Sleep Training day 5

Well, the boys woke up yesterday before I could post anything interesting or cute. And now I want to update on last night before I forget. Micah is already sitting in my lap, so I guess I better be fast.

We put the boys to bed last night around 7:45 after nursing them. They were both asleep when we put them down. Probably a mistake, but it worked out alright. Luke slept until 9:30 and woke up crying. We waited the 10 minutes and then Glen went in and picked him up for just a few seconds and reassured him and left the room. The check-in didn't seem to make any difference to him, in fact he seemed even more made after Glen left the room, so we decided not to go in again at 12 minutes. He ended up crying for a whole hour. That was the hardest hour ever. I ended up coming downstairs to watch tv to drown out the crying. I was on the verge of sobbing. It's just so hard to hear your baby crying and know that all it would take to comfort him is to go pick him up. At 10:30 it was time for another dose of tylenol, so I got him up and gave him the medicine and then we decided to go ahead and feed him as it'd been 3 hours since he last ate. It didn't make a lot of sense to us to put him back in bed (probably to cry another hour) for an hour while we waited for the four hour limit for feeding. He fell asleep eating at 10:30 and stayed asleep when I put him in his crib. Luke woke up again around 2:30 to eat again. He woke up when I laid him down and started crying. We were bracing ourselves for another marathon crying session. But he cried for 15 minutes and fell back asleep. Micah slept through all that crying and woke up right around 3:00 to eat. That was about 7 1/2 hours that he slept! He fell asleep eating and stayed asleep when I laid him down. Both boys slept until just before 6 a.m. I hadn't made a plan for how to handle that scenario, so I got them both up and planned that they'd get an extra nap today.

Glen was confident enough to declare Micah "cured". I know enough to be prepared for tonight to be worse than the one before. That way I won't be surprised if it's worse and will be pleasantly surprised if it's the same or better.

If only naps could be going better. I didn't want to tackle it all at the same time. I'd probably be insane if I had. But putting them down for naps has been more difficult since we started the night time sleep training. Part of the difficulty is that Luke doesn't have his pacifier. It used to be that I could swaddle him, give him his paci, and put him in the boppy and he'd fall asleep. Now he seems to need me cradling him and swinging him side to side to fall asleep. Micah is getting more needy for cuddle time before naps now too. It'd be nice if I could stagger their naps just a bit so I wasn't having to soothe them at the same time. Maybe that will be my goal for the rest of this week. Hopefully Glen can help me with nap time sleep training this weekend.

Sleep Training is not for the weak

I officially started sleep training on Thursday night. I've been wanting to get on here to document the process and just haven't had any time. So, we'll see what I can remember. The first night was pretty bad. Hours of crying from both boys. I think at some point in the middle of the night Micah calmed down and slept. I hadn't really thought through every possible scenario (both crying at once, pacifier replacement, when to feed), but I just didn't feel like I could wait any longer to start. Friday I talked to my friend Bethany and she helped me to iron out some of those details.

Thursday both boys cried for much of the night. I can't even remember how much they cried. But I don't think I got any sleep until about 3:30 and then I might have slept until 6:30 when Luke woke up for the morning. Friday night was a little better. We still had some crying at bedtime, but I think they pretty much fell asleep pretty quickly and I just had to deal with the wake-ups in the middle of the night. Micah seemed to catch on pretty quickly and I think our only issue with him was his waking about an hour or two early for his next feeding. Poor Luke. I took away his pacifier because I didn't see how we would be able to train him to sleep between feedings if we were going to have to deal with his pacifier falling out. He's missing his pacifier, that's for sure. I feel like a mean mom for taking it away when he loves it so much and I know how happy he would be to have it back. Perhaps in a month or so he'll have the dexterity to put it in his own mouth and we can try it again at bedtime and naps. Saturday night I think went pretty similar to Friday night. I honestly can't really remember anymore. Oh, but I do remember that they slept for about 4-5 hours when we first put them to bed. Glen and I were watching a movie and a couple times we'd hear a cry on the monitor, so I'd check the time so I'd know when I needed to go up and offer reassurance, but I never had to go up because they fell back to sleep on their own (I think it was Luke each time). Sunday night I was really hoping we'd be sleeping solid between feedings as this was the fourth night and most people say their kids are sleeping through by the fourth night. Nope. Luke woke up at 1:09 and I did the graduated extinction where I would go check on him after longer and longer periods of crying. That lasted until about 3:15 when I asked Glen to take a shift. Glen came to bed around 3:30. Luke woke up again at 5:15 and really didn't go back to sleep. I ended up bringing him into bed with me at 6:30. I let him suck on my finger and he finally fell back to sleep and he and I dozed for about 45 minutes. I'm pretty sure he's teething because he was chomping down on my finger pretty hard. So now I feel even worse about taking his pacifier away. I feel bad about doing sleep training while he's teething too. But I don't know how long the teething will last. Will sleep training even be effective if he's teething during it? Am I heartless to continue when he's waking up because he's in pain? But if we take a break, will it be even harder to pick it back up because we've already done four nights? I bought some teething tablets and more infant tylenol, so I plan to dose him up before bedtime and then through the night every 4 hours or more if he sleeps past the 4 hours.

So here's what I've been doing

• Play lullaby cd while changing diapers in the nursery
• Take boys to our bed and put them in their pajamas and swaddle/sleep sack (Micah swaddle, Luke sleep sack)
• Tandem feed the boys on our bed with dim lights and quiet (if any) talking
• Pass first one finished to Glen to either put in his bed or rock him until he's calm or asleep
• I'll do the same with the second to finish eating
• We've left the music playing, but last night both boys cried out at pretty much the same time and the only reason I could think of was that the music had stopped. We're going to stop the cd tonight before we put them to bed and see what happens.
• Graduated extinction - waiting a predetermined length of time before going in to soothe a crying baby (started with 3, 5, 7, 10, 10..., second night was 5, 8, 12, 12, 12..., third night was I think the same as the second - oops, and the fourth night was 5, 10, 15). Obviously I haven't been consistent. I think because my brain is pretty much mush from the lack of sleep.
• Figure they can wait four hours between feedings, so only feeding them if it's been four hours or more
• Getting them up sometime in the 6:00 hour when they cry to get up
• Getting Micah up within half an hour of Luke waking up (Luke's been the early riser)

I still have some issues I need to work out. Specifically the timing for periodic check-ins with them. I had decided not to tackle naps until we got the night times figured out. At some point this weekend I regretted that decision, but during the weekend I had Glen here to help out. After today on my own, I know I wasn't ready to tackle both at the same time. I might even start with Micah since he's been the better night sleeper and then once he's doing well with naps, I can start with Luke.

Okay, this is the most random, boring post ever. I'll do another one with some pictures and fun stuff.

Cuteness

I'm sure having a good time with my boys. I know I said I wouldn't/shouldn't write any more about sleep as I kept jinxing myself. But they seem to be falling into a better nap pattern. So I'm happier because I'm able to get more stuff done around the house. They seem happier because they are getting the sleep they need. Okay, so about that cuteness addressed in the title.

Luke learned how to blow raspberries a couple weeks ago. He's been doing it constantly ever since. I find it really super cute when he does it while he's nursing. He'll pull off and blow a raspberry and then start eating again. He also does it when he's mad. That's pretty darn cute too.

We had our first baby fight last week. Well, not so much a fight, as Micah attacking Luke. I set them on the couch to take a picture and walked away to get the camera. Luke started crying and when I got back to the couch, Micah was squeezing Luke's cheek and sucking on his forehead. Poor Luke. I chose to comfort him instead of takc a picture.

We have rollers. I was sure Luke would be the first to roll from his back to his tummy, but Micah beat him to it. But only once, and only for two days before Luke did it. Now Luke can't stop rolling. It takes about 1.4 seconds for him to roll over when laid down on his back. And he'll roll several times, completely off the blanket he started on. He's not a fan of being on his tummy, so this isn't a great thing for the fussiness factor. Ah well, it's cute anyway.

The sleep saga of the munchkins and their momma

Ugh. Today has not been a good nap day. I swear I'm jinxing myself every time I say something positive about their sleep. Micah decided he wants to be like big brother (by 2 minutes) Luke and only take 30 minute naps too. They're both napping in the swings right now. I know they need the sleep and so I gave in and let them sleep in the swings. I won't say how long Micah's been sleeping, or Luke, because we know what happens when I do that. The Weisbluth book that I've had on reserve at the library FOREVER is finally ready for me to pick up. I can't wait to read it. The irony is that because of the poor napping of my children, I have been unable to pick up the book about helping your child sleep.

Because of the poor naps, I've had some quality time with both boys while the other slept. It's been fun. Often when they are both awake, I feel like my time is so divided that I don't get quality time with either of them. Of course I haven't gotten anything accomplished today other than starting a load of laundry that has been sitting in the washer since about 9 this morning. That's kind of disgusting. I need to be better about that. I guess what I have accomplished is quality time with my boys and that's probably the most beneficial thing I could do today anyway.

Micah is awake. See what I mean? Maybe I should stop writing about sleep and find something a little more interesting. Maybe that would solve all our sleep problems. Yeah right.

PS - When I went to lay Luke down, rather, put him in the swing, I caught Micah smiling in his sleep. So sweet. I wonder what he was dreaming about.

Yep, I totally jinxed myself yesterday. Last night was horrible. It started around 3 in the afternoon. Luke was just crabby. I honestly can't remember what happened with naps between 3 and 8 pm.
I'm having a hard time figuring out a bedtime for the boys because Glen usually doesn't get home until 6:30 or 7. I'd like the boys to have some time with their dad before they go to bed, but it seems that quality time they are spending with their dad is him trying to calm them down. It's just a cranky time of day for the babies. They really can't make it the three hours between their last feeding before bedtime and their bedtime feeding. And Luke presents a problem in that he won't eat if he isn't absolutely hungry. And it's during that time that I'm trying to make dinner and eat dinner and catch up with Glen. So it seems like sometime in the 7:00 hour would be the best time to put the boys to bed, but that either means waiting to eat after we put them to bed, or trying to get dinner going with two crabby babies.

So back to last night. Micah just refused to go to sleep until about 10:15. We made the mistake of letting him nap around 7 because we wanted to eat and we didn't think the boys would be hungry for their bedtime meal until close to 9. That's a big oops. Luke was having a complete meltdown around 8 and we decided to just put the boys to bed. Of course, neither really ate anything substantial so I knew we'd be up again soon to feed them. Luke was asleep in his crib otherwise we would have been tempted to let Micah cry it out in his crib. Once I finally got Micah to sleep, he refused to sleep in his crib. I really can't remember the sequence of events after that, but both boys ended up in the swings in our room practically all night. Luke didn't sleep well and kept waking and not wanting to go back to sleep or to eat. Micah ate around 12:30, but when he woke again around 3:30, he didn't want to eat. I guess that's a good thing. I just wish they either wouldn't wake up if they aren't going to eat, or would eat and get it over with if they're already awake.

I really need to get this sleep thing figured out. It's totally kicking my tail. I have Ferber's book and am seriously considering getting Healthy Sleep Habits for Twins and maybe trying a combination of the two approaches. I keep hoping the boys will just start sleeping through the night and napping well without having to do any intervention. I'd love to avoid CIO, but it's becoming more clear to me that with twins I'll lose my mind before we get them sleeping through the night without crying. I'll certainly be posting much more on sleep as this is the most difficult part for me right now.

I love my boys. I really, really do. The time when they are awake between eating and going to sleep are so fun. My favorite is right after they eat and are lounging on the nursing pillow together. I love looking down at their sweet faces smiling back at me. Well, the happy time between eating and naps is now over and I have two boys to put down for another nap. Gotta go.

4 month appointment

We had the boys' four month appointment this week. Other than their little colds, the doctor pronounced them healthy. It's so great to hear the doctor (or in this case the nurse practitioner) ooh and ahh over our little guys. We didn't need her to tell us how cute they are, but it's nice to think others agree with us. And yes, I'm sure they say that about every baby, but I know they really mean it about ours. hee hee

Luke weighs 14 pounds and is 23.75 inches. His height and weight put him in the 25%ile, however his head size is in the 90%ile. Yikes. The nurse practitioner wants to "keep and eye on it". I wouldn't really have thought anything about it, but now she has me worried. I'm resisting the urge to look up "babies with big heads" online. Can I really wait two months to find out where he falls on the growth chart at 6 months?

Micah weighs 13 pounds 10 oz and is 24 inches long. His height and weight are also in the 25%ile and his head is in the 50%ile. So I guess our guys have bigger heads proportionally. Oh well. I think they get that from their mom.

Some of their latest tricks:

Luke really doesn't enjoy tummy time (I'm not surprised given the size of his head) and immediately flips to his back once I put him on his tummy. He's getting a little better about holding his head up for those few seconds before he flips over. We'll just keep working on it. When laying on his back, he's great about rolling side to side. I have a feeling he'll be rolling from back to tummy very soon. He is pretty quick to share smiles with us and even smiles at Micah occasionally. He's pretty serious around other people and sensitive to changes in his environment. I think he's a homebody like me. He is reaching for toys that hang over him or in front of him. Luke doesn't coo a lot and I have to work pretty hard to get a giggle out of him. Sleeping has been a big issue. He loves his pacifier, so as soon as it falls out of his mouth, he wakes up and cries. Pretty consistently, he'll nap about 30 minutes and wake up crying. The past two days I've gotten him back to sleep in the swing. He loves his pacifier so much, I hate to take it away, but man, I get tired of replacing it. Luke hates riding in the car. He pretty much starts crying as we're backing out of the driveway and doesn't stop until we get him out of the car. If I can keep the pacifier in his mouth, he'll tolerate the car ride. I discovered yesterday that I can reach back with my left hand and put the pacifier in his mouth and then let him play with my fingers so he's not pulling the pacifier out. It was the first pleasant car ride we've had in a long time. Of course, my shoulder and back were killing me from the awkward angle, but it was worth it. He is oh so sweet.

Micah is such a happy little guy. He'll smile for anyone. Yesterday I had him giggling over and over by pushing on his legs like he was jumping and then laughing. He thought that was the best! Micah is all about playing with the toys dangling over him or in front of him. He'll grab whatever he can reach and if it reaches all the way to his mouth, that's even better. He's putting everything in his mouth, even his brother's foot! Micah is a little cuddler and prefers to fall asleep with his head on my shoulder (or his dad's). He's a drooler, so we have to be prepared. It's been a while since he rolled from his tummy to his back. He's doing a great job of propping himself up while on his tummy. Micah is always moving. I hesitate to write about the improvements in his napping because I don't want to jinx myself. But we may have turned a corner in the last few days. Last night he slept 6 hours in his crib - in a row!!! I think he was woken up once by Luke, but he fell back to sleep on his own. I'm so proud. We made the decision not to wake him at 12:30 when Luke woke up hungry and I'm so glad we let him sleep.

I can't believe these guys are already 4 months. It doesn't feel like it's been that long since they joined our family. We were reflecting last night on how our evenings have changed. In addition to having to newborns to care for in the evening, Glen has new responsibilities at work that keep him there until 6 or 6:30 most nights. Long gone are the days of relaxing in front of the tv after a laid back dinner. That's alright. The boys are worth it. They bring so much joy to our lives.

A trip down memory lane

One year ago today I found out I was pregnant. What a day that was! That morning was the first morning that I could take a blood pregnancy test. I had debated whether to test at home before going to the lab for the test. Glen convinced me to wait. I don't know if that was the best decision, but we knew that the blood test would be the most conclusive. After so many months of not becoming pregnant I was gearing myself up for the disappointment. I was hopeful, but not too confident we would be getting good news. I went in early to the lab in hopes that I would get the results that afternoon. I wanted to stay busy, so I had coffee with a friend that morning. I ended up taking a nap in the afternoon and it was during that nap that the phone rang (around 2:00 to be precise). It was the nurse calling to say she hadn't received the results yet and wanted to make sure I had done the test. Ugh, my heart was beating so fast, I thought it would jump out of my chest, and here she didn't even have an answer for me. I told her that I had done the test that morning, so she looked further and found the results. Nonchalantly she said "Well, you're pregnant". I think I remember slapping my hand on my leg and saying "Yes!" or something dumb like that. Then she said "Girl, you're really pregnant." Apparently my hCG numbers were very high indicating I could be pregnant with multiples. I told her I was fine with that. She made sure I knew to go back in for a repeat test in two days to make sure my numbers were doubling. When I hung up the phone I started crying with joy and relief. I couldn't stop saying "Oh my gosh. I'm pregnant!" Glen and I had made arrangements for him to wait until he got home to find out the results. I didn't want to call with bad news and I also wanted to be able to tell him in person if it was good news. I decided to go buy a home pregnancy test so I could see what a positive test looks like. I also got a couple helium balloons saying Congratulations for when Glen got home. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. As soon as I heard the garage door going up and Glen driving in I all of a sudden got really nervous. Apparently he was prepared for a negative result too because he was surprised to see me smiling and holding balloons when he walked in the door. We did video calls with both sets of parents and Glen's brother and sister in-law and I called my brothers with the news. Such and exciting day that changed the rest of our lives.

Getting Started

Well, I'm doing it. I've been thinking about blogging for a while now to document my sons' development and my life as a stay at home mom. I've been reading a lot of blogs recently, mostly written by moms of multiples (MoMs). It seems like a great way to keep track of milestones and keep family and friends up to date. While I'm sure this won't be the most interesting thing anyone has read, I hope to be able to use this blog as a journal of sorts.

I am mom to four month old twin boys, Luke and Micah. They were born October 26, 2009 at 37 weeks 2 days during a scheduled c-section. Luke was born at 9:37 AM and was 6#1oz and 19.75". Micah was born at 9:39 AM and was 5#14oz and was 19.75".

Being a stay at home mom has been my dream job for as long as I can remember. I've been at this "job" for 4 months now and can say it's the best job and hardest job I've ever had.