Sleeping Cutie

This week something sad has happened; Evie has finally outgrown the cradle. It's the same cradle that my Grandpa made when I was born, and it makes me happy that the same cradle has rocked both me and my baby girl to sleep. These pictures are of me on December 29, 1989--the day after I was born:

When my mom came to stay with us the week after Evie was born, she brought the pieces of the cradle and put it together for me. This picture of Evie was taken on March 28, 2011--the week after she was born:

The family resemblance is striking, isn't it? We Jacobs girls are so cute!

In the four months after that, Evie started moving around A LOT while she slept. She'd scoot herself backwards until her head hit the headboard. Sometimes this would wake her up and she'd start crying. Other times she'd somehow scoot herself sideways and end up like this:

Just during the last couple of weeks or so, she's started rolling over onto her tummy while she sleeps. Even from birth, Evie has always preferred sleeping on her tummy, and now she has the strength to get there on her own. Also, she got to the point where she'd prop herself up onto her arms, and then she'd grab the side-rail and pull herself up to look and smile at us in the mornings. That was when we knew it was finally time to take her out of the cradle. She's really enjoyed it, and it's kind of sad to think that this phase of her life is over forever. A few days ago, I got home from work to find that Todd had put up the Pack-n-Play and rearranged the bedroom so I wouldn't have to. But he kept the cradle up so I could get one last picture of Evie in it.

We're hoping to be able to afford to get Evie a real crib sometime soon. But until then, she's sleeping in her Pack-n-Play, and she seems to be adjusting well to the change in her sleeping routine. She loves all of the extra room she has now; we'll find her in the strangest positions in the morning! We also put her in the Pack-n-Play so she has a safe place to play while we're doing other things. She enjoys that, once the solid outer walls are rolled up, the sides are made of mesh so she can see us while she plays. Then we can roll down the sides at night so she can sleep without distractions.

We've closed one chapter in our lives and opened another. The cradle has served two generations very well, and I'm sad that we can't use it anymore (at least until we have another baby), but I AM grateful that we were able to use it as long as we did and that I got to share something special like that with my daughter. Thanks, Grandpa, for making something so beautiful and lasting! Thanks, Mom, for letting us use it for Evie! And thanks, Evie, for being such a sleeping cutie!