The Sleeping Game

I went out last night, only to be called home at 9:10 to a screaming baby. (Seriously, I could hear her from outside) Why such loud and angry screams out of the body of such a small little girl?  Well, apparently she just can't fall asleep without her human pacifier.  This was not a job I even new existed until a few years ago.  My son was denied a pacifier for 10 days after he was born (I feared nipple confusion - PLEASE), only to be given one because I had become the pacifier.   Once we introduced this nipple saver, a world of opportunities was set before us.  Our daughter was given her first pacifier on the very first day of her life.  While my son loved his binky more than his sister, they both gave them up at young ages.  My son was 6 months, while his little sister was 4 months.   Overall I love that they have given these up on their own.  It means that I am not going to have to come up with crazy plans to yank these from their lives later on - Hooray, one less struggle to pursue.  However, it has meant, with my daughter, that I cannot go far from her, especially when a nap or bedtime are approaching. 

Oh, and now I am started on bedtime, our routine is ridiculous.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for routine, but it takes so much time.  I am sure that if any of it was taped there would be some parents looking on with pity, while the others would be purely amused and the rest would fall asleep before the baby got in jammies.  It begins with a soothing bath.   Once I pluck her warm little body out of there, we move onto lotion time.  This is where she gets a nice gentle massage before her pajamas are put on.   Then we move onto the final nursing session, which can last up to an hour.   How is that even possible. Well, once my little girl has dosed off, I carry her upstairs (after 10 minutes - hoping to get her into a good sleep) and place her in her bed.  The moment her body is no longer touching mine, her eyes magically spring open.  There is either a cry and sometimes a smile that follows. I have tried to coax her back to sleep while standing next to her crib.   But that leaves me with a sore back and a STILL wide awake baby 30 minutes later.  So eventually, we are off to the chair to try this crazy routine again. Once I reach my limit (which is me just wanting to go to bed), she finally just ends up in bed with me.   Thus creating a child who is dependent on her Mommy for warmth and comfort. 

While this co-sharing arrangement may not be for everyone, it is working at the moment.  (Well, not to my husbands advantage), but once that little girl is down, she sleeps like a champ!  I can happily say that my little girl, after snuggling up next to me, finally fell asleep at 9:45pm.  She is still sleeping soundly in bed now at 8:42am.   Last night was amazing she got up for the first time to nurse at 6:00am, which gave us 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep!   Now for all parents of an older child, they know how rare this is.  I always laugh inside (and I mean evil villain laugh) when a new parent says that their baby can sleep through the night.  Here is the thing, there are the few babies (let me emphasize few) that are kind to their parents in their sleeping patterns.   My daughter has from the beginning been wonderful. She never got her days and nights confused, and would (and still does) sleep from 9:ish - 8:ish in the morning.  She in fact has only gotten up before 7:00am once in her entire 7 months of life. But she is a frequent diner at the "Milk Factory".  She is up about 3 to 4 times a night for just a little nip to get her back into that dreamy state.   But I am under no delusion that this great sleeper will be this way forever.   She one day will get teeth, cold season will be upon us shortly (I don't even want to mention the other illnesses); there is always something to make it so they won't sleep through the night.  Heck my son didn't sleep all the way through the night until 3 months ago, a great run that to will come to an end, because there will always be something around the bend to wake them up at night.

So here is some advice all you "will to be parents", get all the sleep you can get.  Once that little baby is here you will never sleep a full night again.  And those rare times that they do sleep through the night, you will wake up multiple times trying to figure out why they aren't wake.  Then when they get older you are worry about what they are doing out so late!  (Not sure about elementary school - maybe that is the only time that you can sleep, but I doubt it.) 

Here is the thing, I really love to get my full 8 hours of rest (if those kids knew what was best for them, they would let me).  If I have to spend part of the night looking at someone, might as while be my baby! I can't imagine my life without them in it, even at 2:00am!

And who are you?????

First and foremost, I am a mother to two beautiful children.  A little boy who is almost 3 and a baby girl who is 7 months.   They are my everything, the very reason why I am still doing what I am doing today.  What might that be?  I am your average family daycare provider.  As if two children were not enough, Monday through Friday, we invite 4 other delightful children into our home.  Glamorous?  No Freaking Way!  There are many days where I look at my shirt and have to discern what exactly is all over it.  What did we have for lunch?  Is that paint or something from someone's leaky diaper?  I listen to the not so sweet sound of babies crying for about 3 hours a day (To be clear I am talking about the 9 hours that I have 4 extra humans with me).  To put it mildly life is hectic, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

I starting watching children in my home six years ago.  It started with one little boy and a few months down the line, we added another.  It didn't take long for the phone to start ringing with people asking me to watch their children.  The area that we live in does have a fantastic day care down the road from me, but there (at the time) was nothing else.  While our small town does have people who can afford that cute day care facility, the many small towns surrounding us, couldn't.  There was a strong need for another option in our area.  After a lot of debating with my then fiance, I decided after our wedding to go ahead and get registered as a Family Day Care Provider (a story for another day).

I have never regretted my choice.  I went to college (and finished the program) to become a history teacher.  The last semester you are sent to student teach (one thing I wish NYS would change) - during that time I learned something that would change my life: I really hated high schoolers (not all, but the disrespectful ones, ruined it for the rest).  During that small window of time, each night and sometimes mornings, I would cry at the thought of returning to that school.  I knew then, that this was something I just shouldn't do (I am sure that my father loved that).  So I received my diploma and tried to figure out what I wanted to do.  I did a few odd jobs, but then that one little boy fell into my lap.  Amazingly over that 6 year period, I have rarely dreaded the next day to come.  I had found what I was destined to do, it was chaos, but it was welcomed chaos!