"Never pass up an opportunity to take a shower or a nap." Me
My niece and her partner recently had a new baby. A girl! Finally someone to model all those Two Sweet Mamas dresses - eventually. This blessed event lead me to reminiscing about when my own girls were babies. While I never experienced the first year of life, as both my girls were adopted at around the age of one, they were still new babies to me.
Let's face it, babies are wonderful. They bring so much joy to our lives. They're cute, cuddly, adorable, precious and EXHAUSTING.
This leads me to my opening quote. As a mother of older children, new mothers have asked me for advice and this is what I tell them. This is because I have come to believe that sleep is one of the most important things for new mothers and babies. After all, everything is harder when you are tired.
Both my children were adopted from China, a place many thousands of miles and 11 time zones away from where I live. So even though I did not face the challenge of getting a new born to sleep through the night, adjusting to the time difference was difficult. With my first child, I tried to stay up during the day and was awake with her during the night. This proved not to be the best approach but did allow me to experience sleep deprivation first hand. I don't recommend it! So I started to nap when the baby napped and eventually we got to being on a normal sleep schedule. Although, as my oldest was always an early riser (she was on daylight savings time about two months before the rest of the world) my napping habit lasted a number of years.
Establishing good sleep habits is fundamental for having happy children. Children are less cranky, more alert, more cooperative and all around more pleasant when they are well rested, and so are you. So if you're tired and can do it, take a nap with the baby or if you're super tired go to bed when the baby does one night. The laundry can wait.
As for the shower part, well, no one ever tells you how having kids interferes with your personnel hygiene!
Have a fun day,
Cynthia
My niece and her partner recently had a new baby. A girl! Finally someone to model all those Two Sweet Mamas dresses - eventually. This blessed event lead me to reminiscing about when my own girls were babies. While I never experienced the first year of life, as both my girls were adopted at around the age of one, they were still new babies to me.
Let's face it, babies are wonderful. They bring so much joy to our lives. They're cute, cuddly, adorable, precious and EXHAUSTING.
This leads me to my opening quote. As a mother of older children, new mothers have asked me for advice and this is what I tell them. This is because I have come to believe that sleep is one of the most important things for new mothers and babies. After all, everything is harder when you are tired.
Both my children were adopted from China, a place many thousands of miles and 11 time zones away from where I live. So even though I did not face the challenge of getting a new born to sleep through the night, adjusting to the time difference was difficult. With my first child, I tried to stay up during the day and was awake with her during the night. This proved not to be the best approach but did allow me to experience sleep deprivation first hand. I don't recommend it! So I started to nap when the baby napped and eventually we got to being on a normal sleep schedule. Although, as my oldest was always an early riser (she was on daylight savings time about two months before the rest of the world) my napping habit lasted a number of years.
Establishing good sleep habits is fundamental for having happy children. Children are less cranky, more alert, more cooperative and all around more pleasant when they are well rested, and so are you. So if you're tired and can do it, take a nap with the baby or if you're super tired go to bed when the baby does one night. The laundry can wait.
As for the shower part, well, no one ever tells you how having kids interferes with your personnel hygiene!
Have a fun day,
Cynthia
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