Nap Time

Nap time.  Ugh.  You never know how good you got it til the game gets changed.  In many ways I was spoiled when I had my daughter.  Because my husband worked long hours away from home 6 days a week it was mainly just her and I.  This meant that, as a stay at home mom, my world revolved around her & her needs.  I was able to get us into a routine that worked for us and by the time we moved across the country to be closer to my family & keep hubby from working himself to death, she was locked into a set nap routine.  One that meant I got 2 hours free in the morning and 2 hours free in the afternoon.  We moved in with my parents & I kept that routine and pretty much 'convinced' my niece (my sister & her daughter lived with my parents, too- they have a HUGE house) to be on the same routine.  Yay! After I got pregnant with our twins we moved out, our nap routine stayed the same (I know, a 2 year old who takes 2 naps a day?!?) and I was able to get the rest I desperately needed. 

The twins have not been as cooperative as my daughter.  :-(  I know that part of the problem is our daily routine is not as calm.  Mini has dropped her morning nap and it is not like we can just hang around the house while the boys take a nap.  She has school 3 days a week which means we have to be out of the house early and since the school isn't near home and it is near the gym that means we go there next, then it is lunch time and before I know it time to pick Mini up from school.  I took the easy road for the first year and just held both boys to get them to go to sleep for nap time.  Now that they have a set bedtime routine I am trying to get a set nap time routine for at least one nap, the afternoon one since, theoretically Mini takes one, too.

Getting their bedtime routine set was not fun.  It required the use of the Cry It Out method.  Now, before you get your panties in a twist, the twins are 1 year old and old enough to get the concept.  It only took a couple days but they figured it out and now they sleep from about 7:30p-7:00a.  :-)  Nap time has not been so easy.  I put them in their cribs at 3:30p every day and leave them there until 5:00p; 90% of the time Little, Little Man will sleep while Big, Little Man will scream & cry like he is being tortured. It makes me sick to my stomach to listen to him cry and I hate it.  I KNOW he needs sleep and I can't think of another way to make it happen besides holding him BUT I need to get things done without interruptions and, yes, sometimes I need some sleep.  I don't know what else to try and so tomorrow I will do it all over again...