A Real Life Science Experiment

So here we are--3 weeks and McKenna is going strong. She seems to think that night time is party time, therefore, Chelsea and I are working to find a system. My mom stayed with us through this past Monday, and now it is just the three of us. We have yet to find a sleeping system, but we will keep experimenting.

Which brings me to the topic of today's blog. It is interesting being new parents and wanting to do a good job. When MJ has a good night of sleep (that means waking up every three hours to eat and not stirring in between), then we think we have done a good job and we begin to credit ourselves for all the good things that we must have done. Conversely, when she does not sleep well (like last night when we bounced on the exercise ball for a good hour), we begin to look for all the symptoms and what could we have possibly done wrong. From our diet to our swaddling, to the phases of the moon, we are looking for reasons why she will not sleep and what we can improve upon.

In actuality, everything is perfectly normal. There is no system and the answer is patience and flexibility as it makes little difference to McKenna if the temperature is 77 or 78 or if we had Pistachio frozen yogurt versus Coconut. You want to do everything you can as a parent to help your children, and normal is only a setting on a dryer. We have a beautiful girl and if I have to bounce or rock every other hour of the night, we will do our best--and try to stop wondering if it was the Ozarka or Aquafina water bottle that might have upset her.