A thought came to me last night as to why we might be struggling around here. Recently my husband and I have talked about changing the twins schedule so that they take only one nap instead of two. I thought this would be an easy task, but perhaps it is going to be as tricky as getting them on their first schedule was.
I'm sure you've heard me mention that the 3-6 month age was the hardest for me. First we had to get on a schedule. We had to work out feedings- how much and when. Then we had to work out naps and bed times- lots and lots of crying. It really was a lot of work, but I thought it was worth it. Especially when things ran as smoothly as they did after the boys got used to going to sleep at certain times, waking up at certain times and eating at certain times.
The biggest hardship of the schedule was that we could hardly tweak it at all. I'd try to give myself an hour of breathing room- they are supposed to go down at noon, but if we need more time we can put them down at 1:00. But this hour was all we could really do and even then it would mess up our day, and night, horribly. So for three months the boys and I did very little but stay at home and stay on a schedule. At 6 months breathing room was more of a reality and it took us a while to get used to that idea.
Of course, then we had to face the fact that our children weren't used to riding and sleeping in a car. 20 minute road trips were brutal, and mom and babies would both be crying by the end. We just had to help them get used to it, and we had to get used to packing snacks, drinks and toys when we went in the car.
Now we are on the dawn of a new schedule. And I don't know why I didn't think about the effort it might take to get this one to work. The boys don't go to sleep at 12:00 anymore. If we try to put them down they stay up for at least an hour. Then when they wake up they are whiny grumps for the rest of the day. Our 5:00 nap time rolls around and I can't wait to get them into bed, but guess who won't go to sleep at all?
Our new schedule will hopefully go like this. Wake up at 9:00, eat at 10:00, play till 1:00, eat lunch, nap at 2:00 and then bed at 9:00. I'm hoping to get them to sleep for at least 3 hours at nap time. My big boy is cooperating but my little boy is only giving me two hours. The nice part about this schedule is that we can get them into bed an hour earlier. Though for now they are just sitting in there playing until 10:00 or 10:30. I guess at least they are not crying.
It also occurred to me that my boys may be a little sick. My little boy has been falling a lot lately. Not just normal baby clumsiness. And we discovered that they both may be having some gas issues. Well at least now we know, and at least there is a medicine to help.
It's funny but I now pick jewelery based on how well it goes with my outfit and how well it will entertain the boys.
I had to share this really quick. I got my boy out of his bed, and realized there was an overload of blankets.
"Why did we give him so many blankets?" I thought to myself.
Then I noticed the basket of clean laundry by his bed. He had pulled all the blankets from that into his crib.
No comments:
Post a Comment