I'm going to pretend like it hasn't been forever since my last post and share why I am so proud of my Peas. You see, we have been struggling with Ryan and Evan's sleep patterns lately. It's been hard. Really hard. Really, really hard. I have to admit that we as the parents were to blame for this. We haven't had a very consistent bedtime routine. Like, Wednesdays are long days for me and because I get home much later everything else happens much later too. Or if Daddy P has meetings, which is the case at least two days every week, and I have to get everything done solo the bedtime routine is affected. Usually bedtime goes like this:
- bath (every other night)
- cup of milk
- boys in bouncy seats (yes, they have outgrown the seats, and no they don't actually bounce anymore since the seats are literally touching the ground!)
- boys climbing out of bouncy seats, flipping over in bouncy seats, flipping each other over in bouncy seats
- Mommy nearly having a heart attack when she sees this
- Boys throwing binkies across the room and then screaming bloody murder because they then realize that they want the binky
- Mommy and/or Daddy frantically looking for said binkies
- Mommy wishing she never had to see another binky ever in life
- Boys finally deciding to fall asleep
- Mommy and/or Daddy waiting to move boys into cribs for fear that they will actually wake up again!
Yeah, it was all our fault!
Plus, on top of all of these shenanigans, Evan still wakes up once a night to get in bed with us! Lord help us is Ryan wakes up! Evan, a least, will immediately fall back to sleep. Ryan, on the other hand, thinks it's time to par-tay even if it's 2 in the morning! Honestly, that's the daddy's department. When Ryan does this I cannot stay up with him since I wake up at 5am for work. There's no way I could do it and then deal with 70 7th graders all day. No way, no how! Daddy P stays up with Ryan and then they usually sleep in the guest room.
Things with Evan aren't all rosy either, 'cause even if he's in bed with us he still wakes up sometimes. Plus he is such a wild sleeper that we hardly get any rest anyway. PLUS he sometimes wakes up with me at 5am because he can feel when I get out of bed, and he doesn't appreciate that at.all! You should see my ninja moves as I try to inch my way out of bed every morning so he won't realize that I'm gone. It's crazy, I tell you!
That's why last night, I said no more. Nope, mama's not having it anymore. Daddy P and I knew that we needed to get the boys accustomed to falling to sleep in their cribs and on their own. They were in the bouncys lat night, and I realized that there was no better time than the present. I gently carried my Peas into their nursery, kissed and hugged them goodnight, turned on their night light, turned on their Praise Baby CD, and threw up the deuces! I closed the door and turned on the monitor to see what would happen next. After the first few minutes of shock wore off the waterworks began! Boy did they cry! And kick. And scream. Next, they started talking to each other in whatever private language those two speak. Then they walked around in the cribs. More screaming. I was watching them them entire time, 'cause even though I was dog-tired I couldn't just fall asleep on my Peas! I have to say that the notion of falling asleep in their cribs isn't completely foreign to them. We do this whenever I am home with them all day, but it has only been for naps. Why I thought this wouldn't work for bedtime is beyond me. They cried for about 40 minutes, and my heart broke for each one of them, but they did it. They finally tuckered themselves out. I did go in during that time and crawl under cribs to retrieve the binkies. I did hug and kiss and tell them that I was there and everything was ok. I didn't want them to think that I had just abandoned them. But, alas it worked. And, they slept through the night! Evan woke up once, but he figured it out for himself and I did not have to go get him! Today for nap time, they did it again. This time they cried for about 10 minutes. Tonight was bath night, so after their baths we played for a bit, went into the nursery and read four books, and then lights out. Tonight there was NO crying! I heard a whimper once or twice, but by the time I walked from their nursery to the family room I could see that both of them were lying down and they were fast asleep in ten minutes. I'm sure I broke some kinda "rules" with this method, but I don't care. This is what has been working for us, and we're sticking with it. I'm sure Ryan and Evan could have been doing this for months now, if only their mama would have given them the chance! Once again they have proven just how AWESOME they truly are. I am so proud of my Peas!
Taking over Badger's brand new bed
Wearing mittens for the first time and refusing to take them off
Learning all about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Loving books more and more each day! :)
Hanging around after church
Being silly on a Friday night
Melting this mama's heart with every smile
Talking to each other in their own secret language
Learning to say new words minutes after checking out their new book
