A big one.

From the moment Malone was born, I knew this day was going to come.

When we first brought him home from the hospital, we wanted Malone to sleep in our room. But, as new parents every little sound he made caused us to freak out, jump out of bed, and make sure he was still breathing. So, Malone slept in our office in the same bassinet I slept in as a baby, handcrafted by my woodworking father. The bassinet isn't esthetically perfect, in fact part of it's charm is the fact that the spindles are not 100% the same, but it was a perfect place to put our newborn in to sleep.

I wandered out to the office every few hours, nursing this same being who was just weeks before rolling and doing flips in my stomach. We watched many a sunrise together and learned which neighbors like to jog or walk their dogs early in the morning.

After our little Houdini became too proficient at sticking his limbs out of an area that would not meet today's safety standards, we moved Malone out of the bassinet and he slept in his swing.

When I got sick of walking the 75 paces every 2 hours to nurse him, we moved my nursing chair into our bedroom and set up the pack n play's bassinet feature where he slept until he outgrew the height recommendations.

Right around this time, the dreaded 4 month wakeful/sleep regression hit along with an unexpected growth spurt. I was a zombie.

We started bedsharing. It was wonderful. Malone would snuggle in close between my husband and I and the three of us slept through the night, with Malone nursing as he needed to. It was great until it wasn't great anymore.

So we booted him out for the beginning part of the night.

The first nights were hard, I missed having him close by all night long and he looked so TINY in the giant (aka normal sized) crib we set up in our room. Soon, he got the hang of putting himself to sleep in the crib which meant that Mike and I had several hours to ourselves at night.

Since moving Malone into our room, not a single night has gone by where I haven't woken up in the middle of the night to listen for his heavy dream filled baby sign- a breath that puts my mind at ease.

Until tonight.

Recently we've decided that sharing a room with Malone no longer works for our family. We loved sharing it, don't get me wrong but we are tired of not being able to utilize our living space (and the second tv!).

So we kicked him out.

This afternoon Michael and I carved out a spot in the nursery (aka storage room) for Malone's crib and hung his shelves. We spent the day moving things around, hooking up the video monitor (best invention EVER!), and daydreaming about all of the things we can now do in our bedroom again (which for me is putting away laundry and for Mike, well..... he's a guy, draw your own conclusions).

So far, it has been a relatively smooth transition.

While we were hanging shelves, we let Malone play in the crib in his room. There, right before our eyes, that very same baby whom we used to think was too little to ever sleep in such a big crib pulled up to a stand for the very first time.

The first nap went really well.

Bedtime was also pretty smooth. He needed a few extra snuggles, but still happily sleeping as I write.

A big day for a little big boy.