People are always shocked to learn that my twins have two naps a day and are in bed by 6pm every night. However, it hasn’t always been this easy. My first two children probably had the worse sleep habits ever.  My first born didn’t go to sleep until way past 11pm and I had to sleep beside her until she finally fell asleep. My second child slept in my bed well until he was six or seven and I had to play with his hand in a certain way or else he wouldn’t sleep.

When my third child arrived you could say I was somewhat sleep deprived, yet by the time he was three months old I noticed that every night for about three days he would fall asleep just after dinner time.  The light bulb was lit and I discovered the secret!

Our Baby’s internal clock takes its cue from the consistent and predictable routine set by us, the parents.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be schedule, but a pattern of regular naps that our baby’s can count on every day.  For example my when I brought home my twins I knew from the start that my hubby wasn’t going to be here for several months, yet six children needed to be up every morning and off to school.  Right away I began a routine of sleeping, eating, and playtime / activity – in that order – which revolves over a two hour period repeated throughout the day. By the time the twins were three months this routine worked like a charm and still does,  because they began to predict the rhythm of sleep, eat, and play.

KNOW YOUR BABY’S CUES!

Every morning whether they are sleeping or not (and yes even on weekends ugh!) the twins are up at 7am.  I then feed them a light snack / breakfast, get them changed into daytime clothes, and then they play.  When they were less mobile I would put them in their bouncy chairs, or in their exersaucer, in a room where they could watch their siblings get ready for school.  They then come with me as I drive all the children to school.  By the time we get home which is about 8:50am they start to show signs of being tired.  Yawning, drooping eyelids, and less focused eyes, are signs to pay attention to, and to act upon.  When it progresses to eye rubbing, fussy behaviour and crying, chances are you have missed the window of opportunity and it may become harder to get your wee one to sleep.

SLEEP SHOULD BE IN THE CRIB

When the twins were newborns I had them sleep in the little co-sleeper beds but still in the crib side by side.  I wanted them to be comfortable and familiar with the crib right from the start.  For me, it is also important to place them in the crib before they are actually sleeping so they associate being placed in the crib with sleep time.  As the twins grew I took them out of the sleeper cot but still had them side by side.  Eventually they were placed in their own cribs but now they will not sleep anywhere except in their crib.

SAY NO-NO TO SHORT NAPS AND NAPS ON THE GO!

A full nap in my house needs to last for at least an hour or more.  As tempting as it is to let your baby have a quick nap in the car seat while you run a few errands, it will throw them right off their schedule. Now at 1 year of age, my twins won’t sleep anywhere else except in their crib so I try to work all my errands and activities around their sleep schedule. With 8 children, I quickly discovered that quick naps can trick you into thinking it is enough sleep. What I quickly discovered however, was that the first 15 or 20 minutes reduce feelings of sleepiness and bring on a quick rush of baby energy. This crazy energy quickly dissipates and will leave you with nothing but a fussy, crying, and tantrum throwing baby. Why? Because your wee one hasn’t received all the benefits that are achieved with a longer nap.

USE SECURITY ITEMS WITH CAUTION!

I have had my share of children who required marathon nursing sessions, pacifiers, rocking, music and so forth to fall asleep so I strongly discourage this.  However, I have found that giving baby a special little blankie right away when they arrive home works well.  It often smells like mama, and they begin to associate it with bedtime. Just be sure to buy a few of them (I bought those little fluffy tiny bear blankies) so if one gets lost or really dirty you have a replacement!

THREE MONTH MARK

By about 3 months you will probably start to notice a pattern in your little ones eating and sleeping patterns.  If your baby starts to nod off every evening at 7pm then go with it – put him or her into the crib and start to do this every night at the same time.  When your baby wakes to feed keep the lights dim and activity to a minimum so he realizes it is still sleep time.  It isn’t always easy but if you stay patient and consistent you will reap the benefits of a baby who actually sleep and naps!

Tanner was always happy and smiling but something wasn’t right.  He didn’t always respond when I called his name, and sometimes when he was upset he didn’t seemed to be calmed by my voice that much.  Thatcher was happy as well, and had begun to really babble.  If I spoke to him he tried to “Talk” back – Tanner didn’t – again he would just smile his adorable smile that melts my heart.

Everyone kept saying they thought he was fine and I was probably just worried about nothing.  A few weeks later he still wasn’t really babbling much so I decided to talk to our Paediatrician.  When I explained my concerns he didn’t hesitate.  Within a week Tanner was having his hearing tested.

I knew what the result would be before it was completed.  I was right.  Tanner was hearing nothing in his right ear.  This explained so much, and I actually felt relief in the fact that my instinct was correct.  He will now see an Audiologist in the next few weeks to determine if he is deaf in his right ear, or if there is some other medical problem that has caused him to lose his hearing in that ear.

Us busy mama’s seem to always have the correct instinct when it comes to our children and we are seldom wrong.  We know when something isn’t right even if everyone believes otherwise.  If you think there is a problem with your baby’s development do not hesitate to speak to your Doctor even if you think your concern is silly – because chances are you are most likely right.

Spread the news:

Give out those invitations at least two weeks before the big day to allow people to work it into their schedules. There is no magic number of how many guests to invite, but you do need enough children to play games, have partners and make up equal teams. It is also important to make sure it is a number you can manage giving consideration to how many of your own children will be there, your tolerance level, and the amount of space you have.  If the party is for a child under the age of 2, I would definitely keep the numbers to a minimum otherwise it will be overwhelming. Then use the guest list to keep track of RSVP’s which in turn will assist in calculating food needs and loot bags required.

What’s your theme?

Next you need to decide what the theme of your party is going to be.  If it is a holiday party such as Halloween than that part is obvious. However for birthday celebrations and friendship parties there are so many themes to choose from it can be downright overwhelming.  One word of advice – stick to something your child likes.  The following are a few suggestions:

Ages 1 – 2:  Circus, Animals, Dora the Explorer, Winnie the Pooh,

Ages 3 – 5:  Creepy crawlers, butterflies, dress up, zoo, super heroes, princess, pirates

Ages 6 – 12: Harry Potter, Hollywood, Space, Science

The Schedule

Next is the most critical aspect of your entire planning – the schedule.  It doesn’t matter what type of party you are having you should schedule 10 – 20 minute chunks of time for specific activities.  The following is a plan that totals two hours, which is perfect because planning a three hour party is too challenging and anything longer is ridiculously insane.

Meet and greet (10 minutes)

Not everyone arrives promptly.  As guests trickle in, use this opportunity to show guests around and introduce them to each other. (Tip – if you have older children this job as ‘host’ could be deligated to them). Any house rules, including rooms that are off limits should be announced at this time, and name tags are always a good idea especially if there is a mix between school, family and sports friends.  If the party is for a baby (or babies) be sure to have someone who can entertain them or feed them a small snack while you are showing people around.

Party time! (20 minutes)

Schedule two games which are 10 minutes in length. Children tend to run through games much quicker than you think, and in keeping them short you will have their attention longer. Piñata’s are loads of fun, but tend to take a lot longer than 10 minutes especially if it is really hard to break.  If you are planning on having one then use this entire block of time just for the Pinata.  Once it is broken have an older sibling or another adult divide the candy and loot equally and place in the loot bags so no child is left with none.

Craft time (10 minutes)

Rules, games, taking turns and running around usually wears everyone out (unless you have a bunch of monkeys like I do), so a quiet craft lasting about 10 minutes serves as a nice cool down before eating.  Examples of such crafts are bookmarks, decorating a picture frame or a clay figure.

Food time! (15 minutes)

Pizza, fruit, chips and juice boxes usually go well with even the pickiest eater, and the best part is that minimal preparation and clean up is required.  To avoid roaming and other hazards (such as choking) have all children sit at the table.  If the guests are young children perhaps provide a place mat they can draw on to help keep them occupied and at the table. During this time is as good as any to chat with your child’s friends and get to know them better.  If there are more adults than children – well use this time to catch up with the adults!

Game time! (20 minutes)

The children are refuelled and rearing to go!  Add a few more games at 10 minutes each (one of them active) to help refresh and lift any fallen spirits.

Cake Time! (15 minutes)

Cupcakes are terrific and personally I prefer them, however others enjoy the  impact a great cake makes! However, with all the excitement, the kiddies typically don’t eat a whole lot so to avoid waste cut the cake into small pieces. (make sure to enjoy some of it later on with your glass of wine).

Presents galore! (15 minutes)

If the party you are hosting is indeed a birthday party, well it could be easy to skip this part but every guest is eager to see the birthday boy or girl open their gift.  A little pre-party etiquette will pay off as well.  No child is too young to express appreciation and display some grace. If this is a holiday party you are hosting then a holiday themed craft would be an excellent activity for older children.  For younger children why not read them a story?  A spooky tale in celebration of Halloween, or a silly Valentine story is sure to put a smile on their faces.  If ‘tis is the season’ you are celebrating, the list of possible books are endless (be sure to check out my favourite titles).

The pick up (10 minutes)

It’s almost pick up time and by now if you haven’t gone completely bonkers then you are doing great! Your bottle of chardonnay should be chilled (if it isn’t what are you waiting for?).  While waiting for the guests to be picked up play a game of telephone or Simon Says to keep them engaged and in one place.  If your baby was the guest of honour, then this might be a good time to put them down for a nap to avoid them getting cranky as the excitement dies down. When a child is picked up be sure to have your own child hand out the loot bags and personally thank each guest.

The aftermath

If you have used this party planning schedule then you should still be sane and your house in relatively good condition. Now is a good time to sit down, enjoy that glass of wine and give yourself a pat on the back for hosting a great party!  I often take this time to reflect on the fun that was had and don’t worry too much about cleaning up – yet.

What about you?  Do you have any party tips, tricks and ideas to dish out?  I want to hear them!

Until next time

Chantel, momof8crazymonkeys

I quickly ran downstairs and asked them what was going on.  Zachary was hiding in the kitchen and kept screaming at Ryley to change the station.  I looked over at the TV and saw an interview happening with Donald Sutherland it then jumped to an interview with John Carpenter, we then saw clips from the movie “Lost Boys” – Vampires and all.  I figured Ryley had switched the station so I asked him to please put it back on Treehouse.  He looked at me confused. “It is on Treehouse mommy. Look.” He pointed to the corner of the TV where sure enough was the red Treehouse symbol.

WTH? Vampires on Treehouse? Well let me assure you this interview / clips of various horror flicks displaying blood, gore, and a joker at the end laughing a creepy laugh and saying “Ha, ha I’m gonna kill you!” continued for Ten minutes!  I tried calling the Network but got a voice message (of course) so I sent an email not really expecting any response.  This was unbelievable! I could not believe what I had just seen on Treehouse!  Although Zachary had run upstairs to his room, his rocking was my indicator that, even though he only saw a few minutes of it, he was terrified.  Ryley on the other hand pretended to be a big shot and claim it didn’t scare him, however he still keeps talking about the “scary joker.”

Later that night I opened my email and surprised to see a response from Treehouse.

Dear Mrs. K.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concerns regarding this afternoon’s broadcast.

Be assured that the segment you viewed was never intended to air on Treehouse TV. We recognize we have a responsibility to provide a safe television environment to our young viewers and remain committed to providing high-quality programming for Canadian preschoolers.

To this end and in response to a previous incident, we recently implemented two systems to protect against inappropriate content airing on Treehouse. From our preliminary investigation of this incident, it appears there was a human error and a recent system upgrade resulted in an automated safeguard being overridden. As a result, the content in question was not rejected for broadcast as it should have been.

Moving forward, in addition to the current protocols, we’ve implemented an additional safeguard as a precautionary measure and the Treehouse programming schedule will now be manually reviewed by two distinct departments before the signal goes to air.

We apologize for this error and can assure you that we are dedicated to improving our service and value your continued viewership.

Sincerely,

Treehouse Viewer Relations Department

Well what do you think of that?  Have you had a similar experience?

Until next time,

Chantel momof8crazymonkeys

The moment you cast your eyes on that positive pregnancy test you can throw your usual 8 hours a night sleep out the window along with any sexy underwear and bras you own as well.  Sleep wasn’t going to happen much and hey I got it I understood – but really 13 years?  This is seriously messed up!

I do believe I am beyond sleep deprived and on the brink of insanity.  When I was pregnant with Thatcher and Tannner I couldn’t sleep.  When they born and in NICU I should have slept but couldn’t because I was too worried about them, then I couldn’t sleep because I was the one who was sick.  They came home and of course I didn’t sleep much then because they were preemies and had to eat more.  So much for sleeping when you have twins who are not on the same schedule yet and have to eat every 2 hours.

Fast forward to now.  My twins are 6 months today (4.5 months corrected age). And they still do not sleep.  I have tried to get them on the same schedule and they usually are, except of course after the clock strikes midnight.  Then my friends the gates to hell open and start to suck me in.

They start off with a bottle then into bed around 7pm, by 7:45 latest they are asleep.  They usually sleep until about midnight and then the howling begins – er that would be the howling from me.  They do the ‘in stereo’ crying thing and I really do go crazy when the hubby isn’t here because for some reason it is really hard to hold two babies and try to comfort them on my own.  So then I start the whole pleading and bribing thing even though they don’t give a damn.

“Pleaseeeee go to sleep because mommy is really tired and hasn’t even been to sleep yet.”  Louder cries. “Seriously pleaseeeee get to sleep.”

“If you guys go to sleep now and stay asleep I will buy you both an exersaucer tomorrow.” They don’t give a shit about this either.

“Okay go to sleep or you will wake up your sisters and brothers pleaseeeeee!”

Then the blaming game on why they won’t sleep starts. It’s the diapers fault.  So I change it.  They are too hot or too cold so I change their clothes. It is now 1am and Thatcher is smiling, cooing and looking way too cute.  Tanner falls asleep.  Thatcher keeps trying to play with me.  I lay him beside me in bed even though I swore these two babies wouldn’t be allowed to sleep with me.  He wiggles around, breastfeeds then finally falls asleep.

I pick Thatcher up place him gently in the crib and tip toe over to my bed and lay down.  Finally I can sleep!  Tanner starts to make noise.  I shut my eyes tight and pretend not to hear him.  He starts to wail.  I pick him and start all over again.  In the bed he comes, feeds then falls asleep.  I don’t bother putting him in the crib and try not to feel guilty about allowing Tanner in my bed but not Thatcher.

It is now 3:20am.  They sleep until 4:58am.  Thatcher and Tanner start to cry.

So much for my 2 hours.  I think I’ll go buy a copy of “Go The F**ck To Sleep!”

What about you?  How sleep deprived are you?  Does your baby sleep all night and if not what coping strategies do you use?

The fact that toilet paper actually costs money has no effect on my children.  I have tried to explain to them that the cost of 10 rolls wasted, could be put towards a trip to McDonalds or some other adventure.  My talks are useless, as they still think it is okay to use toilet paper as Kleenex (even though we may well have 20 boxes of Kleenex in the hall cupboard).

Then there are the boys. Strange creatures that they are, who think it is hilarious to place toilet paper across the toilet bowl and use it as a target for…… well I am sure you get the idea.  Then there is that 5 year old of mine again who, for some reason feels the need to wipe himself after peeing.  HELLO!  You are a boy!  My two youngest seem to believe that toilet paper is really meant to be stuck to their butt, hanging down as a long tail.  Funny?  Hmmm……… not really.

I can put a new roll on the toilet paper holder and by the end of the day the roll is empty…… so the big question is where the hell does all the toilet paper go?  Do my children maybe eat it?  I wouldn’t put it past them……. on second thought maybe I don’t want to know what happens to it.

Until next time,

Momof8crazymonkeys

I knew right from the get go that it was going to be impossible to keep Thatcher and Tanner on their regular schedule but there were a few things I knew I could do to help them from going completely baby crazy.

Timing is everything – the one advantage of being formula fed for most feedings is that it is much easier to feed babies when traveling in a vehicle. My twins have a milk and soy protein allergy so they have to be fed a special formula as this is all they can tolerate. (For the record they are breastfed as I have taken all dairy products out of my daily menu but they don’t get enough from just me).  This made it easy to feed them on our drive there keeping them on the same feeding schedule.

Bring on the crib! Okay well I didn’t bring their crib but I did bring along the playpen and their First Years Close and Secure Sleepers that they sleep in inside their crib.  This made it more home like for them as they sleep in these every night so they were not suddenly in a whole different bed.

Bed time routine – except for the actual time they went to sleep I tried to keep their routine the same as I do every night.  This was a bit harder because they were not in a separate room in the cabin.  However, our house is always loud so they were used to the noise level.

Wake up time – arggg this is the worse!  Now that school is out we don’t have to wake up so early, yet this is what the babes are used to it so I am sticking to it. Summer vacation is only 2 months and then it is back to early mornings so there is no point in letting them get used to sleeping in and then having to change that again. Unfortunately this means no sleeping in for me.  Actually who the hell am I kidding?  I haven’t slept in for 13 years.

Attention all customers – that’s right parents I don’t care where you are planning your vacation but with as many children as I have there must be a store nearby. Case and point.  A few days before our trip the hubby and I bought a case of diapers at Costco.  Huggies is the brand we have been using so that is what we bought. Well on the second day of our trip Thatcher and Tanner suddenly decided that they were going to take the nastiest of baby craps.  I am talking poopey diapers that you only read about in horror stories.  The explosive ones if you will.  Needless to say the baby poop exploded right out of the diapers.  I was shocked.  I didn’t usually have such issues with their diapers.  As I lay in bed trying to sleep later that night I kept thinking about the whole diaper situation (well what else would you be doing at that time of night?) then suddenly it all made sense because things like this only make sense in the middle of the night of course.  The box we bought at Costco was Little Movers, NOT Little snuggles like we usually buy.  Of course the Little Snuggles are more expensive, but I suppose you pay the price in order to hold in the explosive baby craps.  Thankfully there was a Walmart near the resort we were at so we went shopping for the Little Snuggles diapers.  Sure enough no more explosions took place.

Playtime – the baby playtime floor mat was in attendance so they had their favourite toy to play with….  Well Thatcher and Tanner haven’t exactly told me it is their favourite toy but it’s one of mine so that’s what counts.

Wildberry – oh wait that was for me.

So what do you do to keep your baby or older children’s routine on track when you go away?  What is the worse thing you have done?

Until next time

Momof8crazymonkeys

After the babbling, will come crawling, will come pulling up, then walking and climbing and attempted talking and then finally the inevitable – they will soon be toddlers and with toddlers comes the realization that I won’t be able to understand a thing about them.  Lord only knows the trouble I am going to be in when I have to try and explain certain things to not only one, but two toddlers in the following areas:

1.     That yes there are basic differences between food and clothing.  Food you eat and clothes you wear.  Food goes in and clothing goes on.

2.     Clothes that go on stay on.  They may come off when it is time to change.  This doesn’t mean as soon as guests arrive.

3.     Bedtime is for sleeping.  When the lights go out it doesn’t mean that it is time to put on a midnight show.

4.     Do not bite anything that will bite back. This includes dogs, your sister when she is texting, your twin, and your dad when he is on his laptop.

5.     The fridge is for food (yes the food that goes in) not for climbing into.

6.     Toilets are not for washing hot wheels or drowning Barbie dolls.

7.     Toilet paper is not for making tails on your butt and stays in the washroom.

8.     Do not hide your socks in the oven – Mommy doesn’t need any more help in making the food she cooks taste bad.

9.     Don’t use Mommy’s shirt to wipe your dirty hands and mouth on unless it is patterned.

10.  Your pacifier is not a permanent part of your mouth.  Removing it is not considered major surgery.

I glanced over at Thatcher and Tanner as they continued to babble away at each other. Yep – trying to communicate and teach my twins the rules of toddlerhood isn’t going to be easy.  I think I will have better luck with the neighbour’s puppy on a new fluffy white carpet.

I had breastfed all my other six children and was determined to give the twins the same source of nourishment. I was probably even more adamant about it for them because they would need it even more given their circumstance.

They were delivered by c-section and immediately whisked away to the NICU. My husband saw them several times but I wasn’t able to see them for about six or seven hours. It felt like days.

Finally I was able to go to the NICU and see my babies for the first time. I was awestruck at the size of them – they looked so tiny in the incubators! I asked the nurse when I would be able to feed them, and I was told they would have to be tube fed for awhile but that I should start pumping every three hours.

Mount Sinai provides commercial breast pumps for mothers to use in each room so I as soon as I got back to my room I set everything up so I could pump. I had a really fancy one that pumped both breasts at the same time which apparently was important for me as I had twins.

I sat back and relaxed and pumped. And pumped. And pumped some more. Nothing was happening – not one drop of damned breast milk! After 15 minutes I decided to wait and try again in three hours. Again – NOTHING. I was really confused because this had never happened to me before. I figured something must be wrong with me for sure. After 6 children had my milk ducts said “screw you we’ve retired?” At 41 years of age was I too old? Or was it the unthinkable – I couldn’t produce milk? I knew that was ridiculous so I just kept trying every 3 hours.

The second night my husband had to go home and tend to our six other children. As I lay in bed having only produced a few drops of milk I cried. Cried over the fact that my babies were in NICU, cried because during the c-section my tubes were tied and I would never be pregnant again, and cried over how useless I was that I couldn’t even pump milk for my babies.

Finally I had no more tears of self pity left and fell asleep. The next morning I called the lactation nurse, and cried once again as I told her how I couldn’t get any milk despite pumping every 3 hours.

It was then that I was let in on the secret that everyone forgot to tell me. If your baby is born pre-mature chances are your milk will take longer to come in. I wish somebody had told me this before I had the twins! Why hadn’t anyone told me?! It would have saved me the feelings of uselessness, the crying and the worry.

If you are currently experiencing a twin or high risk pregnancy or have had a pre-mature baby I am here to tell you that yes, you can breastfeed with success. It is difficult at first, but when you first see those drops of milk and are finally able to put your baby to your breast you will know it was all worth it!

My twins are now 4 months old and I am proud to say that they are both breastfed and are thriving.

Did you have a high risk pregnancy or currently experiencing one? Have you had a pre-mature baby and if so what obstacles did you have to overcome in order to breastfeed?

Until next time

momof8crazymonkeys