sleeping training

after 13 months of nursing, rocking and and bouncing to sleep multiple times a night, we decided it was time for sleep training. since we returned from hawaii, her sleep had declined and we were all tired and frustrated. there is always a debate between the no-cry sleep solutions and the cry-it-out methods. it comes down to having to decide what your limits are and what is best for your family. and when it is best for your family. we decided to go with the ferber method, which is a cry-it-out method. the first night was awful. about 80% of the time was spent with her crying and us going in in intervals reassuring her that she was ok. but we were not to pick her up or stay in the room till she feel asleep. this also meant no nursing! this was hard for me and my boobs. the next day was a bit of a mess since none of us had gotten much sleep. but that night there was a huge improvement. we decided it would be best for zach to do most of the reassuring because he was a bit more strong willed that i was. so for the first time in 13 months i got to stay in bed for an entire night (this does not mean i was asleep the whole time but it's a start). tonight is the 3rd night and she has only woken up once.

it feels a little bit too easy but i'll keep you posted.

hawaii

second vacation of her life - hawaii! we went to hawaii for zach's parents 40th anniversary. it was quite the journey with 10 flights total roundtrip. she slept for all 5 flights out to hawaii and was fairly pleasant for the 5 flights back. each way we stopped over in phoenix for a night to break up the trip and visit with aaron, jenn, emma and milo. we also got to see my dad for a bit.

the trip was fun but traveling with a one year old is exhausting!!! and not really like a vacation. although it was nice to have grandparents to help out!!

pictures of the trip can be found here.