Our new chapter

I cannot believe the amazing success that we've been given with Amos and his sleeping. God has blessed us and I am truly thankful. Since last Thursday, we have trained him (and I do mean trained!) how to fall asleep on his own, without us in the room, stay asleep or go back to sleep if he wakes up, and stay in his bed, all night. And tonight, another achievement: Nathan has been putting him to bed at night and the past few nights, on the way to bed, and getting ready, Amos cries. When Nathan puts him in bed, he stops crying and goes right to sleep. That started Sunday night and we were floored. So I was a bit worried that tonight would be a rough, as when I put him down, he cries on the way and then cries another half an hour, while standing in his bed. Tonight, he whimpered a bit and did not make one peep as I walked out the door! AMAZING!!! He went right to sleep. I am thanking God for such peaceful success and am thankful that overall, the whole thing has been much less painful than I thought. The first few nights and naps were tough but thankfully, it's only taken us less than a week to get Amos sleeping well.
Nathan has been so awesome through this whole thing. He has been steady and faithful, giving Amos and me consistency and encouragement. He's also been on call at night to listen for Amos and get up if he needs to, letting me sleep so well. If it weren't for him, I would be limping through this process, breaking down and letting Amos sleep with us!
This new sleep regiment has brought much order and encouragement to our lives which is something I didn't expect. We've gotten into a more strict routine at bed time, and Amos is ready for bed early and is up early. His nap and meals are about the same time each day and he seems generally happier, getting more and better sleep. I now understand so much more why we could not get into a better schedule--Amos would wake up so much at night that he would want to sleep in (as would I) and would generally take bad naps from not being used to his bed.
And that's just Amos. I feel great. I have not slept this many consistent hours this many nights in a row since before Amos was born. That's 19 months! I don't think I've realized just how crummy my quality of life has been and being this well-rested has made me see that. I have been fighting really hard most days not to be totally grouchy, impatient, quick-tempered, mean, angry, critical, bored, tired and apathetic but most days, one or more of those qualities rares their ugly head and I feel like I can never change.
I am so glad that today, I felt so well and rested that we went for a walk in the snow, exercised even more and played well together. I feel like I cannot be happy enough for our new chapter. God is good!