It’s called:
PLEASE EVERYONE JUST SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT
co-starring No Waking Up at Un-Holy Hours
In the beginning, I was pretty much spoiled. Lucy could be screaming at the top of her little lungs, and Jill would be deep in SlumberLand completely oblivious to the injustices being done to her sister.
And vice-versa.
For the first few months, we would always and I mean *always*…wake up the second baby whenever the first baby woke up, and I would tandem nurse them during the night. That way, I was only getting woken up three times…you know, instead of six.
That whole “never wake a sleeping baby” thing? Twin mamas smile at that.
Cute.
So, after a while, we realized that Jill was always the first baby…and we realized that Lucy was always pretty annoyed that we were disturbing her. After a few false starts and Lucy basically waking up 20 minutes after her sister, we got to the point where Lu was sleeping through the night.
Awe.some.
And then it happened. That moment I had read about in my twin books:
They wake eachother up.
Ugh.
Before we knew it, Lucy was waking up at the slightest peep from her sister. Worse, as Jill was on her (slow) way to sleeping through the night and as she was (slowly) stretching out the time she woke up…Lucy was now USED to be woken up at 2 every night. So, even though Jill was going until 3 and then 3:30 and then 4…Lucy was up at 2. Because, you know, she was pretty sure she was hungry, right?
And we couldn’t let Lu cry it out because…then Jill would get woken up. And I WAS NOT about to mess with that and go backwards with that girl. Her sleeping has been a constant struggle so I didn’t want for a *millisecond* to undo any of the progress she had made.
Our solution? Set up a pack and play in the hallway for Jill. Sure, she has a fabulously decorated nursery (if I do say so myself)…but she’s relegated to the hallway.
So sad.
Not.
Okay, so now Lu can scream it out and not wake up Jill. Great. Luckily, because she wasn’t *really* hungry to begin with, she only cried for a few minutes…for two nights. She’s back to drooling on herself until morning again.
Love that girl.
The catch????
4:45 a.m.: Jill wakes up to eat (for the first time all night….cue the angels singing)
As I am getting out of bed…I see Henry’s bedroom light flip on.
You. Have. GOT. To. Be. Kidding. Me.
“Mommy!!!! I wake up!!!”
At 4 (insert bad word here) 45.
Jill has now moved on to waking up her BROTHER instead of her sister.
Fan.tas.tic.
Before anyone suggests it…yes, we bought him a little alarm clock. yes, it is set to go off at 7. yes, we’ve explained to him that he’s not allowed to call for us or get out until it goes off.
oh yeah…he’s TWO.
And it takes over 2 HOURS to get to 7 when you wake up at 4:45. So that’s a really long time for a 2 year old.
And before you ask…no, he didn’t ever go back to sleep. He just layed by his door asking to be let out (we took his doorknob off so he’s imprisoned until we let him out).
Our next attempt will be to move Jill to our room. I really tried to avoid this because I’m a super light sleeper and every little movement tends to wake me up. If that happens too much she may end up downstairs in the kitchen.
And don’t think I’m kidding.
A full night’s sleep is coming.
I can taste it.
I can feel it in my bones.
I may die of happiness.
(update: this morning Henry woke up…on his own…at 4:30. When I *finally* let him out at 6:30 he told me “Mommy, my alarm can’t go off. It’s broken. You have to go to the store to buy a new one.” “No honey, it’s just that IT’S STILL NOT 7.”)
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yeah, the whole sleeping thing is different with multiple kids in the house. do you have a big closet? maybe you could put jill in there so she won't be in your room. i've known people who do that ;) just think, one day, you'll sleep through the night and this will all be a distant memory. i promise! i'm laughing at the alarm clock with henry, too. hope that works.
Stick her in the kitchen!! You won't hear her little noises but you will hear her screams. Henry needs his sleep too! closets are nice too but only if you don't have anything in them. Our bedroom closet is an earthquake hazard so that wasn't an option for us.
Wow J.. I would totally go insane if I were you! I vote for the kitchen, given how quickly toddlers can get into "good" and "bad" habits. Thank goodness you have an upstairs and a downstairs!!!
I had my teenager sleeping in the "under the stairs" closet, the hallway, then our room. OOOPSSS!!!! You probably didn't want to hear that. My sides hurt laughing at this. I know I shouldn't, but you just crack me up with the way you describe things AND I CAN JUST PICTURE IT!!! I guess I laugh, too, because I'm glad it's not me. Whatever you do that works, I'm all for it!
I'm sorry to laugh. I know it's not funny. It's just that the part about Henry was so cute.
oh, Jeannett, you make me smile – from the long ago and far away place of MY 3rd (I asked God for twin girls because I had 2 boys and wanted 2 girls but not pg 4 times!!!!- He said, "I'm going to give you one – and you WILL be grateful!!)She did not sleep through the night until she was 7 years old – a couple of moves in there may have contributed to that :( )I LOVE your way of writing – maybe after the girls are away at college you can write a book and retire rich and famous!!!!!!!!!