Freedom!!!!!

FREEDOM!!!!! Motherhood is a tricky, tricky mistress. In order to keep my sanity, I often find that I don’t notice how restrictive a particular phase is until it’s passed. For example, co-sleeping. With J I co-slept out of necessity. A colicky baby and a husband who worked grave yard shifts meant that if I wanted to get any sleep, it was going to be with that little boy tucked in at my side. Now, I know that there are risks associated with co-sleeping (and that’s really not the point of this post), but I weighed the pros and cons and decided that our best chance of survival was to make co-sleeping as safe as possible and run with it.

It took ten months to get J to sleep on his own, and eventually we resorted to a modified cry-it-out to get him in his own crib. I SWORE with A that I wouldn’t make the same mistake, and to my credit I’ve made it to a much lesser degree. A was a wonderful sleeper for exactly the first three months of his life. He would sleep for 5-6 hours at night and during the day he was on a two nap schedule from literally the day he came home from the hospital. It was insane! He would nap for three hours each time, no cajoling required. I thanked my lucky stars, because with a husband in school and a very active brother I don’t know how else I would have survived.

Perhaps it was the dreaded four month sleep regression, perhaps little A knew Daddy had finished school, or perhaps all good things come to an end. Regardless of the reason, my precious little A stopped being a perfect sleeper. At first it was just a few more night wakings, but we had gradually progressed to full on melt downs any time sleep is involved. Which led to co-sleeping. Which is fine, and I do love having my baby snuggled in tight with me, but I LOATHE  the restriction of my morning wake up time. As soon as I would get up, so would he. Since babies need sleep, this led to me staying in bed until he or J got up.

Now, I don’t know about you but I’m a much happier mama if I get to have my morning coffee and me time. I had forgotten that until this morning. You see, I bit the proverbial bullet (with some assistance from my mom since we are visiting their house) and forced my little one into his crib. MUHAHAHA! Actually, it wasn’t really all that dramatic and A didn’t put up too much of a protest at all. This morning I was able to get up BY MYSELF for the first time in months, and I felt positively giddy. I’m so glad this phase has come to an end, and excited for the ability to get some me time before the day begins.

So if you’re going through your own version of this, have hope! There is a light at the end of the tunnel, mama. Press on!!! Until then, keep your head high.