Sleep

Many times, we have been asked how Grace sleeps. It's recently come to my attention that not every child is as good at going to bed as Grace is...I guess I was being naive and thought everyone else did just as well. But from an early age, we taught Grace, or rather she showed us, that she could be put into her bed and she would do the work of putting herself to sleep! Of course, there are the occasional screaming fits due to the witching hour in early months, to teething in the months most recent, but all in all, she's a great sleeper! Her set bedtime is 9:30-anywhere between 6-9 in the morning, and we try to follow that as best we can! But of course, that's not permanent; we tend to fluctuate based off of naps had earlier in the day, and fussiness throughout the early evening. I think what's helped is that there's a routine that Daddy and I have made that are SO IMPORTANT to have!

Around 8 months old, we were religious on giving her baths every night. But with her eczema, we were told by the doctor to space out the days we bathe her, as the hot water and consistent bathing would irritate her skin more. So now we bathe about every other evening now, depending on how dirty she gets. So her last bottle is usually at 8:30-8:45, and then she is bathed, lubed (we put on a Vaseline type goop every night/morning) dressed (she wears just a long sleeve/footed nightie and stays warm enough and doesn't have to fight with a blanket) and then we read books to her for about 15 minutes. It's so fun to read with her, because at around 9 months old she learned how to "turn page" and so we allow her to help with the reading! She LOVES sitting in the rocking chair with mommy or daddy and listening to the stories! It's funny, sometimes I think she's not listening, and so I go to close the book, and she quickly turns the book back to where we were and holds it open! After that we sing a goodnight song to her (I love hear Daddy sing this to her through the monitor because he sings old time songs to her) and then in the bed she goes. We have two mobiles that she listens to, and also have butterflies and stars/clouds (an art project she and I did a while ago) hanging above her bed so she's set!

Sometimes, she rolls around for a few minutes and then goes to sleep. Sometimes, we can hear her playing up there, working out the rest of her energy. And then, sometimes, there are the days that we've waited too long to put her to bed, or that she just DOES NOT want to miss anything!! She will cry anywhere between 5-15 minutes, but we've done really good at waiting her out!!

So, the sleep situation is wonderful. I love that she knows the routine, and that we've made a routine, and I love that, for the most part, she goes down like an angel! And I'm thankful for those nights that she screams, because it lets me know that everything isn't going to be sugar and spice and everything nice. Those nights remind me that Grace isn't an "always". She's not "always" going to go down nicely. She's not "always" going to have a perfect life, without issues. She's not "always" going to eat her meal without spitting it in our face. And she's not "always" going to follow along with the average group for hitting milestones! But one thing that's "always"...she's ALWAYS going to be my little girl, and she's ALWAYS going to be daddy's cutiepie, and we are ALWAYS going to love her and be there for her. ALWAYS.

Isn't it funny what I learned out of her sleeping schedule?! What an awesome and gigantic lesson out of something as little as sleep.

One of those nights that she just FOUGHT sleep...and pulled her nightie off the edge of the crib, hoping it would keep her awake. But in reality, it's what soothed her enough to put her to sleep.