To Ferberize or not to Ferberize...

Ugh...how about we meet in the middle.  Up until recently we either held Lauren til she went to sleep or laid her in between us until she calmed down, fell asleep, and then we would transfer her into her own bed for a full nights sleep.  It dawned on us recently that we were going to have a very crowded bed in a few months with the new addition and that we better figure something out before the new little girl arrives!  Before Lauren was born, we would have just said "oh let them cry themselves to sleep"..not so easy when you have one of your own.  Obviously, she is 9 months and we still haven't made her do it.  We just can't. I can't hear the whales and see the tears and just leave her there.  I can't. I won't.  It might work for some and that's great. I won't do it.  I know when my child is tired.  I would rather let my child run out their energy while we are still up than put them in bed and just let them scream themselves to sleep. 
The last two nights, we have not rocked Lauren to sleep.  We have just waited til she shows signs of being sleepy (i.e. rubbing eyes, wanting to be held etc.) and then we took her to her room, put her in bed with her dolly and sea horse, kissed her goodnight and left.  We kind of got a scolding...not whaling tears or cries..just whines and the shaking of the side of the crib like.."Hey...people! Come get me!!"  I'm sure you parents know what I am talking about.  The intermittent yells were each a few minutes apart and slowly got further apart and stopped after about 15 minutes. She was sound asleep. Yay!  This was hard for Kevin and I to do.  Lauren has never been much of a crying baby. She has been so good since she was born, so any sort of crying, whining etc. just breaks our heart.  She has also been sleeping through the night since she was 8 weeks old, with the exception of a few teething/sick nights and the occasional I lost my pacifier whimper but right back to sleep she goes.  So before now, we never really felt the need to let her put herself to sleep. 
Lauren now knows how to pacify herself for the most part.  She still loves to be held.  I try to snuggle her as much as I can during the day.  I don't like to see her big brown eyes, teary and sad looking up at me as she yanks on my pant leg.  Overall, we are happy with the results of the last 2 nights.  Our method works for us right now.  No tears from mom and dad or Lauren, and Lauren sleeping soundly through the night without even a whimper!