Almost 5 months!

With the babies' 5 month "birthday" just around the corner, we are finding ourselves wondering how our babies have gotten so OLD! :) Although we have some challenging days, we are certainly loving parenthood even more than we used to! Both babies smile and laugh often, and are learning to use their voices. Sometimes this is cute, and sometimes it's NOT. Joy has learned to screech within the past couple of days, which was fun the first time, and not so much after that. When she screeches, we just wish she understood the word "no". Anyway, I suppose it is all part of the learning process, and understanding "no" will bring a whole new set of challenges! Regardless of the temporary annoyance, watching them interact with us has been precious. Click on the following links to hear Peter and Joy talk.

Video of Joy Talking

Video of Peter Talking

At the babies' 4 month doctor appointment on March 10, Peter weighed 15 lb 15 oz and Joy weighed 13 lb 10 oz. The doctor told us that at this point, it would be fine to end their 4 am feedings, and that they'd have to cry it out for a night. This was EXTREMELY painful to listen to, as they cried for nearly an hour, but the 2nd night, they slept through until 7:30 am. We felt like a million bucks when we woke up! Since we were already letting them cry it out at night, we decided to use the Ferber Method to put them down for naps and also at night. In a nutshell, the method involves putting them in their cribs awake, and then going in to comfort them (WITHOUT picking them up), after 5 or 10 minute intervals until they go to sleep. The following nights, the intervals increase each night until they learn to soothe themselves to sleep without crying. By the 3rd night, our lives had drastically improved, and by a week, the babies were basically pros.

We were also given permission to start solids, but to me 4 months seemed early for breastfed babies, so we are spoon feeding them rice cereal but holding off on fruits and veggies until 6 months or so.

We have thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful weather this March, and a long stroller ride has become a part of our daily routine. The babies (and mom) are so much calmer and more relaxed when they've had a healthy dose of fresh air. It just makes us all the more excited for summer!