I had doubts this week about whether or not I would be able to find time to write this blog post. Micah is quickly becoming quite a handful as he seems to need less and less sleep during the day and plays a lot more actively with his commando crawling. All this is great, means that my boy is developing his motor skills very well and very quickly picking up new skills – but it is definitely affecting his sleep patterns. It’s like he would wake up in the middle of the night and realise “Hey, why am I not crawling around or looking at stimulating colours and playing with my toys?!” or he would eventually appear “bored of sleeping” and scream to be picked up. I know the difference between “I’m bored” screaming and “I’m tired” screaming though… the “I’m tired” screaming usually can be re-settled with constant pats and shooshing and he will fall right back to sleep. It’s the “I’m bored and I’ve had enough sleep” screaming at 5.30am that drives me nuts!

So it is becoming harder and harder for me to keep up. It would probably be easier if he’s giving me good night sleeps, but he is waking up every 2-3 hourly most nights and he seems to be ready to start the day before 6am! Thankfully, hubby has been amazing throughout this whole phase. Hubby has been waking up early to let Micah have a play while he eats his breakfast and watches the news in the morning before going off to work. This allows me to have just that extra hour of sleep every morning, which makes a HUGE difference! Micah used to sleep 2 hours for his morning nap.. now, I’d be lucky if I get ONE hour! Basically I have to keep him busy all morning – making sure he is stimulated, playing, moving, so we go out and do things and I make sure he gets tired so he will sleep better in the afternoon.

Which is why during this time, Mothers Group on Tuesdays is a blessing. It is great for Micah to have that interaction with other babies – and it is healthy for me to have adult conversations with other mums. I’ve also started taking Micah to Play Group at church now on Wednesdays. I try to organise Play Dates with friends who have also had babies too during the week. All these “activities” keep Micah and I busy… but boy is it tiring! I am so not ready for my baby to turn into an active toddler.. who can crawl around faster than he already can, or WALK around or RUN around – I’d have to really build up my stamina to be able to keep up and chase him around!

Gone are the days when I can just sit there and hold him and make funny faces and he would be amused… gone are the days when I can just leave him on the playmat for 2 minutes and come back and he would still be right where I left him… gone are the days when I can relax and watch my TV shows during the day while he has his long naps!! Those days are GONE!! Now his naps are all about catching up on house chores otherwise when else would I get to do it?!

OK I guess it’s not TOO bad. If I get all my chores done during the day, including cook dinner, by the time Micah goes to bed at 7pm every night, I have at least 3 hours to relax and do whatever I want. Those 3 hours keep me sane. Some nights when I am just too tired, I go to bed by 9pm just to catch up on my sleep. Once sleep is caught up though, the whole motherhood experience becomes a lot more enjoyable and the baby seems a lot less grumpy. So, I’ve concluded that as long as I get enough rest – nothing is too hard. It is hard to function when you are tired. Even a perfectly behaved baby would seem like a handful when you are tired. 

In saying that, I am so thankful that Micah is a beautiful baby. He is perfectly content most days, he is very generous with his smiles and giggles, he loves being held by other people (no attachment issues there at all!) which gives me a good break every now and then and he’s just such a good baby. I just hope and pray that his sleep routine at night improves really soon. He’s done it before so I KNOW he can do it again! 

Oooppss… someone is awake and whinging. Better get to him!