Staying thankful

Nap time

My most recent mothering challenge has been Molly’s daytime naps. She does not take good naps during the day. These days she sleeps lightly and is easily woken. Her lack of napping is partly due to her preference for wakefulness, and partly because she is often woken up after only a few minutes. This leads to hours of fussiness during the day. She sleeps enough to not want to go back to sleep directly, but not enough to be happy at all. 

We live in a small, two room house. There is nowhere I can put her where she won’t be disturbed during a nap. People are always knocking at our door. If we don’t answer right away, they knock louder, and sometimes shout. 

If we don’t have at least 8 people come to our door per day, then it wasn’t a normal day. Also with open windows (no glass) the sounds of kids playing and screaming, vehicles going by, and neighbors shouting to each other is often enough to disturb Molly’s sleep. 

Ideally Molly, at 5 months now, would take a morning nap and an afternoon nap. She does this on particularly quiet days, so I believe that she could do it if left in peace. 

But it’s impossible.

This gives me a chance to be thankful in the midst of a challenging situation. This is where we live, it’s our home and it’s what I’ve got to work with. I remind myself each day that a fussy baby is better than no baby! 

But seriously, I am so blessed to have a little daughter who is happy and smiley when well-rested, usually in the morning when the long, noisy, fussy day is young.