So, last night the boys woke up repeatedly. I was stuck alternating between singing at the, and shushing them. It was quite frustrating to say the least. Eventually everyone got to sleep.

Tonight was more of the same. I sat in the doorway and tried to lull them to sleep with words and songs. Joseph tried to slam the door in my face. (He thinks this is hilarious. I don't really agree.) I ended up putting them to sleep by reciting Goodnight Moon from memory and continuing by devolving into this: "Goodnight floor, goodnight walls, goodnight ceiling, goodnight paint, goodnight vents, goodnight cold air return, goodnight car alarm that is seriously pissing me off, goodnight dust bunny, goodnight toes, goodnight toenails. Thank goodness they're asleep." We shall see if it stays this way tonight. Please G-d let it stay this way tonight!

In other news, today I spent time carting tables and more props around for the upcoming epic production of I Love You Because. It looks like the show will rock!

In still further news, I have been asked what songs I use to put the babies to sleep. Here is my ridiculous top ten list (with links for some):

Brahm's Lullaby
Hush Little Baby
Oyfen Prepitchick
Yerushalayim Shel Zahav
Dona Dona
Stay Awake from Mary Poppins
Katy Perry's Firework but slowed down a lot (the incomparable Jeigh Madjus gave me this idea)
Far From the Home I Love from Fiddler on the Roof
Baby Mine from Dumbo
Christmas Lullaby from Songs For a New World

Wow a lot of them are downers. But they seem to soothe. Huh.

They slept last night! Yay! There were a couple instances where Hailey woke up and needed changing, but aside from that all was well.

Tonight, I moved out into the hall. I was worried it might be traumatic for them for me to not be there, but Joseph was fully prepared to slam the door in my face and lock me out entirely. The boys were asleep in minutes and I barely had to say anything or sing anything to them. Hailey, on the other had, seemed to desperately want me there until she was asleep, screaming any time I moved out of her sight. This concerns me, as she was never the problem before. Hopefully she was just cranky and this is not a harbinger of things to come with her. It would really suck if we put all this work into helping the boys learn to sleep and she regressed into needing help. Eep!

So they slept through last night! However, due to the time change today, we woke them up early in order to try to keep things on an even schedule and not throw them off too much. We shall see if that works for tonight.

Tonight is the last night where I sit in the middle of the room. They went to sleep quickly enough and hopefully it stays that way. It was fairly uneventful. Hailey is still throwing things at me while I try to get the boys to fall asleep. She thinks it's all one big party. I sat there and sang various songs to the boys to get them to fall asleep. Eventually they all drifted off.

Tomorrow I move from the middle of the room to the doorway for three nights. Hopefully my gradual leaving won't be too traumatic to them.

In other news, I delivered all the props I've been collecting to Angelwalk's rehearsal space for I Love You Because. Seriously, if you're in Toronto between March 28, and April 15 you have to check out this show. It's going to be totally awesome.

I am seriously going to do a recap for you all about my book launch as soon as I get some pictures to add to it. I have one all typed up and ready to go, so stay tuned!

Book launch night! But I will write a post dedicated just to the launch soon, when I have pictures to add. Down to business...

Last night, Joseph woke at 2:20 a.m. and I went to him. Brian joined me for a bit, but it was mildly frustrating to have two people trying to put one baby to bed, so I sent him on his way. I managed to get him back to sleep and they all slept until morning after that.

Tonight, because of the launch, Brian's mom read them their stories and she and Vivian sat in their room for the Shuffle as I went off to deal with our launch guests and book sales. They went to sleep soon after with little trouble (compared to last night and the night before). I watched the red lights on the monitor to confirm this.

All I will say about the launch (since I'm exhausted) is I had a great time. My guests seemed to have a great time. An amazing sincere thank you to everyone who came. I loved seeing and speaking to all of you. I appreciate your support. Pictures and proper blog entry dedicated to you to come soon. Now, my babies, please support your mommy by sleeping tonight. 

3:30 a.m. I am woken up by the insane screech of my boys. Oy. For the next hour, Husband Brian and I then proceeded to spend the next hour shushing and begging, singing and pleading them back to sleep. Hailey thought it all in good fun as she was woken up by them as well. As far as she was concerned, there was a party in her room! Joseph decided that 4:00 in the morning was a good time to run laps in his crib while giggling hysterically. Phillip tried gymnastics, but if either of us tried to leave, the crying started up again. Finally, at 4:25 a.m. I was able to go back to bed. They slept until 7:50.

Tonight, we started part two of the shuffle. Husband Brian and I sat in the middle of the room on our uncomfortable folding chairs and weren't supposed to pet them or hug them to sleep. So we decided to hum them to sleep. Brian started with classical and Christmas songs. I rebutted with a bit of Fiddler on the Roof and Yiddish folk tunes. They were out in less than ten minutes. A record for us. However, two hours later Phillip was up again and very upset. We went to him and realized that our parents were over for dinner and amidst all the hugs, the challah, the kugel he had been given, he hadn't finished his bottle. One snack and some songs later, he was down again. We shall see if this stays this way.

In other news, my interview on my influential teacher is in this week's CJN. Check out my part in it here. Frances Kraft did a lovely job with everyone's stories.

Book launch is tomorrow as well. I'll blog about that after it's over. I'll hopefully have some great pictures to post both here and on my Facebook page when it's done. I've been planning this thing for so long, I can't believe it's really happening already! Yikes!

Again! No wake ups last night! I guess tonight will be the night I jinx it. Anyway, we read the stories and Phillip listened. Joseph tried to lock himself in Sebastian's crate. I decided this was a bad idea and stopped him from doing it, and this upset him. We then took them all into their room and put them in their cribs. Hailey continued her new nightly routine involving throwing toys at people and laughing at the boys' ridiculous attempts to put themselves to bed. Joseph tried to beat up his mobile with very little success and coerced me to give him my shirt since he has decided that he needs it to fall asleep. Apparently it's so much better than a blanket. Phillip went for a walk around his crib and did a few laps. He then tripped over his Sleepy Time Pooh Bear and hit his head on the crib, so Husband Brian gave him hugs and back in he went. Only a half hour later, everyone was sleeping. We shall see how long this lasts.

Tomorrow we move to the middle of the room and only use vocal soothing techniques. I don't anticipate it to be pleasant.

In other news, I ordered the cake for the book launch today! I bought cheese! I bought crackers! I know this sounds less than exciting. Let's see... do I have anything more to tell? YES!!!! I finished the second round of rewrites on Book Two! I only had to resurrect three people in order for my plans for Book Three to make sense and for Book Two to not be a complete downer. How many people had originally died? I can't tell you that. I can tell you that only some of the people I killed originally were new characters. Were they all I spared? I don't know. (Insert evil laugh.)

The article I was interviewed for appeared in this week's Canadian Jewish News. I am there all smiley and happy right under Mitchell Marcus. I wonder if the teacher I talked about remembers me. It would make me kind of sad to find out she didn't. Wouldn't that suck? Think about it: you start talking either in the newspaper, or on tv, or YouTube, or somewhere about how this person had such an effect on your life and what you do. Cut to that person seeing/reading about it and they scratch their head going "Huh, did I teach that person? I really don't remember them." Anyway, I'm off to an early bedtime myself. Trying to catch up on all the sleep I lost these past couple of months.

Last night... NO ONE WOKE UP!!!! It was a miracle! (Now watch this, I have totally jinxed it for tonight.) The one problem was that I was so on edge that someone was going to wake up, I lay there completely tensed up, ready to run for their room that I couldn't possibly fall asleep myself! Ridiculous! Right?

Anyway, tonight, Husband Brian helped me out with the shuffle. We read the babies their books, I took Good Night Moon and Husband Brian took I Love You Forever. Phillip and Hailey sort of listened while Joseph explored the room screaming with excitement. Somehow, I don't think he understands the concept of quiet time. After the books, we took them to their room and put them in their cribs. Very little upset this time. Joseph rolled around and played with his mobile and laughed at me until he fell asleep. Phillip threw all his toys repeatedly at his dad. Hailey laughed at her brothers and then put herself to sleep. Tonight went a lot easier, and I hope desperately that this is a true harbinger of things to come. Tomorrow will be the same. Friday we move to the middle of the room. DUN DUN DUUNN... (That was supposed to be dramatic music.)

In a not unrelated note, I have now read Good Night Moon so many times I have the darned thing memorized. I just know that if I ever audition for another show, I would probably bust out Good Night Moon

This week is going to be a busy one blog-wise. As you can see, I have not been sleeping well. Why? Well, those who know me know that the boys have not been sleeping. Subsequently, I have had between one and a half to three hours of sleep each night. So, it was recommended that I get a sleep consultant to give us advice on how to fix this. Those I've told are quite interested in how this will work out, also, the consultant recommends a sleep log for each night. Therefore, in the interest of keeping things simple for myself, I will blog it.

Full disclosure: I am not a fan of the method of CIO (Cry It Out) for teaching babies how to put themselves to sleep. This method, also associated with Ferberizing, is pretty much what it sounds like. The baby wakes up and cries itself back to sleep. The parent can keep going into the room and check on them, but can't pick it up or touch the baby. Now, I have heard this works, however, I have triplets. All this will serve is one baby will wake up the other babies and a vicious cycle will ensue. So we will be using the Shuffle Method. This past week,we have been starting a Bedtime Ritual. Every night, the babies come into my room where we set up a comfy area on the floor with pillows and soft toys and board books. I read them Good Night Moon, I Love You Forever, and Good Night Moon again. Until tonight, Hailey went to bed, and the boys came with me to go into their swing, and or, be rocked to sleep. Tonight we started the shuffle. The way this works is nights 1-3 I and one other person (Husband Brian or Vivian our nanny) take the boys into the room and we each sit in a chair next to the boys' cribs and using sleepy words, rubbing their backs, patting them, and occasionally cuddling (but NOT removing them from the room) they put themselves to sleep. Days 4-6 this is done from a chair in the middle of the room focusing on words as opposed to touch (though touch can be used when necessary). 7-9 From a chair in the doorway. 10-12 from the hall.

We started tonight with their books, and Phillip listened well. Hailey ate her board books. Joseph crawled and walked around babbling loudly. Vivian and I took everyone to the room and assumed our positions. Hailey lay down with her washcloth hippo and blanket. Joseph stood up in his crib and loudly mocked us. Phillip started yelling at us in righteous anger. This continued for a while. I tried patting his back, telling him "Hush, night-night Phillip. I love you." As he got madder at me, tiny fists balled angrily at his sides, Hailey quietly sneaked up her mattress and grabbed me from behind, growling. I jumped in shock and Phillip laughed. I grabbed him and hugged him and put him back down. He was fine for a while after that so Vivian and I switched places and I cared for Joseph. I tried everything. Phillip fell asleep and Vivian went to bed. I stayed with Joseph and Hailey fell asleep. I ended up singing Joseph to sleep with every song I know. I went from show tunes to Yiddish songs, to Hebrew songs, to pop songs. He still wouldn't sleep. He rolled around laughing. He cried. He tried to climb out of his crib. I begged, I gave him my shirt instead of his blanket when I saw him sucking on my Eventually he dropped off. All in all, it took a lot less time then when I put the boys in the swing and/or rock them to sleep in the family room. If they wake up during the night, (when they wake up in the night) the shuffle positions will be resumed until sleep is again achieved. This time Husband Brian will take Vivian's spot.

More to come tomorrow.

So, I am currently in the midst of another round of rewrites and edits, and I have discovered something: When I am sleep deprived, my go-to solution for getting out of a tough plot problem is as follows- These characters aren't behaving the way I want. Kill them. If I don't like the way a scene is going, or the direction things are headed, my poor unfortunate characters are doomed. I'm thinking I should do more writing after sleeping more, otherwise, by Book Three, everyone might be dead. It's almost as if I take out my frustrations on my fictional creations. I'm tired, only got one and a half hours of sleep, I'm cranky, this scene is hard to write, therefore, let's send these people off a cliff with no parachute. Granted, that scenario makes no sense in the context of any of my stories, but it proves a bit of a point here. I need to rewrite my rewrites a bit. (Or a lot.)  I don't know if these rewrites will see a mass resurrection of dead characters, but it might. We shall see. Up until recently, I have always been reticent towards character deaths. I created these people/animals/trees/etc. I gave them life in a way. I always felt absolutely horrible each and every time I bumped one of them off. It was always a source of angst, and much thought went into each and every death I set down on page, whether it be in a short story, or a novel. (Yes, there are other books and things I have finished but not put out in the world. Maybe one day I will.) Every one was well thought through- will I need this character in the future? Does his/her death really serve to push the story forward? Is this what is best for the other characters? Without this person, will I be completely stuck down the road?

Recently,this has not been the case. I know for sure I have made a mistake with at least one death. I am not happy about it at all. Sure, there are some pretty scenes of mourning, and sadness, and angst, and brooding. However, Book Three is screwed without this person. This is why I feel I really need to rethink things. Because, at this point in time, I've got a bit of a bloodbath on my hands. I don't think I like it. I feel it's written well, and I like how I described things as they happen on the page, I just never intended this story to take this direction.

Now I distract you from my lunacy with pretty pictures:

In other news, T-minus 4 days until my book launch! I am nervous and excited for this. I have never had a book launch before, and I hope all goes smoothly, which is almost never the case for anything, right? Well, fingers are crossed. (And toes, and eyes.) Wish me luck!