He-he

 Monday, August 22, 2011 I was waiting for this weekend all week to test the girls' sleeping pattern. Ever since the hubster returned to work after his six weeks off for paternity leave, we had the girls on a 4-hour feeding schedule with a feeding at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, 11pm and 3am... It was just easier that way. For one, I only had to remember those three numbers regardless of it being AM or PM (very helpful in the middle of the night when I'm completely incoherent) and two, it was an easy schedule: after the 11pm feeding, we'd put the girls to bed and the hubster could go to bed while I cleaned up (particularly in the kitchen) and cleaned the bottles and made more formula (and prepared bottles for the fridge to just grab for the middle of the night feedings without thinking) as well as have some wind-down time (hopefully the girls DID go to sleep) for myself to brush my teeth and wash my face, etc., in peace. 

Last week there were a couple of nights when I didn't wake up prior to 3am to get the bottles warmed up. I like to get the girls just before they wake... actually Lily usually wakes first, so I'll feed her first and hopefully she'll finish before Charlie wakes or starts stirring so that by the time I can get to Charlie to feed and change, there have been no crying outbursts (to not wake the hubster who has to go to work in the morning, and to not wake the neighbors - darn this apartment living!). 

So back to last week. There was a night when I woke up at 4am to find Lily slightly stirring, and another night when I woke up at 3:30am. It made me wonder if the girls were able to sleep longer, but I wanted to wait until the weekend to test it out just in case while waiting them out, both girls wake at the same time and both start crying. During the weekend the hubster can wake and help feed the girls too, so if both woke at the same time, I didn't have to let one cry while I fed the other (something that is common during the day, but during the day I don't mind). 

Friday night, August 19th... Charlie didn't want to go to sleep. I finally got her to sleep and ended up going to bed close to 1am. The good news? Lily didn't start stirring until 4am. 5 hours since the start of their last feeding. We had to adjust Saturday's daytime feeding schedule accordingly, but that was okay. 

Saturday night, August 20th... Fed the girls at 11:30pm due to the adjusted schedule and got them to bed sometime after midnight... the verdict? Started stirring at about 4:30am... again, 5 hours since the start of the last feeding. Twice in a row is a good sign! 

Sunday night, August 21st (girls' 2-month birthday!)... We ended up feeding the girls at midnight (again due to the adjusted feeding schedule) and didn't feed again until 5:15am. Another 5 hours! Three times in a row - means the girls are slowly yet surely making their way towards sleeping through the night! Hooray for mama! 

Oh, back to the heading title. After I feed the girls this morning, I changed Charlie and walked around with her for awhile to soothe her back to sleepiness and finally put her back into the crib at a little past 5:30am (Lily had already fallen back asleep after finishing first). I was tired but again with the racing mind (you know, recaping and making mental to-do lists) couldn't fall back asleep for another hour. During that time I listened to the girls and their weird sleeping noises (sometimes sounds like regular, but soft snoring, sometimes there is a loud sound like a throat being cleared, sometimes you hear the sweet "haaaaaa" of an exhale like a sigh)... Charlie was doing the sweet "haaaaaa" exale sigh-like sounds when suddenly it was interrupted by a somewhat loud "He He" and then she went back to the sweet "haaaaaa" exhale sigh-like sound. Just those two syllables. My eyes popped open and I listened for more, but there wasn't anymore. The room went quiet. Did Charlie just giggle? I wondered. I almost started laughing because it was so random, and it was the first I had heard of either girls making a laughing type sound. Was that a giggle? If it was, it was super cute! Can't wait for more!