Milestone... in my eyes at least!

It may not seem like much, but to me it is a milestone: Macy took a nap in her crib today for over 2 hours! Okay, before you start laughing at how something so seemingly minor as this gets me excited, let me explain.

For the past two months I've hardly been able to set the sleeping Macy down for fear that she will wake up and break the peaceful quite that had fallen over the house. Sometimes as I get up to try to set her down, I swear that Taz and Lucy are giving me the eye saying "Please Mom, just keep holding her to keep her from screaming - it's driving us nuts!" The past week or so, I've sometimes been able to lay her on the couch once she falls asleep and slowwwllyyy easy myself away from her. As I ease away, I have to quickly snuggle a blanket or pillow on each side to make her think I am still there. If I'm lucky, she will sleep there on the couch for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. A good block of time, yes, however since she is not safe to be unmonitored sleeping on the couch, I'm left confined to the family room and unable to do anything that I want to / need to do. And as you know, I can hardly sit still at home. There is always some cleaning or rearranging or if nothing else, baking to be done! So there I sit - for roughly 3 hours a day watching TV (thank God for TIVO and Oprah) and updating my facebook status.

Today I decided it was time she learn how to take naps in her crib which will, in turn, help with the transition from the bassinet in our room for night time sleeping, to her crib when the time comes. I was well prepared for her to wake up several times and told myself to stay strong and don't cave in. I was determined to keep setting her in her crib no matter how many times she woke and and I picked her up. To my surprise, she went down fine on the first try and here it is, two hours later and she is still asleep. Of course, I'm still checking to make sure she is breathing every 15 minutes (call me a paranoid first time Mom, it's okay, I can take it).

I've had so much freedom this afternoon I can hardly stand it! I wrapped presents, got the mail, did dishes, blogged, and started dinner! I feel so great and happy that I might even take her shopping with me tomorrow... on second thought, I better not get ahead of myself. We still haven't been able to manage the screaming in the store issue yet... first things first.

So yes, it is definitely the small things that make me happy these days. But no matter how difficult the days and nights are, when I see this precious little girl smile at me and gooo and gaaa, it is all worth it!