The days are long...but the years are oh so short!

It hit me like a ton on bricks last Tuesday night...she said the words
"You better stay here and put me to bed else I won't come to your
room to cuddle you when you are feeling lonely, I will stay in my
own room and sleep." I was speechless for a minute...I wanted her to put herself to bed because I still had a budget for a proposal I needed to work on.

For all those that know, and those that don't, Mika has been a horrible
sleeper since birth. She just never slept longer than a 45 minute cycle
and it was exhausting. We tried everything...all the fancy baths, massages,
meds (against my better judgement), but yeah, lack of sleep will do that
to you! Everything except Cry it Out (CIO), and although the pressure was
immense to make her CIO, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It was not
something I was ever prepared to do, so I suffered through sleepless nights
for 6+ years.

She always slept in our room but since about 7 months she has been in our
bed and she made a king sized bed feel very small 😉. She is a cuddler and
always wanted to feel us, much to my detriment because I ended up sleeping
right on the edge almost falling off and being stiff every morning.

I always wished she would sleep in her own room...I longed for the day I
would have my bed back. I wished for her to sleep through the night just
once.
I wanted her to grow up...

Then it happened...in the second week of Grade 1 this year, she decided that she wanted to try sleeping in her own room. Just like that, out of the blue. I suspect that her teacher spoke to them about being big kids or something. So there we were, after years of wishing for this...

It was a slow transition, but it happened and now she sleeps most nights in her own room and the night wakings are becoming less. Two weeks ago she started putting herself to sleep 😥. Now imagine that??? I never ever in a million years thought that would ever happen. 

And now? I find myself missing her in my bed...those warm hugs and snuggles. Just watching her sleep, smelling her hair. So cuddle and hug and squeeze them for as long as they allow it. Make no mistake, I definitely don't miss the kicks and hits and bad quality sleep 😂

And there you have it, just when you think you will never sleep again and wish for the time to be over, it's over in the blink of an eye and you wonder where did all the years disappear to? You wonder if the sleep deprivation was really that bad - YES, it WAS that bad but you forget and they grow up.

So now you have to sneak into their rooms at night to climb in and cuddle for a while or take secret pictures...

Now I just have to get the teacher to talk to her about not waking up at bloody 5am on weekends 😂

PS: If I ever find out what the Teacher told her, I will be sure to update...

Yes the days are indeed very, very long, but the years are oh so short!