Category — Baby Milestones

No, I’m not expecting twins again.

I’m talking about teeth. Both girls officially have two bottom front teeth at the same time. Althea had a rough time. Elise sprouted hers without so much as a cough. I’m so excited, I keep checking to see if they’re still there every chance I get.

Thankfully, my nipples have been spared. So far.

Congratulations, girls! Welcome to the world of oral hygiene.

. . . come solid poops.

I saw Althea doing “the shit face”: lips puckered outward, the rims of the eyes bright red, eyebrows highlighted with pushing out the latest intestinal concoction. I promptly took her to the changing pad and was shocked at what I saw — so shocked that I called to Chris to come take a look at Althea’s accomplishment.

It was a pea-green, semi-solid poop the consistency of instant mashed potatoes.

Chris frowned — not out of disappointment, but out of sadness. For this marked a major milestone in our babies’ development: Not only was the poop turning solid, but before long, it would smell, too.

Luckily, it’s still tinged with the regular yeasty-sweet smell of a breastfed baby’s poop. But considering we tried carrots today (which they LOVED), we might be in for a completely different diaper experience by Friday.

Knock knock, who's there, PEAS.

I got a whole spoonful of peas.

Yeah, so the rice cereal didn’t go over well. At all.

Elise would open her mouth for the food, but just give a nasty lemon-sucking face every time she tasted the cereal. Althea would smash her lips together, grimace, and go “NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!11!!1″ She wouldn’t even accidentally open her mouth for the cereal. I tried different consistencies. No luck. I even tasted it — it was actually pretty sweet since it was mixed with my milk. But neither of them were having it.

So, after five days of failed attempts at rice cereal, we moved on to peas. This made a difference. Elise sits up and opens her mouth obediently. She sucks on the spoon like it’s a nipple and gives a serious look like, “See, I know what I’m doing.”

Althea actually opened her mouth for the peas and took several voluntary bites. She hasn’t cooperated as much as Elise, but it’s promising that she at least eats from the spoon and doesn’t protest. Between the two of them, they pay attention for about a tablespoonful at a time. After that, they both sort of slump over to one side of the highchair, distracted by the patterns in the floor tiles.

This is one of those instances where my gut instinct has to triumph over the books and websites. I’ve gotten great information from this site that I really like, but that BS I’ve read about going through the cereals one at a time for one week at time? With Althea all but laughing in my face, at this rate, I’d be breastfeeding the girls through college (which, believe me, has occurred to me in an attempt to stretch a dollar even further).

So, for those of you who have gone through solids with your kids, what was your experience?

We have two teething babies.

Two.

Teething.

Babies.

Argh. Althea chomps on her lips and hums really hard and loud. “Mmmmm. MMMMMMMMMMM!” She grabs plastic toys and rubs the hell out of her gums as hard as she can to the point that it makes an audible squeaking sound. I’ve been watching the progress over the past week or so, her gums going from some swelling, to a hint of two white caps under the skin, to the tiny peak of a white tooth starting to poke through the gums today. I rubbed some Baby Orajel on it. She furrowed her brow and gave me a look that said, simply, “WTF?”

Elise isn’t quite in the heat of it like Althea is, but her swollen gums and crankiness tell me she’s just a few days behind her sister.

Just to complicate things, Althea has decided to work on her mobility at the same time. This afternoon, I found her awake from her nap in the crib, leaning on her forearms with both of her knees bent underneath her. Her ability to pivot, roll and, soon, crawl makes our lack of space ever-more evident. It’s only a matter of time before I have the girls caged up.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, they are NOT having rice cereal. If they could talk, they’d say, “Look Ama, you’ve been feeding us the good stuff for six months and you’re trying to pull this bland goopy shit on us? Uh uh. Give us the sweet potatoes, the bananas, the apples. Quit holding out on us! And yes, the sweet tooth is ALL YOUR FAULT. And yes, we are able to construct complex thoughts and sentences this early because we are freaking GENIUSES. Now, give us some more fish oil.”

Well, we took the plunge into the world of solids.

Really, rice cereal at this stage shouldn’t be considered a solid. It’s more like an eerie-smelling mass of pasty goop that bears no resemblance to rice or cereal.

Rice cereal, neither rice nor cereal

We strapped the girls into their big-girl highchairs. This part was pretty exciting, actually. The highchairs seem pretty comfy and sturdy (they’re the Graco Contempo highchairs). All of the parts are nicely constructed and are easy to assemble and clean.

Elise was SO EXCITED to be in the highchair. She was dancing and kicking her little feet. 

The girls in their highchairs

Elise's dancing feet

Even Althea was in a jovial mood.

Althea happy about solids

But, as usual, Althea quickly got VERY SERIOUS about solids.

Althea very serious about solids

Althea was interested in grabbing the spoon and bringing it to her mouth. Then again, she’s interested in grabbing my ears and bringing my face toward her mouth too. When she tasted this new “meal,” she wasn’t particularly impressed.

It's mixed with breastmilk. JUST EAT IT.

Elise wasn’t impressed either, but she did well with sucking on the cereal and swallowing it. 

Elise's first bite of cereal

There was quite a bit left over in the end. (Before you freak out, I know not to save leftovers — for the babies. I, on the other hand, plan to use this leftover mush to kill off the ant colonies in our yard.)

Leftovers

Today was also my first Mother’s Day (one year since we announced the pregnancy to our parents, too). It also marked my first time away from the girls overnight. Yes, I shamelessly abandoned my children to go eat too much, drink too much and stay up late with one my best girl friends. This meant no nursing, which meant a lot of pumping. Thank god I have the Pump to End all Pumps, right?

Wrong! When “they” say that a pump is not as efficient as a baby at extracting milk, “they” are right. I ended up with not one, not two, not even three or four, but five clogged ducts this weekend. I discovered that when you massage out a clogged duct, it’s not really a massaging motion that frees the clog — it’s more of a violent-smashing-to-smithereens motion that will get the clog out.

Boobs are pretty resilient, as it turns out.

On the plus side, I did get an idea for how much milk I’m producing. I already suspected that the morning feedings were important, especially now that the girls sleep for 8 or 9 hours straight after going down for the night. But after pumping this morning, I realized just how big that meal is. I pumped — get this — 16 ounces this morning. Yes, 16! That’s two cups! One whole pound! Go Team Boobs!

I think I witnessed my first baby fight.

I was distracted by my computer while the girls played on their play mats next to me. Out of nowhere, Althea let out a long, siren-like wail that indicated she was hurt. I spun my head to see Althea screaming while reaching out her hand and sticking her fingers in Elise’s mouth, causing Elise to cry and flail in protest.

After examining Althea’s face, I realized Elise had scratched her nose and forehead. Score one for the big sister.

Althea's first fight

The girls’ sleeping habits are changing.

We’ve used a wedge with both of them for a while. At first, it was to try and even out their once-flattened heads (which have rounded out significantly since they started rolling and spending a lot more time on their bellies). Once they started rolling over, the wedges helped keep them from sleeping on their stomachs.

Though Elise conforms comfortably to the wedge, it’s just a speed bump as far as Althea is concerned. She easily rolls over it to sleep however she damn well pleases.

Sometimes, she’ll lie on her side. I don’t know why, but I find it so endearingly grown-up looking.

Lately, though, she’ll roll over the wedge and just sleep on her stomach. This was a problem when at first because she’d get on her belly and FREAK THE HELL OUT, which meant mama had to get up multiple times and flip her back over. Then, she started getting limbs caught in between the crib slats, prompting us to buy these insanely expensive breathable crib bumpers. ($28? Are you out of your mind? I have two babies to buy these for. Two of these bumpers and a box of Pampers, even with a 15% off coupon and a $5 off coupon, was still almost $100. For three things! WTF!)

There’s not much I can do about it anymore. Since she can roll herself over both ways, I’m technically not supposed to worry about it.

The real issue now is that she rubs her nose raw on the crib sheet and wakes up looking like a drunk on New Year’s Eve. (See also Althea. Seriously.)

I’ve gotten a lot of comments saying how helpful it is for me to post about development and milestones and I feel like I don’t do enough of that anymore. So here’s a five-month update.

Personalities

People always ask if the girls have different personalities. A month ago, I would’ve said they’re pretty similar. But over the past few weeks, they’ve really started to show differences.

Elise is our clown. She loves grinning and giggling and playing. She doesn’t cry much at all, doesn’t complain about a thing. I’ve woken up to find her in a blown-out diaper in the morning, but not a peep of protest. She just grins.

Althea, on the other hand, is more serious. I’d hardly call her a high-maintenance baby, but if someone’s going to cry, it’ll probably be her. If she wants attention, she’ll cough and whine. If she’s uncomfortable, she’ll let you know. Again, though, hardly a nuisance.

Neither of them cry more than maybe 20 minutes a day total. Seriously, they’re amazing babies. The other day, we were held up for over an hour and a half at the doctor’s office, during nap time, stuck in their stroller/car seats, and Althea fussed for probably 30 seconds total. I can’t complain.

Sleeping

We’re finally over the crescendo of torture after the vaccinations and the girls are back to waking just once a night for a feeding, sometime between 1:30 and 3 a.m., with the occasional two-feeding nights.

One quirk: After a few warm nights where we didn’t use their Halo sleep sacks to go to bed, we discovered that it affects Althea’s ability to go to sleep. She has an almost disturbing obsession with sucking and chewing on cloth, so having the sleep sack there to soothe herself makes a huge difference.

Both girls generally nap well. Neither of them are into pacifiers anymore.

(Also, can I just add that it’s kind of annoying how many people ask if they’re sleeping through the night? They’re infants, guys. There are two of them. Do you think they’re sleeping through the night?)

Schedule

Yep, we’re on a schedule and have had the same one since they were 12 weeks old. The girls determined their “schedule” and I just embraced it and make it routine. It’s roughly:

8 a.m. – wake, eat, play

9:30 a.m. – nap in swings

11:30 a.m. – wake, lunch, play

1:00 p.m. – nap in crib

3:00 p.m. – wake, eat, play

5/5:30 p.m. – cat nap in swings

6:00 p.m. – wake, eat, play

7:45 p.m. – bath if it’s bath night (every other night)

8:15/8:30 p.m. – eat, bedtime

Everything is give or take a half-hour. Sometimes the schedule gets thrown off and it’s totally okay. The girls “know” what time it is and will doze off wherever they are, even if it’s in the Baby Bjorn in the middle of a crowd of people.

Eating

I’m eating every 2 – 2.5 hours, usually a handful of candy or another freakin’ sandwich.

Oh, you mean the girls? They’re eating roughly every 3.5 – 4 hours during the daytime, a little more frequently in the evening and every 5 – 6 hours at night. They’re seriously distracted at this age and have been since four months. It seems there’s always something more interesting over their shoulder, even in a quiet room. A box in the corner? The movement of a dust mote? Venus aligning with Jupiter? Fascinating, let’s take a look!

The latest twist? Althea chomping on my nipple. Not all the time, but enough to remind me just how vulnerable a position I’m really in while nursing.

Looking ahead, I’m not excited about starting solids. Ugh. It all just seems like a massive, time-sucking hassle. Breastfeeding? Six minutes and the girls have Hoovered my boobs dry. Solids just seem so complicated and slow.

Playtime

I bought a couple of used Exersaucer-type toys from a neighbor. The girls seem to enjoy them well enough, but mostly they get frustrated because they can’t reach the toys to put them in their mouths.

Can't. Reach. Toy!

And speaking of which, everything goes in the mouth. Blankets, toys, fingers, shoulders, hair, earrings, necklaces, elbows. If it’s in their hands, it’s in their mouths next. They love grabbing their feet and sucking on their toes.

Incidentally, our house now resembles a daycare — one I’d never take my kids to.

Daycare? Nope, my living room.

Milestones

They’re both laughing more frequently these days, especially with repeated zerberts or other baby-friendly noise applied to the belly. And just because they can’t crawl doesn’t mean they’re not mobile. Both are rolling over like little burritos. We plop them down on a play mat or blanket and before we have a chance to blink, someone has rolled several times, causing Chris to yell, “Oh shit, baby on tile!”

They reach, bat and grab at toys, no problem.

My unofficial weighing method (weigh self without baby; hold baby and weigh self with baby; do the math) has them both at about 14 pounds.

The one thing they don’t do much is babble. Elise talks a little bit after eating. She’s even started letting out the occasional shriek of happiness. Althea will sometimes recite her vowels (“aahhhwwayyyweeeewooowhooooooooo”), but they’re quiet babies. I’ve read that being in a bilingual house will often delay speech. We speak Pig Latin and English, so . . .

I’m not super worried yet. I think there’s an inordinate amount of pressure put on babies/parents for kids to hit milestones on the exact day they’re supposed to reach them.

Today, the girls and I had a day full of firsts. We started out with their first social event – a three-year-old’s birthday party. Chris put it perfectly: There was a time, not too long ago, where the idea of a party on Saturday meant something very different. This party started at 11 a.m. and involved delicious food, new friends and familiar faces, no booze and a lot of babies. 

At the party, we finally, finally got a picture of me holding both babies at once. See, I never got that photo at the hospital of me in a wheelchair with two babies all bundled up in blankets like little sausages. But today, Chris snapped a pic with his camera phone of me holding the girls. See? They are my children!

After the party, we stopped by the mecca of all things baby, Babies R Us. Here, we experienced another first: changing diapers in a store. And not just that, but nursing both babies in a store, too.

If you find yourself in this situation at a Babies R Us, the Mother’s Room is not quite the clean place to nurse/change baby that it claims to be. I am not a squeamish/germ-phobe type by any means (as evidenced by a previous photo of me nursing on a public bathroom floor), but the Diaper Champ in there was disgusting. It had blue splatter stains in it. Blue. How does that happen? Here’s where having our own changing pad came in handy. That, and hand sanitizer. I don’t have pics. (I will say, though, that if you’re going to run out of wipes in a public place, Babies R Us is the place to do it.)

From here, I insisted that we go get photos with the Easter Bunny. The girls were too young for Santa photos at Christmas, but the Easter Bunny? Just terrifying enough to warrant a special trip out to the mall. Surprise, surprise — the photo came out pretty nice, all things considered. 

What an eventful day. But! It’s not over yet. After all the activity, I knew the girls needed a thorough bath. Everything started out smoothly. I even remarked to myself how the girls are growing up so quickly, how they don’t cry when they’re in the water or shit in the tub anymore.

Then?

Oh yeah, you guessed it. I was getting Elise dried off when all of a sudden, she let loose. She crapped all over the towel on our bed. Sigh. I went to wipe her up when she started shitting some more. Dammit. Now we had a situation. I had to get another towel and several more wipes. I cradled her while setting out the new towel, her bum resting on my forearm….. and BLAM-O she shit on me. Not just “oops, got a little poop on my hand.” No, we’re talking an explosion that splattered all over my shirt and shorts and required another bath. For both of us.

No pics there, either. Thankfully.

The post title says it all.

P.S. YES, Chris is wearing shorts.