Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Sleeping twins

Since this is supposed to be a blog about my life with twins I figured I should actually write about them...I have been looking back on past posts and realized that I am mainly writing about me and my frustrations and not much about the everyday family life.

Well here it is...the average toddler of 2-3 years in age is to have 12 hours of sleep in an 24 hour period. I think whomever did this "study" either doesn't have kids, didn't study twins and really only did it in a controlled environment where the lights could be controlled and no windows or other noises were present. Either that or I just have abnormal twins!

Since the boys turned 2 almost a year ago we have been battling bedtime with jumping out of bed, climbing over into each other's cribs (they are now in toddler beds- only lasted a week), and just not sleeping until sometimes 11 at night. It's now worse that it's the summer and hot (they don't believe me that it's bed time as the sun is still out). What really gets me these days is that whenever someone else puts them to sleep (a grandparent) they are like angels...why not for me?

Today is Canada Day and we decided to actually do something this year. My husband and I took the kids swimming for the first time at a pool in hopes that it would tire them out...nap time was fantastic (the boys went right to sleep and I had to wake them up 2 hours later). In the afternoon we decided that the swimming tired them out so we would take the dog to the dog park for a nice long walk. We went out for dinner (they ate really well), bath, story and bed. Or so we thought

I am sitting here 3 hours after putting the kids to bed writing this as I have taken almost everything I could possibly think of out of their room in hopes that they will go to sleep (I have gone upstairs to put them to bed over a dozen times buy now). My daughter was never this bad...it took 3 months to transition her fro my crib to a bed with her jumping out and me putting her back...the boys now that is another story. I have talked to many people, referred to many sleep training sites and we have tried everything. The going in every 5 min to reassure them that I am still here, the stern voice telling them to go to sleep that play time is over for the day. I have even put them back into bed not saying a word...all I can say is that boys are totally different than girls and twins are totally different than single babies. I really do envy those people who say that their kids have slept through the night at 2 months...Congratulations! You are above the average sleep time for your kids.

Studies have said that kids do better at learning when they have a full night sleep....well if that's the case then I must have really dumb kids. I know I don't as my daughter started reading on her own in kindergarten, my boys can figure out most puzzles...but when you read these articles when you are at your wits end you feel like the world's worst mother! I know I am sleep deprived...I have been for almost 7 years as the sleep depervation begins when you are pregnant to get you ready of a life time of not sleeping. These days I now wish I listened to my mother when she said to go to bed (but I will never tell her that she was right)

Here's hoping that someday I will get a full nights sleep and be able to go to bed early!