The Anti-bedtime and Momly Tip #2

I am fortunate enough to be able to spend my days at home with our little munchkin.  Darren brings home the proverbial bacon (though I am usually the one who brings home the real bacon...), so I get to be there for every. single. second. of Emma's life. Don't get me wrong, now. Most of the time, I am more than pleased--nay--I NEED to participate in even the tiniest activities. She is my world, and I don't want to miss a thing...um, most things.

Some days (take today, for example), she experiences one or more aspect of infant growing pains, and despite my best guesses, and I cannot say for certain whether or not her gums are bothering her, her muscles are bothering her, she's hungry due to a growth spurt, or if she is just being cantankerous. Regardless of the root of the issue, the manifestations are the same: lots of eating, lots of whining, and very little sleeping!

Do I sound frazzled? Maybe I am.  It is rough to handle all that from before sunrise to 11 at night. We have had a loooong day.

Thankfully, Emma handles even the most frustrating problems, like teething, fairly well. She could scream and cry for hours, but she is thankfully just really clingy and whiny.  Tylenol doesn't hurt, either.

I generally get her to sleep by about 8 or 8:30 on a typical evening, but some evenings I can juuust tell that that she isn't going to cooperate.

Momly Mantra: Mind over matter!

If I can recognize early enough in the evening that she is going to be awake forever, despite my best efforts, I resign myself to my lot as quickly as possible, and trick myself into enjoying it by planning what shows she and I are going to watch irresponsibly late into the night. I have to mentally check myself out of our routines and be okay with it.  It usually means tucking Daddy into our bed so he can get some sleep and then setting up camp on the couch with the baby, Netflix, and a bowl of ice cream (or something else bad for me). Since I typically don't have anything pressing to tighten up my morning routine for the following day, I remind myself that I can afford to stay up late.

Seriously, how did mother's survive before Netflix/TV/internet? I would be a nutcase if I didn't have a way to occupy myself during nursing sessions.  And no, reading doesn't cut it.

Anyway, Momly Tip #2 is this: Try to make yourself try enjoy the sucker punch. I feel like nothing makes a stressful day worse than freaking out about her missing her bedtime (though I have done that a few times... "Go to sleep already, child! I need a break!"

So I attempt to simply give in.

Have I always been super thrilled about the late night/middle of the night times with my daughter? HECK NO. In fact, ever since she began sleeping through the night, I tend to resent her whenever she deviates from the schedule she so kindly allowed me to become spoiled with. But I can say this: I don't feel aggravation whenever I remember those hours, those occasions when it was just her, me, the TV, and the moon outside. I feel love and feelings of pure bliss.

That's what helps me survive the late nights: the memories of every late night previous.  I can't exchange that for anything.