McKenna is getting to be quite the self-aware little thing! I'd swear I caught her checking out her nails yesterday! haha

Really, everythings pretty good except we went through a period of screaming whenever I put her down for naps or sleep, so I did some research (called friend and family as well as looked online) to find out what works for other moms. During the course of my research, I learned that I most likely caused the problem, because for awhile I would nurse her and then gently move her so she could nap. Evidently this causes a "negative sleep association" and so she was thinking she needed to nurse in order to fall asleep.

Normally, this wouldn't really bother me since she sleeps really well at night (all the way through), but I knew that if she went through teething or got sick and was waking up a lot at night, she'd need comfort nursing in order to fall back asleep, so I decided we needed her to be able to soothe herself to sleep. (And she'd been doing great for the longest time - I could put her to bed awake and she'd fall asleep no problem) So, we decided to try the "cry it out method" and it has worked! Basically, I'd put her in her crib at bed or naptime while she's awake, after having been read to, fed, and changed, and walk away. If she started crying, I'd come back in 5 minutes to reassure her, then walk away again, each time coming back after longer intervals if she was still crying. Once she understood that I wasn't going to pick her up or nurse her she decided she could put herself to sleep. So she just sucks her thumb and goes to sleep on her own now. I went through a lot of guilt while going through this, feeling like a horrible mom for letting her cry, but it's worth it to have a baby that you can put down and she'll promptly fall asleep for you. So, she pretty much got the hang of it (only took two days vs. a week like some experts say) quickly. Well, that's the update. She's upstairs sleeping right now taking her morning nap and mommy gets some computer time!