Once again, I think I am being too hard on myself as a mother and expecting too much, too soon!

What can I say? I am a perfectionist, a planner and an organizer. And while those are good qualities to have as a mother, focusing on just those can cause you to go bonkers when things don’t go as planned with the wee one!

Flexibility and a “go with the flow” attitude are just as important. And those happen to be harder for me to come by.

I want Little Bug on a set routine so that I know these are the times she eats and these are the times she naps and this is when she goes to bed and this is when she wakes up and we start our day!

I am learning my expectations are too high and sometimes, the best thing for me to do, is to just “go with the flow” of Little Bug.

I think Little Bug is in a growth spurt right now because she is eating constantly and has even starting getting up in the night for a feeding as well. Obviously, this throws off any kind of routine we had somewhat established.

So I can either be uptight about it and sit and think all day long about how I am going to get my baby back on a routine OR I can accept the reality that some days I am going to have to ditch the “routine” and “go with the flow”.

I think the main idea behind a routine in the first place is that the routine is the norm and some days, or some weeks, I will just have to deviate from the routine and do things a little different to meet the needs of Little Bug. Then, once she is over the growth spurt, the teething, the cold, the developmental leaps that are disrupting sleep patterns, we can easily slip back into routine-bliss!

For now, I am going to have to constantly remind myself of what my high school Economics teacher, Mr. Weightman, used to always say, “Relax and have a pickle.”

Too bad I hate pickles. Guess I will have to develop a taste for them.

- Elaine