Still not really sleeping over here. In fact, I'd say sleep is getting worse by simple fact that Amelia has taken to not sleeping well either. I basically haven't slept well in over a year. I'm not even hoping for babies to sleep all night-- I'm just hoping they start only waking once during the night. I will love that when that happens! Naps are total busts. We tried the one nap thing and that was not working at all so we went back to two naps.
Eleanor still only has two teeth. The top ones aren't making any appearances yet. They do make it easier for her to bite off chunks of her food, and that's always entertaining to watch. Her favorite foods are peanut butter toast, squash cubes, melon cubes, banana slices, and zucchini bread. Least favorite foods that get fed to the dog are: peas, green beans, cheese, and avocado. Oh and nursing.
Eleanor is also starting to walk if you hold her hands or she's pushing one of her push toys. She still hasn't made any attempts to step away with out holding on to something, but she does stand unassisted for 10-20 seconds at a time. She'll be walking soon, I just know it!
Overall, Eleanor has just kind of exploded over the last month developmentally. I'm sure I'm forgetting things too. I showed her how to clap and she just did it and hasn't stopped since. Before she would sign milk if I signed it to her, but now she will crawl to me and sign it when she wants to nurse. It's really cute.
Watching Eleanor play is always fun too. She's started stacking smaller toys in big toys, uses toys to make noises, is very interested in standing and cruising furniture. She likes to play with Amelia, but often finds that Amelia wants to wrestle which is not Eleanor's favorite activity. My favorite thing is when they start cracking each other up. It is the BEST.
Amelia also has two teeth! Her second tooth took awhile to come in but it finally made an appearance last week. I think her top teeth are on their way too because her gums seem a little swollen. She is a very good eater-- basically will eat anything I put in front of her if she's hungry. Her favorites are cheese, melon, peanut butter toast, yogurt, and banana slices.
We also discovered that Amelia loves the pool. We finally took the girls swimming two weeks ago and Amelia just went crazy in the water. Splashing and laughing and kicking. Seriously, I have never seen her so happy before! Eleanor liked it too, but seemed less enthusiastic about the whole experience. The second time we went she had more fun, I think.
Amelia LOVES to play with Eleanor, specifically, she likes to climb all over her. She generally laughs hysterically when they're playing together. It's so funny to watch them interact. Usually Eleanor does something and Amelia just finds it positively HILARIOUS. Those are the moments that are the best. Even if there isn't a lot of sleep there sure is a lot of laughter.
Until today, I was still pumping three times a day for Amelia to get enough milk to give her two bottles per day (so half of her day time feedings). I decided to stop pumping because it was just becoming too much. The girls are more demanding in the sense that I need to feed them three meals a day of solids, I'm nursing Eleanor, I have more messes to clean up because they are into EVERYTHING... but probably the most important reason is because I needed more time to just to take care of me. Pumping for 20-30 minutes at a time was a major reason I felt trapped. I couldn't go anywhere because I needed to pump. I never had time to work out because I needed to pump. I couldn't keep the house clean because I was spending my free time pumping. I pretty much agonized over the decision for a couple weeks before I just stopped today. It's really the best decision to make me a better mommy. I was able to work out today-- I did something just for ME. It was a MAJOR pick me up and just what I needed after a very very difficult weekend.
