Good Sleepers

Someone asked David and I awhile back, "With your kids ages 5, 3, and 1, when do you sleep?" We answered, "For almost 12 hours every night if we want to." The man couldn't believe it.
Even though my kids can spend some days running through the house like rabid squirrels, fighting like starving tigers, and destroying everything in their path like wild monkeys, they are ALWAYS in bed by 8pm. This is David and my salvation as parents.
Teresa likes to sleep the most. At 16 months, she still takes a morning and afternoon nap and is ready to go to sleep by 7pm. They all get up somewhere around 6:30am the next morning.
Some of their great sleeping ability is God given, but it took some work on our part early on, too. Before we had Landen, I read the book "On Becoming Babywise," which was recommended by David's cousin who had 2 young children at the time. The idea is simple--keep your baby on a schedule as much as possible. Many family and friends have read this book and it has worked for everyone that I know of. David's cousin now has 5 children, and as far as I know, they are all still good sleepers. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Jan!)
Another hint we followed was to not rock our babies to sleep. None of our children have had a problem with this and it works great at home. At nap & bedtime, we put them in their beds and they go to sleep. The only time it is inconvenient is when we are away and there isn't a place for them to lie down.
The book also recommends letting them comfort themselves to some extent. They will wake up as they go through the different sleep cycles. At first they will cry, but if they are old enough and don't need to eat, it suggested to wait awhile and let them go back to sleep. This was the hardest for me at first, but it didn't take long and they were sleeping through the night. I believe the boys were between 12-13 weeks. Teresa was starting to sleep all night around that time, but then got really sick with RSV/Pneumonia. So, she got a free pass for about another month until I decided she really could do it. Still now she will start crying at about 10pm every night. I have picked her up some nights, but she doesn't want that either. So, we just know it is 10pm when she starts crying. It never lasts long before she settles down for the rest of the night.
If you are having trouble with your kids not sleeping, I really recommend this book. As my mom always says, "They're so much cuter in the morning when they sleep all night!"
If the screaming starts shortly after that, at least I know that bedtime is only 13 hours away.