weeks 18 & 19

Sleep has been our main issue lately. "They" say once a baby is 14 lbs they should be able to go long enough without eating to sleep through the night. Alyssa is about 14 lbs now. We used to rock her to sleep while she sucked on her paci but shes old enough that she needs to learn to put herself to sleep. I have read/skimmed through 2 books on how to get your child to sleep through the night. We decided to kind of use the "cry it out" method...but modified. We give her a bath, lube her up with lotion before putting her in pjs, semi-swaddle her (both of her arms are free now, its just wrapped around her body...we are in the processing of weaning her from needing to be swaddled), read her a story, and then lay her in bed awake BUT still with a paci. If she doesn't drop her paci she will just lay there and watch her aquarium for a few minutes and drift off to sleep...all by her self. So that is a big improvement. We don't have to rock her/walk around with her for 20 minutes and then slowly try to get her into bed and sneak out without her waking. But she still does need her paci to soothe herself to sleep. If she drops it we let her cry for 5 minutes before going back into the room. We will then sneak in and put the paci back into her mouth and sneak out, trying not to let her see us. It usually doesn't take more than 2 or 3 times and sometimes we don't need to go back in at all. So getting her to sleep is easy now BUT her staying asleep isn't going quite as well. Last night she went to bed at 9 pm and didn't wake up for the day until 7:45 however she woke up at 1 am, 3 am, and 6 am for us to put her paci back in her mouth. We used the same process in the middle of the night and it took about 2-3 times each time. Dave and I are kind of torn as to where to go from here. Should we TRY to wean her off her paci so maybe she won't need it in the middle of the night, which would be a really rough process. She has had an extremely hard suck and desire to suck since the day she was born. Right after delivery the nurse said she looked like she'd be a pacifier baby. Or do we wait it out until she is old enough to find the pacifier and put it back into her mouth herself. We are only awake about 15 minutes each time, which is do-able. If she could just get herself back to sleep when she woke, she would be sleeping about 10 hours each night, which would be amazing. I hate hearing her cry for those 5 minutes (as she is doing at this moment) but I think I am doing the best thing for her trying to teach her how to self soothe.
Nap time we do the same thing. She wakes up after 30 minutes every time though...to the minute...literally. And then sometimes she will go back to sleep after a few crying cycles. When the time comes to pick her up out of her crib at the end of the set nap duration, I hate seeing those little tears and red face. She is so happy to see me though which makes me feel bad.
So sleep is improving but we still have a lot of work to do...
We started feeding her rice cereal last week. Since doing that is when she has been able to go from 9-7 without eating. She is doing okay with it. I'd say half ends up on her shirt and on her face at the end of it, but shes getting better. I'll try to upload a video during tonight or tomorrow.
Alyssa got to see her first snow a few days ago, which got Dave off of work yesterday and not have to go in until 12 today....All for about 2 inches. It was great to have him home so we could work on the house. We tiled/grouted the kitchen and painted the kitchen blue. The appliances are getting delivered Saturday and the countertops in about a week or so.
Alyssa has her 4 month baby wellness appointment this friday and I'm so excited to see her stats and percentiles, but not so much about the shots. I am also going to ask the doctor about piercing her ears. I think we might wait until the sleep situation is under control though, which will hopefully be soon.
She just keeps getting more and more interactive and its so fun to watch her learn. You can really see the wheels turning in that little head of hers as she plays.