January 22, 2008

Babies and Colds... and a sick Mommy boo hoo..

Happy 4 Months to my Baby Girls too!!

Riley seems to be holding off on catching my cold, or so it seems. She has always been a baby that sounds a bit stuffy and gets GINORMAS boogers in her nose (I know TMI) but it's baby boogers so it's ok.. ha ha and well she doesn't have any other symptoms.

Morgan on the other hand has watery eyes, a little cough, and a stuffy and junky nose.. She's sleeping more then she did two days ago and I know it's just cause she is wiped out. When she is awake she doesn't seem to be too cranky which is good. She's not any worse then yesterday and her watery eyes seem a little better so I'm keeping a close eye on her and have been giving her a little tylenol here and there. If she isn't better in a few days or gets worse at all then I'll call the doctor and see what he says.

Even Aiden had a runny nose & stuffy nose, and he's never really had a cold before. He had the sniffles once for 24 hrs but that was it. UGH!! I am all about sharing, but not my cold.. i tried so hard to stay out of there faces so they wouldn't get them, but it's hard when your there primary care giver. My poor babies.. I hate when babies are sick and more so when my babies are sick. Sorry, that is my selfish side coming out!!

Other then that the girls are doing good. They are huge and growing. I sware they are 2 feet tall already (well it seems they are) we'll find out at the next appt on Feb 2nd.

Not much other news to report. I'm behind on pictures and with this cold i am just not energetic enough to load them and post some.. I'm being lazy, but I have the right..

I've also decided to be part of a study being done by Washington University. The link for any other moms interested is http://fetalstudy.wustl.edu/fetal/fetalp.nsf/
all you have to do is fill out a survey and give them a DNA sample (saliva sample). The study is to try and learn more about preterm birth..

January 15, 2008

Gripe Water to the rescue...

OK so this may just be that it doesn't work and Morgan is just feeling better, BUT a few people asked me to post if I found a remedy to this nasty colic... GRIPE WATER!!!!
I searched on line and read all this junk about how colic means a baby who sometimes cries for no reason, and that they usually grow out of it, and blah blah.. Not much helpful info really. Then I came across a site that talked about Gripe Water and how it helps with upset tummies, gas, and colic. Of course the site said that there brand was the only brand that really worked and it was about $28 for a 5 oz bottle. Well our walgreens sold a brand that was only $11 and I figured that I would try it. So tonight is night 3 and well it's too soon to say if she will sleep through the night. It's 1am and she could wake up any time and fuss so I'll keep my figures crossed but so far so good. The first night she did great. Woke up, ate, hung out for a little while and went back to sleep. last night the same and she had a mini episode of fussiness but not 4 hrs of painful, all out banchee screams! This afternoon she even got a little cranky and tight with gas and Chuck gave her some and within 15 mins she was happy again.
Ahhh a sigh, here is hoping this stuff works. She is also still takign the zantac that seems to be working well for the reflux. I haven't seen her have that look like it's coming back up (then goes back down) since the day after starting it.

We go back to the pedi on Feb 4th and I am hoping by then they will both be sleeping through the night, that this colic will be GONE, and the reflux still under control. Let's cross our fingers.

January 13, 2008

COLIC............ It's the devil...
Anyone have any remedies or advice they can share. I thought at almost 4 months this would be done with but no such luck. The more I look up on the internet the more I read that colic babies seem to have there "colic fits" around the same time everyday. Well for us this has turned into the 4am to 8am shift. It's terrible and NO one gets any sleep since our apt is so small you hear everything. Morgan last night screamed so hard and so much that you would of thought someone was beating her. I feel so bad for her but I'm sure when I am running on an hours sleep and the fit starts I am not much help. I cuddle her and rock her and shhhush in her ear and it seems to help but not always and not for long. The second you calm her and settle her and go to put her down or try to get yourself in a comfy position so you can at least hold her for a while she freaks out again. Least night I was up til about 4:30am, Chuck got up and I went to bed and Morgan started and woke me up with her screams at 6. I held her and rocked her and soothed her the best I could til about 8 and then attempted to go back to bed. An hour later the same thing. Finally she calmed down and fell asleep at about 9:30 and the problem with this is she sleeps all day which makes me fear she will be up all night. I've even tried to wake her up evey hour and a half to brak up her sleep so she would be tired at night. Some times it works and other times it doesn't, but since she has been having these fits, she is hard to keep awake during the day cause she is so tired, not to mention that I am just exhausted and so is Chuck and we have Riley and Aiden to attend too.
So if anyone has any advice they can share I am more then willing to try it. She is on zantac for reflux and we also give me Mylicom for gas, they seem to help a lot but like I said the last few nights have been hell...

January 6, 2008

REFLUX!!! Ugh!!!!!!!! It reared it's ugly head and we finally got something for it. Morgan is now on Zantac (since Thursday) and what a difference. Although last night you wouldn't have thought so. Both babies were up all night, and when I say ALL NIGHT I mean it. THey didn't finally fall asleep until 5:30 AM, Chuck was tired cause he is battling a cold, and I was exhausted cause io just spent a few days at my moms with the kids and was up the night before with them and didn't get to sleep during the day so i was running on E and had been up for hours. Every time I tried to sleep I could hear the girls freaking out or fussing and it kept me awake too. The only one who go sleep was Aiden.
They are still not, as you can see from what I just typed, sleeping through the night. They are getting better but last night was just a rough and tough night. They are getting so big so fast already. From preemie clothes that seem 10 sizes too big to being in 3 to 6 months and some of those I wonder about already. There 0-3 sizes are just about all packed up. They have some new things they got for Christmas that they still fit into but by the end of January there is no way i will be able to squeeze them into anything that is a 0 to 3 and at the rate they are going they might be out of a lot of 3 to 6 sizes too. What a big difference from having Aiden. I am still not use to it.
TO see the girls now, they look SOOOOO different from when they were born. They have changed so much that they don't even look like the same babies. Morgan looks just like Aiden. She could be his twin and a year from now I think they will pass for twins if she keeps growing like she is. Riley on the other hand is my happy giggle baby. She doesn't look like Aiden or Morgan much at all. Sometimes when you look at her or you get a picture of them all she will have this look on her face and you will see a little of them all in each other but for the most part she has her own look. It's just funny to me that her and Morgan are twins and are so different and Aiden is 15 months older and him and Morgan would pass for twins if they were the same age. I actually have pictures of him when he was little that you would think are Morgan and vise versa. With all that said, it's obvious Morgan looks like her daddy since Aiden is a clone of Chuck. So maybe Riley will look like me since she keeps changing more and more. Chuck thinks Ri looks like his mom, which mean the Russell gene is just too damn strong and I am not stopping til I have one child who looks like me.. HA HA Don't say that to Chuck or I think he'd pack his bags and run now..
Who would ever think twins would be so hard. I guess you think about it but just don't imagine it being as crazy as it really it because it's not a reality to you. I could not imagine having more then two. As it is, it is a bit more crazy with Aiden still being so young, having them all be newborns would make me really coo-coo..
One of my fav shows is Jon & Kate plus 8, and every time I watch it I tell myself it could be soo much harder. However having the financial income they have from the show and his job would make it a bit easier to get a helper too like she now has, but hey that is there life, not mine lol..

I am off to put Aiden down for a nap (maybe lol) and feed Riley.. Then if they all sleep maybe mommy can get in a nap too.. (Fingers crossed)