We are so proud of you Maddi!!

For those of you that know us pretty well, you know that Maddi has a few sleeping issues. Well my New Year's resolution was/is to make her finally sleep in her own bed for the whole night. I was/am determined to do whatever it takes to make this happen because after almost 4 1/2 years, I think that Mark and I deserve some much needed rest. If we were to get more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep, Lord only knows what life would be like. Anyway, I am sure that I would be scolded by the professionals for going about this like I have, but it seems to work for Maddi and for us, so I will continue to do what we are doing. Instead of rocking her to sleep(a big no no we all know), she goes in her bed with her Daddy or whomever and lays down until she drifts off to sleep. If she sleeps in her bed all night, then she has a wrapped prize in front of her door waiting for her when she wakes up. Most of her prizes have been books, puzzles, coloring books, markers, a new cup, etc. They may not be the most rewarding prizes, but the amount of determination that this has given her to sleep in her own bed has been amazing. So far she has slept in her bed for 5 nights in a row and the first thing that she says when she wakes up is, "Mom make sure you put another prize in front of my door after tonight ok!" We know that she can not receive "prizes" forever, but until she is into a regular routine of doing this, I do not mind spending $.50 to $1.00 a night.Wrong, maybe, but it is working for us. Now the next big hurdle to cross is to get Mom to sleep without wondering or worrying if she is wandering around sometimes ending up downstairs screaming and crying for us and so on. She seemed to only need a few hours of sleep before, but being in her own bed has made her sleep almost 6 or more hours. That is A LOT for her! Maybe we will get her to continue this pattern and we all can learn how to sleep again. I know that I am ready for a good nights rest. It has been a long time and I too need to learn all over again, but it will happen! I am more determined than ever! Looking back, if we could have just put her to bed in her own bed/crib then she may not be as bad as she is, but she has never slept more than a few hours at a time. When she wakes up, she is up and miserable! Leslea was our only child that slept. She was not that great, but she was much better at it than Courtney or Maddi. Well enough for now. We will continue to see how this works out for us and we will be hoping for some sleep filled nights for all of us! Enjoy the rest of the week! Until next time...