It worked! It worked! It worked!

Last night, I tried the slightly modified bedtime routine and it worked!!!! Instead of bringing Becca upstairs and hanging out with her in our room for a little while, I brought her right into her room and just started her bedtime routine. Instead of it taking 40 minutes to an hour, it took less than [...]

Course Correction

The sleep saga continues! Becca is now consistently sleeping in her crib at night (yeah for us!!). However, she still has another little habit that we need to break– nursing to sleep in our bed. It just isn’t working for me anymore.
For one thing, I am trying (half-heartedly) to wean her so encouraging this is [...]

In the Blink of an Eye

I had one of those close calls with Becca today that just really made my heart stop.
Becca is now officially walking and enjoys doing it whenever she can.  This is all well and good when we are in the house, library or some other enclosed place.  However, it becomes more complicated when I am running [...]

Slight Name Change

Now that I have been posting more regularly to this blog, I would like to make some minor changes.  First of all, I am going to begin to sign my name Mary Kate rather than M. Kate.  When I first started this, it felt very cool and mysterious to sign using the initial.  However, it [...]

A Time of Thanks

Taking time to give thanks

Happily surrounded by friends and family
Apple Pie that didn’t happen
Napping in the car

Kissing everyone hello
Shaking with laughter
Giggling as she chases the dog
I burned the pie crust twice
Valuing all that I have in my life
I realized I didn’t need to eat it all
Nourished by love
Getting home without much traffic

Operation Take Back Our Bed: Moving in the right direction

It has been two weeks since we began the process of sleep training Becca and I am pretty happy with our progress. Becca is now consistently sleeping in her crib. During the second weekend, we weaned her down to waking up 1x a night (thankfully!). It was necessary for us to let her cry for [...]

Operation Take Back Our Bed: Nights Two Through Six

Nights Two through Six are actually a blur right now. It is amazing how quickly I can forget the details of my life.
After making it through the 1st night, Mr. O and I were committed to sticking with our plan: Becca in her own bed. I had decided that I would continue to nurse [...]

Operation Take Back Our Bed: Night One

I had read a few books/articles and talked to my friends; I had bought the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium and Mr. O and I had decided on a sleep strategy. We were ready to get started!
Our Strategy
We purposefully began “Operation Take Back Our Bed” on a Friday night so both Mr. O and [...]

Operation Take Back Our Bed: The Plan

Now that Mr. O and I decided that we wanted Becca to sleep in her own bed, we needed to figure out how to make that happen. Since what we have been doing hasn’t been working, I figured it was time to look into other ideas. I read a few books about sleep including the [...]

Operation Take Back Our Bed Has Begun!- Phase 1: Get Both Parents on Board

In the past few months, Becca has been spending more and more time sleeping with us. Mr. O detests hearing her cry and figures she wants to sleep with us ’so what’s the big deal?’. Before Becca could stand up in her crib, it really wasn’t a big deal. When I laid her down in [...]