more on brothers and sister.

I was thinking more about the story I told about Catherine getting up once because of her newborn brother. People often ask about the twins and where they sleep and slept when they were babies. When they first came home we had the bassinets and had two. After a few weeks we upgraded to a crib and only one crib for the both of them.

The bassinets took up too much room and they were out growing them. They shared a crib for several months. We did this mainly because of space. We were still sharing a room with them at the time. They liked being in the same crib, or at least they didn't seam to mind it. We didn't separate them until they started kicking each other in the face (aren't I a good mother?).

Durring the day we kept the boys on the same schedule. I did most days on my own so I always fed one right after the other. They napped together as well. Now, all parents know that every baby is different so sometimes my grand plan of keeping them on the same schedule didn't always work out. And just for clarity sake we did not keep them on the same schedule overnight, Paul and I split the duty he would take care of one baby all night while I did the other. Here's what I quickly learned. Overnight the boys would stir at the sounds of each others cries, but never awaken fully. I can't think of a time (maybe I blocked it out) when one baby cried enough to wake the other.

This is a sure sign of the sibling bond, at least that's what I'd like to think. Catherine learned that crying babies were nothing to worry about, and so did each of the boys. Just this week David woke up overnight crying and when we got to him we find Josh on the top bunk sound asleep while Dave is crying away. Really the only time we had an issue with one child waking another up was in the first few weeks of putting all three boys in the same room. If David or Joshua would wake up Stephen would get out of bed and try to bring them to us. After a while Stephen learned to sleep through it as well (and besides they really don't wake up all that often).

Though my kids are unaffected by each others nighttime crying they are affected by daytime emotions. Just recently David was in our kitchen and told us that Josh was crying and something was wrong. Just as David said it we heard Josh and went to go investigate. The boys were on the opposite side of the house and how David heard him I will never know. The point is that they look out for each other. On a very basic level they take care of each other. If one is hurt they all come running.

I can't tell you how many times there has been a parade of children walking through the house to find me after a scraped knee or some other injury. Granted sometimes they come in to make sure that they aren't in trouble for letting one get hurt, but most of the time its to make sure that they get the help they need.

I find it endearing that they look after each other. I find it amusing when they come in to listen to each others stories so that they can defend their actions. I find it impressive that they can sleep through each others rough nights.