Saturday, January 22, 2011

Having a Routine is Vital to Accomplishing Anything

Or why you can't have even a shred of normalcy while living in someone else's house.

My days have become a discombobulated mess. Gage and I wake up pretty much whenever Gage wakes up. We're trying to implement a 7:00 am wake time but that is hard when he refuses to sleep till anywhere between 9 and 11. I want to start getting him to bed between 6:30 and 7:30, but that's impossible when it doesn't mesh with the people you live with.

So anyway... we wake up whenever, then we go eat breakfast and play for a bit. Sometime between 9:00 and 11:00am, Gage is ready for a nap. He'll sleep anywhere from an hour to three, as long as I lay with him (more on this in a minute.) When he wakes up, we eat lunch and play some more. He may take another nap sometime between 12:00 and 5:00, depending on when he napped earlier and if just can't make it any longer. Yes, I know that having him nap late makes it hard for him to go to bed. Some days we have no choice. *sigh*

His nap times, for me, are both wonderful and terrible. There are at least 1,000 things I could get done while he sleeps, but I have to remain next to him. On the other hand, I have days where curling up with him for two hours seems to be the greatest blessing a momma could have. I guess I just think he needs a more quality sleep experience, and I need that time as a momma! Right now, honestly, it generally works out ok because it gives me a little quiet time away from the rest of the family. But when we move in three weeks... I will really need that time, or NOTHING will ever get done.

See, part of the problem is that while we've been here, Gage has discovered that there is almost never a reason to be put down unless he wants to be. If he so much as makes an unhappy peep, Grandma is picking him up. I know that's the nature of g-parents, but honestly, it has destroyed Gage's ability to just hang by himself for even a minute. When we lived in Albq, every day I'd put Gage in his bouncer seat in the bathroom, and take a shower. Here, my shower depends 100% on everyone else, unless I feel like listening to Gage howl from the bouncer seat and then a parent telling me how awful I am for putting him in there, why didn't I just wait till they could watch him, etc. So there is gonna be a definite learning curve when we get moved.

Bottom line? Come February 14, there is going to be some scheduling put into place. Our days are going to become very routine, and things are going to get done. Babies and toddlers thrive on routine. They love knowing what comes next and being able to predict how the day will go. Gage will be a happier guy, and that will make me a happier momma.

We really, really appreciate having had the chance to stay with my parents. They saved us, really, because having the house still would have made it really, really hard if we had had to move up here and find a place to rent right away. So I can't thank them enough. That doesn't mean we are not SO ready to move on!

No comments:

Post a Comment