Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Victory!!

I am going to go ahead and say it...step out in faith and declare a victory.  A little over two weeks ago Ryan and I declared a war against our toddler.  We decided to reclaim captured territory and take back what is our God given right.  Ok that may be a bit much and I am not sure it's a God given right, however we took back our bedroom, we took back the night!

Ready for war!

A year ago when we sold our condo we hadn't closed on our house yet, so we moved in with family.  While our families were super gracious and we are super thankful for the opening of their homes once again to us, it threw our little girly's schedule into a serious tailspin.  I should really say there was an overall lack of schedule and that was the problem.  We were all, but Lincoln, in the same room and basically rising and going to sleep at the same time.  Once we settled into our own home, where Arabelle has a wonderfully purple room, she refused to sleep there.  It was as if World War III had broken out on nights that we tried to make her sleep in there.  And thus in our weakness we just continued to let her sleep in our room on the floor as an act of avoidance.  It was our peace treaty.

Then a couple of weeks ago we decided we wanted our own time.  I mean we should have that right?  Just an hour or two with no kiddos asking questions.  Some time to talk or not to talk to each other.  So we just buckled down and prepared ourselves for the oncoming war.  But you know what??  It wasn't so bad.  She maybe had one night where she was upset and we were upset and it seemed hope was lost...maybe not lost...just fading...or hiding in the midst of the toddler tantrum. She has overall done amazing!  She is sleeping in there every night and doesn't scream or cry when it's time.  Granted getting her to sleep in there has a long list of requirements ranging from a fan blowing on her face, to a cup of water in her play kitchen, to lastly but certainly not least having the Glee soundtrack playing.  (She likes the Glee soundtrack and who am I to argue?)  An added bonus of her sleeping in there is that for four consecutive nights she has slept all the way through the night and hasn't tried to come back into our room at some crazy hour when everyone should be sleeping.  This is definitely a bonus because we had resigned ourselves to her coming in between 12 and 3 in the morning and that would just be the way it was for a while.

I am so proud of my girl.  She is growing up and learning to be just a little more independent.  I don't want her to be too independent...I still like to snuggle with her and hold her little hand as much as I can.  I love that girl!  She is a gift from God and is teaching us every day what it means to be a parent.  She may do things with a little more spunk and a little more fight, but that is just how God intended her to be.  I think it will serve her well one day.

I am also very proud of us. We stood our ground and made it happen.  We took back our time together and we are loving it.  We are actually getting to read books and talk about our days and catch up on TV shows that can't be watched when there is a four year old roaming around.  We get to be a husband and wife again and not just parents....we get us time. We love it!

Stand strong today bloggies, in whatever it is that you have been avoiding facing.  Stand strong!

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