Time for sleep training?

Our bedtime routine usually involves a bath, pajamas, and an evening nurse. The bath is usually pleasant. Kaylee usually enjoys her time in the bath. She'll fuss when she wants someone to play with her. During her bath I usually rush a face washing and teeth brushing for myself. Then I'll get her out and she'll usually fight the dressing part. As soon as she figured out how to move around herself, changing diapers and getting dressed has been a slight struggle. Once she is dressed we'll usually go downstairs to say good-night to Daddy who is usually found playing Xbox, decompressing from the day. Then Kaylee and I prepare the bed and she'll have her night nurse, which usually puts her to sleep. If she falls asleep I tend to play on the computer, sit with Curtis and actually talk to him, or clean the kitchen.

Now, if she doesn't fall asleep, which is happening more and more I will then put her in the crib or the pack n' play and leave. Boy, does she not approve of that! She'll wail until I return, which is usually 30 minutes later after I finish cleaning the kitchen. When I pick her up she instantly stops crying. I'll then lay her down in bed, nurse her, and she is out. At least for a couple of hours.

Our problem has been the night-time waking. The night-time waking has resulted in Curtis sleeping separate from Kaylee and I. It is a little odd to have the dad spending more asleep time in the nursery than the baby! But it was easier for me to keep Kaylee asleep if she stayed in bed with me, and it allowed Curtis to actually get a full-nights rest if he slept separate. I love sharing the bed with Kaylee, but I miss Curtis so much. So it is time to reassess, is it time for sleep training?

For the record I have no problem letting my daughter cry. The cry it out method just seems so cold. How can one expect a baby to all of a sudden figure out how to fall asleep and stay asleep on their own? Which is why we ended up bed-sharing and nursing to sleep. Some babies are great sleepers and some are not. Kaylee is not a great sleeper. So tonight is night #1 of 9 in our sleep training quest. Tonight and the next two nights I will nurse Kaylee and lay her down in her crib before she falls asleep. Then the crying will begin, and I get to sit there next to the crib and talk to her, console her, but not pick her up. At some point she will fall asleep, I am guessing it will take an hour and 30-minutes for her to fall asleep. And we'll repeat this for two more nights. My question is what to do when she wakes up in the middle of the night? What do I do then? I suppose I'll console her, but not pick her up. Boy tonight is going to be rough!!!

The next three nights I am suppose to distance myself from the crib and verbally console her. The following two nights be at the door and continue to talk, and the last night, the 9th night, I should be able to lay her down and walk out the door. We'll see how far we get. Wish us luck!

I wish I didn't have to sleep train Kaylee. My wish is that Kaylee would sleep through the night and that our bed was bigger!!