Normal? What normal?

Jo's sleeping habits change weekly. Some weeks it seems like she welcomes sleep, and some she wants to stay up late running circles around the living room squealing. Some weeks she clings to her daddy doll and binky and some she wants to be sung to. Some weeks she may even sleep through the night at least once.

Almost every night Jo goes to sleep between 7-8pm. She almost always wakes up at least once before Nick and I go to bed -- one of us will go in and help her get back to sleep. She'll sleep in her room until around 3am and get up again. This is when I bring her into bed with us where she sleeps off and on until around 6am. Nick often asks me if this is normal. I always answer that every baby is different...and then I quietly wonder if this is normal. It's hard to know.

So instead of thinking about "normal" I think about what seems right for us. I do know that Jo needs help getting back to sleep, and I'm ok with that. She rarely sleeps through the night, and I'm ok with that. I'm also really ok with bringing her into our bed. It's easier for us both to fall asleep together. She will eventually want to sleep on her own as well as through the night.

So yeah, this is Jo's normal. 

The other night I was rocking her back to sleep in her room wishing I was back in my office working on a project. She was taking up all of my precious evening time. Then I thought to myself, "She's not always going to be this small. She's not always going to want to be rocked to sleep. She's not always going to be comforted in my arms. Just be present." And I sat there with my arms around her and enjoyed it.

We were both just where we needed to be. That's our normal.