Why I'm Not the World's Greatest Mommy Part 2: My Kid Looks Like a Street Fighter

Sorry its been so long since my last post! This week has been kind of crazy for our family.  Liam had his 4 month checkup on Tuesday (even though he's now 4 1/2 months old) and while we were out we decided to get our grocery shopping for this week done.  Yesterday was stressful between me finishing up my last final, Liam running a low fever as a result of getting shots at his checkup, and Jace feeling sick while trying to study for his last final.  Today is shaping up to be a little stressful as well.  I'm trying to break Liam from needing to be swaddled all the time and he's not too happy about it.

This kid has been relying on his swaddle for EVERYTHING!  He won't eat, sleep, or ride in his carseat without being swaddled.  This wouldn't be a problem if he wasn't now strong enough to bust himself out of the swaddle which leads to waking himself up multiple times during the night and needing to be re-swaddled.  So last night we laid him in his crib without swaddling him to see if he could put himself to sleep without it.  Of course he started crying when he realized that he was expected to go to sleep with no swaddle.  I let him cry it out for five minutes then went in to comfort him and calm him down.  After he was calm again I would leave the room.  He would start with the crying again and, again, I would wait five minutes before going in to comfort him.  This lasted 45 minutes until I thought that at last he had fallen asleep.  He had.  Unfortunately, that only last about 20 minutes before he woke up crying.  I gave him five minutes, comforted him, then gave him another five minutes.  This time it only took ten minutes before he was asleep again.  He slept swaddle-less for six hours, woke up to drink a couple ounces of milk and slept another two hours before he was up for the morning. 

While I'm glad that he made it through the night after the initial struggle to fall asleep, I was sad to find him in his crib this morning with a few scratches on his head and face.  That's what happens when you're a wild baby who's used to be swaddled at night.  You don't know what to do with those hands of yours so you flail them around and inevitably find your face a few times. 

So there you have it, the fact that this morning my baby looks like he got in a street fight proves that I'm not the World's Greatest Mommy.  If I was then Liam's fingernails would never be long enough to scratch himself.  However, with everything else that being a mom packs into a day sometimes clipping the fingernails of a squirmy 4 1/2 month old does not get crossed off the to-do list.  I'm just glad that Liam's pediatrician appointment was on Tuesday and not after his late night brawl.  And for anyone reading this who is now concerned about the safety of my son, don't worry I'll make sure to keep his fingernails short now that he won't be swaddled at night anymore. ;)

God did use last night to help me realize even more that even as Liam's earthly parent I am incapable of giving him exactly what he needs when he needs it at every second of the day and night.  Last night while Liam was crying in his crib I just kept praying and asking God to comfort Liam and that Liam would take hold of the amazing comfort that God offers us all.  I knew that even if I gave Liam the comfort of swaddling, he would still end up needing more than that.  At some point during the night he would wiggle out of the swaddle and wake up needing comfort.  I prayed that God would give Liam the constant comfort he needed to sleep through the night.  And when Liam did finally fall asleep I praised God for His wonderful power.  God did something that I, even though I am Liam's mom, could never do for him.  God gave him peace, comfort, and rest without the use of a pacifier, swaddle, swing, rocking chair, or any other man made method for soothing tired babies.  I'm definitely not the World's Greatest Mommy but I know that not even she could do what God did for Liam last night.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort"  - 2 Corinthians 1:3

Liam, unswaddled, in his swing this morning. He woke up angry shortly after I took this. :P