Sleep is for wimps...

The girls went to the opthamologist yesterday. Mike was working so I was flying solo for this appointment. I tried to get an appointment on a day when Mike would be home, but with the doctor's vacation and hospital schedule, we just couldn't work it out. They were supposed to be seen by this doctor the week after they were discharge from the hospital, and now it's week 4 - so I had to take what I could get. And of course, the only appointment that they had available was at 11am - feeding time - so, I adjusted their schedules in the morning so I'd be feeding them an hour later - I fed them at 5:30am instead of 5am and then bumped it further for the next feeding, feeding them at 9am rather than 8am - this way they wouldn't be due to eat until noon. So after I fed them at 9am, I packed them up and got them to the doctor. Of course, the second that I get Lia into her car seat, she pooped - so I had to take her upstairs and change her. Every time I wiped her, more and more poop came out - it was never ending. Finally she's done and I get them in the car. Lia, having just ate and pooped, was in her glory - she went right to sleep. Maddie was awake and alert - and being cute. I watched her in the mirror on the way to the doctors office and she was just looking around, playing with her feet, being super cute. I get to the parking lot, strap them into the stroller and we're off to the office. The second that we enter the doctors office, Maddie starts to lose her mind. Mad Maddie has entered the building people - stand back! She's letting the entire hospital know that she's there! Then, the doctor comes out and says that he wants to put the drops in their eyes now because it takes about 10 mintues to set in (they were having their eyes dilated). So now they're having their eyes held open and having drops put in - in the middle of the waiting room - this didn't go well. So now they're both screaming. But Lia, being the laid back chick that she is, stopped crying almost immediately after it was over. Sir Scream-a-Lot on the other hand (a new nickname for Maddie), was not so easily settled - these drops awoke her inner beast in a whole new way. So I took her out of her car seat to console her. The only way to console her is for me to rock and swing her to an oblivion - so here I am in the middle of this waiting room doing just that. She finally calms down - thankfully Lia is just hanging out not making a peep. When it was time to bring the girls into the exam room, the doctor actually came out and wheeled the stroller into the room so that I wouldn't have to put Maddie down - I guess he was tired of the screams - haha. So we get into the exam room and the doctor starts with Maddie since I'm already holding her. Long story short, Maddie is not a fan of having people hold her eyes open and flash lights in them. But, the good news is - her eyes are complete, all the blood vessels are intact and she doesn't show any signs of vision problems! When she was done I had to put her down and of course, she continued to scream. As I was getting Lia out of her car seat, the doctor was trying to get Maddie to take her binky but she wouldn't take it. He just looked at me and said "she won't even stop with a pacifier" - to which I said, "there's no pacifying this kid - we're just going to have to get through Melia's exam with her screaming in the background - I'm used to it doc, it doesn't bother me if it doesn't bother you" - to which he said "oh, I make babies and kids cry every day, so I'm fine with it" - haha - so that was that - we left Maddie to work out her frustrations and we moved on to Melia. Melia didn't cry once through the entire exam. She's sooooo relaxed this kid. And just like her sister, her eyes were looking perfect - complete and no signs of vision problems! So they don't have to go back to the eye doctor - woohoo! Madison calmed down as we strolled back to the car. I really have no idea what her deal was. Apparently she just hated that office because as soon as walked out, she was fine. I guess she just wanted to make a public performance - how awesome!

So we got home and the afternoon was smooth. I got the girls back on their regular feeding schedule and all was well. Then, at about 7pm - the inner beast was awoken again. Maddie screamed almost non-stop from the hours of 7pm to about 3am. She would stop screaming for a while if I stood up and did the rock/swing move - but the second I sat down she'd cry,even if I continued to rock while sitting. Her comfort apparently depends on my discomfort - more awesomeness! Haha.  But, she had to be put down when I had to feed Melia, so I swaddled her, positioned her on her side (which she prefers over laying on her back) and put her in the swing - I set that bad boy on the highest setting it had and had it swing her until it could swing no more. Eventually, she calmed down and went to sleep - but only for a little while. This routine of either me rocking/swinging her or her being swaddled and swinging in the swing went on for hours. I'd say in an 8 hour period there was about 2 hours of intermittent silence and 1/2 hour of sleep for mommy - and that may be an over-estimation. What made her evenutally stop screaming you ask? She pooped. Since the girls have been off of breast milk and on new formulas I've been keeping track of how often both girls are pooping to make sure that they don't get constipated, and they've both gone from pooping 5-8 times per day to pooping maybe once per day. I knew that Maddie hadn't pooped since late Tuesday night, so I figured that her behavior may have been a result of a bit of constipation - and I guess it was.  So that's something that I need to keep an eye on in the coming days. According to the pediatrician, constipation is only a concern if they haven't pooped in 3 days. THREE DAYS??? She was this upset after not pooping for about 36 hours - I can't even imagine what would happen if she didn't poop for 3 days! I'll talk to the doctor more about this at their appointment next week - unless of course we have a recurring issue with this before then, in that case, the doctor better either let me give her a suppository - or he better come to my house and babysit! ;-P

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Noteable landmark - I think that Maddie has come around and make actually not hate bathtime anymore either. I'm not saying that she likes it - but she didn't scream through it on Tuesday night, so I'll take it.


Noteable Mommy and Daddy exchange - So Mike was working last night and as I've already mentioned, Maddie was in rare form just about all night. So when he got home it was time for me to tag out and go take a nap. I woke up at about 10:30am and Mike had the girls already dressed. Lia was wearing a pink & brown polka dot pants outfit and Maddie was wearing a little yellow dress with an undershirt underneath. At this stage of the game, I'm still having fun dressing the girls alike. I know, I know...they need to have their own identities, blah blah....I'll stop doing this as they get older, but for now, I think it's cute. Even if it's not the same outfit, but different outfits that coordinate with each other, I like that just as much. So anyway, here's what happened...


Mommy: Oh, you got the girls dressed already...great! Thanks.
Daddy: No problem.
Mommy: Why didn't you put them in the same outfit?
Daddy: Because I dressed Lia first and Maddie doesn't fit into that outfit yet - it's too big on her.
Mommy: No it's not, it's just a little loose on her, it would be fine.
Daddy: Your idea of 'a little loose' isn't so accurate.
Mommy: What is that supposed to mean?
Daddy: You're so obsessed with having them dress alike that you make Maddie look ridiculous in some of the outfits you put her in.
Mommy: I DO NOT!! Okay, so one pajama outfit that I put her in was stretching it, I admit that - but other than that, I don't make her look ridiculous.
Daddy: Yeah, you do. I'd rather have her in clothes that fit than clothes that look alike.
Mommy: Oh, so you'd rather her in ridiculous colors that don't match.
Daddy: What do you mean?
Mommy: She's wearing a YELLOW dress with a PINK undershirt!
Daddy: What? Pink and yellow match!
Mommy: WOW!
HAHAHAHAHAH! More fun conversations in the Marcino household. So I dress my kid in oversized clothes like a clown and Mike is colorblind. Good times. :-)