Going to sleep on their own

This was our method to getting the boys to sleep:

We start with giving the
boys a bottle of milk in their cribs. Sometimes they would fall asleep during or after finishing their bottle.

If that fails, we bring them back out to the living room where we sit and watch tv until they fall asleep or get antsy.

If they get antsy, I take one of them and walk around with them and try to rock them to sleep. After the one I have falls asleep, I do the same to the other if they haven't fallen asleep with Joy.

This method worked pretty well. Heck, they were going to sleep at night now!

The problem is that the boys were so used to this method that it made it really hard for Joy to them down for a nap.

So this weekend, or actually Sunday we started working really hard to get them to go sleep on their own.

So we gave them bottles and walked out until we heard them freaking out.

Instead of grabbing them, we made them stay in the cribs and Joy and I sat on the floor. I read to them. Joy would play music for them and sing. Or We both would sit silently reading to ourselves. But we did let them leave their cribs.

Sometimes I would get them to sleep by simply reading to them. Jacob seemed to be the first one to pass out but seemed to take a bit longer for Jasper.

The first night they were both out by 2am, then next 1am, followed by 12am. The last two nights they have fallen asleep on their own around 9pm.

Also they have been taking their naps easier!!

Let's hope this sticks up because it's really nice that they can go to sleep on their own and at a decent time. Shortly before they were pushing bedtime to 12-1am.

The only thing is now seems the boys are going through something, teeth or effects from the 12 month shots. Jacob woke up last night and had a big hissy and took awhile to get him to go back to sleep. He seemed in pain or comfy so I held and brought him to the couch. He didn't like that either, however eventually he fell back asleep. A couple nights before Jasper seemed the same way.

Four-month vaccines complete!

The boys have got their four-month vaccine shots. They were in good spirits while we waited for the doctor and then the nurse. I sat on the doctor's stool and moved back and forth with Jacob was in my lap. Jasper was in Joy's lap.

I think for one of the first times the boys really noticed each other. They were looking at each other and smiling big.

Jacob eventually fell asleep on my shoulder while we waited for the nurse to give shots. Since Jacob was sleeping on me, Jasper went first. The first shot he did great. Not a peep. Then the nurse informed us that the second shot burns. Sure enough, the second shot went in and Jasper screamed. Joy quickly took Jasper held him till he calmed down.

With Jasper crying and some nudging, Jacob woke up for his shots. He was not happy to receive either of them. I quickly grabbed him and tried to comfort. Jasper had calmed down so Joy put his clothes on and then gave me Jasper while she put on Jacob's clothes. Then I took him back to comfort.

While we were checking out, Jacob fell back asleep and Jasper fell asleep as well in our arms.

We asked the doctor about them teething and she said it was most likely they're not but they're just exploring. I'm not totally buying her story. For one she did not even check to see if they're teething. She did say we could introduce them to real food, see the previous post by Joy.

We had expected the day to be crazy because of screaming babies. We expected to go on a car ride for them to calm down, car rides usually help. However, we had two sleeping boys in the car. So Joy and I went on a car ride anyway to get ice cream.

We got home and were able to put boys in their cribs and Joy and I had a quiet afternoon.

Then Joy said she was hungry and wanted to go to bed after dinner. I started making spaghetti and by the time it was done Jasper woke up screaming. Joy came into the kitchen with him. Then I heard Jacob waking up. They were both not happy! Screaming!

We tried walking around, going outside. Eventually Joy and I had to divide and concur because I think they were both kind of enforcing each other to cry after we got one of them to calm down, like a sympathy cry. Eventually we got them both to calm down. They were both cuddly with us. Talking and singing to them helped calm them too.

The next day they slept must of the day.