go to sleep little baby

 One time, ONE time Mia fell asleep sitting up. Thanks to my video monitor I saw what happened and was able to take pictures and a video of it. Best thing EVER! Ha ha!

I thought becoming a brand new mom would be easy peasy! I was the queen of babysitting while growing up and I was just darn good with kids. Then Mia was born and no one was telling me her schedule, no one was telling me the various reasons for her cries, I had to figure it all out on my own. I battled myself on every single decision that I hadn't solidified before she was born. But one thing I knew beforehand was that a night time routine was important to me. Starting the day after we brought Mia home from the hospital, I established what our routine was going to be for bedtime. Bath time, meal time, "night-night" time as we now say to Mia :)
In the first few weeks of her life, I had convinced myself that Mia would instantly calm down when we gave her a bath because she knew it was bed time... when in reality that was just my sleep deprivation talking to me. Bath time actually saved my sanity because I knew I would feed Mia, put her down then put myself to bed as well. We stuck with the routine because it's what kept me going each day. It's something that calmed me because I knew what to expect during that time, while I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water the rest of the day, if that makes sense? As Mia grew we adjusted the routine bit by bit. When she started eating solids it was so messy that we fed her before bath time, and I would nurse her after. Once we stopped nursing I wanted to fill that space with night time prayers and a story. Turns out that Mia is so used to the routine that she has no patience for a bed time story. So after her bath Eric and I take turns giving her loves, we say a little prayer, lay her in bed and snuggle her up with her taggy, her teddy bear and a blanket :)
We rarely have to battle Mia once we lay her down for a nap or for the night. As long as she has her binky (dreading the day we take that away, I'm wishing I would have done it before she turned 1) she lays there until she falls asleep. There have been times where we've had to endure some crying, but not much. We usually don't let her cry for more than 5 minutes because we have learned that something is usually wrong (like a dirty diaper) before checking on her. It's rare, but some nights Mia just wants to cuddle. So if she's having a hard time going to sleep and keeps crying for us, I'll pull her out of bed and she will cuddle with one of us for a bit while we watch a show. I must admit that I don't hate this :) I know it's just an off night, and she will go back to putting herself to sleep like normal, and she won't be small enough for these snuggles much longer!
One of the best investments we made was buying a video monitor! This has helped me learn Mia's habits for sleeping. I can't hear the difference in her cries, but I know if she's crying for me if she's standing up, or if she's trying to cope herself to sleep when she's crying while still laying down. Plus we just love watching the things she does while playing in her crib (before or after sleep). One time I looked at the monitor just in time to see her do an accidental summercault, ha ha! For the most part, we have been blessed with a baby who doesn't battle nap and bed times and we are definitely grateful for that! There are so many battles that come with mommy hood... the less we have on our list, the better!

Like A Morning Cup of Coffee           The Not Quite Military Wife

From Here To Eternity               Words About Waverly

Pardon My French             Beautiful Family Affairs

My Delicious Adventure                  The Life Of Faith

Running From The Law             The Olive Tree          

June 26:       Bedtime Battles (nap or bedtime)

Thank you to everyone who linked up! I have learned so much from you and loved getting to know you better! The blogging community is so amazing and I'm grateful to have you all as part of my support system! xoxo

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