Why I love "On Becoming Baby Wise"

Before I became a mother, I taught first grade for three wonderful years. I loved teaching children, and I loved seeing the look of wonder and excitement when my students learned something new. I learned from books, classes, others, and my own experience that structure and routine combined with knowledge of subject and love of my students were the foundations of learning. Those ideas greatly shaped my teaching philosophy. When I found out that I was pregnant, I wanted to apply what I had learned as a school teacher to my new, even greater calling of mother.

When I was still pregnant with my twins, I knew I wanted my boys to grow up to be kind, respectful, hard working, loving, and good. I also wanted them to know that I loved them more than anything, and that our family is central to their lives and to mine. I had all kinds of ideas of how to help older children learn those things, but I had no idea how to apply my goals to babies.
Then one day while visiting a friend (who was also expecting), I picked up the book "On Becoming Baby Wise" from her coffee table. As I started to read, I realized that the ideas in the book matched my parenting philosophy perfectly. Here was a way to apply my goals to infants.

We started using the ideas from "On Becoming Baby Wise" from the day we brought David and Erik home at 4 days old. At first we just focused on getting full feedings. For sleepy premature babies (they were born at 36 weeks), that was a challenge. But soon the boys started nursing better and even wanted to have some time awake. Our routine was going pretty well by the time the boys were a month old, but feeding two babies every 2-3 hours around the clock had me completely exhausted and in desperate need of some long stretches of sleep. My mom (who had been helping us with the boys) was headed home, and I needed to be alert enough to take care of my boys by myself. I remembered the book had said that most babywise babies will sleep 7-8 hours by 12 weeks, and I thought "I've got to try this because if it works, it will be amazing!"

So I reread some parts of the book and looked online for some ideas. I stumbled across the blog babywisemom.blogspot.com, and I felt like a prayer had been answered. I started having a set time to start the day, and then just let our routine follow from that. By the time my boys were 12 weeks old (8 weeks adjusted), they were both consistently sleeping 7-8 hours at night. My boys were a babywise success story, and I was a new woman!

But our babywise success doesn't end there. Sleeping through the night is a wonderful milestone for any new baby and mother (doubly so when you have twins), but it is not the end goal in parenting. It is a step towards something much greater. By reading more books in the "wise" serious and other parenting books, watching others, and learning from my own experiences, I have begun the journey of helping my sweet babies become good men.

Now my twins are approaching their second birthday. I can't believe how fast they have grown up. Their smiles and laughter bring me more joy than I would have thought possible. They are still wonderful sleepers, but more importantly, they are starting to learn all those things that I wanted them to know.

They are kind. They touch each other gently. They can softly pet a dog. They share toys.

They are respectful. They say "please" and "thank you." They are learning to pray and be respectful to God.

They are hard working. They pick up their toys. They help me with the laundry. They help put away the groceries.

They are loving. They freely give out hugs and kisses. They smile all the time.

They are good. They are learning to obey their mommy and daddy. They are learning to make good choices.

I hope they know how much I love them, although, they might not know completely until they become parents themselves. Each night when I kiss David and Erik good night and put them to bed, I am so thankful for Babywise. It helped me become the mother I am today.

4th of July

For the 4th of July, we went to visit Steve's Uncle Scott, Aunt Brenda, and cousin TJ. We all had a really good time swimming. Erik enjoyed the lake, while David preferred the pool. Aunt Brenda is a great cook, and we all stuffed ourselves full of her wonderful southern food. The boys also really enjoyed playing with their dog, Heidi.

Scott and Brenda let us stay in their camper trailer (which was really nice!), but the boys refused to sleep in a big boy bed. After a long day without any naps the boys still wouldn't fall asleep. We even drove them all around in the car hoping that would work, but Erik refused to sleep. We decided it would be best to head home so the boys (and Steve and I) could get some rest. The boys didn't sleep well on the way home, but once they were in their own beds, they slept great. I guess they are still a little young for camping. Maybe next year. :) But we have plans to make another day trip to visit Scott and Brenda and TJ because we had so much fun!

Erik swimming in the lake with Aunt Brenda.

TJ pulling David around the pool.

Erik and David showing off their 4th of July outfits. :)

Isn't Texas green? I really love it.

Brotherly hugs. :)

Baby Bunkins in Baskets with Books

Big Boy Stuff

As much as I hate to admit it, my babies are turning into big boys. They are learning to do so many new things, and I have a mixture of pride, excitement, anxiety, and sadness about it all. They are learning new words every day. They are also getting really good at identifying objects. David is especially into lights. Weird, huh? Erik has peed in the potty chair twice now which was really exciting.

They are such sweet boys, and I'm (mostly) glad that they are growing up. :)

David saying "Bee-bo." You might not know what "bee-bo means" or maybe you've forgotten. It's just the tiny hippo way of saying "belly button."

David showing off his belly button.

We got some new (well, new to us) furniture for our family room, and David especially loves the new chair. Mostly because he can climb up it like a little baby spider-man and reach the light switch.


*turns light on* "wight!" *turns light off* "bye-bye wight!" repeat

Erik loves shoes. He loves his new blue sandals the most. But he also loves Daddy's shoes.

Tying knots? :)

Wearing Daddy's shoes.

Trying to walk in Daddy's shoes. Maybe someday bunkin. :)

David and Erik "help" cook dinner

I guess we're having sea food. :)

Pictures from our trip to Utah

We had a chance to visit my family in Utah a few weeks ago. We had a great time. We went to the aquarium, made cookies, had homemade pizza, played with our cousins, met our Uncle Jimmy, visited the zoo, went fishing, met our baby cousin Gracie, and so much more. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

All tuckered out after church.

Erik didn't even make it through lunch.

Erik enjoying some homemade chocolate chip cookies. :)


David saying "yum" with a mouthful of cookie.

Erik (blue), David (green), and Grandma (red) at the aquarium.

Erik playing on the giant frog.

David posing for a picture near the "deck." They spent a good amount of time just climbing in and out of it.

David smiling with some flowers.

Erik with some flowers.

Seriously, I don't know why they love flowers so much, but they do.

David and Grandpa

Erik slowing down just long enough to take a picture.


Grandpa and David fishing.

Erik stealing the fishing pole from brother.

A baby elephant. So cute!

A giraffe.

A tortoise.

Erik and David exhausted from a day at the zoo.

A family of geese we saw in the zoo parking lot.

New Neighbors

Our wonderful neighbor Silvia (who we are really going to miss) moved and gave us this hanging plant. She didn't want to take it with her because a bird had built a nest in it. So we hung it up thinking that the bird wasn't going to find her nest after it was moved. We were wrong.

Meet our new neighbors: The Billingsleys. Charlotte and Reginald Billingsley moved in about a month ago just a day or two after we hung up the plant by our porch. I did a little research and found out that they are house finches. And now they are the proud parents of twins: Royce and Abigail!

Yes, we named the birds living outside our window. We're weird like that. The birds grew up fast and flew away, but we sure loved having them for a few weeks.

Here's a picture of Charlotte. She's a little shy. Reginald wouldn't pose for pictures.

Here are the eggs. It made me so happy to see new life growing.

Here is Royce. Abigail took her time and was born the next day.




Here they are together. Don't they look like little rat birds? But somehow, they're still cute.




All grown up. I was so sad when they flew away. We'll miss you guys!