August is officially Baby Boot Camp month in the Jones house as we launch an assault on the Fab Five and begin the reclamation project...at least that's the plan any way! Maybe we've completely lost our minds or maybe we've been sipping from a few bottles of our own as the babies gently nipple their daily nourishment, but we have decided that this quintet of crazies can no longer have control of our lives...at least not total control!!!! And so it begins...
There are three goals for the months: get all five sleeping through the nights, get them into a night-time routine and down by 9:00, and get them all eating cereal with ease (ok, relative ease)...stretch goal - naptime routine. It's ambitious, we know, but something must be done! Well, it's August 5th and I can tell you that we have opened all three fronts of this baby battle with some early success to report! Four out of five slept through the night for two nights in a row, but then the babies launched a counter-attack on night three, waking us up SEVEN times in one night...aaaaaggggggggghhh!!! We've actually had them all down between 8:30 and 9:30 on all four nights (it's 9:55 as I type this...yeah!!). And as you can see from the pictures, the cereal feeds have begun. As you can also see, Jack and Brooklyn just LOVED it... I'm pretty sure that if Brooklyn could speak, she would have been saying something along the lines of, "Just what the..........do you think you're putting in my mouth????!!" :)
So here's the battle plan for the night time routine, with a huge thank you to the Wilkinson's, victorious veterans of their own quintuplet home dominance battle, for lending us their expertise! First, we hit them hard with the ultimate baby killer - low lights and classical music! Ruthless, I know...we mean business here! Next, a new diaper, a change of clothes, maybe a little lavender lotion and then we hit 'em wear it hurts - right in the belly with a big, warm bottle of the good stuff! After that, we continue the assault with story time while their food settles and the classical riffs softly lead them to lullaby land. Finally, we go in for the knockout blow by zipping them up in their sleep sacks and topping 'em off with another couple ounces of the frothy goodness. It's a combination they can't resist...well, almost...but it is working pretty well so far!! I mean, why wouldn't it...who wouldn't be ready for a long night's sleep after that kind of treatment??
Seriously, Jack and Ryan LOVE the new routine! Jack goes into smiley, happy chill mode while Ryan thinks it's party time and she's the star of the show...it is the cutest thing ever! She smiles, she gurgles, she laughs, she screams a little bit, then does it all over again...hilarious!! Britton is the biggest fighter of them all and doesn't go down without a scrap-fight every time. Generally, that's how Britton is all of the time these days...never sleeping unless she's being held, never happy unless she's held, never content unless she's...yeah you guessed it, being held and walked and bounced...for hours on end...not fun!
Brooklyn and Lila are battling it out for the sweetest of the bunch. We thought all along that Brooklyn had it, hands down, but Lila has shown a sensitivity in the last few weeks that we didn't know was there. She got so upset with me two times, I thought her little heart had broken right into a million pieces. Once, I was tickling Eliot and Lila did not like it one bit! The other time, she and Ryan were in side-by-side bouncies and both were fussing. Since Ryan was making more noise (no surprise there), I picked her up to calm her down...bad move! Lila was crushed and she let me know about it!! Really sweet, but broke my heart as well! Don't get me wrong, Brooklyn is still our little sweetheart, but Lila is positioning herself right alongside her in the sweetness department.
One other quick note - Jack loves the bouncey seat these days and all of them love their activity tables. Jack will bounce and laugh for the longest time, happy as can be. I loaded up a short video of him getting a good laugh at some of my antics and you can see it here:
So there you have it...the battle has begun! Pray for us, my friends, we may not make it out of this in one piece, but we must prevail...no matter the cost!!!!!! ;-)
God Bless,
Ethan
5 comments:
Hey there...I have six children {not all at once ;)} but children five & six are six month old ID twins....
we have done the same thing recently....parents unite...take back the control....well as much as they will allow us to...anyway ;)
Good luck, I'm rooting for you :):)
You guys are doing great! We started our night time routine at about 4 months, and even though we didn't sleep through the night until 8 months and almost a year, I have to say that consistency is key. They thrive on routines, and you guys are awesome parents for instilling these things in them!
My babies are 5 and 3 and we still don't have a bedtime routine... Bad Mommy I know!
Way to go! Consistency is the key. The triplets are so use to the routine now. They now exactly what to do. People laugh at our strict schedule, but when you have multiples it is a must!
Thank you for posting a step by step here. Do you think it will work for my almost 12 year old? It's 11:24PM and she is still coming to talk to me.
Well I'm going to give your soft lights, soft music and lavender a shot. The belly stuff she'll just have to do and a diaper would never fit.
I love your writing style. Love it.
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