Sleep training, morning edition and rice from a spoon

What are you looking at?  Nuthin, I'm just chillin in my
awesome blue, yet girly jammies!

Sleep training is going really well.  Last night was a little rough because I allowed them to get overtired during the day (I forgot to turn off the swing for a particularly long nap) but it wasn't pure torture for anybody.

This morning, I woke up at 9:30 needing to pump (it had been over 9 hours) and got myself all hooked up.  2 minutes in, I see little open eyes on the monitor.  All I can think is "oh crap.  Well, Mama's gotta pump, I think we're all gonna just have to suffer for a half hour or so."

Charlotte, denying the camera
her smile as usual.

But we didn't!  They quietly babbled with each other and the mobile until I finished.  I got the milk distributed into bottles and by the time I was ready to go get them, they were asleep again!  It's 10:30am now.  This is awesome!  I've made myself some coffee, warmed up a cinnamon roll and I'm eating my breakfast, bottles at the ready, watching them sleep on the monitor.  I'm assuming one or both will wake up again any minute, but until that happens, a leisurely breakfast for me!

I think it's because they aren't scared when they wake up in the crib anymore.  Yes, they're hungry.  It's been about 6 hours since they've eaten.  But they aren't waking up and just freaking out so if I can't get to them immediately, they can go back to sleep if they aren't just starving.  Before, if they woke up, there was no doubt about it, we needed to get to them before they got majorly upset.  This is so much better.

Oh, random funny conversation K and I had last night.  I knew the girls bed time was going to be off because their nap was at a weird time and Charlotte was kind of falling asleep at the bottle.  K asked if we should skip their bath and do the short version of bedtime routine.  I said "I'm not sure, she might be all alert in a few minutes.  We'll play it by ear."  To which he responded "Did I just hear what I think I just heard coming out of your mouth???  Every time I say the words 'play it by ear' you growl at me!"  "Well Honey, usually when you say it to me, it's when I'm asking you for information I need to create a specific schedule!  Besides, in the last 5 months, I've learned A LOT about how to play it by ear."  So there's a little indication of how my personality is changing since becoming a mom of multiples.

Tina, totally hamming it up,
as usual

The pediatrician told us a month ago we could start introducing some solids.  I'm not real gung ho on it.  While they are on breast milk, I know they are getting the right balance of nutrition, everything they need and nothing they don't.  Once we start substituting milk for foods at feedings, we have to start thinking about balance and making sure they get everything they need.  It's a challenge I'm not real excited about taking on. I've certainly never figured it out for myself but I'll be a better person for them than I am for me so in the upcoming months, it's something I'm going to have to finally learn about.

Yesterday was just an experiment.  We have some rice flakes from one of the many hand me down bags I've received over the last year and it doesn't expire for quite some time, so I opted to start with that since I've already got it.  The girls haven't really shown any interest in our food so I don't feel a real need to start introducing it.  But on the other hand, they are now eating approximately what I produce every day, if not a little bit more.  In the last 2 weeks, we've had to thaw out 60oz of my frozen stash and that's making me a bit nervous.  My thinking is that if we start adding a little bit of rice, perhaps they won't need quite as much milk per day.

Onto the experiment!  I mixed up about an ounce of the stuff according to the directions.  It was a 1:4 ratio of rice flakes to my fluid of choice (breast milk).  I got a little spoon, and off we went!  This experiment was not about getting rice into their bodies, it was simply about seeing if they could figure out what I wanted them to do when I brought a spoon to their lips.

Tina was a bit fussy in general but seemed to enjoy herself.  I didn't trim that video like I did for Charlotte because she scared the cat which I thought was funny.  Charlotte isn't sure what to think, but I got a good smile of hers on camera, something she does not like to give me very often, so I'm happy.  Yes, proof that she does often smile even though every picture of her comes out looking contemplative!

I tried adding a teaspoon of rice to Charlotte's 5oz bottle, but even though I was using the tricut playtex nipple designed to let rice flow through, and even though it was hardly any compared to the amount of fluid, it kept getting stuck.  It usually takes her between 5-10 minutes to eat, this time it took over 40 with me occasionally squeezing the nipple and pressing on the drop in bag to help add pressure to the milk from the other side.  I made up a bottle for Tina with 2oz of breast milk and 1/4 tsp of the rice (I had the rest of her bottle set aside so yes, she did eat a full bottle), put in a level 2 Dr. Brown nipple on her bottle and she was able to suck it down really easy.  It's possible that the difference was that Tina's bottle was warmed up and stirred more, whereas Charlotte's bottle was straight from the tap so it may not have been quiet as warm.  Maybe the rice didn't dissolve as well in Charlotte's bottle as it did in Tina's.  Oh well.  Live and learn.

Wow, I'm almost done with my coffee and they still aren't up yet.  On another day, I might actually get them up, but since they've had that mild cold, I'm thinking I'll just let them sleep all they want.  Maybe I'll get that video done that's due in a couple of hours.  Is this what it feels like to have time to accomplish things?