Thanks and Success!

Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions about an evening routine. I think I was making the routine much more complicated than it needed to be. We simplified it to:

• Before bed nursing
• A song or 2 (My repertoire consist of:
• Baby Beluga (with book)
• You Are My Sunshine
• The Muffin Bear (See below for explanation)
• Jesus Loves Me
• Jesus Loves the Little Children
• Read 2 books
• She gets laid in bed with Miss Bunny
• 1 more quiet song, a kiss, say goodnight and we leave.

The first night we let her cry for 10 minutes before comforting her and letting her nurse to sleep. Tonight was our 2nd try and she cried for 8 minutes (not very hard) and then had the sniffles for 12 more minutes before going to sleep. I could definitely tell a difference in her cries this time. She was more, "Please check on me" not, "I'm inconsolable and greatly upset". Once we have the evening routine down I'll start working on naps. She's much harder to get down at nap time because she's not as tired.

I'm hoping to get her sleeping longer mainly because she's just not getting enough sleep. Even though I strive to get her sufficient naps during the day I'm pretty certain she's a bit sleep deprived because she's such a light sleeper and is so hard to get down (whether day or night). When she does sleep more than normal I can tell such a difference in her daytime demeanor. She's generally a happy baby but it's even more so on days when she sleeps extra.

Lyrics to The Muffin Bear by Mommy
(I call Greta my Muffin Bear)

Do you know, the muffin bear
the muffin bear, the muffin bear
Do you know, the muffin bear
who lives on Bathurst Lane?

Yes, I know, the muffin bear
the muffin bear, the muffin bear
Yes, I know, the muffin bear
and Greta is her name.

Update: She fussed a bit around 11:30 so I went in to check on her. She cried more when I walked in there! I settled her (without picking her up) and told her good night again. She calmed down quickly and slept until 6. We did get her out of her bed around 5 because I REALLY needed her to eat but she never woke up and went back into her bed easily. It's crazy that 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep can make me feel so rested.