To all of the moms out there currently sporting the title of MOMBIE, remember… this too shall pass. I still qualify as a mombie most days, but the past couple of nights have been better and I’m hoping it is about to be a new trend.

The night before last, Natalie slept 8 hours straight! It is definitely a first for her and I couldn’t be happier! Had I known that she would sleep that long I wouldn’t have stayed up waiting to feed her one last time before bed! So mommy only got 4 hours of sleep. Lesson learned. Last night she slept from 6pm-12am, 12:30am- 4:50am, and then 5:10am- 8:30am and this momma got a lot of sleep! After dealing with weeks of colic and sleepless nights when she was she was first-born, I realize that I am so blessed to have a sleepy baby. I wouldn’t wish those long nights on anyone.

Lately Natalie has been making a habit of enjoying her surroundings rather than napping. Unfortunately this only leads to a cranky, sleepy baby that cries and cries because she is past the point of falling asleep herself. I’m sure a lot of you experience the same with your young children. Imagining that every parent deals with this stage makes it so much easier for me to plow through.

Today was one of those days that she decided that naps were overrated! (Good thing I got all of that extra sleep!) We took a 45-minute nap this morning and then she stayed up for 4.5 hours. At first she was very content watching cartoons and playing with her chimes under her activity gym, but of course good things must all come to an end. Yes, I am glad that she is starting to stay awake longer. And I am so happy that she is so curious about her surroundings. But this poor baby was just sitting on my lap, rubbing her eyes, and fighting through tears to stay awake. Turns out she loves watching the Ellen show just as much as her mommy does! She doesn’t want to miss one moment of what is going on. After half an hour of rocking through the heavy tears she finally fell asleep and I was able to put her in her crib.
Sometimes I think that life would be much easier and quieter if babies could put themselves asleep when they are tired. And even though that may be true, I sure would miss my girl needing me to rock her to sleep. Although it can be draining at times, I love that she needs me. At my house we have days that we call “mommy days.” These are days that our sweet baby girl can’t seem to function without being attached to her mommy. And on these days mommy hardly gets any alone time, and hardly any sleep. Today was one of those days that I was dying for her to stay asleep in her bed for more than 30 minutes. I never appreciated the concept of naps growing up. I dreaded nap time. My parents always made us take Sunday naps after church and I never understood why, until now. I now find naps to be the greatest gift a baby can give her mom. Parenting can be overwhelming and draining at times, but it is the most wonderful and rewarding job, and I can’t think of anything else that I would rather do than take care of my little girl and make sure that she has everything she needs… even if that means I get very little sleep.