Mommy Meditations

According to how-to-meditate.org, "if we train in meditation, our mind will gradually become more and more peaceful, and we will experience a purer and purer form of happiness." That's all well and good, but as a mother of two, working at home, and enjoying a social life, I do not have time to meditate. Even if I happened to carve out 20 minutes a day, there would be so much chaos and noise, I don't think I would find much peace.

But I do have my own form of mommy mediation.When I have been rocking my baby to sleep, and that moment when he finally drifts off. His eyes close, and a peace overcomes me. My heart rate slows as I watch his tiny lips pucker, and listen to his steady breathing. I get stuck somewhere between wanting to finally get things done while he sleeps, and needing to hold him longer.As I sit mesmerized by the beauty of my child's face, thoughts of all the spit-up, screaming, and poopy diapers dissipate. These are the most peaceful, happy moments of my life-- rocking my babies to sleep.

So next time you finally get into the "sleep zone", take those moments to really ingest the beauty of your baby, revel in the awe of motherhood, breathe slowly and smile :).

Love and peace,
Kerry the Momster

Are all the children in their beds? It's past 8-o-clock!

We have hit the 3 month mark with our little guy, and he is sleeping (for the most part) through the night. Alas, his daytime naps are not up to par. 20-30 minute power naps throughout the day, every hour and a half leaves little to no time for me to do ANYTHING! Okay, so maybe I'm looking for an excuse not to houseclean, but I can't even catch up on sleep because right when I get something to eat and lay down, he is up again. With paperwork piling up, errands on hold and dust bunnies birthing under every crevice in my home, I am putting my foot down. This crazy sleep schedule ends TODAY!

I will lock myself in the house for the rest of this week and next week and get this child on a schedule that I approve of.

First order of business: Drawing out feedings to three hours. According to Babywise, a baby this age should be able to eat every 3-4 hours. So currently this is his schedule:

8:00 wake and feed
10:00 nap
10:30 wake and feed
12:00 nap
12:30 wake and feed
2:00 nap (on blessed days he will sleep for 2 hours at this nap, but one can never be certain)
2:30 wake and feed or 4:00 wake and feed
5:00 feeding
6:00 feeding
6:30 bathtime
7:00 feeding and bedtime (sometimes he will push it and wont sleep till later)

5:00 feeding and back to sleep

So tomorrow I will try and move his schedule to feeding only every 3 hours. I have read bou the shh-patting technique to help babies go back to sleep. Apparantly they wake up after 20-30 minutes due to sleep cycles and not being able self soothe, so the main goal should be to help them stay asleep. So during his 20-30 minute nap, when he wakes, instead of picking him up, I will shh-pat for at least 15 minutes, and hopefully he will put himself back to sleep.

*** Update: Baby just woke up after 20 minutes of napping and I tried shh-pat ... (shushing him and patting gently on the back). It took two times but he has gone back to sleep!!!

Wish me luck.
Love and slumbering,
Kerry the Momster