Bedtime stories

When Kylie was a baby I was incredibly lucky as far as sleep went. I could put her to bed and she would sleep all night. Then came Audrey. I had Audrey when Kylie was just a little over the age of two and when she came along the bedtime routine went flying out the window. Audrey had colic and was the most miserable baby in the world. When I say that she never slept, I'm not exaggerating. She was not one of those babies that slept for a few hours, woke up and fussed for a while. No, she was one of those that would sleep *maybe* twenty minutes at a time every few hours and then wake up and scream constantly.

 Hard to believe this sweet baby could disrupt a household so much isn't it?

Needless to say her constant crying really messed up everyones sleep schedules.  I was told by all the 'experts' to start a bedtime routine.  After much eye rolling once I finally got past the nursing stage I tried it.  It worked. Every night after bath time I would read to the girls. For a while Audrey would just kind of ignore me and do her own thing, and when Sophie came into the picture she kind of did the same thing. Kylie, of course loved it. Storytime has become my absolute favorite thing to do with my children. Not because it means that they'll soon be asleep, but because that is when we get to snuggle together and after reading a good book we just talk about anything and everything.  This past  year however things have changed. While Audrey and Sophie are the ones that are really into storytime Kylie has gotten to the point where she would rather read on her own. I get it, I really do but I so miss that special time together. She has always been a somewhat precocious child, reading books that are a few years above her grade level and she would get bored and roll her eyes at the things that I would read to her sisters. I've just recently discovered a way to stretch storytime out a little longer with her and I am so happy! Since moving Audrey and Sophie into a room together I now go and read to them, then I go read to Kylie. I picked up the Narnia series from the library and we've been reading it together. Of course I am well aware of the fact that she has been reading ahead without me, but she just giggles when I say something and we'll start back at the chapter we left off so that I'll know what's going on too. She and I have been having the best time! I realize she is growing up and I won't be able to do this much longer so I am planning on squeezing in just as much of storytime with her as I possibly can.