What a difference a couple of weeks make! After blog post '#36. The Witching Hour', the twins have 'completed a 180' and are now acting like two babies born in the 'Land of 1000 Smiles' (a nickname for Thailand). Getting the twins on a consistent routine with their day and night sleep times has made their awake times much happier (lots of photo evidence below). Special thanks to a friend with twins that recommended this book,
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| Worth every penny of the 50 cents I spent on Amazon!! |
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| It may have been a whole 50 cents, but it was priceless for me! |
I'm not endorsing any specific author or 'sleep strategy' but reading this book got us thinking and working on developing a consistent sleep schedule (that s-word that everyone loves to throw around and once seemed so far away at times the past few months) that works for us. We are happy to report that both twins are alternating between 2-hour (give or take) periods of napping and awake time and are taking in about 10+ hours of sleep at night. There are moments when we need to visit the nursery for a quick soothe, but otherwise things are going great!
Check out these before and after pictures...
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| Crabby-faced Clare before implementing a sleep schedule... |
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| ...and look at her now!! Alert and content Clare after her 2-hour nap! |
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| Luke before consistent and alternating periods of 2 hours awake and 2 hours asleep... |
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| ...and now, he could sit in this high chair for hours (well, only 2 actually)!! |
But wait, there's more! These babies just can't stop smiling. Whether they are in a high chairs, on their play pad, getting their diaper changed, eating, laying on a Boppy pillow, taking a bath, sitting in a lap, or even lounging in a laundry basket (see below), the twins seem to enjoy just about everything these days. Their smiles warm our townhouse and are slowly erasing some of those rough nights from our memory.
The happiness that is Clare...
Luke showing his love for life...
The twins have also become more interactive and are, at times, quite chatty. Here are a couple of videos of each.
Clare's Q&A from the dinner table
An interview with Luke
Clare poses in a laundry basket until Papa almost misses catching her!
Luke shares the meaning of life from the perspective of a 4.5 month old
The twins are noticing each other (and Trig!) more...for better or for worse.
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| Sister-Brother stare down! |
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| Playing footsie on the play pad |
Clare gets the upperhand (or leg) in this entanglement
Who knows what the next stage of parenthood will be or look like (or what I will be blogging about next), but for now, we will enjoy our happy, smiling household!
