Brace Yourselves

Our little Jayme Love was quite the challenging infant. She was born 3 weeks early weighing a bitty 5lbs. Not the smallest baby by any means, but she was still so so tiny compared to her 7lbs8oz brother. She woke up countless times during the night during her first months. And her colic was unbelievable. We made it through with a small sliver of our sanity left.

At first, she could put herself to sleep, no problem. She refused to sleep in anyones arms unless she was just completely exhausted. Then, this brilliant mother [notice the heaping sarcasm here] decided she missed having a baby sleep on her chest. Fail. Epic Fail. Because of my brilliance, for months, getting her to sleep, nap time or bed time, took an enormous amount of bouncing and rocking. [the reasoning behind my killer thighs]. We finally got her to put herself to sleep for naps and bed time, even though she wasn't exactly thrilled with it. After more sweat and tears than I ever thought possible, our precious princess has made quite the turn around.

Brace yourselves. I still don't quite believe it myself.

Now, when she gets sleepy, she grabs my hand, walks me to her bedroom, toddles over to her crib, points and grunts. I put her in. Give her the Beloved Binky. She lays down. I cover her up and turn on Violet for "10 minutes of bed time music." She sleeps for a good hour and a half at least. And wakes up a happy little munchkin.

I was telling Sara [very calmly] about our newest accomplishment and realized "Woaaaah!!! My 15 month old is putting herself down for naps!!!"

I'm not going to lie. I squealed a little...and maybe danced a bit [but don't tell].

When I think of her first year, although filled with laughs, giggles, and love, I just want to sit in the corner rocking myself and weeping quietly. I'm so glad that part is over. I miss her tiny infant antics, but I'm also so very thrilled with the toddler she's becoming.