Learning by Momosis

So, I’ve shared recently about the boys’ challenges with eating. They also have a very hard time going to sleep and staying asleep. These two things combined are what make their care especially challenging right now.

Roo takes naps in this special bouncy chair, which Oma and PapaJ designed and created after he got too big for the biggest baby bouncer we could find. (Bear uses this some at night.)

Here’s an average family eating and sleeping schedule — on a good day. Roo is 3.5 years old and Bear is 2.5 years old. I need to mention that we live with Oma and Papa, honorary grandparents (more on that later). Oma helps a great deal in this scenario.

(Gosh, this might make for tedious reading. Well, it’s good for me to write it down, anyway, at least for my own sake.)

• 12:00 AM: Bear is asleep in his own bed. Hubby and Roo are sleeping in our bed. I’m waking up and getting out of bed. very. quietly.
• 2:00 AM: I’m going back to bed, if I’m being good. 3:oo am and later if I’m not.
• 5:15 am: Hubby gets up and goes to the gym and work. The gym is his little piece of sanity time. On a good week he gets there 4 mornings.
• 6:15 am: Roo is starting to wake up. If I’m there, he may sleep closer to 7, which is what he needs. If I’m not, he’ll be up right away.
• 6:45 am: Roo and I are out of bed and moving to Sesame Street time. (His first tube feeding of the day around 7:10). Oma is getting up and getting her shower done, hopefully before Bear wakes up.
• 7:20 am: Oma get Bear up out of bed and gives him his first bottle of Pediasure. The boys handle the morning and day much better with Oma and I both on duty from 7:15 to 8:00 am. (Or Cory and I on the weekends.)
• 8:00 am: I take 30 minutes to shower while Oma is on duty with the boys.
• 8:45 am: Breakfast. Oma and I eat, the boys find ways to avoid eating their food.
• 9:15 - 12:30 pm: I’m on duty with both boys most of the time, Oma takes them 1-2 mornings per week so I can schedule appointments or have coffee with frien pds every now and then. On duty with the boys means getting out and getting them lots of exercise.
• 10:00: Reggie tube feeding time, wherever we happen to be. He can sometimes manage to snack enough to skip this.
• 12:30 - 1:oo pm: Lunch. If the boys eat much, it will often be at this meal. Reggie will have a tube feeding before nap if he can’t eat enough lunch.
• 1:00 - 1:45 pm: Lunch clean-up and and Nap prep.
• 1:45 - 5:00 pm: I sit in this here rocking chair with this here laptop while bouncing Roo in his special chair as he naps. I do this Monday through Friday, Cory does it on the weekends. (This is the reasons I never ever make or receive phone call in the afternoon.)
• 1:45 - 5:00 pm: Oma is on nap duty with Bear. Involves sitting in bed and rocking/bouncing/shaking Bear until he can fall asleep. He never ever can manage getting to sleep without this kind of input. (Makes for a great ab workout. I do this on the weekends.) Bear might sleep for a couple of hours on his own, but often needs tending during his nap. 

• 5:00 - 6:00 pm: Often a rough time of the day. Both boys are groggy, don’t want to deal with bottle or eating/tube feeding, but don’t want to do it. We try to stay away from videos during this time of day, but don’t always manage it. Managing boys requires both Hubby and I. Oma and PapaJ are getting dinner on the table.
• 6:00 - 6:30 pm: Dinner
• 6:30 - 7:15 pm: I’m on play duty with both boys while Oma, PapaJ, and Cory manage diner clean-up and prep for next day.
• 7:15 pm: Cory takes over with boys so I can change into jammies and do basic bedtime prep
• 7:30 - 9 pm: Cory takes Bear to bed. Bear has a bottle of pediasure and is rocked/bounced by Daddy until he’s asleep. It’s another long transition to sleep for Bear and Cory is often not out of the room until after 9 pm.
• 7:30 - 8:30 pm: Roo and I may attempt some basic clean-up, or I have him watch videos while I do it myself. Also prep night-time tube feeding, get him into jammies, etc. Hopefully final tube-feeding done by 8:10, watch some videos and to bed around 8:30.
• 8:30 - 9:15 pm: I’m still working with Roo to get him to sleep. He sleeps in our king-sized bed, due to his sleep and anxiety issues. Let’s hope we’re both asleep at 9:15 pm.
• 10:15 pm: Hubby is getting to bed with Roo and I, if he’s being good. Later if he’s not. Hubby is on baby monitor/bear duty while he’s up. We keep Bear’s baby monitor on in our room while we sleep.
• 11:55: I wake up a little off and on all night. When I wake up around midnight, and Roo is still sound asleep, I think, “Oh good! I can get up for awhile…” But I take the baby monitor with me, and I’m duty if Bear wakes up.

Common variations to sleep include Bear being awake at 1 am and not going back to sleep for 2 hours, or Roo waking up at 4 am and unable to go back to sleep. Super-Hubby and I try to trade off on who is up with the boys, depending on who is less exhausted. Or, both boys being up at 6 am.

Yep, that’s what happens when everything is working out just right. And no, it doesn’t real work anywhere but our house, so we don’t travel

I used to love Nora Jones song called “The Long Day is Over” at the end of a hard day before I flopped into bed. But now, my long day is never over, and I don’t like it so much anymore.