A milestone

The crib we have pretty much never used!  It's pretty though!

I posted on FB today that we hit a major milestone.  Let me explain.  Andrew was never one to sleep in the crib or his own bed or even the pack and play for very long.

Other than my arms, the only place he would sleep as a newborn

As a little baby, he preferred his rock and play over his crib and then a bassinet a friend loaned me over his crib.  I honestly gave up trying.  If sleep happened and he was in my bed or the bassinet, so be it.  I needed sleep, because I was desperately trying to get back into shape and run (hello me time), and I needed to be up early to get those work outs and runs in.  We went through a period where we could get him to sleep in his own bed, but he would always wake up sometime in the night and then would not go back to sleep.  I caved and let him sleep with us at those times, and then eventually just went back to him sleeping with us all the time. I am not sad, nor do I regret letting him co sleep.  Honestly, I enjoyed having him next to me at all times, and I am a SUPER light sleeper.  I could always put my hand out, make sure he was breathing (new mom thing) or if he was sick, I could monitor him because he was right there.  Him being with me in the bed was kind of like a safety blanket in some ways.  I know a ton of people who don't like co sleeping and I get it.  I had hard rules on no drinking and sleeping in the same bed, no taking meds  that could make me sleep hard and sleeping in the same bed,  and no melatonin and sleeping in the same bed.  Like I previously said, I was a super light sleeper so I woke up at the slightest movement from him.

His preferred sleeping place.  On you.

 Well, the latest time change REALLY threw him for a loop.  Instead of going to bed around 10 or 10:30, which still is pretty late for a toddler, he has been going down around 11:30-12.  Here in lies the problem, or really two problems. One, I get up four times a week at 4:15 am to run.  I am getting between 4-5 hours of sleep on those days, which is NOT good for recovery or just existence.  Second, it didn't matter what our routine is or was, getting him up super early was corrected at daycare during nap time, so I can't offset the behavior, no matter how hard I try.  Now, I know that when he starts school, we will be getting up at 6:30 am as we do now and they DO NOT have nap time or rest time.  He already has many activities at night, so between getting up early, school all day, and then activities at night, I am hoping this will all be a thing of the past.

Here is another curve ball, other than the fact that he can catch up on sleep at daycare.  I was using his room for storage for all of his baby stuff.  His bed was actually covered in baby stuff (we converted it to a toddler bed a while back).  I am not saying we are not having another kid, but I will be 40 this year so I don't foresee if happening.  I am superstitious that getting rid of stuff = immediate pregnancy.  Now I am thrifty, most of Andrew's toys and baby stuff including clothes came from yard sales, thrift stores,  online sales lists, and consignment shops.  I hardly ever paid full price for anything, so getting rid of stuff shouldn't be this painful, but dang it,  it is!!!!  So anyway, his room really isn't set up to be used as a bed room anyway.  This weekend I bit the bullet, cleaned out his room, donated what I could, and re arranged to make it a big boy room.  We still have some decorating to do, but the baby crib sheets and puppy theme are put away and Thomas and Friends are on the bed.  He wants angry birds and pokemon posters, so we are figuring out a way for him to earn some decorations for his room.

Last night was the big test.  We had decided we would be sleeping at least part of the night in his room to make the change a little less scary.  We got a new night light (spiderman) and fan to round out the new stuff, and we denied any napping.  He went to sleep no trouble, with tony taking the first shift.  I of course the one night i could go to sleep early, was wide awake staring at the monitor.  After tony's shift, andrew stayed asleep and I finally drifted off.  Around 12:40, he woke up crying, so I took second shift on the floor by his bed.  He kept raising up, crying and looking for me, so I went and got the cot out so we would be level with each other.  I swear raising puppies parallels raising kiddos so much.  Anyway, I drifted off and he settled in and I woke up around 4:30 and snuck back to my own bed.  He stayed asleep and woke up around 6:30.  We tried to get him to come to our bed to get more sleep and he actually refused!  I am fine with getting up at 6:30, even on the weekends since I am usually up anyway to run.  I know every night won't be this easy but wow.  Of course I slept like crap because I am so use to him being there, but stella noticed the fact that he was gone, and slept next to me like a magnet.

I will admit, I think this milestone is harder on me than him.  I am SO use to him being in the bed.  Last night, when I was on the cot and he was in his bed and he would cry, I would cry too silently of course.  I am such a softie.  I have a feeling when this gets tougher and he doesn't want to stay in his room, or we have to keep him in his room, this will really suck for me.  I am a sucker and I will admit it.  Tonight is probably going to be hard too.  He wanted to take a nap, and we wouldn't let him, and he finally passed out around 4:30 pm and is now up at 7:30.  Sigh.  We tried and tried to keep him up and it didn't work.  I am super tired from being on super alert last night, so I feel like I am going to crash soon.  Daddy may be on andrew in room duty again tonight, at least for the first shift.

So I keep it real and there it is.  I huge milestone and I can't promise that we will back slide and go back to co sleeping, but hoping we are moving in the right direction, which is for him to find his own room and his own bed.  I think it will work so much better when school starts and he isn't napping during the day.  I will keep y'all posted as always!