New Beds! New Beds!

March 13th started a new stage in our "growing up" cycle - we got rid of night time pacifiers. They only used pacifiers when they took naps or at night time, but they were chewing through them so fast, I decided I didn't want to spend the money to buy even more. We needed at least 6 to go to bed (1 for the mouth and 1 for the hand). And of course, if I didn't have more than 6, I'd be crawling under cribs at 2 in the morning to find the ones that were dropped throughout the night. The first night, there was crying and screaming for almost a straight hour (Nick is very good at crying for very long times if he really wants something!). Then it took another 1/2 hour to fall asleep. It took about a week, each night getting progressively better, to get back to a semi-regular sleep routine. Without the pacifiers, they took longer to go to sleep. They'd spend the time talking, reciting the alphabet, reciting one of their favorite books of the day, but not sleeping. I think it was this extra time that Alex used to hone his "break out" skill.

The next step closer to being big kids started when Alex learned to climb out of the cribs. We'd put them to bed and a little while later, I'd see Alex out of the corner of my eye, standing and looking into the dryer (that kid is seriously obsessed with the dryer!). He was so quiet about getting out that we didn't even hear him "thump" over the monitor. This was of course his favorite new trick that he had to repeat over and over. Thankfully, his brothers were asleep and didn't see him do it (or at least Logan didn't notice until he was walking out the door).

The next morning, while Adam and I were getting ready for work, the bathroom door slowly starts to creak open (did I mention they can also open doors quiet skillfully now?!). It was Alex peeking in on us. The funniest part though - Adam was in the shower and said something to Alex - who couldn't see him and was spinning in circles trying to figure out where daddy was! Within a day, Logan had picked up the new trick. Interesting thing about Logan's escape though... He always climbed out of Alex's bed. He'd climb from his bed, into Nick's bed and over into Alex's bed and then he'd climb out. That was usually just enough of a delay so that when I saw Alex out, Logan was just getting out and was easier to get back in bed.

That weekend (the 28th), we broke down and modified the room. Here is what the rooms used to look like with the cribs in there...

Their cribs are convertible, so it didn't take too much time to change the beds. The problem was moving the beds so that they all had room to get in and out. We had to remove the rocking chair and decided to stop using the dresser/changing table as a changing table. They can play with anything in the room and we put a baby gate up at the door. The thought was, if they wake up early in the morning, they can get out and play or read until it's time to go downstairs for breakfast. Here's what it looks like now...

The boys were sooooooooooooo excited to see their new beds. The first time they went up there was for nap time on Sunday. They had so much fun just running back and forth, switching beds and jumping up and down. They kept saying "new beds, new beds" over and over. Alex even informed me "no rocking chair - new beds!" Well, it might have been nap time, but no one napped - and I was very much ready for one myself! That was the first time they've gone without any nap at all. Logan didn't quite make it to bed time though - he fell asleep on my arm at the dinner table! I took him over to the chair to sleep while we finished dinner. Oddly enough, he perked right up when we pulled out cookies for dessert!

The first night in their new beds was very, very rough. I think I was in there for an hour and a half just trying to calm them down and keep them in a bed. I didn't care which bed they were in, as long as there was one boy per bed. Even that was optional - as long as they'd lay down and sleep!!! 

The following pictures are just some cute ones of them sleeping in their beds, either first thing in the morning (Alex) or in the middle of the night (Logan). They were very used to sleeping right up next to the edge of the cribs - now they don't quite have the same support!

Bed times have progressively gotten better over the past two weeks. Let's just say, over the past month or so, I haven't had a full night's sleep (or at least very rare). But... it's getting better! They still get excited to go to sleep in their "new beds". Just tonight, Alex said (again) "no rocking chair - new beds" - that kid can seriously obsess over things!