Sleeping with the Em-me

We've been home from our trip long enough now for me to finally have a sense of Emme's schedule.  I realized at some point that she's a three-nap girl.  She's ready to nap usually a little more than an hour after getting up.  She usually only takes a short nap, but it keeps her from getting really cranky mid-morning.  Then she takes a mid-day nap, and it's usually the longest one of the day, sometimes closer to 2-3 hours.  Later in the day, especially if her mid-day nap is shorter, she sleeps for another hour or so.  Then she's up for 2-3 hours until bedtime.  Emme gets some baby food between 5-5:30 (except tonight, when we were out, so she ate later).  Then she's ready for bed between 7-7:30.  I nurse her, but she's usually not that hungry.  I rock her a little with her pacifier, then put her in her crib.  She's awake when I put her in the crib, and 10-20 minutes later she usually starts fussing and crying.  I let her fuss or cry for a little while before I go upstairs.  As soon as I sit down in the rocker with her and giver her the pacifier back, she pretty much passes out.  She closes her eyes, relaxes in my arms, and begins to fall asleep.  I rock her for just a few minutes before I put her back in the crib, and then she's down for the night.  At some point, she'll need to learn to get to sleep without that second visit, but for now, this is a huge improvement and not a huge hassle to help her get to sleep.  And to be completely frank, I love those few minutes of a practically sleeping baby cuddled in my arms.  I love how being with me some instantly calms and soothes her.  She'll grow out of it eventually, so for now, I'm savoring it.

For a few nights, Em would wake up and nurse again between 1-3am and then would wake up for the day between 5:30 (ugh) and 7:30.  If she was up really early, I would usually take her to bed, let her squirm and get sleepy again, and then she'd go back to sleep until 7:30 or 8.  The last few days, though, she's made it through the night.  She was asleep between 7:30 and 8pm, and then up for the day between 5:30 and 6 (did I mention, ugh).  The first time she did it, I woke around 3am and found that my body had not been notified that there would be no early morning feeding.  After a shirt change, I went back to sleep.  I woke up again last night but fortunately made it through without an outfit change.  I'm hoping that if this feat repeats tonight, I sleep through the night, too.