On Sunday, I felt defeated as a parent. Unfortunately, my husband was feeling the exact same way. 2 parents, just trying to stay afloat and not let our 2 year old get the best of us.

And let me tell you, he was trying.

After not taking a decent nap for 2 days, being busy, and up late one night, we could tell that Brayden had clearly had enough. But he was not throwing up the white flag. At least, not as fast as we were!

Knowing that we were in it together made it at least bearable. We tried to appease Brayden as best as we could and breathed a sigh of relief when he was finally peacefully asleep. We talked about how tomorrow is a new day, and boy, am I ever thankful for that! Keeping it in perspective, I think, is important. Kids will be kids. Were we slightly embarrassed at his behavior at the family reunion we were at on Sunday? Yes. But in all honesty, we both knew that Brayden was just having a bad day. And as parents, we were kind of having a bad day, too!

But today- today is a new day.

My head is literally still spinning from the wealth of knowledge that I took in at the Hearts at Home conference. One of my favorite workshop sessions was about being a Parenting Professional. Here are just some snippets of what I wrote down… I hope you will see something that resonates with you, and if not, I am just thankful to be sharing it anyway.

-We need to parent in such a way that our children sing their song and sing it well.

- Out children are unique & different. They require short term, intermediate, and long term goals.

-Parenting professionals are teachable, they work hard to improve, and are NOT defeated by setbacks.

-Choose to be an encourager. Choose to be a positive role model. Choose to be present. Working with our kids makes them feel needed. Choose to discipline in love. Choose to pray. It helps them since their song.

-In instances, we need to tell our children to do what we ask of them immediately because their lives might depend on their quick reaction. (This struck a HUGE chord with me! This is so important!)

Last week, a dear friend of mine from high school announced her pregnancy on Facebook. Exciting stuff! I couldn’t be happier for her and her hubby! After seeing it on her FB page, I noticed a link on the side that was her blog. Me, admittedly the creeper, checked it out, wondering why I never knew that she had a blog before! She had written a post about how she was feeling, etc. The one thing that stuck out to me in this post was that she was already wondering about what would happen when the baby comes: would she be able to stay home or would she continue working?

              Congratulations, momma! Motherhood is incredible, and you will be SO great at it! I read on your blog that you are worried/stressed about being a Stay at home mom. I would really encourage you to read “In Praise of Stay at home mom’s” by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. It is such an encouraging book. Not that there is anything wrong with working moms, of course! But it might help you get a perspective and help you decide. Just wanted to pass that along. It was a huge help when we were deciding the same thing. We have had to make some financial sacrifices but for us, it has been worth it. 

I hope this doesn’t come off the wrong way, it isn’t intended to be. I just really love that book! And I thought of you.

Being part of the blogging/twitter world has introduced me to all kinds of people, mothers, and friends. I have “met” moms who don’t breastfeed, who exclusively breastfeed, who cloth diaper, who don’t, who baby wear, mom’s who swear by organic food, and mom’s that use baby led weaning. It is incredible the amounts of ways there are to do things with our newborns and toddlers. But are any of these things wrong?

I don’t think so. Not wrong, just different.

So why are we, as moms, so much on the defensive when talking to other moms about the “right” way to do something? Why do we feel slighted by someone if they say what we are doing is wrong? And believe me, I am not talking about suggestions here.

Case in point: I rock Brayden to sleep for bedtime and nap time. Every single day. Now, there are some of you out there that would maybe say that it wasn’t a good thing. And some nights when he fights me? I wonder the same thing. But on the other hand, 99% of the time, it works for us- and isn’t that what really counts? Maybe the next baby (should we be blessed with more) won’t be a cuddler! You just never know. I really don’t want to miss out on this precious time with him.

I have really learned to listen to other moms instead of forming opinions in my head about what they should be doing in relation to my own experience. All babies are different, so why should we parent and care for them the same? I urge you, if you don’t already, to really listen to another mom and try not to defend what YOU do. Because at the end of the day, this world needs happy mommas and babies, regardless of how they become that way.

I am talking about Brayden taking naps. Lately, they have been a giant fail, and I am starting to wonder what happened to those glorious 2 hour naps that he took twice a day. The dark circles under my eyes are starting to wonder the same!

For the past two nights, he has been conking out after eating, around 8 or 8:30, and despite my best attempts, will NOT wake up. So, I put him to bed, and hope for the best. He still sleeps through the night, just wakes up earlier, around 6. I know that I shouldn’t let him fall asleep after nursing him, but I can’t get him to wake up! And, since it only happened twice….I guess I shouldn’t get too worried. Today, I plan on being home all day to see if we can get back into our “normal” routine.

I am also concerned because I started rocking him to sleep for naps and bedtime when he was first born, and that is something that has stuck. Despite my best attempts to just lay him in his crib with his paci and blankie, he just cries the second I walk out. I don’t have the stomach to just let him cry, but I usually try to wait a few minutes. It never works. 

When will he hit that age where he just falls asleep in the high chair or on the floor? Soon enough, I am sure.