All Things Haley: Journal #3

Grace Face had a sick day with Daddy today. She had that bit of a fever yesterday afternoon and the babies need to be fever free for 24 hours to go to school, so she had to stay home today. Not to mention that she was up quite a bit last night having trouble breathing out of her nose and then she promptly threw up all over me this morning after her 6am bottle.

So Daddy stayed home with Gracie since I had a couple of meetings on the books that I couldn't miss. I took Caleb to daycare on my way into the office and apparently Ben and Grace hung out in bed until 10am this morning!

I actually had a lot of fun taking Caleb to school solo this morning. It's a whole different ball game with just one baby... I left the car seat in the car because I can carry one baby in my arms and I knew I'd be parking underground today (so the car seat wouldn't get hot being left in my car). I carried him in and we hung out together as I chatted to the teachers about his morning. Then when I picked him up, I got to snuggle with him for a while as the teachers and I talked about his helmet (he's getting a new one this week), his sitting (he was sitting quite a bit better today!!!), his bottles (he ate all of them), and his general cheeriness today. As we were talking, Caleb was totally interacting with us. He was flirting with his teacher (always the ladies man) and was watching my mouth and reaching for it. He's such a smart little dude, he's always thinking! Sometimes he'll just pull out something and completely shock me.

For instance, I've been watching Grace get closer and closer to waving "on command" over the last several days. I've been waving at both of them for a long time, but she's always been the one more interested in it (like our old mirror game, she loved watching me wave in the mirror). She's been practicing the waving motion with her hand a lot, but hasn't really used it during a "hi" or "bye" moment. I still wave at Caleb all the time and he'll look at me but just go about what he was doing. Well, as I was standing and talking to the teacher, I looked at him to say "wave bye-bye" like I do almost every day and after a bit of a pause, he leaned forward and lifted his arm up just like I did when I was saying "bye"! It was pretty cool. Of course, I'm not really sure if he understood and was actually raising his arm to mimic me or if he just happened to want to raise his hand in that moment, but I have a feeling, knowing his observant ways, that he just felt like it was a good time to show me he was watching.

He also warmed my heart when he leaned forward to his teacher a couple of times and smiled. I love that the babies like their teachers. I'd hate to think I was leaving them every day with people they didn't really like or trust. That's a good feeling for a mom. And boy, his teachers love him. She was all over that lean in, so excited that he'd want to say goodbye!

He seemed much more alert and active today compared to this weekend- he's feeling much better. His cough is still horrid, as is Grace's, but he seems generally on the up and up.

Grace was pretty sleepy today apparently. She fell asleep on Daddy three times and was actually still tired when I got home just before 4pm with Caleb. I spent some time playing with both of them in baby jail and then we fed them each squash with turkey and then pears with raspberries for dinner. It was bath night tonight so Ben got in the tub with Grace and then Caleb- I figured out a way to decrease some of Caleb's screaming after bath time- his dumbbell rattle! They both love that thing right now and it actually distracted him for a few minutes from his intense anger (I can't decide if he's mad that he's not in the bath anymore- he loves the tub- or if he's just mad that he knows it's bed time. Maybe both). Grace got her first "tooth brushing" today. I bought a little gum brush that goes on my finger and I did a little gum massage while she was in the tub with Daddy. She seemed to like it! Hopefully that will make it easier to start brushing her teeth (if she ever gets any...). We're starting to do a little water over their faces in the bath to get them used to that more now, too. We've always just dipped their heads back and put the water over their hair but I want them to get used to the water on their faces now. They didn't love it today.

Caleb has the funniest thing he does in the bath right now. He's always been a good floater (eh hem, a little chub always helps with that...) and was extremely still in the water when he was younger. He only started getting active and playing in the water when he was about 4 or 5 months and since then he's been all splash and fun in the tub. Recently, he's started to really relax when Ben lies him back to float on his back. He'll just lay there completely still, whether he's holding his feet or his legs are stick straight, and it looks hysterical. Sometimes he'll have a big grin on his face and sometimes he'll be completely serious, but he just lies there, motionless, watching what's going on. I've never seen anything like it! Especially when we have Grace in the bath- she can't stop kicking!

After the bath, Grace started to get sleepy really fast and Ben fed her and put her right to sleep. Caleb fussed for a bit but calmed down after a few minutes of trying to take his bottle, then fell asleep in my lap and went down with no problems. They haven't made a peep since.

I hope tonight is better than last. It was Ben's night but it sounded pretty awful. Caleb woke up at midnight coughing so hard that Ben had to get him some water (which was only about 40 minutes after we fell asleep...we decided to open a bottle of wine last night and relax for a bit...I guess it was a bad night to do that). Then he was up around 2 coughing again and then finally was up at 4:15 to be fed. I think Grace woke up a couple times as well and then I fed her at 6:15 before she threw up the whole bottle. I was covered! Poor lady...and poor mommy. I'm looking for a much easier night tonight- you hear me babies? ;)

I'm making Italian sausage with vegetable pasta in marinara sauce tonight, it should be good. Ben made awesome steak last night and I made salmon the night before. We're getting into a bit of a rut with our dinners, but at least we're eating dinner unlike last week. Honestly, we just go with whatever is easiest right now. Someday we'll be out of this "survival" mode and able to start breathing again, right? Oh, and will they ever actually be healthy for more than two days in a row? Anyone? Answers?

Ok, maybe don't answer that last one. I don't want to know.