A Good Quote
I love this quote and feel like it applies very much to motherhood. I changed it just a bit. That Teddy Roosevelt was kind of gender biased...
The WoMan In The Arena
"It is not the critic who counts, not the woman who points out how the strong woman stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the woman in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly...who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends herself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if she fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that her place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat."
Teddy Roosevelt
posted by Billie @ 9:21 PM
7 comments
First of all, I really want to say "hi" and "thank you" to my CO friends at GCPS for the thoughtful card they sent. It really brightened up my day on a day I really needed it. Thank You!
I've been hesitant to discuss sleeping patterns because I don't want to jinx myself, but it seems I may have some future great sleepers on my hands. I put both girls down to bed in the portacrib in our bedroom around 9-9:30 at night. They are able to fall asleep on their own, and lately haven't been waking up until around 5 or 6am. I get them up and feed them, then they will usually fall asleep for another 2-3 hours. If only I could get myself to bed before midnight... 
I partially owe their good sleep habits to Dr. Karp, author of "The Happiest Baby on the Block." Swaddling them tightly at night keeps them from startling themselves awake. If they are not swaddled they wake up frequently and have more trouble getting into a good deep sleep. This is by far the best mommy tip I have learned and will swear by it if anyone asks me for advice!
Will the biggest sis please raise your hand????
On Saturday the girls got their first baths in the big tub with Mommy. They both seemed to love it. I think they liked it more than their baths in the baby tub on the kitchen counter. I might start alternating bath day. That way I'll be sure to get a bath everyday! Regular showers are just one of the many things I have given up since having kids. Here are some others:
Oh, the price of Mommyhood... It's not just me is it??? Of course, I do get to do a lot of fun things that I wasn't able to do before. Including taking baths with my babes, smooching their chubby cheeks and necks, cuddling and smelling their sweet baby smells, and watching their faces light up when I walk in the room. It definitely has it's moments. I love them so much it hurts!
I called the Michigan Ear Institute today and scheduled an appointment for Eden with an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. The place was highly recommended and they say that they often work with babies. I like the idea of going to a place that specializes in ears & hearing. Our appointment is on March 2nd and I will keep everyone posted on how it goes.
Holland's biggest issue right now continues to be her eczema. She has good days, where it appears to have cleared up pretty good, then bad days when it looks just terrible. One thing that we have discovered is that she is allergic to peanuts, and has a reaction whenever I eat them. This is more than just eczema, it's a red splotchy rash that quickly spreads over her whole face and itches really badly. John is allergic to peanuts too and has a similar reaction over his whole body when her eats large amounts of peanuts. The good news is that as soon as we stop feeding her it starts to clear up! So, as much as I LOVE peanut butter, it is no longer part of my diet.
Today was Saturday so John and I spent much of the day playing with the babies trying to make them laugh. Holly laughed out loud at Daddy today while he was tickling her. So Cute!
Eden is in love with her bug toy. It plays a song and it's cheeks light up. She thinks it is so funny:) Every time we hold it up she gets so happy. They are both starting to show more interest in their toys, and playing games. Lots of fun...
Aren't they so funny??? Eden has become quite a little ham, smiling like this every time I get out the camera. I may have created a monster! Both girls have really been into The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Pat a Cake, and the ABC song in sign language lately. And today Eden decided that the "Mommy's gonna get you" game is VERY funny. She had huge smiles every time I tried to eat her ears and belly. Holland still looks at me like I've gone crazy:)
In other news...we had an appointment with an audiologist for Eden on Tuesday. If you all remember, she failed her hearing screen in the hospital, and had a follow-up appt before leaving the NICU. At that appt they weren't getting a good response on the test and wanted to give her some time to grow and see her again in 3 months. Well, we didn't get the good news that we were hoping for. It's looking like she has moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears in the high frequencies tested. The audiologist wasn't able to test the lower frequencies because Eden wasn't asleep enough. We're REALLY hoping that she has SOME hearing because then she will benefit from hearing aides, and because we caught it early, should be able to develop normal speech and language. We have another appointment next month to do more thorough diagnostic testing and possibly have her fitted for hearing aides. I wish we didn't have to wait because I am feeling extremely stressed and overwhelmed. Everything I have read says the earlier the better, so I am ready to do something NOW.
I am way overdue for an update! I've been home alone with the babies a lot this week, so it's been kinda hard to find time. They are keeping me quite busy...imagine that. So, I'll touch on the most important points from the past week. Daddy gave both babies massages and they loved it. Research shows that preemies who get massaged grow faster than those who don't, so we're going to start massaging them as often as we can. Plus it's just FUN!
I've also done a lot of research regarding Eden's little spells. I don't know if I found the answer, or if they just stopped on their own, but I read something about Calcium and Phosphorus levels possibly causing seizures, so we discontinued her TCP (Tribasic Calcium Phosphorus) for a week and she stopped having spells. We started it back on Monday and they might be coming back. The past couple of nights John and I have noticed a couple little ones at night. They are shorter in duration, only happen when she is waking up, and we can stop them by changing her position, so they are not as scary as before. I'll have to check with the pediatrician to see what he thinks we should do. She definitely still needs calcium supplementation for her bones, so maybe we will switch to something different (like the calcium carbonate she was on before).
On a less "medical" note, both girls are really doing well. They are super cute and their personalities are really developing. Holly is a little fireball with a lot of energy. She is quick to flash her quirky grin and loves talking to mom and dad. Eden is a really sweet calm baby who loves to be held. She wakes up in a good mood in the morning with big smiles for Mom. In this picture Eden is looking a little perplexed because her sister keeps bopping her in the face.
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