nap time :: the struggle

This Monday, I woke up, looked at my closet full of clothes that I wasn't going to wear, threw my dirty hair in a bun, grabbed Lou, and snuck out of the room (that Olive essentially shares with us right now).  My Mondays aren't what they used to be.  Maternity leave has changed my days of structure to days of... less structure.  As far as work is concerned, I can honestly say that I miss showering daily almost daily, putting some effort into my wardrobe, and knowing exactly when I was going to get a break (aka lunch time).  

My days home are wonderful though.  I try to get in all the snuggles with Lou, because he's just so sweet.  Olive marches to her own beat, testing the waters of every move she makes, all while demanding that she do everything herself.  She's fiercely independent like that, and we all try to give her as much time and space as she needs so that she can accomplish these tasks completely on her own.  Some moments are better than others, but she's two, so it's not like she knows that she's being challenging for us.  I'm sure she thinks we're being complete assholes for not letting her do all the things on her own when she knows she can (or at least is getting close enough to thinking she can).  Oh the struggle, it's beautiful, and real.

There is one thing that I can typically count on daily though... 

Naptime.

It's a glorious thing.  Depending on how it goes, it ranges from 1-2+ hours.  That's 1-2+ hours of watching whatever I want on Netflix while simultaneously eating all of the ice cream/candy/sugar in the house.  

Naptime has always been challenging with O, and throwing Lou into the mix just added to the struggle.  Nevertheless, I've been doing it.  Most days it works too.  I start prepping for it almost 30 minutes in advance, reminding O that it's almost time for a stroll (she's a movement girl, so we do stroller rides to get her to pass out), getting her into a new pull-up, gathering snacks for the stroll, and getting Lou into a new diaper and into the Moby.  Once O is finally in the stroller with all of her accrutruments, I pop on shuffle (a carefully curated mix of Jack Johnson radio combined with Elizabeth Mitchell radio) on my pandora, pull the sun shade over her, and off we go.  Lately, we stick to one shady spot in the yard, doing endless laps.  I've found that if I start her at 12:30pm, I am usually guaranteed to get her to fall asleep by 1pm.  I don't really engage with her, we just walk around and listen to music.  If I'm lucky, pandora will throw me a bone and give me a free hour of uninterrupted listening (damn you commercials). 

And if not... there's always Barney...