Sleeping Beauty

The new year brought one more new experience right off the bat.  We moved Millie Janalee from her nice and cozy bassinet to her big girl crib!  That's right.  She's nearly six months old, and I still woke up each morning looking at that sweet face.  I would be happy to have her sleep there for the rest of her life...but it was time for her to sleep in her own room.

She did a GREAT job with the transition!!  We moved her little sleeping bag over to her bed to help her transition.  Our next job is to move that out.  She only woke up once during the night a couple of nights, but I just put her paci back in and she was asleep.  Now, she's sleeping all the way through.  She's also sleeping later.  Like much later!  It's 9:00 now, and she's just now starting to stir!  While we were in Jackson this weekend, she slept (or laid quietly) in her pack 'n' play until 9:40 one morning until I just went in and got her up.  She's her Mama's girl for sure right now!  We love our sleep...especially in the mornings.

Millie Janalee also takes most all her naps in her crib now.  Her naps are much more predictable now...depending on what time we get her up.  She usually naps right after her solid feeding around 10:30 or 11.  She naps again between 2 and 3, and her last nap is around 5 or 6.  Her naps still range between 45 minutes or an hour except her morning nap.  Her first nap usually last close to an hour and a half.  Yay!

When we decided to move her to her crib, we realized we needed to move the video monitor also.  We couldn't figure out the best place for the video.  Ideally, the best view was on top of her crib.  I didn't want it to fall on her, so I put Russ in charge.  This is what he came up with...

Saran Wrap!  Ha!  A temporary fix since she's not pulling up yet.

I think Millie Janalee enjoys her big bed.  I still rock her to sleep (which really only takes about 5 minutes) before I put her to sleep.  I have friends going through "sleep training," and I know that I would be horrible at that!  Maybe I'm too laid back.  Maybe I'm just right.  I'm thinking that as long as I have time to rock her to sleep, I will.  Ha!  I'm picturing her as an 18 year old sitting in my lap.  When she was in her bassinet, I would lay her down drowsy and let her fall asleep on her own.  I haven't done that yet in the big crib.  I miss her, so this is my night cap I guess you could say.

Posing with some of her many stuffed animals

Where's Millie Janalee?

There she is!

So far, 2013 has been a big one!  We had our final post placement home visit yesterday.  It was just a formality since our adoption is final, but it was a great closing for this journey.  It felt so funny telling her all the things we are doing that I never thought we would...making my own baby food, just now letting her sleep in her bed, and traveling all over with a baby in tow!  We're crazy.  We know.  And we like it that way!