Hang in there Mama, things will surely get better...

We were traveling in our car. My husband was driving, I was sitting in front seat next to him, our kid was sitting in her car seat safely and happily, and we were listing to our favorite songs, not nursery rhymes, our favorite music, and she was happy back there, apparently looking at the view it seems!!!!

I know you might be wondering why this is so special, this is a very normal thing. Yes, I agree. But if you are a parent, you might know that I just talked about a huge milestone in parenthood. At least for us, that was huge. I never thought these days would come. I still remember the very first day when we put her to car seat. It was a nightmare. I never thought I will be able to sit in the front seat of a car again in peace, that too listing to my favorite songs. That is too much to even dream of.
But that day has come, that too it happened when I least expected it to happen. Yes, there are other things which trouble us now, like constant questioning from a very curious 4-year-old. Let's talk about that later. Now I just want to embrace all the things which got better as she grows.

I never used to believe when people tried to console me by telling things will get better. I was like, what they know about what we are going through. But now I know, I should have trusted them.

If you are a new parent, and doing it all alone without any support system, especially during these pandemic days, I know what you are going through. I feel you. And it is really hard. Harder than you can express in words.

But please try to hang in there as hard as you can. Surely things will get better one day. Believe me. It will.

Parenting could drain us physically, mentally and emotionally.  You might be wondering whether you will be able to get a good night sleep ever again, to sit and have a cup of tea when it is still hot, a good shower without worrying about whether you heard your baby's cry. Me time seems like a luxury! And there are days when you lose it all. Your temper, calmness, patience, everything, and you react like you never imagined you would react someday. And it is perfectly okay Mama. We all have been there. When you try to nurture this little human, you identify the places where you still need to grow up as a person. You fail, but then you fail again, may be again. But one day, you will learn, and also your little one. And things are going to get much better. Trust me...

We had a very bad sleeper. She just didn't want to sleep at all, simple. Same case with food also, but I don't want to brag about all her qualities now. We had tried all the sleeping methods which we could possibly try, Cry it out, co-sleeping, 5 Ss, you name it, we would have tried it. Nothing worked for us. She first had a straight 7 or 8 hrs of sleep only after her 3rd birthday!!!

Until then she used to continue her new born sleeping habits! Waking up every 2 hrs. And she didn't know how to go back to sleep by herself. We had to go through a lot of hardship to put her back to sleep again.  I don't want to detail it here, but we both were sleep deprived during those days. Also, those were the times when we used to fight like anything. 

Finally, she learned to sleep by herself, when her body was ready, when she was ready. None of the methods in the books helped us. But it helped us to understand that we are not alone. We learned that not all babies '’Sleep like a baby'.
And to our surprise, few days back she even told us that she was going to sleep alone that night! She in fact did it. But we were not ready, so we sneaked in after she slept !!!

If I could go back to those days, I want to tell sleep deprived parents that this is not going to last forever. Things are getting better pretty soon. And you all are going to 'Sleep like a Baby'. Now just breathe and tell yourself that this too shall pass.

Our troubles are the biggest in our eyes always. But everyone is fighting their own battles. There is no perfect kid or perfect parent. We need to find peace with our situation, and trust strongly that things would change one day. Believe in yourself and more than that believe in your little one. They will reach there one day.

Just breath through the moment. Sleep whenever you can, rest as much as you need, all other things can wait. A messy house and unwashed dishes are much better than an insane human. So, make sure you are healthy, mentally and physically.  Isn't that what your kid needs the most ? A happy and a healthy parent who loves them wholeheartedly...