The McPherson Chronicles

Where did these days go? When did naptime turn into playtime? The girls have begun regularly sitting and standing in their cribs. Now, when we lay them down for naps, rather than quietly playing on their own for a few minutes before falling asleep, they sit or stand up, laugh and play with each other and eventually, cry . This requires at least 3-4 trips in there to lay them back down with blankies and pacis . The cycle repeats itself for a good 30-45 mins before one eventually give in and goes to sleep. Then finally, after one last freak out, the other usually follows shortly thereafter. By that time we're exhausted as well. I'm in the midst of one of these cycles currently. They're both exhausted and I'm convinced they would sleep if the other one weren't in there. I need to figure out some way to split them up for naps here like they are at my mom's. In completely unrelated news, we're making an attempt at supplementing with formula. Lucy is allergic...

Last week we had 5 straight days of rain, wind, thunder, lightning, tornado warnings and more rain. I think at one point it rained almost straight for 48 hours. Is this not sunny Southern California? Having always lived here, I was sure rain came in spurts of no more than 2-3 days at a time, if that. Don't get me wrong, we are thankful for all the rain but were seriously beginning to miss the sun. Welcome back sun (even though it's not supposed to be for long). To entertain the girls, and ourselves, we spent the week playing patty-cake, practicing walking, chasing each other around the house and just generally making messes. So fun!

Let's just say this year it's Marshall who seems to be eating for 3 Love you Buddy!

Now that we have our night-time sleeping back on track (finally!), we're moving onto food. The girls still primarily eat breastmilk and baby food with some cheerios or baby cookies here and there. Every time we try to introduce something new, they refuse. I think primarily it's a texture thing so our next goal is to introduce new foods to them more consistently and try to adjust our eating schedules so we're all eating at the same time and some of the same stuff. We're ok with bread, cheerios, baby cookies and puffs and yogurt (sometimes). We seem to enjoy pancakes and scrambled egg yolks. We've tried and hate bananas, whole peas, avocado and cottage cheese. Up next to try are waffles, pasta, cheese, tofu, steamed veggies and other protein. The dairy thing has been touch and go since Lucy has broken out in hives twice now. One time was after a different variety of yogurt and the second was an attempt at milk-based formula. She was ok after the cottage cheese though ...

Here are a few things we've come to realize lately 1) It is essential to keep both babies on the exact same schedule for their sanity and ours 2) Even if you practice new tricks with them all day and they have mastered them, when you want to show someone the babies will look at you like you're crazy and refuse 3) The video or digital camera will NEVER be within arms reach, charged, powered up etc. for those perfect "Kodak moments" 4) It is pointless to clean-up during naptime. Frankly, some days I'm not even sure why we do it at night... 5) Bathtime is the best

I don't know what is going on with the girls sleep patterns anymore. Last night was a mess and the past few nights before this haven't been much better. Ever since we added more solid food to their diets, the girls have been much gassier and woken up almost every night at least once with belly aches, due to gas and/or because they need to poop. Sometimes they can cry themselves back to sleep after a few minutes or even a little bit of cuddling/rocking can do the trick. More times than not though, I end up nursing them so they'll settle back to sleep. It's a vicious cycle. Last night they ate well at dinner, played for a little while, then off to bed around the normal time with no fussing. Perfect, right? Wrong. I was alone since Kevin went to hockey game with my Dad and was enjoying my quiet night when Olivia woke up. She started with a belly ache, fell asleep after some rocking (and tooting) and when I laid her back down she screamed bloody murder until she woke up Luc...