Convention and flexibility

If there is one thing that parenting teaches you, it is that you have to be flexible.  In oh-so-many ways.  And the harder you try and maintain what you want against what they want, the worse the outcome.  This can be difficult for personalities such as Mike and I (my nickname for Mike is Mr. Black and White), especially when it comes to parenting.  As noted earlier, Zack has been shall we say, trying at night.  While I think that overall he probably isn't as different from Ellie as a newborn as I might think, it feels very different (and this is why the likelihood of a 3rd Drzewiecki spawn decreases daily).  Maybe it is because the responsibility of 2 is so much greater, or that we had gotten accustomed to Ellie's schedule and have been rocked by the newborn more than the last or that we are just older, but sleepless nights seem way harder than before.

And yet I spent almost 2 hrs at night trying to get him to go back to sleep in the crib.  Because cribs are where babies sleep.  And we don't do the co-sleeping.  Or any other stupid "conventional" rule that was in our silly heads.  Well, I think we are finally learning flexibility.  Because Zack slept for 6 hours in his car seat on the floor of his bedroom last night and that is where we have put him to bed for the last 4 nights in a row.  And for a while, that is where he is going to sleep.  And if I can't get him to go back down in either car seat or crib, its back to bed with me, since lying on his side snuggled next to me is also an acceptable place for this kid to sleep (and who doesn't actually love snuggling with a baby, albeit you don't really sleep).  As I said to Mike last night, if we look back and say, 'Zack, we had to put you to bed in your car seat for the first 3 months of your life to get you to sleep' we will all have survived just fine.  And be no worse off for it.

Now giving up dairy....that's a different ball game.