Transitioning Cora to Her Own Room

Truth be told, I never thought I would be a mom who had my baby sleeping in our room through her 6 month birthday, but alas I think all us mamas end up doing things we never thought we would! Before Cora was born, I thought she would be sleeping in her own room, in her crib right from the beginning. I didn't want to have to deal with transitioning and didn't think I would be able to sleep with her little baby noises.

So, we brought our baby home from the hospital and went to lay her down for a nap in her crib so we could catch some sleep also, I freaked out. My little six pound baby in a room all by herself?!? Of course since we didn't think she would be sleeping in our room, we had no bassinet or anything besides a crib to let her sleep in. Super daddy Josh spent the next two hours taking apart the crib and moving it into our bedroom. We bought a bassinet two days later to help her transition from womb to the outside world, and since around three weeks old she's been sleeping only in her crib with the occasional mama's lap nap when nothing else worked.

Over the past six months, we've asked each other multiple times if we were ready to move her out of our room, but each time the answer was 'no, not yet.' Honestly, we didn't want to move her out because we liked being able to see her in her crib easily, we also liked having her close, and also we knew the risk of SIDS decreased by having baby sleep in the same room as you. Cora's 6 month birthday fell a few days before Christmas and we did not want to have to move everything around around Christmas so we ended up moving her around 6.5 months.

We also decided to change the room we had set up to be her room (yes, we're crazy, we know!) and switch what was our guest room into her room, and vice versa. We figured in the long run we'd have Cora be in the bigger bedroom when future kids come along and a guest bedroom really doesn't need to be large.

Cora's been sleeping in her own room for a little over a week now and things are going amazingly well. She's been doing 8 to 9 hour straight stretches and 12 hour nights total, which hasn't happened since 4 month sleep regression started. This mama feels like a whole new person after going back to getting up every 3 hours the past 2 months. Would she have been sleeping as good if we had moved her sooner? Would the transition have been harder if she hadn't been sleeping in her crib already?Who knows! Ultimately, I'm glad we kept her in our room as long as we did, I think I would have been more worried way more about her in her own room before 6 months because of SIDS. I do peek my head in her room every night before I go to bed to make sure she's still on her back and doing well, but it's been a great transition for both all of us.

We are still working on getting things hung up in her room but I can just imagine our little babe growing up in this room!

How long did you keep your baby sleeping in your room or what are you planning on doing when your baby arrives? Tell me below, I love knowing what works for other families!

Kayty

3 to 6 Month Favorite Toys

Cora is officially sitting on her own (with a few tumbles here and there, Boppy pillow to the rescue!) so I feel like we are on to our next stage of toys. How fun! While it has been fun to lay on the ground and play with her when she is on her back and tummy I have so been looking forward to the sit and play stage!

Even though we are now out of this stage of play I want to document what were our favorites for future babes but also for you who might be wondering what to register for or for ideas of what to do with your baby now that they are starting to be come more alert and active!

1 | TinyLove Playmat // A hand-me-down find from a garage sale ($8) and by far Cora's favorite play area until she learned to sit. We did tummy and back time for hours under this. What we loved about this playmat is it did come with a few toy options but we could interchange some favorites.

2 | Swing // Another garage sale find ($3!) and a must have for any parent in my opinion. We love our Graco swing because it is so easily moved so we moved it by our dinner table, into our bedroom to fold laundry, outside a for grill out. I know there are lots of high tech, lots of options swings out there but ours simple 6 speed one is about as high tech as you need, and we only used 2 speeds :)

3 | Sassy rings // Transform almost any toy into a hanging toy. We used these all the time to clip things onto our swing, the playmat, etc. Just beware, you really don't need a million, less than 10 should be enough!

4 | Lamaze Freddy the Firefly // Still one of her favorites to reach for. Freddy has lots of textures to touch and is super crinkly which we love to listen to. We basically brought this thing with us everywhere and hung it on her playmat and carseat often. Really any crinkly, hanging toy is perfect!

5 | Winkle or Oball rattle // Anything those little fingers can get a hold of to practice grasping. We love the Winkle because it is softer and great for mouths and easy to clean all over, but the Oball rattles are a great second option, is a little lighter weight, but not very mouth friendly as it is a circle, still lots of little holes for fingers to find!

6 | Bounce seat // This was great from day one!  We used our bounce seat to read books and hang out while making dinner, but we honestly used it most often for if I had to pump and Dad wasn't home. I'd set the seat up right by my chair & bounce Cora and talk to her while I pumped and it worked great for the 15-20 minutes I needed. You can tell from the picture above how much she's grown!

Tell me what is on your favorite list for this age group or if you are a mama-to-be tell me what's on your wish list!

Kayty