I was SO pleased that our sleep training had gone well last week. Five days in, and Georgia was able to get herself off to bed in her cot - sure, it took a while & I was still in the room {out of sight} but she was doing it! We even had our first sleep through again for the first time in months.

But then, things went haywire. Hubby got home from his interstate trip, and we got sick. It started with Georgia skipping her afternoon nap - which turned into up every hour, on the hour, and not much sleep for any of us. After that came more nap skipping & screaming like a banshee constantly. It's so heartbreaking to see all the good efforts you've made go flying out the window, when you're doing practically everything exactly the same.

I was at a loss - until I saw a little flash of white. Yep, I now know the culprit for all this chaos - her second tooth is jigging around under there, and hasn't yet cut through. Bloody teeth!

This time, we're well armed. Panadol, Nurofen, Bonjela & SM-33 creams. Lots of cuddles and a whole lot of deep breaths & patience. I'm hoping she'll get this tooth quickly, because the last few days have been a nightmare.

Georgia is delightful at the moment. Still very clingy and attached to her mama, but happy with other people, talking up a storm, and hamming it up for anyone who will listen. That being said, her sleeping is appalling. Even though she has been day napping, it's because I was spending ages rocking her to sleep & crossing my fingers that she'd transfer across to the cot. Don't get me wrong, I love cuddles from my girl, but I have been getting NOTHING done - so it was time to break out the sleep training again.

I've chosen a modified version; not crying it out, because I just can't go there, but letting her learn to put herself to sleep. I'm there in the room, mostly out of sight, but listening to her cries & being there to sssh & pat if she gets upset. I'm also picking up/calming/putting down if she becomes hysterical. I did this for a little while before, but got too exhausted from the crying, and gave up. I'm trying again, and not giving in this time! She's taken a long time to go to sleep - but eventually she's getting there. I've had a comforter & soft toys in her bed too, which is new for me. It's not the way I envisioned her sleeping, but I've found that a lot of the tears and frustration comes from being in there & being bored. The toys tend to distract her from constantly searching for me too, and she snuggles her comforter before falling asleep.

This is all still with her sleeping next to me - after she eventually figures out the self settling, we'll start the next big step - transitioning into her nursery for all sleeps.

Any other settling tips you'd like to share? I'm always happy to try new things!

Oy, it's been a big week.

Georgia had her first swimming lesson this past weekend - we started off a little unsure of ourselves...

And then finished in tears - thirty straight minutes of tears and a very frazzled mama bear at the end of the lesson!
I couldn't figure out what it was that was bothering her - she loves bath time, so was it the cooler water? The noise of the pool? Being in with other people?

Well, the very next day, she cut her first tooth - the bottom right one is coming through. It's coming through on an angle, like a \ shape, which has me paranoid now that she'll have crooked teeth for life. Anyone else have any experience with baby teeth coming in crooked?

She also developed a wicked cold and has been miserable since then - crying like a, well, baby, constantly. She also wants to be with me 24/7, and bawls if I put her down. She's also completely gone off her cot, is getting by on 30 minutes during the day, and is wanting to co-sleep at nights - I'm wicked tired. Today is the first day in a week that she's having a nap on her own.

Can you believe that she's over 7 months old now? She weighed in at 7.8kg and is perfectly average on the 50% graph. So thrilled she's growing well & getting cuter and more personality every day.

I'm a few days late with our month seven run-down. I can't even comprehend that it's November, seriously.