Any Morning and Most Nights

Wake up triplets! Awww, look at those sleepy chubbies above (old pictures from last May). I took the video below this morning (I really should decorate those nursery walls more and never mind the 1/2 finished hall that leads to their room (we were gonna put in a hall closet in there until we found out we were getting triplets, so instead made one big closet in their nursery which ate up the space for the hall closet . . .sssshhh, don't get started on the house!)). They wake up puffy around the eyes just like mama.

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Ahhhh, mornings are good now that we sleep most nights, though not all, from moon to sun without incident. Although I suffer terribly from insomnia half the week through no fault of the triplets. Even Sira, who spent most of December and January sleeping with Jerry and me due to some major midnight crankiness (and refused to go to bed in the nursery during this time), cradles snug in his bed with his brothers by his side without protest. Every morning starting about 6:30 the little birds start chirping in their tiny 100 ft2 nursery and turn their lullaby machines on and off. By the time we stroll through there (no hurries) about 7:00 or 7:30, they usually have thrown all blankets, books, pillows, binkies, and stuffed animals out of the cribs. And I guess with all the jumping up and down they mobilize the cribs (even with the casters off) so that they're all shifted and crooked.

Bedtime is 7:30 or 8:00 and the Bedtime Routine, oh so important for toddlers, goes on for about a 1/2 hour. The routine is like a sleeping pill (although I nearly hate to submit to schedules and routines, they indeed work for this age group) and goes like this: no TV, low lights, soft music, water, books, binkies, and repeated statements relating to bedtime such as, time to go to sleep now, time for bed, night night, ready for bed now? . Then we carry some and hold hands with the rest off to bed, tuck them in, give each a book, turn on the lullaby machines, and we're done. Jerry and I feel like bedtime champs, like we should win some kind of award or something.

I also believe strongly in sympathetic parenting. All that nonsense in baby book after baby book and other parents about allowing babies to cry for long periods, never picking baby up from cribs during the night, not answering screaming baby in the middle of the night--especially for babies under 12 months old, strikes me as heartless. Imagine you in your bed, you're awake, you're confused, disoriented, cold, in pain, terribly lonely or sad, scared, you scream for help because you are indeed helpless, and nobody comes. Or they rush in and rush out just as fast without responding to your deepest need. So while I cherish sleep, a screaming yelping baby is always welcome in my bed (truth is, I love it and wish we had an emperor sized bed for the entire family).

Now that I've bragged about bedtime, I'm sure tonight all three will wake up screaming and make me cry. ;)