Recently a lady at my church, whose been very helpful to me on a number of occasions, was encouraging me in regards to Caleb's sleep. Apparently, her oldest child (she had four) was a very poor napper. She was trying to tell me not to worry about it overly much. "It is such a brief time in his life," she said.
With Caleb, it seems, when you take one step forward, you take two back. I was starting to get him on a decent, albeit loose, schedule, sleeping two naps a day in the crib, but then he took a turn for the worst and decided the crib was, once again, no good.
Then, after he had been sleeping overnight very well for over a month, decided to cry it out last night, quite out of the blue, for over half an hour. It was a loud, ferocious, tantrum type of cry that was simply not pleasant to listen to. I hadn't heard a peep out of him when putting him down to sleep at night for quite some time, so I'm not sure why all of the sudden this was so distasteful to him. He woke up again at 3:30 in the morning and could not get back to sleep.
I can handle the naps being poor, to some degree, even though it is difficult. After all, you don't take naps your whole life long. Nighttime sleep, however, is a different story. I want him to be good at that, because if he can learn to sleep well now, chances are that he will be a good sleeper in the years to come.
It is hard right now. Many times I simply have to nurse Caleb to take a nap, and then I am unable to move while he is sleeping in my lap. I can't use the time to get things done around the house, but at least it is only for a half hour. That is the one time I am glad his naps are always brief, when they are taken in my lap!
I know all the rules. It's a bad habit I've created, allowing him to nurse-nap. Blah, blah, blah. I already know that. But sometimes, you just need your baby to get to sleep, and whatever it takes, you do it. Cry-it-out has not been successful for Caleb's naps. He is just one of those babies that is a poor napper, and when he does nap, it is always, always brief.
So right now, my house is messier than usual. I just don't have the time for cleaning that I'd like. My husband has been super-busy with work. This time of the year is quite difficult with multiple band things, the school musical, etc. I am with Caleb all the time, and I'm the person he sees the most, and some days, the only person he sees at all. Brian is working hard for us, and I am working hard here. I don't desire time away from Caleb, but I wish, just once, I could crawl into my bed and take a good, long nap.
Like my friend at church said, it is but a brief time. The blessings of having a child far outweigh the inconveniences. I love this dear boy and wouldn't trade him for the sun, the moon, or the stars. When I look back at this time years from now, it probably won't matter all that much that he was a poor napper, that my house was messy, that he cried as much has his little lungs would possibly allow, and that I was sleep-deprived myself. This too shall pass, and we will have moved on to new challenges.
That is what I am reminding myself for today.
