Sleep wins!

Well it only took about 717 days, but Avery finally slept through the night! Now one night of good sleep does not a good sleeper make, and she's thrown a good night in here and there, so I am yet to throw her a party, but I will take successes as they come.  

A few things happened since the overly descriptive ice cream incident I so kindly burned in your brain last week. One, we went on a trip sans kids for a wedding in Dallas. As expected, Avery had a rough first night with Eric's parents, waking up several times, but most likely that is due to the fact that I'd been nursing her in the middle of the night (sleep deprivation makes you desperate). I knew this trip would be my opportunity to stop breastfeeding once and for all (like for ALL time) and I knew it would ultimately be best for both of us and hopefully help her with sleep. Because really, if you have the option of a midnight ice cream malt, would you pass it up? 

After returning, we had a few rough moments when I told her the mommy milk was all gone, and even yesterday, four days after we returned, she gave one last ditch effort. "Milk?" she asked pitifully, pointing to my chest, but it was the equivalent effort of a hopeless drunk who raises his drink to the bartender after last call. He can't not ask, but he knows he's cut off.  After returning home to her torture chamber big girl bed, she continued to wake up, but was content with her paci, and my hair, to soothe her. And then last night she went to sleep on her bed and then waltzed into my room at 6am, still a bit early, but I'll take it!

Now bedtime is still and issue, but I think we will get it worked out soon. The problem is we are now in a cycle where she takes a three hour nap, but won't go to bed until after 9:30. Then sleep until 6. So she gets about 8 hours of sleep. It's a hard cycle to break, and I even tried to wake her up from her nap yesterday after 2.5 hours, but she wasn't having it. And I really need her to be ready to sleep when we start out bedtime routine. Last night the great news was she did not follow me out after I said good night. The bad news is that it was 9:45, two hours since her brothers had been asleep. 

Last night was a win and we have a babysitter tonight. We may be sitting in our driveway at 9:45, waiting until we see her light off and hear silence! Out babysitter earns her money!