How it's done: sleep

Thankfully, my kids are good sleepers.  They always have been. 

Z started going through phases when he was 2 where he would fight naps, and he finally gave up napping at age 3 (right when the little boys were born, great timing).  He still has an hour of quiet time every day, because I need it!  He goes to bed at 8 and is getting out of bed around 715.  A few months ago we got him a desk lamp that he has hooked on his bed, so after I give him kisses and pray with him, he leaves the light on and looks at his magazines and catalogs.  I think it is normally for 15-30 minutes, but I'm not positive.  In the morning I think he actually wakes up around 645, but then reads and hangs out until I get up around 715.  We have never had a problem with him leaving his room or wanting to sleep with us.  He has not yet had nightmares or been scared at night. 

The little boys are good sleepers too.  When they were around 3 months old and they were more on a schedule and sleeping in their cribs, and not just zonked out all the time, I had to decide what to do with them when one woke up crying.  For a week or two I would grab the cryer and put him in my room or another room because I didn't want him to wake up a brother.  That got old quickly, and at the advice of the girls in my multiples group I just decided to let them cry it out.  For a week or so, it was rough.  One would cry, I would go in and give him a paci, but another would wake up. Even if the first only cried for a few minutes, it would be enough to wake up another, or both.  But after a week or so, they slept through each other.  And now it is great.  If someone is wailing, the other two will (most often) sleep right through it, sometimes up to 45 minutes!!  If someone (or two) are laughing and talking, the other(s) will sleep through it. 

The boys go to bed at 7, and normally are asleep sometime before 730.  They get up at 715 also, but again, I think that they are all awake around 645, but they play and talk and giggle in their cribs until I go get them.  Every once in awhile someone will be crying in the morning, but it is rare. 

For naptime, I put them down at 1 (literally pop each one into their crib, say nite-nite, give them pacis and blankets, and walk out).  They sleep until typically at least 3, but sometimes as late as 4.  I only get them up when I hear 2 or more of them talking.  They have gotten used to just lying in their beds talking and giggling and waking up slowly. 

But, just like Z, just recently (a few weeks before they turn 2), they are starting to fight naps.  This month has been rough.  Luckily they are happy, not screaming, but they will sometimes talk and laugh and play until after 2.  N is the worst, and I heard him 3 days this week at 230.  And oh, it stresses me out.  Not the playing and laughing, but the fact that they are soooo crabby because they haven't gotten enough sleep.  N finally fell apart today, after 3 days of only an hour or so of naps.  He was a train wreck, and it made me so mad!  Thankfully they all took good naps today. 

I know that we will continue to fight naps, and that I will just have to deal with it.  But honestly, the (not) sleeping issue is the most frustrating thing for me as a mom, because I can't control it.  I can't MAKE them sleep, even when they need it. 

So far, they are still in their cribs, too.  I realize this era is about over, and THAT stresses me out.    I have seen C and L with their foot up and on the edge of the crib, so I know it is only a matter of time before they climb out.  I just checked, and Z climbed out first in February, but then didn't again until April, when we finally switched him to a big bed.  I would be amazed and grateful if we lasted that long.  And then to big boy beds...where they can get out at will...fight, play, scream, hit, laugh, bite, giggle, and destroy whenever they want....