Big step

Since she came home with us, Elle has slept in many places - arms, the swing, the bouncy seat, on the Boppy, on the couch, on our chests, etc. At night, she sleeps in the bassinet portion of her Pack-N-Play, which is right next to our bed. When she wakes up, I grab her, take her to the nursery, change her diaper, feed her and bring her back to the bedroom. For her next feeding, Tim gets her and feeds her and then I get up to get some stuff done before he leaves for work, so she never returns to the Pack-N-Play.

The convenience of having her sleep next to me is not lost on me, especially for breastfeeding. But she's a noisy little sleeper, and she likes to grunt and stir, and Tim and I feel like we need to hold our breath and not turn over for fear that we might wake the sleeping princess. Since I already get up with her and take her to the nursery, moving her out of the bedroom won't be a huge stretch, and I think all three of us will sleep better. Will I still listen to the grunts on the monitor? Yes. But I also know that our daughter can soothe herself back to sleep.

With our upcoming travels and my return to work, I know getting a "routine" is going to be hard. But  I'm making baby steps to a transition to the crib now, so that when the time comes for us to put her in it all night, she won't hate it and act like she's never been in it before.

Last week I started with our first baby step: A long afternoon nap in the crib. Her first time sleeping in it! I had to evict the cats for the event, but I brought in her monitor, her Miracle Blanket (more on that in another post, I'm sure, because it has been a lifesaver) and a CD of white noise. It took a bit to get her to sleep (she reallllllly didn't want to miss a minute of the oh-so-exciting action of me catching up on housework and e-mails), but when she was down, she was out. I had to wake her three hours later to eat.

Since then, we've tried little stints in the crib, all with some measure of success. Our little girl is growing up!