Routines Rock!

Houston, we have a sleep routine.  It's not perfect and it's not always pretty, but it is predictable.  That's a score in my book.

I posted few weeks ago about out nap/bedtime failures, but I am pleased to report that we've made a fair bit of progress.  It's 11pm and I am watching the babies sleep on the video monitor.  To celebrate this small victory, I'll let you peek in on a typical day at our house:

7ish am-  Wake up, get dressed and start the day with the breakfast of (baby) champions.  Bottle time!  After eating, we spit up, play, have tummy time and spit up some more. 

8:30 am- Down for our first nap.  Molly in her bouncer and Jack in the MamaRoo.  Jack generally needs to be swaddled, and Molly is about 50:50 on needing to be wrapped for this nap.  We're using SwaddleDesigns blankets during their daytime naps.  I love, love, love these blankets!

9:15-10:30 am- Awake again.  Depending on how long this nap runs, we might read or play until it's time to eat again.

10:30ish am- Eat, then play and catnap!

2 pm- Yep, you guessed it.  Another bottle.

2:30-3 pm-  Make baby burritos and lay them down for a nap in their cribs.  They usually sleep 2-2.5 hours in the afternoon.  This is my chunk of time to wash dishes, fold laundry and make bottles.  If I'm lucky, I might get a nap, too!

5 pm- Stretch, coo and smile!  We play in the nursery for a few minutes while their bottles are heating up, then it's time for more milk.  After this feeding, we play and fuss in equal measures.  One minute we are all happy on the floor and before you can get comfortable, it's time to pace and shush because they are screaming.  Definitely the toughest part of the day!

8 pm- Start our bedtime routine:  Bathe the babies, get into our pajamas, and eat again.  Molly is zipped into her Woombie and Jack slips into a sleep sack or gets swaddled with his arms out.  Finally, it's time for bed.  Around 8:45 or 9pm, we read a book or sing lullabies, say our prayers and go to sleep!

3-4 am-  One of the babies (generally Molly) wakes up to eat, so they both get changed and fed before going back to sleep.

7 am- Start the whole shebang all over again!

Now that we've started paying attention to these patterns, the babies' moods make so much more sense!  A lot of their daytime fussy spells were caused by being terribly overtired.  I was completely missing their sleep cues.  Jack still fights sleep, but once he is wrapped he is down for the count.  Molly has adjusted well to a few longer naps instead of catnapping constantly.  We are all happier when we know what to expect from the day.  Routines rock.