Big sisters in training.

I wonder how Allison will do being a big sister and not the baby anymore. She's the super jealous one - I can barely give Ella a second of my time before she's running up to me screaming "my turn! my turn!".

Hopefully she'll grow out of it in another 8 months. While I love all my children, the new baby is going to need some attention!

Worth a thousand words ...

The absent parent.

I have been the absent mommy from my girls for almost 2 weeks.

As I was gathering up some fallen clothes from the hamper, I looked in and realized I didn't remember them wearing any of these clothes. In all honesty, I've only seen my girls for about a day in two weeks.

Ugh.

I spent a fabulous weekend with them 2 weeks ago and then we had spent a lot of time coloring, etc after my Embryo Transfer last Monday. I was on bed rest and I was ooo-ing and aww-ing over the glassy picture of my 4 beautiful embryos. I showed Ella and told her they were "baby eggs" and we were trying to grow them. But, as all seeds (or eggs in this case), they don't always grow. I told her that we hope they will, but there is a good chance they won't grow at all.

She told ~everyone~ mommy had 4 baby eggs and wants a sister and a brother. She asked which of the eggs were boys and which were girls. She hoped their were both. Every time she mentioned them, I warned that they probably won't grow, but we're hoping they do.

I had to tell her this morning that all the baby eggs did not grow.

She looked at me and thought about it and said "okay" with a look of sorrow on her face.

And that was my time with her today. And off to work I went. After the ET, I had to fly to Boston. I came back late Saturday afternoon, had Mother's day with the girls and then half way through, I had to work again. Then, I've been at the office for 14-16 hours a day and see them for 5 minutes in the mornings.

This all sucks.

Daycare teacher is an Angel.

I love the teachers at the girls' daycare. They've always gone above and beyond the care of the girls and this is case in point.

Allison's teacher sent me two picture mails yesterday of Allison, since she knew I was out of town and missed the girls. How awesome is that?

This first one is of my missy sleeping. Babydoll in her arms, thin blanket on her head.

And awhile later, I got the "I'm awake now!" picture:

What a goof. And I can not wait for Allie's hair to grow a bit longer! I don't want the girls to have bangs. I want them to have their hair long and all one length. (like Ella's hair is now). Problem is, my children's hair grow at the slowest rate ever for a human being. I usually put little clips in her hair now, but I'm obviously not there. She almost looks like she has a mullet!

Anywho, I miss my babies.

Mommy misses her beans.

I'm currently in Boston on a business trip. Before I go, I think of how wonderful it is going to be to sleep 1) alone, 2) all night, 3) without having to keep an ear open for a child's cry (although I still don't sleep as soundly as I could) and 4) until I have to wake up and not a moment longer.

But then I get there and realize just how easy it is to go into "full missing them" mode. Argh! I just want to hug and kiss them.

It feels a little different right now because I'm carrying around 4 brand new embryos inside me. I know these little guys may not take, but I do feel a little comfort in knowing that for right now, they are inside me. So maternal.

"Breast Milk May Help Kids' IQ"

says a study released today in the Los Angeles Times.

I'm a big proponent of breastfeeding, but I do want to mention I am not anti-formula. I realize it's a personal decision and for some women, it's not possible physically or emotionally. I do, however, think it's not given a fair shot with too many women. They "try" for too short a time, giving up too easily. And let's face it, formula feeding ~is~ easier in the long run. Although breastfeeding doesn't consist of making and cleaning bottles, the time investment of long term breastfeeding ~is~ quite difficult. Adding that to the millions of women who qualify for WIC who simply get their formula for free and you are going to see more women opt for formula than breastfeeding. My opinions of course.

Also, I think many women will say they physically could ~not~ do it when that's not, in fact, true. Before anyone with a true physical issue gets angry with me, I definitely do know of many, many, many reasons why some women can't breastfeed. But I think the number of women who say they ~couldn't~ is exaggerated. Think about the time when the options were to breastfeed or let the child die of starvation. Yeah, a lot more women had the ability then. Since the options to not breastfeed are so plentiful now, there are more to claim they can't.

Breastfeeding my first was HARD. My milk didn't let-down until day 6! And even then, I wasn't making too much milk. I was practically starving my little Ella for her first week. She lots weight and the doctor said I was going to have to supplement if the milk didn't come in within the next 24 hours. But it did. And during those first few weeks, my nipples cracked and bleed. Latching on was horrifically painful. I thought about giving up, but I kept at it. I successfully breastfed for an entire year, even when I was pregnant for the last 6 months. When Allison was born, I knew what I was in for. My milk took a long time to come in again, so this time, I supplemented with formula after each feeding. Once I was making enough of the liquid gold, it was breastmilk only again for a full year.

This study of 14,000 children has shown increased breastfeeding in the first few months of life appears to raise a child's verbal IQ. By the time these children were 6 years old, the breastfed children had a verbal IQ 7.5 higher than the non breastfed children. The findings also suggest the longer and infant is fed breastmilk exclusively, the greater the IQ improvement. Besides the improvement in IQ scores, the breastfed children scored an average of 5 points higher on tests specifically measuring vocabulary.

Dr Michael Kramer of McGill University of Montreal, said "the IQ improvements were modest and might not be noticeable on an individual basis, but the increase could have a significant effect on society as a whole." Which isn't bad - I wouldn't mind if society increased their IQ by 7.5 points!

As always, I take this study with a grain of salt. It only studied 14,000 children and as far as I could tell in the article, their hadn't been any other studies measuring the same thing. All I am acknowledging is that this is something potentially good. Another reason a mother may choose to breastfeed when she was on the fence about which way to go.

Trying to give the girls a sibling.

I had an embryo transfer today, so definitely trying all I can to give the girls a sibling.

I put up a picture of the embryos on my other blog and unfortunately, I posted THIS url instead of the right one. Please click here to read all about it!

http://thenewlifeofnancy.blogspot.com

Internal Alarm Clock and WHY I think bedtime is important.

They wake up at 7am no matter what time they go to bed.

Last night, we went to grandma and grandpa's house so it was a late night. We didn't get home until after 8 and bedtime didn't happen until crap, almost 10. And what happens? They both get up at 7am. Allison was a ~terrible~ child this morning too. She was obviously tired from not enough sleep but dang, I can't make her sleep in!

The reason I am very strict on bed time is two fold. Or maybe three fold. Or four.

1. My kids get up at 7am regardless. So they need their sleep - at least 11 hours each night.

2. I don't stay at home, so even if they did sleep in when tired, I couldn't let them do it during the week. It doesn't happen anywho, but IF it did ...

3. I really really really believe bedtimes are a trained thing. Ella will be starting kindergarten in a little over a year and she'll have to get up early. I personally think she'll do better in getting up early but learning to go to bed early now. I certainly don't want to just let her do whatever the first 5 years and then just change her up. By the time she starts school, her little 5 years will be all the years she's ever lived, so I want to help her with all of this now. I honestly think being a "nightowl" or a "morning person" starts with bedtime as children.

I was the 5th child and by the time I was growing, rules were very lax. Although I had a bedtime, it was later than most of my friends. My body and mind was trained from the beginning to go to bed when I was tired, not when it was ~time~ for bed. So as a growing pre-teen and teen, I needed that sleep and wouldn't get it because I simply didn't know how to go to sleep when I should. Wakeup times are the same during the school year if I went to bed at 10pm or 8pm. Too bad I was allowed to go to bed later rather than earlier.

4. I want and need my own time at night. Although I love being a mom, I also relish the fact I'm still Nancy. And it would be hard to keep my identity if I was mom from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. So bedtimes for the kids is a big part of this.


These are obviously my opinions on the subject. If other parents think differently, that's cool. I'm just listing what works for ~my~ family!

Bedtimes.

Summer suns is lame.

The sun doesn't "go nigh-nigh" until 8pm right now. And that has always been the queue to put Allie to bed. 7:30 and she's in bed, asleep within 10 minutes. As soon as Allie is sleeping, Ella follows.

They sleep together in a bunk bed, so I stagger them. I don't have to, but if I put them to bed at the sametime, giggling ensues.

Now I'm not getting Allie into bed until 815pm. And Ella 830ish. Terrible. I'm a terrible mother.

What times do your kids go to bed? (only if they are over a year old!). And how old are they?