Who needs sleep?

It was roseola after all! Avery broke out in a rash on Sunday night and has been totally fine ever since. She went to "school" both days this week. Our main issue now is sorting out her sleeping issues.

Avery used to sleep perfectly through the night, but recently she has had trouble going down and then wakes up several times throughout the night. I attribute this to several factors:

1. We were out of town a lot during March/April so her schedule was thrown off
2. Her teeth are hurting her like crazy
3. She's been sick
4. Dave's been out of town so I've spoiled her by putting her in my bed when she wakes up
5. Separation anxiety is setting in and she wants me 24/7
6. The main issue- she loves to be on the move and whenever she flutters her eyes, she rolls over, crawls over to the side of the crib and pulls up.

So basically she wakes up like every 3 hours and does not want to go back down. We don't want to let her get in the habit of sleeping in our bed and even nursing her or giving her a bottle doesn't work a lot of the time. Ugh. So, we've decided she will just have to cry it out. This week, she's been going down relatively easily but waking up at 11. I make sure she has a clean diaper, give her her paci and her blankie, and then close the nursery door and turn off the monitor. (don't worry, our house is the size of a postage stamp so I can definitely still hear her, plus we have the wonderful video monitor) I also go in every once in a while to lay her back down and give her back the pacifier. I feel guilty, but I just can't stay up all night! Dave has been going downstairs to sleep, and Avery usually plays for a little while, crys, screams, whines, and dozes off. It's been getting better every night so we'll see.

My other strategy is to wear her out during the day playing and crawling around.



On another note, Avery and our cat, Dawkins, are best friends. Avery is obsessed with animals, and Dawkins tolerates her surprisingly well. She pulls and pokes on him and he lets her for a while until he just walks away. He's in more trouble now that she's mobile. Today she even tried to pull up on his back- ha ha. Here they are bonding.