Okay. So I mentioned in my last post that I am a terrible middle-of-the-night Mommy. And that is no lie. I thought that once you became a parent, you just automatically become selfless, at least where your kids are involved. Man. That would have been nice. But, it didn't happen. But when I am called on to perform my Mommy Duties in the middle of the night, I do so grudingly. It's true. It's something I have to work on every time. ...I would imagine it would make for one pretty hilarious sit-com scene. ...
...I lay there. At first in denial, hoping that maybe the noises I'm hearing are a fluke or just a crazy dream, but deep down, I know my number's up. As I continue to lay there, I hope that maybe my husband will hear the noise and decide to investigate. I know that this hope is futile, though, as I'm pretty sure my husband could sleep through a nuclear explostion and not budge. So instead, I begin my "fake sleep squirm". You know. Every mom knows. You start fidgeting around, hoping to "accidentally" nudge your husband awake. ...That doesn't work, either. I know it won't, but hey..at least I tried?
My last attempt to wake my husband usually goes something like this: After the noises persist, and all previous attempts have failed, I roll over to face the edge of the bed with every ounce of indignance I can muster, sigh the sigh of a mother scorned, and sit up in bed, pausing to to sigh one more time and rub my eyes awake. ...This also never works.
So I throw back the covers. Not enough to throw them off my husband, but enough that I hope that he notices. He doesn't. Get up. And go investigate the noise. And then take care of whatever the issue is in the most un-cheeriest of manners.
It should be noted that I have gotten better about this, but I'm still a pretty sucky night Mommy. Especially with newborns who are up consantly.
Luckily, God, who has always provided exactly what I need and blessed me beyond belief, is aware of this short-coming. And He loves me. Which is why I believe the following statement is no accident. And it sure as heck is not due to anything that I have done. Both of my girls have slept through the night since they were betwen 8 and 12 weeks old. I also believe that God chose this specific blessing for having to put up with their own unique quirks. My four year old was clingy since the day she was born, and you couldn't EVER put her down. Even if she'd been alseep for an hour, any attempt to lay her down would result in a screaming protest from her. And my youngest is my Reflux Princess. And while I know there are most certainly worse cases out there, and I am so aware of how blessed I am that we finally have it "under control", it was a pain in the butt to deal with during the "figuring out" process. Anyway...kinda got off a tangent of sorts...
Back to my story...so my girls have slept through the night. It's WONDERFUL. Sure, the little one has sleep regressions (which I HATE), and the big one occasionally gets sick in the middle of the night or has an accident in bed, but for the most part, I do get to sleep all night.
Except that for the past couple months, the little one, who is in a rocking bassinet by my bedside, has developed the habit of not quite being awake at 4:30am, but also not being quite asleep...at least not quietly. And so I am faced with the following decision, which is, by the way, Lose-Lose. I can either choose to:
a) get up with her for the day and feed her and/or change her diaper-which will, inevitably, ruin her entire daily schedule
or
b) lay face down in bed, eyes closed, arm out, rocking her bassinet to lull her back into a couple more of interrupted sleep, intermittently fumbling around her her pacifier..and then trying to blindly return it to her mouth.
I opt for Choice B. This works, but, while I am still laying in bed, I'm not really asleep...
Until. Last. Night. .../This. Morning.
Imagine my surprise when the first sound I heard this morning was actuallly my alarm clock going off at 6:05am ...and not my Noisy Squirmer at 4:30am! Imagine my utter shock when, at 7:20am (I was running late today), I had to go and WAKE up my baby. Can you believe it?! I almost cannot, and I was there! Oh, it was so pleasant! ...Except for the part that we decided to also make a dirty diaper at some point during the wee hours that I was only just now discovering. ...That part was probably not the highlight of my morning. But the gummy smile, with the big bright eyes staring up at me... That was heart-meltingly amazing!
Only problem was I couldn't locate her pacifier ANYWHERE! Getting her all tucked away and ready to head off to daycare, I found her pacifier in her bouncy seat, which is actually where she initially fell asleep last night, and I stumbled on this little gem of an epiphany:
Huh. ....I wonder if...I bet that's the reason she starts getting fussy and squirming at 4:30am!
When I have to play Pin the Pacifier on the Baby in the wee hours of the morning, I have to first find the pacifier. Sometimes it's lodged behind her neck. And once she managed to get it under her butt! And I thought, "Gee, I might get fussy if I was laying on a pokey-rounded piece of plastic, too!"
So tonight, after my Little falls asleep, I will be removing the pacifer from her person, hoping for an encore of "Sleeping All Night and REALLY Meaning It".
Previous Mommy Truths I've stumbled onto include:
-Placing a shirt that smells like me into a swing with a sleeping baby who is SUPER clingly, will afford me at least enough time to shower in peace.
-Swaddling a baby will guarantee that Baby sleeps longer, and more soundly.
-Offering "structured choices" to a strong-willed child is just asking for boundary testing. Telling it like it is and will be is much easier...at least in the long run.
-Allowing preschoolers to dress themselves may not always yield "fashionable" results, but it will assure that you get out the door on time with no tears shed by either party. (Plus, it'll make for GREAT stories for future boyfriends. And then you can repeat to your child what your dad told you about the glasses you wish your parents had not let you choose: "We liked to let you kids choose your own." ...Thanks, for that Mom and Dad. lol)
..Behold the child wearing black flats, heart socks, striped pants, a tshirt dress, a Hello Kitty jacket, gloves, and a (gotta say it) poorly placed head band. But she WAS dressed! ...And smiling. :) ...At least she kind of matches. If you could have seen what she wore to school yesterday! lol
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