38 minutes

There are two quotes I love about motherhood. The first is "I was a great mother before I became one." The second is "There is no one way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one."

The first reminds me that being a parent is much more complex than you'd ever realize before that babe's in your arms. It is easy to become hypocritical because sometimes you do things you swore you'd never do prior to being in the situation. Right now I'm holding my son on my lap to keep him napping and it's not the first time I've done it this week. But it is something I said I'd never do!!!

I am shaking my head remembering being the mom of a 10 day old baby at my first mom's group listening to a mom of a 3 month old describing how she stood in a darkened bathroom with her son in an Ergo in order to get him to fall asleep and stay asleep through a nap. On the way home I told Noah I would make my baby tough it out. That sweet mama would surely get a laugh at me now!

Actually, she was very sweet and she'd probably give me a hug and tell me she understands!

Judah ate so frequently as a newborn I think he rarely slept more than one sleep cycle during the day. That was working for us and he was growing amazingly. But as he's getting older, it is no longer working so well for either of us! He can go longer between feedings and should have longer awake times, but his body hasn't adjusting to staying asleep long enough through naps.

Thankfully, he's a great night sleeper and always has been. This week I started using our Itsbeen timer and realized it wasn't my imagination, he really was taking numerous consistently short naps during the day. Like clockwork--38 minutes and awake. Sometimes bright eyed and truly ready to be awake, but more often groggy and not truly rested. It was becoming a dizzying cycle of him getting up and down from short naps from mid-morning until late evening. Not working so well with a busy pre-schooler also needing lots of love and attention.

This week became sleep boot camp for both kids and mama. Georgia isn't napping but has a firmer bedtime at night so she gets her 11-12 hours in one stretch. Judah is being coaxed into longer sleep. I'm doing my best to stay close enough to catch him as he is rousing from a nap and quickly make a determination if he's rested or groggy and needs help staying asleep longer. If it means I hold him through a second cycle, well, so be it for now. A well rested baby makes for a happy babe and mom.

We are also dedicating late evenings to Judah staying asleep instead of 38 minute naps. Thankfully his little body is responding beautifully and he's heading toward a 12 hour sleep cycle at night. He still eats 2 or 3 times during that time, but because he's sleeping beside me in a co-sleeper, as soon as he begins to wiggle I scoop him up and feed him without him ever waking up.

I'm tired, but grateful things are getting better!

(I'll also add that I thought the Itsbeen was a waste of money when I had it with Georgia. I complained about its poor design numerous times and then just packed it away. The other day Georgia got ahold of it and started pushing buttons. She taught me all sorts of things it can do. And she's not yet 3. So obviously it wasn't the Itsbeen that was the problem : ) Worth the $24 after all.)