You will never get them out of your bed!

If I had a dollar for each time someone made some ridiculous comment like this about how our kids fall asleep, stay asleep, or where they sleep, I would have a good amount of money.

Ok, so honestly our kids still don't spend the ENTIRE night alone in their OWN bed. But they are well on their way, and I am so proud and taken aback by the whole experience.

If there is one thing I have learned as an adult, mother, friend is that to each to his own. Every child is different, every family is different, and every mother is different. This is what worked for me. And I am sure that it has helped create well-adjusted, confident, happy kids who have the best attitude regarding naps and sleep possible.

We held our babies while they napped. We held them because we had the time and the ability. I stayed home, my mother was close by, and they wanted to be close to us.

Charlie slept on Adam's chest for the first few months of his life.

Kate has co-slept since the morning she was born.

We held them while they slept because we knew that sooner or later this day would come, the day where we realized our kids are 4 and 2.5 and don't need us and at times don't even want us to be there as they fell asleep and stay asleep.

We held them because they are only little and snuggly for so long...and because it was the only way they would sleep, which meant more sleep for us.

"At some point they will need to cry" some people told me.

"They need their own bed, their own space"

"They have to learn to self-soothe"

"A baby crying itself to sleep, even if it takes an hour, will not hurt them"

Maybe that is true. I will never know, because I am allergic to babies crying. It is like the animal in me starts to brainstorm...are they hungry, wet, dirty, gassy, needing some cuddles.

I second guessed myself plenty, at times felt jealous when I heard stories of other babies sleeping 12 hours straight and going to sleep in their crib without a bit of help.

But mostly I felt very secure in our way of doing it. I felt like I was in tune with our children and their nighttime needs.

Some of my most vivid memories of Charlie are rocking him back to sleep in a quiet and still house in the middle of the night.

And there are more nights of laughs, cuddles, and sweet drifting off to sleep than I can even begin to share.

BUT...I am proud to say that in the last month or two both kids have turned a corner and night after night both kids fall asleep on their own, very quickly, without any tears, and early..like 7.

Charlie started doing it first. And Kate soon followed. Adam used to have to come home at lunch to help put her down for her nap, because when I would try it would take over 45 minutes. Now I read two books, sing four songs and leave. She puts her stuffed animals to bed and closes her eyes and goes to sleep.

We ordered Kate her own toddler bed and once it comes I am sure that she will love it and want to sleep there.

Although Charlie has woken me up the past 2 nights at 12 to ask if I will sleep with him the rest of the night, I know he is close to sleeping all night long, as every few nights he does it.

I don't mind spending some hours snuggled up to his little body in the early morning as I know that soon he won't even want that.

And not once has either kid tried to leave the bed after goodnight kisses. I think they welcome sleep. They value sleep. They are tired after playing so hard all day, and have a very healthy relationship with sleep itself. And that is why I know that our method worked for us.

Sure it took four years of spending an extra 30 minutes in bed with charlie rubbing his back.

Sure I spend many afternoons nursing one or the other to bed for naps and night, and had countless frustrating experiences putting Kate down for a nap, but it was just a phase in their life. And I am confident that I did my best for them.

And I am smiling ear to ear as I think about how they take so much pride in doing it themselves now.

Kate passes any stranger at the store, along the coastal trail, or at the park and proudly states,

" I go to sleep all by myself." I am sure they think to themselves as they nodd, "it is about time."

Thank you Kate and Charlie for being such big kids.

And thank you Adam for listening to my views on sleep years ago, and standing by my choice to co-sleep, and help the kids fall asleep. The kids wouldn't be where they are without your support, time, love, and dedication.