Oh how I hope that this was not a fluke

Above you have photographic evidence of the amazing night that we had. That was Kellan upon waking this morning. He slept the entire night in his own bed. He did not fuss or cry, he did not ask to get out of bed, he did not wake 500 times a night as he has been doing for the past month. He slept. He slept beautifully. When I checked on him before we went to sleep, he was sprawled luxuriously across his bed, enjoying the space that he didn't have in his crib or, even more so, in bed with us. He went to bed at 8pm as usual and, I admit, took about 20 minutes more than average to fall asleep due to the excitement of a new situation. However, once gone, he slept soundly until midnight when I heard him call out to nurse. I went in, nursed him, and returned to my bed shortly thereafter. He did not wake again until 5:45am, at which point I nursed him once more, returned to my bed, and we all slept in until 7:30am!

First, we have not been to bed at night without waking Kellan and having him "need" to nurse in longer than I can remember. What a relief it was to lie down at bedtime and simply go to sleep. Second, I cannot remember the last time that I actually had five consecutive hours of sleep. Five hours! Not minutes, hours. Heaven. And finally, I don't think that Kellan has slept so well into the morning, waking happy and ready to go, since he was an infant. We have had some bad nights, and at this point I'm ready to admit that they were of our own making. Kellan needed his own room and his own space. As did we. I hope that tonight proves that this first experience was not just a fluke and that we're ready to pass along the crib to another soon-to-be sleepless family.

On a side note, however, I had a bit of a teary moment when I walked into our bedroom and saw the crib sitting empty next to our bed. My baby isn't a baby anymore. He is a big boy sleeping in a proper bed in his own bedroom. He is already taking steps towards independence. Small steps to be sure, but it was the first big "he's growing up so fast and won't be my little boy forever" moment of sadness that I've experienced. I am usually thrilled by his achievements, but this was the first big breaking away venture, moving out of our bedroom and out of our bed, claiming his own space. I am going to be a wreck on the first day of preschool.