Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy (and Well-Groomed) Mom

It's really no secret that I am a huge, BIG fan of getting my eyebrows waxed. I think it's one of the easiest, least expensive things a person can do to feel completely pampered. Most of the spa rooms are candlelit and smell like eucalyptus and tea tree oil. They always have soft music playing, maybe even sounds of nature sweeping through the room. Not to mention the fact that it really "awakens" the face, and for someone like me, who is going on nearly two decades of not the greatest sleep, I like this fact.

It's no secret, but it may be a lesser known fact that in order to get Heath to take a nap, I let him lie down in our bed. And if he is really going to go to sleep, I have to lie down with him. Sometimes I use this time to steal a few zzz's myself, or I meditate, or I get up and go about my business after he's fallen asleep. This is a habit that started, well, it's a habit that started when he came home from the hospital.

Heath was a sleep fighter the minute he came out of the, uh, gate. He loved to cat nap. Twenty minutes here. An hour there. Desperate, we searched out every trick we could use to get him to sleep. Someone told us about swinging. We purchased a Fisher-Price Papasan swing. He would only sleep if it rocked side to side. Out of the five "music" choices, the only one that he would fall asleep listening to was the awful sound of crickets and katydids, turned up full-blast. And as soon as the noise stopped, his eyes would immediately pop open and the screaming would commence.

We took him out in the car. He would fall asleep as soon as we rolled out of the driveway, and he would crank up again just as quick if we had to stop at a red light. We did this so often that we were able to fine tune the process. Routes that didn't include stop lights. Loud 70s rock, preferably Lynyrd Skynyrd, would keep him from waking. And while this was super helpful for getting Heath some beauty sleep, Mark and I were sleep-deprived zombies, driving aimlessly around the streets of Charlotte.

Desperate, I consulted many books. Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. The No-Cry Sleep Solution. They all told me the same thing. Everything you're doing is wrong, and you are never going to sleep ever again.

And then one night, Christmas Eve to be exact, Santa brought me a gift. Heath fell asleep while nursing and I sat back on the bed, Heath on my chest, and I fell asleep. I think it was a total of five hours. I was a brand new woman. A brand new woman who believed the only way her baby was ever going to sleep was by keeping him on her chest at night. And so that is how I slept for the next nine or so months. With Heath. On my person.

When I didn't think I could get anymore batpoop crazy, I reconsulted those books and settled in on my own combination of suggestions. The first night we put him in his crib was excruciating. Mark and I sat in our bedroom and listened to Heath cry for two and a half hours. Mark would go in every ten minutes to rub his back and tell him that we loved him. The next night, twenty minutes. The night after that, not even one minute. And it's never been an issue again.

So, today at nap time, after reading Hippos Go Berserk, for the third and final time, Heath yawned and clutched Puppy, all the classic signs that he was ready to drift off. But then he said, Let's talk.

I thought I would indulge him for just a moment. What do you want to talk about?

You have pretty eyes, he said. Before I could be truly touched by such a sweet notion and say thank you, he said, Your eyebrows need a haircut.

It's time to rest, I whispered. He buried his head into Puppy's face and was immediately asleep.

Good thing I have an appointment on Saturday to take care of these squirrel tails napping on my forehead.