyed every moment with their grandparents and auntie, as usual. So, all in all, it was a successful venture!
We celebrated Mothers Day on May 10. We visited Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Drew and Bree with Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Sarah on Mothers Day


A glorious thing happened this month. Drew and Bree started sleeping through the night during Week 10. What a milestone! I found it interesting that they both started sleeping through the night at the same time. The first few nights it happened, I had to wonder if it was just Jim and I sleeping through the night, and not the kids. :) But sure enough, it stuck. I even spent a few nights on the couch, where I wake easier and sleep much more lightly to prove it. Don't get me wrong; I love spending time with my babies at any hour of the day (or night). But honestly, I was not feeling human getting sleep in only 1.5 - 3 hour increments. There are studies about the impact of sleep deprivation and all the wacky things it can do. Now, I know it to be true. It takes many infants much longer, so a big high five to the kiddos for coming through on this one so timely.
Now, I must back up a bit. In case anyone wonders how we may have prompted the glorious evening sleepfest, I'm not completely sure. At the end of Week 6, we were still up frequently during the middle of the night. Since we let each baby "feed on demand" as directed by our pediatrician, they were each setting their own schedules. Hence, we were up a few times (different times often) with each baby, which leaves Mom not much sleep at all. This would be ditto during the day, as Drew and Bree were napping at different times. Plus, Bree had been diagnosed with colic around Week 5.5. Well, by the end of Week 6, I hit rock bottom. Something had to change for sanity's sake. I figured if there were any way to "work on" getting the kiddos to sleep through the night, we would all be in a better place. I pulled out the "Babywise" book we received from my brother and sister in law and started reading. (Yes, I should have read this prior to their birth, but didn't get around to it.) Hence, we began a brief exercise of the "Babywise" methodology. For anyone not familiar, Babywise is a parenting methodology, with a primary objective of getting babies proper rest, which includes sleeping through the night. It provides guidelines for structuring your infant's schedule, such that there is routine - wake, eat, activity time, sleep repetitively throughout the day. Not everyone is a fan of this methodology, as one of the components of it involves letting your baby cry themselves to sleep during naps and bedtime. The up side of this is teaching your children independence, and that they indeed can self sooth without Mom and Dad. (For anyone really interested in all the ins and outs of Babywise, please consult the book or further research, as I am not intending this to be a full or proper synopsis by any means.) At any rate, we did attempt the Babywise methodologies for a few weeks, but it was difficult to stay on track for various reasons. Since we did not follow the program religiously, I can not credit their sleeping through the night to Babywise. I do like a lot of the methodology, and we will likely revisit it. Drew pretty naturally follows the wake, eat, activity, sleep structure without any prodding from us. Bree is another story. Studying and trying the methodology did teach me a very important lesson when I needed it the most. That is - it's okay for the babies to cry for short periods of time. I was getting ready to "go it alone" during the day shortly after tax season, meaning no scheduled helpers while Jim was at work. I had a lot of fears over not being able to console both babies at once if they both were upset at the same time. After "babywising" for even a short period of time, it made me much more comfortable with being able to handle the babies on my own.

On to some other fun news from this month.....

Drew started getting quite active in the crib. We often found him turned around in his crib after napping or first thing in the morning. It was quite humorous when we started finding him like this.....


However, we were also concerned about body parts getting stuck in between crib slats. So, we ended up buying some breathable crib bumpers which are working great.
Bree learned a new trick this month too. She started shaking her head back and forth as if to motion "no, no". I think she learned this from Daddy. When she looks like she is about to cry, Jim shakes his head at her and tells her "no, no, no". The head shaking is pretty cute. We can wait a few years for any accompanying "no" screams when she doesn't get her way.

We also noticed this month that both Bree and Drew have taken to sucking knuckles/thumbs/hands. They were using pacifiers when they were born. But as time passed, they did not seem dependent on them, which I thought was a good thing. That is, until the hand sucking started. I've actually tried to reintroduce the pacifiers (knowing someday I can take them away when they should not need them anymore). But the kiddos are less than interested at this point. So for now, we try to distract them from the hand sucking in other ways.
Drew and Bree had their first restaurant experience when we all went to Steak and Shake. We posted details and pictures here.
Lastly, the babies continue to grow at good rates. Drew weighed in at 14 lbs. and Bree was 12 lbs. on their 3 month birthday using our unofficial home scale.

Assuming we can keep up with our blogging from here on out, this will be our last monthly recap. Here are are few more pictures from Month 3 that were taken before we were back at our regular blogging. Enjoy!!!

Ahhh glorious sleep.....



Some of our pics from our foof chair photo shot....



More sleepyheads......