Sleep training

For those of you moms or children that easily slept through the night early on in your life...you are lucky.
And apparently, according to all that I am reading, very abnormal.
Most children do not sleep through the night, without parental intervention (rocking, nursing, cuddling, etc.) til they are in preschool.
PRESCHOOL!!
Lord help me!
Ashby has been a very good little nurser since I had her. I have literally not ever given her a drop of formula. Not even in the hospital. It has been a blessing for us both (i.e. cheap, convenient, bonding, easy.) But now, at 13.5 months I am starting to want to have my body completely back before I (pause, drawing in a deep deep breath) decide to try for the next one. I am running a half marathon this summer (hill workout today...yikes and awesome at the same time) and my goal is to have weaned her by then (approximately 17 months.
I am a little saddened at the prospect, but also know I have had an incredible experience nursing her.
Back to the point.
While Ashby has been an incredible nurser, she has also not been an incredible sleeper. The thing is that I could always put her right back to sleep with nursing, but with the exception of a few sweet months when she was waking up after 5-6 hours, she has been waking every 2 hours, on the hour (sometimes more) to nurse. And mostly just to pacify herself.
Dave and I would like our bed back. And I would LOVE to have 7 hours of uninterupted sleep, maybe even more.
So were working on it. I had to finally let go and say "She is going to be ok, feel loved, and safe, without sleeping in my bed." I know that logically, but when you have a sweet baby who grows into a sweet and happy toddler, it is hard to change something knowing that it will be hard for them too.
I'll keep you posted. We're using the no-cry sleep method book. Which has been more like the minimal cry sleep method book.
Progress so far in 2 weeks. A daily 2 hour nap in her crib. By herself.
Some parents think I am nuts for just now getting this milestone.
In many ways I do too.
But Parenting is not one-size-fits-all. Life is very different for all of us. I feel bad for some of the "i'll never be that parent" statements I have either thought or made in my life.
I'll leave you with a few of my sweet sleeping baby pictures.

4 days old.

tired babies

LOVE the ergo

when she finally fell asleep in the car..(shes not a huge fan)