Houston, we have a tooth!

Actually, Colin has TWO teeth. Mom happened to feel in his gums this morning and lo and behold there were two tiny little nubs on the bottom front. He started teething just before Thanksgiving so I am really glad these have finally popped through! Brandon still doesn't have any teeth yet but hopefully it won't be long for him. Colin's teething may be part of the reason why he kept waking up so frequently throughout the night. Though from what I've read it is very common for infants to wake, very briefly, several times a night. The problem is that many babies don't know how to soothe themselves back to sleep. When Colin would wake up all we had to do was pick him up and he would collapse on our shoulder and go right back to sleep. Well that gets really old when you have to go in the nursery at 9pm, 11pm, 1:30am, 3:30am, etc to do that. So we have started to let him "cry it out" (CIO) some during those times. If its his first waking of the night I'll pick him up because often times he has a stubborn burp that will pop out then, but after that I lay him in his crib and let him CIO for a few minutes. If he wakes again later in the night I'll go to him but only to rub his back for a few seconds (and not pick him up) because I want to let him know we haven't abondoned him. Even though he still has a couple of night wakings they have diminished a lot and he doesn't cry for long, so I am hoping before long he starts completely sleeping through the night, like Brandon has been doing for a few weeks now. It is very nerveracking to listen to Colin cry and it seems like an eternity when it is usually 15 minutes or less, but we think it is really important that the boys get a good nights sleep (as well as Mommy and Daddy!) so the sooner we can break that night waking habit the better.

Also, we took the boys to the pediatrician last week for their 9 month checkup. Brandon was 18lb 9oz and Colin was 17lb 14oz. Colin had only gained an ounce since their last appointment 2 weeks ago. I think it is because Colin just doesn't eat solids as good as Brandon, who will plow through his morning cereal or evening mac and cheese with no problems. Colin, however, isn't quite grasping this whole swallowing thing as well and he ends up pushing a lot of food back out with his tongue, which is most annoying. Colin often times only eats half the amount of solids that Brandon eats. I sure wish Colin would get better at solids because I would love to be done with formula and bottles when they are around 1 year old!!

In other news we have found a babysitter to watch the boys on occasion. She is supposed to come over tomorrow for a few hours so we can introduce her to the boys and show her our routine. I was very apprehensive about being able to find somebody that was capable of handling two demanding infants by themselves, but this girl seems perfect! She is a freshman at Radford University and she has 5 year old twin brothers. She was around 13 when they were born so she has a lot of experience helping with twin babies. She has also babysat for a few of the mothers in my MOMs group, so I'm thinking she will work out very well. Bill and I may actually get to have a date night soon!

I know when people have a baby they talk about how their house is taken over by baby gear. Well multiply that by two and you'll understand why it feels like our house is shrinking! We rearranged the living room last week so that we could set up a "super playard" gated area between the living room and kitchen. Plus we have two infant seats, a jumperoo, and an exersaucer in our living room, and even a bed rail on the couch! If we can make it a whole day without tripping over a baby item we are doing great! Here is a picture of what used to be a living room but now seems more like a circuit training gym for babies.



Lastly here are a couple of cute videos of the boys laughing. This one of Colin cackling at his Daddy while he makes faces is so funny! And I took this video of Brandon and Colin over the weekend playing in their playard and Brandon just thought Colin was hysterical for some reason.