Midnight Tantrum

The fear is that by letting one cry in the middle of the might that it will wake the other one, and in the end like a good deal of spoiling, it is done for the sake of the parent rather than the child. Cyrus woke up all upset and hungry so I fed him and rocked him trying to get him back to sleep. And of course once I thought I was free and clear, I hear Collin chiming in from the other room (not even in my own bed yet). Which reawakens Cyrus to a jealous rage that Collin is now being held. I waited until Cyrus was quiet again before putting Collin down, but Cyrus' tantrum woke Collin up to the point where he didn't want to be held and rocked back to sleep but wanted to check things out. So I put down a quickly agitated Collin that set off Cyrus... Geeze, people, let Mommy have some peace!

I left them both sitting up and wailing those alligator tears, gave them each a hug and kiss, told them I loved them and that it was night-night. Then I closed the door and sat down at my computer. Now they are both quiet, hopefully asleep like they wanted, just not how they wanted to get back to sleep via in Mommy's comforting arms. One at a time please is my rule. They need to know how to self sooth, and that Mommy will not make a worse habit than she already has about going in there during the night to rock them back to sleep. I foresee another few days ahead of me filled with crying nights of renewed tantrum energy before I can start sleeping through the night more than once or twice a week. I must count my blessings that it is not still every night, but still. My precious sleep loss may later become one of my most vivid memory reasons not to try for another child; pregnancy loss, preemie scare, caring for the kids we have, and mountains of health care debt aside.

Let's see, about an hour and a half past my hopeful bedtime, which bodes badly for my ability to wake up on time in the morning. The more tired I am the less I hear my alarms. We had some good rain the is supposed to keep coming through tomorrow/today so maybe it will stay dark and the boys will sleep in too.

I know I promised pictures, and I will get to it, but * insert suitable mom of twins excuse here*. I will get to it this week. We had a good weekend overall and the boys are starting to need to get out of the house like me these days. I wish it weren't so dammed hot all the time. We all miss the wagon rides. Ok, I am satisfied that they are sleeping again and I am going to try to sleep myself. My poor hubby is getting up less than three hours and I want to be in bed when he does, let him think I have been there the whole time. ARGH! NOOOOOO! Someone is crying again! Now I am going to cry!

Cutie and snuggable Collin enjoys his teething toy.

Just a peek at the kids playing at the
McMoms Mobile Munchkins playdate.

Cyrus trying to get into the cat spot while Collin
crawls across the couch on to the coffee table to get a closer look.

Collin fell asleep in the car, now he is breathing
through the nose pieces of his glasses.

Hear ye, hear ye, all children of multiples & triplets...
This is only one of the rooms where the
17 children were running about.

Wrap it up!

I went grocery shopping after the boys went to bed and my hubby put up the new curtains in our living room. So I pull into the garage at, oh 1 AM, and start unloading the cart full of stuff I brought home which includes about 15 or so jars of babyfood. Well I have always been annoyed by that plastic wrapper on the Gerber foods, b/c it is such an annoyance to take off... not tonight however. Tonight I am SO happy to have the wrapper on since it likely prevented my children from finding those small chards of glass that escape when trying to clean up said babyfood jars. Only one, but still, with ceramic tile flooring, glass doesnt just break, it shatters. So I take back all the crappy things I thought or said about the wrappers because hey, even though I still ended up moping and sweeping and wiping the floor down with wet paper towels to make sure I get it all, most of it was kept in place by that little wrapper.

And speaking of groceries, tonight I also purchased three gallons of milk. Does anyone else do that? I mean, I drink a gallon of milk by myself in a week and with cereal, we had been buying two to account for the rest of the family. But now that the boys are drinking more liquid from a sippy cup (and Cyrus from a straw!) I decided to risk it and buy the third. They all expire on the same day. We have 12 days to drink it all and I bet it will be gone by then...

We did some cool stuff today, Kindermusik (and had an ECI nutritionist appt Collin is up to 23 lbs 13oz. and Cyrus 25 lbs. 14 oz.; after all this time they still manage to stay about two pounds apart from one another), and I will tell you all about it later, but I must head to bed. Got another ECI appt and 6 month evaluation for Cyrus tomorrow morning. Cheers.

Playgroup Community

Yesterday we made our way back to the multiples playgroup for the first time since, geeze could be since before RSV season. So all excited about meeting up with some old friends we get there to a combined Tiny Tots/Mobile Munchkins playgroup (Tiny Tots for babies & Mobile Munchkins for walkers/ toddlers). An unprecedented eight moms came! Usually we have two maybe three moms show up so this was a gigantic event. 15 kids total (one set of triplets) and guess who was the most mischievous child of the whole lot? Yep, our dear Cyrus. That little boy was into everything- blinds, cabinets, doors, glass candles, on the kitchen chairs, trying to get on the kitchen table, on and on. I thought other kids would be so curious and active, but NOOO. Just Cyrus, all over the place wreaking havoc and literally having me chase him in and out of the kitchen. I felt a little embarrassed and annoyed that I could not sit and talk with the other moms (like most of them could). But then our wonderful hostess took us upstairs to a truly babyproofed area where all the kids could run free without the fear of causing any collateral damage. Then I finally got to do a little socializing. I had a great time and really am looking forward to meeting up with them again. The boys had a chance to play with other kids their age, and I met a mom who has preemie girls that were born at 26 weeks. I hope she is at the next playgroup too because I would like to talk to her more about her experiences.

Now it dawned on me this afternoon that Cyrus has been going through a word explosion and I wanted to take note of some of the words he says (or tries to say) now, not in any particular order:
Mama, Dada, Sisee, Collin (Call), cat, outside (sigh), night-night, bath time, light, green, red, no, whoa, cool, keys, please (peess), thank you (tak-oo), up, down, dog, spoon, pretty, chair, diaper (dye), wipe (why), blankie, bottle (bah-bah), ball, close, ok, water (wah), phone (foh), fan, boo, book, french fry (fie), coaster (coh), bear, door, shoe,... whew that's a ton!

I am kinda sure now that Collin knows Mama, but he only says it when he is upset. Like he is crying for me. That counts right? He will be whining and in the middle I will hear "ma" but it could just be him crying. I cannot get him to just say it. Ok, I've got some great pics to post but not tonight. I'm tired. *yawn*

Debating

I have been thinking lately of letting my Xanga site expire at the end of the year. Keeping up two blogs is kind of a hassle, and as much as I love it and have spent countless hours perfecting the template, it may have to go. For one, it has my full name on it in the URL. Not what I would have chosen had I known that my login name was going to be the URL address. Second, Xanga has pissed me off with the rewriting of all their HTML structure so all my links do not work and people cant see archives and such. Third, I am really liking Blogger, if I can get this HTML code issue with IE showing weird code changes (like GIANT text) that I do not see in Firefox. And of course going back to the privacy issue, I would like to be a little less "out there" in using real names and all. First names are fine, but not use last names for future reference, and that sort of thing. This all came rushing back to the forefront of my mind after reading Child's Play x2 and thinking about how people link one blog to another to another to another...

Craig and I went on a shopping spree today with the boys and got four new books, some cool cardboard blocks, and some cloth books to let them keep in their cribs (I fear real books would get torn to pieces if left unattended). Yeah, all of that and our reason for going was to get the acrylic TiVo cover so Collin will stop pushing the buttons. It was fun going to the new BabiesRUs in our city that opened this past weekend. They have lots of cool stuff there!

After shopping we dared to take the boys to dinner at a Chipotle. Cyrus is officially WAY TOO LOUD to take out to dinner, much less to a place that really lacks insulated interior. He likes the food though and partook in my burrito with gusto. I wish I had my camera with me. Collin was not so interested, but he was well behaved and quiet, so I let him get away with not eating.

They are currently in a napping state of flux. For a long time now they would go down between noon and one, sleep two hours (if I was really lucky, three hours!) and that would be their nap for the day. Lately however, they are not tired until 2:00 PM sometimes even 3:00 PM. They are late sleepers, not usually up until 9:00 AM or so (Thank you SO much guys! :P) and so it doesn't surprise me that they are staying up longer in the morning now that they are getting bigger. I am adaptable, unless they start wanting to get up at 7:00 AM, Mommy not down with that. :P

Preemie Prayer Revisited

This is posted above the sinks where you scrub up in Progressive NICU at the hosptial Collin & Cyrus stayed at. It touched me deeply and even though I have it on my Xanga blog, I have been in a preemie-sentimental mood tonight and wanted to post it again for anyone who had not seen it.

The Preemie's Prayer
Dear God, as you look down upon us,
We know that you might have to squint.
We're located here in the NICU:
It's the nursery that we rent.

There are many alarms and sirens,
Connected to condos and flats.
The nurses tape our booties on,
And dress us in funny hats.

We have a lot in common;
All of us were in a hurry.
For many different reasons,
Our storks came a little early.

Some of us don't know why,
We bursted out from our bubbles.
We entered into this world,
Never meaning to cause any troubles.

Mommy and Daddy are worried sick
About the odds that we must beat.
Please God, help them to realize,
That seeing us grow is a treat.

Breath by breath, we'll learn to breathe.
Ounce by ounce we'll tip the scale.
We're like a boat in the ocean,
That knows not sink- only sail.

For we are living miracles,
Mommy and Daddy must simply believe,
That you have angels watching over us;
From the time we arrive, till the time we leave.

Author Unknown

Calling all Preemie Moms!

If you haven't heard about this- it is a must see from everything I have been told, and the website reinforces that. I just ordered mine (because I will never find the time to sit down at my parent's house long enough to watch from their TiVo).

Little Man the Movie is a documentary about a micro preemie who is a miracle child beating all the odds. Have a box of tissues ready, and if you are like me, probably plan to watch it in intervals...

Preemie Magazine was also advertised on the LIttle Man website and since I had never heard of it, maybe someone else may be interested too!

Lazy Weekend

It was great, we did so little this weekend. Just hung around the house and by a freak fluke of nature, it actually rained in our neighborhood, so it cooled off a little. Whew, Texas is HOT, people!! Check me out, I am trying to post more, yea me! I learned this weekend that Cyrus likes Pad Thai, even opens his mouth for it!! Collin likes it too, but no surprise there. They may be able to grow up eating the same spicy foods we do after all...

Cyrus has a runny nose again and has been up the past two nights coughing. Poor guy, poor me. :P Sometimes I think it was better when I was up every three hours, at least then I got used to living without sleep. This getting decent sleep once or twice a week is throwing me for a loop. Not like my sleeping schedule was ever "right," I am an insomniac after all. Collin is getting used to the patch again, and I may have to get the next size up to prevent any more unintentional eyebrow waxes. But he wears them fine and considering, he keeps his glasses on too. I will have to get a pic of him with a patch on with his pirate hat wrap...

Grandpa and the boys at Grandpa's house for my birthday.
Yeah, if only they were this cooperative all the time. So cute!


Had to share this! Apparently Cyrus was comfortable after breakfast
and decided to chill out on the couch to let it all out.


Cyrus somehow made his way behind his crib and became trapped,
and Collin was following him right off the cliff.

Lesser of Two Evils

Collin went to the eye doctor on Thursday to check up on his "lazy eye." Basically he will need surgery to correct it, it is just a matter of when. At the moment his left eye is too weak to recover properly from surgery, so we need to strengthen it for a while. We tried the eye patch thing for a while and it was super frustrating trying to keep Cyrus away from Collin, so the doctor gave us a prescription for some dilating eye drops for Collin to use every other day. The results are not as good as with the patch, but better than nothing. So ok, the drops. Well, today was my first attempt with the drops. It really is a two person job, but I managed to get them in but not before traumatizing the poor thing for a minute trying to pry his eye open. I could tie his hands down, but I would really rather not have to do that. So I patched him afterwards, snuck up on him and slapped on the patch. He played with it for a while but eventually forgot about it, until it was time to take it off. OUCH! More trauma. Looks like it will suck no matter what I do. Poor Collin, my happy go lucky baby is getting tortured on a daily basis. I just hope I have the strength to endure the role of torturer for his benefit. Tolerate the heartache in exchange for my son's eye getting strong as quickly as possible to get the surgery over with as quickly as possible too.

On the upside he is starting to imitate more. My mother taught Collin to fake cough, which if he were not such a quiet grunting baby I might be annoyed with, but I have to admit it is pretty cute. I can make a sound and he will make it back with this big smile. No syllables yet, but some times I swear I hear him call out "Maaaa" when he groans for help after he climbs into the wagon and cannot get out.

And speaking of climbing, Cyrus' new trick is climbing into the chairs at the kitchen table. Something all kids must learn to do, yes, but we have ceramic tile floor, so the chairs move very easily. Crisis averted the other night after he managed to get into the chair and lean towards the table causing the chair to slide out from underneath him- but Mommy caught him just in time! Woo Hoo Mommy! Now the chairs are in the living room on the carpet when they are not being used by big people. Cyrus talks all the time and imitates everything. I love it when he brings me things, whatever he pulled off the kitchen counter or found on the floor that he knows is not a toy. If he is allowed to have it I give it back, other wise I say "thank you" and put it away. I only hope it lasts.

Oh yeah, I had a birthday over the weekend, now in the final year of my twenties. I am really looking forward to my thirties, I will still be young but no longer as naive and ignorant. (At least I hope I am not as naive and ignorant!) :P It was my birthday all weekend long, went out Friday night with my Sweetie, Saturday night with two of my closest friends (the boys spent the night at my parent's house! So I slept in!!!), and spent Sunday with my family. Monday morning Gaia went back to her mother's house, and I am always so torn when she goes home.

A month every summer just isn't enough time with her. Yet at the same time I was ready for a break from being hovered over from the moment I woke up to the moment she went to bed. This was the first year she was old enough to really help out with the boys and she did a lot to help out. But having two houses and two sets of very different rules (and parents) must be hard on a kid. This has been a very hard year, the recovery from so much overwhelming pain and stress. I was not at my best this summer for her, and I hope I can make it up to her somehow, sometime. Being a stepmom is really hard, I cannot replace her mother and I do not want to, so how do we fit in with each other, you know?

Well, whew! Back into the blog again! Let me post some pics on here and get myself to bed!

Cyrus having a rockin' time at the Clubhouse for Kids.
Those are my favorite shirts of theirs, in case I had not said so before!

Collin leans out the window of the toddler area where he played
much of the time since he isn't walking yet. Cyrus was running amuck elsewhere.

...And I just want to apologize to those who use IE- I do not know why in the world the type is in super HUGE font, but I will try to fix it. I use Mozilla Firefox, and it looks perfectly normal, so...

Three Meme's for Collin & Cyrus

We have been tagged by Hallie & Heath! So here goes...

THREE NICKNAMES:
Collin: Collin-Ollin, Zombie (since he grunts and groans instead of talks), Pumpkin
Cyrus: Cy, Pumkin, Sneaky Cyrus

THREE PEOPLE THAT MAKE ME LAUGH:
Collin: Big sister Gaia, Grandpa C., cousin Jayden
Cyrus: Gaia, Mommy, Daddy

THREE THINGS THAT I LOVE:
Collin: my train, (anything with lights on it), computers, pushing buttons and making things happen
Cyrus: blankies, seeking out dangerous objects, books

THREE THINGS THAT I HATE:
Collin: being taken away from computers, eating foods that require chewing, getting into the pool
Cyrus: eating, eating, and oh yeah, eating

THREE THINGS THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND:
Collin: why I keep getting taken away from the TiVo box, not being allowed to go face first off of the couch, chair, etc., that pushing on the button in the bath will cause the shower to come on and make me cry- again
Cyrus: why I cannot help empty the dishwasher, that I am not supposed to go after everything Collin wants, that my diaper is not supposed to be taken off and played with at my own will

THREE THINGS ON MY FLOOR:
Collin: me!, peek-a-boo blocks, my blankies during nap time
Cyrus: the clothes I take out of the dresser, the food I do not want to eat, my blankies left all over the house

THREE THINGS I AM DOING RIGHT NOW:
Collin: sleeping, sucking on my washcloth, rolling around in bed
Cyrus: sleeping, sucking my thumb, searching for my blankie

THREE THINGS I CAN DO:
Collin: keep my glasses on, crawl on all fours, get stuck in all sorts of things I thought I could fit in/on/under
Cyrus: walk everywhere, climb onto anything, take Collin's glasses off his face and hand them directly to mom with a warm smile

THREE WAYS TO DESCRIBE MY PERSONALITY:
Collin: serious, highly focused, easy going (does very photogenic qualify for a personality trait?)
Cyrus: sneaky, playful, self-aware

THREE THINGS I CANNOT DO:
Collin: walk, talk, chew solid foods
Cyrus: run, sleep through the night regularly, resist the urge to play with the cats

THREE FAVORITE FOODS:
Collin: spicy foods pureed so it goes down smooth, stars, yogurt
Cyrus: french fries, crackers, sweet peas & lima beans

THREE FOODS I DO NOT LIKE:
Collin: Sweet foods, fruit in sold form, anything that I have to chew
Cyrus: baby foods, cottage cheese, anything in more than minimum quantities (aka four oz.)

THREE BEVERAGES I DRINK REGULARY:
Collin & Cyrus: Milk, bottled watter, Pediasure with fiber

THREE SHOWS I WATCH:
Collin & Cyrus: Jacks Big Music Show, Blues Clues, Star Trek TNG

I tag: Loni, Holland & Eden, Jordan & Carson, Gillian via KEP,
Tanner

In Action!

I have to remember not to wait so long between photo posts, far too many wonderful pictures to choose from! Cyrus is walking, and Collin is fearless. I wanted to recommend a product to those who may have problems with their child learning to walk. Walking wings have been great in teching Collin to get off of his belly and start truly crawling on all fours like a big boy. They will be very helpful later on when he is ready to start walking, but right now he just throws his weight forward and lifts his legs like a frog and then he is floating. Silly Collin.

Cyrus had strep throat not too long ago, but none of the pics I took of him covered in red spots turned out. He was a red freckled baby for about four days. Luckily, and I cannot explain how, but Collin did not get the strep. We are now only fighting off a little cold, runny nose and cough. But some things you just have to let your child get exposed to, pick your battles, otherwise we would be stuck in a bubble, and I cannot stay inside that long!

They are enjoying the lazy boy chair together. They are always hanging out together. So cute!

Argh, Captain Collin Sparrow!


Cyrus walking around like he always does these days! :)
His big sister Gaia encouraging him the whole way.


Collin has no fear, and might I remind everyone,
a poor sense of balance. So to walk into the room to see him here
was, well, an adrenaline rush.


But not nearly as fear inducing as this.


Daddy and Cyrus catching up on some QT with a good book.
I love that my boys love their books- have tons of
pictures with them, but too many to post here.


About a lifetime ago, we met up with our friend Tanner
at the local mall, where a wonderful toddler play area is.
Most of my pictures turned out badly, but this one was sweet.


Collin likes to be close to his brother, even while they are about to eat.
They love to watch Blues Clues or Jack's Big Music Show while they eat.


Collin and Gaia posing with big smiles for the Baby Paparazzi! Sweet!