I must have missed that...

Let me preface this entry by saying that in no universe near or far do I consider myself an expert on motherhood. Nor do I think that I am a perfect mother, I am far from it. I will however, claim to be a baby-knowledge whore in every sense of the phrase. I read. LOTS. Okay, that is an understatement. I am like a mother-sponge. I cannot get enough. I read books, websites, essays, message boards, etc. etc. etc. If it has to do with infant behaviors, I read it. I was a psych major once in one of my many lives and I remember child psych being one of my favorite classes. One that I don't think I ever skipped, and that's sayin' something.

So being the lovely, wonderful, entirely-too-nice-for-my-own-good blogger that I am, I decided one day (probably a month ago, HEY give me a break) that I should start writing entries focusing on information that I must have missed when I was pregnant. Secret troves of wonderful information that is hidden from pregnant women and new mommies every where that can only be unlocked once you have hit "that wall". You know the one I am talking about moms. The wall that you can only SLAM into once you reach pure crazy. A wall harder than brick, taller than the Empire State Building and wider than the Atlantic coast. The wall that causes you to troll the Internets for an answer ANY ANSWER ohmygodpleasehelpmeIamabouttoloseit at usually somewhere around 3am on a Saturday, just when your young, unmarried, childless friends are stumbling in from a good night of drinking.

I have found out that pretty much everything you read during pregnancy to prepare you for this little miracle will be lost like a sock in a dryer once the crazy sets in. So I am going to help you, oh childless Internets. Take notes. Follow along. BURN THIS INFO INTO YOUR BRAIN.

My first piece of missing info: Sleep begets sleep.

DUH! You might say. Well, I am sure I am not the first half of a new parent couple that decided that "We should keep the baby awake so that he is super tired and sleeps longer through the night". DON'T DO IT. For the love of Gucci, don't do it. You see, babies are born just wanting to sleep. All.the.time. LET THEM. Trust. If you keep a baby up because you think he will work like you do (playing all day and passing out at night) you will pay.

It took us a while to figure out that the more consistent we were with Mason's naps during the day, the better he slept at night. I wish someone would have told me this. I am sure I read it somewhere, or someone DID tell me, but it got lost somewhere between every 2 hour feedings and diaper yeast in those first couple weeks. Just trust me. You will look down at your baby who is napping for the third time that day and think "Great. Now we are going to be up all night" but you won't! It's just how it works.

Now, don't get it twisted here. Healthy daytime naps and having days and nights mixed up are another thing. But that's for another day!