Sleeping beauties...sort of

So we are rapidly approaching the twins 2nd birthday. And then I think...that means it's been about 2 years since I slept. They have never slept through the night. Not once. Never. Ever. A good night is them each only waking up once per night. They never wake up at the same time. They don't wake each other up. Most nights, its completely normal for them to wake up 2 twice a night each. Ugh.

Another issue is that they've never slept in a crib. Never. Ever. Since they came home, they like to sleep on the floor in a pile of pillows and blankets. Which is fine. They just need to sleep. About a week ago Chris took down their cribs. Since they're still so little, if we could ever get them to sleep on their mattresses I worry they would try to get up and come looking for us and faal out of bed. So for now, their mattresses are on the floor and we'll wait a while to get toddler beds.

Bedtime is easily a 2 hour show also. No matter what I've tried, if I can get them to fall asleep in 2 hours, that's a pretty good night. And they very seldom are ever able to put themselves to bed. They just can't. And we've gone hours trying to make it happen. Trust me.

I've tried everything. We've had the same routine, down to the letter, for over a year. I've brought it up to every therapist and doctor we see and they all look at me with sympathy but no one has an solutions that we haven't tried.

So mommy is taking things into her own hands. I talked with another mom who has used herbal teething drops that help her little ones not just with teething but with resting. They're basically chamomille tea for babies. We tried those over the weekend. It worked in reverse. They went a little bonkers. Those drops are now in the drawer waiting for another time.

Wish us luck as we try another thing to see if it makes any difference. And hopefully we're all sleeping better soon! :)

And finally, it cooled off

After 2 weeks of nothing but blazing hot and not really being able to go outside, we were finally able to go play! We've come to love Graham Park. Close to home, not to big, lots of grassy area to run around in. Yay for cooler summer days!

Special Sweet Spot

I took the duo to my dads this afternoon to drop off an early birthday present. As the kiddos played on the patio, we chatted about things. Part of the conversation turned to my grandma's estate. She passed away a couple weeks ago.

I took the twins to visit her a just a week or so before she passed away. She bragged to her roommate about them which made me smile. I was never able to take them to her house because of the number of people that smoke there. You mix that with babies with bad lungs and it just doesn't work. Every few weeks I ordered pictures for her and had them sent to her house. Lots of times I would get a message or a card thanking me and that getting the little surprise in the mail made her day. Who doesn't like getting surprise packages in the mail?

Before I left my dad's, he handed me a photo album that she had put all those pictures. The ones on the first page are from their first days, when you can hardly tell there's a baby under all those tubes and wires. The book still had some empty pages at the back that never had the chance to get filled. I'm gonna make sure they do and we'll look at them (looking at pictures is one of Payton's favorite things). It brought smiles and tears to see she had that and know she showed people.

We weren't quite ready for you to go, but it's always nice to have another angel watching over us. Thanks for the pictures. We miss you.

A Day at Our Zoo

Every evening, their new "thing" is to want to drag their rocking horse (thanks Emelie and Asa!) and our zebra (thanks Kristin!) out into the living room and spend the next who-knows-how-long bouncing back and forth between them and going a little crazy.

We're always looking for someone who isn't tired of the songs they play to come hang out :)

To get you out of the hot August heat...

and to support the wonderful people that I love. You're all amazing and I hope you have great success with this.

Tubes

After a very long night, I was with Payton bright and early at 5:30 Monday morning at Boys Town Hospital for her to get tubes in both ears and a scope done. She did great. In fact, the anesthesia worked backwards and has actually made her crazy ever since. If you notice, the clock behind her says 5:40. We were already in her room and changed into her XS hospital jammies. She's checking out the little socks they gave her to wear too.



 If you've ever driven by Boys Town and seen the little round windows all over the building, they are in the patient rooms and you can sit in them. They are just Payton's size.

Her nurse was great, she even remembered us from last year when we were there twice with Parker. We were home early in the day. Her only problem was that she wanted to know where Bubba (her name for Parker) was. Daddy had taken him to respite care so that we could make sure we had things with her taken care of. Not a problem, everything came out fine. Now, let's hope its a while before she gets any more anesthesia.

Battles

While not all in a bad way (and some that totally entertained me), this weekend was all about battles with the kiddos.

 Parker vs. the almost empty formula container

 Payton vs. the recycleables

 Payton vs. two pairs of shorts

 Kiddos vs. lunch feeding themselves

 Payton vs. nap time

 Parker vs. toilet paper

 Parker vs. the newly mopped kitchen floor

 Payton vs. the pony

 New week = new battles. Happy last week of July!

 P.S. We has a play date this past week with Emelie and Asa. It was so much fun! Looking forward to doing it again when they get back from vacation and Payton's feeling better from her procedure.

 P.P.S. We went to Stacey's house Saturday night to hang out with the cousins, play, watch them sing and dance with the Wii and Playstation. Thr kiddos did so good and it was so fun. Hoping to do that again soon, too. Thanks for inviting us!