Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Finally!

This has been a huge week for us, Phoebe wise. Phoebe has always been mama's girl since day one, and since her eyes are so big and blue, I have always found it very hard to say no to her. Because of this, she turned 20 months old and I was still nursing her to sleep and she slept in our bed for more than half the night! For 20 months! We finally decided (or I did anyway... Logan was decided on week 1 of Phoebe's life) that Phoebe needed to learn to fall alseep on her own, and in her own bed.

The first thing I had to do was wean her. The first couple of days was rough. But I stayed tough and didn't give into her screaming and begging and adorable pleads of "num nums, please? Please?" I told her, "I'm so sorry, but we're all out of num nums! Lets cuddle instead!" It took a couple of days and sleepless nights, but it worked! When she wanted to sleep, she would crawl onto my lap and fall asleep! Step one complete!

The next thing we did was convert her toddler bed back into a crib. This way she would stay in bed and not scream at us from the door. (We keep a child gate set up at nap and bedtime. Discourages Gwen from running away in the middle of the night.) The first night was killer. Phoebe screamed for two hours before I caved and snatched her up. She was out immediately , but I still kept her in bed with us. The second night I thought was harder than the first. She screamed for an hour, but this time it was more than just screams. She sobbed, "Mommy's gone! Mommy's gone! My mommy's gone!" I could have cried right along with her! Finally, FINALLY, her cries subsided. Logan peaked in on her and discovered that Gwen had climbed into the crib and lain down next to her. Phoebe was about to fall asleep when Gwen wanted out. But she only cried for a couple of minutes before falling asleep. She woke up in the middle of the night, and being the weak, tired thing I am, I brought her into our bed.

Day three we found success! At first when I tried putting Phoebe into her crib, she started screaming and Gwen started crying and begging that I let Phoebe sleep on the couch. When I said no, Gwen jumped into the crib before I even put Phoebe in. Phoebe cried her heart out for two minutes then all was silent. I thought that Gwen might be smothering her with a pillow, so I made Logan check on them. They were both asleep! It took only five minutes! And the best thing is, even though we moved Gwen back into her own bed, Phoebe slept the entire night in her room! Yay! What a blessing to not be kicked in the face and gut twelve times during the night! It's a great feeling. We got a great night's sleep, and Phoebe was extra happy and cuddly this morning. Next baby will never ever sleep in the bed with us! That's what I said when Phoebe was born, but I mean it this time!