Sleep Baby, sleep!

I have so much catching up to do here.  Lots of pictures that need to be uploaded, many entries that need to be written.  I find it important to write all of this down, since I don't have a physical 'baby book' for any of my kids.  really, who has the time?  So, this is their baby book, written by me for them.  I hope they read it one day and realize how much I love them, and how much they make me crazy.  Haha.  Hey, it's true!

So, let's start with the most recent thing that's been going on: Sara's crappy sleeping habits.  

All of my children have started sleeping through the night at very early ages, and I've NEVER taken that for granted.  There have been times, over the course of the years, that a baby has slept in our bed.  No biggie.  I'm not a co-sleeping mother, but every once in a while doesn't hurt.  Jack and Emma never got 'used' to being in our bed, they went to their cribs/toddler beds very easily and it was never an issue.  When Sara was born, same thing, occasional sleeping in our bed (more often than the others, but still not a regular thing) and an easy transition to her crib.  

I've mentioned here before that usually when she is teething, or sick, she wakes up screaming in the middle of the night.  Well, in order to ensure that Jack and Emma remain asleep (keep in mind, they are all in one room...somebody, PLEASE by my house) I would automatically just bring Sara in with us.  Yeah, big mistake. Hello new habit.   As soon as she hits my bed, she falls asleep.  As soon as we put her back in her crib, she wakes up screaming.  Lather rinse, repeat.  It's  been happening A LOT as of late.  Now, she's been sick for about a week now, so I attributed it to that, so I was okay with bringing her in bed with us.  But, then I got to thinking...she takes her naps NO PROBLEM in her crib during the day, why is is so different for night time?

After a night of pure frustration for both Greg and I, I decided to try something.  Put her to bed after her regular nighttime routine.  Sound asleep, as per usual.  An hour later, screaming...as per usual.  So, I went in (she practically jumped in my arms), laid her back down, made sure she had her binky, blanky and giraffe, also known as Sara's Holy Trinity, and after a few more seconds of crying, she fell back to sleep.  She slept until about 5, way earlier than she normally wakes up, so I went in and tried it again.  Binky, blanky, giraffe, a few 'I love you's" and again, she fell back to sleep.

Is she cured?  Did I 'fix' her?  I guess time will tell, but I'm feeling victorious, and like I'm the smartest mother in the world (I know that I'm not, and after googling "my" method, I see that it's a relatively common practice for sleep training a toddler) but damn it, it feels good, let me have my moment!

Here's to hoping!!!

All of this staying up at night makes me tired!!-