E.A.S.Y.

                                             
                                                  Katherine (Left). Jubilee (Right).

     Whenever someone discovers that I have twins, one of the most common responses I receive is, "You must have your hands full". I tend to give a half-hearted smile and reply back that I do. I think any new parent has their hands full, but I respond "yes" because my hands are literally FULL with two babies. The key to our sanity is that we keep the girls on a schedule. The number one advice I received from various mothers of twins was to get them on the same schedule quickly. Some people are shocked when they discover that I will often wake them to feed them. However, I do not think I would be able to stay sane if they were not on the same schedule. James and I also have a clipboard that has the girls eating/bodily functions report on it. There is no way that we would be able to remember who did what if we did not keep some kind of record of it!

Before the girls were born, I read various books on how to get twins on the same schedule. One of my cousins, Janette (who is also a mother of fraternal twins), pointed me in the right direction. She mentioned a book that was written by the "Baby Whisperer". Well, I believe that James and I are not completely overwhelmed because we follow the E.A.S.Y approach to eating from that book. The "E.A.S.Y." method was not specifically made for twins, but I just slightly modified it to make it work for us. "E" stands for eat. "A" stands for activity. "S" stands for sleep. "Y" stands for you time. I do not follow it strictly, but I stick pretty close to the routine. The hardest part is sleeping when the girls sleep; I'm not very good at that. I do my best, and I usually end up with a one to two hour nap a day. The girls eat every three hours, but at night they will sometimes make it to four hours. Again, I do not completely stick to the same hours every day. Here is what one day will closely resemble:
E – 7:00 -Feed
A – 7:45 – Diaper change. Some playing, talking. Keep an eye out for sleepy cues
S – 8:15 – Swaddle and lay baby in crib. May take 15-20 min. to fall asleep.
Y – 8:30 – You nap.

E – 10:00 – Feed
A – 10:45 – See 7:45 above.
S – 11:15 – 2nd morning nap.
Y – 11:30 – Your time.

E – 1:00 – Feed
A – 1:45 – See 7:45 above.
S – 2:15 – Afternoon nap.
Y – 2:30 – Your time.

E – 4:00 – Feed
A – 4:45 – See 7:45 above.
S – 5:15 – Catnap (about 40-45 min)
Y – 5:30 – Your time.

E – 6:00 – 1st Cluster Feed
A – 7:00 – Bath, bedtime ritual
S – 7:15 – Another catnap
Y – 7:30 – You eat dinner.

E – 8:00 – 2nd Cluster Feed
A – None
S – Put baby right back to sleep.
Y – Enjoy your time until the Dream Feed (between 10-11).