The nights!

Sleep deprivation is a wicked thing.  It makes me grumpy and irritable (I apologize to those who have been around me in the last 6 weeks!), and gives me a huge headache!  I've been fortunate enough to have help here every day since the twins have been born (and still for another 2 weeks!) so I've been able to sleep some during the day.  But the thing is- I really don't like missing breakfast every morning with the kids and I'd really prefer not to sleep the day away!  I've never really been a "nap person."  But anyways, the nights are starting to get better with Zoey and Lyla.  True, sometimes they still wake up after just 2 hours of sleep, but sometimes they go as long as 4 hours (that feels like heaven on Earth)!  Last night they woke up every 3.5 hours.  Isn't it amazing how they can be so precise?  I say "they", but really it's just one of them at a time.  One will wake up, and so then I wake the other.  I have to feed them at the same time, or it just turns into a very long night!  I've got a pretty good routine going and I can move quickly so that I can get back to sleep as fast as possible:

1. wake up, turn on the light
2. check to make sure they are really going to wake up and it's not just a false alarm!
3. go to the bathroom
4. move the fussiest baby to our bed, and change the sleeping baby to wake her up
5. change the fussy one
6. swaddle one, then swaddle the other
7. set them both on a pillow in front of me while I set up the twin nursing pillow (she has a name and it's "big mama!")
8. nurse them both at the same time... double football hold!  and read a book at the same time
9. burp the one that finishes first, then burp the other
10. re-swaddle if needed and nurse some more if they are still awake and fussing
11. put them both back in the bassinett
12. drink, drink, drink... I consume at least 16 oz of water every time I nurse them!  and I keep 32 oz by my bed so I don't have to go to the kitchen each time!
13. turn out the light and catch some zzzz's!  :)

Entire process: about 25 minutes!  We are a well-oiled machine!