Big Girl Bed

(Please bear with me as my brain if filled to the brim and I feel a bit of a spillage coming:)

It is official, Emma has been sleeping in her toddler bed for a month now! And I don't think mommy has had a solid night's sleep since;P
We began the transition just before Christmas. It had been several nights of Emma was doing more screaming and banging her head on her crib rails than actually sleeping inside of it. I was at a loss of what to do and after talking with RJ, we decided we may as well give the big girl bed a try. I'm not fully convinced that it was the perfect move on our part, but not the worst either. At least this way, when she is needing mommy or daddy it's easy for us to just sit beside her bed and rub her back:)
If you have read my blog at all, you are aware of the fact that Emma has had some sleeping issues before. She has never taken good/long naps and she is a VERY early riser. But my peace (and sanity) has always come from the fact that she sleeps GREAT at night. Since she was 4 months old she has slept all night long, with a few hiccups here and there. So this change in her has been very tough on us.
Another big adjustment that has come with her new bed, is that we used to lay her down awake and let her fall asleep on her own....that no longer works. At first I think it was a little fear of her new bed, and she wanted us to lay with her till she fell asleep. Now I believe it is mostly habit:( And she is still waking up several times during the night crying. I believe several factors are at play here; 2 year molars, bad dreams, and knowing mommy and daddy are soft will come to her rescue to cuddle.
We try to refrain from actually laying in bed with her, instead sitting beside her bed reassuring her. But there are the nights when sleep is of the essence, and cheating happens:P I pride myself in the fact that we have not slipped into co-sleeping in RJ and I's bed. As incredibly hard as it is! Even if we choose to lay with her, we are in her room, keeping "our" room as our own.
Overall, my heart reassures me that "this too shall pass" and that she is only little once. There will come a day soon enough when I will wish to snuggle and sing her to sleep. I choose to treasure these moments and to try not to dwell on my lost sleep.
We have had a few nights where she has slept in her bed by herself all night, so I choose to believe we're making progress. But for now, please excuse the dark circles under my eyes and rest assured I am perfectly healthy, just a little sleep deprived:)
My princess now awakes from her nap, so ta-ta for now!