Sleeping Success!!

As some of you know from Facebook, we have been struggling to get our 18 month old daughter to sleep.  We moved about 3 months ago and finally got her into the groove when all of a sudden something switched.  She was a bear to get down...literally growling, smacking, and screaming.  Our once 10 minute routine was taking 2 hours and was unsuccessful.  Along with other personal craziness, this was tipping me off of the not-so-deep end.

Our attempt to resolve the situation was to move her to her big-girl room even if it was earlier than we had planned.  Through luck we had obtained a toddler bed for $10, so I reconfigured the guest room--moving the toddler bed to the corner, pushing the guest double bed off to the side, leaving the recliner in there (because I had no idea what it was going to take at this point---if she told me she wanted to sleep in the leather recliner, so help me, we would have let her), and moved the nightstand next to the toddler bed.  We made sure we closed all of the upstairs doors except for hers (which we left cracked) and ours (which we left a little more open), and of course we put up a child gate at the top of the stairs--geesh, there was a lot to do!  We even bought a $9 Dora LED nightlight that projects on the ceiling...we were at THAT point.  The first night when asked if she was ready for bed, Caroline jumped off of my lap and said, "Dora?".  She ran to the steps and was ready to go.  My heart skipped a beat. 

Well, it wasn't that easy.  We still had ups and downs.  Some nights she went down without a struggle after 15 minutes, others it was more like an hour and a half and 5 books to the face.  I think I only cried once, and from what I remember, Caroline didn't cry at all (we can clearly see who is stronger here).  We bought bed rails for the guest double bed which was beginning to look like Caroline's new bed since she didn't sleep but a couple of hours in the toddler bed, and I even bought a $60 white noise machine....oh, and also a $7 hippy lavender spray for her room (once again, desperate).  Our cheap switcheroo had now cost us over $100.  But I know that I can't put a price tag on it....and by "it" I am meaning my sleep and sanity. 

So long story not-so-short, last night Caroline slept from 9:15pm until 7am this morning!!  Of course my husband and I still complained about getting up early (I don't think that will ever change), but we were elated!  I think that we may be crossing into knew territory.  Here's hoping that we continue to see more long nights in our own bed and less nights sleeping in the recliner downstairs. 

Now, if I could just get over being freaked out when I wake up to seeing an 18 month old standing in the dark hallway outside of my bedroom in the middle of the night!