6:00 p.m. is a magical time at the Andros house- it is the time when all children are in bed. This is hours earlier than the average family puts their kids in bed, I know, but it has always been like this for us and we love it. We love it because our kids need 12 hours of sleep at night and in order to get the full 12 hours, they must go to bed by 6:00 p.m. because they are almost always awake by 6:00 a.m. We never have to wake our kids up. I may be the only mother who never has to wake up any of her children for school.
Our sleeping arrangements have changed recen
tly with the addition of the twins. While the arrangements have changed, the time has not (whew). I thrive on the 4+ hours of time Ben and I have alone after the kids go to bed. We get so much done (well... we have the opportunity to get a lot done), get lots of relaxing time and lots of quality time together. We probably don't go out on dates as often as other couples do because we have so much "kid-less time" every single night, for free!
As most of you know, our house is no mansion. We have 3 bedrooms that are none too big. When we first moved into our house, Chloe had a room and the extra room was a guest room/craft room. When Mitchell was born, Chloe moved into the guest room and Mitch got his own room. Right before the twins were born, we knew we had to make some big moves in order to fit 4 children into two small bedrooms. I am not opposed to children sharing bedrooms by any means, but Mitch wasn't even 2 when the babies were born and I just didn't think he was ready to be out of his crib yet. (Maybe it was that I wasn't ready..... no crib means he is no longer contained and he gains freedom while I lose it!!)
10 days before the babies were born, Ben decided it was time to get Mitch out of his crib and try him in a toddler bed. I was not ready for this and kept insisting that we wait, but while I was gone to the General Relief Society broadcast at the end of September, Ben set up his toddler bed in his room and had him sleep in it that night.
The first night was a success! He looked so grown up in his big boy bed. I was still worried about his new found freedom of being able to get out of bed whenever he wanted...
But the first nap was a success, too!
Sharing his bed with Lexi when she was just a few days old.
I'd like to say that he never got out of his bed or never put up a fuss about going to bed in his "new" bed, but that wouldn't be true. We put a child safety door knob cover on the inside of his door so he couldn't get out. He would knock and knock sometimes, but we are very strict about sleeping in our house and if I couldn't get him to stay in his bed (oh, the loss of being able to control that!), he was at least going to stay in his room. We'd find him asleep right in front of the door some nights.
He stayed in his toddler bed for about 6 weeks. He and Chloe stayed at Ben's parents house for 2 weeks after the babies were born and when they got home, I had organized and rearranged the rooms and moved Mitchell's clothes into her room so they could start sharing a room. Sharing a room also meant sharing a bed, since Chloe has a queen bed in her room that we let guests sleep in when they come. We thought we would ease both of them into this by bringing Mitchell's toddler bed into Chloe's room and letting him start there. He wanted nothing to do with that and wanted to sleep in Chloe's bed immediately. We decided to give it a try.
Here they are their first night together in the same room and bed.... another success! Just don't tell Mitchell he's sleeping in a pink bed with flowers....
Again, this transition to having the big kids sleep together has not been without its issues, but for the most part it has gone so much better than I ever thought it would. They actually both sleep in a little later sometimes together (especially when we set their alarm clock back an hour!) and they have fun together. Sure, there are fights and one or both of them get out of bed to tattle, but it has worked out great for the most part. Lucky for us, since there weren't very many other options!
And now in the past 3 months of sharing a room, we have found the two of them asleep in some of the funniest positions.
And as for our other two sleepers.....
The twins slept in our room for the first 3 months of life. I was fine with it for awhile, but by 2 months old, they had both slept 11 hours straight at least once, so I knew they were ready to get on a schedule soon (and I was getting tired of having them in our room). So on New Year's Eve, the twins slept in their own room for the first time, all night. They consistently sleep anywhere from 8-10 hours at a time during the night, wake up to eat, then right back to sleep for another 3-5 hours. They are getting about 14 hours of night sleep, minus a few minutes awake for a quick feeding. They even go to bed at the same time as Chloe and Mitchell- 6 p.m. A magical time in our home, I'm telling you. For the first 3 months, we had been keeping the babies up with us and just putting them to bed when Ben and I went to bed. That worked for awhile- they napped and were pleasant all evening long. But then it got to the point where they were both just fussing and crying all evening and Ben and I spent every evening pacing and bouncing and trying to comfort a baby for hours on end. It was no longer "fun" to have the babies up with us. New Year's Eve I put them to bed right after the big kids were in bed and, magic- they went right to sleep and slept great that night, and haven't looked back since. I now have my evenings back again and, I must admit, I love it!
In the beginning of January, Leah stopped napping during the day and she was a mess. I knew then that it was time to get them on a schedule during the day. For 2 weeks, I stayed home and did not leave the house unless I absolutely had to and became the "Nap Nazi." I was determined to get them both on a schedule and have it be the same schedule. Leah had a hard time with this and for the first week of Operation Nap, she would often cry the entire length of their nap, every nap (which was like 3 naps a day). Nothing else would work with her, so I would let her cry it out and made them both "nap" (be in their crib either awake or asleep) for 2 hours. The only progress she made the first week was she learned to put herself to sleep quickly at the beginning of the nap, and she stretched her "naps" out from 20 minutes to 30 minutes. It was a long and very trying first week. Alexis did very well and was a champ to often sleep through all of Leah's crying.
Finally by the beginning of week 2, both babies took a 2 hour nap together at the same time with no crying. It was a small miracle! The second week was nothing short of amazing- they both slept for 2-3 hours for naps, every nap. They are now my little sleep machines, both day and night and are my best sleepers of all my kids (which is a big award to win, since Chloe and Mitchell were both excellent sleepers and still are).
People still ask me if I am overwhelmed with twins and just how I do it. I tell them, "After they learned how to sleep (and it was a hard process to learn), it has been so manageable." Sleeping babies= happy babies.
Here are my babies on New Year's Day, the morning after their first night in their own room.
Taking their first nap in their room.
I don't know how much longer the two of them will fit in these sleeping positions in one crib, but I'll do it for as long as I can! (Fitting two cribs in their small room is going to be a tight squeeze and I hate cluttered space).
We know the babies are both good and asleep when they are both in touchdown position. If Ben or I go to check on them to see if they are asleep, the only signal we need to show each other is "Touchdown!"
Leah always sleeps on the right side of the crib
Lexi is always on the left
Ahhh..... sleep- no one ever really appreciates it until they are an adult, especially an adult with kids! Mitch has been resisting naps lately and this day he just couldn't make it until bedtime and passed out cold.
Taking a nap with Daddy
This picture turned out blurry, but it is one of my all time favorites. Lexi was sitting with Chloe and fell asleep on her shoulder. Good ol' Lexi- she can fall asleep anywhere.
Our thumb sucker, fast asleep
The girls, right before bedtime in their matching jammies- brown with polka dots. Chloe was so excited to finally have some clothes that matched the babies.
Mitch's pj's didn't match, he just wanted to hold a baby and be in the picture.
Here is a shot of Chloe in our master closet, our "4th bedroom." When guests come, she sleeps in our closet so they can have the queen bed. She is a champ every time doing it and doesn't mind at all. Now that she and Mitch share a bed, it is 2 of them in the closet. (Grandma fell asleep reading Chloe books this night.)
Our "4th bedroom" is currently under construction as we have sprung a leak in our master bathroom that has spread to our closet, where the carpet is ripped up to dry the water damage. More to come on this later, but we hope to get it back in use soon, as we rely on this 4th bedroom often!!
Happy Sleeping!
