Well, we finally made the decision to get the girls to sleep the whole night in their own cribs. I'll write more later - gotta get ready for a Birthday Party.
We decided it was time to start getting the girls out of our bed and into their own for the whole night. And since Sarah and I have several days off between now and New Year's, we thought this was the best time to start. We started by putting them to sleep like we normally do - we change them into their PJ's and read them a few books. Everything was as usual. Then Sarah and I went to bed. Around 1:00 am, Ella woke up first. This is where things for the girls changed. Instead of bringing her straight to bed with us like we would have done in the past, we put our pediatrician's advice to work. I checked on Ella right away, said some soothing words, and laid her down in her crib. Then I left. She kept crying. Five minutes later, I repeated the same thing. Then 10 minutes after than, then 15.
At this point, 30 minutes has passed. Ella cried the whole time. Emily hadn't woken up at all. After 30 minutes, you're supposed to wait another whole 30 minutes before going in again. I think I fell asleep sometime in that second 30 minutes. I woke up a little after 2 am when the alarm went off and Ella was still crying. I checked on her and stayed with her a little longer to settle her down. Maybe two minutes. Soon as I left, Ella started crying again.
Basically, she cried constantly for 90 minutes. Emily didn't wake up at all while Ella was crying. At some point, Ella quieted down. Then, around 3:00 am, Ella started crying a little again. She finally woke up Emily, so I checked on them both. It didn't take long for them both to fall asleep. Then they didn't wake up until 8:30 (for Ella) and 9:30 (for Emily).
It was an exhausting night, but an important one. We have to keep it up now until they have fully transitioned to sleeping in their cribs all night.
