A favorite question asked by parents of newborns is "How are they sleeping." Well if you couldn't tell by the bags under our eyes or the way I keep dozing off in mid sentence....they are NOT sleeping!!! They are up at night having parties, staring at us or eating, eating, eating. They are not sleeping through the night and yes we get up multiple times a night to tend to their needs. As I walk across the bedroom floor I mutter "It's only temporary, it's only temporary." Wait is it only temporary?
"You got me going in circles. Oh around and around I go" were lyrics sung by the late great Luther Vandross. Well I think he wrote that song for ME and their bedtime show. I call it a show because during the first four weeks of their lives we (the husband and wife) were the performers while they were the audience. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself so I will back up.
I remember it like it was yesterday, not the actual date (sleep deprived) but the memories from the evening. It started out with me changing and feeding the twins. "The Great" was being put to bed by the husband and all was quiet in the house. The lights were turned off in our room but we had a small sliver of light coming from the walk in closet. Safety first...I didn't want to run into anything during one of my night runs. I had the white noise app playing on my phone and our dog was asleep at the foot of the bed. I thought to myself..they are going to go down easy tonight. All the while "The General" stares at me with those beautiful brown eyes saying "Lady you are clueless!" My sweet "Guardian" looks at me if to say "I'm sorry mommy she told me not to go to sleep."
The husband walks into the room ready to go to battle. He was wearing basketball shorts, an old t-shirt and dirty socks while I had on my nice silk pajamas. For some reason everyone but me knew that tonight was going to be epic. The husband grabbed "The Guardian" burped him and proceeded to walk around the track (our bedroom). It was my night with "The General" and she had on her best game face. It typically takes about ten minutes of walking to get them to rest their sweet heads on our shoulders and go to sleep but not tonight. It was as if the "The General" was using her telepathic powers to keep "The Guardian" awake. He would fall asleep and as my husband laid him down in the crib his eyes would pop open. After the third time I knew "The General" was doing this because of the grin plastered across her face. Meanwhile my pace had increased as the "The General" just stared me down as I walked around and around the room. In checking to see if she was asleep I was met with her big brown eyes burning a hole into my forehead.
We are now twenty minutes into our cardio routine and all of a sudden the husband and I stop dead in our tracks. "The General" has grown tired of us walking; her desire is for us to do line dances. She head butts me and we begin with the Electric Slide, then move to the Cupid Shuffle and finally end with a random two step. My legs feel like jello and the husband has begun to drag his feet. ME is officially in control. In a gesture of surrender we give them kisses and beg them to close their eyes. "The Guardian" tries to but "The General's" mind control is too much to overcome. We dance for about ten more minutes and all of a sudden they both start yawning. THANK THE LORD!!!! The husband and I are exhausted and we have burned tracks into the carpet from walking with them for 30 minutes!!
Is it safe to swaddle them? Can we all go to bed? Has "The General's" plan been executed and is she satisfied? Yes, yes and yes. We are all able to get some "rest". We literally could not feel our feet, shoulders or arms. The husband and I worked hard that night! As we put them down "The Guardian" grunts and gets settled and "The General" flashes a smile as if to say "amateurs". The husband and I lie in bed staring at each other trying to figure out what happened. Even now "It's electric" continues to play over and over in my head......
To be continued.
"You got me going in circles. Oh around and around I go" were lyrics sung by the late great Luther Vandross. Well I think he wrote that song for ME and their bedtime show. I call it a show because during the first four weeks of their lives we (the husband and wife) were the performers while they were the audience. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself so I will back up.
I remember it like it was yesterday, not the actual date (sleep deprived) but the memories from the evening. It started out with me changing and feeding the twins. "The Great" was being put to bed by the husband and all was quiet in the house. The lights were turned off in our room but we had a small sliver of light coming from the walk in closet. Safety first...I didn't want to run into anything during one of my night runs. I had the white noise app playing on my phone and our dog was asleep at the foot of the bed. I thought to myself..they are going to go down easy tonight. All the while "The General" stares at me with those beautiful brown eyes saying "Lady you are clueless!" My sweet "Guardian" looks at me if to say "I'm sorry mommy she told me not to go to sleep."
The husband walks into the room ready to go to battle. He was wearing basketball shorts, an old t-shirt and dirty socks while I had on my nice silk pajamas. For some reason everyone but me knew that tonight was going to be epic. The husband grabbed "The Guardian" burped him and proceeded to walk around the track (our bedroom). It was my night with "The General" and she had on her best game face. It typically takes about ten minutes of walking to get them to rest their sweet heads on our shoulders and go to sleep but not tonight. It was as if the "The General" was using her telepathic powers to keep "The Guardian" awake. He would fall asleep and as my husband laid him down in the crib his eyes would pop open. After the third time I knew "The General" was doing this because of the grin plastered across her face. Meanwhile my pace had increased as the "The General" just stared me down as I walked around and around the room. In checking to see if she was asleep I was met with her big brown eyes burning a hole into my forehead.
We are now twenty minutes into our cardio routine and all of a sudden the husband and I stop dead in our tracks. "The General" has grown tired of us walking; her desire is for us to do line dances. She head butts me and we begin with the Electric Slide, then move to the Cupid Shuffle and finally end with a random two step. My legs feel like jello and the husband has begun to drag his feet. ME is officially in control. In a gesture of surrender we give them kisses and beg them to close their eyes. "The Guardian" tries to but "The General's" mind control is too much to overcome. We dance for about ten more minutes and all of a sudden they both start yawning. THANK THE LORD!!!! The husband and I are exhausted and we have burned tracks into the carpet from walking with them for 30 minutes!!
Is it safe to swaddle them? Can we all go to bed? Has "The General's" plan been executed and is she satisfied? Yes, yes and yes. We are all able to get some "rest". We literally could not feel our feet, shoulders or arms. The husband and I worked hard that night! As we put them down "The Guardian" grunts and gets settled and "The General" flashes a smile as if to say "amateurs". The husband and I lie in bed staring at each other trying to figure out what happened. Even now "It's electric" continues to play over and over in my head......
To be continued.