Doing what I have to do to Survive!

I've learned in the 31 years of life I have lived, that EVERYONE LOVES TO GIVE ADVICE and it only get's worse once you are in a relationship, and then you get married, and then comes the baby. While I appreciate all of the advice that I receive from everyone, there are that tiny few that I actually listen to. So bad to admit, but I'd rather be honest than not. 

Having a Baby, it's NO WHERE THE SAME for every single person. I really did listen to all the advice on having a baby and I read every book possible. Then you give birth to this tiny human and all advice and things you've read have gone out the window. Your mind goes blank and you begin to panic once the baby starts to cry and won't stop. The best advice I ever received was from my mom and she said, "The first 3 months of your life with a newborn are called 'survival mode'. You do what works for you." I thought I was the worst mother to let my son sleep in the bouncer at night and then once you go just one night with very little sleep. You begin to stop caring about what others think and what others say and you do what works best for you. You hear about how awful co-sleeping it, but there were some nights where Luke just wouldn't sleep without sleeping on me. So yeah, some nights I would snuggle him in-between my arm and my body and he would sleep and I would sleep. I wake up to every sound possible and was use to sleeping on my back, so this was nothing. While I didn't like to co-sleep, I did what I had to do to survive.

This morning Luke decided that 3:30 AM was "time to wake up". I am pretty sure the thunder woke up him and he thought it was time to get up. So I go in and give him his "bink" and lightly pat his back. He begins to fall asleep. I lie down and he's crying again. I go back in and do the same thing over. He falls asleep. "Sweet!" I lie back down and 15 minutes later he is back up. So I give in and start our weekend morning ritual; reason for the weekend ritual, because I had NO desire to start getting ready for work at 4 AM...... I change him and then feed him a 6 ounce bottle. He gladly takes it and falls asleep. I lie him in the crib, creep back into bed and begin to relax. 4:30 AM Luke is back up. I bring him into bed with me, NOPE. He think's it's play time. Give him some tylenol thinking teething is bugging him and lie him back down in the crib. He finally falls asleep at 5 AM, juuuuusssstttttt in time for my alarm to go off.....dang! But you know what, I wouldn't trade this life for anything! And this ladies and gents is why I go to bed at 8:30 PM every night..... :) 

Everyday is different and most days will not be the same, but you do what you have to do to survive!