Sleep.

For the past few weeks I have been roaming the world looking and feeling like a zombie. (I do not say this lightly as I hate, hate, hate zombies. My husband meanwhile can spend an hour describing his zombie apocalypse escape plan to you - but I digress.)

What's the deal? My once great sleeper baby, who began sleeping through the night at 7 to 8 weeks decided that sleeping for long periods of time was no longer something she was interested in...unless she was continually attached to my boob, snuggled up in my bed.

(And I gave in and let her, I will admit - cosleeping, oh the horror! Listen, I was just happy to have some sleep, yo. Read the info on how to do it safely, all the other cultures who do it and then go without sleep for a while before you judging. kthanks.)

Also, though she never really loved a pacifier, she would take one for a while there. Now she refuses. Nothing but the real Mama will do. She will still take a bottle of pumped milk, but only because she gets actual food from it...

Gah. I blame teething.

All the symptoms are there, the chewing and chomping and drooling and fuzziness for no reason - but those damn teeth will not show themselves. So we have been living in baby mood swing central, where my perfectly happy smiley baby will all of a sudden start fussing and then yowling in pain...and nothing else is wrong. It's those damn teeth I tell ya.

Naps have become a thing of the past and she still hasn't settled into any sort of a schedule during the day, but I am hoping that is coming. Her type A mom yearns for some sort of loose pattern...even a loose one.

Oh, she will sleep...for twenty minutes here and there, sometimes even a full hour. Typically though, she falls asleep while nursing and then wakes up within moments of unlatching.

During the midst of all of this - it hit me like a Mack truck one day. I was ready for her to be in her own room. I don't know what flipped the switch but there it was, the line that I had been talking about for a while, and toying with...suddenly I was ready.

Originally, we were going to wait to try this until we were on vacation next week. At my parents house she will be sleeping in a crib anyway, so it seemed like a natural transition point. And a time where A would not have work in the morning and could help. But, Sunday night she was fussing and nursing and fussing and nursing and I finally said to myself - something has.got.to.change. Right now.

So, I did it. I put her in her crib. The first night was much more anxious for me than Evelyn or my husband (who was happily snoring away while I took to Facebook on my phone for reassurance from friends and obsessively watched her in the video monitor...creeper).

She did OK that first night. Woke up about every three hours or so to nurse and look around at her surroundings. She kept looking at me as if to say, "Why are we in here? This is our play spot, but...ok."

Whenever she stirred, I would wait to see if when was going to settle herself back to sleep and then head in to comfort and nurse. We did okay. No, I did not let her cry it out just yet. I am a wuss or whatever. And I told myself I wouldn't worry about real sleep training until six months. So, no guilt yet. Though my husband is a merciless beast who has been suggesting CIO since she was like 2 months old. Read a book husband! Grr.

But last night, well friends, as I write this to you it is 10:30 and my baby is still asleep. She slept for six straight hours last night, after a few asleep and waking up hours...woke up to nurse at 7 am this morning. I thought she was up for the day, but she fell back to sleep and has continued chugging right along. So I got a few more hours too.

Ah, sleeping in. I feel like a human being again and am so freaking refreshed. I know that last night could have been a fluke, so I am not coordinating the celebratory parade just yet, but I am hoping for the best.

Now if those damn teeth would just show up so that I can have my all-the-time happy baby back, my holidays would be complete.

Evelyn is five months old

...and all I want for Christmas is her two front teeth.

...and my new MacBook Pro that is currently bought and under my tree that my husband will not let me open until Christmas. For reals. He is *that* guy.