Wow, another 5 weeks have passed. I think this may have been the hardest & the most fun 5 weeks yet. Up until a week ago, Reagan & I had been struggling with her nighttime sleeping. I was trying everything which was probably part of the problem. Subjecting my poor daughter to another sleep method every night. We had a few nights where I maybe got 2-3 hours of sleep...Reagan would go down to bed but then wake up 45 minutes later to cry for a while, then I'd try to rock her back to sleep only to have her wake up an hour later & on & on it went. At any rate, I think we've made it through this particular challenge. Three nights ago, Reagan would not fall asleep with me rocking her. This is what had been working for a month! So, I put her down in the crib, told Eric I'd be taking a bath & that Reagan was awake in her crib & we were going to let her cry for a while. Surely she'd eventually go to sleep. I got in the tub & sure enough, the whining/fussing started. Not 5 minutes later, I hear Eric in the room (over the monitor) soothing her. I hadn't wanted him to go in the room...I wanted her to cry for a while...but I was glad he did b/c that meant he didn't like hearing her cry either. His soothing didn't work, however, & her cries intensified. I got out of my bath & went to the room & of course, she stopped crying when I picked her up. I knew I wanted to try & break her habit of having me rock or nurse her to sleep, so we decided to let her cry for about 10 minutes & then I'd go in & check on her. Over an hour later (and after vomiting several times from crying so long), she finally passed out. She slept until around 2am which was great. The next night, she only cried for 38 minutes...I've been using my sports watch timer a lot lately. Last night, only 25 minutes. Today for her naps, she's cried for between 10-15 minutes each time...not too bad for a baby that had been relying on me to rock her to sleep. So, I think we're making progress.
On the more fun side of things, Reagan has changed SOOOO much this past month. She is rolling around everywhere. I'll lay her down on a quilt & then moments later she's 180 degrees turned in the opposite direction on the opposite side from which I set her. I think some of her sleep difficulties were probably related to the fact that she was working to reach this milestone. She is very active & I have a feeling we're going to have a crawler on our hands sooner rather than later.
Another new development is Reagan laughing. She's been smiling for a long time now, but her little laugh has started to blossom recently. It is one of the cutest sounds I've ever heard. She LOVES Big Bird & he usually makes her laugh. She loves to touch Eric's beard & often giggles when they're playing together. Despite the challenges at night (& related sleep deprivation for Mommy), she is so much fun & I love watching how she's growing & changing literally every day. Here are a few pictures from the last month!
WEEK 16
WEEK 17
WEEK 18
WEEK 19
WEEK 20
WEEK 21
