brothers!

Finally a picture of all three!

The twins are just over 3 months now and finally I am seeing glimpses of brotherly love. Eddie is starting to interact with them as they are becoming more comfortable at sitting up in the bouncy seat and propped up in chairs. Just this morning he was placing his blankie over Will's face and then pulling it off, both of them giggling; okay, so Will is not really giggling yet but he was all smiles. The twins have turned a corner within the last couple of weeks, not always needing to be held and getting more independent; they like to lay in the bassinet in our family room and play with the rings/baby gym, and they can spend increasingly more time in the bouncy seat, watching Eddie play. They smile and coo so much now. But the last few weeks, I would say ever since after the 4th of July, they have also become increasingly fussy. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the fussiness as it occurs at various times of day and not in response to anything directly or indirectly, so I am starting to think it is due to stuff beyond our control, namely growth spurts and teething. Yes, the drooling has begun! They are both apt at sucking their fists. I have been putting Will in bibs this week. He is by far the fussier baby, but they flip-flop in their temperament; one day Will will have a bad day, the next day Clark. When Will is fussy he gets stiff as a board and you must hold him outward. He refuses to nurse, so I have to have a bottle on the ready because sucking on the bottle's teat is the only thing that calms him down. Clark is the more consistent nurser; but he has shown glimpses of the Will-fussiness as he refused to nurse a couple times on Sunday night. This is tough on me because Eddie never had a so called nursing strike; the boob always soothed him. But it doesn't seem to last long and I strategically nurse them directly after they wake up and when they are drowsy because they always seem to nurse then. Will seems to need the room dark and quiet to effectively feed and not be distracted; he is ready to take in the world! Both babies love the bath and water seems to soothe them.

Needless to say, sleep has been more challenging the past month too. There has been more night waking and tougher times with going down for naps. It feels like I am constantly either putting a baby down or responding to a wakened baby. Thank god for the swing! I try not to let them sleep in it, but sometimes it is all that works. In general they have been waking up 2-3 times a night, which is tough because there are two of them and it literally means I am in a semi-awake state all night long, often falling asleep while nursing in the chair. But last night Will slept from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. - whoa! This is hopefully something that will become more consistent. Both can roll over from front to back now, and Will is doing it a lot lately. I often find him awake on his back. Last week marked the last of them sleeping together, which I was slightly saddened by. It was so cute to see them sleeping together; the last night we had them in the same bed we found Will sucking on Clark's hand! But they are moving around so much now and need their own space, not only so that they do not awaken the other but more so for developmental reasons, I think. They are learning how to maneuver their body and need the space to do so.

Summer is slipping away and it feels like we have hardly had one, since most days we are stuck inside tending to babies. Even going for a walk in the evening is a challenge because of nap schedules and fussiness. Getting dinner made, baths prepared and putting all three to bed is an exhausting process that seems to start at 5 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. But we are looking forward to our trip to Maine in August, to have some genuine summer fun and see all the cousins!