Adventures in Fatherhood – Live blogging tonight

So after a rough week for My Life and the boys at home, I told Laurie to take an Ambien tonight and let me handle the night time feedings.

She gladly accepted, with the condition that I would go to bed once she wakes up in the morning and sleep as long as possible during the day tomorrow.

Are we crazy? Probably, but I figured I’d let you in on the fun tonight by live-blogging as we go.

20:45 – The Ambien has kicked in and Laurie heads to bed. There’s no getting out of it now. She’s going to be out like a light in a matter of minutes and it’s just me and the boys till morning.

21:00 – Time to start the first feeding. I warm Hayden’s bottle, prepare his dose of Zantac and head to the nursery to get things rolling. Both boys are asleep as Laurie rocked Ian back to sleep before she headed to bed.

21:00 feeding

21:07 – Hayden’s wet diaper is changed, I give him his Zantac and start feeding him.

21:31 – Ian is awake and he realizes his pacifier is missing. Of course this leads to crying and almost screaming as he alerts everyone that something’s not right. It also begins the first round of “Find the Passie” for the night. A game the boys and I like to play, where they knock/spit/eject the pacifier from their mouth and I have to find it in their bassinet/bouncy seat/car seat and return it to their mouth before their crying gets too far out of hand. They typically have a head start advantage — so I usually loose this game unless I’m paying close attention.

21:42 – I finish feeding Hayden and finish 3 or 4 more rounds of find the passie with Ian.

21:46 – Hayden is swaddled and hopefully down for the night.

21:51 – Ian’s bottle is being warmed. I’ve changed his wet diaper. About to give him his dose of Zantac and start his feeding.

21:55 – Feeding starts. Hayden has the hiccups, which means he’s ejected his passie and we’ll begin find the passie with him shortly.

21:58 – Hayden has discovered his passie is gone. Round one of find the passie with Hayden begins. Burping Ian in between hunting for the passie.

22:17 – Finished feeding Ian. Finished five more rounds of find the passie with Hayden before Ian was done feeding.

22:19 – Swaddled Ian and put him in his bassinet.

22:21 – Re-swaddled Hayden and put him back in his bassinet. I kiss them both goodnight. I leave the nursery with Ian wide awake staring at the ceiling fan and Hayden almost back asleep with his eyes closed.

22:26 – Bottles and med syringes rinsed. Refill my coffee mug and sit down to catch up on this live blog.

CURRENT STATS – 1 feeding, 9.5 oz. of formula consumed, 2 wet diapers, 1 homemade Cappuccino (no espresso), 1 coffee refill

22:30 – First round of find the passie with Ian. Hayden is sound asleep.

22:39 – Second round of find the passie with Ian. Also, reset the white noise maker.

22:42 – Ian has the hiccups. Expect round three to begin shortly.

22:46 – Ian’s begun whimpering and grunting a bit. I return his pacifier before any real crying begins. Score one for dad!

22:50 – Round four with Ian.

22:54 – Nature calls. Hope they can keep their pacifiers for a few minutes on their own.

22:59 – The boy is screaming mid squat. What would you do?!

23:14 – There are a few (normal) grunts, gurgles, whimpers coming from the nursery now. I think both boys have drifted off to dream land.

11:28 – Ian’s started grunting more than normal and sounds like he’s on the verge of more crying. I give him back the pacifier and restart the white noise.

00:06 – Caught up on today’s e-mails. Time to knock out some freelance web work before the next feeding at 1.

00:31 – At least one of the boys are stirring again. Not sure how long before they’re fully awake and ready to eat again. And my eyes are getting HEAVY.

00:45 – Hayden is awake and just discovered his pacifier is missing. Returned pacifier to his mouth.

00:48 – Pacifier out again.

01:00 feeding

01:02 – Heating Hayden’s bottle. Let the fun begin.

01:09 – Starting to feed Hayden and Ian is still asleep. Crossing my fingers that lasts till Hayden is done.

01:25 – Grabbed Hayden’s receiving blanket and almost used it as a burp cloth to wipe his mouth. Doh!

01:27 – Hayden get’s his dazed, early start of a milk coma look and spits up a little bit. Glad I put down the receiving blanket.

01:32 – While burping him, Hayden falls asleep on my chest. Have I mentioned how much I love holding my little guys?

01:37 – Hayden gets a second wind and decides to take another 1/2 ounce of formula.

01:45 – Hayden’s winding down with about an ounce of formula left in his bottle.

01:47 – Swaddle Hayden up and lay him down… now on to baby #2.

01:49 – Went to get Ian and discovered that his pacifier was somehow lodged behind his neck, in between his shoulders and his head. Don’t know how or when that happened but I’m really surprised he didn’t throw a big fuss about it.

01:51 – Hayden dropped his pacifier while I was changing Ian. Luckily I had Ian covered — because when I turned around to retrieve the pacifier, Ian launched his water cannon and soaked the cloth diaper that was covering him.

01:56 – Went to check on the bottle warmer for Ian’s bottle and discovered I turned it on – but didn’t start the warmer. I absolutely HATE IT when that happens. And sadly, I think that happens to me once every other day — if not every day (usually before the 1 or 5 a.m. feedings).

02:01 – The bottle warmer is finished. Time to start feeding Ian.

02:13 – Hayden’s getting a little fussy. Check to see if he has his pacifier and he does — which usually indicates he’s got an air bubble somewhere that’s bugging him. Put Ian down to burp Hayden and of course Ian’s not too thrilled with having his feeding interrupted.

02:26 – Almost finished with Ian’s feeding and I notice that Hayden has knocked his pacifier out. He’s been squirming but no real fussing as of yet. He did however manage to pull one of his arms out of his “swaddling clothes” while trying to get his pacifier. I retrieve it for him.

02:28 – Hayden knocks his pacifier out again as Ian finishes the last drops of his bottle.

02:33 – Ian is back in bed and both boys appear to be sleeping. I’m sneaking out quietly from the nursery, hoping to avoid a second or third wind.

02:34 – Just took a sip of my coffee. It’s stone cold. Wonder if I can re-heat it in the bottle warmer…

02:37 – The sleep was short lived. Hayden has the hiccups now. Which means no pacifier in his mouth. Ian’s also getting restless again. I think I better stay in the nursery a bit longer this time.

02:41 – Pull Hayden out of his bassinet to burp him and re-swaddle him. I end up burping myself instead.

02:46 – Put Hayden back to bed and wait a while in the nursery in case pacifier recover is needed.

02:48 – Ian’s still a bit restless but both boys are winding down again.

03:09 – I think it’s safe to say both boys are asleep again. Time to move my operations back to the guest room.

CURRENT STATS: 2 feedings down, 18.5 oz of formula consumed, 1 cappuccino consumed, 2 cups of coffee (black) consumed, 4 wet diapers. Current temp in nursery: 70 degrees F

3:23 – And for those who are wondering I’m not truly typing out live updates during the feedings. I’m using the voice memo recorder on my iPhone to make the notes and then coming back and typing them once the feeding is done.

Listen to the memo from 1:53… [audio:http://www.casadeblundell.com/jonathan/wp-content/uploads/Memo.mp3|titles=Voice Memo – Changing Ian’s diaper]

3:43 – The age old dilemma… your dang tired but you have something to do in an hour or so. Do you keep pushing on and stay awake or do you give in and hope beyond hope that you don’t wake up in the middle of a REM cycle — making you more tired/sleepy when you actually need to be fairly wide awake? Yeah… I don’t know either…

3:45 – Here’s what I’ve been working on in the meantime… http://savvyboheme.com/

3:46 – A hot shower sounds really nice right now.

04:05 – Time for some Words With Friends.

04:16 – Sounds like one of the boys is getting a little restless… grunting, little noises etc. (probably Ian).

04:52 – Hayden’s lost his pacifier again. Time to start heating up some bottles.

05:00 feeding

05:08 – Feeding Hayden. Good thing — cause someone’s tummy is a grumbling.

05:28 – Hayden has downed that bottle. Yup — he was hungry.

05:41 – Perhaps Mr. Hayden figured out that the sooner he was done with his bottle, the more snuggle time he’d get. He’s wide awake and Ian is still sleeping soundly.

05:44 – Sounds like Ian is waking up. Time to wrap Hayden up and put him back to bed.

05:51 – Hayden’s back to bed. Warming Ian’s bottle. And in the two minutes Hayden’s been back in bed he’s worked his arms free and knocked out his pacifier. Doh!

05:56 – In case you were unsure, Ian is doing everything vocally possible to let everyone know he’s now wide awake.

06:04 – Hayden’s going nutso with his arms and his pacifier. Time to stop everything with Ian’s feeding and re-swaddle Hayden.

06:20 – I’m not sure what’s happened over the last 30 minutes or so but my boys have become frantic monsters. Perhaps they’re making up for a pretty peaceful night? Ian is a frantic gas-man and Hayden won’t keep his pacifier in his mouth and keeps frantically tossing about trying to find it. …”In a nursery minute… everything can change…”

06:28 – My boys are having frantic meltdowns. So frantic. No bueno.

06:33 – Ian’s done with his bottle. I’ve wrapped him in his miracle blanket to try and keep his arms from flailing about as much. We’ll see if it helps.

06:38 – Now Ian has the hiccups.

06:41 – Wait! What just happened? They both stopped their squirming and such almost instantaneously.

06:41.5 – Nevermind. It’s back.

06:43 – Hayden’s finally calmed down but Ian is still having trouble with his pacifier.

06:45 – Returning the pacifier back to Ian’s mouth.

06:46 – Repeat.

06:48 – Repeat.

06:51 – Repeat. I wonder if the miracle blanket is adding to his stress…

06:54 – Ian was snoring for a minute and then jerked himself awake and let out a loud squeal. Now he’s back to sleep — or so I think.

06:56 – Perhaps the storm is over? It’s like a huge Texas storm blew through and stirred everything up and like a typical Texas storm, everything was quiet and back to normal in just a short while. Who knows?

06:58 – I’m not sure if I’ll be feeding the boys again at 9 or if Laurie will. Guess I should be sure my alarm is set either way.

07:00 – Ian just let out another random squeal.

07:12 – I think it’s safe to say they finally wore themselves out… and me as well. I sure hope they’re not so wound up once Laurie wakes up. In the meantime I’m gonna try and catch a few Zzzzzs before the next feeding at 9. Peace…

CURRENT STATS: 3 feedings down, 27.5 oz of formula consumed, 1 cappuccino consumed, 2 cups of coffee (black) consumed, 6 wet diapers. Current temp in nursery: 71 degrees F