Sleeping habits

My boys crack me up with the ways they sleep. I guess it factors in to their personalities. Different personalities = different sleeping habits.

I've taken the liberty of capturing some of these moments with my camera.

First thing in the morning

Morning is my favorite time with my boys. They're all so happy, cuddly and sweet.

When I walk in now, Stokes is usually awake and sitting up in his crib. The moment he sees me he will break out an enormous grin! He wants me to come pick him up right then. He is not happy if he has to wait. A lot of times he will have his little blanket or wubbanub in his hands.

Most of these pictures were taken a few weeks ago before he figured out how to sit up.

Weird kind of tripod position

He sees me!

Big grin!

Taken more recently...

Now I find him sitting up in the morning

Happy to see me

 

Ryan usually used to still be asleep when I came in their room in the morning. I would go over and gently try to wake him up and his eyes would pop open and he'd have a startled look on his face. The times he was already awake, he would just lay there kicking his legs and waiting. He's usually so patient. He doesn't move much overnight, other than to kick his legs, but sometimes I will find him perpendicular from where I left him. We have his crib elevated with a wedge to help with his reflux and I think he must find a way to slide down the wedge and go sideways.

We are dealing with new circumstances now that he's back on ACTH though. The past several days he has been waking up early, between 4 and 5:30 am. I will hear him whining and moaning on the monitor. His diaper and pajamas are soaking wet, despite the fact that I change him right before I go to bed, usually somewhere between 10 and 11, and we use overnight diapers for 12 hour protection in one size up. Poor little guy. I can tell he's hungry, too so I'll change his diaper, take off his wet pjs and give him a few ounces of Pedialyte. Then I just hold him until it's time to give him his ACTH injection and start the day. The past several mornings, he has been able to fall back asleep while I hold him.

Again, these were taken a few weeks ago.

Awake and perpendicular

He sees me!

Big smile!

 

Action shot: kicking his legs

 

William is almost always still asleep or in between sleep and being awake. He has his face buried in his crib. I'll call his name and he will turn his head around towards me and give me a huge open-mouth smile. He is in such a good mood! 

On his tummy in the corner of his crib

Nobody puts Baby in the corner!

"Time to wake up..."

Smiles begin

Taken more recently...

 

First smile of the day!

Happy baby

Nap time

When I lay Stokes down, he just rolls right over or rolls onto his side and will put his blanket and/or wubbanub in his mouth. He continues to watch me until I leave the room. Sometimes he will manage to get himself into some sort of a tripod position that doesn't look comfortable at all! When I come in to get him, if he is still asleep, he's never in the same position in which I saw him last. If his head was towards the window, now it will be towards the wall. If his back was to me, now he'll be facing me. He is such a little man on the move! 

Just put down in the crib

"Here's your blanket"

The immediate roll

I'm not sure about what he's doing here

Fighting naptime...pitiful

Foot on the railing

 

Ryan will go down for his naps without much ado. I don't think he can sleep as well on the ACTH but he is content to just rest quietly. We give him his blanket but he doesn't really "hold" it yet. We pretty much just tuck it under his arm.

"Here's your blanket."

Not quite ready to go to sleep

Zonked out and on his way to going perpendicular

Wakey, wakey and in a good mood

 

William lets me put him down and as soon as I hand him his blanket he will start flapping his arms. It is hilarious! I think he must like to feel his soft blanket grazing over him. After I leave the room he will put the blanket over his face. Whenever I come in to check on them in the middle of the nap, William will just be lying there with his hands by his side and his face covered with the blanket. He will move around at some point because when nap time is over, I will find him on his tummy, sometimes with his head in the corner and other times with an arm or a leg hanging out of his crib rails. When I pick him up, his face will be red where he was laying on it and will have marks from his crib sheet folds. He will be a little sleepy and disoriented but will immediately start smiling at me.

"Here's your blanket"

Starting to flap it around

Rolled over and totally asleep, head in the corner again

Flapping arms with the blanket

Blanket partially covering his face

Putting them down at night
This is surprisingly easy. Their nighttime routine consists of putting on pjs, brushing teeth (for William and Stokes), a bedtime story, then we put them in their cribs, turn off the lamp and walk out. It's as easy as that. They rarely ever cry or fuss.

Nighttime story

 

We're ready for bed, Mom!

Stokes is so funny. We lay him down on his back and he will immediately roll over to his belly. He loves having his little blanket in his hand and he will sometimes pull another blanket off his crib rails to play/snuggle with. He loves to rest his head on his arms and hands with his hiney in the air and falls asleep fairly quickly. Whether he will stay asleep...well, that is anyone's guess! Every now and then he will have a cluster of nights that he wakes up but then he'll start sleeping well again for a while.

Not ready to go to bed yet...

...so I'll play with my wubbanub!

Much later...weird position but at least he's asleep!

Ryan is so chill and he just lays there and will peacefully close his eyes and fall asleep. If he's not tired yet, he will kick his feet for a little while first. He's happy after just having finished his bottle and perfectly content.

Just put down in his crib

Thinking about whether he wants to go to sleep

Yes, sleep is a good idea

Much later...asleep and hasn't moved much!

William is usually pretty tired at night and will sometimes begin closing his eyes during the story. Picking him up to put him in his crib will wake him up a little and once I hand him his blanket, he will start flapping it and covering his face, the same way he does at nap time. Sometimes when the blanket is on his head he will rub his big belly. I love that!!!! It's so cute. He will typically roll over at some point in the night and I'll find him on his tummy if I peek in later to check on him and his brothers.

Blanket on face

Blanket on face and rubbing belly

Took blanket off face for some flapping

Blanket back on face

Much later...he rolled over and wedged himself into the corner

Hopefully my sleep habits post hasn't bored you too much. I want to be able to remember all these mundane details about everything they do while they're still so little. These three sweet, sleeping babies are just amazing.