I can’t really complain.  Ever since sleep training at 6.5 months, my kids have generally been very good sleepers.  A hiccup here and there, but overall solid.  Whatever combination of good luck and good habits have gotten us there, I am grateful.

Especially so that my kids tend to start the day at the incredibly reasonable hour of about 7AM.  Sometimes they wake up earlier and chat for a while, sometimes they sleep even later and don’t require my attention until nearly 8. (Insane! I know!)  The trouble is that, every now and then, Rebecca will wake up extra early (like 5:45 or 6AM).  Not only have I grown so used to the luxury of 7-7:30 that I can’t handle the sight of a 6 on the clock, but she tends to be pretty cranky if she gets up at that hour and clearly needs more sleep.  And yet, shockingly, my attempts to tell her that it’s “too early” or “not time to get up yet” have fallen on deaf ears.  Since, brilliant though my children are, they cannot yet tell time.

Enter: the Good Nite Lite.

My friend Rebecca got one first, on recommendation from someone in our twin club.  After hearing her raves, and a few extra early (and cranky) mornings, I hopped online and got one for myself.  The deal is that you set your bedtime and wake-up time on the clock.  At bedtime, the light turns on and is a blue moon.  The blue moon stays on all night.  At wake-up time, it changes to a yellow sun.  The sun stays lit for a couple of hours, and then turns itself off for the rest of the day.

Want to know how long it took my kids to adjust to their new light?  Approximately 15 seconds. Seriously.  It arrived in the mail, I set the time and put it up in their room.  That night, I told them that the blue moon means it’s nighttime and time to sleep.  When it turns to a yellow sun, that means it’s morning.  They thought it was very cool.  And the next morning, at 7AM on the nose, the excited shrieks came from their room.  “MOMMY!  Sun is yellow mommy!  Means it’s daytime!  MOMMY! Sun is YELLOW!”

A couple of times, Rebecca woke up cranky while the moon was still blue.  I went in the room and asked her what color the light was. “Blue.”  And what does that mean? “Nighttime.”  It wasn’t an ungodly hour in the middle of the night, so I didn’t really expect her to fall back asleep.  But I offered her a book to read in her bed, and told her to tell me when the light turns yellow.  And then I walked out.  And that was that.

This is genius for toddlers and preschoolers.  It gives them a way to understand daytime and nighttime, even if sunrise is early (though we do have blackout shades in their room) and they can’t read a clock.  They have the independence to figure it out for themselves, and it removes the burden of argument.  It’s not that mommy is making me go back to bed.  It’s that the clock says it’s nighttime.  End of story.

The only down side is that the days of sleeping in (or, at least, lounging contentedly in their beds) seems to be mostly gone.  While I don’t think the yellow light is enough to wake them up if they’re asleep, I suspect much of the time they’re already quietly awake, and see the change of color, and immediately feel the need to notify me of this event.   And on the “minor annoyance” front, the light does have to be plugged in, but does not come with a long cord (just the outlet plug coming straight out of the back).  So I kind of had to jerry-rig an extension cord to hang it on a mostly un-used lamp.

But those two small complaints aside, I love this thing.  It resolved a somewhat minor but annoying issue in our sleep routine (and, as we know, better-rested kids are happier kids, and happier kids make happier moms), and removed a power struggle.  At this age, I will be grateful for small victories.

Disclosure: I was not compensated, or in any way asked, to write about this thing. I just like it, and thought you should know!

We finally got a DVR box from our cable company shortly before the Olympics started.  And no, I’m not quite as lame as that sounds.  We had a TiVo several years ago, which a friend had gotten us as a wedding present.  And we used it, and we loved it.  But then, the day I left work on maternity leave, our TV bit the dust. So we got a fancy-schmancy new HDTV.  Which meant we needed a new HD cable box.  Which turned out to mean that the TiVo was no longer compatible.  For a year, we did without and *gasp* had to watch commercials.  I know, it was terrible.  Dark ages.  Plagues and stuff.

But Olympic swimming at 11:00pm was enough to finally make me get off my butt and get the DVR box from the cable company.  This also means, much to my delight, that I can actually record and watch real shows this fall!  While I feel like I watch a fair amount of TV, there actually aren’t a ton of network series that I make it a point to see.  In fact, there’s more “reality” TV on my list than I would like.  But I do draw the line, no crap like Big Brother or Survivor.  Never watched an episode of either show, and I don’t intend to start.  And I just can’t get into American Idol or Grey’s Anatomy.

That said, since everyone else on the internets has jumped on this bandwagon and I’m nothing if not a lemming, here’s the series my handy-dandy DVR will be recording this fall.  (And how excited am I that it will record two at once?!)

Heroes (Which hopefully will suck less than last year.)
Dancing with the Stars (I’m hooked, but I’m psyched to be able to fast-forward through the annoying results shows.)
30 Rock (Shame on me for missing the first two seasons.)
Jon and Kate Plus 8 (Such an odd addition to the list of questions that everyone asks a mom of twins: “do you watch that show with the sextuplets?”  Yes, yes I do.)
What Not to Wear (Would someone please nominate me? It’s getting desperate…)
Mad Men (Heard it’s great, haven’t watched it yet – intimidated because I don’t know the characters and it’s the 2nd season.)
Project Runway (Love it, despite the fact that I am the antithesis of fashionable.  Top Chef will also be on the list when it returns.)

Any other suggestions? Especially sitcoms that I can just jump into and don’t have to watch old seasons to understand all the back story?  I only have basic cable, so I can’t jump on any of the HBO or Showtime series.

We’re definitely ready for some rearranged space in our house. Both kids are sitting very steadily, and Rebecca is seemingly moments away from real crawling. She’s currently doing the downward-dog, step forward with feet, flop forward with arms and chest move like my friend Bev described with her son, Jack. It’s not graceful, but it is resulting in slow forward motion.

And yet, I have been totally procrastinating on the babyproofing front. I think I’m in denial. I will shortly need to work on some true rethinking of our space, like Tracey did for her boys. In the meantime, though, we made a small organizational (and safety) step forward.

We finally took the bassinet attachment off of our Pack & Play yesterday. We really use the PnP for the changing station, as the kids long since outgrew the bassinet, and only nap in their cribs, anyways. Instead, the shallow basket turned into a catch-all for sweaters, hats, and outgrown baby clothes. A mess.

So, now, it’s really a “playyard!” It helps that it’s in our den, the room where M and I have our desks and computers. This way, the kiddos can safely play while we check email (or, I don’t know, write a blog entry?). Not only does this help with the newfound screams of protest when we walk more than 10 feet away from them, but we’ve even turned it into a new game. The top rail blocks my face from view, so I totally play the “Where’s Daniel?” And he bends down and peeks at me underneath the rail. So cute, and he gets a big kick out of it.

It’s obviously not a huge amount of space for nearly-mobile babies, but it’s nice to have another “spot” for them to hang out and play, while still interacting with me a bit. M lovingly calls it “Baby State Penitentiary.” And they seem to dig it, so far…

You know where I am right now?  At a sandwich shop/cafe that has free wireless internet, vegging out.  You know where my kids are right now?  At home, playing with the babysitter.  Ahhh…

My sitter is great. She’s a senior at one of the nearby colleges. She comes up three afternoons a week so that I can run errands, go to the gym, or otherwise just get out of the house on my own.  She gets a total kick out of my kids, and swears it’s the best study break ever invented.  As for me, it’s so lovely to be out and not have carseats and babies that need entertaining. And when I get home, I’m just a little bit refreshed and recharged. It’s definitely a bit of an indulgence for someone who doesn’t work outside of the home, but it’s totally worth it. It lets me be a better mom.

Today, I was tempted to use the sitter time to just climb into bed and take a nap, but I decided to get out of the house instead.  I’m a little out of sorts, as we’re having to do a little re-Ferberizing in my house, so I’ve been a little lacking in the sleep department.  But aside from some middle-of-the-night unhappiness, the kids are otherwise doing quite well.

Not much else to report, and my two hours of freedom is starting to run short.  It’s not a lot, but it’s just what I need.  I sure did miss her when she was on Spring Break last week, and I don’t know what I’ll do when she graduates!  At least we have a few more months left…

There is a reason why all of the moms of infant twins in my area know about and love BJ’s, our local warehouse shopping club. While it’s handy to be able to purchase enormous boxes of diapers & wipes, and a pallet of giant cans of formula, that’s not the only reason. We love BJ’s, especially in the winter, because they provide a great outing. Big space, good people watching, and as soon as your kids are big enough…

The double-seat shopping cart. Finally, something that seems like it was made just for us.

My kids have entered a whole new phase. On the one hand, they’re a million times more fun than they were back in the dark days of 6-12 weeks. They interact, they smile, they laugh. They play with toys, they play with us. They think daddy is pretty funny. They think the dog is nothing short of hilarious. Sometimes they even find me amusing. But since I’m doing a one-woman show for the majority of our days, I’m feeling a bit of pressure to keep the hits coming. And the down side of this phase is the fact that they now seem to get bored. Oh dear.

Play groups help. Seeing other babies and other adults helps to amuse them, especially in those tricky late-afternoon hours. But outings are troublesome, especially in relation to the nap schedule. Going out before the morning nap, well that’s just not going to happen. I’m still in my PJs. Maybe, when it gets warmer, we’ll manage a short walk with the dog, but that’s it. In between the morning and afternoon nap is when we frequently have invitations to go somewhere, but it’s not always such a good thing. By the time they’re up from their nap, fed, packed in the car, and ready to go… it doesn’t leave a lot of time for much “playing.” And then, when we inevitably make a hasty exit due to tired meltdowns, they fall asleep in the car. Just long enough that, when they get home and wake up (as soon as I get them in the house, usually), they have no interest in “finishing” their early afternoon nap. And thus, the rest of our day is shot to hell, because their naps are all messed up and they’re tired. No, at this particular moment in their young lives, the ideal time for an outing seems to be about 3PM. Post-afternoon-nap, they’re fairly wide awake, but also likely to be nearing boredom. We go out, we are amused, and if they fall asleep in the car around 4:30PM, no problem. Just enough of a catnap to get them all the way to bedtime.

But still, I can only crash my friends’ houses so often. We need another kid-centered activity. And so, I’ve signed us up for two classes! This is at the same maternity center where I took my two new mom classes back in the fall. I felt a little burned out on them at the time, but I’m ready to have a regular outing at a baby-safe location. They both start in a few weeks.

The first class we’re doing is sort of a developmentally-centered playgroup/class. Babies in the class are about 6-8 months old (at the start of class), and there are age-appropriate activities like songs and parachutes, as well as some discussion with the facilitator and other moms about development (gross motor, language, etc.). It’s an hour long, and best of all, it’s at 3PM! It’s at a center slightly farther from my house, but I couldn’t pass up the time. All of the other classes were around noon or 1PM, which is just too much messing with the nap for me. Can’t wait.

And the second class, drumroll, is going to be all four of us. Yes, that’s right, M is actually going to come to a baby class. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great dad, very involved, loves the kids more than anything. But let’s just say that joining groups is not really his thing. A few weeks ago, I took a single-session workshop with a friend of mine on Infant Signing. I knew I wanted to use sign language with my kids, but this gave some good suggestions for how to do it. My interest was piqued, and M thought it sounded cool, too. Since I have no interest in going to the class by myself and then having to pass along second-hand info, we found a Saturday class, and we’re all going. 10 weeks of sign language! It’s done with a lot of songs and games and things for the babies. Ours will probably be among the youngest in the class, but I’m not too concerned. It’s just as much for me and M to learn as anything else. But I hope we all like it, and I hope the kids take to it…

And now, I must run. Playgroup this afternoon! Thank goodness.

Last night, I went out for a few hours with a friend from my first new mom group. We were without boys or babies, and we had a great time. What did we do? Drinks? A movie? Nope. We made dinner for the rest of the month.

Forgive me, I’m about to sound like a commercial for this place. But there are certain things that make the life of a new mom a whole lot easier, like house cleaning services and grocery delivery, that are totally worth the money. Let’s Dish is one of those things.

The concept is this: the company has about 18 dishes on the menu each month for you to choose from. You can do 4, 8, or 12 dishes, and each one serves six (OK, they aren’t huge servings, so maybe it’s more like 4-6, but still). You sign up for a day and a time, and pick your dishes. When you arrive, they have stations set up with all of the ingredients prepared. Vegetables chopped, measuring spoons for spices, etc.. You put on your apron and bandana for your hair, and get to work. Each station has directions for one dish. Directions will be something like, “in a large plastic bag, add garlic, olive oil, oregano, and three chicken breasts.” Ingredients for a sauce or a side dish might go in a second bag. You put those into a large freezer bag, slap on a label that has the name of the dish and preparation instructions, and you’re good to go. It’s all stuff that freezes well, and the day-of prep is anywhere from just throwing it into the oven, to maybe defrosting and sauteeing. Most of the dishes can also be split with a friend (or yourself) into two 3-serving batches. So if you don’t want all 6 servings, you won’t have too much leftovers on your hands.

This is friggin genius. You’re still cooking. It’s real food. If you want a little more garlic or a little less salt? No problem. You’re making it. So I now have a freezer full of goodies, ready for a real weeknight dinner. But you know what I don’t have to do? I don’t have to come up with an idea for dinner, make a list, go to the grocery store, prep all of the ingredients, and find the time to cook it all before it goes bad in the fridge. Nope. I just pull out one of my big freezer baggies of goodness, and we manage to eat non-takeout-or-delivery, and it doesn’t take me until 10pm to cook it.

Oh, and in the meantime, it’s fun! My friend and I were out of the house without our kids, the place is colorful and brightly lit. They put out sweet treats, chips and dip, coffee and tea. If you feel like taking a break, you can just snack and socialize. And even then, my friend and I left, two hours later, with 12 dishes each. For two moms with four-month-olds, it was a fun night out. We laughed about how different our lives were last year, and how this wouldn’t exactly have qualified as a hot social activity back then. But times have changed, and we had a blast making dinner.

In the hopes of being indirectly compensated for this little infomercial of mine… If this sounds interesting to you, go to www.letsdish.com and see if there is one near you. If there is, let me know your email address, and I’ll “refer” you. That way, you get $10 off your first session, and for each person who signs up, I get $10 off, too! We all win…

In my previous life, before twins, I was always a planner. Long-term and short-term, I’m a scheduler. A list-maker. Spontaneous is not my strong suit. By and large, this is a good thing when you have infant twins. If you are going to get anything done at all, it requires advance preparation. So you can imagine my irritation when someone else messes up my plans.

Last week, it was the cleaning people who come to my house every other week (a must for any new mom, I think). They usually come every other Wednesday around 10:30. OK, no problem. I can plan to be out of the house then. A long walk at the pond if it’s nice, or a trip to the mall if it isn’t. I make plans with people to meet them. And then, at 10:45pm the night before, I get an email asking if it’s OK to come at 9am instead of 10:30. Um, NO! Honestly, less than 12 hours’ notice is poor form under any circumstances. But with two babies, it’s impossible. Can I even start with the fact that I only got the email because I was up at 3am? Ugh.

Today, it was my OB’s office, yet again. I had an appointment at 3:45 this afternoon (just a checkup, nothing interesting). Not a great time of day, since that can be a fussy time for the babies, but I don’t tend to have a lot of choice in the matter. The other bummer about having the appointment today is that it was unseasonably mild and sunny today. A great day to leave the house. But I am loathe to do more than one outing in a day, if I can avoid it, since it can seriously mess with our routine. And so I planned my day around this lame excuse for an outing. And then, my phone rang at 1:45. My doctor was home sick. But had hoped she’d feel better by the afternoon, which is why it took them so long to call me. Two hours before the appointment (by which time I’m in final preparation mode… I know who needs to be fed before we get into carseats, etc.).

Not cool! I mean, I’m sorry she was sick. She’s a nice person and all. But come on! That was my whole day! I could have used my one outing in the morning, when the babies are happier. I could have gone to the mall or out to lunch. But no, I did laundry, saving my outing for the stupid appointment. So, I was crabby, and then the babies got fussy. Since it was still sunny and about 60 degrees, I plopped them in the stroller and we walked for an hour. For the first half, Daniel started crying if I dared stop moving. Ugh. And there aren’t a lot of good places to walk near me, since most of the streets are dead ends (makes for a boring walk, back & forth), and the ones that aren’t are pretty busy. But walk, we did. And I wasn’t even feeling much less crabby until we got home, I pulled down the blankets I’d hung over the stroller to block the sun and wind, and both babies were calmly awake. Ahhh…

At least the dog didn’t complain