Monday night the final tally of times I got up and put the child back to bed (without speaking! which is the hardest part for me - not comforting her or telling her again to GO TO SLEEP) was 25 times. Not too bad, except for that many of them took place in ten minute intervals starting in the middle of the night.
The good news? The insanely good news that I'm almost scared to report? Last night I only had to put her back to bed ten times, the last of which was before 11:00. And then?
Drumroll please....
GENOA. SLEPT. THROUGH. THE. NIGHT.
I know! I can't believe it either! And I know it's just ONE TIME and tonight we may very well go back to getting up 25 times again, but still! She didn't get up until just before 7AM (no 5AM nursing session even!), which in and of itself is a total miracle.
So there we have it. Let the record reflect that Genoa slept through the night, alone, for the first time on her 810th day of life. Six months AFTER her last diaper. That's two years, two months and 18 days since mommy's had a decent night of sleep, people.
Feel free to read this post to your teenagers! It makes a great case for the use of birth control.
being single helped only with if it was 3am, she'd just come to bed with me. i will admit, the big girl bed helped us a lot. now that she's 11, we still have "sleep-overs" in my bed. usually when one of us just isn't feeling good. however, that was how the both of us got pneumonia at the same time. (for the record, she gave it to me.)
Posted by: zeghsy | September 10, 2008 at 09:58 AM
I totally want to buy you a cocktail. Yay!!
Posted by: Rhi | September 10, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Congratulations! Do you feel high on sleep? I always do when Charlie randomly decides to sleep through the night. I wish I could figure out why he does that occasionally.
It will be interesting to see if Genoa's personality mellows a bit when she starts getting night after night of uninterrupted sleep. I'm convinced that a lot of Tommy's screaminess had something to do with his self-imposed sleep deprivation.
Posted by: Sally | September 10, 2008 at 10:40 AM
YEAH!!!!
Posted by: Kelly from Almost Frugal | September 10, 2008 at 11:21 AM
That is so awesome. It may be only one night... but it's also one night closer to her (and you) sleeping through the night every night. Congrats!!!
Posted by: Kookaburra | September 10, 2008 at 12:27 PM
Woo hoo! Here's to many more nights of sleep!
Posted by: Rachael | September 10, 2008 at 04:13 PM
Hurray! Good for you for sticking to your guns!
Posted by: Ali | September 10, 2008 at 04:23 PM
That is AWESOME. She might have regressions along the way, but it definitely sounds like things are moving in the right direction. It seems like she's starting to understand that you mean business and you're not going to cave in and let her have her way. Who knows, maybe tonight the number of times she comes out will be in the single digits!
Posted by: cindy w | September 10, 2008 at 05:05 PM
Not a mom, so please be forgiving, though I have spent a lot of time helping to raise 3 nephews. I have a theory that each phase such as this lasts about three weeks. That's if you are firm, which it sounds like you have been. If you aren't, kids figure out that you'll give in sometimes which increases each phase exponentially.
Posted by: j | September 11, 2008 at 06:43 AM
Fabulous news Amanda, you deserver it!!! Keep up the good work and don't back down!!!!
Posted by: Tana | September 11, 2008 at 07:58 AM
WAAAAHOOOOOO! I hope you and Genoa celebrated and treated yourselves on being tough girls!
Posted by: breeze | September 11, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Woohoo!!!!! Yay for you!!!! Go mama, go mama, it's your birthday...
Posted by: Astarte | September 11, 2008 at 05:15 PM