naptime wonder

They don't write books about this kind of stuff...so maybe I will.

I must admit that one of the most frightening things for me when I became a mother of two was how to get both girls to nap at the same time when I am alone during the day.  If you know anything about toddlers, then you must know that naptime is a precious precious part of the day.  Since Ari Love still depends on nursing to fall asleep, and obviously so does our newborn, I just didn't know how I was going to do it.  The early newborn days were easy because Gwen Rose would just sleep all day and I could nurse Ari down in our room while Gwen Rose slept in the other room.  Now that she is more wakeful, the task seemed so daunting and my heart has never condoned letting either one of our babies cry.  

Our capabilities as mothers when it comes to tasks that seem impossible truly amazes me, and I have never felt more trusting than I do when listening to my instincts.  After a few failed attempts and feelings of exhaustion and failure when Ari Love did not nap for a few days because her sister would start crying in the other room before she fell asleep, I decided to try co-napping.  I nurse Gwen Rose first while Ari Love plays, then once she is full, I nurse Ari and they both miraculously fall asleep.  Like, is this real life?  I promise you it is a miracle and the first few times that it happened, I cried tears of joy while lodged in between them.  I snapped a few iphone photos and texted them to my husband with lots of exclamation points and crying face and happy face emojis and told him that we had not moved in 3 hours and I was pretty sure I would die of starvation haha  So I have learned that it is imperative that I empty my bladder, grab some snacks, and have a fully charged phone prior to their sweet slumber, because lets face it, this is as good as "me time" is going to get for now.  Ari loves it so much that she even voluntarily says "nap" now when she feels tired and that makes me feel like I am doing something right.  I think with parenting and motherhood, there are so many times where we feel inadequate and defeated that it is truly so important to relish and document the moments when we felt the exact opposite. 

So I guess what I am trying to say in all of this is to always listen and trust your instincts.  They know the inner workings of you and your family far better than any book out there ever will. 

As a sidenote, I just fell in love with my husband all over again after looking through these photos.  There is nothing more attractive about a man than a father who adores his family.  Nothing.  If you have a partner like I do, make sure you remember to tell him what a blessing he is to your family.