Belly Sleeping + Transitions

How in the world can this be comfortable for you, E.V.?

Sleep, glorious sleep.

Emma Vance has been in her nursery for several weeks now, and although I miss hearing her little peeps and rustlings in the middle of the night, we're happy that that crutch of a bassinet is gone. Her crib mattress is super firm (of course), and as I mentioned earlier, E.V. had a bit of trouble getting used to sleeping without being cozied up in her soft newborn nest (our little Princess and the Pea, who, ironically, it turns out literally doesn't like peas). The issue seemed to resolve itself rather naturally, and shortly thereafter she began rolling back-to-belly, and now she sleeps that way most of the time. Occasionally she'll flop onto her side, but that's usually just a temporary pose as she eventually turns completely over. The first few times she slept at night on her belly I barely slept--half the time she wants to bury her face into the mattress! How can that be comfortable??? It's certainly not safe, and so I spent about a week gently turning her face out to where her nose was free to breathe easily, only to be thwarted by a stubborn baby who would just turn her head back every time I left the room. Now I don't worry about her; when she's uncomfortable, she is a big girl and has proven to me that she can move herself. My suffocation fears are slowly relaxing, which is a welcome change.

Also, sometime in the past week or so Emma Vance began the transition to two daily two-hour naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. In December she had a few one-off naps that were unusually long, but it seems that here, around six and a half months old, she's finally adopting the pre-toddler napping schedule I've been looking forward to for so long. What Baby Wise calls the "45 Minute Intruder" became our "45 Minute Roommate"--instead of the usual few days or weeks of 45 minute naps, we had THREE MONTHS of them! Eventually they became the norm, and because she was healthy and happy and predictable, I embraced her natural schedule. However, it is soooo nice to be able to start projects while she's sleeping that I know will take me longer than 45 minutes. The way it feels to me right now, two hours might as well be two weeks! The first time she naturally slept for two hours, Ryan was home, and we were both hanging out, working on our computers. Around the 45 minute mark I completed my nap time project and began surfing around...and around...and around. I kept staring at the monitor, expecting her to pop up and babble "mama" at any moment, but she just kept snoozing away. Ryan and I were beside ourselves--confused but cautiously excited. It was the most wasted hour or so of my life because I couldn't believe what was happening. Over the past several days her nap lengths have been a little unpredictable, and although I've had to help soothe her through a few transitions, it's happening, people, it's happening! Give us a few weeks and I'll officially be ready to give our "45 Minute Roommate" his eviction notice. Wish us luck!

At one hour into her morning nap...yay!

(In case you were wondering, yes, she sleeps with TWO Cookie Monsters.)