One thing that I have learned very clearly over the past several years is that if you need to be humbled, become a parent. Oh, how parenting continues to humble me in every possible way. In the past, if anybody had told me that they were still sleep deprived when their baby was four months old, or that their baby didn’t sleep through the night until they were 6 months or 8 months or a year or whatever, I would have outwardly sympathized with them, and inwardly I probably would have thought something along the lines of, “Well, I know how you can fix that. Do a little sleep training.” Jake and Addi were both incredible sleepers very early on, and I chalked that up to the consistent schedules that we kept them and the great “sleep training” that Jay and I did with them. Well, fast forward to now, and I am eating those thoughts. Tate has very different plans when it comes to sleeping. My philosophy of, Be consistent with them and they will sleep, is proving to not be a universal truth. Tate has sleep plans of his own, with no regard for what my plans might be. I simply never know what I am going to get with him. One night he may only be up once (even that would have been unheard of with Jake and Addi at this point, but is a “Hallelujah” night with Tate), and I will think that we have turned a corner and he is finally starting to get it. And then the next night, he is up what seems like most of the night. Or, one day he’ll go down for naps with a smile on his face and actually nap for more than 40 minutes at a time, and the next day he decides that naps are not on his agenda for the day.
Thankfully, I am a much more relaxed parent at this point. This would have stressed me out before and I would have thought that I was doing things all wrong. This time though, I really am enjoying and relishing this baby stage so much more, and I am able to actually be thankful for the time that I have with Tate in my arms...even if it is the middle of the night and I continue to be sleep deprived (despite the fact that my baby is over 4 months old). I am coming to the conclusion that he might just be one of those babies that doesn’t sleep through the night until...whenever. And I’m okay with that (at least I say that now). I’m just going to continue to be grateful for this miraculous, amazing, happy little person, regardless of how much sleep he deprives us of. Because, like they say about horses and water, I can lead my little Taters to his crib, but I can’t make him sleep!
Jay is probably giving him a pep talk before putting him down for the night (And I say, "putting him down for the night" very loosely. It would probably be more accurate to say that he's giving him a pep talk before putting him down for a couple hours!)
But really, how can you be frustrated with this little guy? Just look at that angelic face! :)
Tate comes with us wherever we go around the house and hangs out in his little chair. Here he's keeping Addi company while she washes the dishes.
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