Everyone goes through hard times.

Well, it's been a few days since my last post, and even tho I haven't been anywhere exciting or done anything terribly exciting, it's been very busy around my house. Its ALWAYS busy with a 12 month old, even if I do only have 1 child!

James isn't your typical little bubba - he never has been.
He doesn't do sitting on laps or sitting in a pram or high chair if I'm in a shopping centre or cafe. There's no going to meet a friend out for a coffee or taking him to lunch somewhere and you can forget about about going out for dinner! His sleeping has never been great, but I must say that right now we have the best routine we've ever had. At one stage his sleeping was so bad for about 3 months I had to call in a sleep expert to come to our house and help me, otherwise I quite literally would have lost my mind. Sleep deprivation on that level is a very serious thing.

Now, don't get me wrong - he's not a terror that won't eat, or whinges constantly, or is always crying. In fact, the opposite. He is the most delightful little boy, always smiling, and laughing, pointing at things and saying 'baba!', waving at people as we pass them in Coles or Woolies. He plays very happily on his own, often entertaining himself, is very very independant, has fine motor skills other children 2 or 3 times his age don't have. Brendan and I are just so grateful he's ours and we're so so proud of him.

What I mean by not typical is, that he's never laid on his back for us to play with, or sat calmly on our laps. I've been strapping him down like a mental patient at nappy change time since he was 5 or 6 months old so he doesn't fling himself off the table. He crawled at 5 months and walked at 10 months. Not that walking at 10 months is extraordinary, it's early, but not amazing, he's just...hyper. SOme might even say he's a handful. The day he walked was the last time he ever crawled and he doesn't stop - ever! Not from the time he wakes up (which was 04:45am this morning), till he is completely spent at the end of his day and ready for bed by 6:30pm.

When his sleeping was really bad, he wouldn't sleep more than an hour or so at night before waking and would only get about an hour of sleep broken up into 2 or 3 naps during the day. It was a terriblly hard time for the 2 of us, it didn't really affect my husband because I've never asked him to get up during the night. But, the sleep expert changed our lives!

I suppose I'm telling you all of this because if any of you are going thru hard times with sleeping or behavioural problems, feeding problems or whatever your issue might be, it doesn't mean you're a bad parent or that you're doing a bad job. You're not alone in these issues and there are many solutions out there for just about any problem. The key is this: you just have to find the thing that works for you. I'll repeat that - you just have to find the thing that works for you. And you must be open to researching solutions and you MUST be open to new things. It's easy to get disheartened if the first option or second option hasn't worked, but you musn't give up.

People have always got advice and opinions and sometimes that can only make the situation worse, so you just have to follow your instincts and don't worry about what other people say. Other peoples opinions and advice drove me MAD!

I hope it helps to know I've had some hard times and I'm 100% certain I've got plenty more in front of me. But, it's all worth it - an old cliche, I know, but it's true.
Have a great Sunday, and take care!