A Day in the Life...

I love reading these posts from others, so thought I'd try my hand at it as well.  Yesterday was a doozy. Here's my Day in the Life with Twins:

12:41am - Rylee wakes up in her crib.  I wait a few minutes to see if she will go back to sleep.
12:43 - I go potty
12:45 - Went and got Rylee and took her to the couch, where she usually will fall back to sleep.
1:10 - She wasn't going back to sleep and was starting to fuss so I tried to put her in the Pack n Play in the spare bedroom.  She then proceeded to start screaming.  She's got quite the temper.
1:25 - I went in and picked her up.  She didn't stop crying.
1:30 - I changed her diaper, just in case she had poopied.
1:35 - I decided to make her a bottle since nothing else was helping.
1:50 - After she finished her bottle and I burped her, I put her back in her crib, hoping she would go back to sleep and allow me to go back to bed.  I went to the couch to wait and see what would happen.
2:05 - Rylee started crying and wakes Ayden up.  I went in to get her and prayed Ayden would go back to sleep.  Back to the couch we go.  Ayden settled right back down, thank goodness.
2:09 - Rylee fell fast asleep, but now I was wide awake.
2:30 - I finally fell to sleep.
6:30am - Ayden woke up.  We are lucky that he is perfectly happy talking quietly to himself when he wakes up in the morning.
6:37 - Rylee woke up.  I am completely exhausted still, so continue to lay there.
6:50 - I finally got up and changed Rylee.  Tony went and got Ayden and changed his diaper.  He got the poopy one.  Yay me!
6:55 - I made their bottles, adding their vitamins.  I also put Rylee's Ranitidine in her bottle.  I then orally gave Rylee her Propanolol medication.
7:00 - They both drink their bottles, propped up on boppies and holding it by themselves.  I then took turns burping each of them.
7:15 - The babies were propped up on their boppies watching baby t.v.  I was on my phone catching up on Facebook.
7:30 - The babies play on the floor while I ate a bagel in the kitchen and got their morning cereal ready.

This is how I found them, laying next to each other and holding hands, when I came back into the living room.

7:50 - I put them in their high chairs and fed them their cereal.  They got 4 tbsp of multi-grain cereal mixed with formula and a big spoonful of applesauce.  They shared this.
8:01 - They practiced drinking from sippy cups while I unloaded the dishwasher and washed their bottles.
8:15 - Playtime on the floor
8:25 - Took Rylee to get dressed for the day and changed her diaper.
8:34 - Both babies were happy and content for the moment, playing on the floor, so I went and made their next bottles so they would be ready to go.
8:38 - Got Ayden dressed for the day.
8:45 - I read them a book.
8:54 - They got their next bottles.  I took turns burping them, but Ayden didn't burp right away.
9:09 - Put Rylee down for her nap.  She is now exclusively napping in the pnp.  Went back and finally got a burp from Ayden.
9:12 - Put Ayden down for a nap.
9:15 - Ayden was asleep.
9:18 - Rylee started crying.
9:33 - Rylee stopped crying.  Was she asleep?
9:35 - Went to check on Rylee.  Yes!  She was asleep!!!  Big sigh of relief.  I went and got myself dressed for the day and fixed my hair.  I made our bed, put a load of laundry in and folded the laundry that was left in the dryer from the day before.  I changed the wax in the Scentsy warmer because we had company coming over later.  I put clean blankets down on the floor in the living room.
10:15 - I sat down at the computer to write a blog post and look at Facebook.  I ate a bowl of ice cream.  (don't judge!)
11:01 - Ayden woke up but I let him be for a few minutes to see if he would go back to sleep.
11:07 - I went to get Ayden and changed his diaper.
11:10 - I finished my blog post while Ayden played next to me in the exersaucer.
11:40 - I made Ayden a bottle.
11:45 - He drank his bottle and I burped him.
11:59 - Rylee woke up.
12:00pm - I made Rylee's bottle
12:03 - I changed Rylee's diaper.  She drank her bottle and I burped her.
12:20 - The babies played on the floor while I did the dishes and put the laundry in the dryer.
12:45 - Changed Rylee's diaper.  I thought it was going to be a massive poopy diaper, but it was only a small little ball of turd.  I emptied the dirty diapers and took the bag to the garage.  I also replaced the liner in the garbage can we put their soiled diapers in.  Obviously.
12:48 - Playtime
1:14 - Changed Ayden's diaper
1:20 - Our company came over to visit.  This was one of my girlfriends that I've known since middle school and was roommates with in college, and her two kids who are 7 and 10 years old.  They LOVE playing with the babies.
2:20 - I made the next round of bottles.
2:28 - They both get their bottles and I take turns burping them.  Our company leaves.
2:44 - Ayden goes down for his afternoon nap.
2:48 - Rylee goes down for a nap.
2:55 - Ayden fell asleep.
2:57 - Rylee fell asleep.
3:01 - I finally ate lunch, leftover spaghetti.  I sit down at the computer to read Facebook and blogs while I'm eating.
3:44 - I heard Ayden wake up.  Darn it!  That was a short nap.  Sigh.
3:50 - I started washing bottles.  I had thought I would get more time to do that.  Their naps had been 1.5-2 hours lately.  Not this time!
3:56 - Ayden started fussing (I was hoping he'd go back to sleep) so I went to get him.  Changed his diaper and restocked the changing table station with diapers and wipes.
4:05 - Finished washing the bottles.  I "brushed" Ayden's teeth, then washed the little finger toothbrush too.
4:15 - Took pictures of a very smiley Ayden and sent them to Daddy.

4:25 - Ate a protein bar while Ayden continued playing on the floor.
4:34 - Made Ayden a bottle and gave it to him.  Heard Rylee wake up while I was burping Ayden.
4:55 - Made bottle for Rylee.
4:57 - Got Rylee up and changed her poopy diaper.
5:03 - Gave Rylee her second dose of Propanolol for the day and then fed/burped her.  Ayden played on the floor, then crawled over to me and tried to eat my knee.
5:20 - Got a bath ready for Ayden.
5:23 - Took Ayden in for his bath.  Left Rylee playing on the floor and hoped she would stay out of trouble. On our way to the bathroom after undressing Ayden, I peeked into the living room to make sure Rylee was doing good.  After Ayden's bath, I peeked around the corner again to check on Rylee.  She crawled around and played the whole time, but managed to stay on the blankets so I didn't have to clean spit up off the carpet.  Then went to put Ayden's pj's on.
5:39 - Got a bath ready for Rylee.
5:44 - Took Rylee in for her bath.  Peeked on Ayden just like I had for Rylee, but he stayed in the exact same place the entire time, playing with the toys hanging from the playmat.
6:03 - I put Ayden in the car (walker) and Rylee in the exersaucer in the kitchen to play while I cut up tomatoes, avocado, and lettuce for dinner.  I already had shredded chicken that I had made the previous week and froze/unthawed, and onions ready to go for chicken tacos.  I sang to the babies with the children's radio station I had playing on iTunes.
6:30 - Got bedtime bottles ready and put the second dose of Ranitidine in Rylee's bottle.
6:36 - Took the babies back to the living room to read a couple books.  They LOVE when I make animal sounds to go along with the books.  I'm glad nobody else can hear me.
6:44 - Tried to play and keep the babies distracted long enough for Tony to be able to see them when he got home from work.  Took baby and me selfies.

6:54 - Babies are done waiting.  It's time for bottles.
7:01 - Daddy's home!
7:05 - Tony and I each burp a baby and then they got a little snuggle time with Daddy.

7:15 - Put the babies to bed in their cribs and then we our ate chicken taco dinner.
7:24 - Rylee fell asleep.
7:38 - I got the mail and brought the garbage can up to the house from the curb.
7:40 - Time to relax and watch a little t.v.
7:58 - Ayden finally fell asleep, but with both feet hanging out of the crib, so I readjust him.
8:06 - I eat another bowl of ice cream (I said don't judge!) while I continue watching t.v.
8:15 - I turned the t.v. off and caught up on Facebook and Instagram.
8:47 - Took a shower.
9:12 - I'm was out of the shower and brushing my teeth when I heard Ayden start crying.  I continue about my business while Tony went in to comfort him and turn his glow seahorse on.  Tony also put Orejel on his gums.  It didn't work.
9:19 - Ayden was full on crying.  I picked him up and layed down with him in our bed.  He calmed down, but wasn't going to sleep.
9:36 - I put him back in his crib, hoping he was relaxed enough now to put himself back to sleep.
10:08 - We broke down and gave Ayden a 3oz bottle.  Put him back down in his crib, and it wasn't long before he was full on crying again.  We decided we were gonna have to let Ayden cry it out.
10:18 - Rylee woke up.  I got her and took her out to the living room, hoping she would fall back to sleep with me.
10:49 - She did finally fall asleep but it lasted only 10 minutes before Ayden's crying from the bedroom reached a new decibel and woke her up again.
11:32 - Ayden is STILL crying!  We decide to give him another 3oz bottle and some Tylenol.  Tony takes care of Ayden while I'm still trying to get Rylee to sleep.
11:45 - Ayden FINALLY goes to sleep!
11:48pm - I decide I'm going to have to give Rylee a bottle.  This is NOT a habit I am happy about getting back into.  I discover that Tony has somehow managed to use/dirty up all the bottle parts for only 2 bottles he's given Ayden???  So I ended up having to wash bottles.  Oh, and did I mention that I stubbed my toe on a bouncer chair on my way to the kitchen?  I was NOT a happy Momma.

It was just after midnight by the time I gave Rylee her bottle.  Once that was done, I tried to settle down with her on the couch.  I just wanted to go to sleep!!!!  She decided to still be fussy, and it didn't take me long before I said screw it and put her in the pnp in the spare bedroom to cry it out.  There was NO way I was putting her back in her crib to wake up Ayden again!  She actually was asleep by 12:23am.  Ahhhh.... I could go back to sleep in my OWN bed!

And guess what?  They both slept the rest of the night.  I heard Rylee start crying a little after 3:00am, but she was able to put herself back to sleep.  Ayden slept until 7:10 this morning and Rylee until 7:16.

*I'm not going back through to edit this like I usually do, so if there are typo's or it changes from past to present tense, please forgive me.  I'm tired.  lol

The Mother of All Relays

Hood to Coast 2014: DONE

Last year during H2C, I was pregnant with twins.  8 months ago last Saturday, they were born.  I tackled this years H2C this past weekend, and I survived!

There are 12 people per team, with 2 vans of 6 people.  I was in van 2 this year, and the anchor of the team running leg 12.  The first van started at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood at 6:30am.  We arrived at our exchange point at about 9:30am.  This is the spot where the last runner of van 1 hands off to the first runner of van 2.  By 11:00am, my van was off and running!  Being that I was the last runner of our van and our team, I had another 4+ hours to wait until my turn.  The time in between is spent cheering on the current runner as we passed them to get to the next exchange point to drop off the next runner.  Finally, it was my turn and I survived the 6.29 miles of my first leg.  It took me 1:22:45 to complete at a pace of 13:09.  Boy, was it hot!  It was only 81* out, but it felt much hotter than that with the sun beating down while we were running on the hot pavement with little shade.

After completing my 1st leg of the race.

Once I handed the baton back over to the first runner of van 1 for their second round, my group went to a fitness club that we got passes for so we could all take showers.  Then we hit Chipotle for dinner.  After that, it was off to the next major exchange point to meet up with van 1 again.  Unfortunately, we wasted some good solid rest time by going to the wrong exchange and had to backtrack so we were in the right spot.

By the time my turn came around again, it was 3:30am the next morning.  My 2nd leg was 4.92 miles and I did it in 1:05:17, at a 13:16 pace.  Van 1 was off and running and we headed to the next major van exchange to wait for them.  After this point, we no longer had cell phone service, so it was a guessing game as to how long it was going to take them to get to the next location.

Stuck in traffic after my 2nd run, 4:45am

Our goal was to get to exchange 30 to meet up with the other van, but we made a pit stop at exchange 28 so one of the teammates in my van could use a port-a-potty.  I used this time to lay out in the very back of the van and try to get some sleep.  When we arrived at exchange 30, everyone was geared up to settle in for a few hours of much needed sleep.  It was 7:15am at this point and we weren't expecting the other van until 9:30am at the very earliest.

But....I noticed that one of our runners wasn't in the van.  I asked where T was.  Nobody knew.  Oh SHIT! He must have gotten out at exchange 28 and nobody knew it!  Crap!  What do we do now?!!?  Two of our van teammates went to the emergency communication station (ECS) to see if they could contact the ECS at the other exchange.  Nope.  For some reason they lost communication with exchange 28.

So back in the van we went to drive back to exchange 28.  The other van happened to be there and they wondered how in the world we lost a runner!  They still had to run their next two legs, so we had time but not much.  We checked in with the ECS and they let us know our runner hitched a ride with another team to the next exchange.  We didn't know if that meant he would go to exchange 29 or 30.  This was T's first time running H2C so we weren't sure if he would know where to go.  So we stopped at exchange 29, just to be sure we didn't miss him.  He wasn't there so on to exchange 30.  As we pulled up to the exchange, there was T, sitting under a tree waiting for us.  He jumped in the van and we went to find a parking spot.

This makes it sound like we are in a big city with all the traffic and trying to find parking, when in actuality we were in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service and parking in a giant field.  H2C has 1050 teams, times 12 people/team.  Then there are also the Portland to Coast Walkers which is another 500 teams times 12 people and 300 High School Challenge teams... you get the idea.  There are literally thousands of people, times 2 vans/team.

Turns out, T actually saw us pulling out of exchange 28 the first time and tried to chase us down to no avail. He hitched a ride with 3 different vans to catch up with us at exchange 30.  Now here's the REALLY funny part.  He had made good time catching up to us and also saw us pull out at exchange 30, heading back to get him.  He made a fool of himself running after us and hollering, but again we didn't see him!  That's when he hunkered under a tree to wait for us.  All this took an hour and a half to drive back and forth!

By the time we had everyone accounted for again, it was time for our first runner to start getting ready.  We all had time to wait in the loooonnnnnggggg port-a-potty line, grab a bite to eat, and we were off and running again.

I started my 3rd and final leg of the race around 3:00pm.  I had the pleasure of running into Seaside, where I met my team and we crossed the finish line on the beach.  This last leg was 5.23 miles and took me 1:10:47 at a pace of 13:32.

About to cross the finish line!

I am really proud of myself for being able to complete the race and do my part.  I was not fast by any stretch of the imagination, but I was actually faster than I anticipated.  I ran intervals the entire way, running 2 minutes and walking 1 minute.  I ran a grand total of 16.44 miles for a total of 3:38:49, at a 13:19 average pace.  197 total miles covered by our entire team.  Our team wasn't out to win.  That would be impossible considering there are always professional teams participating as well.  My motto for this year was not slow and steady wins the race.  My motto was slow and steady FINISHES the race.  I kept repeating that to myself anytime it got difficult while I was running.

Surprisingly, I didn't even get as sore as I usually do after the race!  I was sore, but I was still able to walk around.  The biggie was that I was able to still sit down on the toilet!  Haha!  That's been a challenge in previous years because I got so sore I actually needed to hold onto something to sit down, otherwise I would have just collapsed because my legs hurt so bad.

Our team at the finish

I survived.  The babies survived, and Tony survived.  I missed my babies, but Tony sent me pictures and a few videos.  We talked several times, at the points where I had cell service.  I didn't get home until about 11:00pm Saturday night.  I had only about an hour and a half sleep the entire time I was gone, so Tony sent me to bed and dealt with the waking babies that night too.  Saturday was a rough night for Rylee sleeping, but Tony made it through.  I didn't sleep much listening to her cry, but he was adamant that I not do anything. We spent Sunday taking turns napping throughout the day, and by Monday we were all back to normal.

8 Month Birthday!

The babies turned 8 months old this past Saturday!  I was running the Hood to Coast Relay, so their monthly birthday pics didn't get taken until yesterday.  I dropped them off at daycare Friday morning at 7:00am and didn't get home until Saturday night at almost 11:00pm.  I basically didn't get to see them for 2 days!  I'll write more about that later.

The babies have been changing at a pretty rapid rate this past month!  We are knocking one milestone off after another.  They need to slow down!  I'm not sure we are ready for this.  haha!  I have LOTS of pictures to share with you from this past month.

They both can now hold their own bottles.  This is a very good thing because they are very impatient when it is time to eat!  We also can't feed one without feeding the other anymore.  If one of them is getting a bottle and the other isn't, they think it's highly unfair!  Ayden likes to hold the bottle with his hands right next to his mouth, so he does drop his sometimes.  I just keep adjusting where he puts his hands so hopefully he'll figure it out one of these days.  If Tony and I are both home, we do try to hold them for their bottles so that we still get that bonding time.

We've got crawlers!  Rylee is now full on crawling.  She has not figured out that she is restricted to the blanket area in the living room.  lol  The blankets and towels now cover the majority of our living room floor, yet she seems to really like the carpet.  I keep trying to tell her that if she would just stop spitting up everywhere, then she can have full reign of the house.  She doesn't seem to care about that.  Sigh.  This morning I left her on the far side of the living room, left to get Ayden changed and dressed for the day, came back, and she had made it clear to the other side of the room.  Ayden is a pro at rocking on his hands and knees, but has his own version of crawling.  He rocks, falls forward onto his belly, moves his hands, gets back up again, and repeat.  It's like a modified worm.  He's pretty good at it and can get places pretty quickly when he wants to.

Baby Planking

Rylee is a sweet little thing with a big temper!  If she's not happy, she is definitely not afraid to let you know it, and loudly too!  She now smiles quite often and I can even manage to catch it on camera every once in awhile.  She looooooves her Mama and gives me a great big goofy grin whenever she sees me.  Rylee sticks her tongue out all. the. time.  She has the pointiest tongue I have ever seen! Unfortunately, this also causes her chin to be chapped.  She has really started jibber jabbering and not just screeching.  It's like she is really trying to talk now.  If only we knew what she was saying....

Rylee is still in size 2 diapers and wearing 3 month clothes.  I have gotten her into a few 3-6 month outfits here recently, but pants/skirts in that size just fall off her waste.  However, 3 month pants are getting pretty short on her now!  She needs to grow a little bit for when the weather changes so we have pants that will actually fit her!  I don't have current weight or measurements for either baby, as we don't see our home visit nurse for a few more weeks and their next doctor appointment isn't for another month.  Rylee did see her Pediatric Dermatologist 2 weeks ago and she was 14 lbs, 13 oz.  She's still our little peanut.

Rylee is a MOVER!  Seriously cannot keep the girl still.  Very rarely will you find her just laying on her back. She rolls over almost as soon as you lay her down.  She's got places to go!  We call her our little acrobat. She loves to be on all fours, hands and toes, with one leg up in the air.  I haven't managed to get a picture of it yet.  Changing her diaper has become a challenge because she wants to roll over and go.  Rylee can sit up without much assistance at this point, although she does occasionally still lose her balance.  She can even almost get herself into a seated position.

There's that pointy tongue!

Cruisin' in the car

Rylee is our little lady already.  She crosses her legs at the ankle almost always while taking a bottle and quite often when she is sleeping.  I think it's pretty cute!

Ayden is our little love bug.  He is so happy and smiles and laughs all the time (unless he's hungry, tired, or growing teeth!).  He has a great big smile that is contagious to any adult that is around him.  He is very ticklish and will laugh hysterically sometimes over the simplest things, like changing his diaper.  He loves playing Patty Cake, This Little Piggy, and Peek-a-Boo.

He is still pretty content just laying on the floor where we put him at times.  He CAN move and get himself around, but he is not quite as motivated as Rylee at this point.  He gets himself where he wants to if there is something he is after though.  Ayden still needs help with sitting up, although he is very close to getting himself into a seated position from his hands and knees, so I'm sure it won't be long before he figures out how to balance himself on his little bottom.

I know Ayden is over 20 lbs based on his last weigh in a month ago, but I have no idea how much he officially weighs now.  He is in size 3 diapers and wears anything from 6 month to 9 month clothing.  He's almost out of all the 6 month clothes though.

Ayden has his first two teeth!  They came one right after the other.  He still sleeps through the night for the most part, but has woken up anywhere between 10:00 and midnight, needing some consoling a few times.  I attribute this to the teething.

Ayden loves driving the car too

The babies have really started interacting with each other.  It is amazing!  They always need to know what the other is doing and love to look at each other if they are in the same room.  It is so fun to listen to them talk and giggle at each other.  They also have started fighting over toys!  Rylee sometimes thinks that she really needs whatever it is that Ayden has.  They love to touch, but unfortunately that turns into scratching and pulling at each other a lot of times.  They don't know how to be gentle!

This makes my heart melt into a giant puddle

On your mark, get set, GO!

We put them in their cribs both facing the opposite direction than what you see here.  Lately they have been falling asleep like this, as if they need to get as close to each other as they can.

More Pictures!  Here are their 8 month pics.

You can't help but smile at HIS smile!

See his two bottom teeth?

Such a happy girl!

My favorite

I love that he put his hand on her shoulder

And then she reached up to hold his hand!  Be still my heart!

Outtakes!

Goofy girl!

Ayden was more interested in his toes than having his picture taken

Remember I mentioned scratching and pulling?  Sibling cat fight, right here!

Rylee says "I'm outta here!"

"Bye bye!"

So Over This Spit Up Already

My babies turn 8 months old in just 4 more days.  Gasp!  How is that possible?  I had hoped that all the spitting up would be phasing its way out by now, but alas, the spit up is still a major part of our lives.  I am over it already.

The Ranitidine that Rylee has been taking has done nothing to reduce the spit up.  Not.  Even.  A.  Little.  Bit.  We tried the Prevacid, which had the $72 co-pay and that didn't make a difference either.  We tried switching to the expensive $30/can Alimentum.  That didn't change anything but the consistency, or content, of the spit up.  We tried using half Neosure and half Alimentum and we have actually stuck with that.  It doesn't reduce the spit up, but it makes it not so....chunky.  ahem  It's more watery and a little less gross. We tried using soy formula for a week.  That didn't work either and she really didn't like it.  We tried rice cereal in her bottle.  We tried spoon feeding her rice cereal in an attempt to help the formula stick.  Nothing has worked.

I give the babies oatmeal with a fruit every morning now.  I was giving a veggie in the afternoon, and started giving meats as well, but that hasn't gone over very well.  That just turns into a major spit up fest even more than the usual, so I backed off the meats (we only tried turkey and beef).  So then it was just veggies, but that still was a spit up marathon so I backed off that too for a few days.  Now the past 3 days, I have given them either carrots or peas.  Spit up.  Spit up.  Spit up.

In addition to that, Rylee has been throwing a BIG fit about part way through each "meal."  Like face turning red, not happy kind of fits.  I can't figure out why.  Is she mad about being in the high chair?  Is she just tired?  Is she getting a tummy ache from the food?  I don't know what it is!  I know it's not because she doesn't like the taste.  That's not it because she will stop her fit long enough to take a bite.  She opens her mouth wide for another bite.  It hasn't always been like this.  It's just been maybe in the past week or two that she's been throwing the fits.

The thing is, it's not like they are even getting a lot of solids either because they are SHARING!

Ayden spits up too, and it does seem like a lot, but it is not NEAR what Rylee spits up.  Between the two babies, we have so much spit up happening around here.  Seriously.  I have to do about 2 loads of laundry every day just to keep up with the bibs, burp rags, and blankets that we go through.  Our pediatrician thought that Ayden was spitting up because he was probably taking in a little too much food based on his weight gain.  The thing is though, that I don't think he is over eating at all.  We only give him about 4-5 ounces each bottle, totalling about 24 ounces/day.  And like I said, he's not getting that much in solids.  He gets about 2 tbsp of oatmeal every morning and half a baby jar of fruit and then MAYBE a half a jar of veggie in the afternoon with a little rice cereal mixed in.  It seems like every other baby I know about their age is drinking more like 30 oz/day and eating a ton more in solids!

I don't know what to do about the solids.  I can't give them anymore without having to deal with even more spit up and upset tummies.  They aren't able to pick things up with their fingers yet, so I can't give them little finger foods, or I'd try that.

We do have a referral to a GI specialist for Rylee coming up, but not until September 2nd.  It's mostly to rule out there being anything seriously wrong for her digestively.  I do hope they don't find a problem and it is truly just a normal reflux issue.  However, I am ready for the reflux to phase itself out.

They are both getting more mobile and starting to crawl some.  It's a challenge to keep them on the large blanket I have in the living room.  I love this stage and am excited for them to learn knew things and move around more (I'm sure I'll eat those words one of these days!  haha), but I'm not ready for them to move all over the house if I have to chase after them cleaning spit up out of the carpet every two minutes.  I'm not talking about small amounts of spit up that dribble out.  I'm talking about large pools of it all over the floor.

Let me say though, that while I dislike all the spit up, I do love my babies and wouldn't change them for the world.  They are beyond adorable (mother's biased opinion :) and so much fun.  I'm just ready to move past this spit up stage.   

Timehop

I saw several people posting pictures and statuses on Facebook using Timehop.  I decided to check it out and downloaded the app.  It has been fun to see old softball pictures and some of the silly things I posted on Facebook through the past 5 years.  That seems to be as far back as Timehop will go.

Well, the other day I had not one, but TWO posts from TWO different years referencing that particular years upcoming Hood to Coast.  My status from 3 years ago:

And my status from 5 years ago, on the same day, August 12th was something like this:

"I feel like an old woman!  Why do I have so many aches and pains? I'm a little nervous for Hood to Coast coming up in 2 weeks!!"

Oy.  Apparently I feel this way going into EVERY Hood to Coast!  I could have written something similar this year.  My feet have been hurting so bad!  It is difficult for me to walk without hobbling around.  I've been fighting muscle cramps in my calves, and my hips hurt.  Sob story, sob story.

I am taking comfort in the fact that I have survived all 8 of the previous Hood to Coast Relays I have run in, despite the fact that every year I seem to think it is going to do me in!  Haha!  It's one week from today!  I am excited and nervous all at the same time.  It's something that will be a tremendous challenge for me, but I am looking forward to that challenge and being able to say I did it!

From Swing to Pack n Play

We are entering new territory!  Rylee has been taking her naps in her swing exclusively for the past few months.  Until yesterday, she's only had two naps in her crib and one in the Pack n Play (PnP).  She did sleep in the Rock n Play some the first few months, but mostly it's been the swing.  We deemed it HER swing because she was the one that needed it.  Ayden liked the swing okay, but didn't need it to calm down or to sleep.  It actually got to a point that Ayden wouldn't/couldn't sleep in it at all.  He enjoyed being in there, but it didn't help him to sleep.  Rylee on the other hand, was a different story altogether.  Besides that, Ayden was getting a little too big for the swing.

The swing is in our living room.  We can't get to the kitchen, to our bedroom, or to a bathroom without bypassing the swing.  That wasn't a problem in the beginning.  However, the past few weeks, we have had to tip toe around Rylee and PRAY she would fall asleep and actually stay asleep.  I couldn't wash bottles anymore, do dishes, hang out in the living room.... She would wake up at the drop of a hat.  And if she saw me, it was game over!

This past weekend, it was a real pain in the ass.  On Sunday, I went out for a run.  When I got back, she hadn't been asleep for very long and Tony was waving at me from the kitchen to be quiet as I came into the house.  (like I was barging in anyway.  Not!  I know better!)  Later that afternoon, I did some necessary shopping.  I came home and it was the same thing, Tony waving at me like a mad man from the other room to be quiet.  It's like we had become prisoners to nap time!  We couldn't walk through the house without waking her up and I couldn't come in the front door for fear of her waking up, which she did.  Of course.  I'd been telling Tony that we were going to need to transition her out of the swing soon.  He didn't get it until he was the one home all day with them, trying to get them to take their naps and then actually stay asleep. 

Time to get rid of the swing.  She's starting to outgrow it anyway, so it's time.

Whelp, yesterday I bit the bullet and put her down in the PnP in our spare bedroom for her morning nap. With minimal crying, she fell asleep.  She slept for 2 hours, 28 minutes!  Hallelujah!

 

I did it again for her afternoon nap, and again she fell asleep.  She slept for 1:03, and then woke when we had a solicitor knock VERY LOUDLY on our door.  When I opened the door, he was jolly and loud until I shushed him real quick.  He wanted to clean our carpets.  Rylee started crying within seconds.  I was not a happy mama.  I told the guy I had a baby crying and started to close the door.  He then had the nerve to ask for his brochure back so he could pass it on to a neighbor.  It's time to get a no solicitation sign for the door.

We survived day #1 without using the swing at all.  Now day #2.

I put her down in the PnP again for morning nap.  She talked to herself and played for awhile, and then seemed to fall asleep.  Within a few minutes though, she was back up and crying.  Great.  I knew what the issue was.  She had taken her morning grumpy.  Sigh.  A good story should always involve poop, right?  I had been afraid that would happen.  She's been a fairly regular morning pooper, but this morning it didn't happen.  I didn't want to keep her up all morning waiting for a poop that might not come, so I had put her down.  After changing her diaper, I held her for a few minutes and then put her back down in the PnP.  She was not happy.  Not at all.  She cried.  She cried a lot.  I left her alone and hoped she would eventually fall asleep, and she did.  Unfortunately though, she fell asleep on her back.  I knew that if she was on her back, she would not be sleeping for very long.  I was right.  She slept a whole 25 minutes for her morning nap.  At that point, I brought her out, put her in the swing, and then retreated to my bedroom so she would hopefully fall asleep again.  She did, but it only lasted a few minutes because then her brother woke up.  At least he had a nice 2 hour nap!

Rylee spent the next few hours being rather grumpy because she was so tired.  Finally, it was time to put them down for their afternoon nap.  I put her back in the PnP and she has now been blissfully asleep for 1:07 and hopefully will continue to sleep a bit longer.

I'm thinking that within the next few days, we will be able to move the swing out of our living room.  I have a friend that does home daycare and we are going to give her the swing in exchange for some babysitting.  It's so nice to be able to move around the house freely, without fear of waking her up!  I can now get something to eat without worrying about clinking the dishes.  I can actually wash said dishes and do other chores! Whew!  I think this transition may work out easier than I thought it would.

Ayden continues to nap well in his crib.  In fact, it's pretty much the only place he will sleep.  We struggle getting him to sleep anywhere else, which makes it nice when we are home, but makes it difficult when we go anywhere.

  

Note:  Rylee does sleep in her crib at night.  We have just chosen to have them sleep separate during the day in order for them both to actually go to sleep more easily.  We have not fared very well when we've put them down together in the same room for naps.  It's a battle I am choosing not to take on.

Update: The afternoon nap lasted 1:27.  A decent time, but I have a feeling she is not going to last until bed time since she had such a short morning nap.  We'll see....

This and That in Bullets

Life is crazy.  We seem to have a million things going on and I can't seem to form anything into a good solid post, so I will just fill you in with bullet points.

• We finished our first set of parent/tot swim lessons.  The Aquatic Center that we go to has a big slide that they let the parents take their babies down at the end of the last class.  Each baby got a life jacket and the pool is only 4 foot deep at the end of the slide.  We were very nervous, but decided we needed to get over it.  It was more about conquering our own fear than what the babies would get out of it since they are too young to really enjoy it.  Ayden and Rylee were the youngest in the class. Tony took Ayden down and I took Rylee.  Whelp, Rylee got her first dunking and let's just say she didn't like it.  Mommy lost her footing.  I did my best to hold her up out of the water.  She didn't go completely under, just her eyes.  Her hair was still dry!  She survived.

• The babies each got a report card for the completion of the class.  We were disappointed they didn't get promoted to the next level.  Just kidding!

• We had so much fun taking swim lessons and having something to do together as a family, that we signed up for the next session.  Ayden and Rylee aren't the only babies this time!  In fact, they aren't even the youngest.  Our twin friends are also taking the class and there is also another 6 month baby boy.

• I guess I did have enough on the swim topic to write a full post.  Oh well.

• Rylee has a dermatology appointment this Thursday up at OHSU.  Her bottom is doing pretty good. We did have a few days of diaper rash that started to bleed and I was afraid it was going to turn into more, but it didn't, thank goodness.  Her hemangiomas are doing good.  I imagine that they are just going to increase the dosage of her propanolol.

• In just less than two weeks I will be running the Hood to Coast.  I'm nervous.  My body hurts. There's been something going on with my feet that make it painful to walk a lot of the time.  I should really go to the doctor, but I'm going to wait until after the race.  I've also been battling pain in my achilles on both feet and last week I strained my calf.  I've been trying to ice and I stretch some, but not near as much as I should.  My longest run has been 4.8 miles when I did an 8k race last Sunday.  The shortest of the 3 legs I will be running for H2C is 4.92 and my total mileage will be 16.44.  Did I mention how nervous I am?  Our team doesn't run to actually compete with other teams.  We are all about just doing it and having fun, but I at LEAST want to be able to do my part without making another teammate have to run my legs in addition to theirs.  As long as I can stay injury free (or at least not worse than I am right now), I should be able to do it.  I just won't be able to walk the next day.

• I will be dropping off the babies for daycare on Friday morning of H2C at 6:45am and won't be home until Saturday evening.  That Saturday also happens to be their 8 month birthday!  I really, really hope that I can get home early enough to see them, but I'm not sure that will happen.  It's almost a 3 hour drive home from Seaside, where the race ends.  It will be interesting to see how much I miss them.

• What will also be interesting is how Tony does with the babies overnight by himself.  I'm fairly certain he will get very little sleep.  He is a very sound sleeper and he is afraid he won't hear them if they cry and need something.  Sunday should be really interesting with me exhausted and not able to move and Tony sleep deprived.  Oy....

• Apparently I could have done another whole post about Hood to Coast.  Oh well, you got it in bullet points :)

• We got a bunch of diapers, wipes, and formula donated to us.  And when I say a bunch, I mean boxes.  Big boxes.  Multiple big boxes.  I am forever grateful that we have still yet to buy more than just a few packages of diapers.  We haven't had to buy ANY wipes yet and I'm not sure we ever will have to with the stockpile we have!

• It's supposed to be 100* here today.  It was 97* yesterday.  It doesn't get that hot here in Oregon very often.  We only have a portable air conditioning unit in our bedroom.  That helps to keep the back bedrooms cool, but it doesn't do much for the rest of the house.  We aren't sweltering here yet, but we will see... It's not even noon yet.

• Have I mentioned that Ayden has his first tooth?  It actually broke through a few weeks ago.  I can't remember if I mentioned it in a previous post.  He's now working on his second bottom front tooth and been a very grumpy boy lately.  The tooth sure is cute though!

• Nap time around here hasn't been going very well lately.  One or both of the babies seem to only be able to sleep for about 30-40 minutes at a time.  I leave them alone for quite awhile to see if they will go back to sleep.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  Like right now.  Ayden has been roaming around in his crib for the last 25 minutes.  And now he is finally crying, so it looks like this post is done.  This makes for very grumpy babies sometimes.  I'd love to have them both go back to the 3 hour morning naps they were taking up till last week.

We Have a New Record!

Today I am celebrating the fact that Miss Rylee slept the whole night in her crib!  10 whole hours!  Her previous record was 8:38.  The 8+ hours was about a month ago though, so I have no doubt that this isn't a permanent thing, but I still say it's something to celebrate!  Hopefully, we will continue to get more and more of those nights.

Ayden continues to sleep straight through 10+ hours, thank goodness!  We have trouble getting him down at night, but once he falls asleep he's out for the night.

Hopefully, it won't be long before they BOTH sleep through the night on a regular basis!  In the meantime, I am so happy to know that it CAN happen!  Woo Hoo!