All through the night

Four months ago B was still waking approximately 3-7x a night. It's normal. I get it. Miss H has only slept through the nigh half a dozen times in her life, so I'm not looking for a magic cure here (and by through the night I mean 7+ hours at a time, not the 12 hour stretches some people consider sleeping through the night).

But he was also nursing each time he woke and it was taking it's toll on me, I won't lie.

So J and I talked and talked and talked. And then we talked some more.

We really like this talking thing, I guess.

Night weaning would involve us both, especially in the beginning, so we needed to be on the same page.

We had to know what we were both okay with, and what we were not okay with.

We were NOT okay with leaving our toddler alone to cry.

We WERE okay with allowing him to cry while Papa held him lovingly at night and sang him sweet lullabies.

It only took about a week to night wean him. After that I took back over bedtime and night wakings. J is more than happy to help out, but honestly, it's just easier if I do it.

Anyway, after that he still awoke the same times at night, just now I sat next to his bed (or if it was after midnight pulled him into mine) and he went right back to sleep.

Well, after we returned from Disney he suddenly started doing solid 6 hour stretches at night from 11-5. That alone left me feeling pretty stoked.

Then I woke up this morning at 5:54am to realize I hadn't heard a peep from him since he fell asleep at 7:30pm the night before.

I laid in bed paralyzed. Hoping for the best, assuming the worst, to be honest. He'd suffocated. He'd jammed himself in between the bed and the wall somehow. The sheet had strangled him. I knew better, why did I let him sleep with a sheet? He's 22 months old. Is that too old to still be at risk for SIDS?

I know it seems paranoid, but when you've got a kid (or two) that's never slept through the night before, that's just where your mind goes.

Luckily, two minutes later I heard the faint, "Mom. Momma. Mommy!"

I happily jumped out of bed and collected my little blueberry and downstairs we went, to nurse and cuddle and watch cartoons until H woke up.

I didn't expect my baby to be the one to sleep through the night first. And I totally accept that it will likely never happen again. But seriously. It was amazing. So I will take it.

(But no worries, H still woke up several times, kept her feet in my face and later insisted on sleeping on my feet. So they didn't let me get too much sleep, those clever kids. :-) ).