Land of McGovernville

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Thanks!

*Warning, this is real life*

So far I thought I was doing good. Despite my burning desire to do so, I have not rocked the twins to sleep for naps. My AP (attached parenting) going ways say to nurse them into a sweet sleeping state, but my mother of 4 reality kicks in and I realize that rocking TWO babies will take some time. As much as I love (and I mean love) holding a sweet sleeping baby, I have 2 other kids calling my attention. So, I have been nursing them into a sleepy state, then swaddle them, then put them down very drowsy. After a few minutes I go to check on them and they are usually asleep. This has happened for the past 9 weeks and it has worked. They have both napped for 1 1/2 hours plus each time. Today they decided 20 minutes was sufficient, but fussed and cried the entire afternoon. The big kids were good, for a while. Then Vincent decided he was going to get crazy.

He did everything from torturing is sister to screaming to whining non-stop about a toy that he is perfectly capable of working, but insists that he can’t. After a second attmept at a failed nap I made the mistake of answering the phone. This caused Vincent to have another melt down. I hung up the phone and cried, I just let lose.

Vincent, being the Jekle and Hyde kid he is, came over and asked if he could help me. After I thanked him I went back to nursing the twins. Vinent then proceeded to ask me every 42 seconds for a cup of juice. I love that kid, really I do, but wow I was going insane!! This age really sees highs and lows.

On another note…yesterday we decided to work with the kids on learning to ride a bike. My mom (Nana) bought Vincent a good sized bike (with training wheels) a while back, but he just now gained interests in riding in. Last night we took him around the block and really encouraged him (through a lot of that typical 4-year-old whining) to ride the bike. It only took the first 3 houses to get him to calm down enough to learn how to ride the bike. After that he was dong a GREAT job, and we were so proud of him. He rode his bicycle all the way around the block. As a mom I want so badly to learn how each of my kids ticks, how they learn, what they love, etc. I had to work hard at cracking Vincent and I am so glad that I did. Now I am not going to lie, my frustrations were apparent, but after several deep breaths (by all of us), we got through it and we are all stronger because of it. Phew, 1 kid down, 3 to go.

Kenniston is quite the little girl.  She is a big fan of princesses, princes and the like.  She loves to find one of her many tiarras and wear it around the house (or where ever we head for that day) and loves to carry around one of her many wands.  Today when we were outside drawing with sidewalk chalk she asked me to “draw me a priiiiince.”  It was such a cute request, I couldn’t resist. 

Here is another Jack picture.  You can see how the right side is flat while the left has a buldge.

Today was Jack and Ruby’s 2 month check up.

The stats:
Jack Owen
11lbs 1oz
23 inches

Ruby Adeline
10lbs 3oz
23 1/4 inches

Both babies are right on track with development.  They are both smiling and starting to chuckle.  Both babies are grasping objects and starting to be more and more alert during the day. 

Jack seems to have a few minor issues.  First he has a spot on each foot that the doctor thinks might be soft tissue that will go away.  Each spot is about the size of a small grape.  Both feet are able to move in all directions, so the doctor isn’t too concerned.
The other issue is his head.  It is misshapened.  You can tell if you look over the top of his head.  His left side buldges out toward the back.  I am *obviously* not a doctor, but my guess is that due to his very low position in my pelvis for 9 months his head got slightly squished.  The doctor suggested aggressive repositioning to reshape it.  This means I will lay Jack on this buldging spot when I put him down so it softly pushes the bones to go where they need to go.  This means I have to put Jack slightly on his side to sleep.  Laying him down sideways is good for him anyway, it is part of our “Happiest Baby on the Block” regime.  If laying him down on his side doesn’t make a big impact we will look into a doc band.  A doc band is a white band that helps to correct his head shape.  So essentially our littlest prince could have his very own crown.  I will keep you updated on the crowning situation.  We should know more at his 4 month check up.

BTW here is a picture of his head:

And for your veiwing pleasure:

I, Kelly McGovern, resolve to NOT let my family see an Emergancy Room the rest of this year (or ever again if I can help it)

So here is the thing.  We have been pretty slack about the baby monitors lately.  Sunday night I felt like God was telling me that I needed to turn it on, so I did.  .   Ruby woke up to nurse around 11:30pm, and afterwards I had a hard time getting to sleep.  At some point after midnight I heard a strange noise.  It sounded like a muffled cough cry with gasps of air in between.  I jumped out of bed and ran down the hall to find out which room it was coming from.  It was Vincent.  He was sitting on his calm down chair coughing and gasping for air.  In between that he had a weak cry.  I knew right away he was not ok.  After trying to console him for about 15 minutes I decided to wake up Brian to see what he thought we should do.  Brian agreed that Vincent should be seen ASAP.  As Brian got dressed I put some warmer clothes on Vincent and got some books and stuff prepared for the long ER wait.  I had a feeling it was Croup, but I was still nervous. 
I tried to go to sleep as I waited to hear from Brian, but my mind wandered.  I searched the web for possible answers and the best I could come with were Croup and Whooping Cough, the second of which Vincent had not been immunized for.  Needless to say I prayed a lot. 
I finally fell asleep after 4am sometime.  I woke up just over an hour later to a crying baby and found Brian laying next to me.  I asked him right away what the doctor said.  Thankfully it was Croup.  Vincent was given an oral steriod and was told to rest it out.  Thankfully that is all it took.  He has been sleeping and eating way more than ever.  I have been told that is a side effect of the steriod. 

So anyway, please pray that our family does not have to see the inside of another ER for a looooong time.  And please pray that Vincent recovers quickly, I hate to see him (or any of my other kids) sick.

This is not something we normally (or ever) do.  Usually on Sunday mornings we wake up around 8am or so with the kids, eat breakfast and prepare for church.  This was not the case today.  Yesterday we spent the entire day at Fort Worden (in the Straight of Juan de Fuca) enjoying some sun and family time.  We had a great time and the kids did great during the 2 1/2 hour car ride home.  Because we spent a good part of the day playing on the beach we had to give the kids a bath when we got home, even if it was 10:30pm.  So needless to say, the kids didn’t actually crawl into bed until close to 11pm, 3 or so hours after thier normal time. 
We weren’t sure when they would get up this morning, but at 8:00am when I woke up to nurse Jack, I didn’t think anything of the quiet house and lack of Vincent asking to wake up.  However, when I woke up a second time at 9:20am to feed Ruby, I was worried.  I looked at our overstuffed chair to find a few Bibles, some opened, laying on it.  Then I got up and in our bedroom hallway was a pile of clothes and our door was closed (my heart begins to pound more at this point).  What were my kids doing, what had they gotten into, where they ok, where would I find them - all of these questions where going through my head. 
I found the 2 big kids sitting around their snack table quietly eating breakfast.  They each had a bowl of cereal.  The house had been relatively untouched, our non-touchable items were exactly where we left them, the tv off, the toys weren’t even used.  They were just sitting there eating breakfast.  I asked Vincent if he had been the one to get breakfast and he said yes.  He proceeded to tell me that Kenniston woke up and wanted breakfast so he got her some.  I then walked in the kitchen to find a half gallon of milk sitting on the floor next to a small puddle of milk. 
I am so impressed with Vincent.  He has fully taken on a big kid responsiblity.  I begin to investigate the rest of the oddities I found this morning.  It turns out Vincent came into our room and found us sleeping so he hung out on our overstuffed chair and read (the Bible) while waiting for us to wake up.  He then decided to leave our room and play.  He told me that he tried to close our door because “Daddy closes the door in the morning so you (Mommy) can sleep in the morning.”   Bascially he wanted to close the door so we could sleep.  He couldn’t close it because we had piled up our clothes and the twins clothes beside it, so he moved the pile (hence the pile of clothes in the middle of our hall).  This kid thought of everything!  
 

I figured it was about time for a baby update.  Both Jack and Ruby are smiling a lot now days.  Jack is even starting to laugh a little bit.  He kind of has a little chuckle.  Ruby likes to coo and chatter a bit.  After she nurses I like to burp her over my shoulder where she likes to jabber away and tell me what she sees.  Both babies give plenty of smiles when I sing songs.  Somedays it is hard to sing to them regularly.  With two big kids that are far more vocal about spending time with Mommy, it is hard to spend tons of quality time trying to do all the fun educational activities that I did with the big kids.  I am sure they will do just fine.

Their don’t really have a set schedule so to speak.  They wake up sometime around 9am for the day and have kind of a 3 hour rotation.  They usually nurse right away, then they get changed, we “play” for a little while, they nurse again, have another diaper change, get swaddled, then go down for a nap.  Repeat. 

As expected, they have different personalities.  Jack seems to be more content and a little more laid back.  Both are little cuddle bugs.  Ruby loves to be snuggled up to Mommy, though Jack never complains when I sling him.  I don’t know why this happens, but Jack seems to be passed around more to people other than Mommy or Daddy.  When I am at church, PWOC, etc Jack always seems to be the one people end up holding. 

ISO a good night sleep.  One that doesn’t involve one of two adorable newborns waking up in desire of a good meal.  Preferrably a night with out a smart little boy that sleep walks into our room to sleep on our overstuffed chair.  Or that same boy who is put into his bed, but comes back and wakes with his daddy’s alarm clock only to go back to his room to wake his sister.  Wanted the reassurance that these same children won’t run amoke in the house while I try to sleep and nurse one of the two adorable above mentioned babies.  I would be willing to settle for a night with just waking to feed infants, but I do not want to settle for the other children all hours wakings and destroying of the house.  Such behavior leads to cranky mornings, whiney breakfasts, buckets of tears and meltdowns, and that is just me (trust me, the kids are worse).