Just had to document yesterday for a couple of reasons, we just weened Ella off her woombie! Its kind of a sad day...just means she is getting to be such a big girl and doesn't need it anymore! :( She hasn't mastered the rolling over from back to stomach yet, but we wanted to be ready for when she does (she shouldn't be all wrapped up in her woombie when she can do that, so we thought it would be good to go ahead and ween her. Plus we think it will also help her to master this since she will have a lot more freedom with her hands). So of course I say out loud to Alston that I think it might be time to ween her and of course he makes me do it right away (after I said it out loud, I wasn't really sure TODAY would need to be the day, but I guess I needed that little push from him to do it or I would really never be ready)!
So for Ella's second nap of the day (I left the house to run an errand), Alston tried to have both arms out of the woombie and see if she would go down for her nap...no such luck so he put both arms back in and said we would try again at the next nap. So for the third and final nap of the day we decide it is time for tough love and no matter what she is going to learn how to sleep without the woombie! Alston puts her down in her woombie, but with her arms out and she did great for about 5 mins, she was in her crib checking out her hands and arms and I know saying wow...how did these get out of here! Then once she started to fall asleep and realize that she is not all bundled up she freaks out and starts screaming/crying...this lasts for about an hour (Alston and I each went in a couple of times to try and calm her down, but with no luck). Finally on my last attempt (I had also been texting with my friend Sarah who introduced me to the woombie on how she weened her daughter off it, "cold turkey", she said), so I had an idea to take Ella out of the woobie all together and put just a normal sleep sack on her with her arms out...finally she falls asleep! Yay! Success! I was just happy she was finally asleep, but I knew we still had the major challenge ahead of us and that was bed time! I was just so stressed from trying to get her to go down and to like being free from the woombie, that I had a little melt down when I left her room for the final time and of course blamed Alston for all that was going on! :)
So it came time to get ready for bed and we did the normal routine and then when Alston got her dressed for bed he also put her in her sleep sack then fed her a bottle. He then laid her down in her crib and she laid there (like she did for her nap so I knew we were not out of the woods yet) and then all of the sudden we look at the monitor and she is asleep!!! AMAZING! Just a sigh of relief from both of us!
I apologized to Alston for my meltdown and just so thankful it only took that 1 time! I know this is a very small milestone to many, but it was a large one for me and so glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been. So proud of my sweet Ella for handling the weening so well...just a small melt down by her and Mom! :)
You are bringing back sooooooo many memories of all my times of sleep training the girls. You are in the hardest part of it right now. I Swear to you they all end up sleeping fine and well, too..just stay Consistent with whichever attempt you choose. I have cried in frustration a million times. God bless the husbands that push us into tough love ..if not i am sure mia to this day would still be swaddled :)
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