A New Form of Mommy Torture

We've been very lucky these first six months. For the most part, Rachel has been a good sleeper. I've been content to rock her to sleep despite what the books recommended because once asleep, she'd stay asleep. Since her discovery of the world in the form of crawling, we've tossed that out the window and after some very rough nights the past two weeks, I decided it was time to let her cry it out. Nick has been doing this on his own some for awhile, but I can't stand to hear her cry. There will be so many things in life to cry about - I didn't really think bedtime should be one. But, I also know that teaching her to fall asleep on her own is also a valuable skill. So...that's what we've been doing. Rachel is smart though. She knows Mommy is the weak link and she pours it on THICK. The first night was 45 minutes of sobbing hysterically. Last night was only 30 minutes (maybe a little less). We didn't leave her in there to sob for all that time. (We did go in to give her the paci and tell her we loved her...) I'm confident that it'll continue to decrease. I also know that if ever in a situation where someone wanted me to crack and confess to something, putting me in a room and making me listen to Rachel cry for more than 5 minutes would do the trick.