bedtime routine

i mentioned in my "reading" blog post that we read to the kids as part of their bedtime routine. (thanks for the book suggestions, everyone!!)

reading to the kids is just one of the things we do as part of austin and reagan's bedtime routine. here's the entire routine we go through every night. we don't really time it out exactly like this, but i used times as a way to break the routine up.

austin and reagan in jammies that grandma weidmer bought them (picture taken in august). they're a little big, especially on reagan. i may or may not have put the kids in these jammies prematurely because i hadn't done any laundry in a while. hahaha. 

7:30 - the kids get their reflux medicine. austin takes zantac and reagan takes prevacid. austin's is a liquid and reagan's is a pill that dissolves easily. shout-out to andi for suggesting we give it half an hour before they eat. austin also gets zantac in the morning.
7:45 - i make the kids' bottles and put them in the crockpot while tyler gets everything together for bedtime (i.e. jammies, lotion, diapers, wipes, etc.) tyler also turns off the tv and all the lights except for one small lamp. we like to show the kids that it's time to calm down and get ready for bed.
7:50 - we change the kids out of their clothes, put on a new diaper, do a quick lotion rub-down/massage to relax them, and then they get into their jammies.
7:55 - tyler reads to the kids while i get the bottles out of the crockpot and set up to pump.
8:00 - we feed the kids.
8:30 - hopefully by this time the kids are done eating. lately they've been needing breaks in order to finish. i've also had to sing to them to encourage them to eat. eatingtime at our house is quite the ordeal - you should see what i go through some days! :) anyways, tyler puts them in their crib while i finish pumping.
9:00 - on good days they're asleep by now. on not-so-good-days we're rolling kids back over and putting pacifiers back in.

austin and reagan get a clean pacifier every night and we alternate which way they lay in their cribs. this practice stems from their time in the NICU. the twins' sleeping positions were recorded and alternated to make sure their heads stayed nice and round. they instructed us to continue doing this at home, which we did, and it kind of stuck.

once the kids are older (around a year or so), i'd like to start bathing them at night again. we used to bathe them at night because it helped them sleep longer, but as they got older, the effect wore off. bathing them at night usually helps them fall asleep faster, but not sleep any longer. i like to bathe them during the day because it relaxes them for their nap and it gives me something to do with the twins when we're home all day long.

so there you have it. what do you do at bedtime that you would suggest we try?