Counting my blessings

It's been over 2 weeks since I've been able to spend the entire night in my bed.

Little Sister decided to escape from her crib a couple of Sunday's ago and so we've had to move her to a toddler bed. This happened to take place while I was in the process of weaning her from her bedtime bottle. What timing.

It's been rough to say the least.

The good news is that I'm happy to report that the bottle is gone!! I made sure to throw all of the bottles away so I wouldn't be tempted to use one in a moment of desperation and weakness. I'm very glad I did because there was a couple of times I would have done just that.

Let me say that Turner was WAY easier to wean from the bottle and transition to a toddler bed. First of all, he never climbed out of his crib. Didn't even try. We moved him to a toddler bed for his 2nd birthday. We bought him a few cool sheet sets and made it a fun 'Big Boy' event. The bottle was a bit more difficult for him to quit, but he didn't hold a candle to how hard it was for Lauren.

Something new I've learned about my daughter over the past couple of weeks? That girl is not a quitter! She is very hard-headed, determined, and stubborn. There have been nights where she would leave her bed at every opportunity for hours at a time. I felt like a zombie. Nap time hasn't gone any easier. A person would think she would be exhausted from not sleeping, but she proves to have enough fight left in her to not take naps some days.

I'm pooped!!

But it's getting better. I'm finally beginning to see the light at the end of this tunnel. Her bedtime was taking 90 minutes from books to sleep. We're down to 30 minutes. Definitely do-able! I've started putting her to bed an hour later so she's a bit more tired. She typically wakes at 4:30 a.m., calls for me, and I sit beside her bed until she falls back asleep. Not too shabby.

Here's the thing though... at bedtime, I'm holding her in my arms until she falls asleep instead of putting her to bed and leaving the room. I know this will probably end up biting me in the ass later, but for now it's the only way I'm able to get my evening tasks completed and allow Turner to go to bed at a decent time. All of her dramatics and continuously getting up and crying out were keeping big brother up too. Poor kid wasn't getting much sleep either. Hubs could sleep next to a busy train track and never wake, so the nighttime shenanigans haven't been much of an issue for him. (Sidenote: One of these nights, I'm going to remove his underwear while he sleeps and replace them with a pair of mine. I know he'll sleep through it, and what a glorious surprise when he wakes up!)

I guess I'm going to look at it this way; I'm back to getting a straight 6 hours of rest, the kiddo's are getting a straight 6 hours of rest, and that's progress from 16 days ago.

Besides, I'm certain that there are many Mother's out there whose babies have grown up and would love the opportunity to go back in time and hold their little ones again. Soon enough, Lauren will not need me to put her to sleep and I'll probably long for a night like tonight when I snuggled her in my arms and watched her drift off to sleep.

Sweet dreams everyone!