Sandy Here:
We have decided that we're going to stop starting every post with "Sorry it's been so long..." That's just the way it is. We will hopefully get some pictures posted soon--the girls are having more awake time and starting to give you these smiles that just melt your heart (a good thing when they are still awake at 4 a.m.!), and their different personalities are really starting to emerge. Also, they are starting to sleep longer at night, which means I'm starting to sleep longer at night, which means I feel more human and like the newborn fog is gradually starting to lift away from me.
It's actually been a busy couple weeks around here (well, busier than our usual life with Tava and Analee). Scott, Molly, and Audrey were down for a visit, and Molly stayed an extra week to help out with the babies--it was wonderful! Audrey had a good time with her cousins, and it made me more determined than ever to raise good travelling babies so we can continue to go up to Denver regularly. More on their visit later...
As I put the girls down for their early morning nap this morning (really just an extension of night sleep at this point, but I like to call it nap, because then they can sleep wherever they want and I don't feel guilty they're not in their crib), and got my breakfast, I realized that one of the biggest things that separates parents from non-parents (besides the obvious kid thing) is a single word: laziness. As a non-parent, I could say, "Well, I really need to get dressed, do laundry, have breakfast, check my work email and do the dishes. But you know what? I'm feeling lazy, I think I'll watch an episode of "Alias" (my new obsession-thank God for Netflix) instead and do those other things later." As a new parent, the conversation runs something more like this, "Okay, the babies are down, not sure for how long (their naps aren't predictable yet), I have to get dressed, do laundry, eat breakfast, check my work email, and do the dishes RIGHT NOW--and do all those things quickly so I don't leave a trail of half done things around the house--because who knows when I'll get another opportunity to be productive!"
It's a great lesson in productiveness, time management, and those 10 minutes where you can say "Hmmm, I don't have anything to do--maybe I could watch some "Alias"--wait, is that a baby I hear?"
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
I am a new woman!
Sandy here:
The babies pretty routinely nurse about every 3 hours (sometimes shorter during the day--you know, they get bored like we all do and decide "might as well eat!"). Sometimes we can get random 4 hour stretches between feedings--but it has not happened regularly. Given that each feeding takes close to an hour, that means if I am really focused I can get a maximum of 3 hours sleep in one stretch (of course, no matter how tired I am, I can't "sleep" on command, so the full 3 hours rarely happens). Also, I have learned to "do the math" every time I wake up to figure out how long it has been between feedings (and how much sleep I got). The girls are also suffering through their second round of colds (they're not so good at blowing their noses yet, but I keep trying!), so getting them to sleep for long chunks of time has been challenging.
All this is background information for the other night when, about an hour after their last feeding (at 11:30 p.m.) Tava started crying. I went in to help her out (with this cold she sometimes needs to sleep upright, but has decided the swing and jiggly chair are evil at night and won't sleep in them), and shortly thereafter Analee started crying as well. I hauled both of them on the futon couch with me and we all went to sleep. I woke up at about 4:30 a.m. and my thoughts, in this order, were:
1. These clocks can't be right
2. I must not know how to "do the math"
3. Doug must have snuck in, taken them away, given them a bottle, and replaced them on the futon with me.
They slept until 5 a.m.-- 5.5 hours between feedings. It may not happen again until they go to college, but there is now a light at the end of the sleep tunnel.
The babies pretty routinely nurse about every 3 hours (sometimes shorter during the day--you know, they get bored like we all do and decide "might as well eat!"). Sometimes we can get random 4 hour stretches between feedings--but it has not happened regularly. Given that each feeding takes close to an hour, that means if I am really focused I can get a maximum of 3 hours sleep in one stretch (of course, no matter how tired I am, I can't "sleep" on command, so the full 3 hours rarely happens). Also, I have learned to "do the math" every time I wake up to figure out how long it has been between feedings (and how much sleep I got). The girls are also suffering through their second round of colds (they're not so good at blowing their noses yet, but I keep trying!), so getting them to sleep for long chunks of time has been challenging.
All this is background information for the other night when, about an hour after their last feeding (at 11:30 p.m.) Tava started crying. I went in to help her out (with this cold she sometimes needs to sleep upright, but has decided the swing and jiggly chair are evil at night and won't sleep in them), and shortly thereafter Analee started crying as well. I hauled both of them on the futon couch with me and we all went to sleep. I woke up at about 4:30 a.m. and my thoughts, in this order, were:
1. These clocks can't be right
2. I must not know how to "do the math"
3. Doug must have snuck in, taken them away, given them a bottle, and replaced them on the futon with me.
They slept until 5 a.m.-- 5.5 hours between feedings. It may not happen again until they go to college, but there is now a light at the end of the sleep tunnel.
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