sleep.

Sleep was always a touchy subject for us. I got tired of hearing all these new parents brag about their 1 month old sleeping thru the night. I desperately missed sleep and was getting more irratated and felt unlucky. Selfish of me, right?

But now that my daughter is 9 1/2 months old, things are 100% better. She doesn't need a bottle to go to bed, she doesn't need her swing, or to be held and cuddled, she doesn't need her pacifier, she doens't need to sleep in our room.

Before, she needed all that and sometimes more. We would give her a bath, read a story or play with a couple toys, give her her bottle and swing her to sleep. It worked perfectly, but I think we were forcing her to go to bed when she wasn't completely ready, which could have been the reasoning for her always waking up in the middle of the night. Or maybe we weren't keeping her active enough. But, I could be completely wrong. Those babies work in mysterious ways.

And now, things are amazing. She no longer is in our room and this was the toughest part for me, not waking up 4+ times in the middle of the night. I hated not having her right there in her pack n play or in our bed. But, I think the noise in our room was affecting her sleep, in a poor way. So, after much much talking, we decided to move her to her own room. And this has been the best decision, for ourselves and Laila. She sleeps much more peacefully and longer (which is a plus) and most nights, she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night. But, for the first couple of days, she was waking up 4+ times a night. I wouldn't pick her up, I would lay her on her back, rub her forehead and sing her a lullaby. 10 seconds later, she was out. This was repeated numerous times a night and eventually she got the hang of it.

Last night, on our way home from grocery shopping, she feel asleep. I had to wake her up because she desperately needed a bath. So, I got her bath all ready, took her out of the carseat, undressed her and sat her in the tub. She looked at me like I was nuts for waking her up. Which I was, but my baby was dirrtttyyy. Bath ended, Laila was dressed and in her crib she went. No crying, no paci. Nothing. She just went to sleep. She's able to put herself to sleep now and most of the time, she doesn't even cry. She coos. So adorable.

So, all in all. Sleep is going great with Laila and myself. But, I'm a little nervous to see if this will continue once we move into our new house...in 2 weeks!!!