It is so interesting to see what a difference there is between Max and Rory's sleep habits. We did sleep training with both of them, and it worked great both times as they each go to sleep with little to no fuss every night. Of course we've tweaked it as necessary but it works so I'm happy!

Once Max was sleep trained, he was relatively easy to put down at night. We got our routine down, and once it was over we'd lay him in bed and he'd just lay there and go to sleep. Sometimes he takes books or toys to bed but he sets them next to his head and we're pretty sure he just lays there until he falls asleep. Usually the most noise we hear from him is when he's banging his feet against his mattress. We know he does this both awake and asleep so we never know for sure which state he is in, but it's relatively quiet and we let him do what he has to do.

If he wakes up in the middle of the night he usually will cry or whimper and he'll continue that until he falls back asleep. It never lasts more then a couple minutes and if it does we'll go to him then as we know something is wrong. Otherwise we are usually peacefully back to sleep shortly after he woke us up.

Rory is still on sleep training mode in the effect that she's under one and hasn't been weened off the bottle so we'll have to work out a new routine in a few months. When the bottle is finished at night Rory will squirm and cry as you carry her to the crib. Once you lay her down she will roll to her side and be quiet and still. It's as if she is mad at you for not getting her to her crib fast enough! A few minutes after we leave we will hear her "talking". She will do this anywhere from a couple minutes to over a half an hour. But like Max, it works for her so we let her "talk" herself to sleep.

The problem is that if Rory wakes up in the middle of the night, she has to "talk" herself back to sleep, and she usually does this for quite a long time as she is a much lighter sleeper then Max is and tends to become fully awake. Being that we have the baby monitor, we are stuck listening to her one way conversations until she falls back asleep. (She does cry when something is wrong so we at least know the difference between an issue or just waking up as opposed to Max's sleep habits.)

Last night was especially horrendous as she has developed a cough, thanks to her cold wrapping up, and woke herself up numerous times all night long. I spent a good part of the evening/morning guessing as to what she could possibly be saying to herself in the middle of the night. I can only hope that it was something along the lines of "Gosh I love my mommy so much, I'm going to let her sleep lots and lots this weekend!"