Instituting Family Nap Time

Since we started the cereal into their diet it has somehow messed up their sleeping habits, and I use the term habit very loosely.  Lately they've been up every 3 hours and mommy and daddy are really dragging!

Sunday was Ed's day to play so he was out of here early to go play 9 holes with his friend Scott.  The cubs were pretty good for me while he was gone.  I had bought this Snail Toy by Fisher Price that they both just seem to love, so the three of us played with that.

When Ed got home we had to make a quick trip to the store and some much needed Starbucks coffee just to get through the evening.  I told Ed on the way to the store that I was going to impliment a little thing called 'Family Nap Time'.  When we got home I wanted to see if the cubs would lay down in our bed between us and everyone could get a little shut eye.  However when we did get home they were both fast asleep in their car seats.  So as quick as we could, we unloaded the perishables and took them downstairs in the car seats, placed them in their nursery, flipped on the monitor and settled in for a nap.  Ed went right to sleep, snoring away, but I had some things on my mind and just couldn't sleep.  And the more I couldn't sleep the madder I became.  These moments are such golden rare opportunities, and I was letting mine pass me by.

Sure enough, about 30 minutes into it I heard Alex start to cry.  Up I went to free him from his car seat before he woke up Calista.... too late.. she's awake now too.  I'm yelling at Ed through the monitor to come get his daughter, but he doesn't hear me, (an effect I'm sure from time spent at the 19th hole).  I finally had to go and poke at him to wake up and come help.

Once we got all babies changed and settled down we went back to the bed.  I nursed Calista for a little while and it seemed like she was falling asleep.  However, Ed decided this would be the best time to teach Alex more of his O's.  So the two of them are on the other side of the bed and all I hear is, "Oooooo Oooooo Oooooo".  Finally I suggested that the two hound dogs could practice their howling in another room where people weren't trying to sleep.

It didn't really matter after all because at this point Calista is awake and practicing her own way of talking.  So the entire family ended up back in our bed jabbering away.  Even though I was really tired, it turned out to be a fun time listening to them and talking to them.

After dinner it was time to try out our newest bath buddy.  It's a seat that hangs off the side of the tub.  It's time to face facts that they have just gotten too big to fit in the baby bath anymore.  So I took a bath with Alex and Ed took a bath with Calista, they seemed to like it although Calista wasn't too sure about it at first.

We also had a new cabinet to build for Blu Ray storage.  Before building it I wanted to vacuum the spot where it would be going.  Well I turned on that vacuum and is sucked up some kind of string and made a funny, loud noise and it looked like someone zapped my little girl with a cattle prod!  I've never seen a baby startle like Calista does.  If you sneeze or cough too loud her arms jut out and she starts screaming.  Maybe she's just used to being really calm so loud noises scare her more.  Who knows, but it took me quite a while to get her calmed down.

The night brough unsettled babies for us.  I'd get Calista calmed and put to bed and Alex would wake up.  I'd just get him settled and start to lay him down and Calista would be up again.  This went on for an hour and a half before we finally got both babies down. And after that they went to the waking up every three hours all through the night.

The worst part of Motherhood on Sunday was the absolute lack of sleep.  I swear I could've fallen asleep on the toilet!

The best part of Motherhood on Sunday was communicating with the babies in our bed.