Tell Her She's a Great Mom

My daughter is 6 months old. She has this awesome trick that she does where she not only has week long growth spurts, but then backs it up with another week of teething. She did this at her 4 month growth spurt, and now her 6 month. Somewhere towards the end of week 2 of waking up at all hours to breastfeed, I start to wonder if it's something I'm doing wrong. Maybe she's just in the habit of eating at all hours now?! It's a horrific thought. I NEED my sleep to be the best mother I can be. I get very impatient after the grueling days of sleep deprivation.

As if it's not enough when she's getting up sometimes TEN times a night, there always seems to be a conspiracy of cats tickling my face and random other occurrences that sometimes make me want to pull my hair out. Example:

The past two nights went like this. 8:00 PM kids in bed. 9 PM, 10:30, 12:00, 1:45, and 2:30 baby woke to nurse. I gave her some infant advil at that point. Then my 2.5 year old son woke screaming. I ran downstairs to find him bawling and saying "Play Cars!" Really Auggie? You are crying because you want to play with your toy cars?! So I had him pee instead, then sang him one song and back to bed. By this time Baby Girl was already screaming bloody murder again and my half awake husband's reply was that she sounded like she was calming down, so he didn't pick her up... Nurse and return to bassinet. What the Hell is that bright light shining through the window now? Oh the neighbors truck. They parked and pointed the lights slightly not right in my window but I guess its one of those lights that stays on until it goes off thing, which at 3:00AM feels like 30 minutes. This got me thinking about how I need to get the sewing machine set up very soon to make the curtains...by the way where did I put all that material?...etc...Insert Cat that thinks it's awesome to to purr in my face and tickle me at 4am. Then Baby Girl again at 5AM. But I think we got to sleep in until 8 after that. Fast forward to last night...

Similar baby scenario. Dogs barked ALL NIGHT LONG. Similar cat shenanigans. I got to see an amazing sunrise and almost considered waking the Hubbster up to see it but quickly came to my senses. At 6:45AM I wasn't asleep because my adorable daughter had been laying next to me shrieking like a tiny happy banshee after the beautiful sunrise. Then the cherry on this sundae was the donkey hee-hawing it up right outside my sons window. Thanks Johnny... So then this started the chain reaction of over-tired pre-schooler crying about everything under the sun.

He simultaneously wanted to be held, sit next to me, under the blanket, me to bring him juice, to eat cereal, no scratch that, a can of peaches, then neither, and to put a movie on. My Husband had had about enough of the whining when I just clicked. The poor kid was just as upset as we were that the screeching baby and donkey had woken us up. So I held him as he replied to a frustrated dad inquiring as to why he was still crying. "I SAD!" I negotiated:
"Awe honey I know. Are you tired too?"
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry, Did that donkey wake you up?"
"Yeah, donkey..."
"He was loud wasn't he? It sounded like he was next to your window."
"Yeah Donkey window! See donkey?" And then he searched briefly for it out the window to no avail. The crying had stopped and then he finally decided it was time to eat the bowl of peaches and cereal. He just needed to be understood and acknowledged.

Both my babies were happy and playing, but I was still dog tired, I wanted to crawl in a hole and sleep for a week. I felt like I couldn't possibly hold it together by the straws I was grasping. My hubby had gone outside to let the chickens out and when he returned he gave me a kiss on the forehead and said the words that healed my heart and restored my self faith:

"Auggie, You have such a great Mommy. Do you know that? Man, you are lucky to have such a great Mommy. "
A - "Yeah, good Mommy"
Hubby - "Can you tell her thank you and I love you?"
A- "I Love you, Thank you"

I went on to have the most lovely day with my children behaving like angels and I even squeezed in a 30 minute nap. The Hubby came home and cleaned the kitchen and cooked us dinner too. Love that man!

So spouses and friends of mommies everywhere. Take the time to tell those mommies in your life that have dark circles, forgot to brush their hair for what looks like the 4th day in a row, not to mention shaving their armpits and/or legs too, that they are great and doing a great job. Tell them whether they are having a good day or bad. Tell them frequently. It makes more difference than you realize. It makes them believe in themselves more, which makes it easier to push through the really hard days.

Rare Spontaneous Nap Time