Sleep Regression... Oh, It's a Thing!

Understatement of the century: Motherhood isn't easy. Am I right, moms? But with the bad days there are some pretty amazing days that follow.

What were your crappiest and happiest days of motherhood?

Linking up with Christine, Brittany, and Ashley for Mama Tells All



For me, this was kind of a tough topic to tackle. I'm a relatively new mom. At least I consider myself to be a new mom (yes, still). Zander will be five in February and Ainsley will be two in January. Yes, I've had both crappy and happy days but I can almost guarantee that some of the more (how should we say?) Advanced? yeah... advanced moms would probably say my crappy days are a walk in the park. But my crappiest? That I don't know.

Let's travel back in time, shall we? Ainsley was born Jan. 26, 2013 and from the day we brought her home, I immediately knew she would be a much better sleeper than Zander. From day 1, Zander would sleep 2-3 hours at a time no matter what. Ainsley on the other hand, she started off sleeping 5-6 hours at a time. WHAT? I thought the 2-3 hours was the norm! There's no way my sweet newborn baby girl was already sleeping 6 hours IN A ROW! But, it was true and she definitely did. For FOUR MONTHS STRAIGHT. Oh, y'all I was in heaven. Stuff was getting done around the house, I had showers at night, I wore makeup! (I know, it shocked me too).... and then the "four month sleep regression" hit.
Josh and I lovingly refer to this phase of Ainsley's life as The Great Parent Test of 2013. It was like a light bulb was switched on May 29th of that year because that's when she went from sleeping 6 hours in a row to sleeping 4 hours in one night... broken.

 Broken sleep is crappy. Angry babies that have had little sleep and refuse to nap are crappy. New moms: don't ever say no one warned you because here's your warning today. Having to work a full time job, take care of two kids, maintain a healthy marriage, and find time for myself ALL on 4 hours of broken sleep. You can probably guess that I wasn't a pleasant person in this time of Ainsley's life. The worst part was it lasted for five months straight.

The good news is, this phase of her life ended. There's always a silver lining to crappy mommy moments. I have plenty of happy mommy moments. Every single day. When my kids stop playing to say "Mommy, hug!" or Ainsley randomly wants kisses. It just melts my heart.

My Wednesday Wish today (with Anne!) is for all moms, especially new moms to be able to see there is a silver lining to crappy mommy days. There may be a day when your kid(s) test you patience and really push your buttons, but I promise they're attitude will change in the blink of an eye and before you realize they'll be cuddling with you. I wish moms out there to cherish the happy mommy moments. Put down the phone / ipad / laptop / whatever and go lay on the porch to count the stars. (We did this last night! SO FUN!) I certainly don't wish sleepless nights on anyone! I'm so thankful for being past that phase.