New hope.

I greet the blogosphere this morning with a new hope. The hope of becoming a normal human being again once more. The hope of not falling apart at the seams ~ quite literally. The hope of someday wanting to do something with my spare time rather than just wishing I could crawl under the covers and sleep for a month.

Yes, Gavi has slept through the night. Not once, but twice. Has the sky ever looked so bright? The smell of fresh air ever so sweet? The house ever been so NEAT?!

Terra, my angel of sweetness and mercy, sent me a copy of a book called “Becoming Babywise” at the most opportune moment in history. My hair was falling out, my skin breaking out, and my patience wearing out. Seriously, every part of my body ached, and while I was still a fairly decent parent, I was a lousy wife, friend and general citizen.

The book resonated with me. While I understand the desire to meet baby’s every cry – this is the woman who was still getting up two or three times during my own eight hours of sleep, after all! ~ my need to be a good parent overruled. I couldn’t be a great Mom going at the pace I was going, and my kids were going to suffer.

So Sunday night, after suffering a four day headache (and the most awesome Super Bowl I’ve ever seen!) I decided that the time had come for my sweet munchie to learn to sleep through the night. I left him in the living room, and ignored his cries. Hard-hearted parent? You betcha! Honest to goodness, I felt like the worst human in the world. But after he cried his little lungs dry the one time, he didn’t wake up again.

Monday night, if he woke up, I didn’t hear him.

This morning, I know he woke up at four, but since we were going to get up an hour later, I decided to let him cry again.

Not only is Mommy feeling tons better, but my sweet Gavi is now doing very well with eating on a three hour schedule, and he’s taking regular naps, too! What the heck?!

(Of course, according to the book, he’s acting as wonderfully as he should have at day ten or so. Ah well, maybe the next kiddo!)

My Caleb is wearing a camo hat that his Grandpa stitched up to almost fit his little head. It slouches over his eyes, so he looks like a very miniature and very pale Shane Sparks. (The judge/choreographer from So You Think You Can Dance, for those of you who aren't obsessed like me.)

We had their pictures taken a couple weeks ago – Valentine’s will be sent out with said pics, so check your mail! – and three days later, Caleb was jumping in bed, and smashed his nose on the edge. (There were three little parallel lines across his schnoz, and I was just grateful it hadn’t happened right before we had pictures taken.) I hauled him into my arms and cuddled him by saying, “it’s okay, sweetie, Mommy’s here.”

Cut to three hours past that, and I was doing laundry. While I was bending from the washer to dryer, Caleb moved the closet door, so when I stood and turned back to the washer, I smashed MY nose into the door. The curses stayed in my head while Caleb cooed, “it’s okay, Mommy, Caleb’s here.” It was SO precious!

This morning I had all three of us up and dressed by seven o’clock.

By eight o’clock, we’d all had breakfast and changed clothes again.

By nine o’clock, I changed myself and Gavi again. Good times being a Mom!

 Terra replied...

yeah! I'm so glad it's working! :)

Love you bunches!