Sanctification

The last couple weeks have been tough.  The boys are 8 weeks old and we have not made too much progress in the sleeping department.  Abraham had some nights where he was not going to sleep for the "night" until after 3 am.  We would try to get the boys down to sleep after their 9 pm feeding, deal with fussiness until their midnight feeding and listen to screaming until their 3 am feeding, after which they would finally fall asleep.  Winston at this stage is proving to be the easier baby which has been an interesting turn of events.  I think Winston would be sleeping through the night if it wasn't for Abraham keeping him awake.  Once Abraham decides to exercise his lungs, he wakes up Winston and the two of them tag team until they are totally spent.  These boys are also really eating.  They are consuming 6 ozs. of breast milk or formula on a regular basis.  I seriously cannot keep up with them!

Now the question is: what is Abraham's problem?  I am trying everyday to figure it out.  Is he getting overstimulated and therefore cannot shut down?  Is he not feeling full?  I think it may be a combination of the two.  The hard thing is I am not finding a set pattern on any given night other than he wakes up every three hours to eat.  The other night we went to a friend's house for a BBQ and the child fell asleep despite all the noise and interaction.  Both boys were down for the night in their bassinets before midnight!  I rack my brain to determine the magic combination but the reality is the little guy may just not be ready to sleep for longer periods at night.  I was reading that babies' ability to sleep through the night (5-6 hours) was based more off of neurological development as opposed to how many calories they consume during the day.  Our little guys were born at 37 weeks so in theory we have another 3 weeks before we should be expecting the longer runs of sleep.

Being the parents to these twin boys has been a very sanctifying experience.  The boys can both throw little temper tantrums these days when they decide they are hungry.  They go from being asleep to shrieking when they want their food.  It still has not connected in their little brains however that the food is coming and will always continue to come because mama and papa are there to take care of them.  I actually talk to the boys and typically say something to the effect of  "You're okay.  Mama is here and will always take care of you.  Calm down."  I try to make them reach a certain level of calm before I plug them in so to speak.  Eric and I were commenting and reflecting on the fact that this is a picture of the gospel.  Our Heavenly Father constantly cares and provides for us yet every single time we feel a need we become anxious and fretful. We throw our own littler temper tantrums when things do not turn out the way we want. When will we ourselves learn that He is always faithful?  It was so humbling to think about the fact that while we get tired and frustrated with our kids' antics that God's patience with us is never ending.  I believe that is why He gave us children: to help us better understand what He has done for us. 

Despite this being a difficult stage, when the boys give us one of their little smiles and coos, it makes being a parent the best thing in the world.  They are the cutest, sweetest little boys when they have a full tummy and dry diaper.  I seriously look at them sometimes and think to myself, "Could these kids actually have come from  me?"  But I have the stretch marks to prove it.  The newborn stage is hard but I try to take it one day at a time with lots of prayer and focus on how we are truly blessed beyond measure.