Thanks I will look into that book! I do agree with you on the parents I know who did cc or cio. I have one friend whose 2 year old still screams himself to sleep every night and they have done cc from 6 months. I do not want my babies screaming and upset over bedtime!
Like I said in a previous post, my first was EASY! He literally just started sleeping through on his own! With my new little guy it took weeks of tweaking his schedule....offering a few extra feeds in the evening, playing with bedtimes to find the perfect one for him, experimenting with routines before bed (turns out baths excite him too much haha). But he is now sleeping 7pm to 5am. I get him up at the first sign of fussing and feed him and most of the time he eats and goes back to sleep until 7 or 8am. But we didn't even start working on it until he was 5 months old and there was no crying. If he was the slightest upset over a change, he'd be back with me for the night. And like I said it's been a weeks long process of gentle sleep adjustment and I really hate when well meaning people too told me "all it takes is 3 nights of cio!" ummm no.
I do especially agree with you about how they're only little once and we should enjoy them and the late night snuggles. It sounds like you're a really great mom. I really wish I could be a little more laid back on the sleep, but for us I really needed to do something as my baby, my toddler, and my sanity were all suffering from lack of sufficient rest! 2 under 2 is very full on and man routine and sleep is key for us!
Having two young children like that is probably when parents are most susceptible to trying things like CC, but you haven't so go you! 
