the fun winter brings...

santa's sleigh has come and flown away.  the christmas stockings are suffocating amongst other decorations in tight, ziploc storage containers. our precious elf on a shelf routine is stowed away.  christmas rituals are all put on hold for another 11 months and it's just so, so sad.  we've all even put on a little additional poundage due to red velvet cake and oreo balls or yummy turkey and dressing.  it's pretty safe to say that when 2011 popped into the picture, we have all turned into "leftovers" ourselves in some shape, way, or form!

the winter just carries a "blah" air to it, i think.  even if you loooooooooooove yourself some cold weather, don't you have to admit that all of the houses that once had their halls decked with vibrant christmas decor now just look sad and naked?  it's like the neighborhoods are all missing something.

i am not trying to fulfill the role of scrooge for the 2011 winter we are embarking upon, but i must tell you that the lack of sleep in the parsley home has made me lean a wee-bit into that direction.  yes....can you tell that ben & i are knee-deep in sleep training mode???  make that, shoulder-deep and the water is rising.

now, let me give minnie and tully some props.  we'll start with positives, mix in some negatives, and then end on a positive to be politically correct here...

• positives
• these babies came home with us and slept on a strict, fabulous schedule that caused them to awake solely to feed
• these babies have not been sick or scared their mommy half to death YET
• these babies are happy, healthy, growing little people that repeatedly deny their "preemie" label at birth
• negatives (it's all about sleep, by the way)
• minnie gets her feelings hurt when tully disrupts her precious sleep. this girl goes to sleep so very fast.
• tully is very very very ticked when we turn off baby einstein or his favorite praise and worship baby cd indicating nap or bedtime is near
• when tully is mad, he is a hornet without wings...and he let's you know
• training babies to sleep makes you want to pitch your hubby or wifey out the window.  why? because throwing a baby outside is out of the question but pitching your significant other seems more "ok", i guess.  
• TRAINING TWINS TO SLEEP AND STAY SLEEPING IS FLAT-OUT HARD, YA'LL!
• positives
• hmmmmmm, they look cute in sleep sacks

i had sent a message to about 5 or 6 of the twin mommies that i really look up to.  they have each given good guidance and suggestions to ben and me since we found out we were expecting twins this time last year.  the responses i got back were unanimous.  4 months is a standard "start time" to begin sleep training.  i guess everyone has a built-in 4 month sanity capacity. at 4 months, i guess we all lose our marbles.

while 4 months seemed to be the standard age to start this lovely process, every mommy went into it in different ways.  i love this because different things work for different babies.  ben and i opted for the flat-out "extinction" method.  it's a fancy term for "get ready to feel like you are sitting on a hot coal in haiti listening to your pride and joy scream and cry".

our sleep training began saturday.  yes, i am only 24 hours in and i feel like it has been a month.  their 8 oclock nap rolled in and down went minnie and screaming came from tully.  he cried through the whole nap.

their 1ish nap came into town later on.  down went the parsley twins.  then, up comes tully.  up comes minnie.  screaming and crying until it was feeding time.  poor ben listened to it all why i left the house to load up on cece's yogurt out of sorrow.  

then came last night. it roared in like a friggin' lion.  tully screamed and cried for 45 minutes.  that was our "cap". ben tried to go in and soothe him but it was a lost cause for poor daddy. my sleep deprived self took the whole issue out on ben.  i pranced downstairs like it was his fault like a good pouty wife should.  yes, i was being a brat.  

i awoke this morning to fabulous news. well, 1/2-way fabulous news.  our minnie slept from 8:00 to 6:30 without a second of being "up". tully woke up and cried on and off from 8:00-1:30.  by 1:30, he realized he had lost the battle and slept until i woke him up at 6:30.

and so we are now on day #2.....and i am sitting here listening to a crying baby (yes, tully).  i'll keep you posted on how the rest of this unfolds.  pray that they make it...and that ben doesn't kill his wife in the process.

***update as of monday, january 10th:  BOTH BABIES SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT (8 pm-6:30...with a few 1 minute crying intermissions)!!!!  praise baby jesus wrapped in his gold, swaddling blanket!  let the trumpets sound!  let the people rejoice!