Milestones

This has been a week (or two weeks) of milestones, for both Lydia and me.  On her side, she produced her first definite chuckle, which she has repeated on a few occasions.  Such a beautiful sound!  She is such a little character, and each day with her is like a little miracle.  

Wonderful as the laugh was, an even bigger milestone was passed last Thursday.  Don took her to the pediatrician for her 4-month visit.  She got her vaccinations and weighed in at 14 lbs, 9 oz.  The pediatrician gave her a clean bill of health, but strongly recommended that we move her into her own room.  He said that a move later in life will be much more difficult, both for her and us.  Oh, how my heart fell when Don told me the news.  I called him around noon, and spent the rest of my lunch hour grieving.  Still, I thought it was probably a good idea.  Don hasn't been able to sleep well with Lydia in the bed, so we've ended up sleeping in separate bedrooms.  In addition, I had been noticing that Lydia seemed to sleep more soundly when I put her in the co-sleeper.  So, on Thursday night, I put her down to sleep in her crib, and she's slept there ever since.  I've also put her in her crib for all of her naps during my time with her, and she's done pretty well with it.  

I won't say that it's been without its difficulties.  My sleep has suffered, definitely.  When she's in a separate room, I don't sleep as well.  In addition, she still wakes up during the night.  I can't just roll over to soothe her, or pull her into bed with me.  Instead, I need to go into the next room.  What this means is that I end up sleeping in the daybed in her room.  And, because I'm exhausted, I often fall asleep when I'm feeding her, so we spend a good part of the night in bed together still, only in a different room than before :)  I DO think that this situation is better than before, though.  She's sleeping independently at the beginning of the night, and she's learning to associate the crib with sleep.  Soon, hopefully, she'll sleep for longer and longer periods, and eventually we won't have to wake up in the middle of the night.  Baby steps, baby steps...for us both.