Big Girl Bed...

Sleep in these parts has been hard to come by these days. Rhea has been struggling for awhile now with falling asleep and we had tried everything short of turning a crib upside down on top of her to keep her contained. Though I have to admit when Bert suggested it one particularly difficult night at around 11:45 it almost seemed like a good idea. Almost.

We finally went with the hard line....after the bedtime routine then it is in bed. If she comes out it is no talking headed straight back to bed time. Over and over until she gets that she really has no other choice. A mind numbing and frustrating experience if you let yourself think about it too much.

This past weekend we decided it was time to hype up the "big girl bed" and the "big girl room" and take the plunge and move her from our room into her own. She was so excited about us setting up her bed and her "silk" above the bed. As you can see in this picture she had to set her baby bed up beside her with a silk for her baby as well. She just kills me with the cuteness.


So just about a week into this new experiment and I would have to say it is a success. She still struggles a bit to fall asleep but nothing like the epic bedtime sagas of old. The first night she came into our room several times and needed help getting back to sleep..but then we had three nights where she slept all the way through the night! One morning she crawled into bed with me and told me that she looked out the window and saw the sun so she knew it was okay to get up.

It is so strange to have our room back to ourselves (well for a month at least). Those first couple of nights the room felt strange and empty and Rhea just too far away. Bert and I both had to check on her several times to convince ourselves she was going to be fine. But I am now finding that I really love having that space back. Without having to whisper and creep around before we fall asleep, Bert and I will stay up chatting away until way past our bedtime without even realizing it. It's like we have found a way to get a little bit of "alone" time just when we need it most.