sleep training twins will make one question the existence of god

in my household of two babies, we have what i consider to be a sleeping "problem". and just for the record, yes, i do consider the fact that i have not gotten more than five hours of consecutive sleep in the past eight months a significant problem... for me.

i did some research today and, asides from realizing that we are doing a handful of things right when it comes to teaching a baby to put themselves to sleep, there are a handful of things that we seem to be doing wrong. after reading approximately four chapters of "the perfect guide to putting your perfect baby to sleep in a perfect fashion so that you can call yourself a perfect mama".com, i wondered if i might be keeping my babies up too late in the evening. the method that i read said, quite simply, that all of your middle-of-the-night problems would be solved if you put your baby in his or her crib when they are drowsy, but still awake. typically, i wait until my babies are so tired that they are rubbing their eyes and crying themselves silly before i put them in their cribs for the night. and the 30 - 90 minutes that follow said putting-in-crib are a test of wills, patience, and above all, an exercise in complete futility and exhaustion.

so this evening, i attempted to watch for signs that they were drowsy, but not yet overtired, and put them in their cribs at that point. that was at 6:15. dare i say this aloud, but save for a little bit of vocalizations from nash about three minutes ago, they've been sleeping ever since.

now, i may pay for this at 3:00 a.m. when nash and zeke decide that it's time to wake up and conquer july 27th, 2010 once and for all! but we shall see. until then, i'll take a few hours of peace and quiet in my house, and a bedtime routine that doesn't involve bailing wire, countless trips to the nursery with earmuffs, and vodka.