Here is what I want to remember about this age
Dear Hadley and Harper,
You are both sweet sweet little girls. The hardest part about this age is your new fear of strangers. You cry and scream when a new face holds you or tries to talk to you. This is especially challenging when we are out in public and I only have one set of hands to sooth both of you at the same time. I am sure you will grow of this stage, it is slowly getting better.
Your personalities still show. Hadley, you are more of a relaxed and quite baby. Harper, you are more social and you tell us when you want something. You both love to lay and play on your play mat. I change out the toys that hang from the bars and the two of you reach and hold on to the toys hanging down. Harper, you enjoy the play mat the most. You will play under the toys for as long as I leave you there.
We give you a bath together every night. Hadley you LOVE your bath. You kick, splash, flap your arms and laugh while you lay in the tub. Hadley, you splash so much, it makes Harper jump every time the water hits her unexpectedly from your splash. We have had to specifically position you so that you lay head to head, and your feet are on opposite ends of the tub.
You both have a lot more strength. I can hold you under your arms and you will put enough pressure on your feet to stand up in my lap. Your knees buckle after a few minutes, but you are getting stronger. Hadley you are really close to rolling over, but you haven't done it by herself. I am ok with that, I can't imagine how life is going to be when you'll become mobile. I like that I can lay you in one place and you don't move.
You are both still mesmerized by the television, it is hardly on during the day, but I still use it to hold your attention for a few minutes while I am making bottles or putting one of you to bed.
You are still eating 5 bottles a day. Each bottle is about 5 ounces. I still try to nurse you 3 times a day but I think that is coming to an end. Nursing you at the same time is becoming a challenge, you try to grab at each other's eyes and nose while eating. I just don't have enough hands to hold you and control you hands. Hadley, I took you to the doctor last week because your eye was red and swollen. The doctor thought it might either be pink eye or a scratch. I am pretty sure Harper scratched you in the eye. You did not seem too bothered by it and it cleared up in a few days.
You are able to stay up for longer stretches of time in the evening. During the day you are both exhausted after being awake 1-1.5 hours and need to go back to sleep, but in the evenings I can keep you awake for a little longer. You can hardly hold your eyes open to take your last bottle but you sleep great through the night. You are both still sleeping 11-12 hours every night. You wake up around 7:00 or 7:30, and sometimes as late as 10:30. Although we are still breaking you of your swaddles, you are officially in separate cribs. You no longer take naps together. You sleep in the same room at night, but in separate rooms during naps. I find that you nap a lot better in separate rooms. You are both light sleepers. I can't go in the room to check on you, without waking you up. It is funny to me, because you can sleep through each other's cry but nothing else. You seem to enjoy us singing you to sleep at night, it calms you down quickly. What is really funny is, singing is usually the only thing that calms you down after a stranger scares you, so you can imagine what a scene we make when you are screaming and I am singing Jesus Loves Me. I usually sing, This Little Light of Mine or Jesus Loves the Little Children in your ear as you fall asleep at night.
I LOVE this age to, and I still beg you to stay a baby forever.
I want to start including a "typical day" with each of my monthly post so that I can remember what each stage was like. I am sure it is going to bore most of you'll, so just skip over it, but this is the only baby book, I have for now. So I try to record as much as I can.
Wake up at 7:30- You smile so big when I come to get you. You usually are not crying when you wake up, you are just talking and sucking on your hands in your crib.
7:30-8:00 Nurse (and bottle if necessary)
8:00-8:30 Change diapers, get dressed, play, tickle, sing...you both usually start to fuss which tells me it is time for bed. I put one of you in the bouncy or on the floor so I know you are safe while I go get the other one in bed. If you are both fussy and tired at the same time, that is when the 2 minutes of TV saves me from listening to screams.
8:30- Lately Harper has been tired first, so I swaddle Harper, give you a paci (You will only take it while I am rocking you), I sit in the rocker in your nursery and we rock and sing for a few minutes. You usually don't fall asleep but you lay in my arms really still staring at me. I put you in your crib, turn off the light and turn on the sound machine. Then I go get Hadley and do it all again.
You usually sleep for about 2 hours (recently it has been longer). This is when I eat breakfast, pick up the house and take a shower.
11:00 Wake up ready to eat 5 oz bottle. After this bottle is usually when we get in the car to run any errands we have (usually only 1 or 2 stops is all we can handle) If we don't have anywhere to go, we play, tickle and sing together until you fuss and tell me it is time for another nap...usually around 12:30.
12:00- 3:00 this is a long nap...usually
3:00 You wake up to eat. I nurse and give you extra in a bottle just to make sure you are full.
3:30-4:00 We play with toys, tickle and sing some more. You always need 3 or more naps a day. So your third nap is usually a short cat nap. Only about an hour.
4:00-5:00 nap
5:00- Eat, play, and bath time
8:00 Last bottle and bed
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