Day 2: 0n What I'm Doing Differently

Do you ever wish that there was a "do over" button in life? I know I certainly do. I can think of a million ways that I would use this button, but one stands out in particular: those early months after Javi was born.  I made a lot of mistakes with Javi. I try to remind myself that I succeeded in many areas too, and that I was a first time mom; you don't typically get everything right on the first try. But there were a few things that I acknowledged  that I didn't handle right, and vowed to do better with my second baby.

One of those things? Sleep. I was so paranoid about everything with Javi that it really affected my sleep those first few months. (Having an always hungry newborn will also affect your sleep, for the record ;) After a solid nursing session, with my little guy snoozing away in the swing, I would lay in bed, wide awake, mind racing.  I stressed about whether or not he would stop breathing in his sleep. (He didn't) I stressed about the housework that was piling up. (Meh. We all survived) I stressed about my relationship with Lover, and whether or not we would adjust to being parents. (We did, and we're so happy) Paradoxically, I stressed about how little I was sleeping, and how tired I was!

I remember the moment, sitting in Javi's room, in the middle of the night, nursing him, when I realized that just as God can multiply our finances, he can multiply our time. From that point forward I asked God to multiply my sleep, and make 15 minutes seem like hours. And the exhaustion lessened. I prayed this prayer all through my pregnancy with Keilana, because pregnancy makes me body-weary, cry-from-exhaustion tired all.nine.months.long. And I'm praying it now as I snatch a few minutes of shuteye throughout the busy days, and the long nights.

You know that age old advice "sleep when the baby sleeps"? Well, it's good advice, if you're not too paranoid to sleep. I think my advice in the future will be "let God worry about your concerns while you get some sleep!" :-)