Naptime Nuttiness

Hi All,
Naps are getting a bit unpredictable around here. The new found freedom of Drew's toddler bed doesn't help. Some days, naps just don't happen. Other days, we end up with a heavenly three hour nap. Some days, it's just plain nutty! And here are Bree and Drew to prove it....

Drew was opposed to the whole idea of a nap. But given a bit of quiet time in his room, he did manage to pass out on the floor.

Bree, on the other hand, felt the need to stretch out on Mom and Dad's bed to get her into sleep mode.

But hey, who am I to complain - at least they are napping!

Nap Dodgers

Hi All,
Well, the sleep wars continue around here. I thought we had it all figured out the end of April with the play yard walls in place in the room during sleeping hours. However, the pushing and shoving on the play yard was really wreaking havoc on the bedroom walls - too many gauges for Jim to stomach. So, two weeks ago I picked up another gate (this one taller and easier to properly place than the last) at a garage sale, hoping it would work in the doorway. And it did - until today. After placing Bree in her crib and Drew in his bed, it was minutes later that I found this.....

One kid out of her crib and the other kid on the wrong side of the gate! Bree has crawled out before, once the end of April. But I had let her keep her shoes on and was sure that aided in her escape. Drew, the climber of all things, can now scale the new tall gate, repeatedly. By the end of the day, I even caught Bree trying to climb it, just like her brother.
So it appears we are right back to square one on the sleep front. Except now it's square one times two. The kids are at an age where they are not interested in sleeping when I say it's time. Being two years old, I suppose there is an element of control to it. Both kids have gone through phases where their sleep habits needed tweaking. At the moment, Drew is the one in need. I believe his antics often keep Bree awake longer than she would be on her own. Although, Bree can be the queen of stall techniques when she wants.

So instead of the prescribed mid-afternoon nap, Jim arrived home from work to this....

So let's see, I believe that makes the score -  

Drew: 4  

Me and the gates, play yards, doors: 0.

The battle continues...

Bottoms Up

Hi All,
The kids sometimes find their way out of their bedroom for naps these days. Bree crashed on the floor today. I just love the "bottom's in the air" look. Sure wish I could nap that well!

Kicked Out

Hi All -
We had our first really hot night last night, following a big thunderstorm. Not sure if it was the heat the woke the kids or just Drew's usual wake up call. But they both ended up in our bed sometime between 2 and 3 am. All the body heat was too much for me, and I bolted to the couch! Not sure how long Jim toughed it out with the extra bedtime companions, or even how he managed to find a spot among these two!

Doodle Pad

Hi All,
This is to show our good friend Tracy how much Bree likes the doodle pad that she kindly ordered for us. Can't go to bed without it!

Border Patrol

Hi All,
Let's just say border patrol is now in effect. It's been a week since Drew got his "big boy bed". Sure, things started out on a good note (kids settled in to sleep for nap and bedtime with no problem on day one). But, from there, we quickly moved to "bad" and maybe even a little ugly. Keeping Drew corralled quickly became an issue. He figured out pretty immediately that getting out of his new bed was even easier than the crib. I tried the pressure mounted gate we use for our laundry room in the doorway - he knocked it over on his first attempt. I spent time holding the door closed while he tried over and over again to open it. That got old in a hurry. I tried returning him to bed time after time of him getting up. That was pretty exhausting. Sunday evening, after a long line of antics, the kids got to sleep sometime after midnight. After some hair-pulling, I came up with the latest weapon in the bedtime war.

The play yard fence meets the bedroom.....

It ain't pretty, and I hate the hurdles I am forced to do to get over it while border patrol is in effect. But, it's doing the job at the moment. Sure, Drew still shakes and rattles on it, but he can't climb it, and it keeps him form opening and shutting the door. And, witness the sleeping child in this picture. For that reason, I snapped this picture of my boy with a larger than usual amount of delight. Hopefully, we'll continue to keep things in line south (or technically "west") of the border.

Waking Up is Hard to Do

Hi All,
I happened to get a wake up video this morning. My twosome ended up in the same bed last night after some middle of the night "fun" with their dad. Drew is a bit more bright eyed and bushy tailed here than Bree. But hey, waking up is hard to do, wouldn't you agree?!?

Goodbye Crib!

Hi All,
Here is Drew showing off his crib scaling capabilities....

Up and over

"And I'm out - easy as pie!"

So, we did it. We made to move from crib to toddler bed for Drew, due to his climbing abilities. Once he started up again, he pretty much didn't stop. He was climbing out of the crib repeatedly at will. So the crib was only serving as a safety hazard at this point.
We decided to transition the crib to a toddler bed, which is a feature that the crib came with. (There is a bed rail that replaces one of the crib rails, and it's a very simple installation.) Jim happened to take the day off, and the kids and I watched as he switched out the rails.

Both Drew and Bree wasted no time getting a few jumps in on the new bed, but were still more comfortable jumping on the old.

We asked Bree if she wanted her crib to look like Drew's did, and she said no. I was pretty surprised by that. But I was more than happy to oblige in keeping her crib intact for a while longer, as she is not at risk of climbing out yet.

Inspecting the big boy bed

So far, so good!

To my amazement, both nap time and bed time went off, pretty much without a hitch! Right on schedule, Drew announced he wanted to go "night, night" at nap time and ran off to lay in his new bed. We got Bree into her crib, and that was it! At bed time, we got a very late start for a few reasons. But, once we all got serious about it, the kids both piled in to Drew's bed for story time and then it was time for bed. Bree claimed she wanted to stay in Drew's bed with him, but also got up out of his bed a couple times. So, I cut her off at the pass and quickly moved her to her crib. The only protesting I got was they wanted the big light on in their room, which I kept on for them. We ended up having a pretty big rain storm as the kids were going to bed. I was a little surprised the lightning and loud rain did not bother them, but they made it through the night without a peep! They are still sleeping as I type.
I'm sure we'll have our hiccups along the way, but "Day One of the Toddler Bed" was a success!

The Return of the Escape Artist

Hi All,
Well Drew is up to his old tricks. Back in the beginning of February, he was climbing out of his crib. It happened on several occasions, and just as I was thinking it was time to make a change in the bedroom setup because of it, he simply stopped.
Today, I knew he had no interest in sleeping when I left him and Bree in their cribs for nap time. Not too long afterwards, I heard some louder than normal noises in their bedroom. Sure enough, I entered to find him out of his crib and putting toys into Bree's crib. The rocking chair was up next to his crib (NOT where I left it), so it must've been close enough for him to reach and grab, then perhaps step down into it after getting his leg over the crib bar. So, I put him back to bed and moved the rocking chair out of reaching distance. Sure enough, he made his way out again. Nap time was officially over at that point.
Bed time rolled around, and about forty five minutes after I put them to bed, Bree started crying loudly and uncharacteristically. I opened the door to find Drew standing in front of me on the other side. (Surely, he had woken up Bree with his antics.) I sat down and had a talk with Drew, which may have been more for my benefit than his. I said "Drew, when I put you to bed, it means you are supposed to lay down, shut your eyes and go to sleep. That way we can all be well rested and have energy to play tomorrow, okay?!?" I expected no response, but instead, he looked right at me and said in his sweetest voice, "Okay, mommy!"
The sucker that I am, I spent the next half hour reading books to them before insisting it was time to head back to bed.
So we are back to "wait and see". But I have a feeling this time change is going to be necessary to get it resolved.

Cube A Kid and Share A Crib

Hi All,
I have found Drew curled up in a toy cube on more than one occasion. In the past few days -

Occasion #1

Occasion #2

And on some occasions, he even has company

And here's our crib sharing experiment that we won't be revisiting! Drew and Bree decided it was a good idea to go "night, night" in the same crib. They both seem to prefer Bree's crib these days, and Bree is typically the one to concede. They lasted about two minutes together (longer than expected) before we had to relocate one.

And for the record, Bree likes blueberries

What to Do With an Escape Artist ?

Hi All,
It seems we have reached a bit of a crossroads with our crib situation. Jim and I were just talking the other day about how long we could keep the kids in cribs and in the same bedroom. We decided cribs until three and same bedroom until four sounded good. Well, sure enough, the kids had to find a way to have their opinion heard! For the past three days, I have heard loud noises coming from the nursery during nap time, only to find Drew playing outside of his crib! The crazy thing is I am not completely sure how he is escaping. Apparently he doesn't make too much noise "in the act". Today, I put him and Bree down for nap around 3:30 because they refused to go any sooner. (I know from experience they can not go the whole day without nap without extreme grumpiness, so they get one at 3:30 regardless of whether they think it's a good idea or not.) Well, I then proceeded to go outside and shovel the end of the drive where the snowplow pushed a good deal of snow so that Jim could get the car through. I was out all of 15 minutes, and I return to the telltale loud noises in the nursery. AND, this time the little shyster locked the door! I got him to open it back up, put him back in the crib and asked him to show me how he gets out. He wasn't game for that. So I left the room, but kept the door more than half open and watched from a peeking position for 15 or so minutes. Sure as a watched pot doesn't boil, he did not make his move. So I left my post and here I write.
I was with a group of twin moms this morning, and we discussed this very topic. Everyone was in agreement that almost two is a difficult age to make a move out of cribs. They are too young to understand all the trouble they can get in to.
If Drew is using the dresser or anything else close by to help escape, we can remedy that. But I also would hate to move something that helps him get safely out, and then have him fall and hurt himself. I'm tossing around lots of options, but for the moment I am determined to catch the escapee in action and go from there.
So, we will see what tomorrow brings!

Sleepyheads

Hi All,
Drew as of late has been especially good about taking naps and going to bed. In fact, he sometimes even tells us "night, night" and heads into the nursery and stands at the crib. But yesterday, he curled up on the chair with Blanca and passed out while watching TV. I'm not sure how he found it comfortable to sleep with his legs stuck through the opening of the chair arm. And I am a bit amazed that Blanca didn't mind the company. Apparently she was too tired to care!

Night, night!

New Naps / New Toys / New Food

Hi All,
We are trying out a new nap schedule and attempting to drop back from two naps a day to one. Drew and Bree are now 17 months and have shown some signs of being ready for a longer morning stretch before napping. Most days, Drew seems fully ready to make the transition, while Bree usually is happy to nap a few hours after waking. Although that is starting to change, too. If you wonder why I am encouraging one nap instead of two, the hope is that they will still sleep the same sum total hours in a day (around 14), but just in longer, more consolidated stretches. With two naps a day, it's extremely difficult to accomplish anything outside the home in the mornings, and we have only a short window of opportunity in the afternoons without interrupting the nap schedule.
The book I read that really helped us get "back to good" on the sleep front indicated the percentage of children taking two naps a day was:  80 percent for 12 month olds, 40 percent for 15 month olds and only 10 percent by 21 months old.  So the timing seems right for the transition to take place. We are four days in and so far it's 50/50 as far as getting just one nap a day. I will keep you updated on our progress!
In other news, Saturday may have been Christmas in July, but today was Christmas in August. My sister in law dropped off several items that Drew and Bree's cousins are not using anymore, many of which were toys! The twins were in heaven sorting through the bags of Little People toys, blocks, and Drew's favorite - a vacuum! I'll have to get some pictures of him hard at work on the living room carpet.
Drew also had his first shot at food testing in the testing facility today. The little stinker took two bites of the first sample and wanted nothing to do with the rest of that sample or any of the second sample. And I think the issue was more that he did not like me spoon feeding him, rather than not liking the food (which I found delicious! :)
Lastly, we had lunch at Oma and Opa's house and then Drew and Bree took a dip in the wading pool. So it made for a good afternoon on another sunny, hot summer day!

Miracle in the Bedroom

Hi All,
I wanted to take a minute to post some great news. We have successfully had Drew and Bree both sleeping in the nursery for two weeks now! It's been so long, I'm sure everyone (except us) has forgotten that Drew started having sleep issues way back around Christmas time. He was waking up crying a few times every night. This sometimes led to him waking up Bree, which was twice as difficult to deal with. As a temporary fix, we moved Drew out of the nursery, in hopes keeping Bree asleep all night, even if Drew woke up. But, the problem with this arrangement was that we only have two bedrooms on our main level. Hence, Drew was sleeping in the pack n play in a variety of spots. He started in the living room, then to the kitchen area (which was the furthest spot we could put him from the nursery), and finally to our bedroom. He ended up in our bedroom because that seemed to be the most peaceful spot for him to get some uninterrupted sleep. You see, not only do we have just two bedrooms on the main level; the main level is basically one big room other than the bathrooms and bedrooms. So, it was pretty difficult to put Drew to bed (whether it be a nap or at night) in the main area and go about our business. Drew started doing better sleep-wise in our bedroom, but it wasn't foolproof AND he was waking up Jim and I! (Turns out, he can be quite the noisy little sleeper, with his tossing and turning.) Plus, we would have to tiptoe in and out of bed to not disturb Drew. I was pretty much at a loss as to what to do and was very close to concluding we needed to get Drew and Bree into their own separate bedrooms now vs. later. (I really thought they could share a room for years, not forever, being boy and girl, but much longer than the 10 months that they lasted thus far!) Separate bedrooms would mean one or both being on a different level in the house, and that is what I really dreaded.
I happened to mention our sleep dilemma one evening at my "twin moms" night out. Stephanie, a fellow twin mom, indicated she followed a method from the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" which worked wonderfully. I ordered the author's follow-up book, which was on the same topic but geared specifically to twins. It had a lot of sensible information about the right timing for putting kids to sleep, awake but "drowsy". This meant putting the kids to bed earlier could actually get them to sleep better and longer through the night. It also said twins should be able to be successfully "sleep trained" in the same room, although some parents would choose to separate twins during naps since it can be such a short duration of sleep that you do not want to chance a mishap, or one waking the other. With this, I had confidence again to try the twins back in the same room. We had nothing to lose.
The first night, Drew and Bree were absolutely thrilled with being back in the same room. They laughed back and forth for an hour and half before dropping off to sleep. The second and third nights were similar, but for shorter durations. And the best part was, they both slept all night. So, after more than five months of nightly sleep interruptions, this seems like a miracle!

Just Like Old Times

Hi All!
It's January 21, 2010, and if anyone has been wondering where we've been, we trying to get some sleep! It's reminiscent of the "old" days when the twins were newborns and expectedly not sleeping through the night. We got super busy with the holidays, and perhaps off routine. What followed is Drew is now having big time sleep issues. He has not been a fan of napping for months now. But, in addition to that, he has not been sleeping well at night for the past 3 - 4 weeks. He will wake up to three times at night, needing to be rocked back to sleep. And by that, I mean he needs to be rocked back to a solid sleep, or else he is awake as soon as he hits the crib again. To add insult to injury, sometimes he wakes up Bree in the process, and I have a real chore on my hands getting them both back to sleep. So, I've been rushing in to get Drew whenever I first hear signs of fussing or crying, in hopes of saving Bree (and me) the double wake up call. Typically, I am up for an hour each time Drew wakes on his own, and up to two hours each time both kids awaken. The sleep deprivation is not faring well for me. To make matters worse, as mentioned, Drew does not like to nap during the day. If he naps, he needs to be rocked to sleep. Usually by the time we are done rocking, he is ready to be up again. Therefore, I am not getting any down time during the day either. No time for chores or blogging, let alone a nap for myself. Drew is crying in the pack n play as I type this. (See next paragraph.)
I have consulted our doctor's office on the matter. The nurse told us, as long as we are sure he does not have an ear infection, he simply has our number. He now realizes he will get rocked at a moment's notice when he cries. Their advice: do not respond, and it will take 3 - 5 days for him to learn to put himself back to sleep. Well, this is easier said than done with twins. We will need to find a new spot for one of them to sleep in order to even attempt this. Otherwise, Bree will pay the price.
So, here we are. Back to Sleep Training 101. I can hardly believe it, as I foolishly thought we were in the clear once the twins started sleeping through the night at 10 weeks. This, too shall pass. Someone recently told me "that's why they call them phases".

At any rate, we do have some good news to share - better news than our lack of sleep. :)

Hopefully, we're back in the blogging saddle again!

Sleepy New Year

Hi All,
We have a tradition for the past few years of attending a New Years Eve party at our friends' the Bondys. They hire a chef and we all enjoy some great food, drink and company. Children are welcome, so we once again accepted their invite and for the first time went with two little ones in tow. It was certainly a different experience from previous years; lots of twin wrangling time. They sat on our laps as we ate dinner. But we enjoyed ourselves. They both fell asleep before midnight, which was to be expected - Bree in the pack n play and Drew in my arms. We rang in the new year, then pretty promptly headed home to put everyone to bed.
We're lacking in the sleep department these days. Drew and Bree are waking regularly during the night. Whatever semblance of a schedule we once had was pretty thrown over the holidays, which may have something to do with it. Another theory is separation anxiety. Anyway, we're grinning and bearing it for the moment!

Diversions

Hi All,

Drew and Bree have been keeping me on the go this week. Blame it on a bit of "separation anxiety" and again, what we believe to be teething discomfort. The twins have become highly aware of when I am not in their presence. If I am out of their sight, they know - and they let me know! Plus, we are getting into the "I want what you have" phenomenon. This includes toys, bottles and MOM! Other than that, teething as usual seems to be at play, and I'm guessing Bree has some teeth on their way soon.
Drew and Bree are open to some diversions - here are some we've used this week:

Walks with Dad (and Riley) - Dad got out the kiddie backpack on Sunday and took us both around the lake

Bath time - We're now bathing in the kitchen sink. Mom loves it, because she doesn't have to bend over the tub! We just love the splish, splash!

Still loving our jumperoo!

Showing off our sitting skills!

Goofing around with Grandma - Grandma paid us a timely visit this week

And yes, despite it all, we're still sleeping really well! (Bree's favorite position - with all the room in the crib, she still loves to tuck herself into the corner.)

Weddings, Doctors, and Pools, Oh My!

Hi All,

Oh my, people! Here we are, once again. We continued down the path of middle of the night sleep interruptions (as previously mentioned) for the remainder of last week, primarily Bree induced. We are hoping that's behind us for the time being. Here are a few highlights from last week....

Brian and Hillary Get Hitched! - Bree and Drew attended their first wedding, as our cousin Brian and Hillary got married on Saturday. The wedding was beautiful, as were the bride and groom. We enjoyed the day with extended family that we do not get to see often enough. Congrats to the happy couple!


And, here's a fun family shot of us at the wedding photo booth....

Doctor, Doctor Can You Tell? - On top of some general fussiness and sleep interrupted nights, Bree added a cough to the mix on Monday. After consulting with the nurse, I took Bree in for a check on Tuesday. Turns out, her lungs, ears and throat all checked out just fine. The doctor suspected she just picked up a cold bug and suggested over the counter nasal drops before bed if she seemed stuffy. She seems better now. Also, the doctor was not sure if teething was an additional factor, as he could not see or feel any gums swelling. Maybe just another teething false alarm?

Too Cool For The Pool - Our last swimming lesson was on Monday evening. We ended up keeping Bree home, due to her ailments. I took Drew so that he could get a bit more swim practice in. This week was pretty much a repeat of past weeks. The class was enjoyable, with the exception of the required underwater excursion. I thought perhaps this would be the week that Drew got over his angst with the underwater plunge, but alas, no. In no uncertain terms, this was not the week. We are not giving up though!

Happenings

Hi All,

Thought I'd post on a few different topics today so you know what we're up to.

Sleep, Interrupted - I mentioned a few posts back that our doctor recommended we try to get the kiddos 12 hours of sleep every night. We have been working towards that, and for a week or so, it seemed it was actually working. It was an enjoyable stretch to have a few hours at the end of the day to catch up on tasks, blog, or even just relax before falling into bed.

However, starting Saturday, this all changed. We put the kids to bed by 7:30 and Jim was off to a bachelor party. I had the evening to myself, so I thought! (Been a while since that happened.) I went to move Bree out of the pack n play in our bedroom to her crib around 9:30. (We are in the habit of putting one of them down to sleep in the p n p, so they will not keep eachother awake if someone is crying for a few.) Lo and behold, she woke up and wanted to stay up for the next few hours.

Sunday, it was Drew's turn. For reasons unbeknownst to me, he woke up at 3:00 am and then again at 5:00 am and needed some snuggling to get back to sleep. He didn't eat.

Monday, Bree's turn! Bree woke up at 11:30 pm and was uncomfortable. We believe teething is kicking into high gear. It was 1 am before I got her back to sleep.

Tuesday, tag team. Bree is up at 10:30 pm. Jim gave her a bottle and she went back to sleep. Drew is up at 4:30 am. I got up with him, and we rocked for awhile, thinking he would fall back asleep. I gave up on that notion at 5:30 and made him a bottle. He was happy to take a full feeding and go back to bed.

So the intended routine is out the window for now. We'll see how things continue to go. Perhaps we'll try to get more food into Drew during the day in case hunger is his issue.

Our Girl on the Go - Here is Bree exhibiting some of her crawling moves. She uses her right arm to pull the rest of her body along with her. You'll notice I cut the clip off abruptly at the end. She was crawling to the cat, one of her latest fascinations. We are still working on pet/baby relations, so I was nervous of her poking at our least friendly cat.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish - We are currently in the process of taking swimming lessons. All is going well, with the one exception of the infamous underwater excursions. Yes, they have to go underwater two times each session. Drew and Bree's favorite part of lessons is when we all sing "Wheels on the Bus" and they get to pop up out of the water. We'll post more details on swim lessons in the future....

Red Fish Drew and Blue Fish Bree

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......