Naps

I have blogged extensively about how Mikey hasnt always been a great sleeper. I am glad that I did it from the beginning because when I tell people he hasnt ever been a great sleeper I now have proof, if only so I keep myself from going crazy trying to remember if it is true or imagined. Anyway so naps have been a bit of a struggle, but we have finally (in the past 6 months or so) come to a good arrangement, we stopped the 2 naps a day stuff, because that was basically 2 times the frustration for no sleep, and went with once a day, right after lunch. Most days this works great(ish). His nap isnt 2-3 hours like recommended but it is usually a solid hour and that is an improvement. Also, he doesnt seem to need longer, I think it would be great if he would sleep longer, but something in his little body tells him that 60 minutes is long enough and we are done fighting that. So he naps, and it is great, and if he doesnt nap he reads books quietly to himself in bed until his one hour is up. Another thing we started... parent naps, or really mommy naps. Before you judge let me just say I think naps make me a better mom, I think they give me the patience I need to get to bedtime, no really. When Mikey was first born (0-2 months) I used these times to get as much done as possible, and yes stuff got done but I was so tired from not sleeping at night that my hands were shaking all day, so we cut that out. Then I used the time to get just a few things done that were harder to get done with him around, cleaning bathrooms, laundry, prepping dinner, etc (3-8 months). But I decided that I needed to be able to do these things with him awake, with the exception of cleaning which I do when he goes to bed so it at least stays clean overnight, so that time became mommy fun time (9-14 months), but then I would get wrapped up in a project, rush to finish, etc and end up frustrated. Then I got the flu or some sort of cold and started taking naps when Mikey napped, and suddenly... well suddenly life was better. I feel kinda lazy admitting that I take a 20 minute naps most days, but no scratch that, I dont feel lazy, I feel refreshed. So now I put Mikey down, clean up lunch, start laundry etc, and then take a short nap, wake up, get going on dinner or whatever activity we are moving on to, get him up, etc... and let me tell you... the nap is like a quick dose of patience. I know this wont continue as we have more kids and more nap schedules to accommodate, but for now... I highly recommend moms take power naps... makes our day go so much smoother...