Teething again!?

It got cold! I got a feeling we will be in for a long winter. We didn't get to take the boys to any parks this week. Instead, we spend most of our time in doors with the boys.

Teething has been taking it's toll on the boys. They have been a little more irritable and quick to cry or fight with each other.



Jasper has had the most trouble trying to go sleep at night. It's probably because I pulled him from his crib and brought him into our bedroom and tried to get him to go sleep. We then tried watching some tv but after that it seemed like sleep wasn't going to happen. I ended up rocking him to sleep in the dining room in the dark, just like the old days. Like a switch, he was on and off, passed out. Didn't even wake him putting him back in his crib.

Jacob has been doing great with sleeping. Except for last night, he was usually out on his second bottle. He's then been getting up early and spending some one-on-one time Joy before Jasper got up.



Joy's mom spend the weekend over. Saturday, Joy and I went out for a date. We went to the ledges to hike. We even got lost. It felt really nice. It was great spending some alone time with Joy and at the ledges. Such an amazing place!

This weekend, we're going to my parents' house for a family get together.

So, I'm not sure what do to about the boys room to keep it warm. Last year, I put plastic on the windows, but I did it on the outside. Eventually it fell off. I think possibly because I didn't clean the frames well, where the tape went. A lot of cold air comes in from closet so I put a towel at the bottle last night. That seemed to help some. We're thinking of getting a space heater to it warmed before bed but turn it off when they do. We don't need no accidental fires!

The boys are still loving their toys! They get so much enjoyment and even play independently with them.

One the toys is a farm. I was playing with Jacob and putting a small stuffed bear in the window and then have him walking out the door. He got such a kick out of it, last night he was doing it himself!

We also have an animal puzzle, where when you match the correct animal it makes that animals' sound. Last night, Jasper matched up the cow all by himself! He was doing it like it was nobody's business but he did like the applause he got.



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Darn those molars!

Darn those molars. It appears the boys have molars sticking out. This has made the boys very comfortable during the last few days. They have had trouble eating. Jacob has had trouble sleeping. They both want to be held constantly. Poor little dudes.

Sleeping has still been pretty solid except Jacob waking up upset. With the exception of last night, the boys have been going to sleep on their own with a bottle at night.

Last night, Jacob had finished his bottle and got up in his crib pretty upset. Even trying to give him tylenol was a struggle.

At this point Jasper was awake and also bit upset, mostly because he wanted out of his crib.

After everything was taken care of. Joy and I switched off with reading from a Disney book. I rubbed Jasper's back because he became upset about being put to sleep.

After Joy read a couple stories, I took over and started reading more. After I read the Hunchback of Notre Dame I looked up and Jasper, Jacob, Joy, and our dog were all sleeping. I tapped Joy on the shoulder and we headed to bed.

Jacob had then woken up again around 4am quite upset again. After we couldn't get him to settle down, Joy picked him up and brought him to the couch.

I then took him and he fell asleep on me and I was able to take him back to his crib around 5am.

Jasper slept through it all like a champ. He moved around slightly at first but ever fully got up.

They both got up again around 8:30 and took a two hour nap at 11am.

We kept a pretty chill weekend. We had to cancel on going to my niece Sarah's graduation party. Even Joy wasn't feeling good. I got our cars an oil change and Joy fixed the window on our car.


- ps the pictures in this post and last were taken at the Nature Realm on memorial day.

Going to sleep on their own

This was our method to getting the boys to sleep:

We start with giving the
boys a bottle of milk in their cribs. Sometimes they would fall asleep during or after finishing their bottle.

If that fails, we bring them back out to the living room where we sit and watch tv until they fall asleep or get antsy.

If they get antsy, I take one of them and walk around with them and try to rock them to sleep. After the one I have falls asleep, I do the same to the other if they haven't fallen asleep with Joy.

This method worked pretty well. Heck, they were going to sleep at night now!

The problem is that the boys were so used to this method that it made it really hard for Joy to them down for a nap.

So this weekend, or actually Sunday we started working really hard to get them to go sleep on their own.

So we gave them bottles and walked out until we heard them freaking out.

Instead of grabbing them, we made them stay in the cribs and Joy and I sat on the floor. I read to them. Joy would play music for them and sing. Or We both would sit silently reading to ourselves. But we did let them leave their cribs.

Sometimes I would get them to sleep by simply reading to them. Jacob seemed to be the first one to pass out but seemed to take a bit longer for Jasper.

The first night they were both out by 2am, then next 1am, followed by 12am. The last two nights they have fallen asleep on their own around 9pm.

Also they have been taking their naps easier!!

Let's hope this sticks up because it's really nice that they can go to sleep on their own and at a decent time. Shortly before they were pushing bedtime to 12-1am.

The only thing is now seems the boys are going through something, teeth or effects from the 12 month shots. Jacob woke up last night and had a big hissy and took awhile to get him to go back to sleep. He seemed in pain or comfy so I held and brought him to the couch. He didn't like that either, however eventually he fell back asleep. A couple nights before Jasper seemed the same way.

To the TV!

We recently got a Blu-Ray player has YouTube on it. So now when the boys are acting up, we can pop on the Gummy Bears song, which is their favorite. Whenever it's on, they get glued to the TV (we used to play it on on phone) and forget about whatever was bothering them. They also discovered that they love Elmo but the downside is that now they are constantly trying to get to the TV. It has been been an exercising experience of constantly trying to get them away from TV.

Jasper has gotten really good at moving around standing up and onto things like the coffee table, couch, and chairs. During the week, Joy was putting laundry away and put a baby gate up in the hallway. She came out in the hallway after hearing him whimper. He had went from standing up with the gate to being against the wall and couldn't get down. Since then, both of them have gotten really well at sitting themselves down.

Yesterday, the boys had teething biscuits for the first time. My mom had given them as valentines. They weren't really sure about them at first but they loved them!

Speaking of teeth, we believe their top teeth are on the verge of popping out.

Joy edited the videos we took of the boys and made a really neat movie. She added songs to go along along with. It turned out really sweet! It is really amazing to see how much they've been grown in such a short period of time (8 months). She made a really nice slide show of tons of pictures. Joy made neat jewel case covers and is giving them the DVDs as valentines.

Sleeping has gotten a little better. They are now going to sleep around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Now, we're gonna try to push it a little later.

Monday, Joy and I are planning on going on our first date since July. We're going to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 1. Grandma W planing on holding the fort with the boys.

Four-month vaccines complete!

The boys have got their four-month vaccine shots. They were in good spirits while we waited for the doctor and then the nurse. I sat on the doctor's stool and moved back and forth with Jacob was in my lap. Jasper was in Joy's lap.

I think for one of the first times the boys really noticed each other. They were looking at each other and smiling big.

Jacob eventually fell asleep on my shoulder while we waited for the nurse to give shots. Since Jacob was sleeping on me, Jasper went first. The first shot he did great. Not a peep. Then the nurse informed us that the second shot burns. Sure enough, the second shot went in and Jasper screamed. Joy quickly took Jasper held him till he calmed down.

With Jasper crying and some nudging, Jacob woke up for his shots. He was not happy to receive either of them. I quickly grabbed him and tried to comfort. Jasper had calmed down so Joy put his clothes on and then gave me Jasper while she put on Jacob's clothes. Then I took him back to comfort.

While we were checking out, Jacob fell back asleep and Jasper fell asleep as well in our arms.

We asked the doctor about them teething and she said it was most likely they're not but they're just exploring. I'm not totally buying her story. For one she did not even check to see if they're teething. She did say we could introduce them to real food, see the previous post by Joy.

We had expected the day to be crazy because of screaming babies. We expected to go on a car ride for them to calm down, car rides usually help. However, we had two sleeping boys in the car. So Joy and I went on a car ride anyway to get ice cream.

We got home and were able to put boys in their cribs and Joy and I had a quiet afternoon.

Then Joy said she was hungry and wanted to go to bed after dinner. I started making spaghetti and by the time it was done Jasper woke up screaming. Joy came into the kitchen with him. Then I heard Jacob waking up. They were both not happy! Screaming!

We tried walking around, going outside. Eventually Joy and I had to divide and concur because I think they were both kind of enforcing each other to cry after we got one of them to calm down, like a sympathy cry. Eventually we got them both to calm down. They were both cuddly with us. Talking and singing to them helped calm them too.

The next day they slept must of the day.

Beep beep

The boys are loving their jeep walkers. I called home on my lunch break and Joy told me that Jasper was looking in his rearview mirror, which is actually just a sticker, and was backing up. They both love beeping the horn and pressing buttons. They look so proud of themselves that they can stand up on their own in the walker.

Last night, I just put Jacob in the walker. Sometimes his head falls a bit forward, so Joy has been putting something between him and the steering wheel, so he doesn't bump his head. Last night I put a pillow in between. He started punching the pillow. He put his hand into a fist and started going at it. He would then look at me and smile.

Teething continues. Jacob is now pulling on his ears and rubbing his tongue along his gums. He's also been wanting more attention. Not so much sitting down attention but he wants you to stand up and walk around. Luckily Jasper has been really content with this at least with me.

We avoided going to a family birthday party last week to avoid sickness that's going around. However, Joy caught a bug anyway. I've been trying to let her sleep a bit more at night. Luckily, this weekend her mom will be over. Hopefully she can get all the rest she needs to feel better before Monday hits. So far the boys and I are in the clear!