A Visit to Aunt Amy's

Dear Kate,

Last weekend, Daddy finally got his birthday present.  He and the other daddies (Uncle Jaybee, Mr. Lee and Mr. Jay) headed to St. Louis for a Cardinals game!  Mommy's awesome like that, but anyway. So they left on Saturday morning, and since they left, I thought, we should leave, too!  So we did!  And headed to Cookeville to spend with Aunt Amy and her crew.  Aunt Steph, Ellie and Christopher decided to do the same so we had a little girls (and children) weekend!  Well, that's what it was supposed to be.  Things don't always go as expected...

See, I had this great plan that as soon as you woke up from your morning nap, usually around 11:30, we'd skedaddle out of the house so you wouldn't fall asleep in the car on our 1 & half hour drive to Aunt Amy's and then we'd visit a bit and put you down for your afternoon nap, giving Mommy a chance to chill with the the aunties.  Well, it started off great.  Nap went well, we were headed that way, Sister fell asleep (unexpected, but pleasing!) and you were awake.  Then you started crying.  And somehow found your paci.  Then I noticed you got quiet.  I looked in the mirror and AhHHHHH you were asleep!  I quickly grabbed the paci from your mouth and you were awake.  And crying.  But we were minutes away and I found a cracker for you to chew on :)  So we made it for the most part with no nap and you were ready to play!  

 Well, 2:30 approached and it was clear you were ready for your afternoon nap, so off to 'bed' we go.  Bed is used loosely because A) you are in the pak n play and B) you are in Aunt Amy's room - the room that hears EVERYTHING!  Well, their whole house hears everything.  It's one of those fancy old houses with those windows above the doors, but they don't have any glass, so you seriously hear everything!  Anyway, no other option, so off to bed we went.  I thought it would be fine once you were asleep, but getting you asleep was the first problem.  Finally you were asleep, and I swear it was not 15 minutes later and you were up.  I let you cry for a bit, but it didn't seem to bother you at all, so I decided to try to get you back to sleep.  Nah, none of that.  So up you were, playing with the crew.  Thankfully you were in good spirits all afternoon, considering no nap, so that was good.  We all played, mainly inside because it's still 200 degrees outside, and everyone loved playing with you.  6:30 rolled around and I had you fed and in your jammies because you needed sleep!  Well, off you went and at 7 I thought I was coast free, pouring myself a glass of Mommy juice.  Well... by 7:45, you were crying.  I went upstairs to the attic (where you were now located), put you back to sleep, which took forever because you did not want in that pak n play and preferred my cozy arms.  Well, back you were asleep, and low and behold an hour later, up again. I'll just wrap this up quickly.  You woke up 2 more times, one of which was in the middle of dinner and finally at 10 I decided to call it a night and just hold you for however long it took to convince you I was not going to put you in the pak n play - even though I did...

What's crazy is it worked!  I held you (and your sister, but that's another story, her story!) and you slept peacefully and then about 30 minutes later I put you in the pak n play and you slept ALL NIGHT LONG!  Either you were tired by that point, or I did a good job of slowly lowering you into the bed - a hidden talent I am quite proud of :)
UGH!!!  I was so upset that night because all I wanted to do was hang out with Aunt Amy, Aunt Steph and Aunt Jill (who dropped by), but it just wasn't happening!  While I was holding you, and while I was being a baby about the whole thing, I had an epiphany.  Things could be worse.  If the worst thing happening to me right now is my 9 month old is having an off night, of which I haven't seen in a LONG time, then my word, I'll take it.  I've been seeing all these blogs about little girls and boys being sick and the struggles their families are going through and I promise you little girl, I said to myself "Things could be so much worse.  Look at me - I've got a healthy (and beautiful) baby girl in my arms, asleep.  Deal with it!"  So, all that said, things happen, not always what you expect, but we handle it! And later look back and enjoy that funny laughable memory :)  The next morning I woke up (early, thanks to you and your messed up sleep!) and thought how lucky I am.  About that time your sister rolled up beside me, ready to get the day started, and I just smiled and said "Okay!".
So, all that said, thank you.  Thank you for having an off night and making me realize how lucky I have it.  How grateful I should be.  How one bad day is nothing to the million I get to spend with you and your sister!  Love you sweet girl!!