18 Months… Happy Life Update!!!
Hi friends! It’s been a while… so… Happy Life Update!!! To be honest, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with the amount of stuff going on in normal life that I just haven’t found the time to write a blog post in the past few months, but I am back and feeling motivated and excited to give you all a motherhood update on Charlotte at 18 months! It is crazy to think that it has been a year since my last post. When my water broke at 26 weeks, I honestly didn’t think that my baby would make it to 18 months, let alone 18 days. I know I have skipped over a ton of shit, but I will try to cover all of that by breaking the life updates down in to categories. This way, you can read about what you’re most interested in, and you have a clear idea of what’s been happening in our crazy household. Let me know if you like this style of update so I know what to do in the future!
NAPS/BEDTIME As I am writing this, Charlotte is down for her nap (yes – we are down to one nap as of about 13 months) and although the transition to one nap was different, not of our own terms and took about a full month to really ease into, we are loving the new routine. It definitely makes life a bit easier in terms of planning for going out of the house, and since Charlotte is very much a crib or playpen napper, we need to be at [a] home for naptime and bedtime. ** Side note on this for those mama’s who are starting to sleep train: Consistency is SO key.**We have no problems with bedtime 98% of the time, and even though naps aren’t as consistent in length, she almost never cries in her crib; except for like 30 seconds. Now, we don’t have as much flexibility because of this (she hates the stroller so she won’t nap in one if we are out), but she will nap in the car if it is a long trip or she is super exhausted. You’re probably reading this thinking “damn there’s another mom who did the whole sleep training shit.” NO. We did not do sleep training. We did not do the “cry it out” method. We did the “let’s do what we can to get her to go to sleep and stay asleep,” method. Has it probably kicked us in the ass? Yep. Were there regrets? Yep. But guess what? That is parenting. Real. Raw. Parenting. Sure we could’ve done the tried and true sleep training, but honestly, what you learn works for you and your child is what matters. ALSO, I have come to realize that what I do for Charlotte will more than likely not work if Luke tries the same thing, and vice-versa. Children truly react differently to each parent; and that is 100% ok. Charlotte’s bedtime routine is shown in the table below. Does it always work? Hell no. Do we have to let her cry for 30 seconds? Sometimes. Do we party too hard some nights? Hell yea! That’s life. Tiny is only tiny for a limited amount of time. If Charlee wants to do a dance party at 8:30 at night, then dance party it is
