Naptime in Big Girl Bed

For those of you who do not know, I love to nap with our babies and rock them to sleep at night. I think this is some of the most precious time I spend with them. Well, I have been laying down with Hannah-Faith for the last 23 months with no problems. That is until this past weekend. Every night when I rocked her to sleep, she would point to our bedroom and say, "Nap". I explained that it was not nap time but bedtime. She was up until 11:00 persisting that she go to our bed to sleep. Therefore, today, I didn't lay down with my baby. After much preparation in prayer, I decided to put her to sleep alone in her big girl bed for nap. She still sleeps in her crib at night. I realized that this was going to be a BIG ordeal. I prepared the other children, set up a CD player with soft music in Hannah's room and got her bed ready. I explained what was going to happen right after lunch. About an hour later, off we went to the big girl bed. I read her a story, kiss her, and walked out of the room closing the door behind me. It was not 15 sec. and Hannah was at the door. Long story short, she screamed. I decided I would give this one hour. After an hour, I would go in and sit on her floor. After she screamed, she got out of bed and opened the door. The first three times I picked her up, kissed her, and put her back on the bed. The next 14 times, I just picked her up and put her on the bed. She was crying close to the hour mark. Then her cries slowed, were not as loud and there were breaks in between. After an hour and 5 minutes, NO Crying. I peeked in her room. I could not believe my eyes. SHE WAS STANDING UP LOOKING OUT THE WINDOW. I closed the door quietly and waited for the crying to start again. However, 10 minutes went by and when I peeked in she was sound asleep on her pillow. My baby went to sleep in her big girl bed without Mommy for the first time today. While I stood at the door praying for her, she grew up just a little. :(
I realize that tomorrow I will have to do this all over again and probably everyday this week. I am trusting The Lord that He will comfort my little one (and me) and each day will be easier. During my praying today, I was reminded that I will hold her heart forever but I must let go of her hand just a little today.

Please pray for us this week.