Month 5, Day 3

It's been an interesting week. Tuesday morning Zach came down with a fever and stuffy nose. I meant to check Alex's temperature but forgot before I put a new diaper on him. So I lay him in his crib, strip him back down, and start the temperature taking. He figures this is a good time to pee. Well, I've got one hand on his legs and the other holding the thermometer, so all I can do is watch as he does his best impression of a frantic fountain. He hit just about everything in a foot radius. Another new diaper and fresh clothes get applied and I start a load of laundry. On the bright side, he's fever free.

We went down for our usual morning nap. Zach woke up with a diaper leak. I take him downstairs to change him, then strip the bed. While trying to remove his clothes, I manage to smear poop clear up his back, into his hair. It's also all over the changing table. I give him a ghetto bath via some wipes and start my second load of laundry. It's not even noon yet.

The day got a little better until Alex also came down with a fever. Both boys were kind of sluggish and wanted to be held. We took a long afternoon nap together and that helped some. I wiped little noses and tried to baby them as much as possible. Tuesday night was more of the same. Both boys were up every hour or so. They HATE stuffy noses and wake up a ton every time they're sick. Finally around 5am I brought Zach into bed with me. Jim fetched Alex the next time he cried and I held him, too. Jim did what he could with a comforter and the floor.

Wednesday Chii-Wey came over to do their 5 Month Photo Shoot (pw: jma&z). Despite their colds, both boys were in really good moods and we got a bunch of smiles. Unfortunately Alex scratched his face the night before, so he has a red mark on his cheek in all of the pictures. Jim even came home for lunch so we could get an updated family photo (see left!). We got 40 pictures this time. I think that's a record! Happy babies equals good photos I guess.

Wednesday night was similar to Tuesday but worse. I couldn't get Alex to sleep by himself for more than 30min. So it was me and three boys in the bed again. By this point my neck, shoulders, and back aren't happy. I'm not designed to lay motionless all night, every night.

Thursday the boys and I met up with Melissa and Amber at the Swamp Rabbit Trail in downtown Greenville. It's a paved, mile long path that winds along the Reedy River. We ended up walking the entire thing and the boys were somewhat behaved. I ended up putting one in the baby carrier for half then swapping them out. Hopefully at some point they will love the stroller, but I'll take limited toleration over immediate crying any day. At the trail head is a children's garden. The boys and I plopped down on a blanket while Melissa and Amber fed their kids. Alex and Zach really loved looking at the tree overhead and the sky.

I put them back in the stroller (in prep to head back to the van) and looked around. Melissa and her girls were ridiculously cute, all piled up on a bench, nom nom'ing some bottles. Amber and her kids were having fun eating Cheerios and laughing. Then I look over at my babies. This is what I see.



Zach is trying to fit all of Jacques into his mouth and Alex is on the verge of a total meltdown. We weren't very cute - more like animalistic. This should have been a sign to not meet Jim for lunch. We went to Cracker Barrel where both boys had total and complete breakdowns. Jim stood outside with one wailing boy while I held the other and woofed down what food I could. Oh, well.

Friday I managed to catch the boys' cold. Yay. Jim came home from work at lunch so I could get a break and drown my sorrows in a box of tissues. It's amazing how well rested I was after only an hour nap WITHOUT THE BOYS! I love them with all of my heart but apparently 3.5 days attached at the hip with no break is my max.

We're in the early stages of toddler proofing our house. The first step is getting the megatron tv mounted to a wall. We went to Best Buy Friday night on a scouting mission. The boys LOVED that store. They were literally drooling all over the place, staring at everything with big eyes. They enjoy tv (even though I'm mean and they don't get to watch more than Clemson football), so their little minds nearly exploded with glee at a whole wall of them. They're definitely our kids.

Afterwards we decided to tempt fate and go to a Chinese buffet for dinner. After the previous day's experience, you'd think we'd be gunshy. You'd be wrong. hehe We only had one minor crying episode when I accidentally bonked Zach's head on his car seat handle. Other than that, both boys sat on our laps, bellied up to the table, reaching for plates and toys. Zach was totally busted flirting with some girls at another table, too. He'd shoot them smiles and they'd giggle and wave.

In developmental news, I sure hope they're teething. Otherwise, I don't want to see the amount of drooling that'll happen when they are. Both boys are voracious in the gnawing. They'll grab anything they can get their hands on and jam it in their mouth for chomping. This includes but is not limited to your arm while you're changing their diaper. They bite down pretty hard, too.

We sort of tried them out on rice cereal. They each got maybe one tiny baby spoon full total. The whole situation wasn't planned very well and they were really tired of being in their high chairs by the time I got the food ready. Zach did what I expected and ate most of what I gave him. Alex was really perplexed and you could tell he was trying to decide whether to spit it out or not. He chose the former, which was good. I'm planning on trying it again later this week and seeing how it goes.

I think we're pretty much done with the play mats. They're just not as fun as they used to be. Zach will take two toys and smash them together, but really they just lay there, looking around. I've tried changing out the toys, and we do have two mats, but none of it seems to peak their interest. They just want the exersaucer. I'm hoping they'll also like the jumpster but so far they don't really know what to do with it.

Jim weighed the boys this week. Alex is 16.8lb and Zach is 16.4lbs. You can't overfeed nursing babies, can you?