Sleeping Through the Night (Again)

Since our trip to Cleveland last month, Vivienne and Miles have stopped sleeping through the night.  I think the travel just threw off their groove, and they started waking up once a night to nurse.  I don't really mind nursing them at night, but I have to admit that full nights of sleep are wonderful.  Luckily, for the past 3 nights or so (except for one other night terror Miles had earlier in the evening around 9 PM), they have been sleeping through the night again.  Now, if I can just get them to sleep a little later than 6:30.  That is SO early!!

Night Waking

Since our trip to Cleveland, the babies have stopped sleeping through the night.  I'm not sure if it is because of the trip itself or if the trip just happened to coincide with Miles learning to crawl, but for some reason, the babies wake up about once a night now.  This isn't a problem for me - just a noticeable change.  They go to sleep around 6:30 or 7 and wake up around 4:30 to eat.  (That is 10 hours without eating, so it is reasonable that they might be hungry or thirsty.)  I nurse them for about 5 minutes and they go right back to sleep.  I actually kind of like it when they wake up at night, because the night nursing sessions are so sweet and snuggly.  I suppose it will be nice when they start sleeping all the way through again and we can get a full, uninterrupted night of sleep.

Miles and Vivienne are All Night Sleepers!!

We have decided that our babies are officially sleeping through the night.  For over a week now, they have slept all night long (from 7 PM to 6 or 7 AM) without waking up at all.  Jason and I have gotten glorious, uninterrupted sleep!  It's wonderful to finally sleep all night long again.  Of course, as soon as we get used to this, they will start waking up again... the joy of twins!

More Sleeping Through the Night

The babies have done SO well at sleeping through the night lately.  And when I say "sleeping through the night," I do not mean that 4-5 hour definition.  (Seriously, whose night is 4-5 hours??)  I mean that the babies are going down at 7 pm and sleeping until 7 am - 12 straight hours with no breastfeeding.  They did it on Wednesday night, Friday night and then again last night.  It has been so nice to sleep all night long.  I hope they keep up this wonderful new skill!!

Sleep... A Gift from the Babies

I forgot to mention that yesterday, the babies greeted me in the morning with the best birthday gift ever.  They had slept all the way through the night again.  This makes the third time that they have done that.  Here's to hoping that they give us many repeat performances.  Ahhhhh...

A Whole Night's Sleep!

Last night, Miles and Vivienne slept through the ENTIRE night without waking up once.  We didn't hear a peep out of them.  They slept from about 7:30 pm to 7 am.  And somehow, my body actually let me sleep until just before 7 (I usually would wake up around 5 am needing to pump).  I woke up wondering whether I had really slept through the night or whether I had just forgotten about the 3 am feeding.  Was this only a dream?  After rubbing my eyes a bit, I realized that I was awake, it was 7 in the morning and the 3 am feeding never happened.  Miles has only done this once before, about a month ago.  If there ever were an "OMG" moment, this would be it.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  I feel like a new woman!  Maybe this is an early birthday gift to me from the babies.  Thank you, sweet babies.  Thank you.

Miles Slept Through the Night!!

For the first time last night, Vivienne and Miles slept through the entire night - 13 hours of sleep!  It was WONDERFUL.  Vivienne has been able to do this since she was probably about 3 or 4 months old.  Miles, however, would wake us up around 3 or 4 am every single night for a feeding. 

The babies went to sleep around 7 last night.  Early this morning, I woke up engorged and needed to pump.  I figured it was about 3 am.  I looked at the clock and realized it was 5:30!  Awesome!!  So I went ahead and pumped.  Shortly after that, Miles woke up, but he only cried for about a minute or two and then fell back asleep.  Then we all slept until just after 7 am.

I suppose I shouldn't get too excited about this, because it may be an anomaly.  But here's to hoping that it happens again really, really soon.

Tuckered Out

I'm still walking or running with the babies almost every day.  Some days, they seem to really enjoy it, but sometimes Miles gets whiny and needs to be carried in the Ergo.  Vivienne will often take a nap during our outing.  One day this week, she looked particularly tuckered out.  I guess it was a little too much excitement for her.

Clearly this run was very exciting.

My Sleeping Beauty

Sleep, Glorious Sleep!!

(It's not what you think.  The babies didn't sleep through the entire night.)

Last night, I was pretty tuckered out from the day.  I ran 3.25 miles with the babies on the Greenway that attaches to our subdivision.  Then I went to meet some other local mommies to walk the art trail at the NC Museum of Art (more about that later).  So, all in all, I'm sure I did at least 5 miles of walking/running yesterday.  Apparently, that took its toll on my body, because I went to bed at 7 PM.  I fed the babies, and then I just turned out the light and went to sleep.  Jason brought up my phone and a fresh bottle of water for me (thank you, sweetie!!) while I snoozed.

Miles woke back up again around 8:30 just crying his eyes out.  This is extremely unusual.  He hasn't done that in probably about 2 months or so, so it was really surprising.  I fed him again, and then the babies and I went back to sleep again.

The babies ate around 3 AM, and then they slept until 7.  I pulled Miles into bed with us and nursed him back to sleep (and fell back asleep myself).  We didn't get out of bed until 8.  It was awesome.

So, all in all, I would guess that I got at least 11 hours of sleep last night - probably closer to 12 hours, but it's hard to calculate accurately with the interruptions from my precious babies.

Sleeping Through the Night (For REAL)

Ok.  Last night, Vivienne slept from 6:47 PM to 7:15 AM.  She slept through the entire night without needing to be fed.  It was glorious!!

The only problem was the Miles wanted to eat around 2:30 AM. 

Darn twins.

Snuggle Puppy

Last night, we got hit with an ice storm, so SAS delayed opening until 1 PM and closed at 5 PM.  Jason decided to work from home.  The babies and I were very excited.  Miles got to spend some time helping Daddy fix some bugs:

Daddy couldn't do it without me.

Here are some close-ups that I took of my angels yesterday:

Sweet Baby Girl

I can never fit this thing in my mouth!

I love this picture of my little man.

This afternoon, both babies took some good naps.  Vivienne actually fell asleep in the Maya ring sling.  She hasn't snuggled up with me for a nap in a long time.  The babies used to do this every day when they were younger, but now they usually nap in their cribs.  I would love to have more moments like this with my little Snuggle Puppy.  She slept like this for at least an hour.

Me and My Snuggle Puppy

Miles of Sleep

So Miles fell asleep last "night" at 4:30 PM.  I thought I was taking a nap with him, but he just never woke up.  He woke up around 10:30 when we were brushing our teeth, because we were too loud (and he was sleeping in our bed).  We put him in his crib, and they slept until around 4:30 AM.  We fed them, and then they slept until 8 AM.  So Miles slept 15.5 hours last night alone, not to mention the naps he took today. 

I think he might be having a growth spurt or something.

Good Sleep

We've been getting much better sleep with the babies lately.  At the very beginning, they only slept for about 2 hour stretches.  By around 4 months, this had gradually stretched out so that they were sleeping for 6 hour stretches or longer.  Then, Miles started waking more frequently - back to around 3 hour stretches.  Jason and I were exhausted again.  We couldn't really figure out what made him start to wake up again.  "They" (whoever "they" are) say that they start to wake more frequently at developmental milestones, when they start teething, etc.  But we never could figure out the cause.

While we were at my parents' house, they started sleeping very well again.  They usually go to sleep around 6:30 PM.  They (usually Miles) wake up to eat anywhere between 3 and 5 am, and then usually sleep through to around 8 AM.  Of course, there is slight variation in this pattern, but this is generally what our nights look like now.  It is so nice to be back to single feeding nights.

At my parents' house, they also started taking very good naps.  When they were younger, they would often have their daytime naps in their bouncy seats or nap on us while we slept with them in the recliner.  Just over the past month or so, I've been putting them down in their cribs for their naps.  Actually, I put Miles in his crib in the nursery and put Vivienne in the pack 'n play in our room so that whoever wakes up first doesn't wake the other one up with their crying.

At first, they did not nap well in their cribs at all.  They were gradually getting better, and then in Georgia, Miles napped for about 4 hours one day.  I was shocked!  Since we've gotten home, they have been napping well in their cribs.

We started letting them cry a bit more over the past few weeks - not exactly "crying it out", but letting them cry for a few minutes before we go in to comfort them or feed them.  But usually if they cry for any more than 15 minutes, I will go ahead and feed them.  We were worried that we might be teaching them that they can cry any time, and we will come running to feed them, but they seem to be learning to soothe themselves well.  Miles and Vivienne both suck their thumbs, which I've found to be very helpful.  They can soothe themselves with their thumbs, and it's also a very clear indicator to me that it's nap time when I see them popping their thumbs in their mouths.

We don't do any particular kind of sleep training.  I just try to listen to what the babies need.  Sometimes it's very difficult to figure out what they need, but usually they will tell us if we focus on their cues.  I think we honestly just lucked out with good sleepers.

Thumb Suckers

Miles and Vivienne are both thumb suckers.  They didn't really start sucking their thumbs until around 3 months.  I was honestly glad to see them start sucking, because we haven't given them pacifiers.  When they first started sucking their thumbs, they didn't have the coordination to reliably keep them in their mouths, so they would get frustrated when their thumbs suddenly decided to go away (with involuntary arm movements).  Now, they can find their thumbs very easily, and they use the sucking to pacify themselves and help themselves sleep.  We have even found that they don't seem to like the vertical shoulder holding position (like a burping position), because it's harder for them to get their thumbs up to their mouths.  Their little hands (especially the right thumbs) are a little chapped from all the sucking. 

Sleeping and Feeding Update

Luckily, the babies have been sleeping much better lately.  They are finally starting to get over their colds, though they do have coughing fits every now and then.  The coughing has been really hard, because it wakes them up - both during the night and during their daytime naps. 

Now, they are back to their routine.  They generally go to bed around 6:30.  Then they eat again around midnight.  Sometimes they have a 4 or 5 am feeding, and then they sleep until about 8 am.  This is a huge step forward from a couple weeks ago where they were waking up every 3 hours all night.  We take them to our life group every Monday night, and we can usually just set their infant carriers up in one of the spare bedrooms (with the babies awake), and they will fall asleep and sleep until we get home.  I never would have dreamed of this even a month ago. 

I've gotten much bolder about taking them out and about.  We go out almost every single day, often running errands and sometimes going to play dates or getting together with friends.  Miles has toned down his crying a lot.  When he was in his younger months, he would frequently have crying fits.  They don't occur nearly as often now.  This is a great relief to me, because it was hard to watch him get so frequently upset (and often for no apparent reason). 

The babies are also going for longer stretches in between their feedings.  They still eat about every 2.5 to 3 hours, but sometimes they go for stretches greater than 4 hours.  I very rarely feed them in public (and never feed them in tandem in public, in case you were wondering!).  I usually try to schedule things so that I can be home to feed them.

Physically, they have changed so much.  Miles is still rolling from his tummy to his back, but he doesn't roll the other way.  Vivienne is not a roller yet.  They both have excellent head control and can sit up with assistance, making it easy for us to have them at the dinner table with us or tote them around the house without worrying so much about their little necks and heads.

Their eyes are still very blue.  They could still change to another color, but we very well may have two blue-eyed babies (which is not very likely with 2 parents with brown eyes and both sets of grandparents with brown eyes).  Jason's sister and my niece have blue eyes, so we do know that each family has some "little b's" hidden in their genes.

Miles and Vivienne really talk up a storm now.  They make more consonant sounds every day.  Sometimes they will look at each other and start babbling to each other, which is ridiculously cute.  We love tickling them and hearing their precious little giggles.

When they're eating at the same time, they always hold each other's hands.  I wish I could post a picture of this.  It is so incredibly sweet.

Sleep, Glorious Sleep!!

I probably shouldn't jinx it by writing about this, but for the past three or four nights, Miles and Vivienne have been going to bed around 6 or 7.  Then they eat once around 11 PM, and they sleep through until 7 or 8 AM.  Yesterday, they slept until 8:45 (Vivienne) and 9:30 (Miles).  I am a new woman!!  Of course, I shouldn't get used to this, because I'm sure as soon as we adapt to this, they will mix it up again and start waking up 3 times a night.  ;-)

They used to start in bed like this.

And we find them like this in the morning.

Wednesday night, we put them in separate cribs for the first time.  It makes me a little sad that they are too big for the same crib anymore, but it is neat to see them each in their own crib now.  We have the cribs beside each other in an L shape so that they can still see each other through the rails.

Sleep Success and a Running Mommy

Last night, the babies slept very well.  We fed them around 6 and then went to our Life Group at 6:30.  I held Miles and our friend, Ian, held Vivienne.  I'm pretty sure that this was the first time that Vivienne has slept at Life Group.  Maybe Ian should hold her every week.  =)

After Life Group, we got home around 9 and put them in their nursery (still buckled into their infant seats).  Surprisingly, they slept until 1 AM.  Whoohoo!  I'm hoping that we have many more nights like this.  Hopefully it wasn't an anomaly.

Today, while our amazing doula, Pam Diamond, was here, I went on my first run in a year.  I went about 3 miles, and it was painful.  I ran an average of about 11 minutes per mile.  That's really depressing considering a ran a half marathon at about 9 minute mile pace 2 years ago.  But I'm so glad that I got out and got my legs really pumping again.  I'm hoping to run more frequently in the future.  Once the babies have good neck control, I can run with them in the BOB stroller.  I'm really looking forward to that.

Sweet Dreams

Jason put both babies down wide awake, and they are sleeping soundly - no crying, no fussing, no picking them up again to rock them more. He must have the magic touch...

Cute Sleepers

Too cute not to share.  They make me want to go take a nap.