Don't let the bedbugs bite

With her Papa this past weekend. I know this
bottom picture is blurry, but I still thought it
was cute.














As soon as the baby was born, I started stressing
about how to get her to sleep through the night,
so that she would not be waking up every 3 hours
when she was 6 and wanting to be rocked to sleep.
I have been reading a lot lately on how to teach your
child to sleep, and I decided to give it a try last week.
The most common method is to let them "cry it out,"
which I have always hated, because I hate to hear her
cry, especially if I can do something about it. Everything
I have read calmed my concerns though, as all the experts
say that it does not do them any harm to cry, and it's really
much harder on the parents than on the child.

The first night she woke up at her regular times, around
midnight, 3 and 5 (see why I wanted her to sleep through
the night?). We let her scream. The next night we did the
same thing, and she screamed less. The next night she only
woke up twice, screamed once for 30 minutes, and the other
time just babbled. The next night she woke up only once and
just babbled. The past 3 nights she hasn't woken up at all, from
7:30p-6:30a! We have even established a set bedtime, put her down,
and usually she's out within minutes. It is AWESOME. That saying
is true, "when mama is happy, EVERYONE is happy." We did
try the method of going in to pat her whild she is screaming, but rather
than comfort her, it just seemed to rile her up. "What he hell people?
I'm crying! Pick me UP!"

She is also in her crib, in her own room. Now we do not have to tiptoe around
at night when we are getting ready for bed, etc. The only problem is that I
can not see her at night, can not make sure she is breathing. Sometimes I would
just stand there and watch her chest rise and fall forever, just to make sure.
Now that she is sleeping 12 hours straight, I wake up at 6:30 in a panic,
terrified that she's pulled something over her face since I have not heard a
peep. I know that is probably an irrational fear, but what can I say, I like
to hear her breathing, and the tiny little sighs she makes in her sleep.