And we're sleeping again!

I'm cautiously optimistic but it appears we have our good little sleeper back :) A few of our more experienced parent friends recommended letting her cry it out. I didn't like the idea at first (what parent really does?) but feeling we had exhausted all other options we gave it a try. Right away we wished we would have decided to do it on Friday because we had a 3 day weekend. The perfect opportunity to sleep train! Sadly we didn't seriously consider starting till Monday night after a very exhausting weekend. We considered waiting till the weekend but we figured we'd be losing sleep one way or another anyway and my Mom is spending the night Friday so that would not be ideal.

So Peter and I agreed on our game plan and Monday night we gave it a try. Lately I've been putting Carina in her crib after her bath and 7 pm feeding. She likes to hold my finger or hand while she falls asleep but Monday I didn't let her. I just stood by the crib till she fell asleep. She fussed only a tiny bit and fell asleep. I think this was a GREAT move because she didn't wake up again till 2:30 am. Much better than she had been sleeping lately. So when she woke up, Peter and I let her cry for 3 minutes. Then I went in to the nursery, cleaned the tears, snot and slobber off her face and sheets, gave her a kiss and told her it was time to go back to sleep. I went back to my bed and we let her cry another 5 minutes. Repeat trip to nursery. Let her cry another 10 minutes. Repeat. Then in less than 10 minutes after that she was asleep! We actually had to wake her in the morning. Something we haven't done in weeks because she always wakes before us and we bring her to our bed.

I was pleasantly surprised! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. She never got hysterical and it was obvious she really was trying to calm herself. She would cry a little, quiet down, cry a little more. Plus Peter and I make a good team. We just kept telling each other it was the best thing for everybody. We all need good sleep!

After a successful first night I was hoping it would only get better but preparing for another similar night. Last night I put her down at 7 and she was sound asleep. This is not ideal for sleep training because she's not learning how to soothe herself but there wasn't much I could do. She was asleep! I came downstairs, started reading a magazine and within 10 minutes she started screaming. Peter and I looked at the clock and said "Ok, in 3 minutes we'll check on her." But in less than 3 minutes she was sound asleep again. Miraculous! I could not believe it. And then to top it off... she slept ALL NIGHT. Hallelujah!

From what I've heard it's not uncommon for kids to pick up on sleep training in just a day or two. I just can't believe we got a good night's sleep last night. It was heavenly. So here's to hoping it sticks.

That's the biggest accomplishment of the week thus far but we're also introducing oatmeal back into Carina's diet. I know she needs some cereal in there. We've only been giving her fruits and veggies. When she was working through her tummy bug over the weekend I figured she could use something with a little more staying power. So this morning Carina and I went to Giant and picked up oatmeal, fruits, veggies, Puffs and biter biscuits. The oatmeal went over fairly well this morning. I mixed in some blueberries and apples. She gagged a couple times but I did make it just slightly thicker than her fruits and veggies. Not quite sure she's ready for Puffs or biscuits yet (and I know I'm not). We're looking into finding an infant CPR class to alleviate my choking fears.

But enough about sleeping and eating. Here are some tubby pics.