" 'Nite, Nite"

Rora is a night owl ...

It's a fact.
a fact that can be exhausting for her mama.
Her sleep schedule has always been a late one.
with bedtime being at 11 pm ...
W are usually up then so its not that bad, unless she decides that she is going to
stay up until two am and believe me she is very capable of it.
Anyway...
since she was born one of the few
 thing`s that has helped has been music.
If I could I would put a youtube video on of the particular song
But the singers name is Brian E And  I have never heard of him since we were in Kalispell. The Song is Come thou fount .
Rora has never been one to just
lay down and go to sleep, which can be hard on her mama.
But when she was just a few weeks old I learned a trick... a very simple trick,
but so helpful... She was crying and I had been walking and singing
Willie was out cold it was about 1 in the morning I had sang every hymn I could remember
every Sunday school song, even some lullabies I was now on Come thou fount again.
It was working, but only if I was walking up and down
Th Lord, sent me an epiphany.
I had recently gotten a new phone and had put music on it.
I'm not sure why I chose but it was soothing maybe it would help.
I put it on repeat and let it play after about the second go around she was out.
sound asleep.

PRAISE THE LORD!
As she got older it didn't work quite as well, you see she was more alert
and had more energy.
The cry it out method never worked... the only thing it got me was a fussy,
clingy baby who for two days after would hold on to me and cry everytime I tried
to put her down. So, I would have to pack her around until she was confident I wasnt going to leave
her.
We tried the baby whisperer method... didn't quite work either, although it was closer.
I tend to try a whole bunch of things
 and make a method that works out of a hodgepodge of methods and ideas. 
Because Rora is unique... just like any other baby 
and she doesn't fit in to a  cookie cutter image of what 
someone thinks that ALL babies should be.

Here I am on a bunny trail ....
Ok back to bedtime. The bedtime situation is interesting
You see we even went through a period of every Saturday night
she would stay up. Occasionally we would have an odd night where she
would stay up  but without fail
Our darling ray of sunshine would be up ALL NIGHT. 
I think we went through this for about two months. It didn't stop until we committed it to prayer. 
Now, she is sleeping lots better. :) 
We have finally found a good bedtime routine it took a lot of trial and error, but we found it.
So this routine takes anywhere between an hour to an hour and a half
We start by  10 pm sometimes earlier, like 9:00.. it just depends on her tiredness level. Anyway,
We start by telling Daddy Nite, Nite If we don't , we can't because Daddy is for playing and even if he just smiles,  she wants to play. she has been this way, practically since she was born. Daddy is her bestest buddy.
                     We turn on Pandora through our ps3. I have a lullaby  station that plays instrumental hymns, lullabies, and soothing music Next, we read Stories this is one of  my Favorite  times. she cuddles up in my lap and we read together. I know she  isn't old enough yet to completely understand what I read to her, but she loves it. 
(In fact just the other night, she was getting tired and  there were these two books in her way and she was fighting with them getting very frustrated. I grabbed one of them  and she picks up the other one toddles over  and brings it to me to read. It just melted my heart. 
By the time  the story was finished  she was sound asleep. She also has been picking books up and 'reading' them  she sits down on the floor opens the book and jabbers away. 
But I am  getting on a bunny trail... 
So, after reading stories, we cuddle for a few minutes. By this time, 
she is usually calm and beginning to relax and getting sleepy. After that we walk, since 
I don't have a rocker. I sing along or hum to the music. We pray. I tell her that her family loves her. (Jesus loves you, Daddy loves you, Mama loves you... ect. all the way through her cousins.  
And just depending on how tired she is she may be fast asleep.   She doesn't always go down for bed or naps so easily. (we use a simplified version, for nap time, I sing and we cuddle, sometimes we read a story ) Sometimes she throws  a fit because she hates going to sleep and missing something. Sometimes  she sleeps for only 15 or twenty minutes other times she just wants mama. 
So we start out in her bed and halfway through the night she wakes up to nurse and snuggles for a while then we try going back to her bed. Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't.
But our best plan has been to take things slow and give her just a little independence  at a time when she feels ready... We will be there to guide her and direct her... but when she is ready to take the next step in her growth like running... or sleeping all night in her bed we will be there cheering her on telling her we love her  and that we are right here for her and just how proud of her we are. 
And we'll take it one step at a time. :)