Using the Ferber Method with Twins: Days 1-4

Any new parent will tell you (and non-parents as well) that once your little bundle of joy arrives, you will never sleep. 

You will in reality get very minimal sleep, but somehow it still feels like you're getting literally ZERO hours at night.
And after 4.5 months of running on fumes, David and I (and our pediatrician, of course) decided it was time for Jack and Clare to learn how to fall asleep on their own. No rocking, no pacifiers, no back patting, no swings, no falling asleep on mom or dad. Basically no outside help getting to dreamland, because frankly we were just exhausted from being on sleep watch, making sure they got enough sleep and stayed asleep. 
So off to Ferber-land we went! I already knew we would use the Ferber method before reading the book (which, if you are going to use the "cry-it-out" method [or the better name, "progressive waiting"] READ.THE.BOOK. It repels all and any fears you may have about allowing your baby to fall asleep all on their own. It doesn't make it easier to hear him/her cry, but nothing will. Ok....wine does. Wine helps a little)
I knew we would use Ferber because Jack and Clare both have fallen asleep on their own before. Not consistently and not at bedtime, but they have. Which convinced me that they were capable of it, so David and I as parents had to put on our big girl panties (yep, David too) and create the environment for them to sleep on their own. If we kept giving them all of the extras, how could they ever learn to fall asleep without them?

Ferber works off of 'progressive waiting'--basically you put your kid to bed, and go in and check on them at timed intervals. The check-ins I think are mostly for the benefit of the parents so that you can unfurl your body from the tight ball you've curled up into. But you aren't supposed to pick them up--you really just stay 1-2 minutes, tell them you love them, you know they can do it, maybe give a couple pats and then leave again. Even if they don't even slow down crying. Even if their crying got worse. But Ferber also says going in and assuring your little that you're still there reminds them that they aren't abandoned and are still in a safe place (again...whatever you want to tell yourself to run up and try to comfort your babe...) No matter how long it takes for them to go to sleep (our pediatrician said with her son, he cried for up to 3 hours...wowza) do not pick them up to rock or bring into your bed. If you resort back to the techniques you are trying to quit them of, all of that crying will have truly been for nothing.

Here's our journey :)

Day 1 | 3 min (1st wait), 5 min, 10 min, 10 min (subsequent waits)
We didn't use Ferber for the naps today, instead used them to enjoy the last (at least for the next week) rocking, holding, and patting to sleep. The book recommends to do your normal bedtime routine, which for us is heading upstairs to change into pjs, nurse, a bedtime book, and some last minute cuddles on mom and dad's bed (no bath, as we found it tends to wake them up more) and put the baby down at or AFTER the normal time they fall asleep. You basically do not want to put your baby down before they are sleepy, because they'll cry about not being sleep. 
We put them down in their cribs at 7:15pm. AAAAAAaaand the crying commenced! We went in at 3 mins, patted their backs/belly, said I love you and you can do this and left. They were DEFINITELY still crying. Our visit didn't seem to calm or help them at all. Cue the wine and the board game!!
After about 30 mins, Jack finally fell asleep. No peep from him! Clare didn't fall asleep for about an hour, but it wasn't an hour of solid crying. She'd stop (assumedly be asleep) but then wake herself up again and cried again. At that point, we'd start the 10 min timer but she would stop before the 10 mins were up, so we wouldn't go check on her. 
Not a bad start! I've heard about babies crying for 3 hours the first day. 
*Note: I will say that Clare was EXTRA hungry during the night. They usually eat 1-2 times in the middle of the night, and it's always Jack who wakes first. But this night Clare woke up STARVING after only 3 hour stretches. She was trying to eat her hands, and crazy-nursed for a full 8 mins. All that crying and rolling around in her crib made her uber hungry.

Day 2 | 5 min (1st wait), 10 min, 12 min, 12 min (subsequent waits)
Their naps were all in their cribs upstairs. They've consistently been needing naps after 1-1.5 hours of being awake. So once we started seeing them slow down during playtime or yawning, we scooped em up, brought them upstairs, kissed them and said have a good nap! All of their naps they went down after about 5-10 mins of some squeaking (not full blown crying, but not falling quietly to sleep either). BUT Jack did not want evening naps, and so basically stayed up for like 4 hours before bedtime and Clare took VERY short naps (i.e. 30 mins max) So by the time bedtime rolled around, they were very tired. 
We put them in their cribs at 6:45 since they were oh-so-ready for sleep, went downstairs, started the timer for 10 mins and started making dinner. Which was much better than playing a game, since I could chop and cook things and keep my hands busy. 
Jack fell asleep after about 15 mins of hard crying and Clare fell asleep after 45 total mins of crying. Again, she fell asleep around the same time Jack did (or at least calmed down for a bit) but then woke herself up a bit. I blame myself a bit for her having a harder time because for the last couple of weeks she's fallen asleep at night in a swing, which wouldn't always be on, but if she started fussing I'd switch it on. Where as Jack has always fallen asleep in the co-sleeper. When he's really tired, he typically doesn't even liked to be held/rocked by us.
I should also note that after the 2nd wait time (10 mins) we didn't go back up even though Clare was still crying. Clare would cry, then stop for a bit, then get going again. And we knew if we went in, we'd just stimulate her more. 

Day 3 | 10 min (1st wait), 12 min, 15 min, 15 min (subsequent waits)
Today wasn't any different than Day 2, other than their naps. Both of them took EPIC naps all day. I'm talking 1.5-2 hour naps. Clare even fell asleep on our walk, which she never does. It must have caught up with them because they were sleeeeepy babies. The book says to not let naps make up for any lost night sleep, but they haven't lost any night sleep really so I figured they just needed it. They went to sleep that night like usual...Jack cried for like 10 mins and Clare cried (off and on) for about an hour. 

Day 4 | 12 min (1st wait), 15 min, 17 min, 17 min (subsequent waits)
Today was back to not wanting naps, and actually they both missed their afternoon naps damn near all together, except for a little catnap they had in the car around 5pm. So when bedtime rolled around I was preparing myself for another night of having to listen to our babies cry. Let me tell you, it does not get any easier as the days go on. I was definitely doubting myself at this point. The only saving grace (aside from David, who throughout all of it remained steadfast in our decision--yay teamwork!) was that they were sleeping SO MUCH BETTER through the night. The past two days they would only wake up ONCE to eat around 3am or 4am, fall right back asleep once I put them back (I'd usually have to pat/rock them back to sleep after nursing/burping) and wouldn't wake up again until morning. So I knew that at least they were getting great nights of sleep.
Ok, so bedtime rolls around, I give them a massage with coconut oil and eucalyptus (I've done this the past two nights as well...) and put on some orajel (without the benzocaine....) because I think they are teething. Already this bedtime I am noticing that Clare is babbling like she does in the morning when she's just waking up (i.e. her happiest) and not rolling around like a maniac. They are both very calm and mellow (Jack is always pretty calm and mellow haha) But I'm thinking that in a minute they're going to unleash their fury on us for not rocking them to sleep. 
We kiss them goodnight, put them down and leave. We go downstairs and I hear some squeaking (not full on crying yet, so I don't start my timer). It's 7:12. At 7:18 I hear Jackie stop. At 7:25 I hear Clare stops. I pray and pray that she's asleep and LO AND BEHOLD SHE IS! They both fell asleep in less than TEN MINUTES!! 
I cried tears of joy and wanted to scoop them up right then to kiss and snuggle them because I was just so proud. My sweet littles drifted off to sleep on their own :) 
This was definitely the best night so far, but we'll see how it goes till Day 7 (the "end" of the program)