A revelation

Kevin and I are sleepy parents and have been struggling to find a way to get Myers to sleep during the night. We have tried everything and became increasingly weary as we discovered that no one's advice worked in our house. Well it may. I will be the first to admit that I lack the ability to let my children "cry it out." We have done this several times and after 2 hours, not only was Myers crying but I was too! Our pediatrician told us to go in and check on him every 10 minutes but not to pick him. So I of course insist that we check on him every 5 minutes.....it absolutely breaks my heart to hear my baby cry. Well everytime we go in, Myers get even more upset and the endless cycle continues.

This is all pretty new to us. Manning is a sleeper. He slept through the night really early and still naps several hours everyday. This is NOT the case with my newest bundle of joy ...and he is just that. There is no happier baby than Myers Wilson Hatchell. He just does NOT like to sleep. Manning slept in his crib and ONLY his crib. Myers sleeps...well wherever he falls asleep...the carrier, our bed, and once in a while in his crib. If it was written in a parenting book, I followed it when Manning was little. So I never broke the "rules" and since I am a rule-follower by nature it makes me feel really guilty to do things "out-of-the-box" with Myers. Yes, I admit it, Myers sleeps in our bed. There I said it. I even grimaced because I felt like I am being judged and no one else has even read this yet! As you can see, this is a struggle. Myers cries in his bed and we are all awake. We put him in our bed and he sleeps (and so do we!). I promise it would be tempting to you after 7 months of little sleep.

So it was such a relief today when I ready this devotion on the proverbs31 ministries website:

"There is no perfect parenting formula.What works for one kid may not work for another.The seemingly perfect algorithm one family follows may not work for another family. We weren't meant to follow formulas. We were meant to follow JESUS."

It goes onto say this can be applied to any aspect of life: marriage, jobs, relationships, etc.
I knew all this but wow! It was so nice to hear it from someone else. It's ok for me to break the rules. My little guys loves to be loved on and I love to love on him. So why not? I would rather hold him than sleep ANY day! So why should I not simply because I feel guilty breaking rules written by someone else? I am still hoping to get him in his crib for good, but in the meantime you may find him in my bed every once in a while. =)