Since I last posted about life at Chez Exile much has happened to take up my time and keep me from posting on this blog. Max and Nathan had their four month birthday yesterday and I still can't believe that it's been four months since they were born. The boys have had two ped appointments since my last update where the doctor continued to be very happy with their growth and development. While they are still hovering somewhere around the 15th percentile for weight, Max and Nathan are both growing at a steady and healthy pace. After a couple of discussions with the pediatrician (first with one of the partners and then with their actual doctor) it was determined Nathan does in fact have reflux and we finally started him on baby Zantac a few weeks ago. Thankfully, he has responded to the medication remarkably well and he has finally become a much happier kid as a result of daily dosing with said Zantac.
I also officially resigned my position at my firm a week or so ago. The crazy partner surprised me by not getting angry with me when I told her that I was not going to be coming back. In fact, she seemed pretty supportive of my decision to stay home with the boys instead of trying to balance work and babies. Thanks for the helpful comments some readers left suggesting that I simply tell her the truth about why I wasn't coming back, because I think that by doing so I left them on very friendly terms that won't come back to haunt me in the future when I try to get another associate position in this town.
It's still pretty exhausting trying to keep up with the boys, and we are all still working on getting into a groove of some kind. Twice a week we trek out to my parents house and hang out with my mother, who has been a huge help since the babies were born. My mom also makes the trip into the city twice a week to help me out as well, so I usually only have one weekday where the boys and I are alone. M has been trying to strike a better balance with work so that he can spend time with the kids and help me out as well, but that hasn't been so easy.
I'm still breastfeeding both boys exclusively (much to the horror of most of M's family and some of his friends too.) Both boys still wake up twice a night on average for a feeding, sometimes together and sometimes at completely separate times. While I'm still pretty sleep deprived as a result of my frequent wakings during the night, I still don't regret my decision to breastfeed the boys. At least I don't have to deal with bottles and formula and all of that nonsense. The pediatrician has given us the nod to start solids when they reach four and half months, although M has been pushing to start them sooner. I think he has started to believe all of the nonsense family and friends have been spewing that they will sleep through the night better once they start solids, and that they will start growing faster too.
The pediatrician had some very good reasons for telling us to wait until the four and a half month point, and I don't see any reason to rush into solids when we don't even know if the boys will play along anyway. So far I've been winning the argument to wait on the solids, and since it's only a few more weeks anyway I think M has given up on arguing with me about it. Any advice out their on the logistics of feeding babies their first solid foods? I'm convinced that most of the cereal or whatever will end up on them instead of in them so I'm debating whether I should strip them down to diapers, or maybe wrap them in towels before we get started. I'm also starting to worry about how we balance nursing with feeding solids too, because I've read that breastfeeding moms often get mastitis because of the decreased demand that results from introducing solids. Anyone know if this is really something I need to worry about?
