Bedtime Battles: The Holy Wars

Just when I think everything is under control, something changes. The last few weeks I started noticing that some days/nights were really, REALLY good, and others were really, REALLY bad. On the good days the twins go down easily for a nap, nap for almost two hours without waking, are happy all the time when they are awake (and can handle being awake for longer times), and sleep through the night with ease. On the bad days they scream at the beginning of each nap (almost always for less than 10 mintues, but, oh, what a 10 minutes!), wake up screaming within 30-45 minutes, fuss during ALL of their awake time (and can only handle 1 1/2 hrs. at the most), and wake up consistently at night.

I also started to notice that the beginning of the week (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday - although less by Wednesday) were consistently the worst days while the end of the week (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - with them being an absolute dream by Saturday) were the best. I was puzzled. The change seemed to happen suddenly, and I couldn't figure out why the week was so polarized.

Then I realized that the change occured about the time that our church switched to a new summer time. The new time (9:30am) was to make it so that the service was ended before the hottest time of the day (since we don't have air conditioning) and to give people more of the day to enjoy the summer weather. It's a fabulous idea, for 97% of the church...but for us (and maybe a few other families with babies?) it means that the service is smack in the middle of the morning nap time...and getting out of the house to get to church, the noise of church and other people/babies in general, and socializing after church pretty much kills any nap that could or should happen. They get a little nap on the way to church, a little nap during church, and a little nap on the way home, but by afternoon nap time they are so overtired they fight it. And then bedtime on Sunday is an absolute nightmare!! Initially, I thought it was just one day. We could suffer for one day to enjoy coorporate worship and good fellowship. Now I'm realizing that the one day carries over...and takes several days to correct!

It is obvious to me that I have babies that crave, and thrive on, structure. Which is great because I also love structure! But, whether it is their prematurity - that they haven't developed to the point where they can be flexible when needed - or their personality, days that require change are rough! I would say it will all be better in the fall (when the time changes back), but by then they will probably be used to the new schedule and we'll go through it all over again!!!