Monday, September 28, 2015

On getting 3 kids under 3 to sleep in the same room

How in the heck did we do it?

Well it essentially took 10 months!!!!!!!!


We would have moved the babies into Maxson's room sooner around 8 months but we were leaving on a 6 week trip at the end of the summer not long before they turned 9 months and didn't want to get them out of routine of their pack n plays.

Here's some big tips that helped us and a timeline of events that helped all the boys be ready for it.

1. For essentially 10 months Max was constantly old "Shh! The babies are sleeping!" "Don't wake up the babies!" This was engrained in his head. He'd had experience with crying babies in the car and came to know he didn't want to wake up the babies. This has helped so much when the babies are asleep in the room and he needs to go in or out.

(Bryson always throws his stuffed animal into Quinn's bed when he wakes up).

2. WHITE NOISE. Boom. Gotta have it with any number of kids, it just helps. We use this brand. It definitely gets loud enough and has a variety of sounds. We use only the waterfall or white noise sounds

3. Black out curtains. The rooms is not totally blacked out, but it's good enough. My SIL is a ninja at blacking out rooms, it's amazing.

4. We trained the babies from about 2-3 months to learn to fall asleep by themselves and sleep even if the other is crying. How did we get them there. You keep doing it no matter what. I totally would have been prone to separating them for naps to get them to nap longer since they sometimes woke each other but I literally didn't have a choice. They HAD to get used to sleeping through each other's crying, the white noise helped.

5. How did Max get used to sleeping through their crying? They always cry at some point during Maxson's nap, mostly when they wake up. When we had our 6 week trip Maxson had to be in the car with the babies happy or crying and he just learned to sleep through it. He used to be a light sleeper during naps but I think the car trip helped him get over it, and he plays super hard so he naps pretty hard.

6. We put the babies down to sleep around 7 and Max around 8/8:30. For both night time sleep and naps we give Max the choice to go to sleep on his bed or mommy and daddy's. 90% of the time he usually chooses his bed. Before our trip he probably would have always chosen our bed. Our trip pretty much left him without his own concrete bed all the time so coming back from the trip he was excited to get to sleep in HIS bed all the time and then add the babies to the room it just seemed cool for him.

7. I leave the door cracked during naps and totally open at night time. Then Max can come out if needs without making a ton of noise to call for our attention (we have a baby lock on the inside of his door still since really bed tantrums end up in his room during time out).


I guess mostly our kids have been forced to sleep through noise of each other. We don't have a house big enough to accommodate quiet sleeping arrangements all the time so they HAD to get used to it, even I didn't have a choice.


8. AND LAST OF ALL, sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes they wake each other up and they only get short naps. Sometimes Max turns the lights up and wakes everyone up. Sometimes Max and the babies just play and play and play :)

Saturday, September 26, 2015

rubba-dub-dub, 3 boys in a tub




 Q
 B


The end.

the twinsies: 11 months old

Babies babies babies!

Bryson:

Still my yeller. He'll just be sitting there yelling at you to get your attention. Too funny and way too loud at times

Bryson has caught on to the "all done" sign language hands and it's so cute! He waves those arms frantically and so happy to get OUT of his high chair. I think he and I BOTH love that he can communicate something he wants! It's so helpful!

He is the resident tissue eater, tissues out of the box puller, and wipes out of the bag puller. ALWAYS this kid. He gets such a big smile on his face when he realizes I've left the wipes open! He is also the one who tends to eat more mud

He's my back archer when it comes to getting in the stroller or carseat, e.v.e.r.y.t.i.m.e.

Has 2 bottom teeth and 2 top canines poking through!

His newest nickname is Bry Bry.

(there's more pictures of Bryson than Quinn because Quinn smile EASILY for pictures, Bryson not so much. So I focused on getting a REALLY good picture of Bry where you can see his freckle and dimple and happy smile AND in focus, I don't even think I got one of those, but I got other cute pictures of him that I don't want to get rid of!)




 clapping!

Quinn

So close to standing on his own! Once he realizes he balancing by himself for 1-2 seconds he either sits slowly down or fall forward towards me thinking it's such a fun game.

Quinn's excitement turns into abuse, as sad as that sounds. He flails his hands and it just hurts!

Has two bottom teeth and one canine on the left that's come through.

Quinn was just at the doctor this week for his ear infection and he's exactly 25 lbs!

Still love calling him Quinny and Quinn Quinn.

 scrumptious little lips!

BOTH

Crawling up a storm. Bear crawl pretty often when they're outside

They both LOVE to be outside. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. As soon as they hear the door open they race to come outside with us all.

Neither are superb at going down any type of steps yet, they've caught onto just a tiny bit of going sideways/backwards down the two little steps outside out house.

Speaking of stairs, they LOVE the stairs. IF they see that the baby gate is down they b-line it of the stairs racing up. No huge falls on the stairs yet, that'll probably change in the next few months but it's part of life.

Sleeping rockstars. They never wake up in the night, it's an absolute dream. Naps are pretty good. Depending on the day it's 2-3 naps some long some short. They are great at sleeping through each other's crying.

If ever one see the other on the ground getting a diaper change they crawl over so fast and start pretty much hitting each other's heads, clawing eyes out, ripping lips off. It's pretty sad. The one getting their diaper changed is SO sad while the one on top is so happy. I don't get it.

They give the best kisses! These huge long open-mouthed kisses, they are so proud and happy when they do. When they give it to each other it's just the cutest.

They've both definitely switched between who's clingier, mostly just depends on who's more severely sick. One thing that's hard with twins is that you can't just sit and hold and cuddle a sick baby. There's another baby crying at your legs for your attention. Cuddling two babies isn't the same, one is usually all wiggly and disrupts the other and wants to play while the other just wants to lay on your chest. It makes me sad I can't just sit and love on the sick baby.

I stopped nursing them at about 10 1/2 months. We just slowly stopped and suddenly one day I realized I didn't nurse them that morning and did the same thing the next morning and that was that. It was a good run but I'm ok being done.

Their favorite toys are the stacking blocks- that is making them fall, not stacking them themselves- and this one pop up toy where they push the 5 doors back down.

They LOVE terrorizing Maxson and getting into whatever he's playing with. But really they just love Max, I'm amazed at how rough he is with them it seems but they're actually just laughing and giggling away. A boy thing maybe? Who knows, they all love each other, I'm certain of it, they can all just be little mean with each other at times too.

We still pretty much always dress Bryson in blue and Quinn in another color (or Q in dark blue and B in light blue if they're both in blue!). It's so much easier to quickly know who's who from far way, behind, across the room. I just like knowing EXACTLY who's who every single time without having to correct myself, though I of course can tell apart their faces :)

Oh man I can't believe my babies will be ONE next month!

Each have their own little BYU animal to cuddle, Bryson a bear and Quinn a dog.
 Most of my shots were like these following two, they are so wiggly!


 BQ
 BQ
 If momma's on the ground you can bet your bottom dollar they will be climbing on me right away, I am absolutely their jungle gym.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Campcreek Railroaders train day

Back on Applejack festival day, immediately after pulling into our driveway with 3 sleeping children, Casey took the babies inside, put them in their beds, turned on some football, I grabbed some lunch, and drove myself and Max to a little train day that was happening at a city nearby. IT WAS SO FUN. All these old guys have this little hobby of these oversized toy trains that are completely legit steam engines with all these cars behind them that you ride around on a mile long track, it was so fun! We rode them over and over and over, we went the last 2 hours of the day which was so great since most everyone had already left!

Wish we could go again next year! Here's the info on it!

It was a little chilly when we go there so we squished Maxson into a baby's sweatshirt, ha.









Thursday, September 24, 2015

The summer: In videos

Ready for a plethora of videos? I finally got mostly up to date on our family videos and finally got them all updated to vimeo, I present!

A reminder that Bryson is in blue! BUT if they're both in blue Quinn is the darker blue ;) And Bryson has the freckle on his face

May 2015


June 2015


July 2015


Beach trip 2015


I need to get August (and now September, ugh don't remind me!) done here soon!!!!!

Breaking glass at 4 am. That'll wake you up.

This boy. Oh my goodness gracious, this boy. He sure pushes me and life to its limits. I love him so much it hurts. And he is so naughty and disobedient at times it hurts.

Lately he's been taking 4 am adventures downstairs by himself to see what he can get his hands on. The stuff I've known about thus far, and only because he's come into our room while eating these things: a breadstick, oreos, chocolate milk, and juice. All separate nights. I don't know what to do about him! He's probably waking up hungry at that time in the night because he barely eats any of the food the food I give him during the day except meat and any sugar he can scavenge. He's seriously been awful lately. So he wakes up for his midnight snack and i just don't like it/he makes a huge mess sometimes.

Well last night I made sure to put ALL food away and cabinets locked. At 4 am I frantically woke up to the sound of a bunch of stuff falling and glass breaking. I shake Casey awake saying "Maxson! Maxson! Downstaris! Go!"

Casey, that wonderful man he is, BOLTED out of bed and ran downstairs. I laid in bed for a just a minute more sighing can't believing it's gotten this far.

I go downstairs to find Casey comforting Maxson telling him "Did it scare you?" Maxson fell off a chair or counter somehow and luckily only had a little bit of blood coming from his mouth, maybe  bitten tongue or cheek, nothing serious. And only 1 glass bowl broke which was easy to clean up.

But seriously. This is a problem we need to fix...

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Diaper rashes.

OH MY GOSH.

Diaper rashes are so frustrating as a parent. You feel like you're a bad parent because their bum is SOOOOO red but you're doing everything you can think of and it's just not getting better!!! And then you feel bed because it's probably painful and you have to go through so many more extra steps for diaper changes in HOPES that it will help, SO HARD!

Of course I mainly just feel sad for this sweet little baby who's bum hurts! (But maybe if they just stopped pooping so darn much it wouldn't be so bad!)

A couple months ago I turned to Facebook and cried for help. And man oh man 
I GOT HELP.

Moms get it. They've been there. I got so much good feedback from young and old moms. 1 kid. 8 kids. The amount of advice I received was SO wonderful! I'll post the thread at the bottom of this for you to see in case it's helpful for you at some point, you can come back to refer to. First I'll post what I learned from it and use with my babes.

I just couldn't believe the outpouring of support and love and advice from other moms, it was exactly what I needed

These boys are so prone to diaper rashes that turn into some awful yeast infections. After a couple doctor trips in various months and learning they were yeast infections here's the tips that helped my boys.

1. DRY THAT BUM OUT. When it's really bad I keep a blow dryer close at hand and blow a ton of air on that bum to get it completely dry. If it's till damp when you put on cream the rash can continue growing in the moist environment, DRY IT OUT!. If it's just a little red, I take the new diaper and fan off the bum until it's pretty close to dry.

2. Since my boys are prone to yeast infections we use the genereic brand of athlete's foot cream, chlotrimazole, and apply that. Chlotrimazole was one of the prescriptions given to us in the first place by a doctor to get rid of the yeast infection, that's why I use that formula. The prescription was INSANELY expensive and we were running out, the generic brand totally helped clear up the yeast infection

3. Use the purple destin on surrounding areas or even on top of that chlotrimazole. A friend said she learned the different diaper rash creams have different percent formulas of zinc oxide and so to look for the one with the highest amount to apply for a bad rash. I like that the destin is super thick and stays on and I feel like it really created a barrier. I'm not in love with the smell but you do what you gotta do.

4. For any open wounds we apply neosporin until that area is healed.


This was the first method we tried and it worked. There were SO much great advice from friends though and I bet a bunch of it would have helped too, we were in a small town in Wyoming when I reached out for help so I had limited resources. Read through this if you're having any types of diaper rash issues, i'm CERTAIN one of these will help!!!!!! I would have tried a bunch





Both little twinsies are prone to bad diaper rashes and yeast infections, it's so sad. We just finished getting rid of a really bad case on both of them with a prescription from the doctor. Any advice on a diaper cream to use on a normal basis for yeast infections and bad rashes?
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  • Comments
    • KoryandRebecca Hansen I learned in nursing school and my pediatrician verified it also, that lamisil (an anti fungal for athletes foot) is great for yeast in the diaper area. I have used it multiple times on my daughter because she got them frequently too. It worked great and didn't have any adverse effects. Plus it is over the counter and cheap. Also you can use gentian violet, but it stains. It works for thrush too.
      LikeReply4July 20 at 5:05pm
    • Melissa Perez-Wayt Not sure about the yeast infection but while at the hospital with Rocky the doc prescribed "butt balm" it has diaper rash ointment plus nystatin ointment and worked well!
    • Amber W. Petersen I second the lamisil, my pediatrician always tells me to get that instead of giving me a prescription. You can also just get store brand clotrimazole. I also use balmex for my kids. lizzy would get terrible diaper rashes and it was the only thing that would clear it up fast. In between you can also use just a desitin clear on a regular basis when you change their diapers, works as just a thin barrier between them and the diaper.
      • Kimber Cutler clotrimazole is the one I have now that got rid of it, can you get it cheap over the counter? What's the diff between that and lamisil. Is there a diff between white and clear destine?
      • KoryandRebecca Hansen Lamisil and clotrimazole are 2 different antifungals. I have used both, and yes you can get clotrimazole over the counter. It is just the generic name. You know like how Tylenol is acetaminophen.
      • Amber W. Petersen Kimber Cutler, Rebecca is right about the clottinazole. Clear desitine is like a petroleum jelly, it just has some moisturizers in it and a few other things. So it protects, moisturizers and makes a barrier but it's cheaper and comes off way easier then normal desitine. You could always try just plain petroleum jelly too. ( diaper rashes are actually the reason lizzy went to cloth diapers. Rashes are so annoying)
      • Kimber Cutler
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    • Emily Stott We had the same chronic problem with my first. The best diaper cream I used was triple paste. And nystatin when it looked fungal. Good luck! Diaper rashes are the worst!
    • Heather Geer Arnita The thing that worked best for our babies with constant rashes was to stop using commercial wipes. We just used a cloth and water and it helped so much.
    • Mallory Coombs Sam gets diaper rashes bad too. He has funky digestion (I assume due to his food allergies) so if he starts to get a funny smelling poo or something a little liquidy, I'll put some desitin to be safe. And if it does turn into yeast, I have used the anti fungal mentioned above and it worked wonders!
    • Whitney Sorensen My preemie seemed to be sensitive to the diaper brand we were using. He seemed to do better with Target diapers!
    • Alissa Haines So hannah has had that problem too. Our doctor suggested we switch to butt paste. He said destin had switched formulas in recent years and didn't work as well. I always got the target brand of name brand of the athletes foot cream. Seriously so annoying.
    • Andrea Shumway Butt Paste or coconut oil
    • Dawna Berry We had to go CHLORINE FREE with Aubry's diapers for about 9 months until i felt safe to test regular diapers again. That helped a ton! No cream would work and her system was all over the place. She is our sensitive child and will get a rash in 10 minutes from nothing. Good luck. Baby bottom problems is the worst!
    • Melissa Perry Phillips Probitiocs to help prevent yeast?
      • Kimber Cutler I'm so dumb in the probiotics section I hear people talk about/ What is that exactly and how do I give it?
      • Melissa Perry Phillips I have never used them for Ellie but I know people to have on their kids. And i use them personally. Keeps they're gut healthy with good bacteria. They come in drops I think for kids. Google is probably better than me. smile emoticon
      • Elizabeth Lawlor I vote the probiotics!! helpswith whatever is bugging there tummy, usually yeast/diaper rashes are caused by something in the diet that's not sitting well in their tummy and or a round of antibiotics kill all good bacteria too, have they been on multiple rounds of antibiotics? it also causes more acidic poop...well. that's been james' case anyway!! I also use calendula cream. works wonders. Google it and there are some premade ones....I didn't read everything on here, but that's my two cents!!
      • Kimber Cutler

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    • Kelsey Ann Hicks We love the up and up (target) brand of diaper rash cream. It has zinc in it and seems to really make a difference. Desitin in the purple tube is similar. Poor babes! Hope you find something that helps!
    • Laura Bowman Jones One thing that made a difference for my babes was to make sure their bottom was completely dry before putting on diaper rash ointment, otherwise you just lock in the moisture between their skin and the ointment and create a perfect warm, moist environment for yeast to grow. It's a pain, because it takes a few extra minutes per baby, but it really made a difference for a couple of mine that had a tendency towards yeast rashes. Whether you wash their little tushies with soap and water or use wipes, you have to give them a few minutes sometimes to completely dry, even if you pat them dry, their skin can still be damp, especially in their creases.
      LikeReply2July 20 at 6:53pm
      • Kimber Cutler wise woman, this sounds brilliant!
      • Sarah Allred Hazel had an awful diaper rash for several weeks. Keeping her dry was the only thing that cleared it up. But while I'd let her air dry she'd always poop on her new dry diaper so we'd go through five or six diapers just waiting for her to dry. I bought some tuck pads and started changing her on those. Then I'd just let her lay on it without a diaper so she could have lots of naked time without making a mess or wasting diapers. It was a game changer for us!
        UnlikeReply1July 20 at 8:36pmEdited
      • Kimber Cutler

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    • Andrea Stubbs Hunt Mix pepto bismol and zinc oxide... We call it pink swizzle.
      LikeReply2July 20 at 7:11pm
      • Kimber Cutler and just wipe it on?
      • Laura Bowman Jones any liquid antacid, like mylanta, works great, too, especially for rashes that are from acidic poopie diapers. Just pat it on with a cotton ball and let it dry (it can take awhile, I used to sit and fan their little bums forever waiting for it to dry). Then when they poop again, it helps to neutralize the acid so it doesn't burn their skin. If they have diarrhea, I would do that, let it dry, and then add desitin on top. Lanolin (like Lansinoh) works great for chapped bum skin if the zinc oxide type stuff dries or irritates their skin too much.
      • Kimber Cutler
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    • Jessica Carlson Dowling Butt paste is great!
    • Cailee Cook Haskell We don't have chronic problems but when Tay gets a bad spot I also love the triple paste. You can get it at target or Walmart in a tub. It's super thick, fragrance free, and works really well!
      UnlikeReply1July 20 at 7:24pmEdited
    • Ramiel Christensen I'm afraid that the only thing that really helped with one of mine that did that was allowing her to go bare bottomed for awhile each day. Thus allowing it to dry out. The problem didn't clear up completely for her until she was potty trained. Sorry, not much help.
    • Mj Baker I can only use huggies diapers and wipes on Trace cause he breaks out in rashes with anything else... But for creams I use aquarphor as a preventative and lots of desitin and powder to try to clear stuff up
    • Jessica Lynn Lambson For my twins we used Desitin and plain old vasolin like th clear jar with the blue lid kind. Plus we had to do the frequent diaper change. We even went diaper less for a bit when it was really bad.
      • Kimber Cutler I'm afraid going to diaper less worrying that something on the floor would infect more when they were sitting? Is this a worry I should worry about?
      • Jessica Lynn Lambson I only did it when they were on a fresh clean blanket or even during nap time once in a while. A time when they were moving around much. The combination or moisture and being trapped in a diaper triggered my boys issues. We had to switch to and only use huggie diapers because the don't use that super absorbent stuff.
      • Kimber Cutler
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    • Sara Mayer I would start trying different diapers. Yogurt for the yeast infections. Any antibiotics can cause yeast infections--especially with kids. I know it's a lot of work, but some wipes my kids were allergic to(Costco). So we just put them in a quick shower rinse in the morning and bath at night. Every kiddo is different.
      LikeReply1July 20 at 7:55pm
    • Ramiel Christensen I also rinsed her off in the sink instead of wiping. And, I used wet, soft paper towels instead of wipes.
    • Katie Bunnell Gustafson Corn starch for diaper rashes! Cheap and effective smile emoticonI've used coconut oil too, but it takes a long time to dry.
    • Danielle Hansen You probably know this, but it was groundbreaking for us- there's bum cream that's 10% zinc oxide and others (like extra strength Desitin) that are 40%. The 10% does nothing for Milo but the 40% gets the job done quick!
    • Brandi Roxanne Webb I didn't read all the comments to know if someone already mentioned something like this...my nephew used to get really bad diaper rashes and they discovered that it had to do with food allergies.
      LikeReply1July 20 at 9:04pm
    • Amjad Abalkhail Sulaf has diaper rash too ! I tried a lot of cream but didn't work ! So I ordered a British cream called Sudocream , you could find it on amazon,but will take time to deliver maybe 3 weeks !
      I usually order 4 containers every 4 months . It's very good !
    • Chelsey Roderick Scouty has been getting really bad diaper rashes and I used the extra strength butt paste. Seriously worked miracles for us!
    • Ashley Anderson White I used A&D ointment and that always worked the fastest and we could only use pampers because all other diapers gave her rashes. Pampers does do a rewards program to help cut costs a bit.
    • Alissa Gibb We use calmoseptine, it's over the counter but they keep it behind the counter at the pharmacy. You just have to ask for it and they give it right to you. We get it at Walmart. Works wonders! For yeast you can try probiotics, you can use drops or just by the capsules, break them open and dissolve in their water or milk.
      UnlikeReply1July 21 at 9:30amEdited
    • Kayla Marie Lott Utter butter! You can get it at tractor supply. Works better than any other cream I've used. A nurse told me about it.
    • Megan Woodruff Both my kids would get bad diaper rashes too. I used clotrimazole and if that didn't work, I get nystatin. You can get it over the counter and it's a life saver for me. Also the pro biotics is awesome too! You can get the culterelle and put it in their milk or juice or water. And I second the dry bum before you put creams on and then I always put Vaseline over it to protect them. If the wipes are hurting when you wipe, try just using a warm wet cloth. I know it's gross but it helps.
    • Kerri Alicia Galea Price Sounds like candida. Before the rash is healed, the yeast need to be killed. I would try melaleuca, lavender, Helichrysum, and frankiencese essential oils with some coconut oil applying it at every diaper change. I would also dilute oregeno on the feet which will get into their blood stream to kill the candida if it is systemic. Then to heal the rash try this stuff. I usually make my own, but if it don't I really love this! It is awesome, Chamomile flowers and Organic Calendula, this formula will make your baby's bummy smile wink emoticon. The flowers in it naturally yield anti-yeast, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. http://www.sierrasageorganics.com/babybalm-3oztin-1.aspx 

      Hugs to the cute twinners! Hope their cute little bums get better! smile emoticon


      Baby Balm helps to soothe and prevent diaper rash, cradle cap, baby acne, irritated dry skin and even our babies'...
      SIERRASAGEORGANICS.COM
    • Kerri Alicia Galea Price Yes, and I also second the food allergies. Hope not, but worth checking into. xoxox
    • Carolyn Hinckley I use a prescription for Abby, called "magic diaper cream".
      My sister uses an over the counter called, "triple paste diaper rash ointment." It comes in a blue and white container rather than a tube. It's slightly more pricey, too.
    • Carolyn Hinckley When it's really bad, I agree with Ramiel. Use a soft warm, wet wash cloth. Wipes always irritate it more!
    • Carolyn Hinckley Aquafor, too! They used it in the NICU.
    • Natalie Creech I use a little vitamin E for diaper rash. Works like a charm!!
    • Kandi N Ammon Bloomfield I am pron to yeast infections when I have too much starch or sugar. Let their bodies heal by giving them more veggies in their diet if you are nursing. Stay away from fungi foods like yeast, dairy, cheese, sugar. I also have this amazing diaper rash cream that gets rid of the rash with in a day or two. Its raw shea butter ( I just buy the Now brand and reuse the jar), half a cup of coconut oil and a tablespoon of arrowroot powder. All these ingredients have amazing medicinal properties; antibacterial, antinflamitory, etc.