{sleep strike}

Well we're woefully in the midst of another sleep strike.  I put them down for a nap about 20 minutes ago and I hear giggling, crying, someone banging on the crib bars, chit-chat, rustling (usually means someone is doing laps in the crib) and a paci being thrown.  They're so tired.  We got them up early this morning so we could drop M off at the airport.  They slept most of the way there and most of the way home, but they're still exhausted.

Also, Fancy puked up her breakfast on the way home.  She gets carsick and I knew I smelled something.  It must have been just as we pulled back up to the house because I didn't see her do it in her mirror.  Ick.  I'm waiting for them to fall asleep so I can go clean up her seat.  That's right folks, blueberries, greek yogurt and milk baking into Fancy's car seat.

This whole sleep issue is my fault.  We co-sleep and we're in the process of transitioning.  Fancy's transition is going really well.  Surprisingly well.  Coach's is not.  Not at all.  Fancy fusses a second or two, but then she lays down and passes out.  Coach will scream until he gets too exhausted to scream anymore, or until he pukes (thankfully, this is VERY rare).  HATES his crib.  He fights naps hardcore and bed time is usually a smidge easier.  But he wakes up around 11pm and we drag him in with us.  Fancy usually spends all night in her crib, but sometimes he wakes her and she gets to come in too.

Not the ideal situation for many, but I'm thankful that we've had a successful co-sleeping arrangement and I'm just as sad as they are to see that end.  I used to even lay down with them for naps, but we've got so much going on right now, I need nap time and bed time to pack, shower, have 'me' time and Coach gets restless and what used to take us 5 minutes to fall asleep usually takes 45 now.  In the cribs, they fall asleep within 2-20 minutes.  I'm crossing my fingers that it get easier as they get older.  Their cribs will be in their room when we move and I know this is a horrible time to start implementing crib sleeping, but I'm confident we'll get it figured out.

On co-sleeping/bed sharing:  I know this is a touchy subject and it should be.  It can be very dangerous.  I didn't intend to co-sleep.  When the babies were born, I had a hard time having them away from me.  When your baby has been a part of you for 9 months (or in our case 8) its difficult to not be near them.  Or it was for me.  I did a lot of baby wearing too.  Until it got to be too much.  No easy way to wear twins, unfortunately.  We always intended to move them to the cribs much sooner, but it just didn't feel right.  And I'm just not a fan of cribs.  Now that they're more independent and squirmy, they need their own space to sleep.  I'll admit a small part of why I began co-sleeping was because I was the fear of sids.  I realize that co-sleeping (if not done safely) can lead to infant death.

We were/are always very careful.  No pillows, no blankets (though they sleep with crocheted blankets now) just us (usually just me) and them.  I'm a light sleeper and wake everytime they change positions.  I also had really easy babies.  They slept well, so we did too.  I was tired, but not sleep deprived like so many new parents.  If I were a heavier sleeper or if I didn't trust myself, I wouldn't co-sleep.  When they were very tiny we had a co-sleeping pod in the bed.  They were so little that we didn't want to take the chance of rolling over on them.  This protected them and gave them space. 

I'm not advocating for co-sleeping or bed sharing, I'm just sharing our experience.  Will I do it with our next baby?  Who knows.  I'd like to, but we'll see.  I'd also like to breastfeed him/her for 1.5 years, possibly cloth diaper and baby wear for longer.  All things that can be difficult when you have twins babies.  Am I worried about always having kids in my bed?  Not really.  Regardless of whether you bed share early on or not, your kids will be in your bed at some point. 

We dropped M off at the airport around 8:30 this morning.  Eeek!  He and my dad are on their way to NC and will start the hunt tomorrow.  I guess its "go time"!  If you could think of us or say a little prayer that this hunt, offer, purchase, move goes well, I'd appreciate it!  I hope everyone has a fab rest of the week and weekend.  I *might* try and take the babies to the zoo this weekend, but I'm not sure I'm up for the challenge.  M will be back Sunday @ noon.  I hope the time FLIES!

And with that, they're sleeping sweetly, lets hope its for more than 30 minutes!