The babies were 2 weeks old when my friend Janna came over to bring us dinner and to see them. She is a mother of 6 year old twin girls. When she asked me how it was going, I was confident in telling her that it had been surprisingly easy so far. I went on to tell her how they just slept, ate, pooped, and rarely made a peep.
She smiled at me and said, "you do know that these sweet little babies are going to wake up. God only makes them like this so you will take them home from the hospital."
At the time, I naively thought that my babies had to be different from other babies I had heard about. I had always heard moms complaining about how hard it is with a newborn and how all they did was cry and want to be held.
I saw none of this for the first 3 weeks. I thought "wow, I am so lucky." THEN, the babies "woke up".
When I say they woke up, I mean they WOKE UP! Imagine these two precious babies mouths wide open, screaming at the tops of their lungs! Rob and I would each have one. At first I was pretty good at getting them calm so I would hold the louder baby. I would rock, sway, bounce, and sing until he or she would quiet down. Then I would pass that one to Rob and he would pass me the other screaming baby. This would go on until they both tired out and fell asleep.
Just to let you know how desperate things can get, one evening I decided to go to the gym leaving Robbie with the twins. I had had a pretty rough day myself so it was nice to escape!
When I returned about 45 minutes later, I walked into my home to see both babies in their car seats, attached to the double stroller in my den. They were both asleep and so was Robbie on the couch.
Apparently when I left, they both started screaming. All daddy knew was that they love strolling in their stroller, so he strolled them around the house until they fell asleep. He was so tired after 30 minutes that he fell asleep too. He was so funny. He just kept saying, "they would not stop screaming. You are NEVER leaving again."
All I could do was laugh, pat him on the back for thinking so quickly and creatively, and sympathize because I had been there a few times myself.
The stroller became a common "go to" for panic mode the next few days until I realized that there had to be a better way!
Last Monday was my breaking point. I should have known what kind of day it was going to be when I woke up and found out that Robbie already had the stroller out and was walking the twins up and down the street at 7:00 a.m. By 10:00 a.m. I had tried rocking, bouncing, singing, swinging, and strolling. Then I loaded them into the car seats and into the car.
Mind you...I was still in my pajamas with no make-up, and the hair was a straight up mess. I didn't care. Both babies were crying and tired but would not go to sleep. After half an hour of riding around in the car and one baby asleep (Ella Harper), I pulled up to the house with a very mad Tripp still screaming. I quickly retrieved my "Baby Wise" book and started reading while I feverishly rocked a crying Tripp. I decided then and there that we were going to get on a good schedule and get the sleeping thing under control. We are still working on this and next time I will let you know what we have done and if it is working . I also research other techniques such as the "no crying" method. I would love to hear what you did in your household to get your child or children on a good sleeping schedule. Are you a "Baby Wise" fan or more of a "Baby Whisperer" fan. Vote on my new poll! Remember to make a comment you must create a google ID.
Until next time...pray for sleep and peace in the Duncan home!
