Today I babysat for my sister while she went to the zoo with one of her older children on a school trip. She has five children.. yes, five of them, made up four boys and one girl, including a set of twins. She really is Supermum, without a cape. I had the pleasure of looking after the boy-girl twins (nearly two years old) and a three year old boy. Thankfully her children are so well behaved, and the wonderful digital world of animated movies provides assistance too. It was certainly an eye opener to what it would be like to have a young baby plus have older children to tend to. When the twins were due for their nap, I just took them to their room, put them in bed and left.
More and more I realise how good it is for Mums when their children know how to sleep. Currently Israel is 4 months old and I feel so blessed and energised that he sleeps well. I don’t have to rock him to sleep anymore, he has three day naps and sleeps 7pm – 7am with one feed anywhere between 4-6am at the moment. It wasn’t always like that, but with a few simple adjustments once we got out of hospital, we ended up in a very consistent and predictable routine. I love structure, as it allows me to be organised. However, I know it could all change at any moment, so I am enjoying the season for however long it lasts. As a Mum of a young baby, you can never sleep in, or really ‘catch up on sleep’ and weekends don’t exist anymore. They tell you to sleep when baby sleeps, but then you wouldn’t get anything done then. The biggest discipline I am still learning is to go to bed early, so that I can take advantage of the long sleep that Israel has… I will get there eventually.
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