Thank you Dr. Feber!

Dr. Richard Ferber
Director of The Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders
Children's Hospital Boston
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115

Dear Dr. Ferber,

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Well-Rested Parents of Twin Babies

The pics are a bad angle, but here they are sleeping w/out their pacis, (can we say a woo hooo!)

Per Dr. Feber's cry-it-out method, we decided to go cold turkey---none of that interval check ins (5 then 10 then 15 min). If they expect it, they'll just cry more---so consistency and cold turkey it was!

During their 11-12 hours of beauty sleep, they would wake up 1-2x every night just for .....no, not to be held or rocked; or for momma's wonderful company---but for the comforts of the Nuk (ggggrrrrr). Unfortunately, they're not quite coordinated yet to find and stick it in themselves. So it 's (mostly) momma or poppa who has to do the nightly treks to retrieve it. Believe me, by 7 mos, it gets really old and exhausting.

It took about 3-4 nights of crying (we never timed the longest crying bout, but shut our door and turned off the monitor). Now IF they wake up during the night, they cry for a minute or two then go right back to sleep. So SWEET is the skill to self-soothe.

See, they really just need that extra push---seriously, crying has never known to cause permanent damage and Dr. Feber isnt a quack . And here's a long shot, but I'm thinking, the older they get, they more attached and harder it would be to kick the pacy habit (or really any habit).

I didnt always have a thing for the pacifier. The first few months they really needed it. Esp Vienna who was colicky. Babies do need to suck for comfort---I've seen them suck in their sleep even w/out the pacifier. But now, they need it so little and if it was going to give them uneven front teeth later on, it was time for the crutch to go.

Sleep, blissful, undisturbed sleep, is such a beautiful thing! EVERYONE wakes up rested and cheery!

Random picture of the day

Getting ready for spring.











Only one more month of this.

Photography 101

The girls change so fast at this age, so would be nice to have some quality photos/candids to capture it all.

I was thinking of

1) hiring a professional photographer (vs a studio who really just employs any ole joe schmo to point a camera, although an expensive one), but the going rate is $300 to $1000. can you believe?

2) taking a photography class. but the ones offered dont use digital cameras but a manual SLR type (?).

So here's my feeble attempt at basic photography:

FEARRRR This!

How sad (and funny :-) is this picture? My MIL thinks I should send it to one of those 'name this caption' contest...hehehhe.

In so many words, Red, our cat got loose in the back yard (basically on one acre with trees and high grass) for three days. After numerous searches, he was nowhere to be found.

We left food on the deck in hopes he would be drawn to the kitchen light and stop by for a morsel. We knew he was still back there, since we set up a wireless camera out by the food bowl and on the second night he did visit around midnight. Luckily, on the third night, when he came up (he only comes up at night since he's a scary cat---even loud voices freak him out), Eric spotted and was able to nab him.

Poor, poor thing. In just three nights, he basically got his a## kicked---he is very much a house cat! Some animal, prob another cat, bit the behind out of his hiney. The vet cleaned him up and prescribed some antibiotics. And the Elizabethan collar since he would lick and clean the wounds, which made it fester more. Two weeks later, the wounds have healed nicely. Now it no longer looks like he's been molested ... hehehehe, sorry.

As for Vienna, she has torticollis. Which basically means she has the tendency to tilt (left) and turn (right) her head. This is probably due to the fact she was twin A, lying on the bottom in the womb. Without too much room, her head was prob squished badly (not to mention, have you seen the size of her sister who was on top :-)

Vienna sees a PT for stretches to keep her neck muscles from getting too tight (in bad cases, the cure is neck surgery to relax the muscles). And since she turns to the right, even in sleep, she has two flat spots in the back of her head--- not very pretty at all. In extreme cases, if the head is too flat, it can hinder brain development and size.

Since, she's a small girl (even in head size) and since insurance was going to pay for it all, we opted for her to have the helmet (no, that isnt a $3,000 bike helmet)---- and I tend to lean 'proactive vs reactive' philosophy or help now vs too little too late. The helmet basically allows her to grow where needed, to round out her head.

Amazingly, in just about two weeks, there is already some difference. Since she started at 6mos, she has to wear it for 2 1/2 months--23 hours a day, taken off only for baths. (Baby heads fuse in about a year, after that, it is not treatable---otherwise, just hope hair will cover it all AND dont look too closely!) It doesnt bother her at all, almost like wearing a shirt---it weighs only 6oz. We cant wait to see her pretty, round head in 2 months!

Bye now from our two space cadets!

Why I wanted twins...

Don't cha just love it when they can entertain themselves (-: