"I don't want to forget this..." I say this often!
This is one of those posts.
Two weeks ago, we allowed H&L to give us a theme for their "big girl" room. I had decorated their room for the past few years and they wanted to change things up. They wanted a mermaid room. Which I thought was precious & started to design away! >>>Pictures to come soon!
I had shown pictures of twin beds to Michael that I knew would be perfect for their room and grow with them over the years. The girls loved them and begged Michael to start building. When he started building Ally Anns bed I questioned him. I knew she would want to sleep in a big girl bed, but I wasn't sure that she (or ME) was ready for this transition. He knew she would see theirs and want one too. I knew he was right. He built it & I teared up knowing my baby was growing up.
& the second we showed the twins their big girl beds, Ally Ann grabbed his hand and dragged him to her room repeating, "Me bed, daddy. Me bed!" while patting on her chest. We looked at each other and I knew she was ready.
It was just me who wasn't.
I melted into a puddle the entire way we walked to her room.
The crib was going to be packed away. How? How could we NOT be in the crib stage of life anymore? How can it be that all THREE have grown out of this stage. Yall- the tears! I'm so happy and proud of our littlest girl. Her excitement for her big girl bed made/makes me so happy.
She did AMAZING! I rocked her for few minutes in her rocker, laid her in her bed, told her she was a big girl, and off I went. That first night, we constantly watched her sleep, after a few hours she woke up and made it to her rocker. I moved her back, and since then she has slept in her bed! It's been one of the easiest transitions. Can we all pray that potty training will be this easy, too??
Ally Ann: You, sweet girl, adore your big girl bed! You think you are SO big and its precious! Each time we walk you upstairs to your room you say, "Rock-Rock" and then "Apple, Apple, A-A-A" You want to be rocked while singing our ABC song. You want your blankie wrapped around you, and you want me to rub your back! If I stop, you grab my hand and move it back & forth. It's the sweetest moment. We say your prayers, I sing you our "I love you so much" song, I cover you up, and you say, "Night Night Momma! Wuv-you!"
You stay in your bed until I come to get you in the morning! You are so sweet, Ally Ann! Daddy and I love our big girl bed sleeper so much! Thank you for making this transition so easy for Mommy + Daddy!
I have to add- when we moved into this home, I questioned on whether to sell her rocker or keep it. To be honest, when it lived in the twins nursery, it was just a accent piece of furniture. Never. Used. I couldn't rock my babies... bc there was two of them. It was just too hard. The logistics just didn't work for us. But, when Ally Ann joined our family, I nursed her before naps & before bed in that rocker. It became our thing. When nursing was over, I would lay her in her crib and she made the transition easy. When we moved, I had the movers place it back in her room. We hadn't used it since our last nurse time, which was when she was 14 months old. So, the average person would be all, "It's been a year, Ann Marie!! Get rid of it. Move it to another room." I just couldn't. So it stayed. I am SO glad I felt the pull to keep it. I would have never imagined that she would want to "rock-rock" before bed! It's the sweetest moment that we get to share together each night. This baby may be moving into a big girl bed, but she is allowing me small moments of cherishing her littleness by rocking her for a few minutes each night. Mommas- follow your instincts. They grow up fast, I'll try and keep them little as long as I can and when they smile at their achievements from growing, I'll smile, too. I'll smile and know that it's time to move on, and forever be grateful for the journey we went through to bring us to this time.
