day eight

If you couldn't tell, my posts vary wildly in mood depending which nap you catch me after. Right now I am feeling euphoric. I just nursed Lucy to sleep, popped her off, managed to get up out of bed, and keep her asleep after only 30 minutes in the dark.
I am obviously a genius, and have perfectly executed my Sleep Plan.
(Hopefully I will finish this post before she wakes up in ten minutes and foils my plan to watch The Office tonight.)
Today was a day of little nap success and some friend encouragement. Luckily, friends are super great and actually make up for a day of crappy naps.
Lucy is smarter than I want her to be. I think she realized very quickly I was out to Change Her Patterns. And she decided (also quickly) to Resist My Efforts.
Thus when I wasn't trying to pop her off every time, she would also do so on her own. And when I wasn't trying to get her to sleep quickly, she would.
When I started trying, all hell broke loose.
Last night I nursed her in the dark for 2 hours whil I was awake, and 2 hours while I was asleep.
That is a lot of hours! And when I woke up at midnight (after 4 hours of near-continuous nursing) she was still latched on, going strong! And I had been in bed 5-6 hours during the day for similarly unsuccessful naps! That is why my post was so unwitty last night. She had nursed the wit right out of me.
Luckily my hack mom friend, Melissa, lives within walking distance, so after 4 more unsuccessful naps today, I walked over there and she bucked me up like a good little camper.
She reminded me that I don't have to do everything obsessively. Like spending all day and all evening in bed instead of enjoying my husband's company.
I know this, in my head, but I kept thinking, if I just stayed in bed ten more minutes, this will work. (ten minutes passes...no change for the better) Sigh. But ten minutes more certainly would change things...
Motherhood is like that. You think just a little more effort--just that one extra bit--would have made all the difference. And if you don't give that extra effort, and it doesn't work, you beat yourself up. Geez, Heather, if you'd just stood on your head for another half hour, she would be dressing herself by now!
The great news? This post is finished, and my daughter is still asleep. And The Office starts in twenty minutes.
Darn it. I think I hear baby noises.