Totally Worth It

In the past couple months, I started Lana on a bad habit. I have nobody to blame but myself. As I've mentioned before she wakes up in the middle of the night often. Sometimes it's just a matter of going in her room and covering her back up, but other times it takes more effort. A few months ago, I started letting her come to our bed in the middle of the night, because I needed the sleep so badly. I always told her, "only 5 minutes", and usually it is only that amount of time. Then I take her back to her own bed. There are times, though, when we both fall asleep and I wake up hanging off the side of my bed, with with an arm flung over my forehead, and a knee in my back. At that point I carry her back to her room, where she'll stay until the morning.

A couple weeks ago, I thought I was going to try and break her of this habit, but then Andy said leave it alone, she'll grow out of it. Then one of the mom's at gymnastics said her girls sometimes come in her bed in the middle of the night and she doesn't mind at all. She said she knows soon enough, they'll want nothing to do with her at all, let alone come to her bed when they're scared. So she's enjoying the time with them now. I thought about this and decided they were both right. Instead of fighting her on it, I'd just let it be. Unfortunately, it is a routine we go through just about EVERY night, which interrupts my sleep, but at least she willingly goes back to her bed after a few mintues.

Last night she woke up screaming, and I ran in her room to calm her down. I covered her up and it appeared she was going to go back to sleep. Then, just as I was about to sneak out of the room, I heard,

"Mommy, I come to yoaw bed?"

"Okay," I replied, "but only 5 minutes." She agreed and I picked her up and carried her back to my room.

We layed there for a few minutes, neither of us sleeping, until I decided it was long enough. I told her it was time to go. She agreed. I took her to her room and I tucked her back in. Then I gave her a kiss and just as I turned to go she said,

"I love you, SO much mommy."

After hearing this, I melted into a puddle on the floor.

After I composed myself into a walking human being again, I went over to her bed, gave her a kiss and told her I loved her SO much, too.

I guess we won't be getting our bed back to ourselves anytime soon, and that's just fine by me.