Here you'll find current musings, as well as the archives from two blogs of yesteryear: YoungMarriedMom and What I Learned While Writing a Novel. Please comment and share. We love well when we are in conversation with one another.
Even before we started weaning the little man, there were a couple of nights when he slept through his eleven o’clock-ish feeding. This was often the feeding that got me to stop blogging or Internet surfing or working and get to bed. When it didn’t happen, I just had to look at the clock, realize it was much too late of my own accord, and go to sleep.
Those nights I was surprised to find I had some trouble falling asleep. I tend to stay up too late, so I was relying on utter exhaustion to knock me out. But no such luck. I couldn’t seem to get my mind to stop spinning. Despite having just had some time to myself, I didn’t feel relaxed, didn’t really feel ready for bed.
And then I realized: nursing Jacob relaxed me just as much as it soothed him. A couple of these nights, I lay in bed, wishing he would wake up to nurse. When he did, I leaped out of bed and into his room. Once I got back to my bed, I slept, quite literally, like a baby.
When he didn’t, I just had to wait it out and kind of learn how to fall asleep again. It had been a long time since I had fallen asleep on my own, and now I sympathized with the little guy even more—it’s really not such an easy thing to do!
Thankfully, John and I have recently started reading Anna Karenina to one another in the evenings, after dinner and our rosary. Now that Jacob’s sleeping through the night, a bedtime story is just what I need to get some good shut-eye.
It’s crazy the things you learn from your kids.