Going Through Our Days: Boys Schedule

People ask me all the time... How are the boys doing? I tell them they are great. They ask if they are good babies. OH my goodness, YES they are. They ask how they are sleeping. I tell them pretty good. They are giving my 2 1/2 - 3 hrs from start of nursing to start of nursing. Which I suppose is great. UGH...

What's with my ugh you ask... well.... (bare with me there's a lot of explaining to do first).

Let me break down the boys schedule for you. Honestly it's great!

7:00am wake, feed, play - our play consists of changing diapers, washing face and hands, getting dressed for the day, reading a bible story, and saying a morning prayer -

8:00am ish nap

10:00am wake, feed, play - our play consists of floor time (mommy shaking rattles in the twins faces haha, talking and googling at eachother)

10:00am ish nap

1:00pm wake, feed, play - our play consists of floor time (tummy time, shaking rattles, singing/listening to silly songs)

2:00pm ish nap

4:00pm wake, feed, play - play consists of floor time

5pm ish nap

7:00pm wake, feed, play - play consists of DADDY'S HOME :) This is a LOUD playtime. Daddy is much louder than Mommy. Sometimes this playtime is more of a cuddle time since it's the only time during the day Daddy gets to be with his boys

8pm ish nap

10:00pm wake, feed, change, BED

I try to stay on schedule as much as possible. Mind you, I'm not always on the minute. I might sway 30 minutes sooner or later than the listed time. I try to be as close as possible. I DON'T follow the whole "Don't wake a sleeping baby" phrase. If 1:00pm comes and they are still sleeping I wake one and feed him. I then lay him on a pillow next to me, go and wake the other cutie and feed him (all while trying to keep Baby A awake and happy).

The boys are doing great with this!! I truely believe this is one of the reasons they are so happy and why they sleep so well. Now, yes, of course there are days and naps that they don't sleep so well. That's ok...it's expected.

When I put them down for a nap I put them down awake. I never put them down asleep. I want them to be able to soothe themselves. They are great with this. Again, there are times they aren't haha. A lot of times I can (now) put them down and they put themselves to sleep right away. Other times I put them down and they stare for a while, then fall asleep. AND of course there are times I put them down and they need to cry themselves to sleep. (The whole crying themselves to sleep is a little hard to do. Normally I let them cry for 15 mins. If they are still crying after 15 minutes I go in and try to give them their binky. If they are unconsolable with the bink I might pick him up until he relaxes a bit (again I don't let him fall asleep in my arms). If Jon is home, I have a hard time letting them cry themselves to sleep. Well I should say HE has a hard time letting them cry themselves to sleep. Now is that because he can't handle hearing them cry or is it because he can use it as an excuse to hold them longer. I'm not sure. However, it does frustrate me at times.

Now this is where I stop being so strict on the schedule. During the night I DO NOT wake them every 3 hours to feed. I mean COME ON NOW. I want to sleep longer than 2 hours. You have to remember even though it's 3 hours from the time they start to nurse to start to nurse again it takes me about an hour to feed and change both. So technically I only get 2 hours of sleep.

Even though I don't wake them during the night they normally wake themselves every 2 1/2 - 4 hours. I get sooooo excited when they last 4 hours. It's honestly like getting a full nights of sleep. haha.

OKAY... so here is the UGH part

A normal night -

10:00pm nurse, change, bed

1:00am nurse, change, bed

4:ooam nurse, change, bed

UGH, UGH, ugh, ugh, ugh, UUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

5:00am the boys wake again...now here is the point that I HAVE NO IDEA what to do with them. I don't want to feed them...I mean COME ON they just ate. I am NOT one to feed for pleasure or just to make them stop crying. SO I try to give them their binky, I try to pick them up and rock them until their eyes start getting heavy, I even wait until they fall asleep in my arms. This lasts till about 5:45am. Come 5:45am I just can't do it anymore. I break down and I feed them. Now remember, they just ate a 4:00am, so they aren't really hungry. So it's a quick feed and change (if I change them at this time). They are back in their crib around 6:00. Guess what...do you remember their wake time...scroll back up...it is at

7:00am RISE AND SHINE

I just don't know what to do with them with the whole 4am thing.

Mother's Day was amazing. They gave me a 4 hour stretch first, then a 3 hour stretch. Which brought us to 5am. I fed them at 5am and they slept until their 7am wake time.

Maybe I will try to hold them off from the 4am feeding until 5am...ugh..

Night time is rough...it's hard to stick to your guns when you're working with your eyes closed.....

For your viewing pleasure :)