Sleep Warrior

So, ever since we brought the twins home, all Tom and I talk about is sleep. We discuss it as soon as he comes home from work. When we are grocery shopping, we talk about it. When it was his birthday last week he told me that all he wanted was for someone to come and let him sleep for two nights in a row as long as he wanted to. Not for me to wear something that he would enjoy and for us to have time together, wink wink. And he only does the night shift ONCE per week. I am on duty FIVE nights a week. My marriage at the moment is all about sleep. It's all we talk about, think about and want!!!

Last week, I decided I had had enough of my family room couch and bottle feeding on demand and started moving the twins up to their nursery. My reading also intensified. I am now reading the following books and find them very helpful.







Over the weekend, Tom did the night shift on Saturday and he gave up and brought the twins down at 3am to sleep in their swings. On Sunday, my mother in law came and did the night shift and she slept on the nursery floor. They screwed up my sleep training regime so now I think I may need to be in charge and stop letting them take over the night shift. This means I will lose out on solid, uninterrupted sleep but means the twins know who's boss. Hopefully, they will sleep through the night in another 8 weeks which is when they will be 12 weeks old adjusted. I can do nights like last night for the next 8 weeks:

Last night, I put my purple pj's on and my war paint and put the twins down at 9pm

Eleni took bottles at 11, 1 and 4:30
Christopher took bottles at 11, 1:30 and 5

And I slept in between. Not bad considering the twins are 7 1/2 weeks old, 4 weeks old adjusted age.

I am so excited! This Gladiator can actually see sleeping through the night happening! Also as of today I will be logging their feedings, diapers and naps, looking for patterns.

Who know I could be so anal? See what sleep deprivation does to an otherwise sane woman? I now know why sleep torture is used by the military. There is nothing worse than not having your sleep. And yet, my brain actually cannot remember being sleep deprived with Stathis. You see, mother nature is a sneaky bitch that lets you forget.

In the battle of the twins sleeping vs. me sleeping, I will prevail!

Moving Up to the Nursery!

So last night I put the twins in their cribs to sleep. Before this, our sleeping arrangements were the twins in the pack n play or in their baby swings and me on the couch. Last night, I decided enough was enough and packed 7 bottles, a can of formula and toted the twinks up to their room. It took me until 1am to get them settled and sleeping but they did spend the night in their cribs. Christopher woke up twice and Eleni woke up 3 times to be fed. I slept in the guest room since it was the first night and I think I may stay there until they only need one feed per night as Tom is a light sleeper and I don't want to disturb him too much since he has to teach 30 10 year olds every day.

As for today, my house seriously looks like a bomb hit it and I have laundry coming out of the wazoo so I better get cracking. Did I mention it's 2:30 pm here and I'm still in my pajamas? Time for Mama to take a shower and get cracking. My goal is to get these guys up to their room by 9pm tonight. We'll see how I do!

The weekend is going to busy with a final parade of visitors tomorrow. Sunday I need to go out to pick out a sofa bed because my brother Tony and his family are coming to visit from BC in March and I need to be able to put them up. Monday is a holiday here in Ontario - Family Day - and I think we may have some friends coming over for coffee.

Take Care, everyone!

Valentine's Day - in a hectic world

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone had a good one. It's so funny - Tom and I have been together since 1998, and the evolution of our Valentine's has definitely changed. Our first one was probably the most extravagant - we went out for dinner in Toronto and then to Phantom of The Opera. Over the years, we've gone to hockey games, out for dinner, stayed in and cooked gourmet meals...this year...meh.

I sort of forgot about Valentines day until I looked at Stathis' school calendar late Monday afternoon and realized he was having a Valentines' party with his class. I quickly asked my Mom, the permanent fixture at this house, to watch the twins while I bundled up my 5 year old and off we went to the local drug store. We picked out cards and chocolates for his class and then bought Tom some cards.

Tom's cousin came to visit with his wife and baby around 3 so we ordered pizza and then Tom came home and we had a really fun visit. The card Tom bought me is hilarious - it talks about how love notes change over time...

Dating: I am sohot for you!
Newlyweds: Meet me tonight for a big surprise! xoxo
Married 5 years: Have a great day, sweetie!
Married 10 years plus: Pick up some toilet paper on your way home from work.

Keep in mind we will have been 11 years in June - I couldn't agree more! I seriously cracked up...

Anyway, I know I haven't posted in a while or commented on anyone's blogs but I thought I would give you all a low down of the first 6 weeks of life with the twins...this is how my days are spent. And let me tell you, it's a good thing mothers forget the first 12 weeks of infancy because if we remembered, we would never have children again!!

6am - wake up to feed/change babies
7am - wake up Stathis, send him off to school
8am - sleep
9am - my parents come over, eat a quick breakfast, chat, I leave them to take care of the babies and I head up to bed
9:30-12:30 sleep
12:30 -1:30 take shower, eat lunch
1:30 -2:30 - feed/change babies
2:30 Stathis comes home from school
3:00-8:00 make dinner, spend time with babies and Stathis, do laundry, try to tidy up, pay bills, run errands, may have a visitor come over, at 8pm my parents usually leave
8:00 - Stathis bed time, bathe him, reading with him
9:00 -11:30 sleep (Tom takes over care of the twins at this time)
11:30 - 4:00 am - up with the twins, feeding, changing (this is when they are their fussiest, especially Christopher) I may get some time in to sleep, but usually just an hour or 45 minutes...thank God for my PVR!
4am-6am - sleep.

So needless to say, it's been a hectic 7 weeks. The good news? They are growing, sleeping longer stretches and I have figured out never to miss an opportunity to sleep. I now tell guests to come and schedule appointments around MY sleep schedule!! I tell ya, you never know how much you need your sleep until you can't have it!!! Also, I would be a complete and utter blubbering mess if it wasn't for my parents. I have no idea how people do this without support. And people who have triplets and quads? Holy crap my hat goes off to them!! On Friday nights, my mother in law comes and spends the night so that we can both sleep through the night. And we sleep. Nothing else - how sad is that?!

But I know this too shall pass and before I know it, I will be dropping them off at Nursery School crying and asking the universe where the time went, so I am really trying to enjoy every moment that I can with them.

I noticed over the last few days that they were a bit gassy and Christopher seemed to be a bit colicky so as of tonight I've switched formulas to En.famil Gent.lease and also to the Dr. Brown's bottles. They seem to be working much better! Eleni has been asleep since 11:30 and it's now 3 am! Christopher has been fussy since 11:30 and just fell into a deep sleep but instead of sleeping I've decided to blog so that you all wouldn't think I've left planet Earth.

Well I better go because I'm sure someone will want a bottle or a diaper change soon!