- so it happened -

Last night I let something happen that I swore I would hold off doing for as long as I could...I let Ellie fall asleep in our bed with me. Let me start off by saying as loud as I can...I do not think co-sleeping is bad in any way! As a matter of fact, although when I was pregnant I never planned on it, when Ellie was born she ended up sleeping not only in our bed, but on top of me, for the first three months of her life. That was the only way she would sleep with her colic and her reflux, and everything else that made her cry so much. And I definitely knew that there would eventually be a day as a toddler when she would start crawling into bed with us. All kids do right? But I was holding off as long as I could...because when Ellie develops a sleeping crutch, she holds onto it for dear life and it is so hard for us to get her to break it. I did not want "sleeping with us" to become her new sleeping crutch, because let's just face it...I have a queen size bed, a toddler who is a super light sleeper, and a hubby who moves around and fidgets a lot at night. All of those things combined do not make for a restful night's sleep for momma!

But last night as she was sitting on our bed, she asked me to cover her up so she could snuggle with me. Ummmm, how could I resist? I let her lay down and I covered her, and we snuggled, and we both fell fast asleep. An hour later, I woke up with the most peaceful sleeping toddler in my arms, and the thought of "oh no, what have I done?" racing through my mind!

Matt came into our room and said he had peeked in on us earlier and it was the sweetest thing ever...us sleeping together. And to be totally honest, I know why you co-sleeping momma's do it! Her little body pressed up to mine...her heavy breathing...it was so comforting. She has never ever been one to fall asleep in our arms once she hit four months old or so, and I was definitely jealous of all those other mom's that have been able to hold their sleeping child. But still... holy cow, what did I do?? My little one is now going to ask demand to sleep in our bed all the time, and she will lose.her.mind when I put my foot down and make her fall asleep in her crib.

I figured once we put her in a toddler bed, we couldn't stop the middle of the night visits that would lead to her crawling into our bed. But I thought for sure I could buy us more time. But as Matt reminded me, I made my own bed (ha ha) by letting her lay down with me, and now there might be trouble!

Wish me luck tonight as I put her down in her own crib and try to explain to her that little girls sleep in their own beds and mommies and daddies sleep in their own beds...sigh.

p.s- In case you are wondering, I did transfer her into her crib. The last thing I wanted was for her to wake up and discover that she was still in our bed. I begged Matt to do it, but he didn't want to be the bad guy, so I picked her up as gently as I could, accidentally made her hit herself in the head with her own floppy arm (mommy fail!) and somehow managed to get her into her crib without too much hassle.

p.p.s- There would be a sweet picture of me and my baby sleeping together for me to post, but my hubby failed to grab the camera when he peeked in on us. I did politely remind him that his job as the husband of a blogger, is to document moments like these so I can blog about it later! Always gotta be thinking of the blog right? lol!