Big Girl Beds

Part 1
Ava has been having a few problems sleeping through the night. We aren't sure if she doesn't like being alone in a dark room or if she's having nightmares or if she just thinks she can sleep with us. (Lola and Ava sleep separately because they would always wake each other up). Anyway, I've been thinking about doing this for a long time now and we finally did it. We brought two twin mattresses in and put them on the floor in Lola's room. We knew it was going to be rough but we are going to keep trying because it didn't go too bad. We had to lay next to them for about a half hour while they fell asleep. I think the girls enjoyed the sleepover because we couldn't get them to calm down. Lola kept repeating everything Ava said and Ava repeated what Lola said. I loved it when they started chanting "big girl bed, big girl bed". Finally they fell asleep and we tiptoed out. Then at 3am Ava woke up and started crying and knocking at her door. I gave in, because I didn't want Lola to wake up, and put her in bed with me. She would NOT go to sleep so I put her in her old crib and let her cry it out. She slept in until 9am. Lola slept until 8am. Lola is a really good sleeper. We'll see how tonight goes. If anyone has any advice about putting two kids to bed in the same room or about transitioning from cribs to beds please let me know. I hate laying there waiting for them to fall asleep. I never rocked them to sleep because I just don't have the patience.
Part 2
Last night was a tiny bit easier, but it definitely wasn't stress free. They fell asleep a lot quicker so Ryan and I only had to lay there for 20 minutes or so. Instead of Ava waking up crying and trying to get out of her room, she woke up about the same time (3am) and started singing. I guess that's better, but I still worry about her waking up Lola. Amazingly, Lola didn't even wake up once, but she did fall out of bed three times. I had to come in and lay by Ava several times in the night. I had to get Ava out of the room at 5:30am because she walked over to Lola (who was sound asleep on the floor) and kept asking her "how are you?". I think she has another cold or something....Maybe she's teething....I hope that's why she can't sleep through the night.
Part 3
I decided to combine my on-going stories about the girls sleeping problems into one big post because it was getting stupid to make a new one each time. So, last night was better than the night before. We did our nighttime routine and put them in their beds, said goodnight, and shut the door. They were yelling "ba ba" so Ryan brought them their sippy cups. After that, we could hear them talking a little but then it was silent. It worked!!! I don't know WHAT worked, but it worked. I only went in once to put Lola back on her bed and to quiet Ava down. They slept until 7:30 in their own beds!!!