fancy yoga pants

i thought i’d have this kid thing down after three years of raising gracie, the most spirited, energetic, independent little being i have ever known. whew! her infancy was exhausting, lots of crying, not much sleeping and more crying. but once we figured out a routine and once she learned how to sleep, she became a happy happy child. she did great with routine so we ran with it and kept her days structured. she’s one of those kids that gets more wound up and energetic the more tired she gets. she’s not one to curl up on the couch and confess that she’s tired. no, instead she’s doing cartwheels or flips off the couch. this is confusing to others around us as they assume that she could stay up later or skip a nap. and the theory that the later she stays up, the later she will sleep in has been definitively proven false. there is no sleeping in! there are days that i have to put her to bed so early, i’m talking still light outside early, just to make up for her sleep deficit. luckily her sound machine drowns out the sound of other kids still playing outside. and it works. she will sleep beyond her normal twelve hours and make up for the difference. and she will wake up happy and much more manageable! behaviorally speaking. her sass and huge personality are another story and no amount of sleep could minimize that, but let’s be honest. things would be way less exciting if that happened!

gracie 3/3/11

fast forward to now. i’m a complete mess. deep in the throes of sleep deprivation and borderline losing my mind. i assumed the second child would be a breeze. how could anything be harder than gracie’s first few months. remember all the crying? the running joke during this pregnancy was that this child would definitely be my “easy” baby. the first few days of rad’s life in the hospital had us believing that he was in fact going to be “easy.” he slept and slept and slept. after we got home, he even gave us a few good three hour stretches at night and some decent naps but as the weeks went by and as he approached his second month of life, he began to party. waking every hour at night. i thought it was because i had transitioned him out of his rock ‘n play which i realize was like a sweet sweet drug he had become addicted to but i could not justify keeping him in it because he had clearly grown out of it. read this hilarious blog post if you are not familiar with this drug! surely it would only take a few nights to get used to his crib. i tried every trick in the book to make his crib as safely cozy as possible but here we are in month three and the waking on. the. hour. continues. rad did fight a nasty respiratory virus for about a month which i blame for some of this sleep regression, poor little guy. to preserve my sanity i have resorted to sticking him in bed with me and sending the husband to the couch (i don’t have an opinion about co-sleeping except that it’s not my personal first choice). this last resort experiment has now been going on for a couple of weeks and rad surely loves this first class treatment of snuggling with mom all the time. i try to sleep with one eye open because i’m terrified of the close proximity but we have managed to get some two to three hour stretches of sleep. i am counting down the days to the magical four month mark when i can start sleep training as per the recommendations of professionals. out of desperation, i’ve been showing him where his thumb is so he can learn to suck it and soothe himself (i will keep that information to myself when he visits a dentist later in life) and have been doing rolling over boot camp so he can learn to roll to his stomach which is where he’d much rather be for sleep. whew! what a ride it’s been! i know these newborn woes are not uncommon or unique to me. and for that i’m thankful for my “band of mom friends” who understand and who keep encouraging.

rad 9/20/14

if this high maintenance behavior is any indication of energy level and pizazz then we will soon have a tiny army of little dreamers, actors, singers, dancers, acrobats, and bruisers running this house!
so with that said, i think i can say with confidence that i have two high needs babies! see this article to see what i’m talking about!

i am not proud to say that i have spent much of these night waking hours wandering through social media but have been comforted and relieved by some great mom articles. it’s like a secret code. motherhood. this one made me laugh and i think we can all relate. i’m wearing my nice yoga pants as i type this, holding a sleeping baby because he’s woken up the past three attempts at having him sleep in his crib…and letting gracie indulge in more screen time that i wish to admit. oh how temporary this phase is yet it seems to stand still. i know i will miss holding this sleeping baby, gracefully covered in tears and snot, and the frustration of his “high needs” will be long forgotten.

as with other “challenges” in life, i will give this one to God. not to “fix” anything but to give me wisdom, strength and joy to keep marching on. after all, these blessings are from Him and He trusted ME to take care of them. i can’t think of any higher honor so i will give God all the glory and do my very best to love these little monsters like crazy!