Told ya!

For those that say you can spoil a baby, I found this info.... :)

Young babies are completely spoil-proof. Your baby needs all the care and attention you can give. Ignore the advice of well-meaning relatives who think babies need to learn independence. Instead, listen to your parental instinct — that inner voice that tells you to comfort your baby when he cries.

"Spoiled children" have learned to use negative behavior to get what they want. But your baby is too young to purposefully manipulate or annoy you. He cries to communicate his needs, whether they're for a snack, a dry diaper, or a little cuddling with Mom or Dad. When you respond quickly to your baby, you're building his sense of self-worth. You're also establishing a foundation of trust that can last for years to come.

If you give your baby prompt attention, he'll feel more secure and less anxious, giving him the courage to explore the world on his own. And once he understands that you take his cries seriously, he'll be less likely to cry for no reason. In the long run, responding quickly to your baby's needs will make him less clingy and demanding, not more.

By the time your baby is 6 to 8 months old, he'll be paying close attention to cause and effect — noticing, for instance, that his bowl falls when he drops it from the highchair. He'll also start to see a direct link between his actions and your responses. At this point it's okay to set some limits. If your baby starts crying to get something he doesn't need, hold your ground and give him a hug when he calms down. Similarly, give hugs and praise for good behavior and gently redirect him when he's doing something hazardous.

The right blend of love and guidance will eventually help your child understand his place in the world. But for now, your focus should be on giving him as much attention and comfort as you can. No matter how much you give, it's not more than he needs.

Sellin' Out

I, in my total lack of free time, decided to revamp the blog a little. Still needs tweaked a little more when I have some time. I have yet to figure out the best way to print this so that we have a hard copy for our memories and the girls. If anyone knows of an online company that does this, please comment! You'll also notice the blatant advertisment on the header. This blog gets so many hits per day - over 100, that I just can't pass up the opportunity for some free marketing for Lil' LJ.com. We are doing pretty well considering we don't really advertise, but I'd love to grow by leaps and bounds this year!

The good news... Emma's first smile. The bad news, it was in the hospital

Wednesday was the girls appt for a weight check and their RSV shots. Emma is now 7 lbs 12 oz and Mady is 9 lbs 5 oz. They are doing so well with their gains! We discussed the girls reflux issues and I explained that Emma sometimes has a color change around her mouth when eating. The doc said she wanted to talk to a colleage about that, just to make sure it wasn't an issue. At 3pm, the doc called me and wanted Emma to be admitted to Children's. I left Madelyn with my parents and met Christian there. I have left my girls before, but never to take one back to the hospital and never over night. We got admitted and in our room by about 7pm. They put all Emma on all those monitors we hoped we'd never see again. They monitored her all night, especially during feeds looking for any signs of Apnea or trouble breathing. While she did exhibit some of her usual reflux issues, all her vitals remained great. In the morning a speech therapist and feeding specialist met with us and watched Emma eat. We discovered what I sort of all ready knew, she's not a great feeder. She takes several sucks before she actually gets enough to swallow which tires her quickly and aggravates her. She also has to take several minutes of deep breaths to recover. They had us thicken her feeds with the rice cereal again and upped her Zantac dose. It took several tries for us to find the correct nipple, nipple opening and rice/formula combination to find what worked best for her. Then she had a great feed. When we ready to go home though, she cried through an entire feeding and turned color. Again, her vitals remained great. So, we know she has trouble eating and is uncomfortable or in pain while eating. They are hoping the Zantac will help this as well as the rice helping more of her feedings stay down in her belly. They also want me to keep her elevated as long as I can after eating.

It was so hard to be without Madelyn all night... you'd think I would have enjoyed what it might be like to only have one crying baby :) In a bizarre coincidence, a friend of mine that I met online in a infertility forum, whom I had also met in person once at Magee, ended up being our room mate. Crazy! Her adorable son Jack was diagnosed with failure to thrive :( Hopefully they will get a simple answer for why he isn't gaining weight and they will be able to go home soon.

Madelyn has had a few bad feeds as well, so I just talked to the doctor and we are going to up her Zantac dose as well. She slept at Grammie and Pap-paps last night and had alot of fun. They finally got a dose of what 1/2 of nights are like at our house.

On to the good news... Emma and I were playing in her crib at the hospital and she smiled at me! She's been smiling for weeks in her sleep, and showing signs of excitement, but this was her first genuine smile!

Today we are trying to clean for Grandpa M's visit tomorrow. We got a little behind since we weren't home yesterday, so hopefully the girls will give me some time today to get caught up. Oh, and I'm sure this was a fluke, but the girls did one 4 hour and one 5 hour stretch last night!

Visit with the Alliance

The Alliance is an early intervention group that will help us watch our girls developmentally and help us to do everything we can to ensure they develop as they should. Since the girls were born at 29 weeks, the automatically qualify for this free service. In 2 weeks, a developmentalist and a occupational therapist will come out to the house and evaluate the girls. They'll then let us know how they are doing and what we can do for them here at home. It sounds like a great program and I can't wait to see how the girls do. We're hoping the OT may have some thoughts on the girls feedings and their reflux.

Date night

Yesterday my parents watched the girls while we escaped to the world for a few hours. We did pretty good. We of course, called and checked on them, but were able to relax and have fun. They did good too with Grandma and Grandpa. We saw Role Models at the Waterfront, then went to dinner at P.F. Chang's. Here's our first picture, believe it or not, of the 4 of us.

O.M.G.

Madelyn just rolled over again from her tummy to her back. Two times in a row!

The girls also now make some sounds other than grunts and crys. We hear an occasional "ah-ah" or "ooh-ooh".

Turkey Day

ohhhh... too much turkey!

Wednesday I was sitting at the playmat with the girls. I was holding Emma and Madelyn was doing some tummy time, but not really enjoying it. When I looked over again, she was on her back! I have no idea how she pulled that one off!

Thanksgiving was a big day for us, as it was our first time as a family out of the house to an event other than a doctors appointment. My parents set up the crib at their dining room table and we plunked the girls in their still in their car seats.


It went very smoothly! We had a great turkey day with my parents, grandma and brother and his wife. LT (little Todd, my brothers soon to be son) loves to kick the girls when Aunt Angela holds them. How cute!