We finally sleep trained the little man...

I've been really sentimental lately... I just can't believe my little baby is going to turn ONE next month! How fast the year has gone by! I think about all those wonderful slow days last December when he was brand new and how I got to snuggle him for hours on end. I just LOVED it! Oh, a Christmas baby is the best!

This picture is from when our little Benjamin Gabriel was 5 days old. It was Christmas evening, and our home was warm, the tree was lit, the older kids were tucked in bed, and Josh and I were relaxing in the living room. I was cuddled on the couch with Benjamin and just soaking in his heavenly newborn smell... that evening is a favorite memory, and one I'll always love to remember!

(Here's a picture of Benjamin on our Christmas morning, when he was in his swing sleeping as we opened presents with Jude and Selah.)

Josh and I sleep trained Jude and Selah when they were between 6-9 moths old. I know, that's probably way late to some people, but that's just when we'd do it. We did the "brief and boring" every five minute method and it worked like a charm with both kids.

I think because Benjamin is our baby, I've had such a hard time committing to sleep training. It's because I want to rock him, and snuggle him and cuddle him. I haven't wanted to just put him in his crib and have him put himself to sleep... it just felt like an era would be ending and I was clinging to it. But about a week ago, I knew it was time. Benjamin needed to learn and I knew it would be best for all of us and we could all finally start getting good sleep. So, about a week ago Josh and I started being super consistent with "brief and boring" every 5 minutes, and sure enough the little man is sleep trained and sleeping through the night. I have to admit, I feel amazing getting some sleep! :) We put Benjamin to bed about 8pm and he sleeps until 5am. Then I feed him briefly and he goes right back to sleep until almost 8am. I could probably help him ditch the 5am feeding pretty easily, but baby steps people! ;)

p.s. I set up a little mini white paper studio in our living room by the large slider window last weekend just to try my hand at a studio shot for fun. This isn't anything I'm going to be doing by any means, but it was fun to play around! :)