Long nights. Totally worth it.

It doesn't take much to mess with Teagan's sleep patterns.  New baby sister plus the infamous "terrible twos"?  Consider Teagan's world rocked.  Especially her sleep world.  We thought we'd gotten back to almost normal until two nights ago.  We had to stay out late because Teagan had her Christmas program at daycare and she was all hyped up after we got home.  She'd had just enough of a nap on the way home to tide her over for a little while.  Not. Good.  She didn't fall asleep until 9:30ish.  Her normal bedtime is 7:30.  She woke up the following morning around 5.  I'd just gotten back to bed after feeding Kyra.  But, Teagan had to get back up at 5:45 to get ready for school so it wasn't too bad. 
Last night was worse.  She'd had a normal day and went down like a champ.  Josh brushed her teeth while singing the "Sugar bug" song, put on her PJs, brought her downstairs to say goodnight to me and Kyra and tucked her in.  Kyra went to bed like normal around 8ish.  Kyra woke up at 1:00am.  Quite a shock to my system when she's been sleeping 6 and 7 hour stretches.  I was fine with it though as she usually goes back to sleep right away after a feeding.  Boy was I in for a treat.  She didn't go back down all the way until around 2:30am.  Really!?!
Ha, that isn't all.  Teagan woke up at 4am.  Yeah, you read that correctly, 4 flippin A.M.  She wanted to "rock a minute" so I rocked her a minute and then put her back down.   Secretly, as tired as I was I loved just holding and rocking her.  About 10 minutes later she was up again.  I rocked her one more time and put her back to bed.  It wasn't happening.  So, I let her cry for about 10 minutes while I sat in the middle of her room.  That didn't work.  I needed sleep. So, I told her she could either lay in her crib or she could lay in the floor with me but we weren't going in mommy & daddy's room.  She settled for laying on the floor with me.  Honestly, even though I was freezing in no socks and a nursing tank with no blanket, I was okay.  I don't get a lot of just Teagan time.  I rarely get cuddle time with her because she wants it less and less.  I laid there with her in my arms and just looked at her. I smelled her hair and kissed her head.  I'll admit I even cried some.  Thinking about how my first baby was growing up.  Eventually she fell all the way asleep and I was able to creep back to bed, for a whole 30 minutes. 
Should I have just let her cry it out?  The "experts" would probably say yes.  I really don't care what the experts say about it.  I think she and I both needed it. 

exhausted

I have been on a blogging sabbatical not quite on purpose.  These last few weeks have been a whirlwind.  First BlogHer '11 and then a family trip to Vermont with the in-laws.  Both trips were fun but there was no rest involved.  I/we went nonstop for both trips and I ended up with a very angry body.  I learned that if your feet start to swell and your back starts to hurt that it means SLOW DOWN your pregnant self. 
I have plenty to blog about and I promise I will. Starting tomorrow.  I still have more BlogHer '11 to tell you about. Plus we just took the trip to VT and I took a ton of pictures! Even a really cute belly picture that a few of you have been asking about along with 32 week pregnancy details. HELLO, there is another baby coming out of me in eight weeks!  And my, my how Teagan has grown! I think she added a few inches while I was gone and while we were in VT! It wasn't just inches she added either! The vocabulary she has developed has been incredible.  I will leave you with this teaser: "Ice ice baby".