transition

We bit the bullet and converted Ty's crib into a toddler bed.  A very sad mommy moment when your baby is (sort of) out of their crib.  We did it now because I'm just getting too pregnant to lean over the railing to lay him down once he's asleep.  Its not only uncomfortable for me, but it almost always wakes him up.  We'd also like to avoid buying a new crib for the baby.  In case you're wondering, no our child still cannot go to sleep on his own.  Our fault, yes, but up until now, I hadn't ever regretted my choice to hold and/or rock him to sleep.  Now I feel like I'm running out of time to teach him to sleep on his own before the baby gets here.  I don't have enough arms to rock them both!  Maybe if we evolved and mothers grew pouches like kangaroos, I could just keep a kid in there.  Weird, but I guarantee most moms would find great use out having a pouch!

Anyway, I have waited as long as I possibly could to make the move because Ty sleeps through the night so well in his crib.  I also know based on the condition of his blankets and such that he moves all over the place while he sleeps.  So I really wasn't in a hurry to take the crib away.  However, it got to the point where I either woke him up laying him down (and he completely panics at the thought of being alone when trying to put him to sleep), or I waited for Cooter to lay him down for me.  Cooter has been traveling a lot for work, so that has meant a lot of sleepovers for Ty in my bed while Daddy is gone.  I love snuggling with my baby boy, but we do NOT sleep well together.  He moves so much and inevitably has to be touching me at all times, whether that means sleeping RIGHT next to me or just laying on me however he should get comfy.  I dealt with it for a while, but the bigger I've gotten, the harder it is for me to move, much less sharing a bed with a toddler.  After another sleepless night, I went to Baby's R Us the next day and bought a bed rail.

Ty has a convertible crib, meaning we can use it as a toddler bed, day bed, and eventually a full-size bed.  We haven't ever bought the extra parts for the toddler bed or full-size version.  I actually saw the cheap bed rail working better than the $80 toddler rail conversion kit they sale for his crib.  So we converted his crib to the daybed option and placed the rail alongside the opening.  Its only been 2 nights, but so far, so good.

As soon as we broke the bed down, Ty jumped into his crib, giggling at the fact that he just climbed into his own bed all by himself.  I was feeling very hopeful.  After we installed the bed rail and put him in, he started to freak out as usual.  Its funny, he can wake up in the night and put himself back to sleep without any fussing, but trying to get him to sleep from the start is impossible!

Never fear, I had a master plan...kind of.  We were done doing the bedtime routine in momma's room.  Stories would be read and we would be putting him to sleep in his room.  I refuse the move the rocking chair into his room because I'm still faced with the same problem...I can't lay him down.  The first night got off to a bad start.  My mom had called and while I was on the phone with her, Ty fell asleep in Cooter's lap in the living room.  Cooter attempted to lay him down twice and both times he woke up and freaked out.  So I took him into his room and sat on the floor with him in my arms while I tried to figure out how to get him in his crib.  There was no way I would get up off the floor once he was asleep without waking him.  So I laid the rail down, laid him in his bed, he started crying, but I laid my head on his bed too and eventually he laid down with me.  Cooter spent close to an hour putting him to sleep and unsuccessfully laying him down, and I spent about 45 minutes getting him to sleep...altogether, bedtime took us 2 hours that night.  Within 10 minutes of me leaving the room he woke up.  Luckily he hasn't tried to get out of bed yet.  We let him fuss a minute and he went back to sleep.  He woke up 3 more times that night, crying hard.  So sad.  It never gets easier listening to your kid cry.  We held our ground because if this was like any other sleeping issue we've ever had, Ty has to do it on his own.  Last night was night #2.  We read our stories in his room, then I laid him in his bed.  He cried and tried to get up, but I got a big pillow and leaned on his bed and started reading one of my personal books with just his closet light on.  He laid beside me while I was reading, but since this book has no pictures and didn't interest him, he fell asleep pretty quickly.  He was comforted having me near and hearing my voice.  After he was out, I snuck out of the room and was shocked to learn it was only 8:18pm.  I felt like freaking supermom!  He didn't make a peep all night long.  He slept until 6:30am.  I'll take it!

Another reason for the ol bed switcheroo was because Ty quit napping in his room ages ago.  Fine and dandy for now, but again I feel like a ticking time bomb with  this baby coming in just over 4 months.  Not only, is there is no way he's going to stay asleep for a nap in the living room floor while I have a baby crying or playing, or just taking care of baby things, but I won't be able to carry or lift him for at least a month after my c-section.  I highly doubt they will be on the same sleep schedule for quite a while!  Yesterday was the first day I attempted naptime in his bed.  I will admit, I rocked him to sleep first and carried him to his room.  I successfully laid him down and he stayed asleep an hour and a half by himself.  I ended up holding and rocking him the last 30 minutes of his nap.  Major progress though!  Half the time he wakes up after that amount of time when he's on the floor too.  Today I did the same thing and knock on wood...he's been asleep in his bed for almost an hour and a half now.  I know I've eventually got to get him to fall asleep in his room for naps too, but we'll continue taking baby steps.

You know you're a mom when you just blogged 6 solid paragraphs about your son sleeping.  LOL.