Let's talk about sleep.

Cam's evolution of sleep spaces is pretty amazing.
She started in the cosleeper before moving into our bed. She had a short stint in her crib (in her room) before moving back into our bed. We side-car'ed her crib, which we LOVED, but most nights, she still slept in our bed. Now, she's on a floor bed in her room.
So, let's get this out of the way right up front: I cannot sleep train. I do not have it in my blood, in my being, to do any sort of cry-it-out methods of getting wee one to sleep on her own. I FULLY support anyone who feels like their child would benefit from such a method, and I have seen it work in many, many families. I even implemented a modified "CIO" sleep training method with my nanny family when the twins were young, and they ROCKED IT. So I know how wonderful it can be. But for me and my baby, for our temperaments, under our circumstances, it is not the right choice.
So, there. I said it.

The decision to move Camy to her own room was not one that was easy to make. I started preparing myself for the idea months before I actually uttered the words aloud to the husband, and even after having the conversation, it took a few weeks of research and thought and trials for me to jump in. I came across the idea sort of by accident as I was researching ways to bring some Montessori-concepts into our home. I was immediately intrigued by the idea. It seemed like a win-win all around: Cam still gets her snuggle time before bed (and let's be real - Mama still gets her snuggles, too!). Cam is in her own safe space where she can roll and toss around as much as she wishes. The husband and I get our bed back, which can only add up to good things. We don't have to "sleep train". Good. Good. Good. Right?

So, rather than invest in a new mattress right now, we decided to pull the mattress out of the Murphy Bed and see if this whole concept will even work. And so far, it does. Beautifully, in fact!!
We started out just having her nap in there for about a week, and letting her stay in our bed at night. When we saw how well she was doing with naps, we tried nighttime too, and she didn't skip a beat!
When Cam was sleeping in our bed, she was often staying up until at least 9pm. I'm not sure what the big difference is now, but Cam's been in bed around 8 consistently the last week or so! And I am loving her new nighttime routine. We do dinner around 6, immediately followed by her bath. After bath we let her play a bit to burn her last bit of energy, then we head to her room around 730-745. We turn on her sound machine and her lullaby CD I burned her before she was born (which we never used for bedtime when she was in our room), then give her a bottle of milk while rocking her. She usually falls asleep by the end of her bottle and we can lay her down, but if not, we just lay down with her when she's done eating and snuggle her to sleep. Easy peasy. And we are fully confident in leaving the room when she's asleep because her bed is only a couple inches off the floor, so she's safe! Its wonderful.
And she is totally loving having this big mattress on her floor. There have been a handful of times where she has acutally crawled up and laid on her pillow unprompted, signaling me she's ready for nap or bed, and just gone to sleep with me patting her back a few minutes. Amazing! I love that she can be more in control of her schedule this way. And my favorite thing so far is when she wakes up - she just quietly climbs out of bed, and comes toddling out of her room with a big old grin. Its awesome! Way better, in her opinion (and mine) than waking up confined and having to cry out for Mama.. she just comes and gets me (after naps, anyway!).
So far I have still been in her room with her at night, but that should be changing soon. The original plan was just to sleep in there with her the first week to get her acclimated, but we have been struggling with an allergic reaction (details in another post), so me sleeping in there with her has been extended while we deal with that. Ultimately the plan is to have her in there by herself, and leave her door open with a baby gate so she can't roam around the house if she wakes in the middle of the night.
I am so glad I stumbled upon this concept, and so so glad the Cam has taken so well to the idea!
This has been a wonderful sleep solution for all of us, and I hope our good luck continues!

Here are a few photos:

I need to use my other lens to get a more wide-angle shot. 

We prop one pillow up along the wall because she flails a bit.. 

she was hitting and waking herself up.

The green mis-matched pillow is mine.

We got her this night light at Ikea, but its a little brighter than we'd hoped. 

Its cute, so we'll keep it, but we're in the market for something dimmer. 

The bulbs in the flower light are the lowest wattage Ikea sells. Boo.

 Close-up of her duvet/pillow case pattern. Love it!

 Silly girl just throws herself back on the bed to lounge a bit.

This is how she rolls/climbs off the bed..

 Happy.

 Crazy girl!

Happy Sleeping, blogland.