Time Keeps Slipping Away

My little miss is now 9 months old. It hardly seems possible she's been in this world as long as it took for her to prepare to enter it. Molly had her 9 month well baby visit with the pediatrician today. She's measuring in at 18 pounds, 6 ounces (50th percentile) and 28.5 inches (90th percentile). Her height has stayed consistent since birth which continues to blow me away. Her weight dropped a bit int he last 6 months but the doctor didn't seem too concerned since Molly really only started eating solids a month ago. She's not too keen on pureed baby food but she loves self feeding and is a much better eater than her brother. Tonight for dinner she ate a half of a zucchini followed by a chaser of pureed peaches. She loves Cheerios and gets bouncy and excited when she sees that familiar yellow box. It took a lot of practice but she's crawling with determination (and speed!) which has freaked Patrick out just a bit. And she's far more interested in things like cords and plugs than her brother was (or maybe just more than I remember). I definitely need to keep my eye on her. She has 6 teeth now, and seems ready to pop 2 more through int he next week or so. Her hair is getting long enough to get in her eyes so I need to keep it clipped back (with a bow of course!). She continues to be an absolute joy for all of us.

BUT, and this is a big one, she has become a terrible sleeper. We thought we hit the jackpot when she slept around the clock as a newborn. She never had that night and day confusion. From day 1 she gave us great stretches at night. At only a few months old she started sleeping through the night occasionally. And then the teething started. One tooth was ready to pop through, and then another, and another, and before we knew it she was regularly getting up to nurse 3 times a night. You could set a watch by it, she was up at 11, 3 and 6. Mommy and Daddy started to get exhausted, naps were getting wonky, no one was happy and we decided we needed to get hard core. So tonight we tried the Ferber sleep method, which is a gentle method of crying it out but it break my heart nonetheless. The pediatrician was the one who suggested it today, so I know it is considered "ok" to do but I still feel like a crappy mom. I feel like we've broken her little spirit, like she's now learned that no one is going to really respond to her so don't even bother. It makes my heart hurt. I never could do it with Patrick, left on his own in the crib he would hysterically cry until he vomited. Every...single...time. After reading several sleep books that didn't work we ended up rocking him to sleep for naps and bedtime until he turned 1 and finally started sleeping through the night. He sleeps fine now, so no harm, no foul, right? So here I sit, typing away, as my (broken spirited?) little baby sleeps in her crib and I pray that this works because I don't think I have the heart to repeat this scene every night. This too shall pass. Until then I may just move to Australia.