8:30pm until 6am

So we are totally excited to report that our little super sleeper fell asleep at 8:30pm and stayed asleep in the Pack N Play until 6am when my alarm went off. I know that the rest of the world may not see this as momentous as we do, but for us it's a big deal. Sure she's been sleeping through the night in our bed, but that was with midnight snacks and sometimes her wiggling (or sucking) would wake us up. I have to say that as much as I've been missing my sleep for the past 6+ months (yes- she's only 5 months old- but she was keeping me up for the last month of pregnancy too) I also miss cuddling with her in our bed. She's very warm and snuggly ---I love being able to nuzzle her at night.

Even though Holly slept through the night on Tuesday, we didn't. Nervous freaks that we are, we woke up at 3, 4, 5 and a little before 6am to check on her. Whispering to each other at 4am ("Is she still breathing? Put your hand on her chest!") She woke up well rested and happy. Alas, she has not actually repeated this since Tuesday. But she has been sleeping in the Pack N Play every night for long stretches. We now put her to bed somewhere between 8 and 9pm and then we can stay up. Talk to each other. Sort through mail. Read the paper. Before we collapse into bed too. Chelsea sent me a nice chart from Baby Center that talks about average baby sleep by age and Holly is right on target with 14 hours a day. Can you imagine sleeping 14 hours a day!?!?

In other news, Holly is giggling up a storm these days. She's really enjoying being on her tummy. She scoots her tummy along the ground sometimes to reach things on her play mat - but we think her Buddha belly may be keeping her from starting to crawl for a while yet. Her hair (I believe it is called her "celebrity Mohawk" or "baby fro" depending on who you're talking to) is getting longer and more out of control every day. Her tooth still threatens to join us, but hasn't yet. She loves going out (grocery stores, parties, restaurants, etc.) so she can have more people to smile at. And my favorite part is still the great big gummy grin she has every evening when Tom comes home from work. They cut up together quite often (playing the piano, flying, rolling on the mat and trying out Tom's shades). I think she looks more like Tom every day, but he thinks she looks more like me. We'll just have to agree to disagree...