Crying it out

Remember the post I wrote on Thursday? I asked if any twin mamas got their twins to sleep through the night without crying it out.
That afternoon I also wrote on several Moms of Multiples forum boards asking the same question.
Because I was sick of getting up 7 times a night, but I reallllly didn't want the boys to have to cry it out.
I just wanted one, maybe two, women to say "Oh yeah, our twins learned to sleep through the night all by themselves."

And what I got back was this: about 60 comments saying "No. Your twins are not more wiggly than other babies, they are not more pathetic when they cry, and our twins needed to cry to sleep through the night."

So about midday Thursday I made a decision.
My babies would cry it out. And once I'd made that resolution to let them cry, I wanted to start immediately. So their next nap, I laid them down in their beds with pacifiers and their stuffed puppies and I left.
And because my sister Mary was there I could go take a shower, without having to hear them.
Micah cried for 40 minutes, and Grey cried for an hour.

But the next time they went to sleep was bedtime. And Micah didn't cry at all. And Grey cried for less than 10 minutes.
And then they slept through the night. They slept for 10 hours. I slept for 8 hours. It was amazing.
The next day, naps were not as awesome as bedtime had been, but I'm pretty sure that's because bedtime had a routine already in place, and naptime didn't.
I introduced a bit of a routine before naps, too, (aka: I sing them a quiet song before I lie them in their bed) which I think helps.
So Friday, every single nap took about 30-40 minutes, except once with Grey where he cried for a bit over an hour before I went in to get him.
We played for a while and then tried again, and he cried for 20 minutes before I went to get him. I fed him and we played a bit longer and we tried again to put him to sleep, and he was out within 5 minutes.
Bedtime, again, there were no tears. No crying at all.

And Saturday, every nap took about 15 minutes of crying before the boys fell asleep, except one nap each where the boys fell asleep in less than 5 minutes.
Sunday, the boys were falling asleep in about 10 minutes, or rather, lying in their bed playing until they decided they were ready to sleep, and then they would cry for about 10 minutes, which has been the norm for the last few days.  On occasion (like once a day, and they usually take 3 to 4 naps a day) they have a particularly difficult time falling asleep and they cry for upwards of a half hour.

But for five nights in a row we've gotten sleep. Eight hours of sleep at night.
EIGHT FREAKING HOURS.
In a row, you guys.

Generally speaking, it has been a phenomenal success.
Though, I'm 100% sure that we couldn't have done it without my sister Mary. It is physically painful for me to listen to them cry (and makes me a bit nauseous), and Travis is even worse! He starts pacing around the house saying things like "Those are my boys. My BOYS, Becky. I can't listen to them cry. My little boys. My boys are crying."
So we would leave. We would go on walks or run errands, and Mary would stay and watch the boys. She would sneak in to check that they're not lying in puke, or in horribly painful positions. (Though they both have bumper pads now) or that they have blankets over their faces and then would text us when it was safe to come home...

Anyway. Now my life is better.
It is easier.
And I haven't bounced a baby in a dark bathroom while counting to 100 in like... four days.