7 Weeks

The last few days have been extremely stressful. Daci came down with a nasty virus.  It started out as a cough on Sunday and has progressively gotten worse with a runny nose, red and puffy eyes, and the last three days she has had a fever.  It has been the biggest challenge trying to comfort her and still keep the germs away from the babies.  Of course, she wants lots of cuddles with mommy when she doesn't feel well and then I get covered in the germs.  I am now officially not feeling well and my hands are cracked and bleeding from washing them so often!  How is it possible to keep the babies healthy!?  Its not like I can say, "Daci, go lock yourself in your room til you are better" or "Sorry babies, you have to stay locked in my bedroom til Daci is better".  I have to take care of all three and give them all the loves and attention they need.  I took her to the doctor yesterday with 101 degree fever.  She was just miserable!  She came home and for the first time in her life she laid on the couch for a WHOLE movie.  About 30 mins into it I looked over to ask her how she was doing and she was fast asleep!  This means she REALLY didn't feel well because even when she is sick she is still going, going, going!  Its also so sad to have to continually tell Daci, "Move away from the babies.", or "Don't touch the baby stuff.", or "No honey, I'm sorry you can't hold the babies right now." She loves them so much and loves helping out with them and I can tell it is just breaking her heart that I won't let her touch them.  I feel so bad!  I'm just hoping and praying she gets over this thing quickly and that the babies don't catch it.  How awful would that be!?

In other news....my babies are 7 weeks today and Livvi decided to celebrate by giving me her first smiles!  It made my day and was much needed after the stress I've been feeling.  She is such a sweet baby! My heart just melts when I look at her. Just when I thought it wasn't possible to love her anymore, she comforts me with her amazing open-mouthed grin! What a doll.  She is kind of a pill during the day though.  Livvi refuses to take naps in the afternoon.  She is so tired and I will finally coax her into sleep and then within five minutes she is up again.  So frustrating! The nice thing about Livvi though is that she is never very fussy, so even if she hasn't slept all day, she isn't too hard to handle.

I snapped a few pics today. I was trying so hard to get the smile but kept getting either right before or right after it :( Heres my happy girl at 7 weeks:

Right before

Right after

Right After

Right before

And then there is Mister Street.  This little rascal makes me so happy!  He is so adorable, even when he is screaming :)  I have finally started noticing a difference on his reflux medicine!  Hooray!  About half way through the day on Tuesday (that would be day 10 on the medicine), I started noticing a difference.  He was actually happy and calm for more than 5 minutes out of the day!  I had to get Daci dinner so I put them down on the floor to play.  Normally, he starts screaming immediately when I do that, but after about 15 minutes of preparing Daci's food I realized I hadn't heard any screaming yet!  I quickly turned the corner to make sure everything was alright and he was just laying there, looking around, content, and playing with his little tongue. Ah!  Such a breakthrough moment :)  Since then, he has gotten more and more mellow.  Don't get me wrong, he is still a demanding little bugger when he wants something.  If he needs food, a diaper change, has spit up, or is tired he will most definitely let you know.  He is a little drama queen (king?), you would think he was dying.  BUT if all of his needs are taken care of, he is FINALLY happy playing by himself or interacting with you.  Before, he would shut his eyes, arch his back, and scream bloody murder.  Its so fun to have him look in my eyes and actually interact with me!  Yesterday he was on his tummy on the floor playing next to Livvi and he had decided he had had enough and wanted a change in scenery.  For the first time EVER he wasn't screaming to get what he wanted, instead he was slowly working up to a scream.  He started going, "Maa, Maa, Maa" and then "Baa, baa, baa" in a whiny tone.  Daci goes, "Mom!  Street sounds like a lamby!"  Haha!  We called him our little lamb the rest of the day.

Here are his 7 week pics. So opposite of Liv. Not even a hint of a smile on his face :)

I just love his little body :)

A little about the two of them:

They usually wake up at 7:30am or 8am and that is when I get up for the day (Daci gets up earlier but I have her play in her room until that time), I feed them and pump, change their diapers, get Street dressed and then flip him on his tummy to play (he loves tummy time and he loves my bed!) while I get Livvi dressed.  By the time Livvi is dressed, Street is fast asleep!  I know you aren't supposed to sleep babies on their tummies, and I don't at night, but I do let Street sleep on his tummy for his nap.  Don't worry, I put the video monitor right on his face and watch it the whole time he is sleeping :) After Livvi is dressed, I put her back in the crib and she falls right to sleep.  They take an awesome morning nap everyday, like 4 hours long, and I am able to clean the house, workout, and play with Daci.

I pulled out the play mat that Daci had when she was a baby the other day and they both really like it!  Street loves to play with the crinkly flower and butterfly while he is on his tummy and they both LOVE to kick the rattle by their feet when they are on their backs.  The first time I put them on it Livvi fell right to sleep on her tummy, she has never done that before! She will lay there for like a full hour kicking at the rattle and watching whatever show Daci has on at the time.  Street will last about a half hour playing now that his medicine is starting to kick in.  The mat has been my lifesaver when I need to do something for Daci or pick up the house.

Very typical of these two. He has had his head up since day one and she just chills. No sense of urgency to work for it with Liv :)

This wasn't a real smile yet but so funny that I caught the gas bubble :)

Livvi conked out while Street played

Daci decided to lay down and play next to sleeping Liv

Sometimes it gets squishy and they smack each other :)

Daci loves to play with them! This is before she got sick :)

They hardest time of the day is from about 5:30-9:30 at night, they both refuse to sleep and they cluster feed.  They want a bottle every hour and a half during that time!  Little piglets! Luckily Rick usually gets home at about 6:30 each night to help out with that time.  I try to give them their last bottle at 9:30pm and then they are down for the night at 10pm.  They are still not being very nice to their mommy at night.  They are up every 2.5-3 hours to eat. Occasionally they will give me a good first stretch of sleep, by good I mean they go 4 hours before the next feeding instead of 3 :)

And then we start all over again!