Sleeping Success!

Whew. No more passing out. That's a good thing. I still feel kinda "off" and I can't decide if it's something I ate or not. You know how whenever you get sick, the last thing you ate beforehand kinda makes you ill just thinking about. I had made my favorite banana bread recipe Monday morning and eaten a piece after it came out of the oven. Later it just smelled weird to me. Today I tried to eat a bite and again, it wasn't appealing. I thought about freezing it but I ended up just trashing it. I wondered if maybe I used a bad ingredient and didn't want to take a chance later. Ick.

Anyways. Karlyn and I headed to Groovy Cuts today for her pre-wedding hair cut! She gets to be a flower girl this Sunday in my brother's wedding so I thought we'd get a trim. Plus Wednesday is Toddler Day. She did really well and then of course got her nails painted. I was shocked at her polish choice! It totally matched the velour sweatsuit she was sporting and yes, she chose it to match on purpose. :>

This has been a big week for little miss K. Very. Big. Yes ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in a year since she first climbed out of her crib...

MY CHILD HAS SLEPT IN HER OWN BED, THE ENTIRE NIGHT, WITHOUT GETTING UP! Twice! Our crib to toddler bed transition wasn't the smoothest and with Ryan's crazy work schedule and both of us highly valuing our sleep, we got into a steady habit of letting her stay in our room when she came in. Most of the time this meant IN our bed although lately we were making her stay on the floor. (Hello dear, your bed is more comfy!) Karlyn loves being with us and also if I'm being honest I didn't fight too long or hard at it knowing she's the only baby I've got right now. I knew this stage wouldn't last forever. She has also needed us to fall asleep at night. This got old. Of course we love putting her to bed, reading a story, all that jazz but taking twenty minutes to lay with her until she falls asleep isn't always easy. Then Ryan would just fall asleep with her and I'd have to come wake him up and drag him to our room. FUN routine. So one week ago after talking to a co-worker about her kiddos and their sleep habits I decided once again that it was time and I needed to try again. This time though, I had ammo. ;) I brought TV to the table. My daughter loves to watch her shows and it finally hit me that that was going to motivate her more than anything else. We sat down together and I explained that it was time for her to start sleeping in her bed all night and that she couldn't keep getting up and coming in our room. "If you get up, you're not going to be able to watch your shows." I know. Mean mommy right? It was so cute because she kept saying, "OK, I'll try. I'll try...I don't know how, but I'll try."

But it worked! We hadn't even really talked about her going to sleep by herself but that first night we tried it. She cried a couple of times...needed to pee...needed medicine...and then went to sleep. Miracle! She got up once that night but I took her back to her bed. The next night she went to sleep alone AGAIN, only crying one time. She got up and I'm pretty sure I told her, half-awake that if she wanted to watch her shows she needed to go back to bed. And she did! The third night she fell asleep all by herself with NO crying and the last two nights she's done the same thing AND hasn't come in our room. She's actually waking up in her room in the morning. Miracle. Of. Miracles. And I am pretty darn proud of myself. :> And her.

I promised her that after three nights in a row of solid staying in bed, we could go to the store and pick out a new toy. I'm really hoping I get to keep that promise. As much as I want Karlyn to stay little and enjoyed cuddling with her in the morning before I got up, I know in the end this means better sleep for all three of us.