Mommy Brag

Can I give a little shout-out to myself, here?  Can I brag for just one brief minute?

Because I just finished up Little Man and Sweet Pea's baby books.  And updated CC's.  

It took a TON of time.  I had to fill in all the little updates (this blog was very helpful when I needed all the dates that their various teeth came in, for example, or when they rolled over/sat/stood for the first time).  I had to decide which pictures would go on which pages, then order those pictures, making sure I had a detailed list of where each picture was supposed to go so I wouldn't forget by the time they arrived.  Once the pictures arrived, I cut them all to fit the cute little boxes and painstakingly affix them.

CC's book hadn't been updated since she was about 9 months old, so there was quite a lot of information and pictures to put in there, too.

I used the C.R. Gibson Keepsake Memory Book of Baby's First Five Years for all three of the kids' baby books, and I highly recommend them.

Now that all three books are complete, they are actually so stuffed with pictures and hospital bracelets and ultrasound images that they don't even close flat (you'd think scrapbook manufacturers would allow for extra space, grumble grumble).

It's been about a month since I started, and I'm done (up to this point, anyway).  I am ridiculously proud of myself.  So many people have made comments to me about how Little Man and Sweet Pea wouldn't get baby books, or lots of pictures, or many mementos, because of "second child syndrome."  Everyone and their brother have implied that I wouldn't have time to do things like that with three young kids. 

Well, the twins will not get shortchanged, and I made time to get it done, thankyouverymuch!

If the Shoe Fits ...

Sweet Pea and Little Man have been barefoot all summer, but fall is approaching, so I headed to Stride Rite to get them some shoes.  I didn't have Sweet Pea and Little Man with me (shopping is challenging with babies in tow), so I guessed at their sizes.  Sweet Pea is so tiny, I got the smallest shoes they had -- Size 2.  Little Man is bigger, obviously, so I got him a Size 3.

When I got home, I tried on their shoes.  Sweet Pea's are fine -- a little big, but fine.  She has some room to grow into them.

But I couldn't even wedge Little Man's foot into his shoes.  I figured maybe he needed a wide shoe, so I decided to take him with me to get sized properly.  So I packed all three kids and the double stroller into the car and headed back to Stride Rite.  The nice saleslady measured his foot ... he's a FIVE.

Holy cow!  You know who else wears a five?  CC!  Now they wear the same size diaper and the same size shoe.

The saleslady also told me something that made sense: Little Man tries to walk with his toes curled under, so he really needs to wear shoes to train his feet to remain flat.  When I told her that doctors have told me that babies learn to walk best with bare feet, she said that the soles of Stride Rite Step 1 shoes are made to mimic what it feels like to be barefoot, while still providing structure to the foot.

It's been about a week of Little Man wearing his new shoes, and I have to admit, he seems to be a little more solid on his feet now.  It's definitely helping him not curl his toes so much.  And he's come very close a few times to pulling himself up to a standing position, so it looks like the shoes are definitely making an improvement.

Footwear

They're called barefoot sandals, and they're my newest obsession for Sweet Pea.

I'm not a super girlie girl, and I've never really been into bows or shoes or ruffles.  But there's just something about these little elastic footies (and matching headbands) that makes my heart melt a little bit.

You can get them on Etsy.com for as little as $4 a pair.  And they're adorable.  I have them in several different colors, but my favorite is this torquoise-and-pink set.

Even if MJ thinks Sweet Pea looks like a Jazzercise instructor from the '80s.

Photo Friday

Sweet Pea has joined her siblings in their high chairs.  (She had figured out how to "jump" in her bebe pod seat to get it to move across the table.  Not safe!)  

Doesn't she look happy about it?!

Outside Fun

It's THE BIG ONE!!  We've been waiting for this one for ages, it seems!

Phase III of my Summer Sanity Plan: the family swingset.  Hopefully it will provide thousands of hours of fun for all three kids for a long time in the future!  We deliberately got a swingset that is intended for older children, so the kids will have plenty of challenging physical fun for years to come.

(True to form, CC is demanding "again!" and "faster!" while Sweet Pea is just happy to be there, and Little Man is desperately trying to eat the swing.)

When you see CC going down the slide in this video, it is her very first time.  No fear!  And after that first time, she wouldn't even hold my hand anymore.

The swingset is made by a company called Backyard Adventures.  Four men working for five hours in our yard provided plenty of entertainment for an awestruck 2-year-old, who was alternately glued to the back windows and staring from our deck. ("Workers build me wingdet!")

A last-minute addition to the set was the "gangplank" (ramp) that I thought would make it easier for CC to get to the top.  Thank goodness we added it; the platform is 6 feet high and the ramp is already challenging enough for CC!  If a ladder was the only way for her to get up there, I'm fairly certain MJ and I would have to carry her up each time.

Even Little Man and Sweet Pea are enjoying it already; we ordered infant seats for them, and had the installers hang them high, to make it easier for MJ and I to push.  I love that all three seats are together, so I can push all the kids at once.

Other features of the set: a rock-climbing wall on the far left side (okay, it might not get a lot of use for another year or so) and a picnic table underneath (coming next week), where I envision plenty of lunches and even family dinners.

CC is asking to go outside and swing/slide ("weeeeee!") roughly every 5 minutes.  I have to limit it, though, because the swings and the slide get blazing hot in the sun.  But so far, even just morning and evening play has been thrilling.

Direct link to the video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j9_w3uVxGI

Crib Railings

CC was being goofy the other day, and asked to get into Sweet Pea's crib.  Since the mattresses are lowered now, I knew she couldn't hurt herself, so I let her play in there while I got the twins dressed.

I turned around just in time to see this.

Cribs, I have learned, are not all created equal.  I had assumed that the "lowered" mattress level in a crib was  a pretty standard height.  Not so, apparently.  When CC stands in her own crib, the railing comes up to her collarbone, and there's no way she can climb out.  

But in Sweet Pea's crib (and Little Man's, too -- I checked), the railing is low enough that she can most definitely climb out.

Thank goodness CC's crib has a taller railing!  We just dodged a bullet I didn't even know was fired.  This hellion isn't ready to transition to a big girl bed anytime soon!

Lowering the Boom

Sweet Pea is getting into a sitting position constantly now.  And in the last day or two, she's started reaching for the crib railings once she's sitting, and pulling herself up.  She can't pull to a stand yet, but she can pull herself to her knees, so standing can't be far behind.

Time to lower the mattresses so this little monkey can't topple out of her crib.  And we might as well take care of both cribs at once.

I'm a bit sad to pack up the beautiful hand-made crib skirts -- there's no room for skirts with the mattresses so low to the ground.  And from now on, changing the crib sheets will be much more difficult!  But at least these kiddos are safe.

Splish Splash

I mentioned here how CC's new water table was Phase I of my summer sanity plan.  We've recently implemented Phase II:

Yes, I know you all saw pictures of this very same kiddie pool in CC's birthday party post.  However, the kids only dunked nets in it to catch the toy fish; no one actually sat in it.  Until this past weekend.  It was finally warm enough (barely) to let the kids get in.  They had a blast -- once MJ finished making about a thousand trips into the kitchen to fill pitchers of warm water.  (The water from the hose was frigid.)

Sweet Pea and Little Man did better than I expected, sitting upright in the pool.  Sweet Pea had fun splashing like mad.  Little Man just desperately wanted to eat something, anything.  He alternated between gnawing on a toy fish and bending over double to eat his drawstring.

CC wanted us to splash her, wanted to take her pool shoes off, squirt the twins with the fish, catch the fish in the nets, get in the pool and then out and then in again ... she was busy.

Eight dollars on Amazon.  Best. Deal. Ever.

Stay tuned for Phase III, coming next week.  It's the BIG ONE!!

High Chair

Our little prince has a new throne:

Little Man has been upgraded from a Bebe Pod seat to a high chair.  He was too big for the Bebe Pod -- his feet could touch the table, so he could scoot himself around.  Definitely not safe!  After one scare, when I turned away for a moment and looked back to see the edge of his Bebe Pod seat already hanging several inches off the table top, I immediately ordered a high chair for him.

Tiny Sweet Pea, as you can see, is still using her Bebe Pod!

(We use reclining feeding seats by The First Years for both CC and Little Man.  Eventually Sweet Pea will have one too.  I highly recommend them!)

Water Play

Phase I of my summer sanity plan has gone into effect.  This very inexpensive water table was delivered last week and we used it for the first time this afternoon.

CC was in her element (no pun intended).  MJ was keeping an eye on the Big Green Egg as it happily smoked some short ribs, and CC stayed on the deck with him for over an hour splashing in the water.  I foresee this water table getting a lot of action this summer.

Pouring water is serious business, apparently.  Stay tuned for Phases II and III of my summer sanity plan.

In other news: short ribs tonight!!!!

Finally

Little Man is sitting!  He finally figured it out.  I still put a pillow behind him, just in case he topples backwards, but he has sat up unassisted for as long as 30 minutes now.  

THANK GOODNESS.  I think he will be happier now that he can sit up, look around, reach for toys, etc.  And he and Sweet Pea are really starting to interact, which is so cute to watch.  I sit them down, facing each other, and they start laughing and reaching for each other's faces.  I'm going to try to get it on video one of these times.

I attribute Little Man's new-found sitting prowess to this:

It's the Leap Frog Learn n Groove music table.  Even CC loves it!  Every knob and button and whirligig plays some kind of music or makes a sound.  It says the ABCs, counts, giggles, sings, etc.  Right now it's just sitting on the floor, so they can reach it easily.  But once Sweet Pea and Little Man are standing up, I can attach legs so they get even more use out of it.

I really like that it's big enough for two (or three!) babies to play with at the same time.  I sit Sweet Pea and Little Man at opposite corners to keep the table in place, and they have a blast.

Bye Bye Binky

Earlier this week, I decided that I just couldn't take it anymore -- Little Man's dependence on his pacifier was causing more problems than it was solving.  So at 3 am, when he'd whacked the pacifier down between the wall and his crib for the third time that night, I didn't retrieve it for him.  We went cold turkey on the pacifier.

And to be honest, it wasn't that bad!  I thought we were in for a rough patch while he adjusted, but really his behavior never got worse.  He stayed about the same, and in the last few days there have been signs of real improvement.

He has started sucking his fingers, which I strongly encourage.  Sucking fingers (or thumbs) gives babies the ability to soothe themselves, decide when and for how long they want to be soothed, and learn not to be dependent on a foreign object that could get lost.

I find it very interesting that his preferred  method of sucking his fingers is the first two fingers, palm facing outwards.  I've never seen a baby do that before!

At a restaurant a few nights ago, he sucked on his fingers and put himself to sleep in his carseat, without any white noise or rocking from us!  That's never happened before.  And several nights this week, he's gone to bed at night without a peep.

Best of all, since we took the pacifier away, he has slept through the night every night.  (Sweet Pea has not, but at least one of us is getting good sleep!).

Pee Problems

About two weeks ago, I realized that Sweet Pea and Little Man were just about done with Size 1 diapers, so I ordered a box of Size 2's (I get all my diapers through Amazon -- awesome prices, free shipping, and no lugging giant boxes back from the store!).

Just at that point, Little Man started leaking during the night and naps.  I didn't know what the problem was, but I did some research online and the general consensus was that baby boys start leaking when they are outgrowing their current diaper size.

No problem, I thought.  I already have Size 2 diapers on the way!

A day or so later, they arrived.  Right away, they solved the naptime leaking problem.  But Little Man was still waking up wet in the mornings.  And I don't mean a little bit of leakage here and there.  I'm talking about the front of his pajamas completely soaked, plastered to him, and because he likes to sleep on his tummy, urine was drenching him, his pajamas, his sleep sack, his sheet, and his mattress pad.  Ugh!  That was a TON of laundry to be doing every day.  

Who, this dapper fellow?

I tried every tip I heard about.  I tried going up to an even bigger diaper (for a while there, Little Man was wearing one of CC's Size 4 diapers to bed!).  I tried pointing him downwards when I diapered him.  I tried folding the top edge of his diaper inwards.  Nothing worked!  It's been a loooooong (and wet, and stinky) two weeks.

Then I heard about overnight diapers, and decided to give them a shot.  Back to Amazon I went, and yesterday they arrived.  (For the record, I ordered Huggies Size 3, which is the smallest overnight diaper available.)

This morning he woke up dry for the first time in weeks!  It looked like he was wearing a bowling ball, and his diaper weighed about 5 pounds when I took it off him, but his pajamas were dry!

Thank goodness for overnight diapers.  I was really at my wits' end.  But now his "meenis" (as CC calls it) is wrapped up and under control.

Split Nursery

Up until this week, Little Man and Sweet Pea have shared a crib. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against this, but my two were tightly swaddled, each at one end of the crib, and couldn't move near each other, so I felt comfortable with it.

But recently, despite being swaddled, they have proven themselves to be fairly mobile, inchworming their way around the crib. I would often find them in completely different positions after a nap, occasionally even pressed up against each other. Plus, I think Sweet Pea is ready to start transitioning out of being swaddled, so it's definitely time to separate them.

I found a used crib quite inexpensively on Craig's List, because it was very dusty and had no assembly instructions. A thorough washing with Murphy's Oil Soap and 10 minutes on the internet fixed both those issues!  It looks like a more feminine version of our existing crib, so now it belongs to Sweet Pea. (And yes, this means we now have three cribs in our house -- oy.)

I had to get a little creative with furniture placement so that everything would fit, and then reposition all the picture frames and decorations, but our new improved nursery is ready.  Saturday night was Little Man and Sweet Pea's first night sleeping in separate cribs. They have had both good and bad nights since, so the jury is still out on whether they prefer sleeping alone.  Honestly, I'm not sure they can even tell a difference.

I have two projects left before I will consider the nursery complete: making the crib skirt for Sweet Pea's crib (yes, I said making), and coming up with something soft to hang above Little Man's crib. I'll post pictures later of how those last two things turn out.

White Noise

We have learned something very important about Little Man: white noise helps him immensely when he's fussy! This revelation has been so incredibly helpful I can't put enough emphasis on it. It has completely changed things for the Morrison family.

MJ downloaded a white noise app on his iPhone. Whenever we're out, like at a restaurant, and Little Man starts fussing, MJ will turn on the app and place his iPhone right into the carseat next to Little Man. This has a 100% success rate, if you can believe it!

I downloaded a white noise app on MJ's tablet, which I use while nursing the twins. When Little Man starts to writhe and scream, I fire up the white noise and -- like magic -- he settles down!

And lastly, I (reluctantly) purchased a white noise machine for the nursery.  I was hesitant because I don't want Little Man or Sweet Pea to become dependent on it. But after struggling to get good sleep for days on end, I tried leaving MJ's tablet in there, blasting white noise, and it really seemed to help. My compromise is that I only turn it on when Little Man really seems to be having a hard time.

I am seriously contemplating breaking down and becoming the last person in America to get a smart phone (I have my eye on the Samsung Galaxy S III), and if I end up getting it, a white noise app will be one of the first things I download.

I don't know what this tells us about Little Man. Is the world such a chaotic, overstimulating place that white noise helps him relax? Or is our home too quiet (hah!) that he needs loud noise to be comfortable? Maybe white noise sounds similar to when he was inside me, so it soothes him. Whatever the reason, I am so very glad that we've found a way to make him happy.

It doesn't have quite the same effect on Sweet Pea, unfortunately. When she gets riled up, no pacifier or white noise is going to calm her down! Fortunately it doesn't happen very often!

Safe Zone

Ha!  CC has been foiled.  We've borrowed this extremely effective play yard to fence off a safe area for the twins.  Now we don't have to be quite as paranoid about CC jumping on, hitting, or otherwise torturing Little Man and Sweet Pea.

CC was very curious as I was setting it up.  Once it was in place, she realized pretty quickly that it restricted her from getting at the babies.  She scowled, shook the fence with both hands, and roared like King Kong in a cage.  Then she threw her sippy cup over the top, narrowly missing Sweet Pea.  Hmmm.  Well, the play yard might not be perfect, but it's a huge improvement.

P.S.  I'd also like to mention that in a previous life, I was a minimalist about baby "stuff."  Even as recently as six weeks ago, I could put away all of CC's toys in a matter of minutes after she went to bed, and then feel as if MJ and I were in a fairly adult, child-free living room.  Yet now our living room looks like a Babies R Us.  Sigh.

New Chair

Look who has her very own chair?

Words cannot describe how much CC loves this thing.  She's been a nonstop climber lately, and this is the perfect size for her to get off and on all by herself.

Almost all my friends with kids have chairs like these, and to a person, they all swear it was some of the best money they ever spent for their child.  The chairs are made of firm foam pieces under a sturdy canvas slipcover, so they're light enough for kids to drag around the house on their own (thanks to the convenient handle on the back).  They can be used as chairs, stepping stools, trampolines, or forts (when flipped over).  The slipcover can be washed when it gets dirty, and it comes in a ton of different colors and patterns.

MJ is the one who picked out this cover: pink with white polka dots and white piping.  I think it's adorable.  The chair is a great size for CC, yet both MJ and I can fit into it too (albeit tightly) so I know it will last her a while.  We had her name embroidered on it, in a dark pink color, but of course I blurred it out in this picture.

I highly recommend it!  From the moment CC gets up, she wants to climb on it.  She's only had it for a week, yet she's already learned that if she pushes it up against one of our armchairs, she can get up onto the armchair and, from there, manage to climb over to the ottoman and then back to the floor.  It's quite the little obstacle course that I swear I will videotape one of these days!

Progress

There's nothing like the last minute for a little motivation, right?!  With less than 8 weeks till the twins join us, I've finally started making some progress around here.

CC and I spent all yesterday afternoon shopping for furniture for her "big girl" room.  Last night, after consulting with MJ, we made a decision on which set we wanted.  (We also ordered her a miniature foam armchair from Pottery Barn, but that's just for fun and not necessary for the twins' arrival.  Still, I'm excited for it to arrive.)

I took pictures of and listed our guest room furniture for sale on Craigslist, so we can clear out that room for CC.

I also talked to a good friend and neighbor of mine about borrowing her (unused) crib for CC.  That way CC's current crib can stay in the nursery for the twins to share at first.  Yes, we will eventually need a second crib for the twins, but this way we can hopefully avoid owning THREE cribs!

Also lastly, I ordered CC's new dresser and nightstand.  Woo hoo!  The bed can wait until she's outgrown the crib, since there isn't room for both.  The pieces should arrive by the end of July, which is my goal for moving CC into her new room.

Remaining on my list: finding curtains and bedding I like for CC's new room, purchasing a new crib mattress for her, and buying her new carseat.

Sandbox

When our bathroom renovation was beginning back in February, our contractor told us he'd just finished doing a job for a family that didn't need their sandbox anymore.  He asked if CC might want it.  I said sure, thinking we could always toss it if we decided not to use it.

Much to my surprise, a few days later he unloaded a brand-new-looking sandbox complete with lid and four corner seats.  It is much nicer looking than I would have guessed.  (For anyone wondering, it's the Step 2 Naturally Playful Sandbox.)

Regardless, it sat in the corner of our yard, collecting rainwater that quickly turned green and scummy, and I despaired that we would ever bother cleaning it out and using it.

Kudos to MJ, who got the ball rolling this morning.  He dumped out the scummy water, scrubbed out the sandbox and lid, and then we headed to Home Depot for some sand while the box dried in the sun. 

About an hour later, CC's sandbox was complete.  And she loves it!  She dug her toes right in and seemed fascinated by the way it felt in her hands and on her feet.  There was one brief sand-eating incident, but CC seemed to realize pretty quickly that sand doesn't taste good, and didn't try again.

Coincidentally, MJ's brother and his family gave CC some sand toys for her birthday as part of a complete "beach package," so she has a bucket, scoops, and cups to use with the new attraction.

Unfortunately it's a pain to clean all the sand off of her afterwards.  Today I ended up hosing her down -- literally -- which fortunately she didn't mind.  But I told MJ that she will definitely need a bath whenever she plays in the sandbox!

Puj Tub

Prior to CC's birth, one of the pieces of baby gear I was most intrigued by was the Puj Tub.  It's completely different than any other kind of baby bathtub previously made, to the point that you wouldn't even know what it was if you saw it for the first time.

"Incredible!" said Ellen DeGeneres.  "Clever!" said Rachel Ray.  The Puj won all kinds of awards and was recommended by many parent and safety groups.  I couldn't wait to try it; it's exactly the kind of thing I like:  minimalistic, simple, easy to store away in between baths. 

But as usual, the product didn't live up to the hype, no matter how much I wanted it to.

After CC's belly button had healed, we were eager to give her a bath for the very first time.  I followed the Puj instructions and folded it into shape, then placed it into the kitchen sink.  It rested lightly on the edges of the sink, but when I put even the slightest bit of weight into the tub, it sunk right down into the bottom of our sink and unfolded itself.  Huh.  It still worked ... kind of ... so she still got her bath that night.  But CC was crunched up very awkwardly, and MJ ended up having to place her in the tub sideways in order to bathe her.

Clearly our kitchen sink was too large for the Puj (despite the tub's advertising that it would fit "in any standard sink").  I was disappointed with this marvelous new invention, so I decided that for the next bath, we would try it in a bathroom sink instead.

The bathroom sink worked better, and that's what we've used ever since.  But I'm still not very satisfied with the Puj in general.

The Puj tub doesn't fit our bathroom sink well, either.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but the tub is coming unfolded behind her head.  (I know that the folded part is supposed to be under her legs, not behind her, but then her head would be down in the water, and her feet would be up in the air.) 

So here's the breakdown.

Pros:
- The material is soft foam and (presumably) comfortable.
- The foam is non-slip, so I'm not worried about CC sliding down into the water.
- The tub unfolds flat, so we can just hang it behind the bathroom door for storage.

Cons:
- To properly fit, the sink must be both narrow and deep, an odd combination for a sink.  It definitely does not fit "in any standard sink" as advertised.
- The baby is placed immediately underneath the faucet.  Not only it is easy for CC to whack her arm or leg against the spigot, but if MJ needs more water during the bath, CC is at risk of being scalded.
- The second picture was taken when CC was three weeks old, and you can see that she takes up most of the tub.  I cannot imagine that this tub will fit her much longer, although the manufacturer claims it will work until 6 months.

Unfortunately, we will be needing a new baby tub at some point.  Any recommendations for something that will store easily?  I don't have any room for one of the large plastic basins.