Being a mom ...

Being a Mom is the greatest blessing there is. Nothing compares to that. I definitely believe it makes us stronger on many levels. Maybe it´s all the challenges we constantly face and conquer?  I want to keep things as positive as possible therefor I´m not going to address this situation as a problem; instead I will simply address it as “a situation”, a challenge. A situation well known to all parents I would say. Not only mothers. It has to do with the sleeping pattern we had in our family for the last couple of weeks. It goes like this:

8pm Hayley goes to sleep.

10.30pm-4.40am Hayley eats!! Yes, she more or less eats the whole time! When it´s possible I feed her in bed so I can lay down, I can´t do that the whole time because that gives her gas. Eating this much also means breaks for diaper changes of course.

4.50am-6.30am Hayley takes a nap. Most of my adult life, since I was 15 I´ve been getting up at 5am. My body tells me “rise and shine” at 5am. I never have more energy than at 5am during the whole day. Therefor it´s impossible for me to go to sleep at this time. Believe me I have tried and tried and tried a zillion times. I eat some yoghurt because at this point I´m starving after breastfeeding the whole night. After that I feed the animals. When I come back inside I feel that I might be able to close my eyes for a little while. ..

6.30am Hayley wakes up with a big smile and wants to play. We play for a couple of hours.  Now I need some coffee to be able to stand on my feet. Starting to have some double vision. I have coffee. Hayley eats some more.

9.45am -12  Hayley is eating/sleeping. If I lay her in her bed she wakes up, if I keep holding her she sleeps. I´m high on coffee and sit with her for an hour or so. After that I have to go back outside. I put her in the baby carrier and we´re out the door.

12-2pm We both eat and take care of chores inside. After that things are getting a little bit harder when it comes to having enough energy.

2pm-5pm outside, with breaks for Hayley´s meals.

5pm-8pm grocery shopping (if needed)/making dinner/feeding baby/entertaining baby.

And that´s one day. It´s only been like this for two weeks but two weeks with almost zero sleep feels like a lifetime when the average sleep before was around 4-5hours/night.

Hayley takes short naps in my lap (I got to write on my blog, work with pictures or read a book-  yaay!)  or in the baby carrier (vacuum cleaner here I come!) but rarely in the crib. She is eating many, many times during the day too. Of course the most important thing is that Hayley is happy and healthy and she is. She´s a true blessing. I guess she´s in a growth spurt. I know the lack of sleep is temporary. It´s not going to be like this forever. I would like to add that Daddy does hang out with her a couple of hours here and there when he can and sometimes she takes naps in her crib. Hayley and I do have a lot of fun during our days at the ranch; we play with the dogs and horses, take walks in the forest and go for hikes in The National Forest, sing, dance etc. Activity has always been my major allied when it comes to fight fatigue. It´s just been a bit crazy for two weeks now. I´m manifesting some more sleep! Maybe someone have a great solution for this “situation” that I haven´t thought about?  I would love some input!