The Nap Nanny & A Little More of My Book Writing!

First, how cute is this??? I had just dressed the girls after their morning bottle and they were laying next to each other like, "hey, how's it going???"

Ok,about the Nap Nanny.  I still think it' the best invention ever.  BUT, mom was for some reason doing some looking yesterday on line and found that the original nap nanny has been recalled.  You can google nap nanny recall or email me or leave a comment and I'll find the exact website we were looking at.  The recall happened in July 2010.  The website states that if you purchased your's prior to August, 2010, you can ask for a voucher for a new nap nanny.  It also tells how you know if you have a generation 1 or generation 2 nap nanny.  Basically, the first one has lower side walls and the cover is not secured to the base, making it easy for children to wiggle out of it and fall, and there has been reported death due to this.  The directions also clearly state NOT to use these in the cribs because when they wiggle out, they could get caught between the nap nanny and the edge of the crib and cause injury or death.  Upon inspection, I learned that both of our nap nannies have a made on date stamped on the back fortunately I did not buy the generation 1 recalled nap nanny.  There are other ways to tell what generation you are buying. For instance, there are D-rings on the inside of the base that secures the cover to the base.  I tried to buy these things used off of ebay or Craigslist and so I just wanted to pass this information on.  The biggest thing is it says to use them on the floor, which we do not do right now, so I'm looking at having to make changes to that, too.

And in book writing notes:  This applies to the whole "prepare yourself for 2 babies that are totally different" chapter.  I finally have the flow of both babies bottles right in regards to the formula/rice concoction. Are they the same?? Nope! I have to come up with a system to know which baby's bottle is which.  Baby A, Elissa, has bottles on the first shelf of the fridge.  Baby B, Ellie, well...her's goes on the second shelf. I plan to purchase those labels to go on them soon so that we don't have any real mix up, although I'm sure the girls would let us know.  Namely Ellie, because I think she'd choke with a level 3 nipple right now.  Also, we have finally found the right paci's.  Ellie is not a big paci taker, but she has decided to take the MAM kind.  Elissa has stuck with the NICU green paci.  So, now we keep up with 2 different kinds of pacis.

At least for right now we are taking the same kind of bottle, even though it's 5 parts per bottle, per baby to wash.  Let me do the math, that's 10 parts a feeding.  We are going through about 45 ounces of formula per 24 hours and about a half a can of rice.  I can't even keep with the diapers we are going through.  But I can tell you that this morning, between the HOUR of 10 and 11, we went through FIVE.  You do not want to know the details.

And, finally, here's my AH HA! moment!  You drag yourself up in the middle of the night, or day depending on how sleep deprived you feel, and you get a baby changed, fed, burped, and back to sleep or settled...this takes about 30 minutes and then BAM!! You remember there's yet another baby that you have to change, feed, burp, and get settled.  Every single feeding time takes double the time that it does with only one baby.  Then there's bath time.  Since obviously we are still getting sink baths and not tub baths, I can only bathe one baby at a time.  So again, you get one baby naked, to the sink, hair washed, body washed, out, dried off, diaper on, dressed, and settled.   And the BAM!!  There's another baby to do it all over again.

Nothing takes just a minute to do.  Everything is a process.  Including the adjustment period.  I also discovered something else yesterday.  These babies never cry unless they are hungry or gasy.  It's when they are both hungry and crying at the same time that the work gets tricky.  I'd tell you the position I had to put Ellie in this morning in order to keep her quite and feed Elissa.  But I don't want DHS to visit.  Regardless of how hard I feel this transition has been, I feel we are getting there.  We were all in the bed, asleep by 8:30 last night.  Of course I was up twice with TWO babies after that, but it has gotten easier.  The process does evolve and I've finally come to realize that life is going to be normal again at some point.  Those faces up there make it all worth it.  And although there were moments I wanted to run away and never look back, I wouldn't trade where I am now for a second of anything else.  Just remember:  until you walk these shoes, until you live it, you should not judge.  And I will go to my grave saying that.

In other news, it's game day!!!  Dad, Sid and Calissa are headed to the football game shortly and it's perfect weather.  I'm sort of jealous.  But me, Mom, Bailey, Elissa, and Ellie are hanging out and I hope I get Coffee Bean for supper.  They were closed last night so we went to Penn's and it was a perfect time out.  Short and sweet, the babies slept, the food was good and my sweet Bailey was perfect.  See, a process!!!!