Mom-to-Mom: Smiles

I am starting to get a little concerned that Kate and Carson are not social smiling much -- well, really, any. Sure they smile in their sleep a lot, but they don't directly smile at me or anyone else. They are now 3 months old (and yes, preemie), and I wish I knew when to expect it. I am really looking forward to the smiles. I need those smiles!

Update & Whatnot

I have had a rough few days with the twins this week. It's becoming very difficult to put them back to sleep...especially Kate. She pretty much wants to be held at all times. I am utterly exhausted. As far as sheer exhaustion goes, this has been the worst week yet since they've been home.

My mom is coming to pick me and the twins up on Saturday, and we will be in Houston all of next week. On the one hand I am looking forward to it because I will be able to show off the twins to all of our Houston folks, Mom will be a big help with the twins, and I need a change of scenery. But I am concerned about how well the twins will do in a new environment. I am also afraid I will forget to pack something crucial since I've become so non-functional lately.

We made an offer and two counteroffers on a house we really life. After being on the market for 67 days with no offers, the house we like is now in a mini bidding war. I truly don't need this kind of stress. We made our final offer, and at this point I don't care if it's accepted or not. I like the property, but not enough to get into a game of chicken with these folks. All of this just makes me miss work even more. I miss my old world of real estate. I will definitely be returning in August or September.

Mom-to-Mom...When can we start adding a little bit of rice at nighttime?

Mom-to-Mom: Sleeping in Shifts?

Am I the only mom-of-twins sleeping in shifts?

Tonight we tried an experiment and it did not work out as planned. For the first time since the twins have been home (a month ago now), Mark and I have been sleeping in shifts. This is what our routine has been...

He gets home from work at 5:30 PM. We eat dinner together, and then I go to bed at 8 PM. He watches the twins while I sleep until 12:00 AM. Then I get up and he goes to sleep. I try to get a few cat naps during the day, but that rarely works out well since one or the other twin is up. Then I go to sleep again at 8 PM, and on and on. Mark is getting 8 hours of sleep, and I am getting 4 hours. Many times he will get overwhelmed when both twins are crying at the same time, and then he will come get me during my 4-hour sleep session. Ugh.

Anyway, tonight we decided to try doing it the way I thought it would be like all along...

We ate dinner. We watched The Sopranos and Entourage. We gave the twins a bath and fed them. We put them down to sleep, and then we went to sleep. I figured I would have to get up once or maybe twice in the night for feedings, but that I would still be able to get several hours of consecutive sleep. I was wrong. I was very wrong.

The twins have been restless and hungry. We have not be able to keep them down for more than an hour at a stretch. UGH. So now we will both be exhausted, and I don't even have my nanny to look forward to on Tuesday. I had to cancel her for Tuesday morning because the twins have a morning appointment with a pedi eye doc (follow-up from NICU exam).

I guess the twins aren't ready yet, but I am definitely ready to a normal sleep pattern (i.e., sleeping in my bed with Mark during normal sleeping hours).

So how do ya'll do it? Does everyone with twins start out sleeping in shifts like this?