I'm a stay at home mom, which means I don't have to dedicate 8 or more hours a day away from my home and family to another job. So why do I feel like I can't fit everything in? I feel like some days are filled the way I want them to be and others aren't. I still feel at the end of the week that I could have done more things, spent time with more people, blogged more, reflected more, read more, cleaned more, exercised more, cooked more, prayed more, loved more. What I have never felt, though, is that I wish I had spent more time with Gram. He is my priority every day and I feel like I have such great quality time with him. That must mean I'm doing something right...right?
Last night I went to bed at 7:15pm and got up today at 7:30am. Much needed hours of rest (minus the 4 times I was up with Gram in the night). I want to make exercise a regular part of my days, but it's hard, it's hard when I feel so unrested to feel like I have the energy for it. I know exercising would give me more energy, but often times after I take a walk I'm super exhausted later in the day, just waiting for Gram to go down for a nap so I can lay down as well. I look forward to the next phase, the phase where I am getting rest at night so I can spend my days with energy.
I feel like this post is a downer. I'm not feeling down, just tired. The good news is Gram second tooth has broke through, yeah!! So the nights are sure to get better after the last week of pure craziness. Teething? What a pain in the arse!
Randomness..concluded.
Hang in there, Kelli! Getting him to go to sleep on his own might be hard (okay, really hard), but it is such a great skill!!! If they don't learn it earlier on it just gets more and more difficult as they get older.
I know something that helped us was taking turns getting up with the baby. I breastfed both kids until they were one, but by 6 months Gram probably doesn't need to be nursing in the night. Both of my kids did better when my husband went in, because there wasn't even the expectation of food when they saw him. They knew the most they were going to get was a backrub and some shhh's.
The other thing I would recommend is not rocking him to sleep (if you're doing that now--don't know). Try and get him to fall asleep in his crib on his own. The way that we did it was to stay in there with him, patting his back and shushing until he fell asleep, and then gradually patted and shushed less and less.
Sorry to go on and on, but I promise all of the hard work pays off. Both of my kids sleep on their own, and it is amazing to have your regular sleep schedule back (for the most part). Sidenote: for the record, my kids are really bad at lots of other things, just in case you're starting to wonder---ha! I could write a book about 3-year-old temper tantrums and arguments!
God bless,
Beth
i have so been there on everything you said!
we laid down the sleep law with jude around the same age...let him cry even though i never thought i would do that. it didn't last more then a few days before he stopped waking up. i didn't feel so bad knowing i was with him all day every day so he knew we were there for him...i never felt like it was neglectful and i NEEDED that sleep!!!! it was definitely tough on the heart but so worthwhile...he is a great sleeper now and yes he still believes we love him :)
thanks so much for the advice and encouragement ladies! it's good to know we're not evil people for allowing him to cry. i never thought i would do this either, but it really is the only way. thanks again!